Well how did that happen? We’ve got four days into May and I haven’t written a newsletter!
Madness in the same breath as a month is usually confined to March with the Mad March Hares but May has certainly started with a bang! A full moon on the 1st left me feeling wiped out before the month even got started. The energy conjured and given back to the land from our open ritual on Old Winchester Hill was powerful and truly ancient and the May morning cacophony of birds as the Dawn Chorus reaches its peak, echoes this sentiment. The month will finish with a second full moon known as a blue moon. It is far from done with the madness yet. ‘Tis the season of dance, song and the fertility of the land.
All through April we have been planting vegetables and insect friendly plants in the garden. We have peas, carrots, potatoes, watercress, peppers, tomatoes, sunflowers, sweet peas, nasturtiums, herbs, a new fig tree and even a grape vine we are going to attempt to grow along a sunny wall. I hope we can keep them alive through the heat of summer, although some of the days have already been warmer than usual and the chickens are broody early. Their indignant clucks, at being locked out the coop, drift through the windows of the house as we go about our day-to-day.
The green woodpecker continues to call to me from the woods and this year it has taken the place of the wren as my familiar on these spring filled days. The green woodpecker is associated with the ancient oak woods, druids, divination and the prediction of rain. I wrote a little more about woodpeckers in my recent elemental wanderings here. The Rain Hen, as she is sometimes known, has certainly called in the rain for as I sit here in the study writing this missive the rain is pouring down on the rooftops washing the solar panels clean.
I have a couple more storytelling workshops for Home Educators planned over the next few months and the usual holiday storytelling at Weald & Downland. Work continues on the next manuscript and I am about half way through this one. It’s requiring a lot of my time and research as there is a lot of content for this one but I think you're going to love it.
‘The Little History of Storytelling’ is out in the world! This book was a labour of love and no mean feat to manage to fit 70,000 words of history into 60,000 words. If you haven’t yet got your copy you can do so here:
For May I invite you to walk bare foot in the grass, ground yourself, dance in the rain and the sun, soak up the life that surrounds us and, where you can, give back by turning the soil, creating little corners of the world for wildlife or just pouring the last of your tea on the roots of the old tree.
This Month’s Recommended Read:
Upcoming Events For May/June :
11th May - Storytelling Through Time - Home Ed Workshop - Saxon Scops - Weald & Downland Museum
26th & 28th May - Summer Half Term Storytelling - Weald & Downland Museum.
1st June - Storytelling Through Time - Home Ed Workshop - Tudor Tales
4th June - Speaking In Tongues: The Language of Magic - Petersfield (please message me privately if you would like to attend this event)
23rd June - Medieval Day at Nicholson Garden, Gosport - Private Event.