Goddess in the Land: The Bathgate Hills
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Last Sunday, The Way of the Serpent group ventured out onto the land for a shamanic quest to Cairnpapple in West Lothian. Arriving at the site, we took some time to chat with the Historic Scotland staff member who shared a few fascinating details. We talked about the large male who had been buried in the main burial cairn- known as the north grave-about how he was buried with a wooden mask on his face and with a baton, or possibly a staff.
Curiously none of us questioned the gender of the person who had been buried there. It seemed obvious that he must have been a person of great importance, such as a Chief, a King, or a Warrior.
Once inside the cairn, each of us fell into a deep silence and revery as we connected with the spirit of the place, or ‘genius loci’, in our own way.
After a few moments of reflection, images began to swim into my inner landscape. The clearest of these images was of a woman- young, blond, beautiful, loving, alert, vital… watching us with interest, but more than that, I felt that she was willing us into the space, keen for connection. Behind her, or beside her, were many others who also appeared friendly and inviting, pleased that we were there.
The following day I found an article about Cairnpapple written by author and director of Celtic Trails, Jackie Queally, and was stunned to read the following words-
The North grave is unparalleled in Scotland – whoever was buried here was wrapped in some form of organic material and her grave strewn with flowers. Her face was covered with a burnt wooden mask and a burnt club or mace placed alongside her. The find evokes strong emotions among many of the local people, who believe the person buried was female and connected to fertility.
Her?
Though the gender of the person whom the grave belonged to is generally assumed to be male-at least by some scholars, archaeologist, and employees of Historic Scotland-according to Ms Queally, the local people of Bathgate believed that it had been a woman who’d been buried there. What’s more, reported in the same article, is that the Bathgate Hills are often perceived as “feminine” in character, and that perhaps Cairnpapple had been a lunar site as it lay close to a silver mine, and because of the oval (ovum) shape of the main grave.
It is possible that Cairnpapple was a lunar, and fertility site?
The silver mine was discovered in the 17th century, though presumably silver had been in the ground since ancient times. In 1608 the silver was taken into possession of the Crown.
Speculation that the main grave at Cairnpapple belonged to a notable woman is of course conjecture as the only human remains discovered in the grave upon excavation was teeth enamel. As it was impossible to determine the gender of the person interred there, believing the person to be male is therefore equally speculative.
I thought of my inner image of the woman with the blond hair welcoming us into the space, and the curious oval shape of the grave. My thoughts drifted to the three standing stones at Lundin Links (that I recently visited), and the thirteen cists (stone graves) discovered near there in 1858 and 1862 while workmen quarried for the construction of new railway lines. In this case there were many more human remains, the occupants being intact. And what of the skeleton found on the beach in Largo in the 1960s, a woman who it was established had been buried in an upright position?
This prompted a further dig in 1965 by Aberdeen College of Education Archaeological Society. More stone cists appeared, another five, and judging by the width of the skeleton hips, all were believed to be women. Two further females were found in a horned cairn, and a grave with a horse-shoe shaped (or crescent moon) entrance was discovered to be the grave of another female who, based on the grandeur of the grave, was thought to have been a very important person- a Queen perhaps.
In 1970 Carbon dating showed that the timeline of the burials at Largo ranged from 1300 BC- 660AD. This information is documented in “Largo’s Untold Stories” by local author Leonard Low (who, I discovered recently, is the founder of the Witch Trial Museum in Leven, Fife).
My interest is well and truly piqued. What mysteries still lie hidden far beneath the soil of Scotland. What was the true nature of the role of women, particularly warrior women, druidesses, priestesses, and Queens in Scotland’s still untold history?
Our day at Cairnpapple ended with a visit to “Persephone’s Rest” which sits at the foot of Knock Hill and boasts stunning views across the landscape. The Rest, which was built in 1998, is a wicker temple that sits on top of a mound next to a single solitary ancient stone. John Eadie, the builder of the site says,
Please feel free to visit it. In it you will find a bench and a simple egg shaped alter. If you want fatter lambs and calves, if you want your roses looking better, your barley to ripen or bigger crops from your wee garden, then make an offering to Persephone and she’ll do her bit.
Twenty metres or so from the ancient stone and wicker temple is a stone circle with thirty outer ring stones, nineteen inner, and one horizontal stone placed in the centre to mark the grave of the deceased farmer. The new stone circle is a folly gift gifted to the farmer by his son on his 50th birthday.
Persephone’s Rest is dedicated to all the local gardeners and farmers who aid her (Persephone) in her work.
As Mr Eadie says, “it is the first time that a temple has been dedicated to a pagan god in these hills for millennia”… though I have a strong feeling that powerful and ancient women were revered in these parts for a long, long time. As perhaps were the tutelary goddesses of the land.
I cannot help thinking of this entire area now as a moon site.
The Goddess is alive and well in Bathgate!
* The Way of the Serpent is a shamanic questing group established in Scotland in February 2025. We offer inner & outer journeys focused on the sacred & ancient sites of Scotland. We also have a Facebook page.
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