Following up on my previous post about the tree outside my window, here are some photos of the tree in the summer.
I realized that the reason I didn’t take pictures of the tree last summer was because of the insect screen on the window.
embodied spirituality
Books I read in July
The absolutely outstanding Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender, about a trans teenager in New York. A book on Tolkien’s Oxford. Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild. And the brilliant anthology Queer Magic.
Haloes, East and West
We just started watching the series Warrior Nun on Netflix. It’s rather enjoyable so far. However I couldn’t help noticing that it is wrong about haloes.
Featured
New edition of Dark Mirror
I am delighted to announce that The Centre For Pagan Studies and the Doreen Valiente Foundation are publishing the revised and expanded edition of Dark Mirror: the Inner Work of Witchcraft by me, Yvonne Aburrow.
Pre-order the paperback from the Doreen Valiente Foundation Shop
Pre-order the hardback from the Doreen Valiente Foundation Shop
Later this year they will also be publishing a new edition of my follow-up book, The Night Journey: Witchcraft as Transformation.
Kayaking
We’ve taken up kayaking. We bought a kayak on Bob’s birthday, and took it out that weekend.
The Tree
There’s a tree just up the road that I can see out of the study window, and I often take photos of it, so I now have a portrait of it all year round. My series of photos is not quite as in-depth as this one by eirikso, but it’s nice.
Theatre and ritual
Theatre and ritual are intimately connected. Indeed, theatre has its origins in ritual, and both have some of the same functions. They are both cathartic and transformational, but there are also some significant differences.
Theatres are sacred
Theatres are sacred. They were first formalized in Ancient Greece, but doubtless sacred drama is as old as ritual. It’s from the ancient polytheistic Greeks that we have written dramas, comedy, tragedy, and theatrical concepts like the chorus, catharsis and the deus ex machina.
So the loss of places to perform live theatre should be of concern to Pagans. It’s just come to my attention that the theatre in the city where I grew up is closing because of the pandemic. And there’s a petition to save it.
The Blue Flower
I love flowers. I love them in all the different shapes and sizes and colours, the way their petals are sculpted from within and without by the wind and the rain and the nutrients in the soil.
Happy Beltane
Happy Beltane everyone. Up the May!
Idylwild Morris performing Bonny Green Garters for your viewing pleasure!
My first “public” Morris dance
UPDATE: and here we are performing Hal-an-Tow, a traditional May Morning song from Padstow, Cornwall.
If you enjoyed this post, you might like my new book, Dark Mirror: the Inner Work of Witchcraft.
