Watch the Recording:
The Tides of Grief & Love
A Return to Keening
Soulful listening with elders of the keening traditions of Scotland & Ireland
Recorded on Saturday, 5th September, 2026.
Continue learning with us in this upcoming course:
Keening
An 8-week experiential journey and educational course into the Keening traditions of Scotland & Ireland
Our Guest Guides
Phyllida Anam-Áire
Phyllida Anam-Áire is an 83 year old Irish grandmother. She comes from an ancestral line of deep trauma. After boarding school in the 60s, Phyllida trained in Montessori, and then entered a convent. Her study in Theology and doctrine taught her a lot; not about God, but about dysfunctional patriarchal indoctrination.
Having finished her studies in humanistic psychology, Phyllida trained and worked for ten years with Elisabeth Kübler -Ross MD. After ten years working with Celtic Consciousness in Germany, she moved to Edinburgh to be with her son and grandchildren. Phyllida still shares her “Teachings from the Cauldron”, which is a combination of humanistic psychology and Spiritual wisdom.
Mary McLaughlin
Dr. Mary McLaughlin is internationally known for her knowledge of the ancestral Keening practice in Ireland. An acclaimed singer who has released five albums (one on Sony Music) and has had over a million hits on Spotify, she combines her artistry with an academic approach to the Keen, grounding it in its history and context.
She has released four solo albums and two teaching books, sang the theme song for the PBS special about the Titanic, ‘Lost Liners’, contributed to 13 compilation albums on major labels and had two albums, ‘A Gaelic Christmas’ and “Sacred Days, Mythic Ways’ nominated for the international JPF Indie awards.
Her biggest recording successes were as the singer leading off the hugely popular Narada / EMI hit ‘Celtic Voices’ (1995) where she sang three songs including ‘Sealwoman’ which she composed over a traditional Scottish chant, and ‘Celtic Requiem’ (Windham Hill / Sony – 1998) on which she collaborated with William Coulter. The songs on ‘Celtic Voices’ had originally been recorded for the ‘Daughter of Lir’ album (1991/93/98), by the internationally acclaimed Jon Jacobs, famous for his work with Paul McCartney, the Divine Comedy and many others.
Mary is currently planning her next recording adventure which will probably be attached to the book she is now writing on the Keen and the World of Faerie.
Madge Bray
Born into a Scottish Highland family of village musicians, poets and storytellers, Madge Bray worked internationally in the field of childhood trauma, pioneering approaches to trauma resolution. Exploration of the sounds of dissonance in human suffering led her to Georgian polyphony and ultimately to cultural retrieval of music as a container for grief within her own Scots Tradition – and the unfolding of a deeper journey into lamentation and keening.
Our Hostesses
FOUNDERESS, WEAVING REMEMBRANCE
Hanna Leigh
Hanna Leigh is a Singer-Songwriter, Voice Doula, Weaver, and Devotee of this precious, living Earth. She was raised in California (Chumash territory) though in recent years has spent extensive time residing on ancestral lands in the Celtic isles. Her people migrated to the U.S. several generations ago from England, Scotland, Norway, Germany and the Netherlands.
This organization, Weaving Remembrance, was birthed through her own passion to reclaim ancestral wisdom and grow in intimate reciprocity with this miraculous earth that sustains us.
COURSE CO-CREATOR
Lana Lanaia
Welcome, I’m Lana Lanaia. I live in the Scottish Highlands, and my lineage is woven through many lands.
I am musician, and facilitator of retreats, ritual & healing spaces. I have been studying and working with earth wisdom traditions and sound healing for over 25 years.
I have a deep love for these holy Isles of Albion, her ancient places & wisdom. I have spent many years journeying to sacred sites, living in wild places, questing and communing with the land, sea & sky.
I am passionate about re-awakening the ancient, living wisdom within our hearts and lands; weaving remembrance that we are all children of the Earth.