Real-live Jousting

Hengist Journey #5 

Today’s post is all about “Archer” – the guy who appeared fully formed in my head back in July 2002 when my friend Lyndsey and I watched Kevin Hicks, the Bowman at Warwick Castle loose one hundred arrows through a loop of rope the size of a man’s head in five minutes. Truly awesome. We stalked him around the castle asking questions, and when I launched the paperback version of Archer in August 2010, he and his son came to give him a great send off at Kenilworth Castle. Josh is on the front of the boxset.

The original version of Archer was a life-in-the-day-of, set on Beltane (May-day), and it opened with an exciting joust. When I wrote it, I had only seen one live joust (in the Excalibur hotel in Vegas, of all places), but since then I’ve seen several at Reenactor (Renaissance) Fayres all over – and there’s even a riding school in Warwick that teaches jousting. How much did I love researching these books? Watching a master bowyer demonstrate a tool for fletching eight arrows at once was one of the memorable experiences.

I was lucky enough to get all of these masters of their crafts to critique the chapters and give the benefit of their expertise. So if these scenes feel authentic, it’s because I had some of the best gurus. If you want to check out the original opening, you can read it here.

I changed it because of a couple of comments from people complaining about the “swiss cheese” structure, because it was all told in flashbacks throughout the Beltane festival instead of the current, more linear structure. I’d love to know if you think that’s better than the current opening – please leave a comment at the end of this post.

Dancing in the Moonlight

Hengist Journey #4

The fourth Nature’s Tribe book considers the “13 Esbats of the Moon.” As the culmination of storylines set up in the previous three books, it was a massive undertaking. Not one to make things easy for myself, I had 14 different women (plus a couple of guys) each telling their part of the story. It was a challenge to deal with their closely-woven sub-plots, but I hope it made for interesting reading as each woman brought her own experiences (and problems) to this quasi-Neanderthal, dystopian situation. Like exactly how did people boil water with no metal containers? That one took a while.

In addition to the 13 moons in the year (each of which is linked to a zodiac sign and has its own energy and purpose), there’s a chapter for each moon phase.

Every phase (new, crescent, gibbous, waxing/waning etc) lends itself to particular type of spell casting and is attached to a different Moon Goddess.
Here's a little more detail - if you have a particular Moon Goddess you link to, I'd love to hear.

New moon: The Maiden phase of the moon is good for spells to do with growth, cleansing and purifying, new projects, job hunting. Ideal for setting intentions and taking those initial steps towards manifesting your desires. Call on Phersphone or Juno for help.

Crescent moon: Between new and half, with the powerful energy of momentum and manifestation. It is all about going within and ‘pulling’ out what you want more of before you start thinking and envisioning what you want to bring forth from the external world. Good for bringing things into your life, particularly self-love, compassion, a positive attitude and courage. Artemis or Diana will help with this.

Triple Goddess Symbol

Waxing Gibbous moon: Between half and full, a powerful time, particularly for spiritual development. A good time for money, love and protection spells, also prosperity, health, success, courage, luck. If you are struggling with lack of motivation to finish a project or stick to a routine, make use of these energies to give you a push and help you overcome temptations and resistance, especially if you ask Rhiannon or Zirna for assistance.

Full moon: A time of completion and abundance, the Mother aspect lends her strength and power, making it most conducive to addressing major issues or challenges you may be facing. Focus your spells and rituals on things that are of the utmost importance to your life. Also good for healing, divination, love, knowledge, money, dreams. For spells requiring extra “oomph,” try calling on Selene, Demeter or Epona.

Waning moon: A time for reflection. Meditation can give a spark of transformation. The Crone aspect is good for banishing spells, also ridding yourself of illness and magic related to reducing things. A wonderful time for introspection and gaining clarity on what is no longer in alignment with your goals. This could be a dead-end project/job , a hobby/class you’ve taken up, or a toxic relationship/friendship. Focus your spells and rituals on dropping anything which no longer works for you/brings you joy. Try calling on the wisdom of Hecate or Cerridwen to help cut the ties that bind.

Worshipping the Sun

Hengist Journey #3

The third Nature’s Tribe book showcases the “8 Sabbats of the Sun,” following the pagan ceremonies which form the Wheel of the Year. The four “Quarter Days” are all about the position of the sun – the Solstices at Midwinter (Yule) and Midsummer (Litha) and the Equinoxes (equal night /day) at spring (Ostara) and autumn/fall (Herfest/Mabon). In between, the “Cross Quarter Days, sometimes known as the Fire Festivals are 1st February (Imbolc), 1st May (Beltane), 1st August (Lughnasadh) and 31st October (Samhain). Many of these have Christian equivalents, deliberately timed to coincide with their Pagan counterparts.
Most people have some concept of the celebrations and rituals at Easter, Mayday, Summer solstice, Harvest festivals and, of course, Halloween and Christmas.
But for some reason, Imbolc slips through the net – not many households do much for Candlemas.

For many years before becoming a Pagan, I left up my outside string of Christmas lights all the way to the end of January, reluctant to let go of the little piece of joy they gave me in the long dark nights. Now I have several strings of fairy lights in my living room, around shelves and woven into branches of Salix Tortuosa (curly willow) I rescued when we had to cut it down because the weight of its boughs threatened the greenhouse. One set is purple for the rest of the year, but I swap it to white lights on December 1st for a couple of months. Ditto, for the rest of the year I’ll burn candles of any colour, but for the whole of January, they are pure while and at least double the quantity as normal.

So one of my regular Imbolc activities is to take the stubs from the dozens of candles I’ve burnt throughout the winter, melt the (gallons of) wax and create a bunch of new ones. I always save the glass containers they come in. Last year, I actually did this in December, so I had a stack of homemade candles to give as Yule gifts – quite posh they were with different coloured/flavoured layers.

Apart from the light/candle aspect, Imbolc is often about initiations, and I had so much fun creating an awful initiation ceremony for poor Reagan in the third Hengist book. The poor adolescent lads were tormented with tales of willow whips and blood, but it turned out to be worse than anything they could ever have imagined.

Topsy-turvy Fun

Hengist Journey #2

The second Nature’s tribe book delves deeply into the traditions surrounding the “12 Days of Yule,” many of which have found their way into our modern celebration of Christmas.
Unfortunately, none of these made the cut:

Hoodening:

A motley crew would travel from house to house, playing out a short sketch featuring a man dressed as the Hoden Horse, who terrorises the children, snapping at them with great wooden jaws. He’s accompanied by the whip-cracking Waggoner, a tiny jockey who can’t quite seem to mount this terrifying beast and Mollie – a man dressed as a woman who wields a broom and chases the women around the room. Musicians play well known ditties which everyone joins in, and they are rewarded with gifts of food and coin before besieging the next household. 

Lord of Misrule - Topsy-Turvy:
Similar to Saturnalia, an ancient tradition dating back to Roman times, also the Feast of Fools - a Christian adaptation in Medieval Europe.
For many villages it was the height of the season, where everything was shaken up. Lords and masters would dress as peasants and serve their people, who donned airs and graces to match their borrowed finery for the day. Husbands and wives would swap clothes, people would wear garments back-to-front, inside out or all of the above.
A Lord of Misrule would be appointed to preside over the revelries, and he would decree a set of rules which people had to obey or pay a forfeit. The emphasis was on fun and mischief as people ate, drank and played tricks.

Freya-Day and the Queen of Winter
One of twelve days was dedicated to Freya, where people would greet each other with a traditional greeting involving a hug, kiss and even a small dance to spread the warmth and love of the season. The main feast would be split between households, with groups of neighbours banding together and each one providing one of the courses, then all moving to the next house for subsequent houses. And a different beverage would be served at each one – the original “pub crawl.”
Usually on a different day, women would be treated like queens, wearing their finery, topped with an ivy crown. Their menfolk and children would take over the cooking and household duties while they took a day off to visit with their friends.

Countdown to Catalyst

Hengist Journey #1

So it's C-12 and counting. This has been such a tough one to finish, mostly because I really, really do not want my time with Archer and Rory to end. But end they have, and thanks to the support of some awesome people, we have a fitting conclusion to the series. More about that later.

In the meantime, I'm gonna start at the beginning and pick on one aspect from each of the preceding books and big it up so you get an idea of how this disparate, eclectic series hangs together.

Set in a time where couples were more likely to be bound together by a length of rope than a pre-nup, the first Nature's Tribe book features "3 Handfastings and a Burial."  I've included the 9-course menu from Senna and Lyran's handfasting (his dad was proper posh!). 

Each of the couples getting wed has a bunch of problems to overcome before (or during) the happy day, but one of the recurring themes throughout the stories is the food - lovingly described in mouth-watering detail. 

Those who know me know food is a big part of my life and, although I don't always love the effort of cooking, I ALWAYS love eating the results. And the vast majority of it is made from fresh ingredients, where possible grown in my garden, or at least locally. I can't remember the last time I opened a tin of anything - processed food just doesn't do it for me. Apart from Pizza (my Friday treat) and my butcher's homemade steak pies.

I had fond ideas back when I first released the Nature's Tribe books of sharing a bunch of authentic recipes for some of the fabulous foods mentioned. I managed one for Senna's mincen parcels, but I hope, now I've completed the whole thing, to add in a few more. 

Watch this space, but don't hold your breath.

An Unexpected Break

 What happened to September?

The vast majority of it was spent taking a story I wrote a decade ago and massaging it to fit the final book in the unweildy, 13-book series it turned into. But that's whole other post, coming soon.

In the middle of the month, my gorgeous, Adonis-like hubby had one of those birthdays ending in a zero, so our fabulous kids banded together and paid for the pair of us to spend a week in glorious 30-degree sunshine in Corfu. The island where, almost exactly 34 years ago, we spent our honeymoon.

The top couple of pix show the famous "Canal D'Amour" in Sidari (the tiny northern village we stayed in. Legend had it that if a maiden swam through there, she would find the man of her dreams. Nowadays, they say if a couple swim through it together, they will find true love. Either way, it worked its magic!
Unfortunately, modern-day Sidari is way more Benidorm - or "Blackpool with sun."

Driving a hire car in amongst those crazy Greek accidents-waiting-to-happen wasn't the most conducive to peace and serenity, but it did allow us to revisit some old haunts. On the east, we visited the Durrell's "White House," but no sign of Keeley Hawes. A flying drive through Kassiopi where there was nowhere obvious to park for the Byzantine Castle, then a disappointment on the western Logas where the magnificent view of the sunset from the glass balcony was denied us - closed due to COVID. We had undivided attention and a marvellous gyro (donner kebab) at a Pitta place, and parked at the bottom of the magnificent Angelocastro. The double/triple hairpin bend on the way out reminded us why we wouldn't make it to that one either. 

But the following day, Paleocastritsa felt like coming home - we remembered swimming all the way out to where those rocks meet the horizon on the 4th piccie. We walked up to the monastery, then had a well-earned beer overlooking the picturesque beach. Awesome stuff. Here's a wee flavour of Corfu 2020.

 

Impossible Puzzles

Oops.
I forgot to give the answers to the last set.
Here they are:
a. 34, 29, 24, 19, 14, 9
b. 0.5, 2, 4.5, 8, 12.5, 18        (it's my old friends, square numbers, but halved)
c. o, t, t, f, f, s                    (the first letters of English numbers One, Two, Three etc.)

Yep, sorry about that second one. Seems I've lost you by making them too hard, too quickly.


Here's one that stumped me for ages when I first saw it.
What are the next 2 in this sequence?