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The Spellbook · Travel

The Spellbook · Christianity

The Caim: A Gaelic Encircling Blessing for a Journey

The caim, the Gaelic encircling prayer: how to draw the sunwise circle and bless a journey in the manner of the Carmina Gadelica, with its history.

  • TraditionGaelic Scotland and Ireland, recorded in the Carmina Gadelica (1900)
  • ForTravel, Protection, Blessings
  • DifficultySimple
  • Time5–10 minutes before setting out
  • WhenAt the door before a journey, or at night before sleep; no lunar rule
Maclean's Cross This tall free-standing cross was probably erected in the fifteenth century. The solid wheel-head depicts the Crucifixion. The broad faces are carved with an interlace pattern continuing the…
Maclean's Cross This tall free-standing cross was probably erected in the fifteenth century. The solid wheel-head depicts the Crucifixion. The broad faces are carved with an interlace pattern continuing the…Keith Laverack · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

The caim (pronounced roughly "kyme"), the Gaelic word for an encircling, is a protective gesture and prayer recorded in the Highlands and Islands: the person extends the right forefinger and turns sunwise, drawing a circle around themselves or another while asking God to encompass them. Alexander Carmichael's Carmina Gadelica records encompassing prayers alongside blessings for those setting out on a journey by land or sea. Together they make a short rite for travel that anyone can learn.

How to do it§

The wording below is original, written in the manner of the Gaelic prayers rather than quoted from them.

  1. Stand at the door with your bags ready, or with the person you are blessing standing before you.
  2. Extend your right forefinger and point it outward at arm's length.
  3. Turn sunwise. Turn slowly clockwise — deiseil, the direction of the sun's course — drawing an unbroken circle in the air around yourself (or walk once around the other person). Gaelic custom regarded the sunwise turn as auspicious and the opposite, tuathal, as unlucky.
  4. Say the encircling words as you turn: "The circle of God around me, keeping hope within and fear without; keeping light within and darkness without; keeping peace within and harm without."
  5. Name the journey. Facing the way you will go, ask in a sentence of your own for a safe road, kind company and a good return: "Be the Three with me on the road; be Mary and Michael beside me; bring me home in peace."
  6. Carry a token if you wish — a small pebble from your doorstep — as a reminder of the circle.
  7. Close with "Amen" or a word of thanks, and set out without looking back, as many travellers' customs advise.
  8. On return, give thanks at the same door and put the pebble back where you found it.

Origins and history§

Carmichael (1832–1912) gathered Gaelic oral prayers and charms over half a century; the first two volumes of Carmina Gadelica appeared in 1900, with later volumes edited from his papers between 1940 and 1971. His collection includes blessings for herdsmen sending cattle to pasture, for fishermen putting to sea, and for travellers, many invoking the Trinity, Christ, Mary, Brigid, Michael and Columba as companions on the way. Carmichael also recorded the sian or seun, a charm of protection that could make a person safe from harm, and the practice of encircling.

Martin, Martin A Description of the Western Islands of Scotland London: Andrew Bell, 1703. First edition, 8vo, folding map, folding plate, contemporary panelled calf neatly rebacked with later spine, bookplates…
Martin, Martin A Description of the Western Islands of Scotland London: Andrew Bell, 1703. First edition, 8vo, folding map, folding plate, contemporary panelled calf neatly rebacked with later spine, bookplates…Martin Martin · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

The idea of enclosing oneself in sacred protection is very old in the Christian West. The Irish lorica (breastplate) prayers, including the hymn attributed to St Patrick, ask Christ to be before, behind, beneath and above the believer; the Old English Journey Charm begins by enclosing the speaker in a rod (see Anglo-Saxon Journey Charm). Sunwise movement, deiseal, is attested in Gaelic custom from the medieval period onward — walking around holy wells, graves, boats and fields in the sun's direction — and is described by early modern travellers such as Martin Martin in his account of the Western Isles (1703).

The modern revival of the caim, used in retreat houses and "Celtic" worship books since the 1980s, draws on Carmichael but often adds new wording. Scholars of Gaelic, notably Donald Meek, have cautioned against treating such modern compositions as ancient. Carmichael's own editing has also been examined closely since the 1970s, and his English texts are best read as literary versions of what he heard. See Celtic religion and protective magic.

Variations§

  • Encircling another: parents and grandparents drew the circle around children leaving home; walk once sunwise around the person.
  • Encircling a house or boat: some Gaelic customs carried fire or walked sunwise around property for protection; walking is enough.
  • Bedtime caim: the same circle and words before sleep, "keeping peace within and fear without."
  • Psalm 121: the traveller's psalm of Scottish and English Protestant devotion (Psalm 121).

Safety and good sense§

  • Plan the journey properly: route, weather, fuel, rest, and someone who knows where you are.
  • If you adapt the rite to include a candle at the door, never leave it burning when you go.
  • The caim is a Christian prayer in its historical form; people of other traditions can adapt the gesture respectfully without claiming the Gaelic wording as their own.
  • No blessing replaces safe driving, life jackets on the water, or emergency help when it is needed.

Sources and further reading§