{"title":"Books by Stuart McHardy","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9781913025151","title":"On the Trail of Scotland's Myths and Legends","description":"\u003cp\u003eA book about Scotland drawn from hundreds, if not thousands, of stories. From the oral traditions of the Scots, Gaelic and Norse speakers of the pat, it presents a new picture of who the Scottish are and where they come from. The stories are hilarious, tragic, heroic or frightening.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43127999758514,"sku":"9781913025151","price":8.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781913025151_95016a2b-25b2-4126-b818-947598d70e79.jpg?v=1786035098"},{"product_id":"9781804251652","title":"Scotland's Sacred Goddess","description":"In Scotland’s Sacred Goddess: Hidden in Plain Sight, Stuart McHardy delves into the rich tapestry of pre-Christian Scottish belief, uncovering the enduring presence of ancient mythology in today’s landscape. Long before the arrival of Christian monks, the Scots revered a pantheon of deities, with the Cailleach Goddess at its heart.   McHardy skilfully weaves together ancient oral traditions, place names, archaeology, local folklore and the shapes of the land itself to reveal the lingering echoes of these ancient beliefs. He traces how the stories of witches, the Devil and other supernatural beings reflect truly ancient traditions, highlighting a powerful feminine force understood as central to creation and understanding the world.   This book explores how ancient stories, though transformed over millennia, continue to influence Scotland’s cultural and physical landscape, offering a fresh perspective on how ancient myths and the sacred feminine still in the modern world. McHardy’s work is a profound testament to the enduring legacy of Scotland’s sacred goddess.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44583165296818,"sku":"9781804251652","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781804251652_53583f3b-0ac5-45e0-bf87-3ab3061ebb02.jpg?v=1786034693"},{"product_id":"9781842820124","title":"The Quest for Arthur","description":"\u003cp\u003eKing Arthur of Camelot and the Knights of the Round Table are enduring romantic figures. A national hero for the Bretons, the Welsh and the English alike Arthur is a potent figure for many. This quest leads to a radical new knowledge of the ancient myth. Historian, storyteller and folklorist Stuart McHardy believes he has uncovered the origins of this inspirational figure, the true Arthur. He incorporates knowledge of folklore and placename studies with an archaeological understanding of the 6th century. Combining knowledge of the earliest records and histories of Arthur with an awareness of the importance of oral traditions, this quest leads to the discovery that the enigmatic origins of Arthur lie not in Brittany or England or Wales. Instead they lie in that magic land the ancient Welsh called Y Gogledd, the North; the North of Britain which we now call - Scotland.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56308274921845,"sku":"9781842820124","price":16.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781842820124_c20a9d8e-4f8a-4423-90e2-8c07f30aab22.jpg?v=1786028614"},{"product_id":"9781804250914","title":"The Nine Maidens","description":"\u003cp\u003eWhether as the mothers of the Norse God Heimdall, Morgan and her sisters on Avalon, the nine sisters at the heart of the founding myth of the Gikuyu of Kenya, or witches battling with the Irish St Patrick, stories of nine women, often attending a goddess or linked to a heroic or divine male, exist across much of our world. Triggered by a local story still told in his native Dundee, Stuart McHardy has traced what seems to be memories of groups of nine women, most likely some kind of priestesses, across much of Europe and as far as Siberia, Korea, India and Africa. Whether as Pictish saints, Muses, Valkyries, Druidesses or witches, the tales of these groups of nine women transcend a vast range of cultural and linguistic boundaries. The painting of nine women dancing round a priapic male in a Catalonian cave painting over fifteen thousand years old suggests these groups may well have been one of the oldest cultural institutions humanity has known.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56312968118645,"sku":"9781804250914","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781804250914_d63acad6-ee52-4bc8-95be-12f47b566217.jpg?v=1786027253"},{"product_id":"9781804251584","title":"The Stones of the Ancestors","description":"\u003cp\u003eScattered throughout Western Europe are the enigmatic monumental remains of the Neolithic and Bronze Ages. The most famous of these is undoubtedly Stonehenge in the south of England, however, thousands of burial cairns, stone circles, standing stones and rock carvings are found in other parts of the British Isles. For the past 30 years I have been surveying these monuments in Scotland to try and understand what their solar and lunar orientations might have meant in the beliefs of our ancient ancestors.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56312968380789,"sku":"9781804251584","price":16.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781804251584_56352326-9414-4a2e-b8a1-84db1ce99753.jpg?v=1786034691"},{"product_id":"new-history-of-the-picts-a","title":"A New History of the Picts","description":"When the Romans came north to what is now modern Scotland they encountered the fierce and proud warrior society known as the Picts, who despite their lack of discipline and arms, managed to prevent the undefeated Roman Army from conquering the northern part of Britain, just as they later repulsed the Angles and the Vikings. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eA New History of the Picts\u003c\/em\u003e is an accessible true history of the Picts, who are so often misunderstood. New historical analysis, recently discovered evidence and an innovative Scottish perspective will expose long held assumptions about the native people. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis controversial text contests that Scottish history has long since been dominated and distorted by misleading perspectives. \u003cem\u003eA New History of the Picts\u003c\/em\u003e discredits the idea that the Picts were a strange historical anomaly and shows them to be the descendants of the original inhabitants of the land, living in a series of loose tribal confederations gradually brought together by external forces to create one of the earliest states in Europe: a people, who after repulsing all invaders, merged with their cousins, the Scots of Argyll, to create modern Scotland. All of Scotland descends from the fierce Picts.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57490068111733,"sku":"9781906817701","price":8.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781906817701.jpg?v=1786441962"}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/author-stuart-mchardy.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}