Happy Solstice:)

 Happy solstice may the returning light be with you always:) Did you see the eclipse this morning?

 I missed the beginning but luckily the cloud cleared for the final part and for the beginning of the return of the moon from the shadows. A truly fantastic way to celebrate midwinter:) The clouds soon came back over but they made for a fantastic sunrise over the back of the house.

 This time of year  I remember the first time I read work by Susan Cooper, author of the Dark is rising series. Her poem seems especially appropriate for the day

 The Shortest Day by Susan Cooper

And so the Shortest Day came and the year died
And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world
Came people singing, dancing,
To drive the dark away.
They lighted candles in the winter trees;
They hung their homes with evergreen;
They burned beseeching fires all night long
To keep the year alive.
And when the new year's sunshine blazed awake
They shouted, revelling.
Through all the frosty ages you can hear them
Echoing behind us - listen!
All the long echoes, sing the same delight,
This Shortest Day,
As promise wakens in the sleeping land:
They carol, feast, give thanks,
And dearly love their friends,
And hope for peace.
And now so do we, here, now,
This year and every year.

 I hope your Solstice is filled with the magic of the eclipse and the fire of the sun.

A blessed Yule to you all

Chalice Well what about the pagans?

Summer Solstice 2010 in Glastonbury, the energies very different this time.

Was it the amount of people, the proximity to festival time or what?

Chalice Well has certainly changed and not for the better.
Where has that combination of Pagan and Christian harmony gone to? Why has a bland interfaith correctness come in?
Why was a PAGAN festival celebrated in a Christian Jewish way?
I am all for joyous celebrations of any and every sacred day. For me that would suggest a christian celebration at say Easter or Christmas to name but 2, a pagan celebration of the 8 festivals of the wheel of the year.
That makes perfect sense to me. Sadly it would appear that the christian take over of pagan festivals and sites is still happening and with the full agreement of the Chalice Well trustees.
Chalice Well was always a place to come together for Summer Solstice, Beltaine et al,
to celebrate the Goddess and her consort in all their aspects. I can remember Beltaines past with Green Man and Green Goddess, bonfires and jumping the Bel fire, the latter not for me in actuality sadly but mentally certainly. 4.30 am on a Beltaine morning and seeing all the celebrants streaming into the Well grounds, a magical sight indeed. Not that long ago either.
This Summer Solstice celebration was a travesty. It makes me ashamed to be a Companion of the Well. To have our ancient festivals taken away yet again is unforgivable.. Yes welcome all to embrace the time of longest day and shortest night but with full acknowledgement that midsummer is and always was pagan, NOT christian.
The event started with a silent mediation and talk of connection but degenerated into far less.
A supposed, (famous on the radio) new age poet (as his very loud supporter felt moved to say) rambled on of Palestinians, Jews and Israel, why? He then wanted to take over the event further by chanting of OM.
The facilitator, if that is what you would call her, said that was for the end of the ritual. We did however get the Om prior to the end as he obviously couldn't wait. Neither could his follower, we can only call him that, who then did a Middle Eastern I think? chant. Again, why?
Why wait and honour the pagan spirit of the place, after all it is only a pagan festival midsummer?
Thankfully Matthew Holbrook was "allowed" to balance somewhat with his marvellous poem in honour of midsummer which received a well deserved round of applause. The new age man didn't get that. I wonder why?
Matthew has been absent from the past few events, I don't think by choice from what I heard from various people on the day. Probably the truth if the days event was anything to go by. His words always reflect the pagan and Druidic spirit of this land in a reverent way.
Fortunately, also, the event was ended with an incredible resonating Awen suggested by another attendee. Very powerful and very inspiring.
Wake up Chalice Well management and manage better. We pagans, druids, goddess lovers etc belong at Chalice Well equally with Christians.
Do not push us out.
It is our well also.

For me the change since the previous trustees left has been awful. Not a loving sharing Chalice Well but one losing its heart rapidly. One wonders what religion the present committee and management would put on their census forms? What proportion of pagan to christian.

A very telling aspect of how things seem to be going is shown on a photo further up. The well was undecorated on the next day. We hadn't been near enough to see if it had been decorated for Solstice but if it had then all was cleared away before next morning's opening. Not left as usual.

Rant over and it is of course only my opinion but one I am entitled to.

I leave you with a happier picture:) Taken at Chalice Well as were all the others in this post.
Happy belated Solstice.

Happy Solstice,we have fire

Happy Solstice everyone:) As it is Solstice it seemed appropriate to show my newest shawl which is finally finished.
I dyed the yarn to represent the colours in a fire and also to represent the fire that is Solstice. The time when the world holds it's breath for a second then turns towards the dark half of the year.


As always I haven't blocked it, no space large enough to do so. I estimate it would stretch at least another foot in length and probably 2 foot wide if you wanted it to.

I edged it with a mixture of faceted czech glass beads that reflect all the colours of the rainbow amidst the red and a plain deep red glass bead.

I didn't want anything too large, just something to say this is the edge of the furnace.
I really enjoyed making this one, probably because of planning the colours, dyeing the yarn then making up. Only thing I didn't do was spin it:) The yarn has a golden thread through it which adds to the colour changes. It was given to me by a lovely online friend:)
Before I did the beading this morning I thought of what I wanted from my next shawl. I envisaged woodlands, mysterious woodlands with shadows in the green.
I had some fabulous kid mohair on a cone so using Mr Mog's new improved double swift I wound 4 x 50gm approx skeins.

This is what I ended up with. It will be interesting to see how it knits up.
Hope you have a great solstice celebration be it summer as we have or winter solstice for those further afield.