Events in Britain and Europe October 2009
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Summary - click on links to go to full details:
- Dreams of Witches: Thoughts, Introductions and Challenges of the Wiccan Path, Fri 2 Oct, London
- Rango - Mystic Sudanese Trance, Sat 3 Oct, Oxford
- Sacred Trees Workshop, Sat 3-Sun 4 Oct, North Lincoln
- Learning the Tarot: Foundation Level, Eight Mondays from 5 Oct, London
- The Automatic Writing of George and W. B. Yeats: Golden Dawn Magic, Poetry and Spiritualism, Wed 7 Oct, London
- Some Secret Place: Pagan Ceremony Evening, Fri 9 Oct, London
- The Serpent Festival, Sat 10 Oct, Clee Hill, Shropshire
- Shropshire’s ‘Gorgeous’ Contemporary Craft and Fine Food Fair, Sat 10-Sun 11 Oct, Ironbridge, Shrops
- Suffumigations and Resin Sorcery: Experiential Gnosis of Incense, Sun 11 Oct, London
- Learning the Tarot: Foundation Level, Eight Wednesdays from 14 Oct, London
- The Lairs of Cthulhu: Archaeology, Myth and Mystery in the work of HP Lovecraft, Thu 15 Oct, London
- HAD Conference – 'The Care of Ancient Human Remains', Sat 17 Oct, Leicester
- Candle-Making for Ritual and Magic: A Hands-on Day Course, Sun 18 Oct, London
- Stav Self-defence Training, Sat 24 Oct, Bath
- Working with Wood, Sat 24 Oct, Upper Slaughter, Glos
- “Uniting Heaven and Earth” – The Living Tradition of the Céile Dé, Sat 24-Sun 25 Oct, Hebden Bridge, Yorkshire
- 'Showing Off' in Ludlow, Sat 24-Sun 25 Oct, Ludlow, Shrops
- The Gorsedd of Rhiannon, Sun 25 Oct, The White Horse, Uffington, Oxon/Berks border
- Turning the Wheel - Celebrating the Wheel of the Year, Sun 25 Oct, Derbyshire
- Mediaeval Baebes Gig, Wed 28 Oct, Bridlington, Yorkshire
- Witches, Wizards and Warlocks: A Guided Walk round Old Magical London, Wed 28 Oct, London
- Pazuzu, Lilith and Demons: Ancient Mesopotamian Religion, Literature and Art, Thu 29 Oct, London
- Living in Love and Honour, Thu 29 Oct-Sun 1 Nov, near Glastonbury, Somerset
- Simphiwe Dana, Fri 30 Oct, Oxford
- Launch Party for Abraxas, Fri 30 Oct, London
- Free and Open Gorsedd of Caer Abiri, Sat 31 Oct, Avebury, Wiltshire
- Samhuinn Ritual, Sat 31 Oct, Stanton Drew, Somerset
- Halloween with Personal Ancestors: Divination, Study & Ritual in Lukumi Tradition, Sat 31 Oct, London
Friday 2 October 2009
DREAMS OF WITCHES: Thoughts, Introductions and Challenges of the Wiccan Path
Treadwell's Bookshop, 34 Tavistock St., Covent Garden WC2E 7PB
Christina Oakley Harrington
This is a night of anecdotes, philosophy, poetry which opens up the spiritual path of modern pagan witchcraft. Christina has been a witch for half her life, from the age of 23. Here she shares a bit about the challenges of an earth-based tradition that affirms the body's joyful sacredness, along with some of the complexities of pain, ecstasy, dreams, disillusions and renewals one finds along this path. She promises some favourite classical poetry quotes, some funny stories, and a handful of tales of adventures and misadventures. It aims to be a talk that is both informative and personal, with especial reference to those who are currently pursuing the Craft as solitary practitioners, and those who are drawn to the tradition but are just starting out. Questions and answer time, then wine and drinks afterward.
To sign up for an event, ring with card details, 020 7240 8906. Payment in person to the shop in opening hours also welcome. All evening talks are followed by drinks. info [at] treadwells-london [dot] com( Email). More events and shop info on Website.
Saturday 3 October 2009
RANGO - Mystic Sudanese Trance
Wesley Memorial Chapel, New Inn Hall Street, Oxford
Buy tickets £14 (£11 concessions) from Big Village Website.
Trance-inducing music from Sudanese mystic healing ceremonies played on lyres retrofitted with electric pickups and vintage Balafons with spirit gourd resonators, performed by the Cairo-based RANGO collective
"A secret healing ceremony that uses music to cure people possessed by dangerous spirits...Call-and-response songs with rapidly shifting, skittering rhythms" The New Statesman.
Sudanese music originally migrated to Egypt in the early 19th century via conscripts to the Egyptian army, enlisted following Mohammed Ali’s conquest of Sudan in 1820. Musicians amongst the reluctant recruits bought folk music from Sudan and created a new repertoire of songs telling of their longing to return to their homelands. During the same era, the Slave communities of the cotton trade from Sudan and Ethiopia sought solace from the harsh realities of their everyday lives through music in the outlawed Zar ritual, a healing communion with unseen spirits thought to cleanse the soul and relieve suffering.
Following the abolition of the slave trade in Egypt towards the end of the 19th century, the Diaspora communities from Sudan and Ethiopia congregated in Cairo, Ismalia and Alexandra. Zar chants from the former slaves, folk melodies from the conscripts and popular Nubian songs evolved into a new form of dance music used in Sudanese wedding celebrations and other social events played on vintage Rango Balafons and Tanbura lyres, accompanied by ritual percussionists and dancers.
While this fusion of sacred and secular music was well received in the Sudanese communities, there was much widespread concern about the Zar ceremonies both from Islamic scholars and in wider Egyptian society. The Rango musicians held a complex belief system that had evolved over several centuries combining elements of their original Sudanese shamanic practices along recongnition of Muslim prophets and Christian spirits – ultimately worshiping a trinity of Gods: Yawra Bey, the king of the Muslim Spirits, the child spirit Lady Racosha and Red Djinn, leader of the Christian spirit world in Sudan.
The Sudanese musicians believed that spirits could manifest through the gourd resonators of the Rango instrument and from the vibrations of the strings on the Tanbura lyre, and while the more sensitive ritual melodies would never be performed at public celebrations, unfounded murmurings and whispers in Egypt in the 1940s and 1950s about the music’s role in the enchantment of husbands, lovers and black magic ceremonies (fuelled by an unfavourable portrayal of Zar musicians in Egyptian cinema) drove it’s practitioners underground - fearing persecution from a society that did not understand the complexities of Sudanese mysticism. The decline of Zar in Egypt has been well-documented in the book and cautionary tale “The Zar and the Theatre of Ritual” by Adil El-‘Aleemi, a respected Egyptian ethnological researcher.
Rango-driven wedding celebrations continued to be performed until the 1960s, until this strand of Sudanese music faced a separate threat to the religious opposition to Zar. The Rango instrument was made with a special type of gourd resonator fashioned from a Sudanese fruit not found in Egypt and as such the only Rangos in circulation were vintage instruments from Sudan. Musicians in Ismalia experimented with making a new instrument called Kazan using recycled tuna cans and wooden boxes as resonators but found the younger generation of Sudanese people were uninterested in playing the Rango. With the passing of many old masters in the 1970s both the knowledge to construct new instruments and the undocumented repertoire of Rango songs were lost to history. Coupled with the popularity of guitars, accordions and the growing dominance of Arabian pop music, the Rango become all but extinct by the late 1970s.
During the production of a documentary on this long-lost music for Nile TV in the 1990s, the last surviving player of the Rango idiophone, the enigmatic Hassan Bergamon was rediscovered living in Cairo.
Hassan had been a life-long devotee of the instrument, having skipped school to practice the Rango and then perform at wedding parties through the night in his hometown of Ismalia. While Hassan’s mother was a fourth generation Zar singer, Hassan’s aptitude towards music led to some family tensions. His uncle repeatedly locked the door of the family house at night in a bid to stop his obsession with the instrument, but Hassan would escape with his mother’s help by climbing out of a back window using a rope ladder to continue playing the instrument under the guidance of master Rango musician Mohamed Almaz. When the residents of Ismailia were evacuated from the city in 1967 following the six-day war Arab/Israeli War, Hassan was relocated to Cairo were he continued to play Rango in a group led by the legendary Abas Mastora. As interest in the instrument declined though, Hassan retired from performing Rango in the early 1970s to concentrate on playing percussion and singing in Zar ceremonies.
Following the completion of the Nile TV documentary Hassan began to assemble a new Rango group the supported by Zakaria Ibrahim’s El Mastaba Centre for Egyptian folk music (home to Port Said’s El Tanbura and Bedouin Jerry Can Band from El Arish). The new group comprised veteran drummers and ZAR masters, along with a floating collective of singers and ritual dancers wearing mangor belts made from goat horns & playing shakers fashioned from empty insect replant cans filled with shells.
Hassan’s Rango ensemble made their stage debut in Egypt in 2001 and have since appeared at Fes Festival of Sacred World Music in Morocco, the South Bank Centre, London (supporting Bedouin Jerry Can Band in 2008), The Great Library, Alexandria Egypt, Palace of Prince Taz, Cairo & Festival Egyptien, Paris.
Saturday 3 to Sunday 4 October 2009
SACRED TREES WORKSHOP
North Lincoln
Workshop with Glennie Kindred.
Includes a walk in the woods, creating our own tree journal, wand making from wood from native trees, exploring the healing energy of our native trees, ceremony, drumming, singing, and deepening our heart connection to trees and each other. Contact Val Cowan: 01652 680523.
Eight Mondays from 5 October OR eight Wednesdays from 14 October 2009
LEARNING THE TAROT: Foundation Level
Treadwell's Bookshop, 34 Tavistock St., Covent Garden WC2E 7PB
£140 for the eight-week class (deposit £70)
Learn how to read and work with the tarot card tradition with gifted, experienced teachers. Treadwell's now offers a course which starts from the basics and progresses actively in a lively class. Diana Taylor and Sue Merlyn Farebrother will teach classes grounded in Qabalah as part of their journey into the cards. They will be given homework and handouts, and by the end of the course should be able to provide basic readings for others as well as be comfortable using the tarot as a springboard for meditation. Students are encouraged to choose, bring and study with the deck they most feel an affinity with, although classes will be based around the Colman-Rider-Waite imagery. Register for either the Monday class or the Wednesday class, via Treadwell's on 0207 240 8906. Places limited.
Monday Night Class Diana Taylor. 5th October and following seven Mondays. Diana Taylor has been reading tarot for 14 years following her training under a Western ceremonial tradition, and in the spirit of the Eight of Cups, has continued her studies with teachers such as Rachel Pollack. She is committed to helping others find and express their true will, and recommends the tarot to gain understanding of life's dynamics. She aims to bring out the 'practical mystic,' and combines academic study of myth and history with 'playing' with the cards, so students can have both a solar and a lunar approach to using the tarot.
Wednesday Night Class with Sue Merlyn Farebrother. 14th October and following seven Wednesdays. Sue Merlyn Farebrother has been studying and reading tarot for over 25 years, and has taught tarot for over a decade and is also a practising professional astrologer. She grounds her teaching in the historical magical Western tradition of the tarot, essential for really getting inside the meaning of the cards. She trained as a psychotherapist with the Psychosynthesis and Education Trust, and gained an M.A. in Cultural Astronomy and Astrology at Bath Spa University in 2007. She is bright, organised, focussed - and has delightfully dry sense of humour.
To sign up for an event, ring with card details, 020 7240 8906. Payment in person to the shop in opening hours also welcome. All evening talks are followed by drinks. info [at] treadwells-london [dot] com( Email). More events and shop info on Website.
Wednesday 7 October 2009
THE AUTOMATIC WRITING OF GEORGE AND W. B. YEATS: Golden Dawn Magic, Poetry and Spiritualism
Treadwell's Bookshop, 34 Tavistock St., Covent Garden WC2E 7PB
Professor Margaret Mills Harper
W.B. Yeats was not just a Nobel laureate for literature, but a lifelong devotee of the western magical tradition. He joined the Order of the Golden Dawn in his youth, and never renounced it. It informed his writing through all of his career, culminating, some say in his enigmatic work, A Vision. Magic formed a central role in his late marriage to Georgie Hyde Lees, with whom he practised automatic writing. This automatic writing is key to understanding Yeats' later magical life, his literature, and his marriage. Meg Harper is a world expert on the matter, and it is an honour to have her with us. Professor of English at Georgia State University, her works include: Wisdom of Two: The Spiritual and Literary Collaboration of George and W. B. Yeats (2006); Yeats' "Vision" Papers, vols 3-4 (as co-editor); Yeats' 'A Vision', the Original 1925 Version (2008) (as co-editor) and The Aristocracy of Art: Joyce and Wolfe (1990).
To sign up for an event, ring with card details, 020 7240 8906. Payment in person to the shop in opening hours also welcome. All evening talks are followed by drinks. info [at] treadwells-london [dot] com( Email). More events and shop info on Website.
Friday 9 October 2009
SOME SECRET PLACE: Pagan Ceremony Evening
Treadwell's Bookshop, 34 Tavistock St., Covent Garden WC2E 7PB
Gemma Jones, Peter James and Friends
7.15 for 7.30 start. £5 in advance.
Monthly beginner's pagan ritual evenings, perfect for those starting out on the pagan path, or as solitary witches. Some Secret Place is made up of some talk, some small group discussion on devotion, ceremony, spirituality, and relationship with deity. Most of all, though, it is experiential. It's about doing and feeling rather than theorising. We hope that people who come along will deepen their personal relationship with the pagan gods. This is for people who have done some reading on witchcraft, Wicca and/or paganism, and who are familiar with at least its general theological tenets. We assume you are pagan and want to practice it, but we don't presume you are experienced. Group size is small - maximum 17 people. The organisers want this to be a gentle, intimate and thoughtful experience. You can come once, come regularly, or come intermittently - whatever suits you best. Future dates: Friday 13 Nov.
To sign up for an event, ring with card details, 020 7240 8906. Payment in person to the shop in opening hours also welcome. All evening talks are followed by drinks. info [at] treadwells-london [dot] com( Email). More events and shop info on Website.
Saturday 10 October 2009
THE SERPENT FESTIVAL
Royal Oak, Clee Hill, Ludlow, Shropshire SY8 3PE
7pm til 11pm. Tickets £12.
Internationally renowned singer/songwriter Damh the Bard, Singer/songwriter Paul Newman, Storyteller Fiona Collins, Clee Hill Storyteller Suzanne Thomas. Plus others.
“Within the Hill lies a legend - the Tale of the Clee Hill Serpent."
A story made by the hill itself and the surrounding landscape. The climate on Titterstone Clee is unique; if it’s sunny on the hill, it’s raining down in Ludlow - when the summit is hidden by fog, (or Serpents Breath) Ludlow enjoys a sunny day. And snow on Clee Hill is a legend in its own right! So what causes the strange climate on the slopes of Titterstone Clee? The Serpent of course! To celebrate the story and the wonderful uniqueness of Titterstone Clee, the Serpent Festival has been created.
For further information see Website.
Saturday 10 to Sunday 11 October 2009
Shropshire’s ‘GORGEOUS’ Contemporary Craft and Fine Food Fair
Enginuity, Ironbridge, Shropshire
The Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust and The Shropshire Guild of Contemporary Craft are, for the fifth year, bringing together an inspirational mix of some of the finest craftspeople in the West Midlands for the Guild’s prestigious annual flagship exhibition, ‘Gorgeous’, over the weekend of October 10th and 11th.
The exhibition will be held at Enginuity, Coalbrookdale, Ironbridge, and for the second year, the makers will be joined by many of the region’s top food and drink producers to include homemade cakes and biscuits, locally produced wine, free range meat and preserves.
Visitors to the ‘Gorgeous’ Contemporary Craft and Fine Food Fair will be able to view and buy original craft work of the highest quality as well as meet the designer makers.
Chairman of the Guild and ceramicist Ralph Jandrell said “every year, The Shropshire Guild of Contemporary Craft organise a unique creative selling exhibition featuring the most talented designer makers from Shropshire and the West Midlands. Gorgeous is the biggest contemporary craft event in the region – and this year not only do we have over 35 designer makers exhibiting their exclusive wares to include ceramics, furniture, glass, jewellery, textiles and much more, but we also have a wonderful selection of local food producers too".
This remarkable selling exhibition of unique craftwork and gourmet produce will be held in the Engine Room at Enginuity, the Ironbridge Gorge’s fascinating interactive design and technology centre, and runs from Saturday 10th October 10am-5pm, and Sunday 11th October from 10am – 4.30pm.
Entrance to Gorgeous is £2.50 per person and free for children under 12 (this does not include entrance to Enginuity).
Address: Enginuity, Coalbrookdale, Ironbridge, Telford, TF8 7DQ
Further information can be found at Shropshire Guild website or Ironbridge website.
Sunday 11 October 2009
SUFFUMIGATIONS AND RESIN SORCERY: Experiential Gnosis of Incense
Treadwell's Bookshop, 34 Tavistock St., Covent Garden WC2E 7PB
A Day Course with Paul Wood and friends
11 am to 5.30 pm. £45.
Psychically communicating with the plant spirits is an art of magical practitioners through the ages, and around the world: from Florence Farr in the Golden Dawn, to Andrew Chumbley and Daniel Schulke in the Cultus Sabbati more recently. In older times, the arts of 'phytognosis' were pursued by Nicholas Culpeper and cunning men. Native Americans still speak to the spirits of plants, be they ayahuasca daemons or peyote spirits. This day works with spirits of incense resins, the life-sap of the plants of benzoin, frankincense, copal, mastic, and the infamous Dragon's Blood. You will learn the history and folk magic of these plants, and then work: meditation, ritual, burning resins, imbibing the fumes, undertaking divinations, scrying smoke-wisps, and making offerings. Ideal if you are keen on plant sorcery or do herb-based magical practices. It also gives an important grounding for people who want to learn to make blended magical incenses. The tutor, Paul Wood, practices plant alchemy, mixes incenses, and is one half of the team of Wood-Moss Herbals, a company specialising in historically accurate magical oils, potions and blends (including Abramelin Oil). Price of the day includes teas and coffees all day, handouts and samples to take home.
To sign up for an event, ring with card details, 020 7240 8906. Payment in person to the shop in opening hours also welcome. All evening talks are followed by drinks. info [at] treadwells-london [dot] com( Email). More events and shop info on Website.
Thursday 15 October 2009
THE LAIRS OF CTHULHU: Archaeology, Myth and Mystery in the work of HP Lovecraft
Treadwell's Bookshop, 34 Tavistock St., Covent Garden WC2E 7PB
James Holloway (Cambridge)
7.15 arrival for 7.30 start. £5.00 in advance.
For many, the name HP Lovecraft conjures images of strange pre-human ruins. In fact, Lovecraft was keenly interested in archaeology and ancient history, and used archaeological theory to create specific dramatic effects in his work. This talk explores Lovecraft's relationship to archaeology, its use in his fiction, the adoption of this imagery by the Lovecraftian fan community, and the ways in which Lovecraft's work anticipates modern debates in the field. This is a night for all who have been moved by the landscapes he conjured, the deeps he evoked: the lairs of Cthulhu. James Holloway has a PhD in archaeology from Cambridge, focusing on funerary archaeology in the Anglo-Saxon period. He has a lifelong interest in Lovecraft, and originally began to look into this subject as part of a 2007 conference session on 'the archaeology of imaginary civilizations'.
To sign up for an event, ring with card details, 020 7240 8906. Payment in person to the shop in opening hours also welcome. All evening talks are followed by drinks. info [at] treadwells-london [dot] com( Email). More events and shop info on Website.
Saturday 17 October 2009
HAD CONFERENCE – 'The Care of Ancient Human Remains'
New Walk Museum, Leicester
Honouring the Ancient Dead (HAD) is pleased to announce its first independent one-day conference. Themes will cover the leading edge of current thinking, with prominent speakers from museums, social anthropology, national human remains specialist groups, as well as the Pagan perspective central to HAD. Participants are invited from archaeology, museums, government departments responsible for human remains, together with Pagans and others with special interest in their care. Opportunity for discussion and questions has been built in to the agenda, and papers will be published following the day.
CONFERENCE PURPOSE:
The conference aims to explore issues around value and custody of human remains, with particular focus on how the institutions that maintain custody engage with external communities who have a special interest in the remains. The conference is organised by HAD, who will clarify its own position in developing and maintaining dialogue and facilitating access to and consultations on human remains. The results of the conference will be used within subsequent discussions relating to the respectful treatment of ancient British human remains held between HAD and institutions such as museums or government departments.
CONFERENCE THEMES:
‘The Matter of Bones’: Dr Joost Fontein & Dr John Harries, Social Anthropology, University of Edinburgh: Human bones are curious things: both person and object, yet neither wholly one nor the other, they affect us, altering how we perceive life and death, self and others, community and relationship. From a social and cultural anthropological perspective, this paper explores why and how bones matter to the living, and indeed what that matter - physically and emotionally - actually is. Furthermore, why and how does their significance inform what we do with them?
‘Consultation and Display’: Philip Wise, Heritage Manager, Colchester and Ipswich Museum Service: Best practice in museums, following the guidelines of the Museums Association Code of Ethics, is to involve audiences and communities in consultations around future displays. This paper reports on a successful consultation around the redisplay of the Iron Age gallery at Colchester Museum.
‘The Issue of Custody and Practical Respect’: Prof Piotr Bienkowski, Archaeology and Museology, University of Manchester: Given how the word ‘respect’ is freely used in debates about human remains, this paper considers its meaning both in discussion and practice. It critiques the assumptions of the DCMS Guidance on the Care of Human Remains (2005), arguing that it is inapplicable to British human remains and those communities with an interest in them, further exploring how consultative processes must acknowledge the different notions of value and respect if decision-making is to have any moral validity.
‘The Pagan Voice’: Emma Restall Orr, HAD: Though political correctness requires museums respectfully process requests from overseas communities seeking to repatriate ancestral remains, when British Pagans express significant interest in remains museums have no effective guidance as to how to respond. This paper explores the theologies that underlie the Pagan spiritual connection to human remains, and asks what language would be better employed by heritage organisations in such discussions.
‘The Legal Issues around the Excavation and Custody of Human Remains’: Charlotte Woodhead, Barrister, University of Derby: With legal ownership of human remains in the UK still problematic, museums and other institutions generally accept that they only have custody of remains. There is, however, a perceived lack of clarity surrounding decisions about excavation, retention and disposal. This paper, by a specialist in cultural heritage laws, explores the current situation and its implications.
TICKETS:
Tickets will be on sale from July 2009. Please contact the HAD office to reserve tickets before that, or to purchase tickets once available. For more information and ticket prices, please go to the HAD website.
HAD office, PO Box 3533, Whichford, Shipston on Stour, Warwickshire CV36 5YB, England
Sunday 18 October 2009
CANDLE-MAKING FOR RITUAL AND MAGIC: A Hands-on Day Course
Treadwell's Bookshop, 34 Tavistock St., Covent Garden WC2E 7PB
Nathalie Beveridge (Little Owl Candles)
11 am - 6pm. £45.
This full day focuses on the art of making candles by hand, and is taught by Nathalie Beveridge of Little Owl Company, specialist candle-makers for ritualists and magicians. It is an opportunity to learn the techniques from an experienced maker, in order to obtain especially good results in different techniques of candle making. A practitioner herself, Nathalie will also lead a discussion on how to use them in magical workings and in ritual. Each participant will make and take home two types, and will have the knowledge to make candles at home with basic equipment. This day is ideal for practitioners who want to be able to make personal candles for their own practice, be it ceremonial magic, hedge witchcraft or shamanistic working. The price includes teas and coffees all day; handouts; all supplies for the day; and your own just-made candles to take home.
To sign up for an event, ring with card details, 020 7240 8906. Payment in person to the shop in opening hours also welcome. All evening talks are followed by drinks. info [at] treadwells-london [dot] com( Email). More events and shop info on Website.
Saturday 24 October 2009
STAV SELF-DEFENCE TRAINING
Bath Spa University, Newton Park, Newton St Loe, Bath, BA2 9BN
Hosted by the Bath Spa University Pagan Society.
10.30am to 5.30pm – this course will explore how the principles of Stav can be applied to practical self-defence training. This will include: Working with the five principles for developing appropriate strategies for personal safety. Conditioning for fitness and strength and using the runic animal exercises to provide practical self-defence skills which anyone can learn.
Cost and Booking Information:
Day courses cost £25 or £20 for Ice and Fire Members. Concessions £20 (I&F members £15), for those in full time education £15 (I&F members £10). You can join or renew membership at the same time as booking and claim the members discount. Please book/join using the form online where you can pay using Pay Pal. You can also join Ice and Fire or renew your membership by following links from the same page. You may turn up and pay on the day although we would appreciate your letting us know you intend to come by phone or email. However, if you prebook we will send you travel instructions by email or post as required. (If you leave email box blank we will send joining instructions by post.) In the event of your cancellation we will carry the course fee over to another event but we will only refund in exceptional circumstances. In the event of the course being cancelled by Ice and Fire a full refund will be made.
Please bring own food for lunch, refreshments will be provided before the course, at breaks and at lunchtime.
Saturday 24 October 2009
WORKING WITH WOOD
Springfield Sanctuary, Wynyards Farm, Upper Slaughter, Cheltenham GL54 2JR
We shall looking at the energetic properties of wood and you will have the opportunity to make your own wand, staff or elder jewellery. If you are keen to dig burdock, nettle or dandelion roots, that can also be done. Bring a penknife, sandpaper and infused herbal oils will be provided.
Springfield Sanctuary is reached by walking through two wild flower meadows which can get very wet during rainy periods. Please bring sensible footwear, rain gear (cagoule and overtrousers), warm clothes in layers and a packed lunch. If you have gardening gloves please bring them and if you have time to spare to help with weeding, that would be much appreciated!
Please sarah [at] headology [dot] co [dot] uk( email me) to book your place and receive travelling directions. There is a train service to Moreton in Marsh and Kingham railway station on the Worcester to Paddington line. Each station is about 8 miles from the Sanctuary up some very steep hills. There are no bus services.
If you have not attended a workshop before and want to read about previous workshops, take a look at the diary pages on the Sanctuary Website. You can also keep up with my herbal and other exploits here.
Workshops are free, but donations are welcomed to support the upkeep of the Sanctuary.
Saturday 24 to Sunday 25 October 2009
“UNITING HEAVEN AND EARTH” – The Living Tradition of the Céile Dé
Light of Hope Centre, Hebden Bridge, Yorkshire
This earliest manifestation of Celtic Christianity is rooted in reverence for The Mother… Earth… as She ever-births The Incarnation - Christ - from our surrendered hearts.
This living tradition is at once, lyrical, mythopoeic, esoteric and deeply devotional. It seeks balance at all times between the need for earthly, psychological and mystical development. It has at its heart a deep faith in and celebration of the transformative power of Love.
During our time together we will -
- Learn Rún; Céile Dé's main contemplative practice
- Learn how to pray with the paidirean (Celtic prayer beads)
- Explore some of the philosophy of the tradition and its application in real life
- There will also be experiential work, such as ancient sacred Chants in Gaelic and other spiritual practices.
ONGOING COMMUNITY: This workshop is intended to be the first of two introductory workshops. After this, we will offer group membership to those who would like to continue their spiritual journey within a dedicated group, based in the North of England and part of the wider Céile Dé community, that offers a powerful container for those who seek a path that invites commitment and openness to real inner change.
Group members will be able to meet together regularly to share practices and experiences and will receive twice yearly teachings.
To Book: See Website.
Saturday 24 to Sunday 25 October 2009
'SHOWING OFF' in Ludlow
Harley Centre, Castle Square, Ludlow, Shropshire, SY8 1GD
Designer makers from the Shropshire Guild of Contemporary Craft will be exhibiting their unique hand crafted wares at Ludlow College's Harley Centre in October.
Guild members will be joined by designer makers from the Worcester Guild of Designer Craftsmen at this annual selling exhibition, aptly titled 'Showing Off'.
'Showing Off' will showcase over 30 designer makers who will be offering a wide selection of quality, contemporary work. Disciplines on show include: ceramics, leatherwork, furniture, basket making, glass, jewellery, textiles and forge work.
The 'Showing Off' exhibition will be open from 10am – 5pm on Saturday and then from 10am – 4pm on Sunday. Entrance to the exhibition is free.
Further details can be found at Shropshire Guild website.
Sunday 25 October 2009
THE GORSEDD OF RHIANNON AND THE WHITE HORSE
Samhain Rite
The White Horse at Uffington, near where Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Wiltshire meet
Welcome to the Samhain Meeting of the Gorsedd of Rhiannon and the White Horse (Yr Orsedd Riannon a'r March Canwelw).
We will meet in the main car park at the White Horse around noon and then proceed to the area where the Gorsedd will be held. This could be anywhere in the White Horse complex dependent on numbers and weather. Recently this has either been at Dragon Hill or in the field east of the car park. We will make the decision on the day. (For those who are unable to manage the walk we'll lay on cars to ferry you to the site.) The format will be very much the BDO/TDN style of Gorsedd with Bardic initiation and handfastings offered if required. Contributions for the informal eisteddfod (songs, poems, stories) will be very welcome.
For further information contact htarrant_sun [at] hotmail [dot] com( Rainbow)
Sunday 25 October 2009
TURNING THE WHEEL – CELEBRATING THE WHEEL OF THE YEAR
Derbyshire
A Workshop with Glennie Kindred - The underlying energy of Samhain - also with Rosemary Greenwood, Marion McCartney & Annie Keeling.
Connecting to the rhythm of the seasons through each of the Celtic festivals and
its underlying energy.
Sunday 10am – 4pm in a village hall in Derbyshire.
Each celebration will include co-created ceremony, a variety of deep and fun ways to bring connection and renewal to our relationship with the Earth, sacred craftwork, drumming, singing and community networking, so that we become alive to our selves and the world around us and feel inspired to be fully present and active in these changing times.
Cost £35.
Please send a SAE for booking forms and further info to:
Glennie Kindred, Lea Moor, Derby Rd, Wirksworth, Derbyshire DE4 4AR
Tel: 01629 825 675 or glenniekindred [at] w3z [dot] co [dot] uk( Email).
Wednesday 28 October 2009
WITCHES, WIZARDS AND WARLOCKS: A Guided Walk round Old Magical London
Treadwell's Bookshop, 34 Tavistock St., Covent Garden WC2E 7PB
Arrive Treadwell’s 7.20 for 7.30 departure. £7.00 (booking advised).
This walk takes you through the darkened cobblestone streets of the Embankment and Covent Garden, to the sites of secrets behind some of the earliest practitioners of magic in London, some famous- some infamous. Your delightful and know ledgeable guide Delianne is a London registered Blue Badge Guide, actor and occult practitioner. This event is part of the Original London Ghost Festival (23rd- 31st October 2009). Meet at Treadwell’s.
To sign up for an event, ring with card details, 020 7240 8906. Payment in person to the shop in opening hours also welcome. All evening talks are followed by drinks. info [at] treadwells-london [dot] com( Email). More events and shop info on Website.
Thursday 29 October 2009
PAZUZU, LILITH AND DEMONS: Ancient Mesopotamian Religion, Literature and Art
Treadwell's Bookshop, 34 Tavistock St., Covent Garden WC2E 7PB
Dr Daniel Schwemer (SOAS)
7.15 arrival for 7.30 start. £5.00 in advance.
Dan Schwemer returns by popular demand to talk about the demons of ancient Mesopotamia, with particular focus the one adopted by modern occultism: Pazuzu. Come learn his real history, and meet his other friends in the near-eastern anti-pantheon. With him arises the great demoness, Lilith: fierce, feared and making an appearance in Biblical texts, no less. Daniel Schwemer is not only a lively speaker, he is also an international scholar and lecturer at London's School of Oriental and African Studies.
To sign up for an event, ring with card details, 020 7240 8906. Payment in person to the shop in opening hours also welcome. All evening talks are followed by drinks. info [at] treadwells-london [dot] com( Email). More events and shop info on Website.
Thursday 29 October to Sunday 1 November 2009
LIVING IN LOVE AND HONOUR
EarthSpirit, near Glastonbury, Somerset
An exploration of the true relationship between man and woman led by Karen Webb and Peter Neall.
(For Network members here are links to their Member Profiles: Karen and Peter.)
Our generation has done much vital exploration in men’s and women’s groups, and now we see it is time for men and women to come together again, to honour and empower one another with the learning they’ve gained.
Drawing often on the Western mystical tradition embodied by the troubadours of the Middle Ages, on Arthurian myth and wisdom tales, and embracing modern scientific discoveries, in largely ritual space we approach one another with integrity and enquiry as Man and Woman.
- What is Woman, and what is Womanhood?
- What is Man, and what is Manhood?
- What is the deep spiritual nature of the relationship between Woman and Man?
- What do we truly want to receive from one another, and to give?
- How can we stand freely in our own power, honouring and complemented by another standing freely in their own, very different, power?
- How do we honour our own inner Man and Woman, and heal the relationship within?
This is not for couples necessarily, nor only for heterosexuals. We are all man (and woman), or woman (and man). Limited to 20 participants.
The workshop will include a Samhain ritual.
Contact and further information see website or 01525 222600.
Cost £235 inclusive for 3 days residential. Camping and non-resident, please contact for reduced prices.
Friday 30 October 2009
SIMPHIWE DANA
The 02 Academy, Oxford, 190 Cowley Road, Oxford, OX4 1UE
Tickets £10 in advance from Big Village Website or £12 on the door.
The best thing to happen to Afro-soul music since Miriam Makeba, with the pure soul of Makeba and the innovation and playfulness of Erykah Badu and Zap Mama, Dana has received standing ovations all over Europe. On her platinum album, “Zandisile”, you can hear the early influence of gospel music in her compositions. Her lyrics speak mainly of the significance of traditions alongside the struggle for self-confidence and freedom.
It was Women’s Day, and the young and old gathered to celebrate at the Constitutional Hill in Johannesburg. Simphiwe Dana was one of the artists on the line up and I waited in anticipation, excited to see her perform live, because from what I’ve heard this girl can really do her thing. After what seemed like a very long time the MC announced that she was coming up next. The crowd waited anxiously as the three background vocalists were settling in their positions. The background music began playing and as Dana entered the stage the crowd erupted with excitement.
Dressed in a long oriental design skirt and a tight fitting vest with the words ‘I’m an African showing off her pregnant belly’ printed on it, Simphiwe looked stunning, and, unlike many good looking female singers, she fortunately has the voice to go with it.
Born and Raised in the Eastern Cape, her name means ‘gift’ and many of her fans would agree that she is just that, a gift to the SA music scene. In a short period of time this Soul Sistah has become one of South Africa’s favourite daughters. Her music has a fresh sound and her unique voice complements it perfectly. Her debut album Zandisile took a lot of music lovers by surprise. It is modern South African music with a timeless revolutionary message.
Simphiwe Dana says that her music is mostly influenced by what is going on in people’s daily lives. She talks about the struggle that black people are going through, despite South Africa’s supposed freedom, and status as a democracy. Tracks like Thwelubunzima and Vukani call for people of colour to wake up and see the light, but then she also has tracks like Zandisile which is a song of hope, and Ndiredi, the hit single for which she won a couple of South African Music Awards.
'I am a very cultured person’, she says, ‘as an African person we were made to feel inferior and a lot of African people stopped practicing their culture because it was seen as witchcraft or uncivilized. My music is inspired by African people and the love they have for song. I grew up in a rural area and every time there was some kind of gathering, such as a wedding or circumcision, we sang to celebrate the event. Music has always been my first love, but because of financial problems I was forced to study IT after matric in order to survive and I have worked in the IT industry until reality caught up with me and I couldn’t ignore my calling to become a musician anymore. I started off performing at poetry sessions in Yeoville and Newtown and one day after a performance a talent scout from Gallo records approached me and asked me to give her a demo tape, which I did, and weeks later they asked me to sign up with them. The rest, as they say, is history’.
Simphiwe has two lovely children.
'I want my children to grow up the way I did, knowing where they come from and so I speak to Zazi in our language, Xhosa. This is for the same reason I sing in Xhosa. It is very important to preserve our languages and pass them on to our children’.
Some of Simphiwe’s favorite artists are Dorothy Masuka, Miriam Makeba and Bob Marley just to name a few. ‘I like the fact that I have a unique sound and I don’t purposefully follow trends. I would advise other people who want to become a musician to be creative about what they do rather than trying to imitate others. If you have the love for something and you are passionate about it, then you will stop at nothing to do it. And no matter what you do in life always remember where your roots lie’.
Friday 30 October 2009
LAUNCH PARTY FOR ABRAXAS
Treadwell's Bookshop, 34 Tavistock St., Covent Garden WC2E 7PB
Free, advance reply required. From 7.00 pm.
Treadwells and Fulgur invite you to celebrate the first issue of our new esoteric journal Abraxas, now in press. In keeping with our intent, writers and artists have kindly submitted material from across the globe: Australia, the United States, Mexico, Italy and the United Kingdom are keenly represented. Many contributors will be present. Please join us in raising a glass to the remarkable community of practitioners, scholars, writers, poets and thinkers that make up the international esoteric community today, whom this journal celebrates. The theme of the first issue is Witchcraft, so, with tongue in cheek, we invite you to wear a cloak or a pointy hat to the festivities.
To sign up for an event, ring with card details, 020 7240 8906. Payment in person to the shop in opening hours also welcome. All evening talks are followed by drinks. info [at] treadwells-london [dot] com( Email). More events and shop info on Website.
Saturday 31 October 2009
FREE AND OPEN GORSEDD OF CAER ABIRI
Avebury, Wiltshire
Samhain rite
The rites are facilitated by members of the Glastonbury and other Orders of Druids and the Loyal Arthurian Warband. They are held on the nearest Saturday to each date of the festive wheel. Midday for One, (although we don't usually start much before 1.30pm, sometimes later) meeting at and in the garden of the Red Lion.
Saturday 31 October 2009
SAMHUINN RITUAL
Stanton Drew Stone Circles, Somerset
The DOBUNNI GROVE of OBOD hold a celebration of each Fire Festival at this Sacred Site. These are suitable for Pagans and friends/children of Pagans.
We meet at 11am.
FFD Email ninahare [at] yahoo [dot] com( Ninahare) or ring her on 07962 781146.
Saturday 31 October 2009
HALLOWEEN WITH PERSONAL ANCESTORS: Divination, Study & Ritual in Lukumi Tradition
Treadwell's Bookshop, 34 Tavistock St., Covent Garden WC2E 7PB
Led by Ode Bi Tola and friends
10.30 am - 5.30 pm. £45 in advance.
The festival of Halloween is a good time to get in touch with and honour your ancestors. We invite you to a day of divination, training and ritual to the ancestors from the Lukumi tradition, the Cuban branch of Yoruba traditional religion. The day is led by Ode Bi Tola, a Lukumi priest familiar with Western magical traditions and holding a strong cross-cultural perspective. He says, ‘It is all very well being initiated to various magical systems and traditions but you do not need to be initiated to your own ancestors, who are willing to assist you in this plane of existence if you develop the right system of communication.’ The day is a comprehensive and self-contained course in ancestor worship, offering insight into ancestor worship is in an Afro-Caribbean tradition, whilst helping people to reach their own ancestors. Practical activities will be interspersed with a number of talks on aspects of practical ancestor worship and Yoruba religion. This is a Halloween rite unlike any you’ll ever have been at before, we promise!
To sign up for an event, ring with card details, 020 7240 8906. Payment in person to the shop in opening hours also welcome. All evening talks are followed by drinks. info [at] treadwells-london [dot] com( Email). More events and shop info on Website.