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| Sarah Pearl Tweedy circa 1905 |
The phenomenon of Second sight has fascinated me for many years. I was exposed to the Second Sight early in my life, before I even knew what it was. My grandmother had the Second Sight. She was Sarah Pearl McCain née Tweedy, born in Carbondale, in southern Illinois, in 1883. She passed away in 1962, when I was only twelve years old, but I was close to her and despite her passing when I was young, I remember her countenance and personality well. I also remember she had a unique quality to her; it is hard to describe in words, other than to say she had an other world quality.
I found out about her Second Sight through a child's eyes and ears. I heard her friends and relatives talk about it and tell stories. She never mentioned it to me. She had a strong case of it one could say. She 'saw' things and had experience that exist in a world that is not well understood by our sciences.
The Second Sight is so called because normal vision was regarded as coming first, and with certain individuals a supernormal vision developed. The Gaelic term is An Da Shealladh which means "the two sights," meaning normal sight and the sight of the seer. There are many Gaelic words for the various aspects of second sight, but An Da Shealladh is the one mostly recognized by non Gaidhlig speakers, even though, strictly speaking, it does not really mean second sight.
Simply put, Second sight is a form of extrasensory perception, the ability to perceive things that are not present to the senses, whereby a person perceives information, in the form of a vision, about future events or events at remote locations. Other manifestations include knowing things about a person just by meeting them, such as their true nature and history, or sometimes by perceiving this by merely handling an object that the person owns. In popular culture it is also called 'the sixth sense.'
The Second Sight happens in several peoples and cultures, but it is in Scotland perhaps that it is most recognized and studied. My grandmother's Tweedy family originated in Scotland and migrated to Ireland very early in the 1600s or even late in the 1500s. In Scotland, the Tweedys had a penchant for getting into feuds that resulted in legal issues and even their surname was proscribed at one time. Migration from Scotland to Ireland and other parts of the Isles was an often used path for them to 'get out of town.' I have found records of them in the 1620s with a group of native Irish in County Cavan and being listed as 'Irish.' This means the clerk thought them born in Ireland. I know many of the Tweedys spoke Irish and were often Protestant and in the Established Church (the Church of Ireland, i.e. Anglicans).
Her family migrated to the English Colonies in the late 1600s, oral history remembers the place of entry as Rhode Island. The Tweedys migrated to the Carolinas in the early 1700s. They were what popular history likes to call Scots-Irish. They were an adventurous family as several of them were in Daniel Boone's party that crossed the Cumberland Gap in the 1770s. Their history is one of trailblazing adventures, ferocious battles with Indians, and eventually settling in southern Illinois by 1805. That area was very dangerous and very few white people lived there at that time. Hostile Indians were very active and their family records has accounts of Indian raids and several brutal deaths to members of the extended family.
As an adult my research discovered that the Second Sight runs in their family. This is not unusual and Scottish families with the Second Sight often report it as an inherited trait. I found records of a Tweedy woman that had been accused of witchcraft in the mid 1600s. I do not know if the woman was a relation to my grandmother's family, but it is very possible. In the mid 1600s people with the Second Sight were sometimes accused of witchcraft and brought to trial. Such was the case of the poor Tweedy woman whose records I read. She was arrested and a trial held. I found the record of the trail, her charges, and also found the brutal method with which she was interrogated. It involved a government paid witch hunter. He would ask questions and then stick her with long metal needles, about the size of a small knitting needle. If the wound bled it meant she was telling the truth, if it did not bleed, this indicated a lie. Yes, I know what you all are thinking, that is insane. She was found guilty and did not survive the ordeal.
Her family migrated to the English Colonies in the late 1600s, oral history remembers the place of entry as Rhode Island. The Tweedys migrated to the Carolinas in the early 1700s. They were what popular history likes to call Scots-Irish. They were an adventurous family as several of them were in Daniel Boone's party that crossed the Cumberland Gap in the 1770s. Their history is one of trailblazing adventures, ferocious battles with Indians, and eventually settling in southern Illinois by 1805. That area was very dangerous and very few white people lived there at that time. Hostile Indians were very active and their family records has accounts of Indian raids and several brutal deaths to members of the extended family.
As an adult my research discovered that the Second Sight runs in their family. This is not unusual and Scottish families with the Second Sight often report it as an inherited trait. I found records of a Tweedy woman that had been accused of witchcraft in the mid 1600s. I do not know if the woman was a relation to my grandmother's family, but it is very possible. In the mid 1600s people with the Second Sight were sometimes accused of witchcraft and brought to trial. Such was the case of the poor Tweedy woman whose records I read. She was arrested and a trial held. I found the record of the trail, her charges, and also found the brutal method with which she was interrogated. It involved a government paid witch hunter. He would ask questions and then stick her with long metal needles, about the size of a small knitting needle. If the wound bled it meant she was telling the truth, if it did not bleed, this indicated a lie. Yes, I know what you all are thinking, that is insane. She was found guilty and did not survive the ordeal.
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| 17th Century witch pricking needles |
In my work and travels I have discovered many accounts of families that have the Second Sight, particularly in the Southern Uplands and Backsettlments. It was a normal aspect of Scots-Irish culture well into the 1900s and even today it is known. When you read the literature written on the Scots-Irish in their traditional homelands the phenomenon of Second Sight or 'Seers' is a common theme. 'Seer' was a common term for people with the Second Sight in the Uplands from the Ozarks to the Appalachians. I am researching Scots-Irish families that have a tradition of the Second Sight for a new writing project now.
I am collecting stories from Scots-Irish families now that have experience with the Second Sight, have old tales of it in their family, etc. So, anyone reading this who has a story, do please contact me, I would love to hear your Second Sight experiences.
I am collecting stories from Scots-Irish families now that have experience with the Second Sight, have old tales of it in their family, etc. So, anyone reading this who has a story, do please contact me, I would love to hear your Second Sight experiences.
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| Sarah Pearl Tweedy circa late 1800s |
210 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 210 of 210Hello all,
Loved the blog as it seems to be a place of Celtic Scots gifted with "Da Shealladh", though unique feature, it is associated even with other cultures. I am an Indian researcher and have taken historical Lady Macbeth(not the one scripted under Shakespeare's fantastic imagination) for my research and feel fortunate to know the real person that Gruoch Inghean Bodhe mac Cineadh mhic Dubh might have been; so much different than the one circulated through dramatic version of the Bard of Avon. My research is on gender role of Celtic women which was comparatively different than Romanic and Anglo-Saxon women who were under the rigid and strict vigilance of Roman Church. I specifically wish to know more about seers and witches during this era. I understand that men as well as women could be prophets and witches(wizards), unlike the later era i.e. after James became a King and witchery was considered as a punishable crime wherein anyone with the label of witch received the harshest punishment.
I believe that during Macbethian Scotland, the culture was more Celtic and thus magicians, seers and witches were not looked down with contempt, but were consulted by the elite warlords as well as common folks.
Can anyone help me with written sources (books or online sources) wherein I can get information related to these respected intelligentsia who were maybe feared for their supernatural or otherworldly power, but surely were not hated and punished for their innate gift? If any of you gifted with the second sight can enlighten me with the past situation, especially during the century(Macbethian) when Celts were not so much under the cultural impact of Romanic Church and retained their individuality by respecting their cultural heritage; the century when seers and witches were as integral part of Scottish culture as were the warriors, I will be truly honored. Also I wish to know if a person could be a seer as well as a witch? i.e. if s/he is gifted with innate power of the second sight can that person also to a certain extent with charms and magic make things favorable to the visitor seeking help? I have read about the raven banner woven by the Irish mother of Sigurd Hodvirsson which was considered as truly powerful during the battles that Sigurd fought.
Jaishree
Interesting article. My father was from Scotland and had an Irish gt grandmother. His own mother would read palms and tell fortunes. In fact, some mornings there was people lining up at her door for some psychic readings. She also read embers in the flames. Fast forward to my father who would recount all the unusual things that happened to him throughout his life that he had no answer for (what we would call today as paranormal), he later became a medium giving out clairvoyance on the platform. His gifts and my grannie's gifts have passed to the descendants, I occasionally see ghosts and know when things are about to happen. I dreamt 9/11 before it happened, in fact, the day before. My daughter also has been gifted with second sight. I have since traced my family tree on my father's side it goes way back to the Vikings and Orkney Islands and Norway, Sweden and Iceland. The Irish side is from Ulster and we have an ancient surname which is Irish.
Yes, it runs in my family too. Seems to come out in firstborn daughters. I and a cousin have it. Not an appealing gift, and a nervous personality seems to come with it. Perhaps it was the little extra something that kept your family from starving to death. Grandmother had some of it.
I have it. It’s seems to have come from my maternal line. Myself, my mom, grandmother and great-grandmother (Patterson-Graham) she came on a boat from Glasgow at the turn of the 20th century. My daughter has it now as well. We are so strongly in tune with one another that we often project random thoughts to each other unintentionally. We will think of each other and the phone will ring and it’s the one we are thinking of. Dreams that come true. Strong gut instincts. Most recently it has been clear that someone is protecting us from harm. Meaning, we are having “last minute changes” that have resulted in us being saved from deadly situations that would have occurred had we proceeded according to original plans. My Genetics tested 58% Scott’s-Irish.
I have it. It’s seems to have come from my maternal line. Myself, my mom, grandmother and great-grandmother (Patterson-Graham) she came on a boat from Glasgow at the turn of the 20th century. My daughter has it now as well. We are so strongly in tune with one another that we often project random thoughts to each other unintentionally. We will think of each other and the phone will ring and it’s the one we are thinking of. Dreams that come true. Strong gut instincts. Most recently it has been clear that someone is protecting us from harm. Meaning, we are having “last minute changes” that have resulted in us being saved from deadly situations that would have occurred had we proceeded according to original plans. My Genetics tested 58% Scott’s-Irish.
I have it. It’s seems to have come from my maternal line. Myself, my mom, grandmother and great-grandmother (Patterson-Graham) she came on a boat from Glasgow at the turn of the 20th century. My daughter has it now as well. We are so strongly in tune with one another that we often project random thoughts to each other unintentionally. We will think of each other and the phone will ring and it’s the one we are thinking of. Dreams that come true. Strong gut instincts. Most recently it has been clear that someone is protecting us from harm. Meaning, we are having “last minute changes” that have resulted in us being saved from deadly situations that would have occurred had we proceeded according to original plans. My Genetics tested 58% Scott’s-Irish.
That's quite stunning and wonderful to hear! Are you in the U.S.?
No, we emigrated to Australia when I was 16. I lived for 17 years in Saudi Arabia. I married my husband, and he did in fact give me the 3 children I knew I would have when I was 4, 12 and 32. Second sight is greater than anything. I've no realised we are messengers of God.
Hi, I'm not Scot-Irish; just plain old 2nd generation Irish American. My grandparents came from Cork & Clare, which I'm named after. I'm the oldest of 4; I believe, in Ireland, they call it fey, or being Fey; if I've been called this once, I've been called this a million times over my life. It's not something I can control, & I'm not Sylvia Browne, a really famous medium. It's not like that. Some times, I just get a feeling. I usually have to feel close to the person, emotionally. I'm a Gemini, which are the twins. If there is a Gemini in the family, there usually is another one, very close to the first one. In the immediate family vs. an aunt, uncle, or further out . My father was my twin. When I was 16, my father accidentally burned his baggy bathrobe's sleeve while he was making coffee on an electric stove. I felt the burn & had a mark on my right arm, where it had happened to my father. I was at school half an hour away from my father; I knew when it happened. I knew when the love of my life moved out of my apt bldg.; I told him all about his parents that I had never met or ever been told about by anyone, just from holding their pictures for a few minutes. Some times, I'll feel a little burn in my head when I'm by a lottery place, where I either see a # in my head or I'll have my hand over a board of numbers, like a charity auction for an orphanage, or at bingo & I'll win. It tends to freak people out. Some times, I feel like an antenna for a tv, but for someone from the other side trying to get a msg to someone I'm physically close to. This last part is awfully hard cuz my brain feels like it has jet lag. I have to pray to God to get his angels to give me a break already. I'm not the Spiritual Audubon, for Jiminy 's Sake?!!?
It is so wonderful to read so many replies here. I have a fair bit of Scottish ancestry on both sizes, but no Stewart, that I know of. The second sight, I'm pretty sure, runs along the Daniels, which is a sept of Clan Donald. My mother and aunt both had it and spoke of it, though the family had forgotten their Scottish heritage. I was a small girl when I first learned of it. We were at my aunt's farm, and expecting her back from a delivery. She would make a large lunch to take out to the fields. My mom had a feeling. She didn't think. She just got restless and then began making the lunch. Later we learned my aunt's truck had broken down and she was late back. As I grew up and for all of my mother's life, those who knew her often said that, "the telephone ring sounded different when it was her calling." I experienced it often, and as I grew up and started to feel the sight myself, there were a couple of times when I absent-mindedly lifted the phone before it had time to ring... and it was her. I was about 13 when I had my first strong experience. I was starting a new school, after the term began. I was taken to a classroom, and my eyes were drawn to a face among the students. The counsellor asked if someone could show me around and read out my schedule, for a student who shared my schedule and could show me. A girl... not "the" girl, raised her hand. I actually said out loud, "no." The girl read out her schedule and it did not quite match. The schedule that matched mine was the one that belonged to the girl who's face drew my eyes when we first entered the room. After that I had no doubt. There have been times when the sight is very close, and sometimes more elusive.
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