The Solstice Goddess of Penzance

In this brand new article, esoteric explorer and psychogeographer Alex Langstone reflects upon the Bone-Horse-Goddess of Penzance and her links to the towns recently revived 'obby 'oss and solstice folk traditions. He explores some of the origins of the poetic myth and he experiences the dream-like qualities of Penglaz: the grizzly-headed-one!

The Solstice Goddess of Penzance 

by Alex Langstone

The bone-horse Goddess of Penzance has a new guise, as She was reintroduced to the people of the West Cornwall town during the 1992 revived Golowan festival. Golowan, the Feast of St. John, has, since its rebirth in 1991, become one of Britain's greatest annual folk festivals, a bubbling cauldron of traditions thrown together in glorious chaotic revelry! Pagan Celtic traditions dance along side traditional civic pomp. Christian worship blends with the colourful and iconic street parades of Mazey day, and Penglaz (the grizzly headed 'Obby 'Oss of Penzance) leads the midnight serpent dance in celebration of the newly elected Mock Mayor of the Quay.

The Cornish Fire Festival of Midsummer's Eve is generally acknowledged to stretch back to pre-Christian times. Originating as a festival of fertility and sun worship at the time of the summer solstice it owes its survival, in part to its Christian association with St John's Eve thus the name Golowan (Gol feast, (J)owan John). Its continuation as a living tradition into the 21st century is thanks in part, to the efforts of the Old Cornwall Societies who hold bonfire ceremonies on ancient hill tops the length and breadth of the Duchy on Midsummer's Eve, and also to the dedicated band of Penzance folk who tirelessly promote the festival of Golowan. References to the bonfires and Midsummer celebrations can be found in Bottrel's "Traditions and Hearth side stories of West Cornwall" (published 1870).

Cornwall is one of the few places in Britain where the ancient observances of the summer solstice are still honoured as mainstream. As the last glimmers of the setting sun light up the western ocean, shades of light flicker; sacred fire beacons blaze upon hilltops from Carn Brea in the west to Kit Hill on the Devon border. These bonfires are a celebration of the summer with the sun at its strongest. Believed to be Druidic in origin, the ceremony is spoken in Cornish, and climaxes with the Lady of the Flowers casting into the now roaring flames a bunch of summer herbs. Festivals in Cornwall celebrated the Summer Solstice as the wedding of Heaven and Earth. Goddess manifests as Mother Earth and God as Sun King. Bonfires were lit to celebrate the Sun at its height of power and to ask the Sun not to withdraw into winter darkness. Midsummer Eve festivals in the countryside of Cornwall, would have firelight shining from every hill and peak. Dancers adorned in garlands and flowers jumped through the tall flames. This ancient Cornish Summer Bonfire tradition was revived during the 1920's and is still popular today. The spiral is a symbol associated with the Solstices and creation by the patterns of sacred geometry. Ancient dances follow the Sun's movement like a spiral. People joined hands weaving through the streets, winding into a decreasing spiral into the middle then unwinding back out again. The Sun moving from contraction at the centre of the spiral at winter solstice to expansion at Summer Solstice and back again. Midsummer is truly a celebration of the primal creative force of the universe.

In Penzance the week long celebrations of the Golowan festival culminate on Mazey Eve, where the town spills onto the streets in party mood. Fireworks are set off at the sea front, and as midnight approaches, crowds gather by the docks to help the Golowan band entice Penglaz, the grizzly headed 'obby 'oss from her stable with music and dancing! Penglaz then leads the mysterious serpent dance through the ancient streets around the docks. This chaotic Cornish dance runs well into the small hours and as previously stated it centres around the Obby Oss Penglaz, the white faced Mare Goddess of Penzance.

Penglaz is interesting. She shares similarities to other skeletal Obby Oss's called Y Fari Lwyd in Gwent and Mari Lwyd in Shropshire. She is the goddess Mari; the Fruitful One, and the grey mare goddess Rhiannon of Wales. She is many things to many people. To me Penglaz is a Night Mare, Epona of the Celts, Mari Lwyd of the Britons, the Bright Goddess of the Night and the White Goddess of Robert Graves poetic vision. She is also so much more, and the vision can change instantly!

She is both the dark muse and a beacon in the night. She is the White Horse Mother carved upon the hill of the dragon, a totem on the land and a vision from the breath of the serpent. Sacred guardian white horse of Britain, Mare Goddess of sovereignty.

So Penglaz is indeed the Solstice Goddess of Penzance, She who governs death and rebirth, transfiguration and renewal, light from the darkness and darkness from light. She is, by her nature, contradictory and confusing, anarchistic and frightening!

To return the balance of the solstices, the Cornish traditions and folklore of Christmas and midwinter have recently been reintroduced to the town. Penglaz forms a central role within this festival too and the Montol festival is now in its second year, and encourages guise dancing, mummers, traditional Cornish Carols and music. Amid the anarchistic celebrations Penglaz is there, dancing her mysterious and fatalistic spiral dance. Bucca, the strange enigmatic Cornish spirit of the sea and of fertility accompanies Penglaz, teasing and enticing the Grey Headed One to play out her secret and guarded mythology in the dark corners and long shadows of Penzance. At midwinter we have Bucca Dhu, the black spirit who plays with the Mare and midsummer sees Bucca Gwidden, the white spirit teasing our Solstice Goddess from her dark stable or nest, "lined with white horse-hair and the plumage of prophetic birds and littered with the jaw-bones and entrails of poets."

References.

The White Goddess by Robert Graves 

The Mabinogion

 

White Horse of Uffington by Paul Atlas-Saunders 

Photographs by Alex Langstone (Summer Penglaz) and Sarah Jenner (Winter Penglaz) www.folkwales.org.uk/mari.html 

Historic accounts of the obby oss in West Penwith

This article has also recently been published in the Brigantia 2009 issue of The Mirror of Isis. Click here to view.

Samhain: Remembering the Dead

To counterbalance the ever present negative media-hype of Halloween, and the often hideously corrupted traditions that this modern secular and trashy festival now entails, I have written this piece to allow a glimpse into the true meaning of this ancient and very sacred time of year.

Samhain: Remembering the Dead
Prose and Meditation to Honour our Ancestors
by Alex Langstone

The ancient Celtic festival of Samhain. Time of remembrance and of honouring the dead. The season when the veil is thin and contact between the great divide can be made. The ancient feast is still celebrated throughout the western world as the secular festival of Halloween, on October 31st. However it is only a distant and very corrupted memory of what this sacred festival is all about. It is interesting to note that in Britain, Remembrance Day on 11 November seems to tie in symbolically with similar themes and the bonfires lit on 5th November to commemorate Guy Fawkes' failed act of terror have without even realising it, become a modern secular continuation of the sacred Samhain fires. The Christianised festivals of All Saint's Day and All Soul's Day are celebrated on the 1st and 2nd November respectively. In the Goidelic Celtic languages of Scottish Gaelic and Irish, Samhain means November, and the entire month resonates with the meaning and symbolism of the ancient festival. In Cornwall the feast was known as Allantide, or Nos Calan Gwaf in Brythonic Celtic Cornish. Penzance particularly had the custom of giving Allan Apples, large red apples to each other on October 31st for good luck and this custom persisted until the late 19th century. Turnip lanterns were made and lit after dark and stories were told about the ancestors and the otherworld of faery folk and enchantment!

Samhain is about remembrance, communication across time and space and especially honouring our ancestors and remembering our deceased loved ones. It is also a transition point in the yearly cycle. Winter is just around the corner, the harvest is complete and longer nights and shorter days are upon us. The sun's power is waning and leaves are falling from the trees. In modern Ireland and Scotland, the name by which Halloween is known in the Gaelic language is still Oíche/Oidhche Shamhna, and it is still the custom in some areas to set a place for the dead at the Samhain feast, and to tell tales of the ancestors on that night. The of opening a door or window in the west for the beloved dead, who are specifically invited to attend, is central to this ancient custom. Many leave a candle or other light burning in a western window to guide the dead ancestors home. Divination for the coming year is performed, and this is a time for deep communion with God, Spirit or the localised deities of the district, especially those whom folklore mentions as being particularly connected with this festival.

Samhain Prose.
Crows crowing, flapping somewhere overhead. The wind cries the ghostly song of the departed. We stand alone in this desolate, yet welcoming place. It is cold, and dusk is laying her blanket over the rolling landscape of sweeping, undulating hills. The naked twisted trees dance in the half-light of a cold autumnal evening, and vicious clouds scud across the menacing sky.

Old ossifying bones lie hidden here. The bone-yard of the ancient ones lie sleeping in this valley, and the ancient mortuary house holds the key to this place. Half buried under four thousand years of mud and stone - but only half-buried, still!
Whispers, half forgotten whispers from the dimming memory of yesteryear. Whispers fade in and out, blending, melding 'twixt the winds playful movement 'neath the trees. We can almost taste the past here! Fleeting and unknowable, but tangible and contradictory. All of this and more. Scattered shards of invisible bone. Ghostly hair, tooth and nail hide here amongst the invisible remains of last years decay. New life sprouts, mushrooming fungus and multi-coloured lichen have successfully colonised this enclosure.

This space, this sacred area of the deceased; the departed ones who haunt another realm, an inaccessible realm of half-fulfilled dreams and visions of poets and painters from across the ages.
Ancient prehistoric lines of power converge here. The shining pathways of the ancestors, corpse roads and coffin paths where we walk with the dead.

It is dark now, and the Yew tree observes all from the darkest corner of this enchanted world. This is the ancient, wise and cunning you!

Tree of departed souls, tree of renewal, guardian tree of graves. The old twisted branches rustling and creaking in the ghostly vale of dreams. Associated with immortality, renewal, regeneration, everlasting life, rebirth, transformation and death.The Yew is considered to be the most potent tree for protection against evil, a means of connecting to your ancestors, a bringer of dreams and otherworld journeys and a symbol of secret ancient magic. In hot weather it gives off a resinous vapour which our ancient far distant ancestors inhaled to gain visions. Yew wood was regarded as especially magical to the Celts, due to its connection with the dead and the ancestors which were deeply respected. Let the lesson of the Yew be observed - welcome travellers!

Samhain Meditation.
You find yourself standing in the corner of a churchyard by a huge ancient Yew tree. Its hollow trunk, gnarled and split with age, appears like a gateway leading us into the night! A crescent moon illuminates the darkened sky and the stars glisten. This is a thin place! Allow yourself to be guided along the shimmering old straight track, from the thousand year old Yew tree and it's surrounding grave-stones we walk along a well defined path. This ancient corpse road follows an even older line of earth energy and it has a purposeful and meaningful destination. An owl screeches and a rustling is heard in the nearby undergrowth. Nocturnal creatures are busy. Old fashioned lanterns light our way towards the hill of the dreaming dead. Ancient standing stones pierce the landscape, and wayside wheel-headed crosses lead us to our enchanted destination.

A fire is burning on a nearby hilltop, a bonefire! The assembly cast the bones of the Samhain feast into the blaze, remembering and honouring around a beacon fire, burning into the nights darkness, lighting a pathway into the dreamtime of the departed. But this is not our destination, we have a date with a more ancient edifice. We continue along the faintly illuminated trackway leading us deeper into the immortal starry velvet night. We walk through ancient woodland, its trees stark against the night. We are heading into Bone Valley. A deeply connected and primitive valley. A place of antiquated trees and antediluvian secrets. Bone Valley will soon divulge our holy destination. The moon's crescent appears once more between the protruding branches, which seem to reach out to the night sky. The clouds have dispersed and bright stars shine like timeworn torches in an antique indigo sky. Soon we arrive at a clearing and we see a stony structure, megaliths protruding from the earth. They are curbing a large oval mound and beyond the stones, through a well worn entrance, we find a gaping black opening leading into a stone chamber. Some of the stones have been carved and round indents cause the surface of one stone to stand out, its quartz veins shining, illuminated by the pale moonlight.We sit within the confines of the barrow's heart. We listen to the silence. We light a solitary candle. We pray for the loving departed.

We emerge from the otherworldly chamber of the neolithic shrine to the dead. It is dawn, and the eastern sky is glowing an iridescent red. The sun is rising, lighting our way home. We follow the pathway back to the source of our deamtime adventure. past the bonefire hill, along the old straight track which leads through the heart of the November woods and the ancient sacred Yew. We take leave of this place, with its needles of stone and its earthy shrines to the dead. We find ourselves in a churchyard, amongst the gravestones, the sun is shining and the crows forever crowing. We are home. We remember!

References and Credits.
November Woods.Tone Poem by Arnold Bax.
Belerion: Ancient Sites of Land's End by Craig Weatherhill
Tregiffian Neolithic Entrance Grave photo by Alex Langstone.
Samhain Yew Portal by Paul Atlas-Saunders
Lelant churchyard wheel headed cross photo by Paul Atlas-Saunders

Nine Maidens Saved from Fencing and Grazing

Above: Nine Maidens Common and stone circle

"Joy as cattle-grazing plans abandoned" read the headline in The Cornishman, West Cornwall's regional newspaper, of 2nd October 2008.

"Natural England has confirmed that plans to graze and fence the Nine Maidens common have been abandoned" and that the commoners had decided not to apply to the Secretary of State for permission to stock proof the common. The HEATH Project assistant project manager said that "they were disappointed but supported the commoners'' decision. The co-ordinator of Save Penwith Moors said that it was brilliant news "but it remains to be seen what happens with the other areas" and that he hoped their campaign had gone some way towards achieving this result.

Thank you for your support in achieving this excellent result. There is still more to do.

Ross Champion, HEATH Project Manager, was quoted in The Cornishman of 25th September that: “Change is a no-no in West Penwith and some people will do their hardest to make sure things stay the same. But if there’s a common consensus and people don’t want it, we’re not going to go ahead and just do it.”

So please now write or email to Natural England expressing your opposition: Photo (right) from the protest walk on 21st September.

With thanks to Ian Cooke, Save Penwith Moors coordinator for the information. To view the latest see here

Ross Champion HEATH Project Manager

Natural England

Pydar House

Pydar Street

Truro

Cornwall TR1 1XU

Email: ross.champion@naturalengland.org.uk

"Castlerigg" featured on Megalithic Poems

Written Within View of Castlerigg Stone Circle has been featured on the Megalithic Poems website. See here and here.

Megalithic Poems is an anthology on the theme of the megalithic structures of Britain, Ireland and the European Continent: structures found at places like Avebury, Stonehenge, Newgrange and Carnac.

Don't forget to check out Lucifer Bridge for all the latest poetry updates.

Equinox Sunrise

Save Nine Maidens Common

I recently received correspondence from local author Ian Cooke about a scheme proposed by Natural England's HEATH project to fence off parts of the Penwith Moors in West Cornwall in readiness to graze cattle. In imminent danger is Nine Maidens Common. I visited the site today and here is my humble opinion on the sorry saga.

Save Nine Maidens Common
A report by Alex Langstone

Nine Maidens (Boskednan) Stone Circle

Nine Maidens Common and other areas of significant archaeological importance are under threat from the Natural England HEATH project. The project has plans to manage the wild moorland of Penwith in West Cornwall. Whilst I have absolutely no objection to the management of the moors (they do need managing, otherwise they will become bracken and gorse thickets!) I am concerned that by putting up fencing and allowing cattle to graze areas such as the Nine Maidens common will be detrimental to the sensitive nature of the landscape. Cattle cannot eat much bracken, and as bracken is the main problem on the moors, I do not really understand why we need any more grazing than we already have? Land management by bracken clearing is one of the things that the HEATH project are already successfully implementing through education and the need to clear with traditional methods using machinery, hand tools and people.

The Land's End peninsula is world famous for its archaeology and beauty; and whilst it is, and should remain, a working landscape, we need to strike a balance between the needs to the land, the needs of farmers and the needs of tourism. The HEATH project is a well meant project, and in some areas cattle grazing is a good idea. But, cattle around ancient sites of significant cultural importance can create muddy quagmires on open moorland. Damage to the stones and the fabric of these ancient monuments can be substantial when cattle are allowed to graze amongst them. Erecting fences with points of access through gates, will create damage and erosion to the landscape by funnelling people into small areas of entry. Cattle also congregate at these entry points, which can only make the problem worse. Nine maidens common does not need any grazing. I visited the site today, and it is well managed enough already. It is one of the most popular areas of open moorland in Penwith, with acess to such famous sites as the Men an Tol, Nine Maidens stone circle, Men Scryfa and Carn Galva. Plus loads of other bronze age barrows and standing stones, not well known, but equally important. Other areas such as Mulfra Common and Lanyon are also being considered for grazing. It is important to note that the Nine Maidens Common is a registered common, and as such, needs the permission of the Secretary of State for Environment before any changes can occur.

Most importantly, Nine Maidens Common contains some of the finest and most interesting prehistoric sites in Southern Britain. Boskednan stone circle (marked on OS map as Nine Maidens, pictured above) is partly ruinous, but retains enough to be a dominating presence on the moor. When first viewed from the footpath, it stands out prominently almost on the top of the highest ridge. Eleven stones remain of the original twenty-two, one of which is remarkably tall for the stone circles of the region, standing at 2 metres. Other stones range from 1 to 1.3 metres in height. A slightly later round barrow touches the south side and can be clearly seen. About 40 metres north- north-west of the circle can be seen the remaining stump of an outlying menhir, and further to the north are the remains of three round barrows, one of which still has its large retaining stones, (pictured below) though the earthen mound has long since departed the scene! All in all this is a superb Bronze Age archaeological landscape, which needs to be protected and preserved.

In conclusion land management is vital to the conservation of our moors and heaths, but not by cattle grazing at the more sensitive archaeological sites please!

A dedicated website has been set up by local author Ian Cooke, please visit and sign the petition, write to local MP, Andrew George, write to the Secretary of State for Environment, The Rt. Hon. Hilary Benn MP, and above all, tell people about this. It is vital we all have our viewpoint put forward before it is too late.
www.savepenwithmoors.com

You can also contact the HEATH project and visit their website www.theheathproject.org.uk
Point of contact; Joe Oliver, partnership manager.
Email: joe.oliver@naturalengland.org.uk.

Or write to: The HEATH Project, Natural England, Pydar House, Pydar Street, Truro, TR1 1XU, tel 01872 245045
Andrew George MP, Trewella, 18 Mayne Rd, Penzance TR18 4NG.
Secretary of State for the Environment. The Rt Hon Hilary Benn MP, Nobel House, 17 Smith Square, London SW1P 3JR

Remains of round barrow on Nine Maidens common pointing towards Carn Galva

www.savepenwithmoors.com

Poetry News

The Aira Force Faeries poem has been published in the Lughnasadh 2008 issue of The Mirror of Isis, under it's regular Poet's Corner feature. The magazine is an official online journal of The Fellowship of Isis edited by Linda Iles. The Mirror of Isis seeks to actively promote the work of FOI members around the world. Now in its third year, you can view the current issue here.

The Aira Force Faeries can be viewed here

Glimpsing the Green Man of England

A Wander Through the Proverbial Thicket in Search of the Foliate Face of the Wild Wood!

by Alex Langstone

This article focuses on some of the lesser known green men carvings in England, along with curious anecdotal information on some of the locations. The article is partly based on the excellent series of articles that folklore expert Ian Dawson published in Albion's Sacred Heritage (ASH Magazine) during the 1980s.
Whether you define the Green Man as an archaic god, the pantheistic face of nature, the Spirit of the wild wood, the green face of re-birth or an arcane folk-inspired pub-name, he is all around us. Peering down from the rooftops of the great Gothic Cathedrals, from the corbels of the country parish church, from brightly-painted old English pub signs to the ancient heart of the gnarled and twisted oak trees of our woodlands. His face is there, spewing the foliage of the forest from within, from every orifice it emerges: eyes, ears, nostrils and the mouth, it is as though the foliate face of the green man is actually part of the tree itself!

For here we go on a journey, a journey to visit some of the more obscure and unusual Green men carvings around England. We start in the west, and in Devonshire where one of the most sublime foliate faces is to be found at the Sampford Courtney parish church of St. Andrew. This sacred building was rebuilt in the mid 15th century and the carving dates to this period. It shows a lovely bearded benign face spewing leaves from his mouth. Some commentators have likened the face to Christ, and it does have those classic features of Christian iconography to a certain degree, as you can see from the image (left). The church has other interesting carvings including the tinner's rabbits, and the sow and piglets, along with two other green men.
From here we venture to the pretty Somerset village of Spaxton, where in the centre of the village lies a newer chapel once famous for the Victorian cult of the Agapemone based on the vision of Rev.Harry Prince, an Anglican priest, who left his church as he believed that the holy spirit had taken residence within his very own body. Here he built a religious community including a chapel. It was here that the defrocked Rev. Henry Prince set up his community of "soul brides" inside the perimeter of a 12 foot high wall and ferocious guard dogs. This community was remarkably successful in its time. Though they did court the expected "moral outrage" from the popular press, but many of the locals grew fond of their village cult, and some of the older villagers still remember some of the cult members.
Spaxton is nestled upon the edge of the stunning Quantock Hills, overlooking the shimmering Bristol Channel, St Margaret's dates from the 13th century and has three green men, two on the font and one of a bench end (right and below). It is a very peaceful spot, and the superb views across the rolling countryside of west Somerset are breathtaking. The nearby village of Enmore has it's own virtually unknown green man in the parish church carved on a pillar in the north aisle.

Moving now from the west to the far east of England, and to a land very different from the west country. This landscape is of the East Saxons, virtually nothing visible remains of any earlier Celtic settlement, and the ancient Celtic kingdom of Trinovante. But an Anglo-Celtic 7th century chapel does still exist at Bradwell-on-Sea, and glimpses of Celtic mythology blend with Saxon and Viking legends and myths, to form a heady mix of folklore and secret Witchcraft traditions that live on to this day in the more remote spots along the lonely coast or deep within the gently rolling and wooded rural countryside. In this part of England there are many virtually unknown green men carvings, which may hold clues to the ancient past, when the landscape was dense woodland. Essex folklore researcher Ian Dawson has done much work on cataloging these eastern foliate faces in his excellent series published in ASH Magazine in the 1980s and early 1990s.

One of Ian's greatest discoveries was during a visit to St John the Baptist church at the Thames-side village of Mucking. The former parish church has been in private hand for many years now, but Ian was lucky enough to view the inside whilst the builders were there during the spring of 1989. What Ian found was truly remarkable. He was searching for a green man carving he had read about. Situated on the south side of the chancel, which dates to 1216, on a central pillar is a stone carved green man spewing branches from his mouth. Immediately opposite him, on the other side of the pillar among the foliage is an exquisite carving of a green lady/moon goddess, with a lunar crescent upon her head and horseshoe supporting her chin. Her head is surrounded by a perfect circle which appears thicker on the right hand side as you view her; looking like a shining crescent of the waxing moon! I sincerely hope that these unique carvings have survived in these intervening years, and I understand that the church is still a private dwelling.

Dave Hunt's drawing of the Goddess and the Green Man of Mucking, Essex

From Mucking and the lonely marshes of the Thames estuary we travel north towards the low rolling chalk hills of rural north-west Essex. Here the ancient settlement of Thaxted nestles in the unspoilt countryside. The town is justly proud and famous for it's Morris Dancing folk tradition, revived in 1911 by Conrad Noel, vicar of Thaxted. During the summer months dancing regularly takes place around the town, some of which truly seems to evoke the spirit of the green man. The annual Thaxted Morris Ring meeting is held on the first Saturday after the Spring bank holiday and includes many traditional dances including the magical twilight Horn Dance.

English composer, folk-song collector and mystic Gustav Holst lived here between 1917 and 1925, and he played much music in the very spacious and lavishly carved hilltop church of St John the Baptist, among the many green men peering down from above. Holst became good friends with Thaxted's controversial socialist and folklore collecting vicar of the time Conrad Noel and the two men would have often discussed the folklore and traditions of the district, along with socialism and mysticism, interests which they both shared. I am sure they would have been aware of the green man as a potent glyph of English mythology, peeking out at them from around the church!

The first of these Thaxted green men can be seen in the north transept. Behind the organ is a richly carved panel where four green men can be seen. On the opposite side of the building on another carved panel can be seen another green man. Another foliate face can be seen on a boss high up at the west end of the nave roof (right). Moving to the the exterior of the sacred building and inside the south porch there is a beautiful green man with great clusters of leaves sprouting from his mouth and head and further along the south wall high up near the guttering another foliate face can be seen on a panel (above left), along with other carvings of Celtic style heads and animal motifs, including a boar and a hare. Thaxted and her church are truly remarkable places to visit with mystery and magic around every conceivable corner!

Thaxted Morris Horn Dance 2007

There is an annual Green Man festival at Clun in south Shropshire, as well as many other folk festivals held across the country, many honouring the green man in some way or another! I will publish more photographs and descriptions on the hidden foliate faces of the forest at a later date, so click back soon!
References.
ASH Magazine No. 4 Summer 1989. "Paganism in Essex Churches" by Ian Dawson.

ASH Magazine No.16 Summer 1993. "Paganism in Essex Churches by Ian Dawson.
Drawing of Sampford Courtney Green Man by Paul Atlas-Saunders
Drawings of Mucking Green Man and Lady by Dave Hunt
Photography copyright Alex Langstone, except Mucking Green Man/Lady by Ian Dawson
Thaxted Morris
Clun Green Man Festival

May Day Matters in West Cornwall

A Report by Alex Langstone

The ancient custom of the Penzance May Horns and Whistles was vividly brought back to life on Sunday May 4th 2008. Using many of the old customs recorded in Robert Hunt's Popular Romances of the West of England, the people of the West Cornwall town took to the streets.

The days celebrations started with a walk to Trereife Park, where a Beltane picnic was shared amongst the beautiful backdrop of bluebell woods and rolling parkland. Trereife House was one of the traditional places that the folk of Penzance called at on May morning to gather greenery, flowers, rum and milk, and to make May Sycamore Whistles before returning to the town, dressed in the greenery of the forest blowing their whistles to greet the May.

This event was an annual celebration prior to 1933, when Penzance Borough banned it for being too noisy and rowdy. This years historic Beltane celebration is all set to mark the return of the Penzance May Horns to the folk calendar of West Cornwall.

The main event of the day was the procession beginning at Newlyn Green. Participants gathered at the nearby Tolcarne Inn overlooking the spectacular Mounts Bay. About 40 people gathered in the beer garden, where we were greeted by the May Green Man.

The procession was headed by the Master of Ceremonies Mr Dennis Dowrick, followed by the Turkey Rhubarb Band, The Green Man and Lady of May. Fi Read; the current Mock Mayor of the Quay was also in attendance plus one or two familiar faces from the Druid Grove of Bega plus many other friendly faces.

As the procession neared the Penzance parish boundary from Newlyn, a brief talk was given about the last time the May Horns celebration had taken place in the 1930s, and mention was made about the town councils decision to ban the event - a ban that is still in effect today. So once we were over the river that forms the towns western edge we were illegal.

Despite this, the defiant revellers continued along the prom, and then up through Alexandra Road, and into the town centre, where at the historic Green Market the may pole was raised and frantic dancing and laughter was witnessed at this traditional May Pole site for the first time in 70 years. Many more people had spilled onto the streets by this time, enticed out of the nearby pubs by the music and laughter, and soon more had joined the final part of the Sacred May procession.

The final leg continued to the ancient and historic Chapel Street district, and to the Admiral Benbow, one of the towns oldest hostelries, where the upstairs bar was opened for a party. Cornish folk dancing and music was on hand to entertain, and proved to be a fitting end to the towns revived Beltane celebrations. I sincerely hope that this is the first of many, and that many more will join in the fun next year!

See our Druid Grove of Bega pages for more photos here

External link: Official website www.penzancemayhorns.co.uk

Seahenge on Display

Justification or Desecration - the debate continues...

Visitors will be taken back in time 4,000 years when Kings Lynn Museum re-opens to the public on Tuesday 1st April after its £1.2 million redevelopment. For on display for the first time will be Seahenge – the man-made timber circle found on Holme beach in 1998 which has been hailed one of Britain's most exciting archaeological discoveries.

A new gallery has been created to show half the 55 preserved timbers from the circle and the giant upturned oak stump they surrounded, against an illuminated backdrop of Holme beach today.

Seahenge as it was before 1998

Archaeologists faced angry protests when they started to remove the timbers in 1999 to preserve and study them, from druid groups who felt a spiritual connection to the site and local people who wanted the structure to remain in place.

Lynn Museum project manager Hannah Jackson said mystery still surrounds what prompted the Bronze Age people to create the circle. "There are tantalising clues yet we still don't really know what it was for – it's a bit of an enigma," she said.

"The upturned stump could have been like a table top on which the body of a very important member of the community who had died would be laid out for the birds and animals to pick the flesh off.

"Then they would remove the bones for burial elsewhere, and that fits in with what we know of Bronze Age burial rites," she said.

Another theory suggests the circle was an ancient calendar, as its alignment ties in with the rising sun on midsummer's day shining directly through an arched timber forming the entrance.

Either way, it was significant enough to involve 50 to 80 of our ancestors in constructing the monument as evidence has been found of more than 50 different axes being used to shape the timbers, Miss Jackson said.

The main display is mirrored by a full-sized fibreglass replica showing how the structure would have appeared when it was constructed in 2049BC, complete with a model of a Bronze Age man. Visitors can enter and explore this area.

Since excavation, the Seahenge timbers have been to the Bronze Age Centre at Flag Fen, near Peterborough, to be studied and start the ten-year preservation process, and to the Mary Rose Trust in Portsmouth to finish the conservation work. The central stump is still with the trust until it is ready to join the display.

So despite excavation, study and preservation we are still nowhere near to making any new discoveries, prompting the same old question of why remove it in the first place? Maybe a better understanding would have been reached by studying the ancient monument in its original position? Was this a justified scientific project or the desecration of an ancient site? Let us know what you think.

The museum opens Tuesday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm. Admission is £3 adults, £2.50 concessions and £1.65 for 4 - 16-year-olds.

Winter Wildwood Mystery

This meditational piece was first published in The Lighthouse Vol. 2 No. 1 Winter 1999 - 2000. It was inspired by a vision of the Green Man in Tehidy Woods, Cornwall during 1999. Winter Wildwood illustration and magazine cover by Paul Atlas-Saunders. Yule King by Yuri Leitch.

The Winter Wild Wood Mystery
A Meditation for Alban Arthan
by Alex Langstone

All is in darkness.

Gradually you see stars shining, glowing intensely in the night sky. As you become aware of your surroundings you realise that you are standing in a meadow. A heavy frost shimmers upon the ground, illuminated by the faint starlight and a slender crescent moon.

You notice that you are standing by a wooden gate, and on the other side of the gate is an ancient trackway leading to a vast woodland. You open the gate and begin your journey on the path. Your footfalls crunch upon the frosted landscape and your breath vapourises on the still night air. In the distance movement catches your eye. Your heart quickens and you increase your step. Something stirs in the approaching woodland.

Before you enter the forest you notice that dawn is breaking towards the eastern horizon. The sky is clear and soon the sun will be reborn at this sacred time, and the light of Arthur will shine across the land once again. For this is a time of beginnings and completion, death and rebirth; the sun dies and is reborn as the Child of promise.

The Sun's journey is about to begin once more as it has since the dawn of time, for in the depths of winter's darkness stirs new life, and the Oak king stirs in readiness for the waxing sun.

You now enter the winter wild wood, and again you see movement up ahead. Then at once as the Solstice Sun rises over the distant hills you enter a clearing. A huge stag greets you, his antlers rise up and he looks at you. Look into his eyes, for he is the guardian of the forest and the sacred totem of Cernunnos, of Herne, of Gwyn ap Nudd - He who leads the legendary Wild Hunt at the winter solstice; hunting out the light from the darkness, seeking out our future dreams and aspirations from the hidden depths of our souls.

As you watch him, he turns away and walks deeper into the magic forest. You feel compelled to follow him, for now is the time to use the light of the returning sun to aid us in our continuing quest. Follow the Stag-headed-one, keeper of the mysteries of the winter wild wood.

As you walk onwards you notice that the trees are getting bigger. Mighty oaks are now in abundance, their twisted branches look like ancient hands reaching out to welcome and guide you, for you are about to enter the sacred grove of the Horned God. He awaits you, and should you require his assistance and guidance, then ask for it now. Call out to him and he will answer. Spend some time in communion with the protective power of nature.

Whatever is happening now, look around you, notice that you are still in the forest but the Horned God has gone and shafts of pale winter sunlight pierce through the bare branches of the trees. You now retrace your steps, walking away from the clearing and towards the forest edge. As you leave the clearing you notice the bright red berries of the holly, which add life and colour to the woodland. You follow the path and shortly you see the mighty oaks again and you note the most sacred of all winter plants growing high up in their branches: the Mistletoe, it's gleaming white berries shining and silken, symbolic of the seed of life!

Shortly the woodland changes and you enter a Birch grove. The slender silver graceful trees form a perfect circle. You walk around the edge of the circular clearing. A Wren greets you by flitting from tree to tree. The sylvan trunks glisten in the watery sunlight. A small bubbling brook winds its way along the outer edge of the clearing. You listen to the sound of the water running over the rounded pebbles, which glow like jewels in the morning light. Take a drink from the stream. Feel the cold water refresh and cleanse you in readiness for your continued journey home.

Soon you reach the edge of the wild wood and as you leave by the old wooden gate, a Robin darts across your path from the old Yew by the gate. His sweet song greets you, the sacred song of winter. Remember what you have learned and take inspiration from what you have experienced and as you look around you the landscape fades away.

All is in darkness.

Chesca Potter interview, 1992

It is with great pleasure that I can now re-publish an interview that ASH Magazine co-editor Dave Hunt produced for the Summer 1992 edition of the magazine. The interview is now over 30 years old, so please bear this in mind when reading it! Chesca's Greenwood Tarot is now unfortunately out of print but some online information is available here: Green Wood tarot

This, the second in our occasional series of interviews with personalities within the esoteric scene takes us to meet one of the countries foremost "Magical Artists". Dave Hunt is the man with the questions.

Dave: When and how did you become involved in the esoteric?

Chesca: I was always mystically minded, but a deeper interest started about 10 years ago. Three specific occasions come to mind.

1. When I moved to Kings Cross and started having visions of a huge green and gold Goddess called Elen, standing over St Pancras old church. I spent years trying to understand what or who I had seen, whilst researching the lost mythology of London, some of which is written up in the book I edited "Legendary London" and in my booklet "Mysterious Kings Cross".

2. Whilst I was still living in Lancaster, I took a book out of the Library called "The Silbury Treasure" by Michael Dames. I can honestly say that book changed my life, not only did I rush down to Avebury and Silbury but it changed my way of looking at nature. I seemed to be able to tap into a sort of memory at some ancient places and interact with them, now in the present. Sometimes I see places with a sort of x-ray history, seeing who or what had been "worshipped" there in prehistoric times and how succeeding cultures changes and adapted their "worship" depending on their cultural belief system.

3. The third early influence for me was hearing about the Green Stone saga from Andrew Collins. I learned a lot from him, about the interaction between the physical world and the psychic.

Dave: What are your personal beliefs?

Chesca: I don't really know how to answer this. I am not a fundamentalist, meaning I don't have a rigid belief system. Having explored many aspects of the mysteries, I believe part of my purpose is to rediscover and make public the very ancient "green" mythologies, updating their relevance, so new people can meditate and contact ancient spirits of the land in order to empower woodland and nature.

Dave: From where do you derive inspiration for your art?

Chesca: The inspiration for my artwork comes from sacred places and my psychic or imaginative contact with the spirits of the land.

Dave: Did you have any formal training?

Chesca: I trained at Edinburgh in art history and print making.

Dave: Who are your favourite artists?

Chesca: My favourite artists are the so-called British Mystical landscape tradition, William Blake, Samuel Palmer, Turner. I also like 18th century prints of ancient sites and hand coloured natural history prints.

Dave: What are your artistic aspirations?

Chesca: I can only think of a couple of years at a time. At the moment I am working on the Green Wood Tarot with Mark Ryan. Redesigning and restructuring the tarot system to be based on the wheel of the year. My dream is to be a "site guardian" of a small woodland and spring, and to be caretaker on all levels, of the natural history and ecology, and to make sure the spirits of the place are strong and happy.

Dave: What are your views on the future of the British Pagan movement?

Chesca: I really don't know where the British pagan movement will go in the future. I would like to see less emphasis placed on individual experience, personal development and satisfaction. The land is in crisis and I feel that Pagans should take far more magical responsibility for the effects of their rites on the land. I think that some pagans are destroying ancient sites because they presume that any pagan rituals are good for them., but actually if the beings they call on do not belong to the place, or know the place, it can unbalance the energies. I think people are draining sacred places of their power by not feeding that power back to them!

Artwork by Chesca Potter, as submitted for the original interview. Questions by Dave Hunt.

Sea Henge: 8 years on...

To coincide with the news that what is left of the Sea Henge monument is to be displayed in the Museum of Kings Lynn by Easter 2008, I have taken another look at this controversial and interesting topic with the help of East Anglian corespondent Jane Cook.

In the spring of 2050 BC, a huge oak tree was felled and its stump upturned and half-buried on a site near to what is now Holme-next-the-Sea in Norfolk. The following year, a number of smaller oaks were felled and cut into 56 posts, which were arranged in a circle around the central stump. The Bronze-Age monument, said by some modern archaeologists to be among the most exciting ever discovered, may have formed some kind of religious site, associated with special astronomical significance.

Both the circle and the people who built it were long forgotten before the land on which it stood became submerged by the sea. Its existence had vanished even from folk memory until, almost 4,000 years after its construction, the shifting sands off the East Anglian coast moved again to reveal its presence. The ancient site quickly became known as Sea Henge, and was soon to become very controversial, as English Heritage decided that they were going to remove it and conserve it miles away from its location. Druids and Pagans quickly organised sit-in protests against English Heritage's decision, and a bitter war of words raged right up to the point of removal.

Agreement was eventually reached over the future of the 'henge' and, in the summer of 1999, it was finally recorded and removed to the Flag Fen Bronze Age Centre, near Peterborough. There, as well as being preserved, the ancient timbers were subjected to detailed tree-ring dating. It was from these that a precise date was arrived at for the felling of the trees that make up the Sea Henge circle. The tree rings gave three possible dates, which were narrowed down to just one – 2050 BC – after comparisons with a series of carbon dating tests. The time of year – between April and June – was obtained by an examination of the final growth ring of the main stump, which showed that the tree had been felled in the spring. For further information on the area and Sea Henge visit: http://www.northcoastal.freeserve.co.uk/henge.htm

SEA HENGE RETURNS

The newly refurbished Kings Lynn museum will be the permanent home of the iconic sea henge monument. All the timbers have undergone specialist conservation at the Mary Rose Trust in Portsmouth. Work has included immersing the timbers in a liquid wax solution, which replaced the water and supported the cell structure. The timbers were then freeze-dried to remove any remaining water. The display is set to be completed and open to the public at Easter 2008.

STRANGE DAYS SURROUNDING THE SEA HENGE DEBACLE

A report by Jane Cook

During the Sea henge debacle I was living in Suffolk so I could follow events on the local news that probably never reached the rest of the country. Although I couldn't go to Holme, I managed to contact an elderly gentleman who had lived in the area all his 90 odd years. He said the stumps had been successively covered and uncovered by the sea and sand for as long as he could remember and they had not been significantly worn away. He was furious at what he saw as the interference of English Heritage, insisting the Henge was part of the area and should stay there.

I then contacted English Heritage and put to them that, once removed from their original site, the timbers became nothing but that: lumps of wood. I tried to explain the significance of the placing of such items; the fact that it was done as a form of "earth acupuncture" to modify energy lines in particular places, often in order to avoid undesirable effects. I was met with a response that was little short of abusive. The removal of the timbers went ahead, and they were taken to the Flag Fen Centre in order to undergo archaeological conservation.

Over the following months several news items appeared which I doubt many but myself connected with Sea henge. However, I have never believed in coincidences, and the location of a succession of freak accidents in that area seemed to me significant. One such was the disappearance to two highly experienced sailors - life boat men - who were delivering a boat they had built. They had left in calm weather to travel a few miles along the coast but they never arrived.

The ultimate bizarre event was when the Flag Fen Centre burned down, during January 2000, leaving undamaged only the building that housed the tanks containing the Sea henge timbers. Despite a thorough investigation, a cause for the fire could not be established.

Last week I saw on the news that the Sea henge timbers are finally going on display. What a pointless exercise! Even leaving aside the spate of accidents, surely the resources of English Heritage could have been far better spent.

What do you think? Please let us know.