~yule~

well how was your yule?

i admit that this year i have really struggled, really, really struggled.

for weeks now i have had problems with insomnia, i fall asleep easily but find myself waking around 3-4am and more often than not i get up instead of staying in bed and trying to get back to sleep.

boxing day found me up at 1am, wide awake, knowing my family were going to arrive later that morning and i had to cook dinner for the five of us.

luckily i made it but i am feeling so run down and exhausted. as i am off on holiday with my sister next week i really need to get on top of this.

the weather here has been grey and damp for weeks now with only a day or two of sunshine, a few days ago i was able to get washing on the line and magpie and merlin had fun playing in the garden

i was given some new books for yule which i have started already...

my neighbour Calv sent round some lovely ginger biscuits

and this morning i had a nice chai latte

choosing incense

and finally meet 'Gibson' our 1999 VW T4...

we finally sold 'Pretty Pagan' for something considerably smalller, something more of a pocket rocket. 

because we have lilith our crazy little french folding caravan we no longer needed a big camper with all the bells and whistles

 unfortunately a week or two after bringing him home some low life broke in and stole every one of swampys tools and so the spare money we had to turn him into a day van went on replacing all the tools, then he broke down and more money had to go on his repairs.

because it involved taking a lot of the engine apart swampy decided to replace a lot of the parts with nice new ones. we finally had him repaired and with his MOT the friday before yule.

once i am back from my holiday we will be slowly working on the interior~nothing fussy, just a seat than turns into a bed and a unit for the 'kitchen'.

this morning swampy put a hook up my my alter to hang my shaman drum from...although i just realised that in the new year we will be moving things around in our living room and it will have to come down again anyway!

~drumming up the moon*part two~

 

day two of the gathering dawned bright and warm and the temperature rose with the sun.

 

more and more people arrived, tents, caravans and campers sprouted over the field like great toadstools and the laughter and calls of happy folk spread on the breeze.

 

that night we built a large fire and sat around it chatting, laughing, listening to those with the instruments play and sing.

 

T and L had their shaman drums and as the lady moon started to rise they drummed her up to cries and ululations.

 

solstice cafe

new stonewylde bags~we bought two!

beautiful celebration cakes

solstice café and stonewylde stall

our house band

tarot readings



chyna's beautiful works of art

***

 

finally the camp was over and from sunday afternoon we had to start saying goodbye to all our friends~always such a difficult thing to do.

the field slowly emptied until there were only a small group remaining

 

of course we could not go to Glastonbury...

 

 

 

we got there nice and early to get a parking space down the bottom of town by the Abbey and market and met our friends carp and crystal at the blue note café~sitting in the courtyard by star child enjoying a latte to wake me up!

 

 

of course i had to spend some pennies...

 

to add to my glennie kindred library

although i blend my own incense its tradition i buy at least one from starchild~this is Gaia and smells glorious

a beautiful ceramic bowl (dried leaf from Avebury!) and...

a beautiful Tor pendant.

we all left on Wednesday and we made the very small mile or two detour to avebury

then down the road to the west kennet long barrow

 

its hard to describe the feelings i had when i walked into the chamber, making sure there were no other people who were going to follow me in

 

even now thinking back the feelings are strong

 

ancient was one feeling, when you remember that it is a Neolithic barrow, older than the oldest phase of stonehenge, you cannot escape the feeling of age.

 

thoughts of the ancestors also came to me, the people who built this structure, the people living in small communities nearby and why this whole area~silbury, avebury, the sanctuary, windmill hill~was so sacred to them.

it made me think of my ancient ancestors~a part of my family down my maternal line all come from Wiltshire, mostly clustered around amesbury, old sarum and stonehenge~so far i have only gone back 500 years but i secretly wonder if my older ancestors lived in the area thousands of years ago and lived to see these sacred sites.

i really would love to find out...maybe a pathworking would help?

 

i felt a strong energy there

some people maybe don't because it is a chamber of the dead, but as i went further into the chamber i could feel it buzzing around me~it  had a smell of rain and damp earth and old, old stones

 

i strongly felt the goddess there but maybe she was following me...

 

 

 

 



~questions answered~

jill asked about the incense and soaps i mentioned in my last post.

i am pleased to say that eibhlin has a website and you will see a link on the left of my posts to her site

namaste holistic therapy

she will soon have an online shop for which i am glad as she was telling me about new products in the pipeline using hops which i am very keen to try.

***

the incense i bought from star child this time was

cernunnos

'Cernunnos is the steward and guardian God of the animal realm and the consort of the Great Goddess. He embodies the male capacity to nurture, protect and support. Far from being dominant, he watches over the animals and is at one with them. Burn this incense to attune to Cernunnos and the animal realm. It may be especially inspirational to men who want to get in touch with their own inner masculine power to care and nurture'

and

brigit

'Brigit, Queen of the heavens, is but one of the guises of the Celtic Triple Moon Goddess. As a patron Goddess of poetry, smith craft and the healing arts she is celebrated as a harbinger of culture who blessed humanity with the civilizing arts. Her most sacred feast day is Imbolc (1 February), when she is celebrated in her Maiden aspect. She presides over the life giving waters and the regenerative powers of the womb. Burn this incense in honour of the Great Goddess and to invoke her gift of inspiration'

*words taken from starchilds site*

the one we were burning the night of the photo was brigit and it was just gorgeous.

***

well i have just about settled down to life without wheels although still having problems with my cough and the virus has finally hit my m.e and i am feeling so weary.

yesterday i went for a walk with swampy and flynt and struggled so badly to keep up~just lifting my feet to walk took all my effort and so i spent most of the day on the sofa reading book one of 

a song of ice and fire...

game of thrones

oh my, who has been reading this?

it took me a few attempts to really start it because of all the names/connections but used the useful list of families in the back to help me.

i am now well and truly addicted and will be on the hunt for book two 'a clash of kings' this week.

i have not seen the first tv series yet but have them ready and waiting to start watching~i have had a lot of history/archaeology programmes recorded which i have had to catch up on.

now i have caught up i shall start watching and my friend chappie (who is on book 4) tells me that the series is keeping very true to the books.

***

i shall be starting up production for *alittleeclectic* this week~i shut up shop due to going to the gathering but now it is time to start up again...especially with my fly agaric brooches, i sold them all!

i also have moonstone, green moss agate, smokey quartz, tourmilated quartz, among others to make necklaces.

***

finally, as requested...

mismi is settling in really well and now has a routine at home too~he has his harness on twice daily and leads me around the house and garden for about 30-40 minutes and it gives me the chance to get him what i am calling 'hand friendly'.

while he is wandering around i wear a leather gardening glove to stroke him. yesterday he only nipped a little so i am hoping that very soon i can discard the glove.

the trouble is ferrets have very thick skin so their play nips to us are quite hard and they of course do not distinguish between other ferrets, humans or dogs...poor flynt has had a couple of nips to his leg in passing but i think he is learning to pass quickly!

poor swampy is still a little nervous of the nips but i am having to work on him because i will be going to wimbledon this month leaving him to look after mismi.

he was castrated last week so now all those raging hormones that make him want to get out and find a mate and cause a wee bit of aggression are now fading and this means we can now sort out a friend for him. i hope its soon because he keeps doing the playful war dancing at us and flynt and we of course are too big for him to really play with.

look here and you will see some 'war dancing'

~post-gathering blues~

well i am back!

we actually came home last thursday but its taken me this time to unpack (there are still clothes in the camper!), sort out the garden...its looking overgrown and gorgeous!...and generally come down from the high i always get from being away with my Stonewylde Tribe.

we had a whole week away~some folk only stayed for a few nights, a small group of us stayed the whole week.

it was just wonderful~for a few days the weather was cloudy and decidedly chilly with rain one night, then on the monday the clouds cleared and it became blazing hot...by wednesday it was too hot to move and the temperature reached the 100's.

as usual i am~and i know others are~suffering the post gathering blues.

it feels weird to be living in a house, sleeping in a 'proper' bed and not having my tribe around me all of the time.

some of us have known each other from 2007/08 when the old stonewylde forum started up and since then we have grown into a small but perfect little community.

our very first little gathering, just for a day, was at avebury in 2009 and our first camp was in 2010 and its just snowballed.

last year because of the book launch we had two camps and we all wish we could have two every year.

of course as we are all scattered over the country we have small met-up's in our areas~in fact we are travelling up to conisbrough castle in august for the 'northern tarts' (tarts as in bakewell tarts~swampy and i come under the 'southern belles umbrella!)) picnic and in three weeks we are travelling up to yorkshire for the birthday party

 of our gorgeous faerieface.

anyway it was wonderful, we had a handfasting at the recumbent stone at avebury and of course a trip to glastonbury...

anyway enough words, have a look for yourself...

Pretty Pagans new interior~looking very cosy with the red curtains...

the 'solstice cafe'~swampy and i started this last year, providing water, kettle, teas and coffees to all of the group. this year people kindly added to the supplies and we bought the sign...

  i like shots like this~fist night camped up with willow, ian, kit and mr.b...

sujee and bilbo's beautiful bell tent...i still want one!...

mismi checking out the field...

we are so lucky to have some very talented musicians among our friends~bilbo and chappie with sujee looking on...

flynts friend isabeau...

good morning bilbo!...

on the morning of the handfasting swampy and i arrived in avebury early to make sure we could get a parking space in the shade as we would not leave mismi at the campsite.
we put the kettle on and was having breakfast (ahhh the beauty of a home on wheels) when this american lady, mary, approached asking what was in the cage and what we were doing there...its not often you see someone in medieval dress in a car park!
we explained the whole week and as it turns out is a tarot reader, reiki healer and crone priestess and i took her e-mail...well of course you would, wouldn't you?!....

as usual we had the use of the little village hall to take the weight off, enjoy cups of tea and wait for bilbo to lead us where the ceremony was to be held at the recumbent stone...

these were the people who slowly gathered to see why a huge group of gorgeously dressed people were gathering...

after the handfasting it was time to take photos~yours truly with jez, bilbo and kit...

the handfastee's with the quater callers~fliss, sujee, swampy and bilbo, tilli and chappie who performed the ceremony and kit who wrote the basis of the ceremony...

the recumbent stone...

a real camp fire...this year the new manager was a young chap who has taken over from his father and he allowed us to create a fire pit and even provided plenty of wood...

swampy and i took ourselves back to avebury on the monday...

this bell tent with its canopy belongs to seawitch who makes the most amazing soaps.

i have one of her new ones 'hippy daze' which is the most wonderful patchouli 'foam' soap which i now wash my hair with...

sunset was just behind us and glorious...

on tuesday we went into glastonbury to meet up with our friends crystal and the welsh wizard who had returned home on sunday.

we had left early because the olympic torch was going through glastonbury and we had hoped to park up before they closed the road.

no such luck.

after skirting the centre twice and getting stopped in a line of traffic to let the olympic buses through we took shelter in a super market carpark until the road was opened...

a froggy fayble in the window of 'lilith'...

this chap had set himself up selling the assorted bags, pouches and necklaces...

i admired the teeny pouch he was wearing around his neck and luckily for me he had a solitary one for sale...i am now wishing i had one of his necklaces too...

occupy glastonbury...

a sight that fills my heart...

mismi taking glastonbury in his stride...

on wednesday it was just too hot to move and i spent the day chasing the shade...

but the evening still became chilly and it was time to try the new incense i bought from star child...

this frog had made a cool, damp home under our awning...

our final 'brew' before making our way home...

when i see old sarum (remember my last ancestor post and the map?! see? i just imagine my pre-history ancestors here!) and the spire of salisbury catherdral i know we are not far from home...

 when we see the animals roaming free then we are home...