Flower Moon: Wildflowers, Witch Hunts and a Living Memorial for Scotland’s Accused Witches
A Flower Moon reflection on wildflowers, witch hunts and the Pockets of Love project – building a living memorial. Support the fundraiser.
We’ve had wonderful sunny weather this past couple of weeks, and it’s been a joy to get outside and meet my old friends – Celandine, Wild Garlic, Speedwell, Alkanet, Red Campion… I could keep going. The more I pay attention to the wild plants that grow around me, in my garden, in the streets around me, the woods and by the beach, the more I come to feel they are my friends.
Whenever I travel away from home, it’s such a joy to see them in whichever place that I have landed. Last year I travelled to the Isle of Lewis and was greeted at our AirBnB by Yarrow at the door! Doubly fantastic, because I had a migraine and Yarrow tea is pain relieving.
The flower moon is named for the abundance of flowers that appear in May, both in the Celtic world and by the Algonquin people of the North Eastern United States.
One of the features of the Pockets of Love is that all the Pockets will be embroidered with wildflowers, each flower symbolising the uniqueness and humanity of the woman who was accused of witch craft. I am struck by the way that labels can be used to hurt and harm people as well as uplift us and create solidarity. Labelling plants as weeds, we can remove them – indeed if we own a garden we are expected to. In the same way women who were labelled as Witches during the Scottish witch hunts were removed from their gardens, their families and their communities. As an Eco-Feminist, I believe that the way we treat the Earth is reflected in the way that we treat women and vice versa.
What does it mean to you, to weed your garden (if you have one)? What does it mean to you when the council sprays weedkiller over the pavements, and strims the roadside verges? Why are these practices so accepted in the UK? So many of us have lost our connection with the Earth and with the wild plants that grow all around us, we don’t know which ones are good to eat, which ones can relieve pain or stop a wound from bleeding.
A living memorial: the Pockets of Love project
One of the overriding aims for the Pockets of Love project is to develop connection – with the earth, with the wildflowers that grow all around us; with our history and the six generations of women who were lost during the Scottish Witch Hunts; and with each other. The same misogynist narratives that drove the Scottish Witch Hunts are circulating again since the re-emergence of openly misogynist leadership in global politics. We need each other at this time, and we need to come together to create something beautiful and positive, a way to say that women’s lives matter and that violence against women must end. It is time to act. It is time to form alliances and find each other again.
The project can only grow through people choosing to take part. You can get involved directly now, by supporting the fundraiser that I’ve created on Ko-Fi. Pockets of Love is currently in the Pilot Phase and I am currently running Pilot Groups in West Kilbride and the Isle of Lewis, but there is a lot of work to be done before the project can be launched to the public. This fundraiser will fund the design work – the names, wildflowers and patterns – that will allow communities across Scotland to stitch their own pockets for the accused women of their communities.
If you’d like to support us, head over to Ko-Fi and make a donation. I love giving gifts, so supporters in each tier of the fundraiser will receive a gift from me that directly connects to the development of the Pockets of Love project. The tiers are all named after wildflowers – of course!
How you can take part…
Here are the ways you can take part, depending on what feels right to you:
£20 – Wild Strawberry
A digital illustrated zine sharing the history of the project and the women it commemorates, along with a personal thank you.
£50 – Heather
Includes the zine, a printable thank you card, and your name added to the Pockets of Love Supporters Record — a permanent record of your part in this memorial.
£100 – Buttercup
Includes all of the above, plus a printable artwork: a name of your choosing, rendered in the custom font used on the pockets — designed to be printed and kept.
£250 – Red Campion
Includes all of the above, plus a signed original print from my wider artistic practice, posted to you.
£500 – Celandine (limited to 5)
Includes all of the above, plus a unique, one-of-a-kind original artwork, created as part of my wider practice and posted to you.
So what happens next?
Donations are what make this work possible, each one helps bring the designs and resources into being. You can donate on Ko-Fi click here
If you’re not able to contribute financially, sharing the project is another powerful way to support it – talk about it with your friends, or share on social media. I’m currently running a 27 Days in the Studio challenge for Pockets of Love, so there’s plenty of posts to like and share, plus you get a glimpse into my studio and what I’m working on.
If you’d like to receive these letters by email each full moon, you can sign up here…
