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. 

Venerable - elders and crones

Week 43

VENERABLE

adjective

1. commanding respect because of great age or impressive dignity; worthy of veneration or reverence, as because of high office or noble character: a venerable member of Congress.
2. a title for someone proclaimed by the Roman Catholic Church to have attained the first degree of sanctity or of an Anglican archdeacon.
3. (of places, buildings, etc.) hallowed by religious, historic, or other lofty associations: the venerable halls of the abbey.
4. impressive or interesting because of age, antique appearance, etc.: a venerable oak tree.
5. extremely old or obsolete; ancient: a venerable automobile.

I've been scratching my head again about what to write... who knew that certain letters of the alphabet could be so hard to find pagan associated words with?!  So this blog I've happened upon 'venerable'. Why, you ask?  Well a venerable person would be otherwise be considered an elder.  I don't know about you, but I've had the 'respect your elder' thing thrown in my face a few times within the pagan community. So, I shall visit that in this blog.

What is an elder?

adjective, a compar. of old with eldest as superl.

1. of greater age; older.
2. of higher rank; senior: an elder officer. 
3. of or pertaining to former times; earlier: Much that was forbidden by elder custom is accepted today.

noun

1. a person who is older or higher in rank than oneself.
2. an aged person. 
3. an influential member of a tribe or community, often a chief or ruler; a superior.
4. a presbyter.
5. (in certain Protestant churches) a lay member who is a governing officer, often assisting the pastor in services.
6. Mormon Church. a member of the Melchizedek priesthood.

What is a pagan elder?

According to this site:

"Spend any time at all in the Pagan community, and you’re bound to hear someone referred to as an Elder. Typically used as a term of respect and honor, Elder is a status that is generally given to someone, rather than claimed for oneself. It is considered bad form to announce that you are a Pagan Elder - let someone else grant you the designation, if you have indeed earned the status.

You may often find that someone who is a Pagan Elder is a little uncomfortable with the title - not because they haven’t earned it, but because often they do their work for the community out of love, rather than because they’re out collecting titles. They are individuals who have taught, shared, blazed new trails, spoken out for those who could not speak, and who have, in general, tried to make the world a better place."

So the non-pagan definition is somewhat different to the pagan term. How many times have you heard someone in the pagan community, demand that you respect them because they are your elder? I have lost count. One such person is someone I have dubbed Mrs Bucket. You know, her from Keeping up appearances, she who put on airs and graces and said Bucket was pronounced Bouquet. A right old baggage who thinks they are better than everyone, knows everyone and everything and is very very important and how did you survive before she came along.  I've mentioned her a few times in previous blogs, an unsavoury woman who I wish I had never met.  One of her war cries is that she is an elder and must be respected and listened to.  She is not alone and I'm sure there's a few male pagans out there who also make these claims.

To me, an elder in the pagan community, is someone who has been practising their craft for many years, they could be considered an expert on it and most likely to have risen in the ranks of their particular path.  An elder is the leader of a tribe, a person of great age and wisdom.  An elder is as the quotes above say, someone who has been given the title, not someone who has claimed the title as their own.  Just because you are older than your counterpart, doesn't mean your an elder - that just means you are OLDER.  Age does not demand more respect, wisdom does.  Being a know-it-all doesn't mean you are wise, it means you're an insufferable person who has filled their glass with information and hopes to pass it off as knowledge.  Knowledge means to have an understanding of information.  Anyone can recite something that's been taught, understanding what has been taught is knowledge.  You see where I'm going with this? 

Crones

In 'normal' terms, a crone is an ugly, cantankerous old woman. In pagan terms, it refers to the last aspect of the triple goddess The Maid, The Mother and The Crone.  Turning 50 or 60 does not mean you are a crone. It means you've reached an age. A crone isn't an age group, it's the last chapter of your time in your mortal body. For instance, you could have a 60 year old Maid, a woman who still has the mentality of that aspect.  She's never married, had children and hasn't learnt the lessons of the Mother, to then become the Crone.  I would liken a crone to an elder in some ways. She has learnt many lessons and is venerable.

So to recap. Just because you are 60 odd years old does not mean you are an elder or a crone.  Your peers will venerate you if you're worthy of such accolades. You cannot claim to be an elder just because you're old and a pagan.  Just like you can't claim to be a witch, then a druid, then a druid-shaman, after only being on the scene for a couple of years, without any training. You can't give yourself titles without EARNING it.  So stop facilitating these moronic women and men, who make these false claims so they can feel important. Stop being glamoured by their false claims and lies. Stop looking at age as something to define you and look to achieved wisdom and knowledge instead - whatever the age.  Otherwise, you are creating these ego powered people.

In 'normal' terms, a crone is an ugly, cantankerous old woman aka Mrs Bucket.

Truth and Trust

Week 40

TRUTH & TRUST

Two very important things in this world, both once broken, can never be reclaimed.  A lot of pagans have this deep seated belief in being honourable, drawing from the romantic notions 'ye olde time's of chivalry etc.  Regardless of whether those old stories are true or not, there is no harm in implementing this ideal into your life.

What is truth though?  Truth is open to each person's own perception and three people could see it three different ways. We all have our own personal truth too.  But thinking in the terms of telling the truth, one of my biggest hates are liars.  Yes, there's having your own opinion on something, your own perception of events and then there's lying your arse off about it, in spite of the facts in front of you.  This all seems to follow on from my Stonehenge and Trolling blogs.... maybe I'm not done with my soapbox just yet lol.  I like to see things from all angles and gain other's perceptions where possible, to try and work out why they think and say as they do.

I swore an Oath for Truth, Honour and Justice. That Oath means something to me, it may been jack to you and others but to me, it's important.  I abhor liars, I do not mean those little white lies that save face or feelings but the big fat black lies that destroy.  My dad always said, you need to have a good memory to be a good liar. Forgetting the story you've woven, will unravel you.  People always find out the Truth in the end and then the Trust is broken.

"A lie is halfway around the world, before the truth has got it's boots on." - Terry Pratchett

Trust. You see all those Facebook memes about breaking trust and people share the shit out of that. Take the ones below.  Such a simple analogy but so very true.

There is nothing wrong with being too trusting. How can seeing the best in people, be bad?! It's not. As I say to many people as they are crying about how they were stupid to trust a person who'd betrayed them - "It's not you that's flawed, it's them. What did you do wrong other than believe in them as a decent person? Them doing this, shows them for what they really are, so the onus is on THEM, not YOU."  And I am not talking about being a gullible fool. Life is painful at times and one of the lessons you continue to learn throughout your whole life, is to deal with trust. There will always be someone in your life you love and trust, who then betrays you in some way. If you surround yourself with good people, it will still happen. 

The pagan world is a bitchy place. I think I have demonstrated how brutal it can be. They never forgive, they certainly never forget and the lies keep coming from the mouths of those who have long forgotten how to have beautiful eyes, lips and poise.  Their poison, poisons others. If you surround yourself with poison, you end up absorbing it too.  Crocodile smiles and knives in the back... be aware, protect yourselves, don't drink from the poison cup.  Know your truth, trust to a degree and SEE the world for it truly is.  Do not be afraid to walk away from a toxic group... even if they follow you and continue to attack you.  It is a true reflection of who they really are. That is what is meant by rising above it.  You do not need their validation to be a good person. You do not need to justify and defend yourself against these people. Who are they to make such demands?  No one of significance.

Toxic people are afraid of others knowing their own Truth i.e those who won't be herded into the poison pens like sheep.  In our pagan world, these toxic people are found preaching their 'knowledge' from behind a keyboard - playgan keyboard warriors.  Full of their own self importance, titles, bits of paper saying they are a member of this club or that.  Braggers and haters.  Poison, toxic people who want to influence your opinions, to gather you to them.  Robbing you of your own mind, your own truth, whilst under the illusion, the glamour, of 'friendship' and trust. Which is why it's always such a shock when they turn on you. You think they are your friends but you were more their friend, than they were to you. Having read through all those old messages for my Trolling blog, I saw me asking several times, what I'd done wrong, how I'd upset that person, how could I make it right... I hadn't done anything wrong, I could never make it right to them because they were not my friend, I was useful to them and then ceased to be, so was caste off. That's not friendship. There was no respect for me and you know, these people were those I looked up to as I started along my path, looking for guidance.

They taught me how be a better person, by not being anything like them.

I could easily tell you what people they were in my life but that wouldn't be right. It would make me as bad as them telling you who you can and cannot be friends with.  Don't listen to the rumours, those are always false in our world, instead listen to your gut - it's rarely wrong.  A decent person in the craft, won't need to tell you that they are High Priest/ess of XYZ order with a XYZ degree in whatever.... they won't need to brag or hide behind titles.  Why the need to try and impress you? Because they want to suck you in to their group, false friendship and control you.  I've seen it time and time again, in many different groups without our community.  Avebury, as much as I love the place, is a vipers nest. Tread carefully as you do with avoiding the sheep shit...

Know your Truth. Trust with a happy heart. That is my perception on it, thanks for reading. x

If you are so toxic, so full of poison, you absolutely believe the poison you spew is the Truth. There is no antidote - other than removing the toxic persons from your life - or a baseball bat in their face ;) lol

Stonehenge

Week 38

STONEHENGE

Probably the most famous ancient monument in the world. Older than the mighty pyramids in Egypt, older than Christ and a constant source of debate in all quarters.  You all know what Stonehenge is, you most likely have a good idea of the many many theories of who built it and why.  Fact is, no one really knows.  The theories range from it being a giant clock, to a UFO landing site. It is said to have been built by the druids but it pre-dates what we know as druids.  It was built by the people and there is great evidence to suggest it was used as a place for feasting by people who travelled hundreds of miles to be there.  I'm am sure you can find out lots of information on Stonehenge on the countless websites and books dedicated to it.  I'm no expert, I have my own thoughts on it which I will share with you.   What I will discuss with you in the blog is the people who are drawn to Stonehenge in our time now.  These are my own personal observations and experiences from the last decade.  It's all about perspective, my experiences aren't your experiences.

FREAKS

I don't know what it is about Stonehenge but by gods it attracts some right freaks!  As you may be aware, I am a member of the Loyal Arthurian Warband and I'm friends with Arthur Pendragon. You'd think being friends with someone who claims to be the current incarnation of King Arthur, would be a freak.  Not at all, he's the sanest bloke I know.  However, the people he attracts vary from loyal supporters and friends to the biggest fuckwits going.  I often joke with him that he needs to remove his fuckwit magnet.  In the ten years I've been involved, I've become friends with some wonderful people but in a lot of instances, people who I thought were nice, who then turned out to be the most hateful, poisonous, spiteful, vindictive fuckers I've had the displeasure to meet and deal with.  Just as you think the dust has settled, another fuckwit comes along and says even more dreadful things than the last one. Then they get together and join forces.  I think the next blog will be about Trolling because it's a major problem with our pagan community and needs to be blogged.  Hell, I've mentioned it so many times in my blogs this year, it's daft.

So Arthur campaigns at Stonehenge. He fought to get our Free and Open Access for summer solstice after the exclusion zone went up. He was not alone but he was 'front line', picketing in all weathers. After many arrests and years, English Heritage took down the excursion zone. This was all around the time that Arthur found himself and his Quest. If you'd like to read that story, then please read his and CJ Stone's book Trials of a modern day king - an honest read and very interesting. There is a newer revised edition too but I think the first one is better (looks like it's no longer available on Amazon either).  He campaigned to get them to take down the fences and that went up for review so that was another battle 'won'.  The most recent campaign is to return the cremated remains of those buried there aka Bones Protest.  Now because he uses the media to highlight these causes, he's hated by people in the pagan community.  The press give him titles and claim he's King of all pagans/druids etc etc which pisses people off.  He has never made these claims, it's the press writing an interesting story.  Everyone is entitled to like or dislike whom they wish. However, when this dislike becomes an obsession, it poisons everything around it.

Many people agree with the fact that something needs to be done. Arthur does it. People hate that. And that hate is spread about thick and nasty.  You have the elitist druids/witches who want Stonehenge just for their own use and to keep the great unwashed out. You have English Heritage who only give you an hour or two access for worship, which has gotten worse since winter solstice 2013.  You have the Drove lot who either support Arthur or do everything to spite him. It was Arthur who fought to save the Drove aka Byway 12 from being closed, so that these people could carry on staying on it!  Now these haters aren't freaks because they are societies oddities. No, they are freaks because of their psychotic hatred when they preach peace and love and band about 'namaste' like it's a cure-all.  If you think someone who calls himself King Arthur is a freak, then after reading and hearing some of the things these haters say, makes Arthur look like Joe Bloggs.  These people are freaks.  I don't understand how so much poison festers around Stonehenge, how these people who can be in the presence of such a wonderful place, be so damned nasty.  Is Stonehenge a fuckwit magnet - you know what, it totally is.

MY FIRST ENCOUNTER

I first visited Stonehenge in 2003 with my son.  As I drove down the A303, I spotted Stonehenge on the side of the road and actually said WOOHOO!  I was so excited, I didn't think I would be but there I was, woohoooing.  I had read Arthur's book and decided I'd not pay to go in and view the monument but stand by the Hele stone and take pictures from there. People were walking about like sheep, around the wrong way too.  I later found out that it was because the guide who'd recorded the tour for the headphones, had done it the wrong way and they wouldn't change it. So for years, people walked anti-clockwise around it.. which always feels wrong. There's magical reasons too but not going to tell you how to suck eggs.

I went back for Winter Solstice in 2004. I hadn't been to any pagan ceremonies and wasn't sure of what I'd find. I was still a noob on the pagan scene, I knew a little bit about some things but was still working out my path at that time.  To be honest, I found that first experience a bit fluffy - not that I had anything to compare it to.. like I said, I was a noob!

It gets bloody cold on Salisbury Plains, it's like it has it's own climate.  You get the most amazing view of the stars at night too. The wind cuts through you, the rain finds every bit of you and when it's hot, boy is it!  There's no doubt though, it feels raw there, you're exposed - no wonder they built it there.  A friend of mine said it was an energy sink hole, he found nothing magical about the place. It's strange how many conflicting opinions there are about Stonehenge. It felt worn out but still positive to me, I can imagine that when it was first built, it was much more powerful.  

Sun up - not a great pic

Aaron loved it

People keep using this image on their websites for some reason

Sun fights through the morning mists

The Drove

I loved staying on the Drove. I used to go up when there wasn't an access day.  I met a lovely couple up there who turned out to be friends of another set of friends. It's a small world.  There is a right mix of people who stay on the Drove. There's nothing quite like sitting around a fire, looking up at the stars, listening to people playing guitars or drums and singing or just the silence. And then waking up in the morning and the first thing you see is Stonehenge.  

In recent months, the Drove has become less friendly.  There are a group of haters who target anyone wearing Warband tabbards. If they can't convince you that we are all evil nasty bastards, they threaten you. In one case, someone was told they'd tent would be run over whilst they were in it and whilst they were in the monument, their tent was trashed.  That's not the spirit of the place. Those people are poison but as I said above, it's all becoming more sinister these days.  I don't understand how someone can be so consumed with hate, that they can have nothing in their life but sharing that hatred and trashing everything you do, just because it was Arthur that said it.  It's pathetic, sad and damages relationships within the pagan community.  You don't have to agree with what one group does, but that does not give you the right to defame and set out to destroy them. In every single case, it's over absolutely nothing and one of the main instigators is an ex - hell hath no fury as a woman scorned as they say but come on love, it's been a decade ffs - get over it already!

I met Richard and Darren who were promoting testicular cancer awareness, whilst on the picket with Arthur. EH wouldn't let them in for a photo, so they posed with us instead.  They've raised thousands of £ for cancer research.

Morry, Doro, Aaron, Andrea and Kim - fantastic company

Free Stonehenge picket

WHAT STONEHENGE IS TO ME

I've read some books. I've watched a few documentaries. I've seen the archaeological evidence presented in both and I've spoken with people who have been involved in the digs there. I think that Stonehenge was built to honour the winter solstice - the birth of the sun.  I think that it was a great feast site, a place for many clans to gather and celebrate. I believe that stone circles and the like are like a plug into the energy lines of our world.  Some how those who built them, worked out where to channel this energy through these mighty stones.  As I've discussed in a previous blog, each site has a different kind of energy.  I do not know why or how those blue stones were transported from Wales to Salisbury plains but the intent was enough for them to find a way, which baffles people to this day. These people were exceptionally clever and their craft has been long lost in time.. with our current technological advancements, they still can't work out how these ancient people did it.  I also believe that these places were built to enhance sounds.  I saw a great program that Paul Deveraux did about the importance of acoustics at Newgrange and other sites like Stonehenge.  I just found his book on Amazon about it too.  These ancient peoples worked all of this out without our hi-tech tools, they worked out how to build to enhance the acoustics.  These low frequency sounds created a trance like state, inducing journeying. These weren't burial places, these were places to connect to other dimensions.  Those who have been buried at Stonehenge were deemed to be highly important.  I agree with Arthur and many others that these people were guardians, mostly like a priest-caste and furthermore, placed in their chosen graves as magical protection. I hear people scoff 'how ridiculous' well hello, the peoples who built this great temple weren't like us were they? That's the problem with most of these naysayers - they look at it with modern eyes and views.  These people took hundreds of years building this temple up. They moved rocks from hundreds of miles away and for a sacred purpose. Of course any thing they did there was what we'd call magical.  They weren't simple people - they created a mighty temple that still stands to this day! They created it using methods that modern man cannot comprehend. They created acoustics for gods sake!  

I know what I feel. I feel it in my bones. That said, Stonehenge isn't the be all and end all of the pagan world.  There are other more equally wonderful sacred sites.  You don't have to go to Stonehenge for solstice etc. I do recommend you try it at least once.  Summer solstice attracts about 24,000 people.  People of all walks of life - not everyone who goes to Stonehenge are pagan.  Pagans need to get off their high horses and stop slagging off people who visit this site.  People travel from all over the world to visit this site - who are these haters to say they can't?  These haters who do fuck all to help marshal the solstice, who don't go to the Round Table meetings to positively input in to the event but would rather slag it off.   Winter solstice is more low key - it's always very cold, so wrap up warm.  The equinoxes are also quieter, you also get a lot less time to do your thing.  This is being fought by Arthur and others as many people travel great distances to worship there on these dates and they are treated appallingly.  

I suppose I better wrap this up.  I will leave you with three sources of information that I think you may enjoy.  Obviously, the Warband website has a lot of information on. There's links on there to other sources of information too - worth having a look through.  The other is our friend Dennis Price's writings - a former archaeologist who has been on Time Team and has written a few books on the subject.  Excellent book by Andy Worthington - Stonehenge Celebration and Subversion.

My final thoughts are this. Go and experience this site for yourself. Ignore what everyone else says about it. Go for you. You will either connect or you won't. No one else's opinion will make that any less real.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I have and still do.  

More love - less hate.

Shamanism (real)

Week 37

Shamanism

Oh this one has been brewing since I started this blog in the new year.  But now I have come to write it, I have to think about what it is that I want to convey.... without ranting and foaming at the mouth. I think I will fail but hey, welcome to the SOAPBOX blog lol

IRAB

You don't decide to become a shaman. It's as simple and clear as that. Sure, you can do shamanic drumming and all the workshops you can find but that will NOT make you a shaman.  Just like having a vagina doesn't make you a gynecologist.  A shaman is chosen, you do not chose to be one. It is said that if you deny this, you become ill until you either accept that is your duty, or die. It is also said that shamans have a near death experience before being able to do the job. Where does it say this, I hear you ask?  I'm glad you asked!  Somewhere in the big fat book called 'Shamans through time, 500 years on the path to knowledge' by Jeremy Narby and Francis Huxley.  If you're going to read any book on shamanism, read this book.  It doesn't tell you how to be a shaman, no, not in the slightest, instead it gives you a world wide insight of 500 years of study from observers from all disciplines.  That's the early missionaries who thought it was devil worship, to anthropologists, botanists, ethnographers and psychologists, all their written reports, published in one volume. Writings from Claude Levi-Strauss, Black Elk, Franz Boas and Carlos Casteneda and many many others give you a decent, cross sectioned view of the study of shamanism throughout the world.

A few years ago, I was publicly crucified on a pagan forum for saying I was told I was a shaman.
25 posts per page, at least 15 pages of hate and derision thrown at me, for what... I hadn't made any claims or boasts, it was part of an honest discussion about what path I was on and I had said I didn't know what this meant but I was working it out as I went.  This is why I've have advised in my blogs, many times over, to be wary of what you share because people, even those friendly faces on those forums, will shoot you down.  Their main battle cry is that you cannot call yourself a shaman unless you are from a Tungus speaking tribe of people in Eastern Siberia, where the name originates from. Like many words, the original meaning has changed over the centuries.  Whilst a shaman is called many things in many cultures throughout the world, they all embody the same ideal. So that argument people throw at you, falls flat on it's face... and I thought they were scholars hmmmm!

Having read the study from cover to cover, I have come to the conclusion that these main characters appear in every shaman culture studied from Siberia to the Amazon to Austrailia.

• Altered state induced through a local herb, funghi, vine or 'poison'. Music, often the drum is used to further this altered state. This allows them to walk between the worlds, to connect with spirit and to heal or harm. Dancing and dressing up is also a big factor.
• There is a great deal of trickery involved in their 'act' of healing. One such theme is a concealed bag of blood being held in their hand and burst when healing their patient, showing that the badness being taken away. Small bones or stones being shown as the badness being removed. People need a show to believe - that is true of most things.  No show, no payment for healing or ceremonial work.  And it was a job, they had to eat, they had to provide a good show to prove they were powerful.  Cunning man, Tricky man (Australia), magicians, jugglers, sorcerers, wizards.. all words used throughout the world and time, to describe a shaman.
• There is a dark side. "Shamanism affirms life but also spawns violence and death" - Michael Brown (anthropologist).  Power is ambiguous, knowledge collected to be used for healing, can easily be abused and used to harm people.  Indeed, having read Bruce Parry's book 'Tribe', he details how some of the Amazon tribes he spent time with, would shoot psychic arrows at their enemies, which caused harm and sometimes death.  The tribe had ways of dealing with these arrows and those found to be sending them.
• Work with nature, are seen as wise council and healers. Also feared.
• Interestingly, there are no shamans in Africa. There's witch doctors but not shamans. You'd think they were the same thing but they aren't, according to the extensive studies in the book.

What's in a word?

So the meaning of what is, transcends the word.  Shaman may have started off as a Siberian word but it encompasses a whole world of people who practice shamanism.  Another interesting observation is that if you say shaman to someone, they pretty much talk about Native Americans.  Siberia is a long way from the Americas.  Why do people relate more to Native American culture than say a tribe of Indians in the Amazon?  Fantasy? Perhaps.... I think it's because it's fashionable.  You only have to talk to people about spirit guides and every single one (and I mean EVERYONE I've ever spoken to about it) have all said they have a 'red Indian' guide.  Hahahahahaaha makes me howl! Not saying they don't but there's a serious lack of imagination going on here.  Or maybe that's all people know and that's what they perceive as the origins of that guide?  Who knows. That said, I must confess I have worked with a Native American spirit guide before but he wasn't and isn't my only guide. 

Thinking more on the different Indian tribes throughout the world, they aren't really that different from each other.  They live off the land, they give thanks for what they take, they don't take more than they need, they care for the land and all have a community of looking after each other.  Like all things, there are good and bad aspects to everything.  Those lovely art pictures of a Native American sitting with a wolf around the fire, holding feathers and crystals are pure fantasy, nothing wrong with that but don't base them on fact.  There were a fair few tribes that were utterly savage!  True of all tribes, in all countries.  Bruce Parry describes how the tribe of Indians he was staying with, warned him of the neighbouring tribe that did all these horrific things.  Tribal wars weren't over who's wolf it was and peace and love.  People are bastards in all walks of life, where ever you go.

Not in a book

You will not find a single book telling you how to be a shaman, sure it might say it on the title but that's the authors version of how to be a shaman.  It's their own path, not yours.  You will find books that give you ways of harnessing certain skills though.  Learning these do not make you a shaman. Learning them helps you obtain a shamanic state of meditation.  Having a drum and hitting it in a rhythmic beat doesn't make you a shaman. It makes you a drumer, someone who enhances the atmosphere.  Not that I'm knocking the power of the drum because it's a powerful tool, but it really gets on my nerves when I see people saying they are a shaman because they've been to a shamanic workshop.  I went to Caitlin Matthews talk on Singing your soul back home at a pagan festival... sitting there and listening does not mean I suddenly achieved all the years of knowledge that Caitlin had obtained.  It's like going to Sunday school and then claiming you're a vicar.... or saying that because you have a Book of Shadows you're a Wiccian or putting on a white robe and calling yourself a druid.  You have to work at these things.  You have to earn the name.  It is an insult to those who have done.  The Universe doesn't work that way.  The fluffy new age shamans already stopped reading this after the first paragraph, so I really don't care if this offends them.

I do not tell people I am a shaman.  I do not need to boast a label to obtain acceptance.  I know what I am, I do not need fuckwits to validate me.  I sought a teacher many times and found none.  I have found many who taught me lessons along the way but ultimately, the path of the shaman is a lonely one and one you must walk along at your own pace.  The Universe has given me knowledge as and when I needed it.  I do things that I have not been consciously taught and when I have discussed this with people who have studied magic etc, it transpires I'm doing things correctly.  It's old knowledge, filtered down through my many lifetimes, that's my honest opinion.  I'm only given what I need to know at that time... and I've had to work it all out for myself.  I am my own teacher.

Just thinking about my search for a teacher. The first person I thought 'yes, he can teach me' was Dylan, a member of the Warband. It was about ten years ago and there was a news story on the Warband site about Dylan and things he'd done. I remember thinking 'yes, I'm going to contact him' as I read on, I started crying halfway through the article. He's dead, I thought... and indeed, he had passed suddenly a few months earlier and his ashes had been scattered at Stonehenge and other places he loved.  That was when I joined the Warband forum.  Years later, I felt brave enough to talk to his girlfriend about this and we had a good chat about it.  I felt so connected to him and he was dead before I even knew about him... saying this out loud, makes me sound like a nutter, which is why I don't divulge this information often.  I am an open book though, I stand by what I write, these are my thoughts and opinions, if you chose not to believe them, fine.

Once, twice, three times...

I have been told by three shamans, that I am one.  I wasn't sure what to believe at the time. None of them were after anything and had nothing to gain by telling me this.  All three, I instinctively trusted. I've had a clairvoyant reading telling me I have been a shaman in every lifetime too, of which there has been many. So I began to think about what shamanism was and tried to find information on it... I found a lot of fluff and nonsense - you know when you open a book and think 'bleh' and put it back down, even though there's no reason to, other than instict. Then I found the 500 years book and I learnt more. There is another book I recommend, Caitlin Matthews - Singing the soul back home.  I haven't finished reading it all yet (I've had it ten years lol) but the theme is self discovery, self love, SELF... the power of song and advice on how complete yourself.  There is more to it than that but as it's gone 5am (yes I did it again!) I cannot think of the rest and my friend has the book, so I can't look it up.  Caitlin is no stranger in our pagan world, her and her husband John are seen as well respected authors.  I was gifted a set of Celtic Shamanism cards by John Matthews and Chesca Potter (illustrated).  I wasn't sure about it at the time but they combine my favourite Celtic mythology stories with ways to explore challenging questions etc.  I don't use them very often, maybe I should.  I would like to add that I didn't seek out these books, they turned up in various ways. 

When I started thinking about my path, I realised that I have nearly died three times. Once as a baby aged two days old; I nearly drowned when I was 17, still can't believe we were saved and in 2002. Some may find no relevance in this but I have.  And that is the point isn't it, it's MY path to walk. It's quite obvious now that my teachers are the people and places around me.  I still don't know what it all means but I understand it more than I did ten years ago.  

Tricksters

Whilst that word has been used historically to describe shamans, it's a word I use today to describe the charlatans 'practicing' shamanism.  By practice, I mean charging lots of money for workshops, most you find are Native American based.  There are shamanic drumming workshops and sweat lodges.. you name it. It's big money and money brings tricksters.  If you want to part ways with lots of money to learn something they read off the internet, more power to you.  Best bet, do your research, go to these workshops from actual shamans. They won't be people with silly names like Ruby SilverEagle either (yes I made it up but I bet there's one out there lol).  Shamanism isn't Native American culture... it transcends these Nations and goes out to every country on Earth, even the Artic.  By all means, embrace the ideals of Native American teachings but know that it is not the All. It is the most commericalised way of life now and more accessible than say Amazonian shamanism. 

Witches v's Shamans

Is there any difference? If people ask me what I 'am' and I don't want to tell them I'm a shaman, I say I'm a witch.  'what a white witch?' NO cos there's no such thing (woooosaaaaaaaaaaah Naomi, wooooooooosaaaaaaa).   It's just easier and I don't have to explain it too much.  But is there a difference?  Depends on the type of witchcraft you're comparing it to really.  Grass roots witchcraft like what Terry Pratchett writes about - yes, definitely.  Wicca man type - no.  Witches walk between worlds, most do spirit work of some description, many are healers, many practice natural medicines, many use 'headology' .... so basically if it's fluffy witchcraft it's so far from what shamanism is, it's polar opposites.

Shamanism isn't pretty work. It's the core being of who you are, helping people, putting others before you, always being there to help. Helping when people haven't asked you to. Healing and helping. Working with spirit, whether you ask or not. You can't switch it on and off either.  You're always on call.  I don't practice shamanism... it's who I am, it is my core, my purpose of being.  

Ask me again in another ten years I may know a bit more.  

Aboriginal shaman

Female shaman 

Mongol Shaman

Queensland Shaman

Siberian Shaman