At the beginning of August was our annual summer camp, held in a wonderful part of the country next to ancient woodland and a clear, babbling stream, where swallows swooped and circled us as we walked between our tents and red kites hovered overhead, searching for the tiniest of movement on the ground.

It's always a very powerful and magical space and this year was no different. In fact there were less of us than last year - mostly due to clashes with other pagan events - but it was no less magical!

As I was doing site crew before and after the main camp, plus coordinating the cafe which offers vegan evening meals to all campers that want one, I had plenty to do but was lucky to be staying on-site for a total of 17 nights! It was blissful to be away from the 'mundane' world for so long and in the company of magic-workers, shamans, witches and so many people with unique, diverse and wonderful paths. Although our paths, work and approaches may be different, we all come together under the word 'queer' where we can fully express ourselves without the often experienced ridicule, prejudice or intolerance. Nowhere else I have ever experienced in my life is more packed with love, friendship, care, laughter and magic!

The highlights for me (or at least the highlights I'm going to tell you about - you'll have to come to the camp to really find out!) were the Hermaphrodeities Ritual that five of us put together (I'm going to write another post about this). Although it may not have happened entirely as we'd initially planned, it certainly was powerful and you can never really tell what will happen when deities start manifesting! Also, sitting around the large fire, watching a huge lunar halo was another stunning moment as was trance dance, where I drummed and floated around the space! But all in all it was a camp of wild places, laughter, rejuvenation and freedom!

Roll on next year, and in the meanwhile; we now have Samhain Camp, Yule Gathering, Drum Camp and Beltane Camp to keep us going!

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Recently it was Litha, or Midsummer, when the northern hemisphere experiences longer days and shorter nights. Although Midsummer, the typical British weather isn't what you may call summer-like, and it was this kind of weather that we had for days before our ritual in some local ancient woodland. The day before there were a flurry of messages between us all as it had been torrential rain all day and it was looking quite likely that we were going to either get very wet or have to find an indoor space instead. Not really wanting to forgo the ambience and power of the woodland, we hoped that the next day would be drier and decided to wait until then to decide. Maybe some words were spoken that eve, and the next day dawned bright and clear; so off to the woods we went.

This festival we were working primarily with Lynx, a creature I've not had much experience with but Lynx turned out to be a lot more than just the relatively unknown cat (or a brand of rather pungent male grooming product...but less of that the better really). 

Commonly held in mythology to be the keeper of the secrets of the forest, the Lynx is a ghost-like creature that silently walks the woodland in secrecy. Although it is this secrecy that ascribes it it's strength, for a secret hidden has power. The Lynx shows us that you need not be loud, strong, big or aggressive to succeed - and those that hold knowledge have strength themselves. Lynx is associated with Dionysus and Lugh, themselves great deities, and also associated with clairvoyance and divination.

Although the Lynx knows secrets, this does not mean that they will be shared. In fact Lynx may well not cooperate at all and those secrets will remain such. Although Lynx may share a secret; this may come as a boon and a bane, as something that is assumed to be positive and something that's assumed to be negative, like the amazing secret we know but can't share - it then makes you wonder if that secret is worth knowing at all.

The Lynx used to be native to our British Isles, but in the 17th century became extinct here - by the hand of humans that lived here and feared the loss of their livestock; therein lies the problem with having living creatures as property. During the day, we were reminded that this country used to be home to wolves, bear and boar - along with lynx - and that our own hubris have wiped them out. We live in a country with very little competition from other species and even the ones that do occasionally, and quite naturally, encroach onto something we consider to be our property; they're 'controlled'. Imagine a country without any foxes and you'll follow this to a possible conclusion.

Eating our shared meal later that day we discussed how wonderful it would be if lynx were wild in this country again, although would Lynx wish to come back?

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Last night I attended a talk entitled Is nothing sacred?: Radical and Transgressive Frontiers in Chaos Magic at Treadwell's Bookshop given by Dr Patricia MacCormack of Anglia Ruskin University and Alexey Unku of Birkbeck, University of London. Taking turns to speak, they spoke on various topics including feminist interpretations and approaches to magick and topics such as fractal geometry and Nietzschean philosophy.

Chaos magic is a modern magical tradition that works to create new and unorthodox methods through the use of other belief systems and approaches with a central principle that belief itself is a tool. Chaotes - or practitioners of chaos magic - use many sources of inspiration including scientific theories, traditional ceremonial magic, philosophy and science fiction writing from authors such as a favourite of mine; H.P. Lovecraft. Chaos magic also uses sigil magic which are symbols created for a magical purpose with a specific intent. It has often been said that chaos magic is heavily phallocentric in terms of its male-domination and it's often criticized for it's 'capitalist', results-oriented approach. Interestingly, both Patricia and Alexey talked about a alternative approach that the are exploring which is based on the experiential as much as the result and Patricia also went on to expand on her use of queer theory in chaos magic too, which was a very inspiring part of the talk. There are quite a few magical workers that are exploring queer deities and approaches that I know of and it's an exciting time; re-discovering this information I feel sure that was well-known but suppressed. Patricia presented a discussion of Solomeic (associated with King Solomon) and Thelemic magic (associated with Aleister Crowley) and explored the representation of women in these two religions which I found particularly interesting as often women are represented as fetishistic objects or something that draws or reduces power — very much of interest for a woman exploring her place in magic with an emphasis on Norse magic; an area often considered male-dominated (although my own feeling is that this has a lot to do with out contemporary interpretations and in fact female workers, queer and gender-fluid workers all had power).

While much of the content and many of the concepts were complex, I found the talk absolutely spellbinding (pardon the pun). Afterwards, during the customary wine, chat and catching-up with people there were some that expressed a feeling that it was hard to understand lots of the talk. This made me think about something Patricia had mentioned that you do not need to understand everything; and in fact in many instances, such as reading Nietzschean philosophy etc, you'll not understand it all. But that's ok; it's about having an experience with it and letting it permeate you. It struck me that often we're so focused on goals that we need to have some tangible result from every encounter and we forget to just experience and experiment.

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While many were enjoying a leisurely bank-holiday weekend at the beginning of May, some of us were in the woods, conjuring in the summer.

Let me explain...

Beltane is one of the eight pagan festivals in what's called the 'wheel of the year'. It takes place on the first day of May (often called May Day) and signals the beginning of summer and the end of spring. There are a few theories of the origins of the Beltane festival but there is some agreement that it’s the anglicised spelling of Old Irish ‘Beltaine’ or ‘Beltine’ from a Common Celtic word meaning "bright fire". In some Neopagan groups Beltane is one of the eight Sabbats, or festivals, between ‘Ostara’ in March and ‘Midsummer’ in June. It’s also a ‘cross-quarter’ day meaning it’s the mid-point between the spring equinox and the summer solstice.

Celebrating Beltane is often a raucous and lively affair, especially in comparison to the more contemplative Sabbat of Samhain (which most people know of as Halloween) where thoughts lead to our ancestors and people that have passed on. By contrast, Beltane embodies the burgeoning summer and for some people the Goddess at Beltane is now in her aspect of the ‘Maiden’.

There are a lot of traditions at Beltane from many different sources. Most will have heard of the Maypole; its phallic representation is no mere accident as many see it as the potency and fecundity of The God. To further the representation; the Maypole is often topped with a ring of flowers to represent the fertile Goddess. In fact this was considered so offensive by The Puritans that they banned Maypoles during the 17th century. While for some the representations of ‘fertility’ is associated with reproduction, fertility in this sense is understood as the birth of ideas and loves too and to think of it as male/female reproduction only is to hugely misunderstand, and underestimate, the meaning. (As a personal aside; to think of things in a male/female binary is also to very much misunderstand the meaning too). Often there is a May Queen and sometimes a Green Man; a couplet possibly drawn upon for the characterisation of Maid Marion and Robin Hood.

Beltane traditions also include going 'A-Maying' which meant staying out all night to gather flowering hawthorn, watching the sunrise and having sex in the woods — something I heartily recommend! You may also have heard about Padstow’s 'Obby 'Oss festival which has to be experienced! In Scotland, a custom from the Highlands was to mark a piece of oatmeal cake with charcoal. The person who got the marked piece was compelled to leap over the flames three times to prevent a curse. People leap over the Beltane fire to bring good fortune, fertility (of mind, body and spirit) and happiness through the coming year. It is also said that the dew on the May Day morning has magical properties; you will stay fair all year if you wash your face and body in it. In fact some collect the dew for later use, as a top-up through the year maybe. But no talk of Beltane would be complete without mentioning the Beltane Fire Festival; a spectacular ritual drama held on Calton Hill in Edinburgh - it’s truly an amazing event!

For my group, my plans centered around a character called Jack-in-the-green. So — in relative secrecy — I planned the event and found the raw materials to build my Jack and we carried him into place in the woods. We all made garlands out of ivy with red and white thread woven through them and then made our way through the trees to where Jack was sitting in a small clearing. While processing to the space, we sang our Beltane song:

Oh, do not tell the Priest of our Art,
Or he would call it sin;
But we shall be out in the woods all night,
A conjuring summer in!
And we bring you news by word of mouth
For women, cattle and corn
Now is the dun come up from the South
With Oak, and Ash and Thorn!

Surrounding the 7-foot Jack, we sang and danced in a circle getting louder and louder. Jack started to sway until he was leaping and dancing around in a whirl with us! It was a surprise to those who had assumed Jack was just going to sit there, but with some magic (and a willing volunteer); he lead us through the woods back to the Beltane Fire. There, our May Queen — who had been selected by picking the Empress Tarot card earlier — had some words for us before inviting us to leap over the purifying fire of 9 woods; Birch for The Goddess, Oak for The God, Hazel for knowledge and wisdom, Rowan for life, Willow for death, Fir for birth & rebirth, Apple for love & family and Vine for joy & happiness. We followed this with a wonderful evening of eating, singing and laughing in the woodland...

...and with that, summer had come!

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This is a new blog, set up mostly because some friends suggested I should do. I didn't really think it was that interesting to talk about so I was pleased when they suggested I did so.

As you may have guessed from the title of this blog; I'm a witch. If you don't know much about witches then you'll probably think we're evil, wear pointy hats and 'curse' people. In fact we're much more likely to be good, wear garlands of flowers and help people; although it's hard to undo the Hollywood image of witches as it is the false image created through years of persecution.

For me, a witch is (not exclusively female, but as I am, I shall be talking about my own personal path) a wise woman with a great connection, love and reverence for the natural world and the beings in it. A witch lives their life in accordance with good principles such as The Wiccan Rede  and cares for others...at least that's my take on things. I'm also vegan and queer too, so I'm going to warn you now that these things may sneak into my blog now and again. I am far from proselytizing though and judge nobody for their decisions.

So, this is a place I'm going to record some thoughts and ideas but in the interests of honesty; there are lots of things I will not be talking about for personal reasons or for reasons of secrecy. If you were wondering about the title; Wyrd is a feminine noun. Wyrd, and its Norse cognate urðr, mean "to come to pass, to become"...in other words; fate.

I hope you enjoy these words.

Blessed be,

Beth

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