Quiet Abundance
June's Newsletter
I’ve started to notice the noisiness of consumerism. This isn’t the first time I’ve noticed the noise, but it’s the first time I’ve found myself becoming intolerant of it.
I’m part of a generation that has grown up in a world where we’ve been encouraged to believe that things are fixed by buying a gadget or a sweeter cereal. I’ve grown numb to it. But, as a woman in her late 40s, the changes that are occurring in my body and brain have alerted me once more to the beep, bustle and beats connected with rampant and vapid consumerism.
The overwhelm has hit me like a truck.
The air brushed photos, the slickly packaged goods and the ‘bargain deals’ that encourage a chaotic abundance that spills out into our homes. I can’t hack it anymore.
Perhaps it’s because I am trying to buy less online. If I need something I go into the town and try to find it there. Today I had a little extra time as I waited in town for my daughter who was attending a sewing workshop. I had a wander through the charity shops, but even these are no longer safe havens of useful old items with plenty of life left in them. Instead the shelves overflow as more and more pre-loved consumer goods fill them - I will admit, some of them the results of my own house de-stuffing.
I used to love a good shop, but recently my mind has turned to a more quiet abundance. The kind of abundance my soul really needs.
A field full of oxeye daisies, a wood full of wild garlic, a street full of hanging baskets, a gutter running free with storm water. This is Jera speaking to me. Reminding me of the cycles of life, asking me to notice them above the noise and find more to harvest within them than the brightly lit aisles.
Towards the end of last month I attended a Foraging, Fire and Folklore workshop at The Sustainability Centre, Clanfield, Hampshire led by the wonderful
. If you are not yet aware of Jonathon’s work, click on the link and remedy that immediately.With decades of knowledge and a gentle, organic way of teaching, Jonathon is someone I could spend a lot of time learning from and the couple of hours myself and fellow attendees spent in the woods at the centre were just fabulous. A quiet abundance of healing energy, wildflowers, fire and Celtic wisdom. I’m hoping to make it to the September one day workshop and I would highly recommend attending one of Jonathon’s workshops. You can find more about them here.
Further evidence that the woods were calling to me came in the form of a day spent in the birch woods with Andreas Kornevall, who works with Northern mythology and Uthark rune row to connect with the world and the story of creation. As part of the day we gathered in an arboretum that contains a specimen of Wollemi pine with which we communed and soaked up the ancient energy beneath its arborous arms. Again if you haven’t yet found Andreas’ work you can do so here.
And so it is that I invite you to move forward into June seeking less and yet more at the same time. Notice the ripening crops, notice the fledged birds and notice the brambles overflowing from the hedgerows. Relish this quiet abundance devoid of any shiny nonsense.
Here’s what June’s posts (all being well) will look like:
8th - The Story Forecast
11th - Catch up Vlog - Summer
15th - Legends of Britain - The Legend of St Micheal’s Mount
18th - Stories From Lore - Familiar Beasts - The last ever episode of Stories From Lore.
21st - Stories of The Sun & Moon - Litha Episode
22nd - Solstice on the Hill
25th - The Storyteller’s Library
29th - Lessons From The Land - What The Kites Taught Us
The posts in bold are for paid subscribers. Let me know what you’re looking forward to most! In the meantime, I hope May brings you magic and blossom.
Plant Of The Month
Dog Rose
Dog Rose produces its understated flowers in June, although this year they have been very early. For me, when the first dog rose flowers appear, it truly is summer. The hips are the part that most people are familiar with gaining it its nickname, itchy pip or buckie lice.
The seeds inside the hips are an irritant and need to be removed if you are consuming them but many a young person has liberated them from the rosey red flesh to stuff them down a comrades trousers and cause them to itch like they have ants in their pants.
After the First World War there was a shortage in Vitamin C and rose-hips provided this much needed supplement. Children were often to be found collecting rose-hips with which to make rose-hip syrup.
The oil is also excellent for the skin and the Vitamin C in it, increases collagen production. In this way it could be said to be the elixir of youth. I am certainly grateful for its properties.
The robin’s pincushion, a spiking looking gall created by a gall-wasp grows on the dog rose and if you hang it around your neck it is said to cure whopping cough, toothache and act as a charm against rheumatism.
June’s Listen :
Positive feminine energy and joyous song from Olivia Fern.
Upcoming Events For June/July :
21st June - Summer Solstice Storytelling - Queen Elizabeth Country Park
28th July (continuing for the summer holidays) - Storytelling at Weald & Downland Living Museum. Click here for more information.
For more information and to book me for your event, visit my events page using the button below.
Featured Paid Post:
June’s Reads:
Above is a list of the books which, time allowing, I am hoping to read over the next month. I will be collating the books I read into one multiple book review post called ‘The Storyteller’s Library’ and will post it towards the end of April.
The synchronicities in this post are astounding; I could have written most of this myself! Even the Red Thread has come forward on two other occasions this week. The power of connection and listening to the whispers is so strong at the moment, magical times for sure.
It is good to hear you say you can't hack it anymore, why do we need to passively accept? I just this morning read in Nostos written by John Moriarty 'I wouldn't blackmail myself into being purely modern man. Is it not from our most ancient selves that we must understand the seas, that we must understand the stars?' I feel less alone with it when I read his works. Thank you for that lovely feedback on my course, can I use it as a testimony?