Missing Monty Don Part 2

Okay, now that I am on this ‘descriptive writing about Monty Don’ trip, I am finding all sorts of waxing lyricals about him. He really captures the imagination, doesn’t he - that’s because there is something of the Earth about him. After I posted last night’s whimsy, Carol announced that Monty is having a break - hope he is okay, bless him. I will look forward to seeing him back on our screens soon!

Here’s an extract from an interview he did with Jane Wheatley in the Times, who has also cottoned on to that Hardy connection - we English love our Wessexness:

The tall, burly man kneeling in a potato patch rubbing friable soil through his fingers as if he were making pastry is terribly good-looking in a Lawrentian sort of way — or Thomas Hardyish, possibly; anyway you wouldn’t shoo him out of your kitchen garden if you came across him there. “You want to earth up your spuds,” he says to the camera hovering over his head on the end of a long jib. “Keep them protected till frosts are over.” He has curly hair, sleepy eyes and dirt under his fingernails; his dandyish costume ­ corduroy trousers, button braces, leather jerkin — has just a sufficient patina of use about it to escape parody. This, we think, is evolved nurturing man, anchored to the land, taking the long view while the rest of us are tossed around like jetsam.

I love the bit about being anchored in the land - that is such a good, good thought, and reminds me how important groundedness is - we need groundedness when we all at sea with the world. Thank goodness for Monty…

Missing Monty Don

You’ve got to take your hat off to AA Gill, the Times’ TV critic. Whilst he may have been rather unforgivably panning Monty Don’s Around the World in 80 Gardens, the way he describes Monty is a hoot. It really is such a classic that I have to include it here, where mostly I usually only record my own whimsy… (and I thought I was guilty of purple passages!)

Monty is the reincarnation of Hardy’s Gabriel Oak (if fictional characters can be reincarnated). Whereas Alan Titch-marsh, for all his rambling, is still the evocation of suburban patios, Monty is redolent of a wilder, more ancient throb. He has an ancient boskiness, a Celtic spirit – the green man. He comes from a preindustrial land of peasantry, a place of half-remembered folk song and Catweazle. I’m awestruck by his wild, set-aside, organic beauty, that perfect unkempt meadow of hair, the charmingly lopsided five-bar mouth and all the Bodenish foliage of corduroy and faded cotton, the solid daisy roots and manly man bag. He is retro, eco, postmodern: a difficult look to pull off, but Monty does so with gusto. He is the mulchy, double-dug fantasy of a great many of the female audience, who dream of being espaliered up against a warm garden wall.

Well… he may have a certain point, but what tosh!

But where is Monty? He has disappeared from Gardener’s World and good old Carol Klein is taking about him as though he has passed on to garden nirvana. It’s ‘Monty always intended’ and ‘Monty wanted us to have a go” etc. GW just isn’t the same without him, and its time he got back, wherever he is!

Gaudi and Nature

As a Pagan Druid, the natural world is my temple. But places of worship created by human hand can often thrill me - the mosques of Istanbul, the incensed, jewel-darkness of Chartres Cathedral, the pristine, white tall-forest-like beauty of York Minster - a collective conscious act of religious dedication, often over many centuries, is inherent in the fabric of these exquisite buildings - works of art in themselves.

Anyone who has visited Barcelona will know the beautiful architecture of Antonio Gaudi. The extraordinary, curving and organic nature of his work conveys his innate understanding of Nature and how to work in harmony with her. I had always wanted to visit the Sagrada Familia and it did not disappoint me. Bristling and gorgeous, it is as yet half built and a block of buildings will need to be demolished and the traffic system diverted to complete it. Where modern day artisans are still translating long-dead Gaudi’s vision into mosaics and stonework, I found this quote of his which encapsulated everything I had understood instinctively about him:

“the great book, always open and which we must make efforts to understand, is the book of Nature. The other books are based on it and have the mistakes and interpretations of mankind.”

A Gaudi

Visioning

Some of the people I work with don’t like the word ‘vision’ - along with words like ‘mission’ and ‘empowerment’ they eschew using it, believing it to have religious undertones. It must be to do with my meta programme - but I love it and use it all the time!

I use ‘visioning exercises’ a lot, both in my personal development and my work with others. I feel that the constant refinement and reinforcement of a clear understanding of the life you want for yourself is motivating and future focussed. The exciting thing is is that eventually you begin to manifest the things on your ‘vision list’ - a truly proactive and empowered state of being which Pagans refer to as ‘magic’.

You can use all sorts of tools to keep working on this - visualisation, ‘vision boards’, mantras, symbols, images, written statements and affirmations. For me, this ranges from visiting the area that I want to live in (pictured - and there’s even bell tents or yurts in the distance!!) and creating a deep connection with the landscape there, to the symbol of my made-from-recycled-drinks case covers ‘manifestation chicken’ - which keeps me focussed on the smallholding I would like to run. If you would like your partner and family to be in your ‘vision’ - it is useful to check in with them about the vision they are working towards - its no good when one of you wants to be a Scottish salmon farmer and the other is visioning living in Japan! In fact, working towards a shared vision is very strengthening to a relationship - combining efforts into a common goal.

I noticed recently that school teachers are now using visioning for an ideal community and world with pupils. This is really encouraging to hear - and there is hope for us all if we are creating proactive, generative and caring young people who are equipped to manifest a better world. Of course, having a vision is not enough - we need to combine it with application and focus. As the old proverb says:

A vision without a plan is just a dream.
A plan without a vision is just drudgery.
But a vision with a plan can change the world.

I’m in love!

I am head over heels in love with Nature - the green earth is filling me with so much joy that I can hardly contain it - it is like being in Elysian fields over-brimming with soft blooming colour. I am so deeply connected to the earth right now that I sense all its upward growthful energy intensely.

Here is a quote from the master Carl Gustav Jung which describes this feeling well:

“At times I feel as if I am spread out over the landscape and inside things, and am myself living in every tree, in the splashing of the waves, in the clouds and the animals which come and go, in the process of the seasons”

Bell Tent Report

I have just spent a week in my new bell tent and think it warrants a review! It was all much easier and straightforward than I expected!

I arrived at the camp field to an array of yurts and benders already constructed, along with a few other bell tents, some nylon jobbies and a sprinkling of caravans and awnings. Yurts are such beautiful structures, criss-crossed to the heavens, cosy-warm and carpeted and open to the sky when the top slides off, old rusty burners chugging away and doors like little hobbit holes - wonderful. Benders are lovely too in their random naturalness. The camp looked so extraordinary and exciting, fluttering there in the green, nestling against the hills, smudged with woodsmoke and happy. Tomorrow all this will begin to slowly be taken down… hail to the camp crew, hard workers all.

To the bell tent… a fellow novice belltenter and I had made a date to learn the lessons of erection together, and this was accompanied by much Beltane innuendo and laughter. Setting out the ground sheet is really a two person job - especially when a wind gets up - one to peg out and one to hold it steady. Laying out the canvas and constructing the central pole and A frame was simple enough but involved lots of crawling about under heavy canvas and ‘ooo errr missus’ humour. Getting the pole into position was the most physical bit. Then to the pegging and tightening of the guy ropes - a long job but important to get it right. I made the mistake of not pegging out the base of the canvas close enough to the ground sheet which made it more difficult to tuck the rubber waterproof skirt under the ground sheet for weather proofing. It would have been easier if there had been eyelets to match this up.

The tent withstood two days of heavy rain and was cosy and dry throughout. One night in particular was cold and I was glad of my hot water bottle and extra quilt, and though you can get stoves for the tent, I am told that a quick brew up on a camp stove takes the chill off. It took two mattresses (I had a guest on the first night) and a lot of kit easily, I could set up my camp chair and even had a little altar. One minus point is the inability to hang things - and we Druids like our finery! I had a few friends round for drinks and nibbles one evening and seven of us were in there fine with tea lights lit and carpets to sit on - very civilised!

Sleeping in the bell tent was a delight. I have a little solar sun jar which stores up sunlight by day and glows yellow by night - the whole tent looked warm and welcoming after a nightly call of nature. I felt secure and the wind just billowed the canvas - it was like lying under a washing line full of linen sheets. Twice during the week I tightened the tension on the ropes to keep everything taut. There was some dampness on the inner canvas roof in the mornings which soon aired out with some dry weather. I positioned the head of my bed in the east and opened the windows in the morning to let the morning sun stream in - lying warm in my sleeping bag and basking in the glow.

I visited yet another novice bell tenter who had purchased a heavy duty version with a sewn in groundsheet. I hadn’t opted for this as the extra weight had put me off - but hers did look very neat and no doubt she will feel the extra benefit when the Cailleach is with us at Samhain as there will be no little gaps for the wind to creep into!

I was lucky on the day I had to strike camp - it was warm and breezy and the tent dried out nicely. I didn’t waste time in getting it down after a week of unpredictable weather, and the whole business was a doddle - despite being pestered by a daft and lovable Jack Russell to play fetch at the same time. Having a peg extractor really helped - as did the mallet to get them in. I had my usual frustration over trying to get something which came out of a bag with room to spare back into it again and finding it was like sitting on an overstuffed suitcase - even though I did follow the advice of putting the pole bag in the middle before rolling everything up.

Something in me is sorry to be back in bricks and mortar and I am looking forward to the next outing - complete with guests and picnic - next month in Glastonbury!

Maypoles

May is at last with us and my apple blossom is out, pink blushed, scented and beautiful. Newly returned from Beltane Camp, the May is very much with me, after the deeply magical celebration I have just been very much inside of.

A very powerful and physical ritual act was the making and raising of the maypole. I offer a photo of the magnificent crown which I helped to make with a group of beautiful maidens, mothers and crones, respendent with fluttering ribbons. Here it is atop the ash pole and ready to have its ribbons woven. A blessing on the Earth!

Love and Joy at Beltane!

Well, now Beltane really is almost upon us and the blog will enter a temporary lull as I go off to celebrate at Camp. When I looked out of my office window yesterday at the sweeping vista of the Kennet valley I was struck by the sudden acceleration in the greening - even over the last two days a growing green blush has spread over the landscape and it held me in a moment of sheer euphoria.

The gift I offer for Beltane is an extract from a meditation which I adapted from a piece written by Mike Scott of the Waterboys - I really love the Universal Hall album which was inspired by Mike’s time at the Findhorn Community on the Moray coast in Scotland. The meditation seems to hold within it the joy of this time of year, and the power of Love as an all-pervading and emcompassing ecstasy, which could be interpreted as having a sexual or a divine focus:

“It is a bright spring day, just before Beltane. You can feel the pulsing of the Earth’s heartbeat beneath your feet and new leaves are unfurling on the branches above you – enchanting you with the intensity of their new colour. Breathing deeply, you can smell the burgeoning green all around you, mingling with the richness of the earth here, nourished as it is by the trees themselves. You sense the blessings of the pulsing Earth, and look upward to the clear sky - all things coming into the centre of your being within the beauty of the wood.

Then you begin to notice that something is happening. You feel different, something more intense than before. This feeling is sweeter, it emanates from inside of you, from inside your heart. You can hear your heart beating. It’s like an engine burning in your chest. It feels vast, an ocean of fire. Then emotion runs through you, like a quickening. Its like all the loves of your life rolled into one. You feel spectacularly and absolutely alive.

And now the wood looks different. Everything seems even more alive. An invisible and great spirit is here and all is transformed. Suddenly the woods erupt with the sound of running feet. You turn and look. Your friends are running towards you. They slow and stop, excited and breathless. Again, the woods fall silent, until in words etched out of the air and silence your friends speak:

“Do you feel it too?” they say, and as you look into each other’s eyes, reality melts. The wood explodes into fragments in front of your eyes. And then you find yourself standing in the centre of a very bright light. It doesn’t hurt your eyes; it feels warm and welcoming, and indescribably blissful. You and your friends are standing at the centre of Love. You are made of Love. The wood is Love.

Everything is Love.”

Many blessings upon your Summer

World Drum Project

The Earth our Mother, who holds and sustains us all, is in a state of delicate balance. A lot of current research now points to the fact that if humanity does not take action, now, then the tipping point may already be upon us, and the decline of our beloved home will be irreversible. This is a matter of great concern to Druids, and of course to lots of people who care for the Earth and want to do something about protecting her from further harm.

Much of this action can be taken on an exoteric level - and I applaud the work of organisations such as Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth, the organic movement and other environmental activists who work in a very real and tangible way. To me, it is also important to seek the healing on an esoteric level, creating love and healing energy through meditation and ritual. When this is combined with campaigning to bring the message of hope to the public consciousness, it has to be something worth supporting. I will soon be attending a ceremony for the World Drum on its journey through the British sacred landscape. If you feel so called, details of ceremonies can be found through the website here.

Here is an extract from the website which tells a little more:

Our aim is to bring attention to the critical situation for Mother Earth –
The web of life is coming undone and will bring catastrophic consequences.

A challenge

We would like to call for all environmental organisations, groups and people who want a better world, to cooperate and unite their force.

Participation in ceremonies

The thought behind the project is that the participant brings attention to the critical situation for Mother Earth.
To make it work we must try to reach the press, hand out flyers, have the ceremony in public places.
We are striving to keep the drum in motion – riding on a wave of force.
This includes a strategic and further view than just until the next ceremony.
We will weave a thread throughout the world, which will bind us together in dynamic cooperation for a better world.

Please, I ask each and every one of you around the world, take each other’s hands, lift them high and make a prayer for our continuing existence while The World Drum sings her song and we feel her heartbeat. It is the heartbeat of Mother Earth. It is our heartbeat from each and every one all over the world. It is the heartbeat of life itself.

Can you feel the sap rising?!!

In a little under two weeks we will be celebrating the Beltane festival. Beltane, the last Spring festival and the threshold of summer, is a high-energy, passionate and burgeoning time, full of growing light and warmth. It makes me want to dance with joy! I can feel the sap rising and the pulse of the earth growing stronger. I can feel it now.

We become more aware of the sensuality of the world and of our own physicality, feeling grounded, earthy and bodily focussed. Of course, this is the great fertility festival, and the Horned God and the Lady of the Land come together to create the climactic moment which creates new life for another season. This poem by fin de siecle French poet Paul Verlaine is layered with this physicality - it is sensuous and sensual and very much with the rising energy of the here and now:

‘Sap which mounts, and flowers which thrust,
Your childhood is a bower:
Let my fingers wander in the moss
Where glows the rosebud

‘Let me among the clean grasses
Drink the drops of dew
Which sprinkle the tender flower, –
- Paul Verlaine, Spring