Sunday 30 November 2014

Weddings

Week 46

Weddings

Or as they are known in pagan circles - handfastings.  I have attended many handfastings over the years and not one of them has been the same.  Even though many of the couples were druid or wiccan, their ceremonies were very different from each others.  The one thing that was evident in all of them, is love and honouring nature as part of their ceremony.

It is said that the origins of the term 'tying the knot' derives from when the couple are bound together during the ceremony.  Handfastings are a year and a day or life. Our current marriage laws says you cannot divorce until you have been married for a year and a day.  Even though our marriage ceremonies and laws in the UK are based on the old ways, handfasting is not a legally binding marriage.  If you want to be married in the eyes of the law, you need to perform the ceremony again at a registrars or have an officiating person at a registered location, like many hotels now do.

I have never been married, I've not been asked since I was 16, which was a very long time ago now. I have often thought about how I'd like my ceremony to be and where.  It would be nice to have it at a stone circle or sacred place and then feast afterwards.  A proper wedding feast, with roasting meat, a big fire pit, big cheese wheels, fresh baked bread and simple foods. Traditionally brewed ales, meads and ciders... it's all good lol.  No white dress for me! Me in a dress actually, excuse me while I throw back my head and say hahahahahahahahahahaahhaha! Who knows, it might happen, just like someone may want to marry me one day. Meh.

Anyway... back to handfastings. I like the idea of doing this rather than the official route. I like the idea that if it doesn't work out, you can just untie the knot and go your separate ways. Willie Nelson jokes 'why is divorce so expensive? Because it's worth it!' I would hate to spend thousands on a plush wedding for the whole reason of the celebration to be marred by pressure of organising it. I've photographed a few weddings and handfastings over the years and I keep in touch with many of the couples. Most are still together but some fell out spectacularly.  I feel sad when I look back at these wonderful celebrations and remember the love shared, the love I captured on camera, and it's gone.

I'm a biker too, so a simple ceremony and a big feast really appeals to me.  I never have been one for pomp and ceremony. Below are a collection of images that I have taken, of handfastings.  Enjoy.

Summer solstice 2007 at Avebury. Most in attendance were druidic. Bard recital and jumping of the broom.  Sadly, they are no longer together but it was a spectacular and wonderful day.






Summer solstice weekend 2007 at Avebury. God/Goddess walk, which met and formed a staff arch, which the bride and groom walked through.

Always makes me feel sad when I see pics of Ghyll, RIP mate




A poem I wrote in their wedding album I created:

In the core of our souls
Our love spirals around
The trees and stones witness
Our ancient pledge to the land
With friends and kin present
With the Warband did raise
Their hearts and love to us both
Stepping through the arch of staves
Our hearts and soul unite
As our King binds us both
Hand to hand, heart to heart
Forever betrothed 


Random Avebury handfastings, after the Gorsedd, multiple couples





August 2007, Windmill Hill, Avebury. Already married, they renewed their vows with this handfasting ceremony. Most of them were druids, very different to other ceremonies I'd been too. Conducted at dusk, the light quickly faded, which made for some lowlight images.

God walk at sundown

My son with his twin friends
 




I was invited to attend a handfasting of a couple at a farm in Cumbria. My archdruid friend was conducting the ceremony.  The celebration leaned more towards the traditional wedding with a big wig wam tent, tables of wedding food and lots of family and friends in formal dress.





Hog roast wins every day!

Castlerigg 2007 - one of my favourite stone circles, with two of my favourite people.






RIP Fintan
Winter solstice 2009 at Avebury. Mostly druids but a heavy wiccan influence. Sadly, these two aren't together anymore and Ghyll passed over last year.








Sunday 16 November 2014

Ferocious Dog

Week 48 - Pagan Blog Project. Free pass for the letter X, so here's a blog I wrote earlier this month.


Yay! I got a bobble hat!!!

The red ink from the Rescue Room stamp, really does not want to wash off.  But that's OK, it is a reminder that last night actually happened.  Sure my muscles ache from being bounced around like a pinball and my clothes are in a soggy pile in the wash basket BUT the whole night is a tad hazy and Otherworldly.

I've read some great reviews of this band before and I've always thought I could write a really good one. I'm not a music journalist, I just love music. All sorts of music and it really is the food for my soul.  This is why I wanted to be a DJ since I was a kid, making mixed tapes up from the charts and doing the dodgy talk over... and these days, I have my own radio show.  And that's where my journey with Ferocious Dogs starts.  Back in 2012 I was organising the first Pegged It Rally and received an email from Dan asking if his band could come and play for us.  I listened to the tracks he sent and would have booked them then and there if it wasn't for the teeny tiny budget I had, to pay for a band.  There was no way I would pay them a penny less than what they deserved.  I was dead keen to play their music on my show though and wangled a copy of their debut album Hell Hounds. It's fair to say that a Ferocious Dog track is in my show playlist every week and other DJ's I have introduced to FD, love and play them loads too.

Imagine my glee when I heard they were playing Rock and Bike Fest in 2013.  I covered the event for 100% Biker and wrote this:
The band I’d really wanted to see was Ferocious Dog, an originals band that I’ve followed for a while now. I was ready to jump in that pit and mosh around like a nutter but after seeing it in action, decided that I was no match for it. It was one of those that if you took your eye off it, it sucked you in, ground you up and spat you out the other side. Ferocious is about right! A great band, excellent material and a real crowd pleaser - they bought their own moshpit with them, how hardcore is that!
That was my first time. The second time was a couple of days after my birthday in March and a week after I had a double knee op. I went to the sold out Rescue Rooms gig, in a wheelchair knowing how animated the audience got, but I really didn't care.  For that whole time, I forgot I was in a lot of pain, I forgot about the people banging into my knees and I bounced up and down in that wheel chair.  The icing on the cake was Ken saying happy birthday to me... granted he got my name wrong but the look on his face later when I said 'did you mean Naomi?', was priceless lol.  I always get called Natalie for some reason... *shrugs*  Incidentally, my arse was too wide for that chair and the wheels scorched my thighs to the point of having to leap out of it and hobble along on the crutches. My mates had a great time in it hahahaha.  This brings me back to the third time. Rescue Rooms had sold out yet again, which as most of you will know, was the second time this year that Ferocious Dog had achieved this. The ONLY unsigned band to do so in the venue's history and only two other acts had managed it, one of them being Jake Bug.  I was determined to be in the middle of the mosh this time - damned right!

I said earlier that it was Otherworldly and that's cos I swear there's some kind of magic going on.  I don't know how these music journos write about crashing drums and fat rifts because I didn't hear individual instruments. That is not to say I don't know how to listen to just the fiddle player or just the bass guitar... you just don't get to with this band.  You are 100% caught up in the Moment.  There is no individual player, there is no band, there is just the Music.  The world just spins by as the Dance takes you and you release those inhibitions and are Free.  Yes, capital letters... if you've been and seen them, you're probably nodding. If not, go and you'll see.

by me

According to legend, every standing stone was once a dancer who got carried away with the music and danced on the sabbath.  So here you have a band, capable of invoking that spirit of the dance in every single person in that room.. all 500 of them.  Everyone singing, fists pumping the air, spinning around, bouncing about, climbing up high and being caught up in the Moment.  Like others, I went over and landed on my arse. I lay there laughing my head off, immediately friendly hands were there to pull me back up and push me back in to the fray.  I've been in my fair share of mosh pits and as mental as the Hell Hounds are, it's friendly.  One moment the room is going nuts, the next it's still as someone is climbing up on shoulders, not wanting them to fall in the surge.  It was all over too soon, yet they'd played every song - time stopped for the Dance.  As we all poured outside to cool down, it was a like a steam room as cold air hit hot sweaty bodies.  Everyone was dog wet and grinning.

Ferocious Dog are a combination of genuinely lovely people, amazing musical talent with thought provoking and meaningful stories behind the lyrics. Tragedy, history, betrayal, love, protest, fun - signature moments in our times.  I was at the Kill the Bill protests. I know people who were miners or were at Beanfield. I have lost a 'brother' in a similar way and all that entailed and all of this powerful emotional stuff, is wrapped up in insane music that carries me away.  I'm glad they don't want to be tied down with a record contract - you can't harness that kind of spirit.

If I had to use just two words to describe Ferocious Dog, they would be - fucking awesome!
Love you guys, you put a smile on my face - thanks!


Best gig pic ever! I'm in there somewhere.  Taken by Pete Waggy 





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Friday 7 November 2014

Warband



Week 45



WARBAND

That is the Loyal Arthurian Warband, of which I am a member of and have been for nearly a decade. My role within the Warband is as an Officer, my jobs include Webmaster and Finance Officer. I was raised in Avebury at summer solstice in 2007 as Warrior Priestess. These are my personal views.

I've seen a lot of people come and go and come back over the years. Some times in a blaze of words, some times their lives take them a different path and they drift away.  Each person plays their part in the story of the Warband and however they walk away, it doesn't undo the importance of their part.

A raising
What does it all mean? Well the number of people who have gone under the sword and sworn an Oath of Truth, Honour and Justice is easily in the tens of thousands since Arthur first put his ad looking for Knights in a biker magazine all those years ago.  I had the pleasure of typing up the old Arthurian Warband poetry book, that had been compiled of Warbanders thoughts.  I was left wondering where they all were now, so I asked Arthur and he knew where and what most of them were up to.. none of them are involved with the current campaigns but they were the very foundations of the Warband when it started.  They are part of Arthur's story and journey to where he is now.   Even the haters. It always makes me smile that there's one that can say very hateful things now, but they were very much part of the raising of Arthur as King, they walked along the path with him and put him on a pedestal.  You know the old saying 'they build you up so they can smash you down' and that is true of Arthur.  I have witnessed this many times over.

Moving away from the negative... the Warband is a vast network of people from all over the world, from all walks of life.  You don't have to be pagan to have the same ideals, there are a few of many different faiths too.  There are Groves, Covens and Orders ceded to the Warband, that is they are independently run but pledge their support to the Warband campaigns.  There are members from the USA and Holland who make regular trips over to Stonehenge. Everyone is different, everyone is welcomed.  It's a like a family, there's always bound to be a squabble or two but we stick together and watch each others backs.

Going under the sword - being raised means you took the Oath for Truth, Honour and Justice. It doesn't mean you have to join the Order or be part of the campaigns. I've seen many people go under the sword just because they felt it was something they wanted to do. They then have had no part in the Warband... people confuse this fact.  YOU decide how much you want to be involved.  True there's a lot of nasty people saying nasty things about us, but it's up to you to find out the Truth. For every false accusation, we have the proof, not that is ever good enough for those people.  Ce la vie.

So what does the Warband do?

In Arthur's words:

"We are The Warrior/Political Arm of The Modern Druid Movement, The (Peoples Druids) Loyal Arthurian Warband. Some of the Warriors do not like our Order simply because we are Druids and conversely a number of Druids are not ‘with us’ because we are Warriors. We ‘fight’ for Truth, for Honour and for Justice, we challenge injustice in many arenas and we will not go quietly into the Night. Blessings from the Front."

That about sums it up. Of course, you can read more about LAW on the website www.warband.org.uk.  I need to revamp it again but there's a load of information on there about past and present campaigns; articles written by Arthur; a bardic corner; picket news and loads more. Going to court costs money and the donations received towards this are small and infrequent. I've seen some people claim we have hundreds of pounds donated every month but as the Finance Officer, I can confirm this is a total fiction!  There is just enough to buy fuel/tax/mot/insurance/repairs for the bike to get to the picket or meetings.  Further to dispel any other myths, all donations are used solely for the campaigns, all receipts are kept and available for the tax man.  Also people think that because they have at some point donated something towards the picket fund, that it gives them some god given right to see the books or stipulate what it's used for. It doesn't work like that in the real world, all it does is show these people up as petty minded... all over a tenner. Pathetic.

If you would like to know more about the campaigns, what the Warband does and read some interesting articles, then please visit the website. The current focus is the Honouring the Ancestors, we are fighting to get the human remains reburied at Stonehenge. We are involved in other campaigns but the reburial one has our main focus.

Klasp The Moon December 2013

Yes, that's me...

Kazz, Arthur and Lou at the visitor centre

ATOS protest at disability benefit cuts
Mayburgh Henge 2000

Newbury bypass arrest

Winchester




Call a spade a spade.
People can't hack being a target and leave. One of our members was bullied on the Drove and when it became apparent he wouldn't be bullied into leaving the Warband, he was threatened. His tent was trashed and he was told it would run over with him in it. All from so-called peace and love pagans... yeah right!  This chap is the nicest guy you could hope to meet, he travels hundreds of miles to celebrate at Stonehenge and spend time on the Drove with other pagans and gets treated like this. Another time, a member was ambushed by another group who screamed abuse in her face.  She had only gone to invite them over to the fire and to share the food she'd made.  I wish I'd been there, they would have got my staff full pelt in their faces. And you want to believe these people that do this???  I'm sick to death of all the crap thrown our way. I can honestly, hand on heart say, that I cannot see there being any reason for it other than their jealousy and blind hatred.  I've mentioned this many times in previous blogs.   You need a thick skin to be part of the Warband. Arthur has an amazingly thick skin.  The shit that people say about him, do to him and he just 'hail and farewells' them and lets them get on with it. When they eventually come back, he welcomes them back as old friends... whereas I'm still angry at all the shit they had done and said.  I really don't know how he puts up with it.  I think it's called rising above it.. a skill I've yet to learn lol.

FINAL WORD FROM ME
I am a warrior. I will fight for what I believe in and I will protect that fiercely.  I am the nicest person on the planet right up the point when you try and stab me in the back or do harm to people I care about.  At that point, I get Honest, I say what I think and if you've done a wrongun, by gods you'll know about it.  I am not opposed to asking the Universe to sorting those fuckwits out either. Karma is a bitch but cross the line with me and you'll wish you hadn't.  Not that I like confrontation but I am good at defending myself and I am good at standing my ground.  I am happy to admit when I'm wrong and will eat humble pie if I need to.  So far, I've not had to.  I am part of the Shield Wall.. go ahead and throw yourself at it... or get behind it and push back at those fuckwits.

Other related blogs you many wish to view: Arthur; glamour; hex; justice; karma;  love and light;  stonehenge; trolls; voice  so out of the 44 blogs, there's only a small number of mentions.. just in case you think that's all I go on about lol.

Thanks for reading

Be well, be happy, be you /|\





Voice

week 44

VOICE

Speak up, speak out, be heard.

Some like the sound of their own voice
Some are timid and merely squeak
Some shout and stomp others down
Some use their voice for those who cannot speak.

We all have a voice, how do you use yours?  Do you prefer to have a quiet life and don't like to rock the boat, not to speak out about injustices in your world?  Or are you like an activist, using your voice to speak out for those who don't have a voice?  I think that we all have our own way in this world and we all form our world view as we develop.  Some of us have been burned for speaking out before and don't want to risk being shot down.  I am not one of those people.  I will always speak out, albeit with as much tact as possible but it's been said I'm about as tactful as a brick in the face lol.

I think there's a time and place to speak out though.  Some times it isn't appropriate, welcomed or any of our business to voice our opinions.  I think there's a difference between having your own voice and being an opinionated arsehole.  Just saying...


Which reminded me of this poem I wrote back in 2008.... 


The truth hurts
Loud are their voices of discontent
Voicing their hurts for all to see
Bitter and twisted with false pride
United together in their abstract misery
Blinded they are, they can no longer see
The grain of truth in their purgatory
The grain of truth they fail to see
Is their last grain of dignity
Beyond spoken words, beyond written
They cannot see how they are perceived
They can only tear away the faith of others
United together in their misery
Words of love, words of peace
Yet arrows of hate they speak
Blinded and ugly for all to see
The mantra of peace they break
Hard words are never forgotten
So their wounded prides
Continue to eat them away like cancer
The last grain of truth that duly hides
I watch them suffer in their misery
Unable to grasp their own demise
Watching and waiting for the day
They are consumed by their own lies



WARRIORS OF WORDS

There are some who are good with words, who can write excellent letters of complaint or being able to articulate a proposal of a new idea to improve a situation.  There are those who get things done. Pagans seems to be very proactive in doing this type of work.  Which brings us back to the honour principal... pagans seem to have this extra dollop of 'doing what's right'.  Especially for the kind of voice used for environmental issues, such as fracking, the badger cull, thoughtless road building or nuclear power stations. These types of people are connected to the earth, they feel it, they want to protect it.  It is part of who they are and speak up against the wrongs being committed against it.  We use our words to fight for the injustices done against people too.. it's like we can't help but to defend those who don't have a voice.  Beyond completing an online petition, we actually do something about the situation.

For instance, the bones protest at Stonehenge.  Raising our voices, saying 'no' to the authority who want to ride roughshod over our beliefs and wishes and do what they damn well please. This means going to court, standing outside protesting, negotiation and mediation and media coverage to raise awareness.  It is not done for accolade or reward, it is done because it is the right thing to do.  

There are people in this world who die for the their right to 'free speech' and to protest. We in the UK have many freedoms that millions do not.  Like how the Suffragettes went against the establishment so that women could have their vote. They sacrificed their lives, their freedom, their time, because it was the right thing to do.  If you believe in something, speak up for all to hear.