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CONTENTS The Festive Ecology of Holly, Ivy and Mistletoe Sacred Sister icons and ions in Cornwall (poem) Brigit the Fire Goddess Poem to Brigid Retro-Futurist Reflections: looking back at divination Paradox (poem) Plus miscellany, letter, etc. Front cover representing Mid-Winter Birth by Jane Brideson of Dark Moon

Designs; her book The Wheel of the Year is due out next February). Write to her at 20 Bristol Road, Brighton BN2 11AP (tel. 01723 623321) for details of cards and posters in other designs.

John Box Simon Templet Hernán Turner M.K. Pearse Firebird Jan Henning Crow

MOONS and SUNS to Spring Equinox (London GMT)

December January February March

December 21st December 22nd February 1st February 2nd March 20th March 21st

New Moon

9th 04.16 7th 15.06 9th 01.15

Sun rises 08.04

il

07.39 07.37 06.03 06.01

Full Moon 24th 20.41 23rd 15.11 22nd 10.27 24th 04.45

Sun sets 15.54

n

16.50 16.52 18.13 18.15

Sun enters Capricorn 21st 14.06 Aquarius 20th 00.42 Pisces 18th 14.52 Aries 20th 13.55

(Solstice 14.06)

(Equinox 13.55)

There will be a partial eclipse of the moon on March 24th from 02.58 to 06.21.

© 1996 Daniel Cohen and Jan Henning. Individual writings and drawings © by their creators. Please write to Wood and Water for permission to reprint.

Wood and Water, volume 2, number 57. Yulel996 A Goddess-centred feminist-influenced pagan magazine

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Editorial, Winter Solstice 1996

In recent months the image from Celtic mythology of the Tree of Leaf and Flame has come to my mind a lot. I have usually seen the leaves as representing the material aspects of the tree and the flames as representing the spiritual aspect. But last week I found this image when looking at a tree which still blazed with autumn colours. This time I saw a different symbolism, the tree having on one half the green leaves of spring and on the other half the fiery red and yellow leaves of autumn. A reminder of the cycles of life and the year.

We a lot currently of S.A.D., Seasonal Affective Disorder. This is a form of depression which many people have in the winter, which can be improved by exposure to light (sometimes artificial light of specific frequencies). But I am inclined to think it is really Societal Affective Disorder. Our bodies are telling us to take things easy, but our work — and, too often, our choices of amusement and social life — prevent us from having the quiet time we need in this season. It is not healthy to ignore our natural rhythms. Bears have the right idea about winter — they hibernate.

But we also need festivals even in the quiet season. It is good to welcome the return of the sun and the promise of lengthening days by presents and lights, features of winter ceremonies in different places and times.

Merry Yule. Daniel

WOOD AND WATER SUBSCRIPTION RATES If there is an X in the box below your subscription has run out with this issue. We hope you will renew.

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RATES. Single copies £1.25, $3 USA (postage included). Annual sub (4 issues), £5 UK. Overseas surface mail £6, air mail £9. Overseas by sterling payment or by foreign notes, rounded up as necessary. We CANNOT accept cheques or money orders not in British currency. FREE to prisoners. Please make UK cheques payable to Wood and Water.

ADDRESS, c/o Daniel Cohen, 77 Parliament Hill, London NW3 2TH, or c/o Jan Henning, 18 Aylesham Rd., Orpington, Kent BR6 OTX. E-mail:dcohen@cix.compulink.co.uk.

1

THE FESTIVE ECOLOGY OF HOLLY, IVY AND MISTLETOE

Down with the rosemary, and so Down with the bays and mistletoe: Down with the holly, ivy, all Wherewith ye dressed the Christmas hall.

Originally published in the 17th century, this verse by Robert Herrick lists the plants traditionally associated with Christmas, but it also raises some questions. Holly, Ivy, and Mistletoe are plants which are widely used at Christmas because of their decorative berries and green leaves in the depths of winter. But why is Yew, which also has berries and green leaves in winter, not also mentioned in Herrick's poem? What about the Rosemary and Bay? And why is the poem demanding that the Christmas decorations be taken down?

The plants traditionally associated with Christmas have had special roles in earlier religions and past societies. Given our modern urban civilisation with its love of rational answers and its technological bias, it is perhaps surprising to find that some of these links persist, albeit unknown to us, to this day.

Most early religions have had mid-winter festivals to celebrate the return of the sun from the shortest day. In the fourth and fifth centuries, 25th December was gradually adopted as the date for Christmas in Europe in order to superimpose it on the existing mid-winter festivals. The winter solstice, on what is now 17th December, was the start of the Roman festival of Saturnalia. This was a week of public feasting, dancing, singing and gambling. Houses were decorated with evergreens and bunches of Holly were given as tokens of friendship. When this festival was absorbed into the Christian calendar Holly and the other evergreens were absorbed as well.

Holly

Despite the association of Holly with Christmas, there is no etymological connection between 'holy' and Holly. The word 'holly' is derived from its Old English name 'holen' or 'holegn'. 'Hollín' is another old name for Holly, as is 'holm', which gives rise to names like 'holmwood' and 'holmyard' which are so useful as historical evidence of its distribution.

Holly trees are either male or female, unlike most plant species, where individual plants have flowers with both male and female parts. The creamy-white flowers appear in May and female trees are covered with red berries by the autumn. These berries tend to last, unless there is very cold autumn weather, until they are devoured by flocks of Redwings and Fieldfares.

The Holly is one of the two main host plants for the Holly Blue butterfly. The Holly Blue has a widespread distribution in Europe, but is not found in Scotland or north-west Scandinavia. It is found widely over southern England and Wales, but only locally in northern England. It is the only British butterfly whose main host plant changes between its first generation, which lays its eggs on Holly, and its second, which uses Ivy. It is the earliest of the 'blues' to emerge, and in a warm spring these butterflies can be seen flying around Holly trees in April. The eggs are laid singly on the flower-heads of Holly. The caterpillars eat the flower buds and young green berries.

The second generation is usually larger in numbers than the first and reaches a peak in August. These butterflies lay their eggs on Ivy flowers. The pupae from these caterpillars over-winter to produces the first-generation butterflies of the following spring, which in turn lay their eggs on Holly. A number of alternative shrubs have been reported as being used, including Gorse, Dogwood, Spindle, Alder Blackthorn, Bramble, and Snowberry. Whole colonies have been reported in the West Country using Gorse as the sole food plant for both generations.

Holly is palatable to livestock despite its spines. Indeed, it is the only evergreen tree or shrub found in deciduous forests in Europe north of the Alps, the leaves of which do not contain chemical compounds which are toxic to livestock or to humans. In medieval times, Holly was extensively used as a winter fodder for livestock in England and Wales, particularly in Cumbria, the Pennines, and the Welsh borders. There are also references to the practice in north-west France. Hay and grains for wintering stock would often have run short

2

in upland areas. This would mean that the livestock would eventually have to be slaughtered, causing real problems to medieval economies in the following years. Thus a supply of fresh browse would have been extremely valuable.

Written records of payments and agreements involving the use of Holly for livestock cover a wide period from the late twelfth century to the mid-eighteenth century, by which time the practice had been largely abandoned. One reference to the practice occurs in The Dream of Rhonabwy, a Welsh story from The Mabinogion. Written before the fourteenth century, this story refers to Powys in the mid-twelfth century. The floor of the old black house of Heilyn Goch is described as being covered in the urine and dung of cows together with branches of Holly, the tips of which had been eaten by the cattle.

One of the most unusual Holly woods in Britain is The Hollies, at the northern end of the Stiperstones in Shropshire. The main population of pollarded Hollies is at least two hundred years old. George Peterken, who is well known for his work on woods and woodland history, has indicated that some of the trees at The Hollies may be older than the oldest Hollies so far recorded in Britain, in the New Forest. On the basis of comparative girth, he has suggested that some of the trees at The Hollies may well be over three hundred years old. Many of these Holly trees are unusual in that Rowans have become established in the crowns of the pollarded trees. The Rowans are rooted into the decaying heartwood, and the roots appear to extend right down to the soil.

Ivy

Ivy was used in garlands by the ancient Greeks and Romans for religious ceremonies and for celebrating at other more secular occasions. It was strongly associated with Bacchus (Dionysus) whose worship included licentious orgies. Since Roman times, Ivy has been associated with wine and wine-making. Branches of ivy tied to a pole were often used as 'the sign of the bush', indicating a place where wine or alcohol was for sale. Hence the proverb 'Good wine needs no bush', meaning that it is not necessary to advertise well-made goods. The proverb is derived from the Roman phrase 'Vinum vendible hederá non est opus', where the link with Ivy (hederá) is very clear.

It is interesting that Ivy is less commonly seen these days in houses at Christmas than are Holly and Mistletoe. It may well be that established religions opposed its use in Christmas wreaths because of its association with drunkenness. An old carol reflects the tradition that Ivy is always used outside the festive hall:

Nay, Ivy, Nay, it shal not be y-wis; Let Holly have the maistry, as the maner is. Holly stant in the hall faire to behold; Ivy stant without the dore; she is ful sore a-cold.

Ivy is the only British member of the Araliaceae, a group of mainly tropical shrubs or woody climbers. It flowers extremely late in the year, between August and October, followed by black berries in the early months of the following year.

There is much controversy as to whether Ivy can strangle its supporting trees, on which it can climb to heights of up to thirty metres. The arguments revolve around the presumed effects of the large main stems of a well-established Ivy wrapped tightly around the trunk of a tree which is dead or appears to be dying. The view that trees can be killed by Ivy can be traced back at least as far as Pliny the elder, who lived in the first century CE (Book XVI, para. xcii). Ivy growth is stimulated by light, and a tree canopy which has a dead branch will allow more light to reach the woodland floor, where Ivy normally grows. There is no conclusive evidence that Ivy impairs the growth of a tree, nor that it can kill a tree by means of strangulation.

Charles Floyd, who lived in Holt in Wiltshire, wrote a letter in May 1957 to the Scottish Journal of Forestry. In it, he describes how, in 1890, Ivy was left growing on the trees in half of an oak wood in Hampshire belonging to Winchester College. The trees in the other half of the wood had the Ivy cut regularly at intervals of around ten years. When the whole wood was felled in 1942, no difference was found in the average girth, height, or volume of the trees from the two areas.

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Mistletoe

The origin of the word Mistletoe is not clear. One derivation comes from the Anglo-Saxon 'misteltan', 'mistel' coming from the Old German word 'mist' meaning dung and 'tan' meaning a twig. 'Dung twig' describes the growth of these plants from the droppings of birds feeding on Mistletoe berries. Almost two thousand years ago, Pliny reported that Mistletoe sprouts only when passed in the excrement of birds, especially pigeons and thrushes (Book XVI, para, xciii). There are obvious links with the Mistle Thrush, whose scientific name is Turdus viscivorus, which translates as 'Mistletoe-eating thrush'.

People associate Mistletoe with apple and oak, but in Britain it is rare on oak. For example, the Shropshire Flora states that 60% of the host trees were apple, 22% hawthorn, 5% lime, 3 % poplar, and only 2% oak. A survey of Mistletoe in Warwickshire found that it was associated with apple (in allotments, cemeteries, and public and private gardens), as well as with a variety of deciduous trees; there were no records for oak. The rarity of the association with oak is not a modern phenomenon. John Ray, the seventeenth century naturalist, describes Mistletoe as being rarely found on oak in his History of Plants. Pliny describes Mistletoe as being seldom found on oak in Gaul (Book XVI, para. xcv).

The traditional association between Mistletoe and oak was described at some length by Pliny, who wrote about the ceremonies in Gaul which involved Mistletoe. The Celtic Druids held the oak in particular veneration, using oak leaves in their ceremonies, and regarding anything growing on oak as having been sent from heaven. On the rare occasions when Mistletoe was found growing on an oak it would be gathered with great ceremony. A priest in white clothing would cut the Mistletoe with a golden sickle and allow it to fall onto a white cloak. Two white bulls would then be sacrificed. According to Pliny, it was believed that Mistletoe in a drink would make any barren animal fertile and that it was a remedy for all poisons. Frazer, in The Golden Bough, discusses the special powers attributed to Mistletoe by a wide range of cultures, both within Europe and further afield.

According to Graves, in The Greek Myths, the use of Mistletoe as an all-heal and as a cure for barrenness has a very ancient history. Mistletoe was the all-heal of the goddess Athene, who was patron of a pre-Hellenic medical cult. The Greco-Roman god of medicine Asclepius was associated with Mistletoe and it has been suggested that the priests of Asclepius may have specialised in barrenness. In ancient times in Greece, Mistletoe was considered to be the genitals of the oak and was lopped off with a sickle in ritual emasculation. The viscous liquid from its berries was taken to be oak-sperm, which had particular regenerative power.

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It is interesting to speculate that the practice of cutting Mistletoe in a special way, together with its specific role in fertility, may well have been transferred from the early Greeks to the Celts in the course of trade during the first millennium BCE. The oldest archaeological evidence of the Celts comes from Hallstatt in Austria. The graves of Celtic chieftains, dating from around 700 BCE, have been found to contain bronze and pottery vessels, which were luxury items imported from Greece.

The link between Mistletoe and fertility persists to this day in the tradition of kissing underneath bunches of Mistletoe. In the early nineteenth century it was traditional for each man who kissed under the Mistletoe to remove one berry. Once all the berries were gone so was the potency. There is, however, a gloomier side to Mistletoe. Legend says that the cross of Christ was made of Mistletoe wood. As a punishment the shrub was banned from rooting in the earth and has to grow on other plants. There are parallels here with a legend from Scandinavian mythology.

The fairest of the gods, Balder, dreamed that his life was threatened in some way which was not clear even to the gods. Solemn promises were given by fire and water, stones and earth, metals, diseases and poisons, trees and plants, beasts, birds, and serpents that they would never harm Balder. As a result, it became something of a sport for the gods to shoot arrows at Balder or to try to wound him with swords and spears. The arch mischief-maker of the gods, Loki, found out that Mistletoe had not been asked to make the special promise because it was considered too weak to swear oaths, as it could not grow on its own but had to have an oak for support. (This is according to one tradition, but we have never understood why Mistletoe was the exception. The alternative version, that Mistletoe was omitted because it was not of the earth, nor of the air, nor of the water, etc., feels to us the more likely reason. Eds.) So he tipped a spear with a sharp point of Mistletoe wood and gave it to the blind god Haider at a time when the gods were amusing themselves throwing weapons at Balder. Whispered instructions by Loki enabled Haider to throw the spear straight at Balder, who was killed.

Other plants

Pine, spruce, and fir trees have a much more recent association with Christmas. Martin Luther is said to have tried to reproduce the sight of a starry Christmas night seen through the branches of a fir by lighting candles on a tree indoors. Fir trees are recorded as being set up in parlours in Strasbourg in 1605 and decorated with roses cut out of multi-coloured paper, gold foil, and sweets. By 1789 Christmas trees were known in England as an imported custom. They were subsequently popularised by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, who had one set up in Windsor Castle in the 1840s.

And what of Rosemary and Bay? Rosemary is a Mediterranean shrub which was taken to many parts of Europe by the Romans. They regarded it a sacred herb which brought happiness. The well-known quotation from Hamlet that "There's rosemary, that's for remembrance" documents its traditional association with the memory. Indeed, the herbalist Nicholas Culpepper wrote that it improved a weak memory and strengthened the senses.

Bay is a slow-growing shrub with glossy green leaves which are present all year round. The leaves are used in cooking once they have been dried to remove a bitter flavour. Bay leaves were used by the Romans in the garlands worn by victors. Bay trees were reputed to keep sickness and the devil away. Hence Shakespeare, in King Richard II, could describe the withering of Bays as an evil omen.

The Scandinavians used to celebrate the passing of the shortest day with a ceremony in which a boar's head was brought to the table. It was wreathed with Rosemary and Bay, and had an orange in its mouth. Oranges were associated with the sun, and their use at the winter solstice signified that the power of the sun was returning. This link is symbolically maintained by the traditional oranges in Christmas stockings.

Yew trees continually put out new stems which coalesce with the existing bole, resulting in trees of great age. The merging of old and decaying wood with vibrant young shoots has led to the Yew being traditionally associated with reincarnation and immortality. This reverence for the Yew can be traced back to pagan times before becoming incorporated into Christianity. In a major study of the churchyard Yew, Cornish found that churchyards often have at least two Yews: one beside the path from the main entrance of the church to the funeral gateway, the other beside the path to a lesser entrance to the church. Perhaps this association

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with churchyards has clouded the traditional association with reincarnation and immortality. These days, Yew does not tend to be used at the festival of the return of the sun from the shortest day and the rebirth of the new year from the old.

Finally the imperative "Down ... Down... Down..." in Herrick's poem, referring to the Christmas greenery, can be explained by the traditional need to remove Holly before Candlemas eve to prevent goblins appearing, Herrick's poem continuing:

That so the superstitious find No one least branch there left behind; For look, how many leaves there be Neglected there, maids, trust to me, So many goblins you shall see.

(I am very grateful to George Peterken for information on Holly, and to Ron Hutton for commenting on an early draft of this article.)

John Box (This article first appeared in'British Wildlife, 7 (1995), 69-74. We are grateful for permission to

reprint. Eds.)

The first time I came to Malta I went into a church in Rabat during the Festa for San Guzzep, St. Joseph the Worker. It was all gussied up in red brocade, a la baroque whorehouse, all lit up, joyous and festive, (Their saints' celebrations are soo pagan in a very Mediterranean way). There were a few of us there from America, taking Cloe Mifsud's Goddess Tour to Malta. I was having fun trying to identify the different saints and popes painted on the ceiling, asking my Maltese friends to verify. The other Americans were amazed because they knew my Goddess slide shows, but had no idea I'd been to Catholic school and also knew a few saints.

Exiting the church from a different door than we had entered, right on the pavement in front of me was this 'decorative' column. "It's the Green Man" I shouted. And so it was.

Willow LaMonte

6

SACRED SISTER

Since the beginning of existence animals have been sacred to the Goddess. From Creepy-crawlies (insects) to Four-leggeds (animals) to Winged Ones (birds) to those that live in the water, the Goddess has been seen in them all. As many of us know, the Goddess is in and of all things. She is part of us all and we are all part of Her.

Many people see themselves as separate from the rest of creations. But we pagans understand that we were all born from the sacred womb of the Goddess. The essence of the Goddess is within us all. We are all One as in Uni-verse.

With this understanding I would like to share my views about a sister who is very sacred to me. This is Sister Spider, who I have truly connected with.

Let's start with a little history about our divine sister. Spider has been held sacred for thousands of years. In Native American traditions Spider Woman was said to have taught the people how to record their history. They derived their alphabets by watching Spider Woman weave the intricate patterns of her web. In Cherokee tradition, which encompasses a hundred thousand year oral history, Water Spider was said to have brought the earth up from the waters. In Hindu tradition Spider was seen as the Goddess Maya, the weaver of illusion. In Norse traditions Spider's weaving has been associated with the Norns, the Weavers of the Thread of Life. Then, of course, we have Arachne from the Greek tradition. She was a princess who learned to weave from the Goddess Athena. Then Athena became jealous because Arachne had mastered her weaving, and turned her into a spider (from this myth we get the scientific name for spiders, arachnids).

Now let's look at Spider herself. A lot can be learned simply by observing her. The body of Spider is symbolic of the double spiral, the 8 on its side, the sign for infinity. Then, of course, there are Spider's eight legs which have a symbolic meaning to us Witches and Pagans alike, as they can be regarded as symbols of our eight ritual festivals. Some spiders even shed their legs and grow new ones, which can be regarded as a symbol of the turning of the wheel of the year, the never ending dance between our most precious Goddess and God.

Next we come to Spider's web in its many aspects. Let's start with the spinning of the web itself, for much can be learned this way.

Spider weaves her web, her world. This reminds us to create our own lives and choose our surroundings wisely. Spider spins her web from inside herself, creating intricate, meaningful patterns, just as we create our own realities from our thoughts. Our words generate patterns that weave the world as we understand it and as others understand us. It is wise to weave a positive, for that pattern is your life, your reality.

Spider sits on her web patiently, for she knows that she has woven her life into a positive, opportune setting. She is aware of everything in her web, her life. The second an opportunity presents itself Spider is aware of it. She not only sees it, but she feels it first. She welcomes this opportunity, which is usually a bug, by spinning it into her web and consuming it, making it part of her. This reminds us to be patient, knowing that we have chosen our positive positions in life. We should stay alert because opportunities present themselves all the time. And, when they do, we should be ready to weave them into our lives. We should make them part of us so that we can grow in a positive way.

If Spider has a tear in her web she gets right to work. She works on this tear until she fixes it. She knows that if she does not fix the problem then she may miss an opportunity. For Spider, missing an opportunity could mean starving. When she has fixed the problem she waits patiently once again. This reminds us to work on and through our problems when they arise. In that way we can go through our lives happy and aware.

Spider walks along her seemingly invisible web with much grace and confidence. Similarly, we can gracefully walk the Astral Planes while remaining grounded firmly in the Earth Mother.

I pray that our sister Spider will touch you all as deeply as she has touched me. She is truly a most beautiful aspect of the Goddess. For Her I am thankful.

Blessed Be! Simon Templet

7

icons and ions in Cornwall

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it is water in the sacred spring it is ghost villages of courtyard and thatch it is stone crosses inscribing energy centres of the body it is beneath the surface fogous aligned to the winter solstice sunrise it is remnants of a Celtic spirituality

espousing equality espousing service espousing non accumulation

it is standing stones, passage cairns, stone circles marking energy centres of the earth marking movements of the heavens

it is circular moated castles of our lady of the lake of a quest for a holy grail of a round table of consensus decision making

it is shifting breezes and the constantly renewing air

it is fire of sunburned city skin

it is the waffling and permeability of time

rastafarian haired elven bag lady smoking roll ups in Wellingtons

pirate black joan plying her trade

dorothy richardson creating a woman's sentence

girl Virginia returning every summer to play in the waves

wise woman an katty minding the well at madron

priestess ithell colquhoun writing alone in a small wood and iron hut

it is legends of sacred female presence mountain mother sow goddess harvest goddess goddess of inspiration

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goddess of poetry cauldron of knowledge nine muses nine maidens

it is looking at islands and knowing they were loosed from the apron of a giantess

it is blue tattoos picked on the arms of lads it is muscles on the arms of women rowing out to sea

in high street shops of penzance a dress with the feel and look of seal skin a book by a woman who wandered

with aboriginals

beneath davy a local coven gathers the ones who stand behind the stones of the circles on dark nights with lit candles

today protesting the poisoning of the earth by car

our lady of the hawthorn waits at the well madron a goddess of old

her roadside marker a centred lozenge on an equi-crossed circle of stone

her water will cure knotted shoulders tense anus

on the branches of the tree nearest the well hang scraps, ribbons, threads

wishes granted upon disintegration of fabric

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4 an ancient trackway undulates across penwith countryside

fields of golden grain brimming stone walls on either side

overgrown with the weeds of a millennium

the atlantic occasionally in view

swallows and butterflies flitting darting diving playfully purposefully

magpies stand by to clean up what is no longer useful

a language died here and left sounds studded into speech like ancient stones

queen, query, quoit quim, quern, quest quarry, queer

ceridwyn

hanging into the sea an old tit at which many have pulled

Hernán Turner (July 1995)

(Hernán sent us several pieces of poetry and prose, which we admired, but were not able to publish. We were saddened to hear of her death very close to Samhain, and are pleased to print this long poem as a tribute to her. Readers who want to see more of her writings can find some in back issues of 'From the Flames'. Eds.)

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BRIGIT THE FIRE GODDESS

Brigit was the Celtic goddess of fire and of healing, smiths, fertility, and poetry. She was also known as Brighid, Bride, or Bridget. She was said to be the daughter of the god Dagda. Dagda was an Irish Celtic god, whose name means 'the good god'. He was part of the race of gods known as the Tuatha de Danaan. He was known as the 'Ollathir', which can be translated as 'All-Father'. He was said to have an enormous club, of which one end killed and the other brought people back to life, a magic harp on which various tunes can be played for laughter, sleep, and woe, and an enormous inexhaustible cauldron from which no-one turned away hungry. Although highly regarded in the world of Celtic gods, he often appears to be portrayed as a glutton with a very short tunic, so short as to be indecent.

But I digress. Back to Brigit, goddess of smiths, poets, and doctors. She was associated with ritual fires of purification, like other gods and goddesses of smiths in many ancient cultures. Her feast day is February 1st, the festival of Imbolc. There does not seem to be much information about the ancient ceremony of Imbolc, but it appears to be a pastoral festival connected with the coming into milk of ewes.

Imbolc is one of the least understood of the four major festivals in the Celtic year (Samhain, Imbolc, Beltine/Beltane or Cetsamhain, Lugnasad). The Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology gives it barely a paragraph mentioning the lactation of ewes; unusual, apparently, considering the low significance of sheep in Celtic mythology. Lori Reid, in her book Hidden Knowledge goes further to claim "In Gaelic, the word means 'in the belly' and alludes to the quickening of life in the womb of Mother Earth." She continues by associating this time of re-awakening with a fire festival.

In the Highlands and Western Isles of Scotland, Imbolc became known as the Feast Day of Bride — Am Fheille Bride. Details of the customs and traditions that were followed at this time have been recorded (in Carmichael's book 'Carmina Gadelica', among others. Eds.). To the people, Bride was also goddess of the hearth (fire, again!). On her feast day, the house would have been thoroughly cleaned (our habit of spring cleaning). At dusk (festivals always began with the coming of night) the house would be swept out, symbolic of sweeping away winter. The women (it is mainly a women's festival — the men were known to go to the shore to welcome the goddess in their own way — to ask help with the fishing) then go to the door and ask Bride to come into their house, welcoming her. A bed is prepared for her by the fire where usually a corn dolly or similar object is placed.

Eventually, the men were allowed in and gave gifts to Bride, usually in the form of sea-shells, etc. It was the time of inspiration and poetry.

Later, when Ireland was converted to Christianity she was adopted into the Christian faith, becoming St. Brigit of Kildare. But the pagan connection was there, because the saint was said to have kept a sacred fire perpetually burning that was attended by nineteen virgins.

Her British equivalent is said to be Brigantia. The name 'Brigantia' is derived from the Celtic root 'brig', meaning hill or height, and she was known as 'the High One'. She gave her name to a powerful confederation of tribes, the Brigantes. In Celtic Britain, the Brigantes occupied approximately the area of the twelve northern counties of modern England.

The Celtic people also saw the link between the fires of the heart, inspiration, and desire, and the fires of the hearth and the forge. Some words used to describe Brighid go as follows:

Hearth of flame flame of the heart heart of the world.

Fire used to have a very mystical significance. The term 'Master of Fire' has been used down the centuries in many cultures. It also appeared in an old Scottish book written by the Victorian writer Fiona MacLeod. MacLeod concentrated very much on the spirituality of the Gael. In Poems and Dramas there is the following poem, The Mystic's Prayer, very Victorian in style, but I think it still conveys the magical qualities that are perceived to exist in fire.

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Lay me to sleep in sheltering flame O Master of the Hidden Fire! Wash pure my heart and cleanse for me My soul's desire.

In flame of sunrise bathe my mind, O Master of the Hidden Fire, That, when I wake, clear-eyed may be My soul's desire.

It is strange, the different interpretations of fire. I find that poem really does convey the mystical concept that fire must have had. It seems such a far cry from the Christian idea of hell fire and damnation.

Fire has been associated with Hell in Christian eyes since the medieval years and earlier. A common image of the devil is flames. There is a biblical reference in Revelations 1:14-15, "His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were as a flame of fire; And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace, and his voice as the sound of many waters."

It is difficult to know when this idea started. In the old Celtic religions fire represented cleansing. It is interesting to look at the medieval practice of the burning of witches in this context. For the Christian persecutors of these women, the fire and flames would have had a cleansing and purifying effect on these unfortunate individuals.

Again, there is the myth of the phoenix. This mythical bird was said to make a nest of spices, the flap its wings to set fire to the pile. It then burns itself to ashes and comes forth from the ashes with new life. I have always like the idea of 'rising like a phoenix from the ashes', and found it very appropriate on many occasions. Paracelsus wrote about it, and several chemists employed it to symbolise their vocation. Thomas Moore's poem Paradise and the Peri contains the lines:

The enchanted pile of that lonely bird Who sings at the last his own death-lay, And in music and perfume dies away.

The phoenix illustrates another image of fire, that of rebirth. Fire certainly seems to have had a lot of different connotations.

It is interesting to compare the Celtic principals of fire with those of the Greeks. Perhaps the best-known Greek legend concerning fire is that of Prometheus. Prometheus made men of clay, and stole fire from heaven to animate them. For this he was chained by Zeus to Mount Caucasus, where an eagle preyed on his liver daily. Isn't that bloodthirsty! His name itself means Forethought, and one of his brothers was Epimetheus, or Afterthought.

The word promethean can be used as a way of saying that something is capable of producing fire. In fact, the first invention that developed in safety matches was called a 'promethean'. These were originally made in 1805 by Chancel, a French chemist, who tipped cedar splints with a paste of chlorate of potash and sugar. On dipping one of these matches into a little bottle containing asbestos wetted with sulphuric acid it burst into flames on drawing it out. It was not introduced into England until after the battle of Waterloo.

(I would like to thank Helen McSkimming of the Dalriada Celtic Society for finding the poem about fire.)

M.K. Pearse (Readers interested in learning more about Brigit may like to look at a recent book, 'The Festival of

Brigit' by Seamas o Cathain, DBA Publications, Dublin, 1995. Easy to order from Irish bookshops but maybe not from UK ones. Eds.)

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An Inter-Governmental Working Group was held in Geneva in late October to discuss the United Nations Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Despite the very limited nature of the Declaration, many governments wanted to water it down further. The representatives of the indigenous peoples found that the issues which concerned them were not being treated seriously — in particular, the proposed agenda did not reflect the input of indigenous peoples and did not provide adequately for their participation., They therefore staged a walk-out; some of the groups then returned, reckoning that it was better to have a limited input than none at all. More details of this can be found on the internet, at the site http@//www.hookele.com/netwarriors/

The Guardian of December 7th (Weekend section) carries a long article on Native Americans. In addition to the cuts in welfare in the recent budget, which will cause major problems for many people, the reduction in the budget of the Bureau of Indian Affairs will further harm many Native Americans.

The Rainbow Serpent may be familiar to many of us as one of the major religious beings of the First Peoples of Australia. Recent research (see Tine Higher Educational Supplement of November 1st, and other papers of around that date) shows the development of this symbol over the past 6000 years. This length of time makes it the oldest religious symbol in continuous use.

At the Edge is one of the magazines we exchange with (see exchange ads for details). The December 1996 issue may be of particular interest to our readers, with its main focus on sacred trees and the Green Man.

Dragon environmental and eco-magickal group has a new address for the London group and for national membership. It is 39 Amersham Rd., New Cross, London SE14 6QQ; they have a 24-hour answerphone on 0181 244 6001.

The Pagan Hospice and Funeral Trust has changed its name to The Voyager Trust. This is partly in response to the Charity Commissioners threat to remove charity registration. The Trust decided that a name change helped to make it clearer that it is not a pagan advocacy organisation, but is dedicated to helping anyone of any belief, though especially those drawn to a nature based spirituality. The Trust is still a registered charity. Although the Charity Commissioners are still reviewing registration, the Trust is more hopeful than it previously was that charity status may be upheld. See our exchange listings for the Trust's address and more information.

Meanwhile the Pagan Federation has had its request for charity status refused, on the grounds that paganism is not a sufficiently well-defined term. They are appealing against this decision, and have obtained much support from academics studying aspects of paganism. However, Prudence Jones (speaking personally, not on behalf of the PF) warns of the dangers of trying to fit paganism into the framework of charity law and interfaith work. Charity law was originally intended to cover only Christianity, and was later extended to cover the other monotheistic religions, which are religions based on a sacred book,; this also is also the tendency of much interfaith meetings. Paganism, by contrast, is a religious attitude to the universe rather than a set of dogmatic beliefs, and may become distorted if we try to squash it into a model created by others.

The Pagan Federation will be having another Masked Ball on Friday February 14th, 7-11.30pm. at Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, London WC1. Tickets £5 in advance (PF Masked Ball, BM Box 7097, London WC1N 3XX) or £6 on the door. There will NOT be a bar on site.

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Gordon 'the Toad' MacLellan will be holding a day of dance, celebration of animals, and reaching out and dancing with animal spirits on Saturday 22nd February in Manchester. Cost £15. Also on the evening of Wednesday 12th February in Manchester there will be a talk, discussion, and signing of his new book Sacred Animals. He is working on a new book celebrating the Crow presence in our mythology. He is interested in receiving short material on individual experiences of the crow family (including rooks, ravens, jackdaws, magpies, etc.), literal or mythical. Contact him at 3 Vernon St., Old Trafford, Manchester M16 9JP, Tel: 0161 226 8127 for details of any of these.

The Pagan Federation has now formed an archive of pagan material. They welcome donations of books, magazines, tapes and videos, news cuttings, ephemera, etc. (though, particularly, for magazines, it may be advisable to ask them if they already have copies). In due course this material will be available for consultation. Contact Pagan Federation Archive, BM Box 5896, London WC1N 3XX if you want to make a donation or need further information.

There will be a conference on Ambivalent Goddesses: an exploration of the current state of the study of Goddesses and Goddess Spirituality March 25th-27th. Presenters will include professors ... writers ... dancers, artists, and others. The conference is organised jointly by Dr. Graham Harvey, Religious Studies Department, King Alfred's College, Winchester S022 4NR and Dr. Beverley Clack, Religious Studies Department, Southlands College, Wimbledon Parkside, London SW19 5NN; write to one them for further information. The venue of the conference was not announced, but we think it is likely to be in Winchester.

We have received the Moon Calendar 1997 by Glennie Kindred, Simone Kay, and Frances Wright, cost £6.50 plus £1 postage (from Frances Wright, 42 Westonfields, Totnes, Devon TQ9 5QU). While we liked the images, we found the different styles of display for the different months very confusing. We much prefer the American 1997Lunar Calendar; dedicated to the Goddess in her many guises, both for the images and for the poetry which combines poems by our own Wren Sidhe and Asphodel and poems by Marge Piercy and Robert Graves. This calendar costs $20, but has no British distributor at present; we can obtain copies for anyone who wants.

Geoff and Fran Doel run courses, dayschools, and weekends on folklore and mythology (and various literary topics). Topics in the coming year include The Green Man (several times), The Holy Grail, January Folk Customs, and others. For a list write to them at Owl House, 3 Charlton Terrace, Tonbridge, Kent TN9 1PG, Tel: 01732 366857.

The Spirit of Albion: a celebration of the diversity of our native spirituality will be held in Oxford, March 8th-9th. Presenters include Caitlin Matthews, Emma Restall Orr, Nigel Pennick, Steve Wilson, and Rufus Harrington, covering various pagan paths. For more information (including nearby accommodation) contact Dave Smith on 01273 415637.

Hail Brigid author of my creation Spark my poems my inspiration Through your flames and sacred well You weave the night you weave the spell Your forge fires burn by night My spirit soars then takes flight.

Shatter the dreamer Shatter the dreams Flow my visions Through ancient streams.

Firebird

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RETRO-FUTURIST REFLECTIONS: Looking back at divination

Being, amongst other things, a review of The Greenwood Tarot. Mark Ryan and Chesca Potter. Thorsons. (Cards, Book and Wheel-of-Year

chart). £25. Tarot, in terms of Pack-as-Artform, has come on a LONG way since first I acquired a pack. It has also

shifted ground in terms of Purveyor-of-Philosophic-System. Fine. But I bought my Marseille Pack all those years ago as a divinatory system, and whilst no pack has ever been purely that, it has been claimed as one of the primary functions of the tarot through the ages (however many of those there were). The Stark Minimalism of the Marseille Pack (by which I mean that the Ten of Wands shows a mere diagram of ten sticks) was perfectly adequate for its purpose.

Of course, at that time I didn't know that Salvador Dali had already made a start on Tarot-as-Artform. (You can acquire a copy of his designs at a prohibitive price by order). For many years, I stuck to Marseille, with a touch of Waite for ultra-modernity. For theory, I relied (apart from the leaflet that accompanied every pack) on The Tarot (Alfred Douglas. Penguin. 1974); The Tarot Speaks (Richard Gardner. Tandem. 1971) and Tarot (Rebecca Micca Warner. Academy/St Martins Press Inc. 1974). All three were simple tell-your-fortune type books; although they all rang quick changes through Egypt, Travellers, Gnostics and Qabbala.

But then I hit Dianic or Feminist Spirituality: and the Motherpeace Tarot (Karen Vogel and Vicki Noble. US Games Systems Inc. 1981). Revelation! Whole-New-Meaning! And — seriously — those images were so FRESH, so inspiring, that I still use it as the basis for any public (i.e. for-other-people) divination that Ido .

Importantly, I'd read the book — the theory — before I saw or handled the pack. I knew exactly why each image had been chosen. I knew why the pack was round (it cuts out the patriarchal polarity-judgements on qualities and character-traits as Absolutely positive OR negative). I loved the (sorry!) positive female images; and the negative male ones, if I'm honest — GREAT to see the Devil as a pyramidal hierarchy and the Son of Swords — the Greek Hero-figure — as a Baddy! I was sold!

I also 'bought' something else. Something I'm beginning to have doubts about now. Here — for the first time in my experience — was a complete pack of all-pictorial cards. All 78 of them showed a depiction of something. Not ten sticks or round things. Ten people doing a neolithic morris-dance with Wands. Ten lovely maidens pouring water from pre-Hellenic goblets. And all in the most TASTEFUL colour-combos. Lovely, lovely. Forget Marseille. Crude! And poor old Waite. Masculist! Minimalist! Facile!

After that Tarot appeared to Take Off. There were Tarots for all tastes. SciFi/Fantasy (Tarot of the Cat People. Karen Kuykendall. US Games Systems Inc. 1985) where dark, sinister men and sharp-faced women ride giant billowy tigers or cushiony leopards. Arthuriana (The Arthurian Tarot. Caitlin and John Matthews, 111. Miranda Grey. Aquarian Press. 1990 — only one of many), in which a series of finely-executed images take us to a complete Other Realm which is nonetheless familiar since the Minor Arcana cards are noteworthy for the quintessentially British landscapes they portray. They call to us because we've all been there, or grown up there. We recognise them, from Tolkien's Cotswolds to Hadrian's Wall as familiar places, which suddenly become potential gateways to Magic. This follows quite faithfully the Matthews' landscape-centred and western-shamanic teachings.

Now, finally, I pass to the pack I set out to review — The Greenwood Tarot. Firstly, Chesca has created 78 pictorial images which comprise, to my mind, three distinct packs. One must acknowledge that her competence, clarity of vision and artistic inspiration are all beyond

question. She is, and after publication of this pack will (I hope) be generally recognised as, an artist of rare talent.

BUT

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Three different, distinct styles. Major Arcana is full of vital, magical beings based very loosely on the usual cast of super-trumps. Court Cards are straight, beautifully rendered portraits of various animal-totems. Finally, Minor Arcana comprises a series of prints of varying depth and stylisation. As the slender accompanying book explains, these widely divergent sets of images are supposed to derive their unity from their placings on the Wheel-of-the-Year, based loosely on the Celtic eight festivals (although the pack is described as 'Pre-Celtic'). It troubles me that I cannot perceive this unity.

The inspiration for the system behind the Greenwood Tarot is twofold: pre-Celtic shamanism and the HTV series Robin of Sherwood. Mark Ryan, who appears to be author of most, if not all, of the book, played Nasir the Saracen in this series and moved (spiritually) into the Greenwood under the aegis of its creator, Richard Carpenter. Ryan's prose reflects the zeal of the recent convert but does not, to my mind give a full enough description/explanation of the Minor Arcana images. If there's to be a different representation on each card, then a full explanation should be given. Most Minor Arcana cards come with a one- or two- word Quality attached ('Ecstasy', 'Boredom'). It feels as if the system is too facile for the gravity and beauty of each card.

Indeed, so heavy are the card-images with significance (both unexplained and overt) that I would myself hesitate to use them for divination at all. I would certainly not recommend a beginner to learn or practise with them. This is a connoisseurs pack. Art-lovers and Tarot-bulfs should buy it for the sheer pleasure of the images. Take a year to get to know each image. You might consider contacting Chesca and buying an enlarged print of one or more of them. Forget the theory — make this one a sensual experience!

Jan Henning (Chesca has also produced a "Celtic Shaman's Tarot", which contains only forty cards. Both these

packs, and some of the others mentioned, are easily available in shops. A4 prints of the Major Arcana of the Greenwood Tarot, and of some of the other cards, are available from Chesca Potter, PO Box 250, Oxford OX1 1AP, cost £10 plus postage. The original artwork is not for sale, but she is selling earlier versions of some of the artwork.)

I Vi

PARADOX

Underneath the stars, Underneath the sky,

Underneath the clouds. Between blood and bone

land and sea day and night

Between root and bud cat and dog

black and white Between Spring and Autumn

good and bad rock and rain

Between flame and frost stands the Woman.

Crow

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