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Hello and welcome!

On 8/10/2019 at 12:36 AM, SlipperyPagan said:

love playing the tin whistle and it's become my favourite, most fulfilling way to worship

This was my late mentor's love too. A simple and most effective way to get people to stop , listen and open up to being in the present moment. Always remember the smiles that his tunes brought people's faces. 

Regarding your Mum's cautions, it is often role of the older generation to reign in extravagant tendencies lol. We have a saying -only use 30% of what you have at your disposal and don't draw attention to yourself. 

Welcome.  Not quite sure why you've put this in the marketplace.  You might get more of a response if you re-post this in the New Members' Introductions board.

That aside, jump in and take part if you can overcome your discomfort with the internet.

Good day, everyone! I'm currently living in Cornwall and have been an active pagan since I was a child. I admit, I did choose for myself the path I'm on now. I'm a Celtic pagan. I believe in and respect all gods, across cultures, however there are only some that I worship. 

This is my first time ever on a forum site, so apologies in advance. I really tossed myself into Celtic paganism when I first heard the Call of the goddess Brighid. Funnily enough my mother heard the call of the Morrigan, fancy that. She's a major occultist and warns me before going into ancient places (Cairns, ruins, temples, etc...) to "protect myself" and "don't open yourself up" and also "don't be disruptive." I adore exploration and jump at any opportunity I get. My mother is a tad more prudent about where she puts herself. 

I love playing the tin whistle and it's become my favourite, most fulfilling way to worship. I have an unreasonable discomfort with the Internet and domesticated dogs. I'm re-learning Irish and its a pain. I do a lot of divining with ogham. 15+ years and I still get geeked out when something in the sticks plays out exactly/is extremely relevant. I'm out of the country at the mo', but can't wait to meet other pagans!

Cheers! 

After spending many years making and selling pagan jewellery and accessories my partner and myself have decided to make it all official.....

We make a range of items (slowly expanding) from jewellery to wands and athames etc

We use a lot of natural foraged items such as bone, wood and antler alongside crystals, metals etc 

Currently our website is under construction, as is our etsy store but we do have a very active Instagram feed @thewitchinthewood 

It is our hope over the next year to start doing more events around the uk and use this as our main business model so any advice or feedback would be greatly appreciated.

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Each and every single woman on this planet is a divine spark that has the power to light up the world, but this very fact can be very easy to forget, especially in our modern society. Rhoda Shapiro, author of Fierce Woman, provides 3 ways women can get started waking up their inner badass.

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Back at the Spring Equinox 2000 me and Cerri founded the Anderida Gorsedd. It was simply to be a group that took on the responsibility for holding regular open rituals on the flat hill below the Long Man of Wilmington. There had of course been open rituals before, but we wanted this to be a regular thing as service to the South East Pagan community. The Gorsedd has been back at the Long Man for every ritual since. Nearly 20 years of regular open rituals, rain, sleet, snow, ice, wind, storms, and sunshine.

Very early on, maybe even just after the Beltane of 2000, I called The Giant’s Rest, the village pub down in Wilmington to see if they were open. The landlord picked up the phone and said they were closed, but how many of us were there? I said about 40. He said, come down and I’ll open for you. So we did, and while we were there we gave him the dates of our rituals and he said he would open the pub on those Sundays.

It’s always good to support the local economy.

The beer on sale at The Giants Rest was always Harveys, the local Lewes brewery, and a very good pint. But one Sunday, quite a few years back now and completely out of the blue, when we arrived after the ritual the Harveys had gone and had been replaced by beers from a new local brewery called The Long Man Brewery. They even had a picture of our lovely hill figure on the glasses. The beer was gorgeous and has been at the Giant’s Rest ever since.

So why am I telling you this?

Here’s why.

Yesterday we held our 19th open Lughnasadh ritual, and as usual, the fields below the Long Man were full of golden barley, some of the other fields had already fallen to the harvester, so Lughnasadh was definitely underway. As we had done for 19 years we told the tale of John Barleycorn, who was then symbolically sacrificed to the scythe and transformed into bread and ale. We honoured and blessed the fields of barley below us, thanking the Spirit of the Fields for its sacrifice and gifts. I placed a small piece of bread at each quarter direction and asked that those within the circle may also be blessed.

Then I opened a bottle of Long Man Ale.

A couple of months ago I’d taken some friends to the brewery shop for a tasting session. While we were there and talking to the lady behind the counter we asked if there were brewery tours. She said yes, but they were closed at the moment as the brewery was on a working farm. She went on to say that all of the barley used in Long Man ales was harvested from local Sussex fields, and the water was taken from an aquifer beneath the chalk Downs. Any unused water was then recycled back to the aquifer.

“In fact,” she said. “You know the two big fields beneath the Long Man? Well, most of the barley in our beer comes from those two fields.”

I looked at the drink in my hands and thought back to all of the open rituals where we had honoured the Spirit of those fields. I told her about the rituals. She was delighted. Maybe another story to tell visitors to the shop. Either way, when I opened that bottle on the hill yesterday I told everyone present that story and they too were delighted.

I poured the Ale on the land.

From the Land to the Land, in honour of John Barleycorn and the Spirit of the Fields, my you be thanked and blessed.

Lughnasadh Magic.

I think we will do that every year now.

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