In Scotland's Sacred Goddess: Hidden in Plain Sight, Stuart McHardy delves into the rich tapestry of pre-Christian Scottish beliefs, uncovering the enduring presence of ancient mythologies in today's landscape. Long before the arrival of Christian monks, the Scots revered a pantheon of deities, with the Cailleach Goddess at its heart. McHardy skillfully weaves together ancient oral traditions, place names, local folklore and the shapes of the land itself to reveal the lingering echoes of t...

McHardy presents a new approach to history, changing our mindset to look at Scotland as the centre of our story. Rather than starting from the Mediterranean, from the classical/Christian bias we have been taught for centuries. Rather than being a remote dark land populated by barbaric tribes. Perhaps we were the centre of a well-organised civilisation around the Orkneys and islands and coasts and rivers, with our own priorities, community-centred, locally self-sufficient, well-versed in lo...

What can we learn from our landscape?How can Geomythography help us understand our cultural heritage?What is Geomythography?Geomythography: The interpretation of prehistoric and later societies at specific locales through a combination of oral tradition, place-names, landscape analysis and archaeology. The process is a means of finding new perspectives and interpretations to further the understanding of early and extant cultures and the continui...

All over the world people associate the bagpipes with Scotland. In this informative and entertaining book Stuart McHardy introduces Scotland's national instrument - its history, development and repertoire - and examines the part that the piper himself has played in Highland and Lowland society over the centuries.The main bulk of the book is a series of thematically grouped tales from all periods and parts of the country in which we see aspects of traditional lore in stories of warr...

Stuart McHardy examines the Pictish symbols which have been discovered on various items across Scotland. The book sets out a cohesive interpretation of the Pictish past, using a variety of both temporal and geographical sources. This interpretation serves as a backdrop for his analysis of the symbols themselves, providing a context for his suggestion that there was an underlying series of ideas and beliefs behind the creation of the symbols.

When the Romans came north to what is now modern Scotland they encountered the fierce and proud warrior society known as the Picts, who despite their lack of discipline and arms, managed to prevent the undefeated Roman Army from conquering the northern part of Britain, just as they later repulsed the Angles and the Vikings.A New History of the Picts is an accessible true history of the Picts, who are so often misunderstood. New historical analysis, recently discovered evidence and an innov...

An essential read for fans of OutlanderDuring the first half of the eighteenth century, Bonnie Prince Charlie and his diehard supporters – the Jacobites – almost changed the course of British history. Their attempts to drive out the house of Hanover and restore the Stuarts to the British throne is one of the great epics of history.In this book, acclaimed storyteller Stuart McHardy retells over forty Jacobite stories which date back to the time of t...

Behind the tales of cateran raiding in the Scottish Highlands was an age old practice, beloved of the clan warriors. Trained in the ways of the School of the Moon they liked little better than raiding other clans to lift their cattle and disappear into the wild mountains under the cover of darkness. If pursued and battle became necessary, that was no problem to the clansmen. This traditional practice of the Scottish Highland warriors, originating at least as far back as the Iron Age, has l...

A journey through Scotland's past from the earliest times through the medium of the awe-inspiring stories that were at the heart of our ancestors' traditions and beliefs. As the art of storytelling bursts into new flower, many tales are being told again as they once were. As On the Trail of Scotland's Myths and Legends unfolds, mythical animals, supernatural beings, heroes, giants and goddesses come alive and walk Scotland's rich landscape as they did in the time of the Scots, Gaelic and N...

The fiddle has long played an important part in Scottish musical tradition. Here in MacPherson's Rant and Other Tales of the Scottish Fiddle there are stories that reflect that importance. Whether the fiddle is in the hands of the notorious Highland freebooter MacPherson or being played by a young man learning a fairy tune, these tales reflect a traditional culture that is still thriving. Some of the stories are truly ancient while others quite modern, but all show that throughout...

The origins of the Scottish clans go back over a thousand years, and for centuries these extended networks of families dominated life in the Scottish Highlands and Islands. The warriors of the clan, fiercely loyal to each other and to their chief, were well known for their extraordinary courage and military skills.Retold by one of Scotland's most acclaimed storytellers, these stories illustrate the drama and the dynamism of a society which lived close to nature, had little in the w...

Whether as the mothers of the Norse God Heimdall, Morgan and her sisters on Avalon, the nine sisters at the heart of the founding myth of the Gikuyu of Kenya, or witches battling with the Irish St Patrick, stories of nine women, often attending a goddess or linked to a heroic or divine male, exist across much of our world. Triggered by a local story still told in his native Dundee, Stuart McHardy has traced what seems to be memories of groups of nine women, most likely some kind of prieste...