This week sees the publication of the second edition of a book by Lucy Pearce that’s close to my heart: Moon Time – Harness the ever-changing energy of your menstrual cycle. I met Lucy in her role as commissioning editor of Juno magazine, in which some of my articles have been published. She’s a great networker, and a powerful voice … Read More
Strong Like the Water
What is an empowered woman like? I keep returning to this question and wondering. What is the nature of feminine power? Is it different from masculine power? Do we have any models? A year and a half ago I went to a Women and Earth Retreat, at Pistyll Rhaeadr in Powys. The long weekend was run by Annie Davey and Hilary Kneale … Read More
Kismet meets Peggy Seeger
This year, the band I’ve played with for twelve years, Kismet, had an unexpected opportunity to work with Peggy Seeger, a musician whom publicists are fond of describing as a “folk legend.” We played together in a fund raiser for Pegasus Theatre last month, and the experience has left me feeling both honoured and affirmed. As we met to discuss … Read More
A New Story for Halloween
This Summer I went to the Museum of Witchcraft in Boscastle, Cornwall, (http://www.museumofwitchcraft.com/) and left full of emotion. The museum is a bewildering hotchpotch of Wicca, Druidry, Astrology, historical fact and cultural references, plus a case of instruments of torture. It was these that made most impact on me. Whatever ill may have been done by witchcraft (and I don’t … Read More
The Sacred Art of Litter Picking
The Sacred Art of Litter Picking “Picking up a can From the river And then another On and on It’s like a devotee Doing countless rosaries.” These words are from Dominique Mazeaud, an artist who for seven years from 1987 conducted “The Great Cleansing of the Rio Grande,” picking up litter from the river for a day, on the same … Read More
Calling up the Wild Woman
At Uncivilisation Festival this year I led a workshop for women called Singing Over the Bones. In an hour and a half in a tepee, we gathered up the bones of the wolf woman and sang her into life. This is the story of how that came to be, what happened when we did it, and what it might possibly … Read More
An Urban River Ritual
Every first Friday of the month, whatever the weather, I pack my bags with fire-lighting materials, don wellies and warm woollies and head down to the end of Meadow Lane to await a small troupe of like-minded folks, some carrying drums. We hop over a five bar gate and walk down through a neglected water meadow to a spot that … Read More
A Divorce Ritual
This year in my work as a celebrant I have had the great pleasure of presiding over two weddings and a civil partnership, all joyful and memorable occasions, and relationships I have faith in. However, much as we want to believe in ‘happy ever after’, sometimes a relationship comes to an end, just as a life ends, and if this … Read More
A Storytelling Course
What does it take to be a storyteller? Yesterday I was at a children’s centre with my freelance storytelling hat on. I had prepared my stuff, but it still felt like a bit of blag to be paid money for sitting on a carpet with a bunch of under 5’s romping through The Gingerbread Man. Then I sat with a … Read More
Adventurous Mothering
Welcome to my new venture! This blog is about entering deeply into the seasons of the year and the seasons of our lives. It’s also about what it means – as I experience it – to be alive in 2012, at this point in the evolution of humanity on an abundant yet fragile planet. It is about the mother, and … Read More