Betwixt Herd & Heather - the Creation of Cairness
- Laura Daligan
- Jun 12
- 2 min read
By Cairn & Feather
By Setting Sun,
Betwixt Herd & Heather,
We move as One.
Within the Moor's Golden Hour
The Ancestors return to sing their power...
Cairness
Within the first couple of months of moving to the Quantocks, I saw her. The land was strange and new to me, an unexpected kiss. Before I arrived, I had no idea about these heather-soaked moors which stretched out to the sea. A misted line of silver opening to the coast of Wales.
Before I arrived, I didn't know about the twisted Oaks rising from hill forts, the deep, ridged trackways, or the pilgrimage of cairns.
I walked in the golden hour to meet the setting sun, amongst all these unknown things, which would, in time, slowly open up to me. And I turned to watch a large herd of Deer running towards me, a sudden rumble of thunder which stopped still at the sight of me, my heart elated as I took in their wild russet beauty, and as they eyed me cautiously. Watchful Stags guarding the gentle fae movements of the Does. Slowly, the herd began to move away, and I turned to see her, this spirit of the land, wrapped in a thatch of bracken and adder skin. Crowned with antlers, carrying ancient stories and ancestral ties.
From that moment, I was truly in love with this wild land. I began to meet and remember the guardian spirits, the Landvættir, ancestral friends, whom I am now painting, and I hope to tell a little of their tales. For me, Cairness is the spirit of these hills, a part of them, and a timeless guardian of hoof and stone. Her humour, presence, harshness, and care are intertwined with sandstone and thorn. I had attempted to paint her several times and had not quite captured her spirit or her expression. Her amused half-smile in this piece suggests, perhaps, I'm getting closer.
I asked for her name, it came in a tumble of letters forgotten by my tongue. But we settled for now on Cairness. She who wanders the Deer Ways between Cairns
Come and visit her, Cairn Guardian, Hill Mother, Story Tender, Ancient and Wild Spirit of the Hills at the Shadows of the Stones: Paths to the Past 3 ~ ART EXHIBITION this weekend.
May we all find a sacred healing bond with the land we love.
Opmerkingen