the raven

We had a wonderful party planned for this day. We were all going to get together in Nick’ allotment and just socialise together. Sadly, when we planned this, we had last year’s April weather in mind. It was warm and sunny then, as opposed to cold and wet with hail showers. I was getting really nervous about this event, so I was kind of glad that it was cancelled in the end. I was ready to just give up on the whole thing.

Thankfully, Cilla had a better idea. She suggested we should get together anyway, somewhere in town not too far from places to hide from the rain. So we decided on walking a short distance along the Thames – our patron deity – and then find somewhere to sit and chat.

When I left home, this still sounded like a great idea. And even when Alex and I arrived at Vauxhall, the sun was shining brightly. We met up with Daniel, Lorraine and Cilla, and as we set out we found Greg outside the station, waiting for us. And at that point it started to rain lightly.

We made our way to the Thames, where Time Team once discovered the remains of a wooden jetty from the Bronze Age. Offerings to the River were found there, in the form of spearheads driven into the river bank. We also watched a yellow amphibian vessel from London Duck Tours come out of the water. It looked like a lot of fun and we decided that we quite fancied doing something like that with the group.

When we continued on our way, the rain got a lot heavier. And then it hailed. Umbrellas and waterproofs came out. We watched the hail stones hit the river as we walked more quickly.

We soon had enough of this and went straight for the welcoming warm and dry of the Royal Festival Hall foyer. We draped wet coats and scarves over some chairs and collapsed with cups of tea and cakes. They have very nice honey and nut tarts at the Royal Festival Hall foyer. We can heartily recommend them. At this point, of course, it stopped raining. The sun even came out for a while.

We staid and just chatted for hours. Liz joined us for a while after her work finished. And in the end we got exactly what I wanted from this event: an opportunity to just be together socially, without trying to do anything particularly spiritual. And, as usual, just being with people from the seedgroup lifted my mood and gave me a warm feeling that soon dried my soggy soul.

Thank you guys. It’s great to be among friends.

The Spring Equinox Ceremony was wet and cold which had the virtue of keeping curious members of the public at bay.

But the birds sang fit to burst in the budding trees and as the Mabon bought spring flowers into the circle, and the Lady offered us seeds to symbolise our hopes, and what we wished to plant in our lives for the year ahead, I think we all forgot the discomfort. One by one we went into the centre of our circle to plant seeds which we took away with us afterwards. Mine have come up and are sturdy little seedlings, though they still have a long way to go to become scarlet poppies.

There were several newcomers to the group, all of whom seemed to enjoy the rite. Hot tea and wine brewed from young oak leaves together with a variety of cakes helped to ground us and we shared poems and music in an impromptu eisteddford. Two artistic group members promised future works of art. Briefly, we stepped out of this world and into the other reality of love for all living beings, forcibly reminded that this sometimes exists alongside mud and discomfort and all the less palatable aspects of the world. This, for me , is the great strength of druidry.

The final offering at the Eisteddford sticks in my mind: “Caged birds sing of freedom; wild birds fly.”

Thank you to all who were there, for all your gifts.