Dear Story lovers, 

I hope the Beltane fires have been kindled in appropriate fashion for you as we step fully into summer. 

In Scotland we have a saying, “never cast a cloot, 'til May is oot’, which means ‘don’t dare take off your thermals until the may-flower, or hawthorn blossom, is out’. 

Beltane marks such a moment. This is the start of summer, a time of natural flourishing, fertility and increasing light. It's a time for bonfire, revelry and community.

My Beltane indeed included, music by the fire and camping at a hidden gem of a valley in the Scottish Borders, with an incredible roundhouse in which to gather…new ideas are brewing having visited the site, but those are for next year at least!

Right now, I have a couple of offering and projects I’d love to share, online and in person, plus a new blog post about primitive skills and storytelling.

Events

For those based in south-central Scotland, I’ve got a couple of Beltane themed events over the next week. Exploring classic themes of renewal, hawthorn and faery mischief, I’m working with the Oak Ash and Thorn Hub to create immersive events combining storytelling, herbalism, nature connection and embodiment practices. 

Previous events have been a blast and tickets are selling fast.

Book via link below:

Beltane, Birch and Brehon Laws (May 7th, 12-5pm, Roslin)

https://tr.ee/lsjv70jUtF 

Hawthorn, Heart and Faery Lore (May 12th, 7-9pm, Edinburgh)

https://tr.ee/gD7BROix0b

Online

If you’re too far to join us for those you might be interested in an online course, Weaving remembrance: Ancestral Songs and Stories of Scotland, starting May 18th. 

The whole course offers a deep dive into Gaelic culture of story and song with a different guest each week.

I’ll be the guest in May 18th, followed by one of my favourite Scottish storytelling elders, Seoras Macpherson, Hidden Glen Gaelic innovator and academic, Michael Newton, plus some excellent Gaelic song keepers.

It should be a really rich cultural Immersion and I’m delighted to be a part of it.

Sign up or find out more:

https://weaving-remembrance.mykajabi.com/a/2147539872/EiCWvZ7T

Lithica Primitive Skills gathering and Rewilding vision

As mentioned in the blog linked above, I’ll be heading to Norway this year for the Lithica primitive skills gathering. 

For me there is a really fascinating symbiosis between storytelling, crafts and ancestral survival skills. Each were present in a primitive village scenarios and the fabric early society. They bring us closer to the land, ancestral awareness and natural human perception when we practice them today.

My stories gain a richness when in this sort of space, and likewise they offer something to the crafting environment and dreaming.

The gathering is a fundraiser to buy land dedicated to rewilding land and people. I want to support that. If you’d like to support all contributions via Kofi are greatly appreciated.

https://ko-fi.com/dougiemackaystory/goal?g=11

My blog post on the subject:

https://storyconnection.org/2023/05/02/stories-in-the-stone-age/

Or maybe you’d like to join us by the lake:

https://www.lithica.earth/gathering-summer-2023

………….

Finally:

How about this for a gorgeous commentary on Myth, from Haida first nation poet, Shlawtxan, around 1906:

How did I make the myths?

I didn’t.

After places came to be, 

after people came to be, 

the people and the places were destroyed.

Those who were previously people

turned into birds and furred animals, 

turned into fish, 

turned into elk and deer, 

turned into fruit trees and berry bushes, 

turned into root plants.

Those are the ones from whom the myths come.

Not just here in this place, 

but in every place there is:

all the different kinds of people, 

different languages, 

different foods.

There were that many kinds of people here.

Rather than white man’s law, 

people lived by their own law.

People came to be here then,

and they have been here since, 

the ones who will continue being born here.

They were listening to myths back then, 

and they are thinking of them still.

The land and the myths have grown together this way

from then until now.

Now almost all those myths are disappearing.

I am old now, 

telling you the whole of it, 

leaving the myths behind.

Even so, you will keep on hearing me clearly.

Now i have given you almost all the myths

of this country, 

the klikitat country.

That is what you hear now.

Shlawtxan (A Story as Sharp as a Knife, Bringhurst)

.....

Wishing you all a blessed Beltane

Dougie