For me there were three stand out moments of the weekend, I can't put them in an order, so they are going to have to be just chronological! The first being a Gathering of Goddesses, where the SiStars from our Moon Circle dressed up as different Goddesses and well, I guess embodied them.
I wasn't going to use the term embodied originally, as we weren't attempting to be them or channel them, but give us a costume and some powerful words written by each woman from the heart and let us enter to a spontaneous and rousing drumming circle rendition of the intro to Queen's "We Will Rock You" and yeah, we strutted out stuff like you wouldn't believe!
Collectively in that moment we were Hekate, Sulis, Nehalennia, Sekmet, Flidais, Freya, Callieach, Danu and yours truly was Andraste with photographic evidence courtesy of Brian below!
If there was any channelling to be had by me, in this moment I was pure Boudicca, getting ready for battle, and Andraste seems to be enjoying my interest and staying a while, which is very apt right now as we fight for the recognition of the Women who were victims of the Maidstone Witch hunt nearly 400 years ago. It wasn't just an excuse to dress up though (honest!) like I said, we all wrote words to represent the attributes and correspondences of our individual Goddess, so here's mine:
"I am Andraste.
Maybe you know of me, but for many, my name has been lost in
the mists of time. Let your hearts and minds cast themselves back to ancient
memories and feel the stirrings of remembrance. Connect to the land beneath you
and feel me in the beat of your heart.
I am Goddess of this land, as far up as the Land of the East
Angles and also here in this land of the Cantiaci, you hear my name in the
whispers of the old places now – Anderida Forest and Andreds Weald, I was, and
still am Goddess of this sacred land.
I am a warrior Goddess, my name Andraste means she who has
not fallen, she who is invincible, and yes, I am the one who stands before you
as you enter the battlefield. Many years since, my name was fervently whispered
in prayers of protection and for courage or howled in wild invocations as
warriors braced themselves for battle, and I was, and I still am a Goddess of
victory, war, and sovereignty. My followers summon me to them, hair flowing,
battle ready and spear, in hand – a symbol of my power and strength in battle
and my ability to protect my people and their lands.
When my High priestess Boudica fought the invaders of our
land nigh on two millennia ago, she called to me on the eve of battle “I thank
you, Andraste, and call upon you as woman speaking to woman.... I beg you for
victory and preservation of liberty” and I fought with her, for I am protector
of my land and people. It was not I that
failed her, but the warriors who had lost their belief in the old ways, and
turned tail and ran in fear at the might of those Roman Bastards. Spit.
I am not merely a
bloodthirsty war monger; I fight for liberty and sovereignty. I am a true
warrior, protector of the weak, the vulnerable and those who have no voice, but
underestimate me at your own risk, for I will fight tooth and nail for what is
right, and I will tear you limb from limb and my ravens will find rich pickings
in the wake I leave at every battlefield.
Aside from the battlefield, I am Goddess of rebirth and
renewal of the land, and the sacred wheel of the year as it turns. I am celebrated
in deep stillness of the winter at the Solstice, as the old year fades, with great festivals and feasts held in my
honour, in the deep and sacred groves of our Island, and if it pleases me, I
bestow blessings, fortune and protection on my tribes for the coming year, and bring abundance and fertility in the coming
greening months of spring. I am protector of the land, and all the creatures
that nestle is its glades and forests. My sacred animal is the hare, old frisky
legs or run-the-winds as we knew them, for they are swift, agile and cunning -
all attributes I possess to outrun, outwit and out manoeuvre those who pit
their wits against me.
I am also Goddess of divination and magic, and
of destiny, and if you call me to you, I may grant you insights into the path
that lays ahead, especially when the crescent moon is high and luminous, and your dream Magick is strong. A word of warning though, it is not always
fortune that I bestow so be careful what you seek. Like luck itself though, I am a shapeshifter, so I may show you a
challenge, instead of an open doorway, but I am resilient and I will lead you
through challenges and show you your ability to rise to face them with strength
and courage, from the well deep within you, as a true warrior and protector of liberty."
Straight from terrifying and beguiling other campers with this, and full of Wild Women and Goddess energy, we rounded up the entire camp, men as well and headed into the woods for a very special and personal Croning Ceremony for our Shirley. Usually a women only affair, to mark invariably the end of menstruation, becoming a Grandmother, retiring or whatever rite of passage each society deems a woman as a Crone, our Shirl decided that, as it was her 61st birthday and she would be at camp, that she would choose her moment, to lift her own crown and embrace her Cronehood, and was happy for the men to share it too, which made for a truly powerful and emotional ceremony. We heard Shirley's own reflections on her life, with poems and readings for each stage of it, from some of the SiStars, I won't elaborate as they are personal and they are her stories to share with you if she chooses, but they were precious jewels and remembrances that will stay with all that were there,but this photo taken by our friend Ginny, captures the moment after the ceremony was over to absolute perfection.
Lastly, the sense of tribe and community was almost indescribable, that bonding with people that you know 'get you' and although you've only just met, you know they have a part to play in your future.. yeah that by the shed load! It culminated in a Wickerman procession.
The wooden Wickerman was created and drummed into life whilst we were titivating for the Gathering of the Goddesses, and after we had feasted communally, and whilst the dry weather lasted, we sang our songs around the fire and had our own flaming torch lit procession with drums and horns, and with tin whistle and melodeon, he was offered to the flames along with our prayers and hopes that we had written to the Gods and Goddess. It was so fantastically primordial and powerful, that even if we'd had a 40 feet Wickerman, and were parading around Stonehenge itself, I don't think we'd have whooped or cheered anymore or felt it's sense of ritual so keenly in our hearts in that moment. It was truly special.
So all in all, quite a busy weekend, we are all back to the day to day and the ordinary now, but with a sense of the extraordinary and a little more magick in our hearts to sustain us until the next time we gather.
Have A Blessed Week x x
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