Spiritual Orkney
CONTACT US
Helen & Mark Woodsford-Dean
Craigielea, Harray, Orkney, Scotland, KW17 2JU
+44(0)7749 934617 (mob) / +44(0)1856 761133


Please email or text prior to telephoning, thanks
Books
Books and Publications
We offer a range of printed books and e-books which we have written and illustrated ourselves. They are ONLY available directly from us, the publishers: Spiritual Orkney.
This Old Golden Land
'This truly expert guide helps us to step back through time to understand the prehistoric, Pictish, Viking, Medieval and more recent heritage of Orkney and its many islands. Expressively written and wonderfully photographed in this concise book, Orkney reveals its deep strata to all pilgrims and seekers who wish to find the spiritual wholeness of this old golden land. As someone who has been visiting Orkney regularly for over 40 years, I thoroughly recommend it: its inside knowledge of the land and the impact of continuous ancestral tending easily transcends all previous guides I have ever read.'

Caitlín Matthews, author of Singing the Soul Back Home & Celtic Book of the Dead

NEWS - updated June 2023


We no longer have physical paper copies to sell of our book 'This Old Golden Land' and we have no current intentions to reprint. As a project, producing this book helped us financially through COVID lockdown (thank you) and seems to have persuaded many of you to travel to Orkney since (and some of you subsequently procured our guiding services - thank you again), so our book seems to have been a success in terms of marketing too.


We have a few copies left. If you feel you have a special / urgent need for a copy, please contact us and explain why. Please note that due to ever increasing postage costs, we are only able to post within the UK.


We may release a PDF version in the future, at a smaller charge (please note, ONLY PDF, we don't intend to mess around with all the eBook formats), please email if this might interest you.


As always, thank you for your support, it all helps to keep our micro-business going, which means we get to continue to derive an income from activities which honour Orkney and us.

Our alternative guidebook to Orkney: 'This Old Golden Land' was £15 per copy.

We chose to self-publish this book so it was ONLY available direct from us (there is no ISBN so you cannot order it via any bookshop).

The text is written by Helen and lavishly illustrated throughout with Mark's full colour photographs, plus some moody black and white ones.

This is a different type of guidebook for a different kind of visitor: the spiritual pilgrim. As well as providing descriptions of recommended places to visit, plus directions and maps, we also include 'meditation exercises' and autobiographical descriptions of our own experiences where relevant. We hope it will become a treasured souvenir. We are not aware of any other book covering similar material for Orkney.

We both work as Orkney guides and archaeologists, so we have drawn on our extensive knowledge to bring you material which we hope will broaden and enhance your visit.

The book is A5 size with a full colour satin cover with internal flaps to the back and front. This 280 page paperback contains c.120,000 words and dozens of full colour photographs. It is written in English.

Each book weighs just over 0.5 kg when packaging is included.
Cover of 'This Old Golden Land'
This is what the cover looks like when completely opened up:

Here are some sample chapters to download (all are in PDF format):
We were delighted to be invited to contribute to the Scottish Pagan Federation's on-line conference held 13-17 May 2020. 

Helen's talk on 'Orkney's light' was presented on 14th May 2020.

Here is the YouTube link and a transcript of the talk with maps and photographs is available here.

Book enquiry form

(1) I am aged 16 or over

(2) I have read and understood your Data Protection, Privacy Notice, and Retention Policy

(3) I understand that the information I provide will be used to contact me, request payment in due course, and to send me the product(s) I am requesting


Luci and the Ba
This fictional book is now available to download exclusively from Spiritual Orkney in PDF format (it has been previously available through other commercial platforms but this version has improved maps). 

'Luci and the Ba' is a short novel (35,000 words plus background notes and maps), based in Kirkwall, Orkney, written for young adults and adults young at heart. It combines adventure, action, and Norse mythology.

The download is FREE but please consider making a donation to us to cover our time and costs, and to allow us to continue to be creative. 

Donations can be sent to us via PayPal at email info@spiritualorkney.co.uk - please make it clear that your payment is for 'Luci and the Ba'.

If you enjoy reading this book, we also offer a guided tour of Kirkwall. This themed literary walking tour, led by Helen herself, will show you where the fictional characters were imagined to live and where the main action of the novel takes place.


Download - Luci and the Ba
They Wur Cheust Folk
This book of poetry is now available to download exclusively from Spiritual Orkney in PDF format. 

'They Wur Cheust Folk' contains a description of Orkney Heritage Society's project to install a memorial to the victims of the historic witchcraft trials in Orkney plus 13 poems written as a creative response to some of the accusations made at the trials.

The download is FREE but if you enjoy reading this book, we also offer a guided tour of Kirkwall. This themed historical walking tour, led by Helen herself, will show you where the trials and tortures and executions took place, discuss the historical and political environment of the time, and tell you some of the stories of Orkney's witches.


Download - They Wur Cheust Folk
Working at the Threshold
This is a collection of short stories, written over a number of years, and they all have a few things in common: 

Firstly, they are all situated in Orkney and nearly all of them feature named Orkney sites, each of which I (Helen) have worked at, even if it is just to guide around. Hence why the title of this collection includes the word ‘working’ - a word with multiple meanings and the word play is intentional. All of these locations have distinctive and acknowledged ‘atmospheres’ and are liminal in character. 

And secondly, each takes an Orkney folk or ghost story, a myth or a legend, and places it in the modern world. I have tried to imagine what it would be like to encounter a selkie, a trowie, a ghost, a saint, even a deity, whilst you were casually going about your business.

This collection of 13 fictional short stories, all set in Orkney, are now available to download for FREE.

Please email info@spiritualorkney.co.uk and a copy will be made available for you.

I absolutely promise that there will be no attempt made to sell anything else to you, nor will I ask you to subscribe to anything, and I definitely won't be mining or selling your email address, I solely want to ensure that only those who want this book receive it. 

Thank you.
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