breathofgreenair

Skye sized Room

Posted on June 7, 2014 by greenmackenzie

We all need enough space and room to grow and breathe. Here on the North East tip of the Isle of Skye you will find more room than you will ever need. The landscape of the Quiraing is spacious and surprising, and even on days when the car park of this remote range of rocks has no spaces left, you will find yourself alone as you walk out along the narrow path. This vast landscape swallows people in its folds of grass and rock, and you can see for miles across open unpopulated land. If the clouds roll in you will feel utterly absorbed by the mist, cut off from the rest of life, in this alien and supernatural landscape.

Room like this can be disorientating, when we are used to things having edges and limits. Here it seems that the sky and the earth are the limit, and they roll on endlessly in all directions. There are times in my life when I find limitless space like this especially helpful and healing. Somehow in this vastness I can come back to the centre, the core of my being. Sitting and breathing and being within these mountains slows down my senses, which may have become overloaded and overstimulated by multiple demands. There is no ask here in the heart of nature, other than to be and to experience, and what an experience. My senses are filled to brimming with natures wonders, the still rocks and the silent air, the soft grass and the light reflecting water. The call of eagles from high within the cliffs above, and the gentle calls between lambs and their mothers on the slopes below help to place me.

When I walk, it requires all my attention to place my feet on this tiny narrow ribbon of a path which clings impossibly to the steep slopes. Walking with full awareness, deeper and deeper into this magical landscape on the edge of the earth, my senses hold my mind away from thinking and planning. To feel this space and it’s effect on my body and mind is a wonderfully exhilarating experience. I can find myself again, out among the rocks and sky, and it’s as though I’m walking deeper into my own centre. Fear and joy are close companions, and we walk together through the heart of the Quiraing.

There is room here to come into close contact and connection with nature and her wildness. The rocks and green slopes seem to come alive, each one showing their unique character, and it’s effect on me. Some sights are so beautiful I’m left breathless in awe, filled with smiles. Others are weird and challenging, and I feel my heart beat faster as I cling to the slender path, moving further and further from the known and familiar. Yet in this movement I come closer to myself.

Sometimes we have to get lost in order to find our true neglected natures again. There is room here on the edge of Skye to lose yourself in nature and to recover your centre. To let go of your preconceptions about yourself and your edges, and to come back into contact with your deep potential. From here can come the fresh vibrant growth, of a life rediscovered, of a self reconnected. We all need the room to find ourselves and to re centre within our busy lives. This is my room, what does yours look like?
Find other rooms at the WP weekly challenge.

For the fact lovers, these photos are taken on the Quiraing, on the Isle of Skye, Scotland. The name Quiraing (in Gaelic, Cuith-Raing) comes from Old Norse Kvi Rand, which means Round Fold. In the days of cattle raids, cattle were driven up here to keep them hidden, but well fed on the lush grass and flowers of the mountains. The strange rock formations are the result of huge landslides over an unimaginable stretch of time. The earth here is still moving and the road up to the Quiraing has to be repaired and remade each year due to the ongoing landslide. There is something sacred and supernatural about this piece of earth, and some people are seized with inexplicable fear while walking here.

Posted in mindfulness, photos, weekly photo challenge | Tagged change, Isle of Skye, mindfulness, mountains, nature, photography, Quiraing, relaxation, scotland, spiritual | 63 Comments

Stone Wrinkles

Posted on June 6, 2014 by greenmackenzie

Formed at the base of a warm coral filled sea, these beautiful wrinkled rocks proudly show us their marks of time. Once lapped by salty waves, they sit now high on a mountainside on the Isle of Skye. Far to the north and west of the British Isles, they disclose secrets about the passage of time, from the heart of the earth. Their curves and shapes have been dissolved from solid stone, tucked beneath a shallow blanket of turf. Now the earth peels back and reveals her work, showing us impossible shapes of faces and bones scattered within sight of the mighty Coullin.

Limestone and Marble, scattered casually across green flower filled grass. Fed by the nutrients of shells, crushed millennia ago, the vibrancy of life is released again from these living stones. Nothing is ever truly lost, just recycled, as the earth shows us. Bound in rock, but now flowing freely through the flowers and leaf blades, these minerals speak of dissolving and releasing old long held patterns. If we peel back our own turf, our armour and our masks, we might reveal some wonderful new shapes and patterns. In the process we might even recycle some long held emotions, freeing them to flow once more through our lives.

Posted in mindfulness, photos, spiritual | Tagged change, elemental, growth, mindfulness, mountains, nature, philosophy, photography, scotland, spiritual | 28 Comments

Buttercup Dreams

Posted on June 3, 2014 by greenmackenzie

Glowing petal cups
Gathering light and pleasure
Filling gaps in time

Endless childhood play
Between hay and buttercups
Before dreams shatter

Soft breeze stirred fields sway
Golden butter loving chins
Laugh while poison grows

Posted in mindfulness, photos, poem | Tagged buttercups, childhood, golden hour, Haiku, nature, photography, poetry, scotland, summer | 28 Comments

Magical Skye Pools

Posted on May 27, 2014 by greenmackenzie

Every spring, the ice cold snow melt from the Red Coullin tumbles down these slopes on the Isle of Skye. The pure mountain water dissolves a little of the limestone each year, creating beautiful curves and shapes all along the river gorge. This water, viewed as sacred, tumbling as it does from one of the mountain mothers of Skye, also swirls stone eggs around in the hollow basins of the river bed. Made of marble, they shimmer golden and white, and their smooth bowls hold water which can cleanse and bless all who approach. Known as Fairy Pools, there are water formed basins like these scattered across Skye, and these ones are less frequented than the famous pools in Glen Brittle. The atmosphere is all the more magical for their peace and quiet, and it’s easy to feel time slipping back as you sit at the murmuring tumbling edge of this ancient water.

Our ancestors came here to divine the future, and to seek blessings. The water itself could energise even the most fragile soul. Even now, set in the shadow of the Coullin, with wild flying Rowan and Holly trees springing from its rocky edges, magic feels close to the surface among these watery rocks. Smooth marble pools carved by the mountain stream to soothe the soul and calm the mind. Dip your toes if you dare in the magical waters, and dream. After all, we have all the time we need….

Posted in ancient sites, Celtic, nature photo | Tagged Celtic, Fairy Pools, history, magic, mythology, nature, photography, scotland, Skye, spiritual | 50 Comments

Clouds over Skye

Posted on May 24, 2014 by greenmackenzie

The rain and clouds had gathered early in the morning, and the day had threatened to be grey and dark. However, here on the tip of Skye, even this dim cloud filtered light seemed to shimmer. Surrounded by soft light and rolling waves the wilderness of the ocean washed up in full drama on this remote edge of earth. There is something very arresting about this view which makes you stop for a while, bathed in the sounds and colours of the sea, and the soft white beach.

It was the end of the day, and this spot on the shores of Loch Scavaig is well known for its beautiful photogenic sunsets. This time however I was alone, apart from the langoustine fishers unloading their catch. The flat cloud filtered light had seemed unpromising, and Elgol is a 15 mile drive along single track roads, and so no one else had come to watch. There was no dramatic red burst sunset, but the soft silver light and the lid of clouds across the Coullin made for a wonderful emotive experience. The restless waves told tales of loss and tears, of drowned swans and Viking shipwrecks, of sailors lost to the sea. A mother stood where I sat, day after day hopelessly praying her son and husband would be returned to her arms. Only the seals and their tearless deep eyes looked back blankly.

You can find yourself in all this space if you’re only willing to pause and look. The mountains and the waves can unweave knots which have gathered deep in your soul. Everything can find perspective and scale among all this majestic drama. Just breathe and watch and wait….

Posted in elemental, nature photo, spiritual | Tagged clouds, coastal, Coullin, Elgol, nature, photography, scotland, sea, Skye | 44 Comments

Sun Stars

Posted on May 20, 2014 by greenmackenzie

It was the end of another beautiful Scottish day, and the waves lapped lazily in soft sights onto the beach. They could hardly summon the energy to move even the tiny white shells which lay in drifts across the pale sand. The air was perfectly still and clear, carrying the sounds of a distant cuckoo and the warm buzz of nectar drunk bees. As the sun began to soften and relax into the west, the restless waves carried golden sun stars across the Inner Sound, all the way to our waiting feet.

As the day slid slowly and inevitably into night, the sun tried to outdo the beauty of the approaching night sky, throwing her own stars in a glittering trail across the waves. If you walked star by star along her path, you might reach the land of youth, Tir na nOg, where beauty never fades. Out across the clouds of Manannan, with the kelp trees and salmon cows of the otherworld rolling on beneath your feet. Pearls gleaming like apples on the the silver boughs which sway, in a sky filled with sea trout birds. But it’s no place for the living, a place of enchantment and inspiration best visited only briefly, before returning on sighing, star speckled waves to the shore of here and now.

Posted in art, Celtic, mythology, relaxation | Tagged golden hour, magic, myth, photography, scotland, Skye, spiritual, Tir na nOg, waves | 40 Comments

Bog Art

Posted on May 17, 2014 by greenmackenzie

As we all know, nature paints the most beautiful pictures using clouds, earth and water. Here gazing west across the Inner Sound, the waves and sun filled breeze have inspired reflections between the earth and the sky. Natures art is elevated to whole new levels in this creative space. Patiently she grew these soft whimsical tufts of bog cotton, and then reflected them by weaving cotton wool clouds in drifting lines across an azure sky. Tugged by a warm sun filled breeze the cotton balls sway, inviting closer inspection, like a trail of little fairy flags.

Don’t be tempted though, these cute bobbing hare tails mark wet shifting earth which will try to hold you fast and claim you as her own. The white shimmering flags lead to watery otherworldly paths, luring you past the point of return, deep into the peat bog. Look but be careful of getting too close, unless you know the way.

Skye shimmers like a dream across the waves, and the bog cotton art is brushed by Atlantic whispers. The low light of the setting sun fills the tufts like little laterns, and by moon light they glow and wink beneath the stars. Earth and sky reflecting each other in perfect masterpieces.

Find more ‘Art’ at the WP weekly photo challenge.

For the fact lovers among you, the seeds and stems are edible, and an astringent medicine can be extracted from the roots and leaves. The cotton tufts themselves have been used to make paper, candle wicks and wound dressings. Bog Cotton is found growing wild all across the northern hemisphere, where soil is wet and acidic, and I’ve been attracted to it since I was a small girl. I have lost the odd Wellington boot to the bog and her beautiful art over the years!

Posted in art, elemental, weekly photo challenge | Tagged art, Bog Cotton, landscape, nature, photography, postaday, scotland, travel | 53 Comments

Down the Mountain

Posted on May 16, 2014 by greenmackenzie

Come with me on a tumble from the dark jagged peaks of Bla Bheinn (Blaven) down to the soft grassy shores of Loch Slapin, on the far south west of the Isle of Skye. Sheets of dolerite encased in gabbro, speckled with basalt dykes create a distinctly dramatic Munroe. The stone itself confuses compasses, the mountains way of keeping us awake. You need to be good at reading the sun and a map when you cross these rocks which lie on the very east of the Coullin. As sharp as razors these peaks can create their own weather, wrapping clouds into swirling rain in the blink of an eye, before parting into glorious sun.

The Blue Mountain chisels through the land, offering drama and crumbling rocks. From the wind whipped peaks, pieces crack and tumble down towards the lower slopes. This rock dust is highly fertile, and where it gathers in gullies and cracks, nature flourishes vibrant and green.

Bog Myrtle, Heather and Bog Cotton clothe the less sharp slopes, as we tumble down over the high pastures of the loch side. Sun drenched and rain drenched a carpet of plants has taken root here for millennia, in the shadow of the high rocks.

Hidden in the cracks, crystal clear water tumbles from high mountain springs. Gathering volume and losing speed it pours over water smoothed boulders, singing tales of heroes and beautiful princesses. The trees cluster over the stream whispering secrets and stories of what has passed beneath their boughs. The wind softens and the earth throws tender ferns and leaves skywards, in this hushed glen.

Soft lichen and moss gathers in the stillness, filling the trees with soft green clouds, perfect for lining nests. The trees are full to bursting with a choir of Gaelic birds, and the soft magic of the low slopes soothes away any cares.

Here in the moss filled woods trees have stood for longer than even our ancestors memories. Cloaked in softness you might come to rest for a while beneath the wise trees of Bla Bheinn, and it would not be time wasted.

For those who like facts, Blaven’s Gaelic name is Blà Bheinn, the ‘bh’ representing the letter ‘v’ which is not present in the Gaelic alphabet. The meaning of the name is confused and variously documented as ‘blue mountain’, ‘warm mountain’, ‘sunny mountain’, ‘mount of the blast’ or ‘hill of bloom’, but the locals all call it the blue mountain.

Blaven is one of the Isle of Skye’s twelve Munros – a Scottish mountain over 3,000 feet (914.4m) in height – and is the east most peak of the Black Cuillin. Separated from the main Cuillin range by Glen Sligachan, it is the highest of the surrounding mountains at 928m (3,044 feet). Just so you know, you should always refer to ‘The Cuillin’ (singular) and never ‘The Cuillins.’