The Hag and The Witch- Meeting the Cailleach

I am standing on Slieve na Callaigh in Ireland and feeling quite astonished that a windblown woman wearing an official looking uniform is offering me a torch (and to hold my bag) so that I can enter the Cairn on this particular hill of the Cailleach. The wind is fierce, there are no lines of people, no cash registers. Geoff is not far away but there are no others.

I ask her "How do you say "Cailleach" in Ireland?" (a fiercely debated question in some quarters of my life). She says "kA-lee-Achhhh"- that soft ending that the Irish do so well right at the back of the throat that I have never been able to emulate. I tell her that the women at home in Australia call me that- "Cailleach". Her eyes grow round and she says in a voice that to my hearing is a gentle acknowledgement- "Ahh!! The Witch!!" and she nods slightly to me. As I have just now come from sitting on the "Hag's Chair" right next to the Cairn I feel warmly that somehow I have been named correctly.
And I entered the inky cold blackness with the torch, and this is what I saw.

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What do we know about the Cailleach?

She is one of the ancient deities about whom stories have been word of mouth- from a time when entertainment took the form of stories around the fire. She is known as Hag, Witch, Wise Woman, Healer, The Shaper of the Land.
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There is so much to explore, so much to learn. At this Cairn, on this hill, I know deep in my bones that meeting the Cailleach is entering into deep, deep relationship with the wildness of the land and the wildness of woman. Deep bone felt wildness.