My husband and I recently returned from Scotland, where we got to tour the Highlands where my ancestors were born, including Mount Cuillin on Skye, several standing stones, and the Culloden Battlefield just outside of Inverness. What was interesting was to find out that my Campbell ancestry, which in the United States is viewed with much pride due to their powerful clan-association with the Blackwatch and the Queen’s Guard, are not very well-liked in northern Scotland, while the MacLean side of my family, of which I know very little, are viewed as heroes and everywhere I mentioned them I was greeted warmly and told interesting stories.
It was with some awe I walked upon the Colloden Battlefield where the crown crushed the clans who supported the Jacobite Rebellion, all because they followed a young king who viewed his armies as little more than toy soldiers. I photographed two carved granite stones with the word MacLean written on them before I realized the long, slender grass mound I stood upon was the actual mass-grave of the clan.
Shiver…
I wonder if I was related to any of them? I left the battlefield with a feeling of awe, determined to delve a little deeper into that side of my ancestry and find out what drove them from their homeland.
I don’t think I’ll write a Scottish history time-travel novel as Diana Gabaldon has already done that to death, but perhaps I’ll re-enact that battle somewhere in deep space? With a different outcome? One where the boy-king is made to understand he shouldn’t pit his ‘toy soldiers’ against the might of a conventional army, but let them retreat to the hills where they can wage a guerrilla war?
Lucifer reminds me a bit of Bonnie Prince Charlie, in thinking he can just pit a few factions against the might of the Eternal Emperor. We all know what happens at the end of the story. Lucifer gets cast down and ends up on Earth. It is written thus in the bible. But how much misery will it bring upon those who follow him? How much will the Fallen suffer? And where will they be forced to go?
So that’s my musing for today! I hoped you enjoyed this little summary of my trip. And if you do ever get to travel to the Highlands of Scotland, be sure to roam around Skye and visit the Fairy Pools at the foot of Mount Cuillan. I’d heard my ancestors came from that area. I don’t know if that’s true, but it was an awesome place to visit and, well off the beaten track, there were lots of handsome Highland guys who looked as though they’d just stepped off the pages of a Highland Romance novel, and plenty of no-nonsense lassies who looked like they could keep their big-tall Highlanders in line!
So that’s it for now, although perhaps once I get the rest of the pictures off my camera I’ll write about all our visits to the standing stones, the Pictish tower, and an awesome yarn shop overlooking the ocean where I learned how to dye natural tartan-dyes and got to pat the sheep who grew my new black sweater!
And here’s a song by one of my favorite Scottish folk-singers, Rebsie Fairholm, called MacCrimmon’s Lament, entirely in the Gaelic. ‘Dh’ iadh ceo nan stuc mu eudann Chuilinn’ means ‘on Cuillan’s face’ which is the mountain you see a bit of in the picture above. Enjoy!
MacCrimmon’s Lament (click to listen)
Be epic!
Anna Erishkigal
P.S. – visit Rebsie Fairholm’s website to listen to her other songs. She was kind enough to let me borrow her rendition of “The Captain Cried” for my book trailer for Agents of Ki, and The Cursing Song is one of my favorites because it ties into Scottish mythology.