Contentment

Lazy lie-in, snuggled with IB and a bed full of purring cats.

Warm brioche rolls and a steaming mug of coffee.

A long, luxurious soak in the bath.

Out into a mild spring day full of birdsong and gentle breezes.

A day of simple pleasures.

A Small Treat

It is a beautiful spring morning. The wind is cold but when it drops, the sun is warm on my back.

Gingerly, I move over to the chicken run to let the girls out of their house and give them food and water. I have recently undergone surgery and have been too sore to attend to these chores of late. Mum, Dad and IB have been helping me, but this morning I am feeling better. In the sunshine, with daffodils blowing in the breeze, the sound of water rushing in the stream and lambs bleating in the fields, a routine chore now almost seems like a treat.

The chickens crowd round my feet as I deposit their feeder, empty the drinker and refill with fresh water. Outside the cats play-chase each other and then roll lazily on their backs, luxuriating in the sun. I shut the door of the chicken run behind me and slowly return to the house, pausing on the way to admire the pulmonaria in full bloom. The sun shines, the birds sing, spring is here - and I am very happy to have the time to stop and breathe it all in.

An Invitation...

Join us for a 5-day spiritual intensive at

Avalon Spring

5 June – 9 June 2012!

Come and connect with like minded souls; laugh, learn, sing, celebrate, dance, talk, discuss, dream, chant, work magic and do ritual under the stars, in a beautiful peaceful setting near Glastonbury, the magical Isle of Avalon...

This year the story we will be working with is Diana, Queen of Witches and Lucifer, Lightbringer

Diana was the first created before all creation; in her were all things; out of herself, the first darkness, she divided herself; into darkness and light she was divided. Lucifer, her brother and son, herself and her other half, was the light.

*****

And so our journey begins. Diana, Queen of the witches and Lucifer, Lightbringer, her brother and lover. What do they have to teach us? What parts of ourselves are touched by the moon and sun, all of it. For five days we will work the mythic story from Italian witchcraft first published in a book by Charles Leland in 1899. We’ll do this through path working and ritual.



The teaching team for Avalon Spring 2012 is Anne-Marie (Bríghde Éire), Cassandra, Georgia Midnight Crow and Rook.



Earth Spirit has been the home for Avalon and later, Avalon Spring intensives in the Reclaiming Tradition for many years. For the last few years we have tried different formats for our witchcamp; very low cost at Epping Forest, to long weekend formats, and the addition of Feri Tradition work in acknowledgement of who we are (the organisers) both Reclaiming and Feri, and the roots of much of Reclaiming core working.



We will be focusing more on the strengths of Reclaiming style in public ritual and witchcamps. All the teachers are Reclaiming witchcamp trained, and have always been so, and have been teaching for many years.



Costs this year are on a sliding scale £300-£350 for camping, £350-£400 for dorm accommodation. Concessionary places are available if you are low waged/unwaged. Payment by instalments is possible, please contact us for details.



Please see the website for further details: http://avalonspring.me/

Join us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Avalon-Spring-WitchCamp/244559932242936

email avaloncamp@gmail.com

Or contact Suzanne 0208 667 1525



Hope to see you there!

Brigid Poetry Festival 2012

Remember the annual online Poetry for Brigid Festival (you can find my last year's offering here, and dig further back in the archives for earlier contributions)?  Well, it's already that time of year again! Here is my offering:




Kingdom of Mist



I ride through a kingdom of mist

where farms drown in a phantom sea

and may piles up in the hedges like snow

waiting to melt in tomorrow's sun.



Young wheat lies down where May-winds blew,

and larks are earthbound by the stars.

A heron glides between the trees

that hold the river to its course.



Here pebbles slowly turn to snails

and spiders webs are spun with glass.

Small shells fly off as frightened moths

and cows become as druid stones.



Only the mist moves as a ghost

loving the land with limbs of fur

and whispered words grow grey as breath

rising into the frosted air.



And night comes down where day once grew,

lights ripple through this thin white sea,

while in the village, children sleep

never to know they slept in sky.


- Edward Storey

Beauty, Balance and Delight

I haven't posted here on Moonroot as frequently as I would like over the last year. I fully intend to post here more regularly in 2012. But I have also started a new blog, Beauty, Balance and Delight, to which you are warmly welcomed.

Happy New Year! Here's to a wonderful 2012 and some interesting adventures in the blogosphere...

Avalon Spring 2012

Avalon Spring 2012 will be held 5th-9th June at a gorgeous venue near Glastonbury, Somerset. This year we will be working with the Diana/Aradia/Lucifer myth - I can't wait! Full details may be found on the website. I'll be going - see you there?

The Changing Tide

At the beginning of 2011, I watched as the events of the Arab Spring unfolded with a sense of hope and excitement. Wonderful how people could come together in solidarity and support of each other, and with amazing courage and tenacity face down and finally overcome what had initially seemed invincibly oppressive regimes.

In early summer I heard news of plans to turn Starhawk's book 'The Fifth Sacred Thing' into a film. This is a book that dares to imagine a future where two different societies have evolved from pretty much where we are now. One is dystopian - repressive, authoritarian, militarized, a deeply unequal society. The other is utopian - a flourishing, diverse, peaceful, egalitarian society of abundance and tolerance for all. The book imagines what would happen should these two societies confront each other. I have always thought it would make a great movie and it is a great springboard for discussion on the direction we want our world to take.

And finally, I have been watching with hope, joy (and sometimes anxiety), the birth and development of the 'Occupy!' movement. Watching people come together in the belief that another, better world is possible; watching them behave so peacefully and self-responsibly in the face of sometimes terrible provocation by the authorities; seeing consensus and true democracy in action - well, it has made me feel truly hopeful again.

Something is afoot. Change is in the air. Yet the energy though strong and determined, is also mindful and considered. This is no flash in the pan, firey but ultimately directionless revolt. Despite the protests being criticised for articulating what they are against whilst having - as yet - few solutions, I believe this is actually a strength. Rather than rushing headlong into poorly thought out answers to the inequalities in our society, the protestors are taking time to debate, consider, and generally sift through many many diverse ideas and strategies. Rather than asking the authorities to make it all better, the protestors are acknowledging their own power-with. This is sensible. This is mature. This could lead to real, and lasting change for the better.

If nothing else the protestors are learning invaluable lessons about living together in community, organising, mutual support, working by consensus. And in the meantime the continuing occupations in New York, London and dozens of other places show that they are not going away, not going to just give up and accept the status quo. The Occupy! movement is people finally taking their own lives into their own hands and realising their collective power.

There are many other hopeful developments too. The increase in interest in permaculture, the Transition Towns movement, the move away from mass-produced tat to home-made with love, from fast food to slow...

I haven't been able to get down and Occupy myself (yet!), but inspired by the protestors I am making changes I have talked about for a long time but until now not implemented. I have changed from my old bank (Lloyds, heavily invested in arms companies and with grossly overpaid directors for example) to a more ethical bank (The Co-op). I have made myself, or sourced from other craftspeople almost all my Christmas presents this year, and asked my family to make or buy my presents similarly. I am signing up to an organic veg box scheme. And putting my money where my mouth is feels good!

The tide is changing. Where it will take us, I don't know. But I feel real hope that we are heading to a brighter future. Perhaps we have a real chance to develop into Starhawk's utopian society from The Fifth Sacred Thing. Or something like it. I for one, hope so.