Trying out my new gimbal, purchased with the help of my Patrons on my Patreon page. The moving shots are smoother, and I’ll be practicing with this during the holidays for sure! Thank you to everyone who has supported me this year, on this blog, on my YouTube channel, on my Patreon page and with your lovely messages and emails. Huge love to you all! xoxo
This time of year, the frosty mornings give us such a beautiful display of light and shadow, of magic and mystery. And the fact that the sun doesn’t rise until 8am right now means you can have a relatively decent lie-in on a Saturday morning, and still get out pre-dawn for some great shots 🙂
The freshness in the air, the silence and most of all, the solitude is just wonderful. It’s as if you are the only person in the world, and are completely at one with all nature.
The hard ground underfoot, which is usually so soft (it’s all sand on the heath) makes a nice change. It’s different, and though we don’t get much snow here so close to the sea, you can feel it still underfoot, and hear it whispering in the early morning’s light: the Song of Winter.
It’s there in the beams of sunlight that play through the branches and dance in the clouds. It’s there in your soul, waiting to be heard.
And so we stop, and take a moment to listen to our own hearts.
And we know that a world of wonder awaits us, if we just open our eyes to see the beauty that lies all around us.
And we carry that memory with us, though the road be long, though the nights are dark, though the shadows creep in.
Here is where we find ourselves, in the stillness of the year. When the fields lie fallow, and the birdsong is muted, we take a moment to hear our own souls.
And we know that we are truly blessed.
If you’ve enjoyed this post, please do consider becoming a Patron on my Patreon Page. I’m hoping to get better camera equipment for photography and video next year, and hopefully a drone that will enable me to get beautiful overheads of the North Sea Coast and the heathland where I live. I’m already dreaming of the photos and videos that I can put together with this! x
This weekend was a busy but fab weekend spent at two lovely events – the Leaping Hare Pagan Convention and the Woodbridge Mind Body Spirit Festival.
Leaping Hare was a packed day-long event on Saturday, 2 April in Colchester, Essex. It began with Derek Starkswood’s talk Paganism in the Old Testament, which was rather enlightening. Then followed Robin Herne’s brilliant Celtic Poetry and Magic, delivered with his usual flair and wit that had the whole room engaged. Robin also ran a Celtic Poetry workshop and Samantha Elen Marks did her drumming workshop, which is always a high point for me each year. We then had Oscar Kolkowski talk about Finnish mythology and poetry based on the Kalevala, looking at shamanism, magic and the art of storytelling. Though I missed it, it was then followed by Nick Ford’s talk On the Death of the Gods.
The stalls were really good this year, with great diversity. Mike Carrington’s King of Cups stall had a busy trade, and he assured me that he had brought extra mead so as not to run out this year! There was also a lovely soap stall that was new, by Bewitched Botanicals. Hedingham Fair were there as well, alongside a number of old and new faces trading second hand books, hand-crafted items and more.
It was a great day, made even more special by all the people that came up to me to congratulate me on my work, sharing their stories of how it has influenced their lives. I am so thankful to everyone for their continuing support, and I am humbled by the vast changes that people are able to make to their lives thanks to the sharing of inspiration. May we be the awen!
Sunday 3 April was the Woodbridge Mind Body Spirit Festival, which was a huge success thanks to the many people who pitched in when Chris Cozens, the organiser, was unable to attend due to health difficulties. He managed to come by on Saturday and was so delighted to see how everyone stepped up to the plate; it truly shows what people can do when they put their minds to it! We all wish Chris a speedy recovery.
The workshops on the Sunday were brilliant: I attended Secrets of Sound, Spelling and the Mind, which looked at words as spells: words do have power. It was about healing your world and learning to use sound towards ‘heal-thy-living”. It was then followed by Greenstead Living Foods‘ workshop on how to turn your vegetables into probiotics to benefit the whole family, complete with demonstration. I’m now going to go through my fridge and find the old veg to prep for some yummy delights next week! Rami showed us some instruments for healing in the next workshop, and after trying a Sansula I just had to get one! After four hours spent in workshops and roaming the many stalls (including the Chakra Project, do check them out!) it was time to head home and flop on the sofa in the conservatory for a nice cup of tea and some time out.
Down the Forest Path 