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this alder had twisted trunks that fused and then split again

Ancient Ballachulish Goddess from Scotland.

Ballachulish is a small seaside village in the Scottish Highlands where this figure known as the Ballachulish Goddess was found. She is now in the National Museum in Edinburgh.

She is a figure carved from a single alder tree with stones for eyes and was dug up from the peat in Ballachulish and found with a stand of woven branches like the ones behind her. She may have been the Cailleach as this mountain was near where she stood looking out to the straits of Loch Linnhe.

#ballachulishgoddess #ancestors alive!#what is remembered lives #memory & spirit of place #ancient ways #sacred ways #folkways #Cailleach #goddess #scotland #highlands #alder tree #carving #Loch Linnhe

Yesterday I went for a walk along the waterfront trail in Warrenton, OR. One of my favorite things to see there is this rather old red alder tree (Alnus rubra). Red alders are a pioneer species and are very often among the first trees to populate a disturbed area of land, taking advantage of vast swaths of open sunlight. However, they are very much a "live fast, die young" sort of tree, and rarely get more than a century old.

Since most alders grow in large thickets around here, they tend to be rather skinny and don't get to spread out much. This one, on the other hand, had some space to itself and has become a rather impressive tree. I don't get to see very many red alders with this sort of profile, so it's always a treat when I visit this trail.