My logo, three figures – honours the keening woman. Not just the keening woman who know from Irish and Scottish sources, but all women throughout history, who were versed in lamenting, and knew how to sing the soul home.
The women that stepped into these roles in Scotland knew death differently, each era having very different views on death and dying, and what lay beyond.
At Clad Hallan on South Uist, Bronze Age people people practiced an intriguing form of ancestor veneration. They assembled a skeleton from the bones of different individuals, creating a composite ancestor. These bodies were first mummified in peat bogs, preserved by the land. Amazingly, science revels that after preservation, these bodies were kept alongside the living for several decades.
Scottish Death Goddess
Excarnation was another form of processing the dead, which was done naturally or in some cases by human hand.
At the Tomb of the Eagles in South Ronaldsay, bodies were left out for the great goddess of death in her bird form. As she fed on the flesh of the body, she was also performing a rebirth, in giving soul safe passage to the otherworld. While in Europe she took the role of the vulture, in Scotland she took the form of the white tailed sea eagle, and even the great black backed seagull.
Some stories of the Ancestral Mothers of Scotland are interwoven with these stories. Dolls are a way of exploring different attitudes to death and considering the role of women involved in these rituals.
Dolls also offer way to explore feelings around grief and dying. Some of the oldest dolls (or figurines), such as the Woman of Hohle Fels, was created over 35,000 years old. What beliefs did those who carved her have of life and death. Did they live in matrifocal society, honouring the great mother? Did they live lives that were always connected to her, returning to her in death.
How did we stray so far from those beliefs? That is the story of patriarchy , a story which gave rise to grief-phobic, death-denying cultures which are disconnected from nature. These beleifs would have been incomprehensible to our oldest ancestors.
Ancestral Mothers. L-R, painting by J Lally, Woman of Mal’ta (Siberia), Woman Hohle Fels, art assemblage.
An Ancient Linage
As a doll maker, I see myself as part of an ancient linage, stretching back to those that created Woman of Willendorf and the clay figurines from Dolní Věstonice. This is a living linage. The materials have changed, beliefs have changed, but the invitation remains to use doll making to explore birth, death and every emotion in-between.
For every figurine that survived, imagine the thousands upon thousands that did not, poppets created from stone and bone, sinew and dried grass, bird skulls and feathers. Each one embedded with prayers and petitions, gratitudes or pleading prayers. Imagine these creations made together, place in ritual, then scattered by the wind, dismembered by rain, dissolving back into their elements.
Their intentions released, whispered to the wind, cried into the soil, each message finding its way to the Great Mother, piece by piece, part by part.
Keening Dolls Course
My dolls continue this ancient story, created through weaving prayer and intention, and the remembering that we are a breathing, thinking and feeling part of nature.
Late autumn/winter of 2025 I am offering a doll making journey, making three dolls to explore grief.
Clay Figurine
A figurine inspired by dolls made in both the pre-patriarchal times and the Neolithic. A doll which speaks to a to way of lifeclosely integrated to earth, there was no separation. What symbols will they hold, and what stories will they tell?
Straw Doll
A doll is made from dried grasses, sticks, bark and other natural materials. This is a doll which speaks to eco-grief, our lament of the collapse of climate systems. Iy speaks to climate migrants - human, bird, animal and insect. It explores the loss of biodiversity, a word which means the lives of animals, plants, insects and the soil itself. This doll aks us to remember that we are nature.
Poppet
This is a doll which speaks to your personal grief. A grief which our culture states you should get over within a set period otherwise it views it as a mental disorder, rather than a natural process. This is a doll to explore the fgrief you carry, giving it shape, voice and presence.
How Will This Course Work
Doll making instructions. Online doll making instructions. You follow along creating your doll in your own time
Zoom gatherings
A guided story which helps bring part of your dolls story alive
Time to write down insights and if you’d like to, share them with the group
A conversation around what came up for you when making the doll (even if you’re still preparing to make her), your thoughts, inspirations
Sharing ideas around your doll, the deeper meaning behind
Workbook A workbook will guiding you through your doll making rituals, offering pauses to record your insights, feelings and inspirations
Join the Keening Doll Course Waitlist
This is more than just another online craft course. It’s an expressive grief ritual, offering space for conversations. Join the list to be notified when registration opens