The Taibhsear Collective
What is a Taibhsear?
The title Taibhsear (pronounced tive’sher) is given to people who have dà-shealladah, the second sight, which enables them to see spirits. It literally translates as ‘ghost seer.’ Taibhsear is not something you would call yourself, but a title earned within the community. Taibhsears could see the worlds of both the dead and the living. With this came visions, such as premonitions of people who would soon die. Interpreting these visions and managing the ability to see them required great skill in order to avoid becoming taibhsearan (spectre haunted).
The Taibhsear Collective was established in 2017.
Amanda says:
“I got chatting with Scott Richardson Read under a corvid-clad sky. As the crows circled we talked about common interests and shared passions, soon after the Taibhsear Collective was created to celebrate, promote, conserve and advocate for Scottish folk traditions, customs, and practices, whilst allowing for organic growth and gentle shifting.”
Winter’s Last 2021, Image Keiran Milne.
The intention of the collective was to think of Scottish folk traditions, creative arts, and academia as being in a relationship with the common – that is, in the realm of community and the people who live this culture. Seeing their role in this relationship, as exploring and sharing the ways in which Scottish folk traditions bring diverse communities together to celebrate, conserve, and experiment with the organically changing connections. They felt that through this confluence we are able to find new ways of expression and provide a platform for important conversations and experimentations to take place.
Scottish folk traditions are as diverse as the people who experience them. When we speak of folk traditions we mean, song, dance, art, storytelling, history, oral culture, customs, and the various family traditions and languages that stem from and give rise to them.
Scottish folk traditions impact on the way we move and interact with space and the landscape we inhabit, our identity as Scottish, and Scottishness in a more global sense. They give us a voice to be heard through and to retell periods of history and localised culture to wider audiences and allow us to collectively speak to the community. They also offer points of challenge as cultures change. How new thinking intersects with older ways is a vital and ongoing conversation that we aim to be an actively listening and contributing part of
The Taibhsear Collective originally came together in 2018 to make Tales of the Taibhsear, an album of stories and songs based on Scottish witch trial records and the 18th century collecting work of James MacKenzie. The Collective was at that point formed of Amanda Edmiston (Botanica Fabula), author and researcher Scott Richardson-Read of The Cailleach’s Herbarium and musician Debbie Armour (Burd Ellen) who are all passionate about Scottish folk magic and community traditions.
The album featured original artwork by Scottish artist Julia Jeffrey.
Released on 31st October 2018, the album was intended to bring back some of the old Scottish folk magic traditions encoded into story and song. Just like they used to be. The album is based on traditional Gaelic charms and Ranns and information from 17th century with trials and old manuscripts with additional input from the Tobar an Dualchais archive and knowledge of Scottish storytelling paths and archetypes.
These sources were artfully woven together to provide the listener with a journey through Scottish folk magic. If you listen carefully and with "craeft" you should be able to recreate the folk magic charms.
All foley sounds and sound effects were recorded at sacred sites in Scotland.
Tales of the Taibhsear
When their Kickstarter campaign for Tales of the Taibhsear raised more than three times its target, the extra funds were used to organise their first event exploring magic and traditions, Dreaming Bread and Skyrie Stanes, at the Scottish Storytelling Centre in 2018.
The Kickstarter money and donations raised at the event were also used to found The Woven Land Network, a charity which aims to protect and conserve Scottish heritage sites.
The collective went on to have two more successful weekend long interdisciplinary events ‘Skeklers’ in 2019 and Winter’s Last in 2021, the latter hosted over 40 practitioners and with funding support from creative Scotland, took a three day live event entirely online, with great feedback from over 140 international participants in the face of last minute changes and Covid restrictions.
Many of the speakers consented to having their talks recorded for posterity and these can be accessed via The Cailleach’s Herbarium platforms
“Edmiston has an inimitable, often humorous, and compelling performance style...a notable, and increasingly influential, figure in Scottish folklore”
Scottish Folklore and Community Traditions continue to be an integral part of Amanda’s work and curated elements from her research and workshops with The Taibhsear Collective can be found threaded through her practice.
