Tag Archives: art

The Peace of Autumn’s Gift

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As Autumn digs its heels in deeper I find myself mentally slowing down with a deep sense of peace. I love it that the season’s energy also matches my own.

It’s been an amazing and busy year with music and travelling, the Spirit of Albion movie launching, and the recording of my new album out next month. All of the music has been recorded and I’m now at the stage of fine tuning the mixing and mastering. Each day I’ve been listening again to the mix I had created the day before, and each day I’ve heard stuff I want to adjust. But with each passing day those changes have become less and less, until now I’m just adjusting the fine detail most listeners won’t even notice, but it’s important for me that it’s right when it reaches your ears. I’ve even remixed the free download I gave out last week, so I’ll be uploading a new version soon.

Like I say, I’m probably the only one who will notice the changes.

So soon it will be sent off for pressing. I’m sending it at Samhain. Very apt.

Once the master has been sent off I’ll be making a little video, telling the story behind each new song. I thought things were slowing down. Well they are. Apart from the video, Witchfest, the tour with Spiral Dance, the OBOD Winter Gathering, more gigs, a new songbook…

I love my life.

To me it isn’t all in the detail

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Take a look at this photo. I took it when I was in the Museum of Natural History in Vienna last week. It’s a very small sculpture that has come to be known as the Venus of Willendorf. It’s about 23,000 years old.

We sometimes seem to be very fond of detail in the Pagan community – initiatory lines, who initiated who, is this thing we do authentic, is that thing we do what the ancient Druids did, and if not…blah, blah blah. The latest thing I’ve been reading on the web is people discussing whether it is right to call the Autumn Equinox Mabon, and asking those who do to justify their use of the word for the festival. I can understand peoples’ passion about their spiritual path but this stuff has never really bothered me. If some Wiccans want to call the Autumn Equinox Mabon what does it really matter? To me life’s too short to worry about stuff like that.

Take another look at this photo. A figure carved by human hands around 23,000 years ago. When I stood before her I found I had tears in my eyes. I found myself imagining the hands carving her from the stone using flint tools. I imagined this person dedicating their time to creating her from the raw stone. To represent what? Fertility? Bounty? To me she is both of those things and more. And when I stood before her I found myself thinking only of my relationship to this Earth as a human animal – the same human animal that carved the Venus around 23,000 years ago. We live, we love, we laugh, we cry, we die. Just the same.

The detail we seem to sometimes love as modern Pagans, in that moment, just seemed so insignificant.

Once again.

 

The Blessings of the Wheel

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I love the way our Pagan Wheel of the Year works its magic. It lies at the very heart of my spiritual life and I’m sure, like many other Pagans, the more I have worked with it, the more my own life has changed to reflect the turning of the seasons. So now, as the nights have drawn in, and the leaves have fallen once more to the ground to nourish next year’s growth, I too can feel the busy-ness of my own life changing. But just as the birds and animals are still busy searching for food, so I am searching for the Awen to inspire new songs, and to bless me with the insight for the arrangements of the songs I’ve already written.

I’m heading back into the studio to record a new album – the first album of my own songs since The Cauldron Born released in late 2008. I have a couple more concerts this year, and a couple early in 2012, but I have consciously created a space for that Awen to enter. And as I look outside at the late Autumn day I can see and feel that the energy is right.

The origin of some people’s inspiration is action, from friction and intense activity. Some people find their spiritual connections also come from that space, from drumming and dancing, screaming and chanting. I love that too, but I also know that the foundation of my inspiration comes from stillness, from peace. And that is another reason why I love the Wheel of the Year. The Spring and Summer are times of activity, when I am out playing at festivals, dancing around a burning Wickerman, running through a labyrinth, losing myself to the fire and power of the Pagan drummers. So when Autumn and Winter arrive I am ready to welcome their energy too – energies of reflection, and peace. I know that my spiritual life is enhanced by these changes. If all I knew was hot, how could I fully understand and appreciate it if I never felt cold? If all I knew was light, how could I fully understand and appreciate it if I never knew darkness? So if all I knew was wildness, how would I fully understand and appreciate it if I didn’t know stillness and peace? 

The Ancestor is standing at the Threshold. The woodland is still, and filled with the aroma of decaying leaves. And I am now ready to approach the Ancestor, to seek entry into the Grove of Reflection, to sit in stillness with eyes open, and to allow the woodland to accept my presence. Only then will the Faerie come out once more to dance, to show themselves to me, and allow me to hear their music.

Motley Crue and Morris Dancing

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Around Lughnasadh this past Summer I was interviewed by Phil Widdows for the UK’s premier folk and acoustic music podcast Folkcast. Well, I am delighted to say that the interview has now been released as a Folkcast Special Edition. Me and Phil talk about my music, my path to Druidry, Motley Crue, glam rock, Morris Dancing, the Spirit of Albion movie and much more. So make a nice cuppa and have a listen.

You can find the link here

Spirit of Albion movie film diary day 7

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Here’s the latest film diary!

Spirit of Albion the Movie – First Trailer

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Here’s the first little trailer for the forthcoming movie, enjoy!

In an alternate Universe, yes…

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Last Sunday, after the Anderida Gorsedd open ritual at the Long Man of Wilmington, many of the people stayed behind to be extras in the Spirit of Albion movie. It was an amazing day, and here is a short interview conducted by my friend Greg while I had a little time out of filming, and had the opportunity to watch a scene from the film develop.

New Lyric – Brighid

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A couple of years ago, during an Imbolc ritual, I made a promise to Brighid that I would write a song for her. Last week I made good on that promise and I hope that

She is pleased with her song. I’ll be playing it at my forthcoming concerts over the next few weeks, so I hope you all like it too!

Brighid

(Verse 1)

There’s a tree by the well in the woods that’s covered in garlands,

Clooties and ribbons that drift in the cool morning air,

That’s where I met an old woman who came from a far land,

Holding a flame o’er the well, and singing a prayer.

(Chorus)

Goddess of fire, Goddess of healing,

Goddess of Spring, welcome again.

(Verse 2)

She told me she’d been a prisoner trapped in a mountain,

Taken by the Queen of Winter at Summer’s End,

But in her prison she heard a spell the people were chanting,

Three days of Summer, and snowdrops are flowering again.

(Verse 3)

She spoke of the Cell of the Oak where a fire is still burning,

Nineteen Priestesses tend the eternal flame,

Oh but of you, my Lady, we are still learning,

Brighid, Brigantia, the Goddess of Many Names.

(Bridge)

Then I caught her reflection in the mirrored well,

And looked deep into her face,

The old woman gone, a maiden now knelt in her place.

From my pocket I pulled a ribbon,

And in honour of her maidenhood,

I tied it there to the tree by the well in the wood.

(Chorus)

Goddess of fire, Goddess of healing,

Goddess of Spring, welcome again.

(copyright Damh the Bard 2011)

Twa Corbies on video

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I love to see what people do with my songs and recordings on video and I was recently sent the links to two versions of the classic folk song Twa Corbies that I recorded on my album Tales from the Crow Man. If you like Ravens you’re going to love them. Enjoy!

Spirit of Albion – The Movie: Production Diary Day 5

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Here’s the latest production diary for the Spirit of Albion movie. Things are progressing beautifully!