The Good Folk Will Not Like This
May's Newsletter
This has been a winter of discontent! Or at least that’s what I assume given the lopping, fencing and constraining that has been going on in the woods and lanes this last 6 months. The land here has been disturbed, tidied. I appreciate that some element of land management is required but this year it feels like there has been a war waged on that which dares to wander. Tree branches and desire paths being the biggest offenders from what I can conclude.
The copse where I like to walk and watch the sunrise from the edges of, has been fenced off with rank and filed posts and mesh around the footpaths so that you are herded around the edges of and through the woodland like a lab rat seeking a glimpse of the wild. On the way up the hill on the other side of the valley the trees that overhang the road have been lopped back, this includes a lot of beech as well as the wonderful wych elm, a particular friend of mine, and I mourn for her.
Further up and the Christmas tree copse, a very small copse of pine, has been thinned out so that now you are no longer hidden when you sit within its arborous embrace. Goodness knows what the old buck rabbit and the gold crest think about this sudden exposure to the world and the Good Folk will not like it.
The green women of the ash will disappear, fearing for their safety, the elves of the wych elm will hide in the holly and plot their redress and the farm boggarts in the pine trees will no longer feel obliged to cast their magic and lighten the load of the earthling.
I feel the liminal space of Beltane open up, presenting a door for their return through which they will leave us. They will not come back this way. We may not notice until we are in the depths of a long winter once more but if we destroy their homes, tidy their landscape, fence it off, it is us who will suffer, for they will simple wait in Annwn until we are gone.
This month, I invite you to commune with the Good Folk. Find ash and sing to the green women, find oak and bow to its king, find hawthorn and dance with the fairies. We must speak their names, go into the woods that are left and leave them offerings of honey cake, eggs and song from our souls. We need them, for without them we will lose the magic of what it is to be human.
Here’s what May’s posts (all being well) will look like:
7th - Beltane Round Up - Highlights from this year’s Beltane festivities.
11th - The Story Forecast
14th - Stories For Brave Sailors - A look at the Figurehead Gallery at The National Museum of Royal Navy, Portsmouth
18th - Legends of Britain - The Mermaid of Zennor
21st - Stories From Lore - The Many Headed
25th - Lessons From The Land - The Dairy Cow
28th - The Storyteller’s Library
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
Arum maculatum
Lords-and-Ladies and Cuckoo-pint are just two of the names we gave it when I was young. The Arum maculatum is everywhere at this time of year and it is one of those beautiful yet unassuming plants of our wild edges.
Unlike is white slender cousin, used in funeral ceremonies, this Arum is native to the UK. Birds from the thrush family love the berries, however to humans they are poisonous and the leaves, stem and roots will most likely cause you irritation to the skin.
Abundant in April and May, the wild arum has many different names such as snake’s food and rat’s berries. It is connected to Easter through the dark red/purple spots on its leaves. It is said that it grew beneath the cross where Jesus died and his blood dripped onto the leaves.
May’s Listen :
Stories of The Sun & Moon Podcast
Stories of The Sun & Moon - Ostara - East Of The Sun, West Of The Moon
Merry Met folks, some of you will know that last year I recorded a series of stories for The Village, a spiritual lifestyle platform. I am now sharing these stories as a limited series podcast and as we follow the wheel of the year I will be sharing folktales from the English and Scandinavian traditions that focus on the sun and the moon, the light and …
Upcoming Events For May/June :
3rd May - Roving Storytelling, Beltane, Butser Ancient Farm
26th & 27th May - Half-Term Storytelling - Weald & Downland
29th May - Roman Storytelling, Novium Museum, Chichester
21st June - Summer Solstice Storytelling - Queen Elizabeth Country Park
For more information and to book me for your event, visit my events page using the button below.
Featured Paid Post:
May’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.