Psychogeography: The Mythic Landscape.

Share this post:

Share on facebook
Share on twitter
Share on linkedin
Old Church Balwearie -photo@karenmullensmith
Old Church Balwearie -photo@karenmullensmith
A trip to the Beverage Park in Kirkcaldy (Balwearie) to walk among the old trees and revisit a place that I’d spent a lot of time as a child and young woman.
Balwearie and Abbotshall was an area that I was always drawn to, like Dysart, it had a special feeling… a bit magical.
A few years ago, when I was researching the witches of Fife, I discovered the story of the “Witch of Balwearie”, a woman named Margaret Aitken who was accused of witchcraft and was allegedly employed by her persecutors to call out other so-called witches. Legend has it that Margaret could identify a certain look in the eye of the accused, a “skill” that sealed the gruesome fate of many women.
Today I walked to the upper end of the park and beyond into a trail known as the Wizards’ Walk. I’d never ventured that far before and was delighted to find myself among mature trees with the lively river Tiel running below. At the top of a hill was a squat stone, and the hill itself looked and felt like a magical mound. On the trail I encountered a wooden carving of a wizard with an owl on his shoulder and a book in his hand. But who was this wizard?
The Wizard of Balwearie- photos@karenmullensmith
The Wizard of Balwearie- photos@karenmullensmith
Michael Scot 1175-1232 was a Scottish mathematician, astrologer, alchemist, and occultist. Educated in Bologna and Toledo, his patron was Frederick II of the Holy Roman Empire to whom he was court astrologer. He was a typical example of the polyglot wandering scholar of the Middle Ages—a churchman who knew Latin, Greek, Arabic and Hebrew.
Scot translated Averroes and was the greatest public intellectual of his day. Apparently the second version of Fibonacci’s famous book on mathematics, Liber Abaci was dedicated to Scot in 1227. He is known to have said-
“Every astrologer is worthy of praise and honour since by such a doctrine as astrology he probably knows many secrets of God, and things which few know.”
He appears in Dante’s Divine Comedy, the only Scot to do so, in the fourth bolgia located in the Eighth Circle of Hell, reserved for sorcerers, astrologers, and false prophets who claimed they could see the future.
Michael Scot in the Bodleian Library'sDe Physionomiae manuscript
Michael Scot in the Bodleian Library’s
De Physionomiae manuscript
In the time of Margaret Aitken then, Balwearie already had a reputation as a site of many mystical goings on. In 1539, King James had a dream in which Lord William Scot of Balwearie came at him with an entourage of demons. The reputation of Michael Scot, alchemist and occultist from the 12th century no doubt added to the mystique of the place and in the paranoid mind of King James, the place was a hot bed of devilish doings.
The witch connection is curious though. Last month in Cumbria a friend took me to visit a stone circle near her house- Long Meg and her daughters. Legend has it that Meg and her daughters were dancing naked on the sabbath and were punished for such a reprehensible act by being turned to stone. The wizard who performed such a magical feat was none other than Michael Scot, the Wizard of Balwearie!
Given that Old Meg is at least 4’000 years old the tale is likely a tall one. It is fascinating though how myths and legends are woven through a timeline that has less to do with a chronological sequence of events and more to do with an inner, or psychic, pattern.
Old Meg, Cumbria-photo@karenmullensmith
Old Meg, Cumbria-phot@karenmullensmith
Today, Balwearie still feels alive and pulsating with a spirit of the land or genius loci. Particularly the water in the river Tiel has a special quality. You can still see the ruins of the tower from Balwearie castle which belonged to the Scot family.
Water of the Rover Tiel-photo@karensmullensmith
Water of the Rover Tiel-photo@karensmullensmith
One meaning I found of the name Balwearie is “tower in ruins”, and Kirkcaldy itself means “place of the hard fort”.

This Post Has One Comment

  1. Rick Ouellette

    Great article and photos, it’s so rewarding to come across an unexpected find like the Wizard of Balwearie.

Leave a Reply

Join the mailing list for news, updates and promotions.

×
×

Cart

Gnostic Woman Emblem

Astrology Consultation Form.

If you have selected the Astrology Consultation, please fill in this form to help determine your birth chart in preparation for our meeting.