A SECRET GARDEN IN SCOTLAND

I am in a very old building - one that may have been built in the middle ages. The big stones are still secure one against the other, there are tapestries all around - just like it would be in a small castle. There is a cool and pleasantly damp feeling, as it would be in the dark pre-dawn. Somewhere within the building, I hear voices.



I stir, and find myself in a large bed, sheets all tangled up about me. I quickly get up and get dressed in the only clothes I find - a white light-weight chemise, a dark skirt and a shawl. Memories of my arrival the night before are fresh, especially my mad hunt for a privy, and I laugh softly to myself. I know that I am to witness some sort of ritual here. I hear more voices, and recognize the accent as Scottish. Yes, I am in Scotland!!



Once dressed, I hurry along the stone corridors and follow the voices to a large room on the main floor. Like all the other rooms, this one has stone walls and floors, and tapestries hang on three walls. The only furniture is a long tressle table and benches, but these are shoved along one wall, to give space for about a half-dozen young women dressed pretty much like I am, in chamises and black skirts. In addition, they are also wearing tight black bodices and tams, and their shawls are of some bright tartan with red being the predominant colour. Their hair is all different shades of gold and red, and falls about their shoulders in tumbling curls and waves.



The door opens, and an older woman beckons them. Smartly, heads held high, they march out, and I follow them. The older woman, with a wave of her hand, indicates the place where I am to stand. I find myself in a beautiful garden, made up of terrace levels. It is kept neat, although with a deliberate wild untamed air about it. In the middle of the terrace below me is a long stone slab, upon which is set some magickal implements. The young girls - no! Priestesses!! - walk and arrange themselves around it, lifting their plaid shawls high. They swirl and dance to the sound of drums and pipes (where are they coming from? I see no musicians), until coming to a very abrupt stop.


Now more slowly, they begin to chant something - the ritual continues...


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First Australia, then Japan and Africa, a brief meeting with First Nations chiefs, and now Scotland! All tell me of different mysteries, all perform rituals. What an amazing journey I'm on!!