Category: Videos

People With Antlers

8/9/2019

As a few of my readers might know, this Monday, the 9th of September is Wakes Monday, an old workingmen’s’ holiday not much observed anymore. However, in the village of Abbot’s Bromley, an ancient custom will take place as it has for maybe 700 years. The Abbot’s Bromley horn dancers will make a ten-mile tour of the village and its surroundings, stopping to dance at many points along the way. They will carry heavy sets of reindeer antlers nearly a thousand years old. This is one of the more magnificent and controversial of English folk customs, because everyone has a different idea about its origins and meaning.

There is something about antlers that gets people quite stirred up, and brings out the theories, and I’m not just talking about Abbot’s Bromley. There are other instances of people doing interesting things with antlers, and it’s a natural function of the human mind to try to connect them all, whether they should be connected or not. I suppose there is a “gullible” path of labelling everything as ancient and magical, and a “scientific” path of debunking everything unless there is a stack of peer reviewed evidence. This post is neither. It’s more of a jumble of ideas. Lay the cards out. Make your own spread. Draw your own conclusions, or just ponder on the wonder of things.

For example, there’s the so-called Sorcerer figure from the cave of the Trois Freres in France. This 15,000-year-old cave painting, has spawned many theories and disputes, not least concerning the accuracy of the first sketches of the figure compared to what is actually on the cave wall. Whether it represents a belief in shapeshifting, a shamanic figure, a character from a long-lost myth, or a disguised hunter is an open question. It does seem to be a partially human figure with antlers, though.

Famous sketch of the "Sorcerer"

The "Sorcerer" - cave drawing

Star Carr
You may have seen some sensational reports from sites like Ancient Origins (not a good source of information, in my opinion) stating that the modified deer skulls found at Star Carr, in Yorkshire, are “masks, with carved eye-holes”. These articles are usually accompanied by a suitably angled photo of the headdress to make this look believable, and a mystery-invoking headline. Actually, one of the few things archaeologists are sure about is that these wonderful objects are not masks, and the drilled holes are to allow them to be tied to the head, or perhaps to a cap of some kind worn on the head. The reason this is known is by the way material on the inside of the skulls has been removed to allow them to sit on a human head.

Star Carr antler frontlet

The people who made these antler frontlets were Mesolithic hunter gatherers who lived about 11.000 years ago. They seem to have returned to Star Carr annually to hunt and fish, with red deer being their preferred quarry. The purpose of the frontlets is not fully understood. Were they used in sympathetic “shamanic” rituals to call the deer or to speak to deer deities or spirits? Were they used as a hunting disguise? Or was it some combination of these things?

Whatever it was, the practice must have been widespread. Similar antler frontlets have been found at several sites in what is now Germany. Siberian shamans also sometimes wear antlers in their work, and there are traditional deer dances in many Native American cultures as well. I remember seeing these done in Southern Colorado, or maybe New Mexico, when I was a child. The dancers would have been from the Hopi or Zuni nations, I think, but I’m no longer sure. It was late at night, I was small and sleepy, but I remember that it was magical.

Hopi deer dancer

Zuni deer dancer
Click photos to enlarge

Yaqui deer dancer

The antler headdresses found at Star Carr are from the Mesolithic period, but interesting things were going on with people and deer in Europe in the Neolithic, too. As the ice retreated and people began to recolonize northern Scotland, and its islands, from further south in Europe, they brought red deer with them. In boats! Genetic studies done a few years ago comparing ancient DNA from these deer to their modern counterparts on islands which they couldn’t have reached by swimming (or crossing ice or land or anything like that) shows that the deer on Orkney and the Isle of Lewis did not come from mainland Scotland, or even from nearby Scandinavia, but were brought from southern and central Europe (possibly Iberia).

This raises a lot of questions. Were the deer tame? If not, how did they get them into boats? How big were the boats? Whatever the answers, deer haplogroups may prove to be an important piece of the puzzle concerning human migrations, and this information gives us a lot to think about as far as the importance of deer to our European ancestors.

Jumping forward now to the 6th century AD, we know that people in Europe were still (or again) dressing up as animals, this time, much to the annoyance of the early church. The Council of Auxerre (circa 578 AD) states that “It is forbidden to masquerade as a bull-calf or stag on the first of January.” And there was another, similar edict about 100 years later. Again, exactly what was going on isn’t clear, and there is no reason to believe that it was “shamanic”. One theory is that is was simply a part of traditional midwinter revels, which involved a great deal of merrymaking and dressing up, and in which the idea of reversal was important. This was a kind of role reversal in which kings might behave as servants and paupers as nobility. When the ordinary rules of society were not only suspended, but meant to be flaunted, and this included dressing up as animals and in other disguises – perhaps the better to avoid being called out later by the clergy or other offended parties.

Abbot's Bromley Horn Dancers by Voice of Clam - Wikimedia (CC BY SA-3.0)

The first written mention of the horn dance at Abbot’s Bromley is in 1686, although the hobby horse which is also part of the dance, is mentioned in 1532. Many in Abbot’s Bromley, itself, say that it was performed at the Barthelmy Fair in August 1226. The antlers, themselves, have been studied and carbon dated to the 11th century, and originate from domestic (castrated) reindeer – which were probably not a feature in any part of Britain at that time. However, the story goes – the dancers will be out on Monday!

Further reading and viewing
One interpretation of Star Carr (documentary clip)

Thoughts about the antler frontlets (documentary clip)

The cult of the deer and "Shamans" in Deer hunting society - Nataliia Mykhailova

Colonization of the Scottish islands via long-distance Neolithic transport of red deer (Cervus elaphus) - David W. G. Stanton, Jacqueline A. Mulville and Michael W. Bruford

Becoming deer. Corporeal transformations at Star Carr - Chantal Conneller

Abbot’s Bromley Horn Dance Short documentary

The Stations of the Sun – Ronald Hutton – Oxford University Press 1997 – discussion of Abbot’s Bromley Horn Dance p90-91

Holding the World in Balance – Terri Windling – wonderful blog post about deer dancers all over the world, illustrated with amazing photos.

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The Romany Gentleman

7/6/2018

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So many people seem to be creating fabulous things these days, and I'm an incurable share-a-holic. I know many of my friends and readers would enjoy this film.

Tom Lloyd's Romany Rai, a film worth watching.

My friends who live in Cumbria are reminding me, via facebook, that it's Appleby Fair week -- this being a great traditional horse fair and gathering of Gypsies and Travellers from far and wide, in a small Cumbrian town. With impeccable timing, award winning film maker Tom Lloyd, who pretty much grew up attending the fair with his father, Walter, has just released a wonderful new film about the fair. I knew Tom's work from a heartbreakingly beautiful series of short films about traditional Fell Pony breeders, Endangered Species - referring not to the ponies, but the breeders, themselves, and their way of life. (Those films are free to watch, by the way.)

Entitled Romany Rai (Romany Gentleman), the film features footage shot at the fair over quite a long period of years, much of it of horses and horsemen, but also featuring some interviews about the travelling life. Being both frank and non-judgemental, the film strikes a tone which mostly sidesteps the usual pitfalls of films about Travellers. We see good, bad and indifferent horsemanship, which is exactly what you would see if you filmed the non-traveller community at a show or out riding. There are some nice interviews, mostly with older members of the community, some of whom express themselves quite eloquently, as well as footage of Walter Lloyd giving his take on Gypsy/Traveller history and his own family's background of generational mutual acceptance with them. If this film occasionally strays into a slightly romantic view of Travelling People, that is probably out of respect for Walter, who died just a few months ago at 93.

A horse-drawn journey breaking apart stereotypes of Gypsy and Traveller culture from Dreamtime Film on Vimeo.

Walter Lloyd (Manchester Evening News)

Walter Lloyd was well known around Cumbria and among Fell Pony people. The Lloyd family breed ponies under the Hades Hill (Hades rhymes with fades) prefix, and Walter was considered a bit of an eccentric and something of a hippie, locally - both of which were deserved, in the best possible way. What a lot of people didn't realise was just what a renaissance man he was. He held an MA in agriculture from Cambridge, fought in WWII, farmed in Cornwall, Lancashire and Cumbria, worked in civil defense for Rochdale and emergency planning for Manchester, helped organise the safety and emergency side of rock festivals like Glastonbury and The Isle of Wight, taught coppicing and charcoal burning, built bow top living wagons .... well, you get the picture.

During the years I lived in Scotland I met many Scottish Travellers, both through my traditional music work and my time with horses in East Lothian. Speaking of traditional music, there are some nice musical moments in this film, too. I was attracted to it more for the horses than anything, and there are certainly plenty of horses here. I suppose that like Walter Lloyd, there is a side of me which intuitively (or perhaps only romantically) connects Traveller horse-culture to ancient Celtic horse-culture. That connection may or may not be on solid ground, historically. I've read attempts to unravel the question, but not deeply enough to feel satisfied. Also, like Walter, I am simply fascinated by alternative ways of life. During one of the early scenes of the film, we see directly into one gentleman's living wagon while he is being interviewed, and I found myself thinking how nice it would be to move into that, and just melt into the countryside. The truth is, I know that year-round life travelling in a bow top is almost impossible in Britain now, even for people who like cold, wet weather as much as I do.

Romany Rai is available to rent or buy on Vimeo.

My ears are keen, my breath is warm

A chapbook collection containing the short story The Wild Mare, plus four poems which share the theme of horses.

Size 8.5" x 5.5"

21 pages

Please see product page for more information.

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The Fool and His Dancers

3/6/2018

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It occurs to me, before I review a book about Border morris dancing, that some readers may be left wondering what that even is. So, before I start, allow me to offer you a video, in case you need some context, or just like watching videos of morris dancers, like I do.

A book review of some very dark morris

For someone who has divided their life between Scotland and the US, I spend an inexplicably large amount of time thinking about Morris dancing. I can't explain this. It just is -- and I don't even know when it started. I especially like the way Border morris has exploded in the past decade or so. It's vibrant, dark, edgy and sometimes overtly Pagan. I was pretty excited, then, to discover that someone who's been on the inside of Border morris, even in at the beginning of its revival, had written a book about it.

Turns out the book is pretty good. Rob Elliott is a witty writer, and he strikes a good balance here between serious thoughts and funny stories about morris dancers drinking too much. I like the way he acknowledges the scholarly work done by others, and knows the historical references, but isn't limited by them. He's willing to talk about what feels right, and what feels true, and that's important when working within a tradition that is also a living thing.

They had lost the essence of dance and moved into something labelled 'traditional folk dance display', an embodiment of nostalgia recreating a perceived aspect of life long ago, diminishing these displays to little more than mobile museum pieces. By contrast, Silurian acknowledged the roots and history of morris dancing but were creating something original - a new version of an old principle. We needed to be relevant, to have power over the hearts of the crowd, to bewitch them. If we didn't cast a spell over them, we saw ourselves as having failed. We didn't want to project the two dimensional quality of a film.

What fascinates me about morris is its matter-of-fact public-ness, and the way that the public, and many of the dancers, think of it as an "ancient (Pagan) fertility rite", and are perfectly happy with it taking place in front of the pub on a Saturday afternoon. The extent to which it actually is any of that in the historical sense, has long ago ceased to be the point. And perhaps, if it looks like a duck....

We gave them White Ladies Aston stick dance, which was implemented with such energy that the dancers were blurred by a kind of snowstorm flurry of wood chips as the sticks began to split, feather and disintegrate. This was morris with attitude and woodsmoke and the crowd couldn't get enough. They'd never seen anything like it. We had the audience in our spell, a spell we hadn't knowingly expected to weave.

We began to think about what it must have been like to dance a fertility dance all those millennia ago. Highly speculative of course, because we had no real way of knowing but we just pictured ourselves as twentieth-century torchbearers for something very ancient. After this performance, it was certainly easy to imagine that dancers in pre-Christian communities might have put themselves on a higher plane, and out of reach of ordinary mortals, by clothing themselves in a particular way, introducing a de-humanising disguise and creating some wild dance routines. We understood in that moment how an enigmatic appearance might create mystery, how mystery touches people and moves energy and how energy might conjure magic.

This book tells the story of the first revival Border morris side, Silurian Border Morris, and how it evolved from a white-clad group of hanky wavers, into a blacked-up, tail coated, bunch of hellions. As is always the case when a group is breaking new ground within a tradition, Silurean enjoyed the shock and occasional outrage they inspired, and this aspect adds to the hilarity of some parts of the book. The author does a good job of telling these tales in a way that makes them funny without the reader needing to have been there to get it. If there is a certain amount of self-congratulation involved in some of this, it's not that hard to forgive.

Some of the funniest stories in the book, for my money, are the ones recounting the sheer absurdity of walking around in public in Border morris kit. From punks idling in town squares to German tourists at motorway rest stops, this is likely to get a reaction.

Punk: Why are you dressed like that?
Silurian: Why are you dressed like that?
Punk: I like dressing like this!
Silurean: Well, I like dressing like this!
Punk goes back to friends: He likes dressing like that!

Elliott is very particular to talk about blacking the face as a ritual disguise in this book, and I hope people are listening. Blacked up morris dancers have come in for some flack from people who think that this tradition is somehow racist or relates in some way to black and white minstrel shows. This simply isn't the case. Blacking up is a form of ritual disguise, not of racial impersonation. It has always been a cheap and available way to hide one's identity, using soot from the fire, and to turn the known person into an unknown and potent entity.

Since we had 'gone Border', which carried the same implications as 'gone native' or 'gone feral', we of course blacked up every time we made an appearance. The blacking was not simply part of the kit, it was the essential means by which we exchanged our human form for something altogether more intangible. There was an unspoken acknowledgement amongst us that to make an appearance in kit but without the blacking would be inconceivable.

It was difficult to recognise us individually with our matt black bearded faces, now crowned with black bowler hats. Most people really had no idea what we were all about. It seemed we captivated them and frightened them in equal measure, which helped to create the mystique. We became strongly unified, an effect no one could have predicted.

Only with a performance immanent, would we dress up and black our faces. We would all stick together during this 'ceremony' until the last man was ready and then, completely attired -- bells, hats and all -- we would go...

Interspersed among the tales of lost morris weekends and moments of Silurean triumph, Elliott weaves an interesting thread of the social history of the British folk scene of the late 20th century. If you happen to have been a part of that, you will recognise the draughtsman-like accuracy of his sketches of that time and place. Some of which might evoke a self-directed cringe or two, if you really were there in your corduroy trousers or floral frock.

This is a really good book, and a much funnier book than I have really let on in this review. If you are interested in what public ritual, with a small r, really means, what tradition means, and why it's worth rewilding it, rather than preserving it, you will enjoy this.

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The Moola Mantra and Me

4/4/2014

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Some of you will have noticed little signals in my writing - small but frequent mentions that I am not entirely happy where I am geographically. I'm homesick for Scotland in a number of different ways, and struggling to love the environment I'm living in. One of the things I have trouble with is car journeys, especially if I'm a passenger, because then I really have time on my hands to look around me and see all the things I don't like. A dry, rather colourless and windblown landscape which has suffered terrible environmental degradation, littered with the careless leavings of unsustainable and failing agricultural processes, with signs of poverty and hopeless ignorance everywhere. (Yeah, I fitted a lot of negativity into that last sentence, didn't I?) That's how I see it on a bad day, and it is one kind of truth.

The thing is, though, that since I live a long way from any amenities, I have to go places by car quite a bit, and I often find it quite distressing. Not fun. So much not fun, that I have probably been avoiding it more than I realise. However, I seem to have stumbled upon a really good remedy!

About a year ago, I signed up for a 21 day meditation challenge with Deva Premal and Mitten. Each day featured a mantra, one of which was the Moola Mantra. The words of that mantra are:

Om
Sat Chit Ananda
Parabrahma
Purushothama
Paramatma
Sri Bhagavathi
Sametha
Sri Bhagavathe
Namaha

Deva explains their meaning this way:
Sat - truth, Chit- consciousness, Ananda - bliss (this is also a mantra in its own right)

Parabramha - the unmanifest divine, the divine that is all around us, the air we breathe, the space that's all around us permeating everything.

Purushothama - the divine that is manifest in human beings, as our spiritual teachers, gurus, avatars, enlightened masters.

Paramatma - the soul that's within every living thing, the divine essence that's within every living thing.

Sri Bhagavathi Sametha Sri Bhagavathe - the feminine principle together with the masculine principle.

Namaha - I offer salutations (to all of the above). So to the divine in its unmanifest form, then channelled into our teachers and gurus, then coming to the universal understanding of everything being divine, of everything being a reflection of the divine perfection and then the dance of the feminine and the masculine energy like a yin and yang at the end of the mantra.

It's so easy to acknowledge the divine in things we like, or people we like. In pretty things. Less easy to do so in the things we find ugly, in people or actions we find ill-intentioned. It's easy to forget that the unmanifest divine somehow permeates all. It's easy for me to feel that if I don't fight the things I don't like, then somehow they win and I have given up. But I think that just creates blocked energy rather than the flowing energy with which I am able to create and to manifest useful change. But back to the Moola Mantra...

I loved this mantra so much the way Deva explained it. To look around me, and remember that the divine is in everything is very good for me. I also loved her musical interpretation of this, and found out that there is an entire fifty minute version. I bought a copy. It seemed like good driving music, so I put it in my car. Well, maybe you can see where this is going ...

It has helped immensely. Whether that's because, as some believe, the Sanskrit words of mantras have some extra mystical power, or because I have connected with their meaning at a conscious level, or just something in the music - I feel better connected to the landscape, more lovingly connected, and much calmer. And I think that this effect has filtered out a bit into the rest of my time, as well.

If you enjoyed this post, you might also like Thoughts on Guided Meditation

If you would like to read a more detailed explanation of the Moola Mantra I like this one (scroll down to the "Full Meaning").

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It's Wakes Monday!

8/9/2013

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Today is Wakes Monday. Celebrated in parts of England, mostly the north, and much fallen into disuse now. However, it is still the date of a famous annual fixture in the calendar of traditions - the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance. This is a sort of morris dance performed by six men carrying reindeer antlers accompanied by several other mumming characters and musicians. No one is sure how old the dance is, but the reindeer antlers they use have been carbon dated to around 1050AD. It is unclear as to whether the dance is this old, or indeed it could be even older, some believe that these are actually replacement antlers. (Did they wear the first set out??) Another theory is that the hobby horse (one of the mumming characters involved) predates the horn dance element, which might have been added later. Yet another possibility is that the dance is a relic of some kind of shamanic rite which might stretch back into pre-history. I like that theory, but that doesn't make it true...

Meanwhile, I have just started reading a recently released book called Elen of the Ways, by Elen Sentier. So far I'm enjoying it. The quality of writing is high, and if the content is as good as I expect, look for a review of it on this blog in due course. Elen of the Ways is a female deer deity. In a typical display of synchronicity, I heard of her for the first time a couple of weeks ago, when someone referred me to a piece by historian Caroline Wise, also entitled Elen of the Ways, which references the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance. [Update: Caroline Wise published a book Finding Elen in 2015.]

Here's a nice documentary piece on the dance from BBC 4.

I also wanted to share a video of Thaxted Morris performing a possibly more traditional version of the dance. They dance to the old 19th century tune, which I think is very lovely. Although this tune was in use at Abbots Bromley for nearly a century, it is not as old as the dance, which has traditionally been done to "popular dance tunes of the day".

Finally, here is a link to a third video, not as well photographed as the first two, but rather evocative for being danced in a forest! This is Lord Conyers Morris Men. Like the Thaxted dancers, they appear to be carrying fallow deer antlers. Embedding is disabled on this one, so just click the link.

Happy Wakes Monday!
_______________________________

If you enjoyed this post, you might also like Oss Oss!

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Dancing on Bridges

14/8/2013

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"My mother comes from a place called Masshill [County Sligo, Ireland] in the Ox Mountains, but, unfortunately, her immediate family had all moved away, mostly to England, by the time I was about three or four years old. However, I do remember several of the stories of the house dances that used to be held there and also of the summer's evening dances on the flat bridge over the Black River, just below the house. In later years I got to know some of the musicians who would have been playing at those dances... "
- Kevin Burke, November 2000

It was this chance description, in a booklet which accompanies his CD Sweeney's Dream, which originally informed my thinking about the Bridge card in my oracle deck. Not so long ago, bridges were popular meeting places, particularly on summer evenings - for trysts, for games, and because they were usually nice and flat, for dancing. It's easy to take bridges for granted, but they are important landmarks, making life much easier and linking communities.

Bridge - Merrymaking, flirtation and easy-going connections between individuals or communities.

This song from by Jack Dodd, from Newfoundland, describes similar memories.

On the Big River bridge on an evening in June
To enjoy the village dancing by the light of the moon
For the happy sound of laughter and the old time quadrille
Sure is among my happy memories of old Flatrock Hills

Now time it will change but the old bridge will stand
It's the same as when we stood there hand in hand
It's old stone foundation supporting itself
And the river still flows o'er the old Flatrock Hills

In a reading, this card might be there to remind us of the importance of connections, and not only for the more practical uses of commerce or travel, but also for the fun of coming together. Individuals easily become sour and stale without a bit of socialising, and communities falter without the influx of new blood from their neighbours.

One of my favourite examples of communities using a bridge is the annual meeting on the Wye bridge, which links Chepstow, in Wales, with the communities of Tutshill and Sedbury, in England around New Year. Wassailers from the English side and a Mari Lwyd party from the Welsh side meet mid-bridge for an exchange of cultural celebrations and partying. This link will take you to a video of the event. I've set it to begin at the meeting on the bridge, but the whole video is enjoyable, if you have time.

Wassail and Mari Lwyd on the Wye Bridge, Chepstow.

Go Deeper Reading

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Go Deeper oracle reading by email.

More information about my readings at this link.

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Welcome Eostre!

20/3/2013

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My thinking about the goddess Eostre and the Vernal Equinox has changed.

This little essay concerning the existence of the goddess Eostre, or Ostara, appeared in my Facebook feed this week. (I hope the link works - you probably need to be signed in to Facebook.) It mostly references the Wikipedia entry on Eostre, and I feel the case is believable. I have not paid much attention to this question until now -- I'm afraid I probably saw one or two "there's no evidence" type comments in the past and dismissed Eostre as fantasy, and was happy enough just celebrating the Vernal Equinox for what it is from the basis of nature and astronomy.

I have noticed in myself, and some Pagan friends, a need to fill our calendars with deities, especially at the eight major points in the wheel of the year. Like debutantes of yesteryear, filling their dance cards, we want to make sure that there is no ambiguity as to Who will partner us at these important festivals. So, I noticed that it was with some relief that I penciled Eostre in for March 20th - even though we haven't been properly introduced. I will be open to her energy, and curious to know her. I had a nice little daydream of Bride taking her by the hand and leading her into my ritual space, as if to say "There is room for you here." At the time I wasn't thinking about this in terms of Bride having reigned over Imbolc, and handing things over to Eostre now, and I'm not saying that this is what is happening, although it's an interesting angle to consider. I was simply seeing Bride as one of my "household Gods", welcoming a Being rather similar to Herself into our space.

If I had to describe my "pantheon" or "hearth culture" I suppose I would define it as "British Isles" rather than "Celtic" anyway, so I have no problem with a goddess who was widely worshiped in Northumbria and other parts of England. I'm simply glad to meet her, and interested to see where things go between us in the future.

The Pre-contact Post-contact Skirmish by Julie Buffalohead, 2012

I am often frustrated by the difference in climate and biology between my current home in SE Colorado, and my long-time home in Scotland. There are no wild flowers to pick here in March -- particularly this year with the continuing terrible drought. No hedgerows full of health-giving herbs, no spring rain to speak of -- even wildlife seems to have retreated to the strip along the river a few miles away. Jackrabbits, though, are still in evidence. They were one of the first animals to greet me when I moved onto this farm a few years back, and I often see them -- thanks mostly to my companion, Molly the Collie, who flushes them out and chases them, but has never come close to catching one.

In case you didn't realise, a jackrabbit is member of the hare family. In fact, they don't look much different than European brown hares. I have to remind myself to call them jackrabbits -- a name that I'm told was popularised by Mark Twain. The story goes that folk were beginning to call them "jackass rabbits" due to their spectacularly long mule-like ears, and Twain picked this up and spread it around. I've long been aware of the hare's association with spring and fertility, with their madcap romps, and that somehow they were associated with eggs. Not surprisingly, they are also closely associated with Eostre.

I'm very glad to have hares here, and to make the connection through this goddess to the land around me, and especially for that to be a connection which vibrates to my old sense of the land in Scotland, too. I have been asking the spirits of nature here to speak to me, as I feel quite disconnected from it. Perhaps this is a step in that direction.

I'll leave you with this video. It's a thirty minute BBC wildlife documentary from the 1990s, all about both the natural history of hares and their mythological and spiritual associations. Hare coursing (chasing hares with greyhounds or lurchers) was long a popular country pursuit in Britain, and it is discussed in this programme, however, there are no bloody scenes or anything, so don't worry. Hare coursing has been illegal in Britain since 2005, quite some time after this film was made. I'm sure you will enjoy this video - it even has great music!

Further reading:
The Symbolism of Rabbits and Hares by Terri Windling I really enjoyed this well written piece, which includes many beautiful images!
Eostre's Egg by Maria Ede-Weaving. A look at the symbolism of this holiday from a more personal and psychological perspective.

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The Divine Connection of Water

15/2/2013

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Well - A pure source of deepest understanding and healing. A knowing beyond words. Divine connection.

I look at the words above, which form the definition of the card Well in the Go Deeper oracle, and I wonder what more there is to say. Water is such a wonder to me, in any form. To have it welling up out of the ground, unbidden, is surely a kind of miracle. I actually believe that all water is sacred - the dirty river, the stuff in a plastic bottle - even in all the places we fail to see the sacred, water is there. We are mostly water. The earth is mostly water. We may ignore, defile, dirty and desecrate the sacred, we may buy it and sell it and even imprison it, but it remains sacred.

Water is a divine connection. You only have to look at the myth of the well at the centre of the world, where the salmon of knowledge swim, where the hazel trees drop their purple nuts for the salmon to eat, to know that this is both a great metaphor and a truth that we understand instinctively as water beings. Every well is a tributary of the great well, and so it is natural for sacred energy, or sacred beings, to gravitate to these places, just as it's natural for humans and animals to do so. We are thirsty - but not just for H2O. Our souls are thirsty, too, as is our energetic body.

I'm sure you know that wells are associated with knowledge and wisdom, with healing, with divination and with the granting of requests. They are a place of power. Water that has been purified by the earth carries many important minerals. However, it must also have a special energy. Just how powerful the energetic memory of water might be is getting more interest these days among scientists. The following documentary is long, and I would be the first to suspect that it contains a fair dose of pseudo science. However, I believe that nevertheless, these scientists are following what Einstein said is most important - their intuition. There is immense food for thought here, and I really recommend taking the time to watch this, even if you consider one part or another of the whole to be questionable.

Just in case you didn't watch the video right away, it features a number of scientists who are doing research into the memory of water. Into how the molecular structure of water changes when it is influenced by all kinds of different things. Everything from human emotions to music to modern forms of water transportation and treatment are considered, and a few religious scholars and philosophers add in their thoughts along the way. The video constantly reminds us that not only is our existence defined by water, but that we have an influence over it. Perhaps that's why positive thinking works -- or prayer, or holy water and holy wells.

We know enough about how our world works to understand that water circulates. It evaporates and falls as rain, it works its way into the ground and comes up somewhere else as a spring, it flows down the sides of mountains to end up in the sea, where the process is repeated in an ancient cycle. To some extent, the scientists in the film tell us, water cleanses itself of the negative memories it acquires through things like freezing and evaporation. It wipes the slate clean. However, this also made me think that when we visit a holy well, when we bless food or drink (even the food contains water) when we bless the earth and when we bless ourselves and each other - we have the opportunity to connect with the divine in a way that is similar to that physical circulation of water. If the water heals us, perhaps this is also because we help to heal the water. If we lavish love and care on the earth and on her well-shrines, and other waters, we become part of a circulation of healing, of wisdom and knowledge, of love and gratitude.

Of all the Pagan practices that have survived many centuries of Christianity in Europe, the veneration and recourse to sacred wells is high on the list. The Roman church found it easiest to create new, saintly stories around these places, and let the traditions continue in slightly modified forms, but even in Scotland, with its long history of protestant Calvinism and accompanying concerns about "idolitry", sacred wells survived, and are visited to this day. What we perhaps lost, to some extent, was the worship and veneration, the gratitude for sacred energy that completes the circle of divine connection. In the past few centuries, the cultural climate might have been willing to allow a visit to a well to ask a favour or to say a prayer, but to be seen to be actively worshiping there was not always safe. In this way, as we moved into modern times, I think our culture perhaps lost a little of the best these places have to offer. The awe, the reverence, the holiness of these places was slowly replaced by a sense of a transaction. A place to tie a clootie, throw a coin, leave a bent pin. I am not making light of any of these traditions per se, so much as saying that there is potential, without worship, love and gratitude, without a sense of the two way working of the divine connection, to lose our place in all this.

The photograph on my oracle card is of a well I have visited a number of times. It's not in a secret place, and I have not heard that it is even dedicated to a saint or goddess, or that it has reputed healing properties. It is in a small village in a somewhat remote part of a modern, developed European country. The people who live there are well educated and in some ways enjoy the best of both the modern world and an idyllic rural lifestyle - though not without its challenges. Their instinctive care for this small well, and their continued use of it into the 21st century, when every house has modern plumbing and piped water, is a testament to a deep knowing that is still within us. We are not only connected to the divine, we are the divine, but we easily become disassociated from the wholeness of the divine. Visiting the Well is not only about drinking of her waters, but about returning gratitude to her.

Further reading:
Sacred Waters - Holy Wells by Mara Freeman
Holy Wells in Ireland by Mary Ellen Sweeney

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A Soul Cake!

31/10/2012

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A wonderful Samhuinn folk tradition.

Halloween is a funny old holiday. So commercialised now, and in Britain, so Americanised. The media, the clergy, the folklorist and the Pagan all try to interpret the meaning, dragging the Druids and witches into it, but often with little idea what a Druid or witch is or might have been.

This souling play is a pretty typical piece of English mumming, and a very entertaining one, I think! In times past, these plays were performed outside private homes, along with souling songs. The idea was that the people of the house then gave food and money to the performers. One of the most common gifts were soul cakes, spicy cakes a little like hot cross buns, which in some regions were shaped like a doughnut and in others had a cross on them. At one time it was believed that for each cake given and eaten a soul was helped through purgatory.

There is obviously a big Christian influence in the content of these songs, plays and customs, and yet a strong feel of something older underlying it all. Life, death and rebirth are pretty universal human preoccupations, and it's no wonder that the Christian and pre-Christian traditions got well mixed over the centuries. As an optimist, I can't help but believe that whatever set of beliefs we align with, traditions like this can affect us in very positive ways and are worth preserving, reviving and bringing forward with us through the generations.

It is a stretch to say that this tradition, alone, is the origin of trick or treating. Britain, Ireland and many other parts of Europe have a rich tradition of mumming and guising from house to house, which runs especially through the cold and dark part of the year. Wren boys, wassailing, the Mari Lwyd ... if you are really interested, start by Googling those - you will be amazed.

Last weekend I was reading cards at a local holistic fair. On the second day I arrived with little time to spare before the hall opened, to find a number of the readers and vendors standing around outside while one kind soul generously smudged all who were so inclined with sage smoke. It was a nice moment of spontaneous community. As I stood waiting my turn there was a little laughing and joking, and before I could stop myself, I had burst into a chorus of a soul cake song from Cheshire.

A soul cake, a soul cake!
Please, good missus a soul cake!
An apple, a pear, a plum or a cherry.
Any old thing to make us all merry.

And I added in a verse that felt good to me:

One for the maiden, one for the mum,
One for the crone and then we're done!

Then I sang the verse about Peter and Paul, too.

If you'd like to hear a really nice version of a Cheshire souling song sung by Kate and Corwen of Ancient Music, click on the picture above. And may all your souls and soul cakes rise!

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The Divine Connection of Water

A Soul Cake!

A wonderful Samhuinn folk tradition.

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Subscribe to my monthly newsletter and never miss a blog post. In return, I promise to keep newsletters short and limit them to one per month, and of course, never to share your details!

Tom Lloyd's Romany Rai, a film worth watching.

Subscribe to my monthly newsletter, and never miss a blog post again. You'll get a few little extras into the bargain. In return, I promise to keep newsletters short and limit them to one per month, and, of course, never to share your details!

A book review of some very dark morris

Subscribe to my monthly newsletter, and never miss a blog post again. In return, I promise to keep newsletters short and limit them to one per month, and of course never to share your details!

Subscribe to my monthly newsletter and never miss a blog post. In return, I promise to keep newsletters short and limit them to one per month, and of course, never to share your details!Subscribers also get access to special offers in the shop.

Subscribe to my monthly newsletter and never miss a blog post. In return, I promise to keep newsletters short and limit them to one per month, and of course, never to share your details!

Subscribe to my monthly newsletter, and never miss a blog post again. Newsletters are infrequent, and I promise never to share your details!

My thinking about the goddess Eostre and the Vernal Equinox has changed.

A wonderful Samhuinn folk tradition.

Subscribe to my monthly newsletter and never miss a blog post. In return, I promise to keep newsletters short and limit them to one per month, and of course, never to share your details!

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Subscribe to my monthly newsletter and never miss a blog post. In return, I promise to keep newsletters short and limit them to one per month, and of course, never to share your details!
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