Other Origins: Similar faeries are in other Celtic countries.
Other Names: The Blue Hag, Black Annis, the Stone Woman.
Element: Water.
Appearance and Temperament: The Cailleac Bhuer (Call-y'ac v'fhoor) is one of a kind. She is an old woman who walks by night carrying her walking stick, her carrion crow on her left shoulder.
However, her reputation as dangers and ill-tempered may be a mistaken one. It is possible that this fear of her was created by the early Scottish churchmen seeking to eradicate the vestiges of the Old Religion by demonizing its Crone mythology.
Time Most Active: At night.
Lore: The word Cailleac literally means "old woman," and the Irish spelling Caillech is used when referring to the Crone Goddess.
This is from the same root as the more well-known Gaelic word for a young girl, Caillin (Colleen).
There is only one Cailleac Bhuer, and she is probably a vestige of the old Crone Goddess of the Celts. She is depicted as wearing either black or blue-white tattered garments and is intimately associated with the winter season.
She is said to dwell in a land which is always in winter - another likeness to the Crone Goddess. Her power is greatest from Samhain to Ostara, at which time it wanes considerably.
She carries a staff made of holly topped with the head of a carrion crow, another symbol of the Crone.
If one is touched by it, it kills instantly. Scottish legends says that the staff is buried under a tree for summer and retrieved again after Samhain night.
If one can find that staff they will have power over the destiny of all human life.
In modern Scotland, Cailleac Bhuer is more commonly called by her English name, the Blue Hag. She still walks alone through the Highlands at night where she is greatly feard.
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