alban arthan blessings

the light of arthur

 

 

the wheel turns again and we have the return of the light

 

the star child has returned and the oak king once again reigns until the summer solstice.

 

right now it doesn't feel like the light will return, i can almost imagine how our ancestors would have felt at this time~wondering if the light and warmth really would return.

 

its a grey, blustery day here in this ancient forest and its been that way for a week.

 

we had our ritual with the gorsedd cor gawr at stonehenge the week before 'christmas' and what a wet and wild ritual it was-but somehow it felt right for the time. a mid-winter ritual should be dark and wild.

i was wrapped up warm in my new cloak (yes i now have two cloaks~a heavy green boiled wool one and a brown one of microfleece with lovely dangly bits).

***
~some days later~

well things became busy and i never finished this post so i shall start a nice new post!

 



yule is knocking on the door

 

its been a cold week here in this ancient forest and due to get colder although we are lucky not to have the rain and gales rushing through Scotland and northern England at the moment.

 

yule is upon us once again and as is now our own personal tradition we are going to stonehenge for a sunset ritual with the gorsedd cor gawr.

 

i am feeling quite festive early  this year, which is unusual for me~our tree went up last week, firmly anchored to the cabinet it sits next to it to protect it from climbing kittens...i got up in the night one night as flynt was crying and anxious to find a small bell and a little felted tree in the hallway. so for the time the tree is up the kittens are banned from the living room while we sleep to ensure the safety of the tree and to allow flynt a peaceful nights sleep!

 

***

i have been busy with my crafting for the wylde apothecary

i have ventured into the realms of creative copper and been busy making copper amulets and yule incense.

today i am venturing into something quite new...wet felting.

i have been needle felting for sometime now and in the past have felted small crochet items but i have had had new ideas spinning in my mind. i recently needle felted a small elemental 'mat' to be used as a small 'travelling altar' but then talking with a friend the idea of a felted pouch came into being, followed soon after with ideas for runes and ogham...so i really need to start making these items in order to get them out of my mind and into reality!

 

***

 

i now need to show you how beautiful the forest is right now...

the pigs out for pannage on the edge of the village...

heading out of the village...

heading into lymington by buckland rings...

back into the village and heading home...

 

 

 



~sacred spaces~

 

thank you for your comments over at my last post :)

 

 

i am very lucky to live where i do and to live so close to many of the significant sacred spaces here in the south of england.

 

i spoke with my mum last week and showed her our photos and she told me that she thought i had missed it because she saw the sunrise at stonehenge on our local tv news~i had to point out to her that i belong to a group that has closed access to the stones and that the event they always show on tv for the summer and winter solstice are open access.

 

i would never, ever go to a solstice open access at stonehenge and after hearing about Glastonbury tor and avebury from a friend who is one of the guardians of avebury i would avoid it like the plague.

 

i am sorry to say that many of the hoards of people who attend our sacred spaces for the solstice have no respect for the sacredness of these places and leave their rubbish (of all kinds) when they go.

 it is treated as some great big rave and i just cannot be where no respect is given to the land, the ancestors or to those who go to these places at this time for the right reasons.

 

****

 

i seem to have replenished some of my spoons and so spent some time this morning making a few pendants, had a good chat with calv, who was kind enough to give me some pointers on having a craft stall and now i am about to make a shopping list of the things i need before i settle down to watch le tour...yes its that time again where i spend many hours watching a large group of men cycle for hundreds of miles over 31 days!

 



~spoons & swimming~

 

well another long hiatus from yours truly!

 

i have no excuse other than that i become easily distracted and that recently i have only been able to do one 'big thing' daily before becoming so tired and sore.

 

let me explain...you all know by now the spoon theory, well i can only do one big thing or a couple of smaller things daily and some very minor 'pottering' before my spoons are seriously depleted and i need to re-charge and gain those lost spoons back.

 

we do our shopping once a week, although it wears me out i go and enjoy it because its one of the very few times i get out on a regular week. on shopping days i do shopping and that's it~i even plan a very simple dinner that day because i know that  wont be able to manage anything more than soup or a sandwich.

 

the thing is that as well as physically exhausted i become mentally exhausted as well which means that even coming onto my laptop, browsing the web and blogging is too much.

 

all of the aural and visual stimulation to me is totally overwhelming and exhausting.

 

it has taken me a long time to get over the moongazy gathering, then i had the excitement of seeing the moulettes and seth...

 

 

 

then last week we went to stonehenge with cor gawr for the midsummer sunrise which meant i was eating breakfast at 1am, after staying up to watch the full 'super' moon rise from my garden, and we were waiting to be let into the car park at stonehenge at 3am.

 

 

 

we met our friends taz, kit and mrb there and after, although sadly taz had to leave earlier, we sat in pretty pagan and warmed up with mugs of good hot tea and kits date and ginger cake.

 

so although it was amazing it was something else that used all of my spoons.

 

so i have been trying to re-stock those spoons...however my mind is in total overdrive right now with lots of craft ideas constantly spinning around, waking me in the night, plus i have to get enough wylde apothecary stock ready for the fairy festival next month.

 

so much to do and so many ideas with so little time!!!

 

*****

 

swampy and i have finally started swimming (which of course uses spoons!)

i am a real water baby and love being in water, be it indoor pool, sea, rivers and so even the aches and pains can be pushed aside for a little while. luckily there is little mental stimulation being in a pool, i just love swimming up and down at my own sweet pace.

although swampy is finding it somewhat of a struggle and he is not a good a swimmer as i am i get that 'competition' vibe emanating from him. he is convinced that for my 28 lengths he did 14 i know that at one point i was doing more than two lengths to his one, although of course  wont tell him that!

 

****

 

well now i shall make a start in popping by you all to see what you have been up to...it could take me a few days!



~thank you~

 

i want to say a big thank you to those who commented on my last post.

i came here today to apologise for writing such a 'down' post.

 

but then i thought no, that's okay, its fine to write down what i am feeling if it reaches out to people and makes them feel not so alone in their situation.

 

 

so...

 

i am getting there, getting there in that i am not going to let this get the better of me.

 

i had a wobble yesterday, a fit of frustration.

i thought i would help swampy out in the garden a bit, the sun was shining and it was warm, it felt nice.

but it seemed everything i did or suggested was 'wrong'~i tried twice, maybe three times and then gave up, not having the guts to explain why i came indoors and slumped on the sofa yet again.

 

it was a really lovely day yesterday and if it were not for the black dog i would have really enjoyed it.

 

i think maybe this fibro flare up is getting me down too.

 

but enough of that.

 

***

 

i have started jani francks

 

creative journaling

 

yesterday (well really today as i was not wanting to be online yesterday) and i am already loving it.

i went mad and bought a moleskine sketchbook for it, which is not so bad as my present moleskine notebook has a paltry two pages left after my last couple of entries have been rather extensive.

there is something special about a really nice journal...

 

***

 

i am excited as i have been invited and  applied for tickets for swampy and i to join the gorsedd of cor gawr at Stonehenge again for the alban hefin/midsummer gorsedd at stonehenge.

remembering the midwinter ritual i just know this one will be special...but getting swampy out of bed and at stonehenge for dawn?

well that will be interesting!

 

***

 

i have moved myself from the sofa into my room and plan on putting some shamanic drumming on and working with some preseli bluestone for the wylde apothecary.

apart from the 'frippery' i have made nothing for days as i have not wanted to work my negativity into my creations, which i think is fair enough.

but today i think its time...its time to override the black dog as much as i can so i shall play my shamanic drumming, burn some Tibetan healing incense and see what the song of the stones tell me to do...

~my power word

this feels good...it feels right to be back here and blogging...i shall just ignore the whole google world domination thing and wend on my own sweet merry way.

 

well, back 'over there' i mentioned boho moms post about the power word for this year and i said back then that i would blog about mine..

 

i have been thinking it over and my power word for this year is

 

yoga

 

it may seem funny to ascribe this as a power word but to me yoga means a whole lot more...the definition in the free online dictionary tells us...

 

yoga [ˈjəʊgə]

n (often capital)

1. (Philosophy) (Non-Christian Religions / Hinduism) a Hindu system of philosophy aiming at the mystical union of the self with the Supreme Being in a state of complete awareness and tranquillity through certain physical and mental exercises

2. (Philosophy) any method by which such awareness and tranquillity are attained, esp a course of related exercises and postures designed to promote physical and spiritual well being

 

 

see where i am coming from here?

its not just about the physical exercise but it is the head-space that yoga puts me in that is important and so 'yoga' as my power word encompasses so much more.

 

once again i have let my yoga practise lapse...its easy to do when i am feeling physically very low, when my whole body is totally exhausted and everything hurts nothing in this world can make me do anything other than just 'be' and surf through the pain and exhaustion until i reach the other side.

when i reach the other side the pain and exhaustion is still with me, it never goes away, but it eases to the point i can focus on other things, the things that bring me joy and yoga is one of them.

 

even if the limits of my system only allows me to do a few yoga positions on some days that is enough for the good it does for me mentally.

 

and its the mental aspect that is a big part of it being my power word...

 

awareness

tranquillity

spiritual well being

 

i have had all of these in dribs and drabs but i so want to have them all with me at the same time...i want to feel and be so elated that i carry it with me all of the time...and that maybe this feeling will surround me in a aura that its affects those i come into contact with.

 

since the winter solstice and my experience at stonehenge and my initiation, mentally i have been buzzing...on such a high. in fact my mind is such that i have been finding it difficult to put things down into words or images.

even now, writing this there is so much i want to write but it is being oh so elusive...that 'tip of the tongue' thing...all i am getting are images...

 

i wish i could put these images into words...

~stonehenge~

 

 

i have had to take an extended break from my laptop as my bout of bruxus continued through most of last week, its only the last few days that i have really been back to 'normal' and felt able to fire up the laptop again.

 

i am so glad it has passed because sunday was the

 

gorsedd of cor gawr midwinter gathering at stonehenge

 

the gorsedd has been meeting at stonehenge since the 1990's for rituals the dawn on midsummer's...

 day and again on the sunday before the winter solstice at around sunset...

 

 

a group of us met up in the main car park and waited until the site was closed to the public and then following the sound of a drum we all made our way onto the site where we waited just outside the huge outer circle of saren stones before walking in one by one, being smudged as we stood under the trilithon.

 we all then walked around the huge inner stone gates and ring of bluestones where we found a place to stand.

swampy and i chose to stand by the two remaining bluestones that are just inside from the sarsens we walked in through, directly opposite the alter stone...i found this picture of the exact stone on wikipedia...

 

 

the space we walked through is the central one here and i spent the entire ritual connected to the rounder of the two bluestones here.

the stone in the distance on the right is the heel stone (research suggests there were two of them) which shows the point of the mid-summer sunrise.

 

 

i love this photo as it shows the waning moon slightly to the left of where i was standing with 'my' bluestone.

 

this was a very special time for, not only was it my first trip to the stones in 28 years-during which time the opportunity to get up close and personal with the stones became all but impossible but un-beknown to me at one point there was the opportunity to choose to be initiated as a bard of the gorsedd of cor gawr.

when it was announced about an hour into the ritual that initiation into the gorsedd was going to happen i thought it might have been for people who had been previously selected to undertake initiation but i was soon aware it was for anyone there.

when those who wished it were invited to form a ring around the great bush of mistletoe hanging from a tripod in the centre of the circle it was as if  something took over my feet, in fact i don't even really remember the feeling of physically 'walking' up to the mistletoe...its as if my body was just 'transported' and i joined the group of about 20 people who all then turned to face outwards and joined hands and recited three times the dedication....
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*there are various translation options for cor gawr, one being 'giants dance' which i think is most perfect*