Isle of Skye Photo Credit: Kevin Lofthouse on Unsplash
I love these jagged iconic pinnacles surrounded by mist which make up the dramatic landscape of the Isle of Skye.
For those of us witnessing the cooling of the landscape in the Northern Hemisphere, if we follow nature’s lead, we may also choose to slow down and prepare ourselves for that long season of rest. . .and dreams! A perfect time for a folktale like “The Makers of Dreams”, an ancient folktale from the Isle of Skye beautifully retold by Scottish Storyteller Daniel Allison in his book Scottish Myths and Legends, which he retells also orally on his own HouseofLegends podcast (Episode 10, July 1, 2019) . I highly recommend listening to his version, because I did not do it justice in my brief summary below:
The story is about a young girl who gets lost in the misty mountains on the Isle of Skye while absorbed in the work of picking wild berries. Though frightened at first as the sky darkens and the mist thickens, she soon hears the sound of clanking antlers and discovers a herd of deer who lead her to an elderly couple who live in a cave who welcome her in. Though at first they appear to be simple folk who make cheese from deer milk, she eventually discovers they are older than the span of several geological ages and that they are the Makers of Dreams. Every day as the sun begins to set they sit in the cave next to a pool of water, the pool of life, and there they mould the cheese into shapes which they offer to the wild birds who then fly away with these “dreams” and deposit them inside children’s heads as they sleep.
This is such a beautiful story with rich meaning on so many levels!
I love how this story shows an intimate relationship between dreams and birds, and how our feathered friends play a significant a role in our internal landscape as well as the outer landscape, and that they are the ones who can help us journey between these two worlds. It is this season in the northern hemisphere that many birds begin migrating, and the journey between this world and the dream world that the story alludes to mimics the way the birds in the “real” outer world are literally journeying between landscapes and worlds as well.
I love how this story celebrates elderhood which contrasts with popular depictions of the elderly as vulnerable, weak and the widespread lack of recognition of their contributions to society. Dr. Sharon Blackie, a renowned mythologist, views old age as a transformative stage of life filled with experience, wisdom and valuable insight. In her book Hagitude: Reimagining the Second Half of Life she describes many European myths featuring powerful elderly female heroines, one of whom is the Cailleach, a Gaelic deer-goddess and archetypal elder woman who is often found in wild and rocky places. Although there may not be any connection at all, it occurs to me that perhaps the old woman in the Makers of Dreams shares some elements of the Cailleach, because she is a deer herder, is found in a wild and rocky place.
The Cailleach is known as the goddess and Queen of the winter months and her season begins on October 31st, coinciding with the Gaelic and pagan festival of Samhain which we celebrate today as Halloween. Samhain marks the end of the harvest season and beginning of winter or darker half of the year, a time between the autumnal equinox and winter solstice when the 'doorways' to the Otherworld open. It is the time of year when many creatures of the earth settle into hibernation, when the nights become longer beckoning us to also sleep longer, and dream. Although with the dying of leaves we may be reminded of our own aging and dying, yet nature shows us that winter can be a beautiful breathtaking season, and similarly, this story shows the precious and beautiful creative gift this elderly couple offers the world: dreams!
This folktale also shows us how getting lost sometimes enables us to find something precious. Our current world does not value aimless wandering or losing one’s way in life. . .somehow this state of being has been tinged with negativity and lack of productivity or progress. However, this story demonstrates how sometimes getting lost can help you find the truth, discover something deeper about the meaning of life, or transform profoundly in a positive way.
Finally, there is something significant about associating the Dream Makers with the making of cheese. Cheese, after all, is achieved through the process of fermentation and as a result the dairy is converted into a more digestible form. Psychologists like Carl Jung regard dreams as the brain’s way of making sense of (or digesting!) experiences that may at first be too hard to handle consciously, so the brain offers it to us through our subconscious, by way of dreams, as a way of bringing our attention to what needs to be recognized, slowly raising our conscious awareness of the significance of the experience.
Included in this handmade linocut print are: the feathers of a snow goose, merlin, osprey, crow, snowy owl, bald eagle and peregrine falcon (some native wild birds from the Isle of Skye), along with the dramatic iconic spiky pinnacles of The Old Man of Storr, a herd of deer and the Makers of Dreams!
Though I have never been to the Isle of Skye myself, hearing this story definitely beckons me towards those sea-misty mountains, and the sound of clanking antlers and the warm, wrinkled faces and white wispy hair of the Dream Makers who live there in deep time. Though I may never get to visit that magical island in my lifetime, it warms my heart to know that every night, a dream will come to me riding on feathered wings of a bird from the Isle of Skye!
References:
Allison, Daniel (2020). Scottish Myths and Legends. Nielson ISBN Store.
Boyce, Danica (Host) “The Dream Makers: Daniel Allison Scottish Storyteller & Author” Fair Folk Podcast. (October 20, 2020).
Blog Cover Photo Credit: Kevin Lofthouse on Unsplash
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