Tag Archives: Imbolc

The Cauldron of Awen: A Creative Initiation

31 Friday Jan 2025

Posted by in Art Craft and Beauty, Druidry, Magic

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Happy Imbolc!

Tomorrow marks Imbolc, which is considered by many to be the festival of Brigid, Goddess and Saint of poetry, healing, and smith-craft (among other things).

(It’s also the start of the annual song-writing challenge, FAWM, which I’ve found so inspiring these past two years.)

Here in the Northern Hemisphere, in Wales, the land is starting to wake up after the long dark nights, and cold storms. There will likely still be hard frosts to come, but the snowdrops are emerging, and with it arises inspiration.

In Wales the Goddess of inspiration, the keeper of the Cauldron of Awen, is the Witch and Mother Ceridwen. Even in Christian bardic traditions it was often claimed that the divine inspiration, the Awen, flowed into the world through her cauldron, that’s how powerful her name is… they may not have called her a goddess then, but in modern paganism we certainly do.

She gathers the wisdom of the land and brews the potion to grant wisdom, creative insight, and magic.

And as the fire in the land begins to brighten, we remember the fire that flickered under the iron vessel, stirred by the child that would one day become a great bard…

This Imbolc I invite you to light a white candle, brew yourself a cup of tea – whether caffeinated or herbal is entirely up to you – and as you stir reflect on where you give yourself space to be inspired. How will you feed your creative springs in the days to come?

When I have felt stuck, or like my creative well has run dry, I turn to magic, the stories, and my gods.

On April Fool’s day we will step into a three month journey with Ceridwen and Taliesin, the Goddess of Initiation and Inspiration, and the Greatest Bard that ever lived, in The Cauldron of Awen.

Together we will explore Bardic Skills, the magic of the voice, the power of breath, and tools for devotion, discipline, and overcoming creative block and the fear of being seen that keeps us from sharing our stories. We will gather tales, explore their magic, and build our skills to share them as enchantments weaving wonder in the world. I offer a focus on words and the voice, but this is open to wonder-weaving in all mediums.

This is your invitation to begin your Bardic Initiation with Ceridwen and Taliesin.

Are you ready to leap into inspiration?

Enter the Cauldron of Awen
Halo smiling at the camera with three golden dots of clay on their forehead and tents in the background.

Magical Classes & Talks – with Halo

BABALON CIRCLE & BOOK CLUB

Live Babalon Circle – Visions of Babalon –Our monthly magical working to connect with Babalon – Monday 17th November, 8pm (UK) – online – replay included

October Book Club Topic: Babalon’s Lineage

Join the Babalon Circles & Book Club here.

Online Talk: Of Fair and Cunning Folk – Sunday 26th October, 8pm (UK) – for the “Magic & Musings” Tier on Patreon

Upcoming appearances include: Ancestral Pathways Conference (online, 31st Oct), Earth Sea & Sky Conference (Cardiff, 1st Nov), music at the Festival of the Living Rooms (online, Dec), Glastonbury Occult Conference (Glastonbury, 14th Feb)…

Enchantments – Live Classes Now on Patreon
Enter the Cauldron of Awen

Lammas Land Magic

01 Thursday Aug 2024

Posted by in Crimson Craft, Druidry, Magic, Witchcraft 101

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Happy Lammas, Lughnasadh, Calan Awst, and Imbolc for my Southern Hemisphere folk! Here it’s the start of the grain harvest, and Leo season is in full swing.

The rowan berries are out, turning the small dark trees brilliant red, and, as I write this, the sun has burned away the cooling clouds to bake the stone paths that wind through my town, and the tourists have arrived bringing the scent of sunscreen and the sound of holiday-makers.

Growing up in a large urban space I found it was easy to lean into the abstract idea of the festivals, the land being mediated by the buildings, the clockwork cycles of city life rather than the ebb and flow of sun and rain, but even there it made sense to reflect on the changing colours of the trees, the shifting light and dark of the sky, the warmth and cool that shaped the rhythm of life. I was lucky that the pagan festivals fit with the landscape I lived in, despite the concrete streets and fluorescent lighting I could watch the hawthorn blossom in the hedgerow at Beltane and the grain in the fields turn golden for Lammas.

Even so, it didn’t make sense to me to fix a festival of the magic of the land to a calendar date, as some years the hawthorn was earlier than May 1st, or later, so I began to listen to the magic visible in the rooted people of the land and the movement of the sky instead.

Soon I found myself connected across the growing internet to witches and pagans in other lands, and their struggles with the clash between the calendar dates and what their land was actually doing reinforced that intuition.

We can use the beautiful model of the wheel of the year to help us learn what patterns might be worth looking for, but the key in land based magic, in paganism, is rooting into the land that you are on.

I invite you to reflect on what your land is doing now. Is it harvest time where you are? Is the sun baking the land and drying the grain? Or is the light just breaking the frosts? Or are you heading into monsoon season? What is shifting in the land where you are? Does this have a name in the language of the land you belong to?

This is the same with the magic of the body. We can use maps – chakras, cauldrons, worlds – to explore what might be present for us, but the key that unlocks this magic is listening. Feeling into the body. Being present with what is.

I work a lot with the classical elements of the Western Magical tradition and these can be a really fun way of exploring intuitively. What feels earthy in your body? How are your watery emotions flowing? Where feels alive, pleasurable, good in these energies?

This week in The Enchanted Academy I shared an in-depth energy practice in a ritual working with the Elements of Eros, the magic of love and life as it flows through your body, and expands into pleasure, support, strength, and creativity. The replay is now up in the Crimson Collective community space at TEA, do go and give it a go, I’d love to hear about your experiences with the Elements of Eros!

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An Embodied Lammas Practice

If you’re practicing on your own you might want to mark the turning season with a ritual, here’s one for when it feels right for you. (​If you’re at the point of Imbolc, click here for a meditation for you!​)

If you’re feeling the beginning harvest energy then you can tune into that, you could reflect on the magic of Leo, where the Sun is in the zodiac at this time, or you can choose to tap into the web of magic of pagans across the globe celebrating the games of Lugh.

Find somewhere safe to light a fire – a campfire, hearthfire, bonfire, or candle flame. Or find a moment to let the sunlight fall on your skin.

Feel the warmth and breathe it into your heart. This is the home of Leo, which is the sign the Sun is strongest and happiest in.

Let that warmth spill out of your heart and flow through your body, warming and blessing every part of you.

Take a moment to feel gratitude for what is ready to harvest and gather in in your life. Perhaps that includes the food that you have access to, or any community that nourishes you.

When you have that sense of sunny gratitude breathe it out as a blessing on the world. Let the magic be shared.

Remember to put the fire out in an appropriate and respectful way, and if you’re in an area prone to wildfires right now, do stick to sunlight!

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The Enchanted Academy

A home for real magic, real community, open now!

Come and deepen your practice with experiential classes, discussion prompts, oracle and healing swaps, and courses available to embody your magic.

Find out more here or click to join now:

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Imbolc, Inspiration, and Bardic Magic

31 Wednesday Jan 2024

Posted by in Druidry, Following Delight, Magic, Music, My Books, Storytelling, Witchcraft 101

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I finally submitted the last of the edits for my next book…

Storytelling for Magic!

A practical book calling on the skills of the bard as a storyteller, performer, and magic-weaver to make better magic. It includes techniques for finding, learning, and telling stories, transforming them into rituals, and sharing their magic with confidence, in your own style.

Perfect timing as tomorrow is Imbolc. And the start of February Album Writing Month (FAWM), a challenge to write 14 songs in February. I signed up last year and discovered a hugely supportive community, filled with so much inspiration and encouragement, that I actually wrote 16 songs!

Several of these made it into my first solo-singing show in December. One became my third released single, Two Wolves, No Masters. I think it’s safe to say that FAWM had an impact.

And as the FAWM community gears up to start again tomorrow, I’m noticing that it’s Imbolc eve.

Imbolc – the festival of the light breaking through the cold

Imbolc – the celebration of the first signs of spring

Imbolc – the day of Brigid, Bridie, Ffraid. Saint, Goddess, and Divine Power.

Brigid is considered to be a Goddess of Inspiration, of poets. (As well as healing, and forging/creativity)

So it struck me that this is brilliant timing for the month of FAWM!

I don’t work with Brigid often, but I’ll be lighting a candle for the two deities who most guided my book writing, Taliesin the bard and the goddess Ceridwen, whose cauldron brews all Inspiration. And I think I’ll say a few words for Brigid, as it’s her day too, and it never hurts to have deities of inspiration and creativity on your side.

You can find a talk on Storytelling As Magic on my Patreon as part of January’s Enchanted Circle, for this month only I’ve released the recording to the public – Patrons get to join me live, ask questions, and choose topics – as well as meditations, courses, and classes at different tiers! Go, watch, and sign up for more…

Find Storytelling as Magic Here

Imbolc Inspiration

02 Thursday Feb 2023

Posted by in Creative Process, Crimson Craft, Following Delight, Magic, Reflections, Storytelling, Witchcraft 101

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Happy Imbolc folks!

It’s been a month of magic here, in the darkest coldest part of the winter I’ve been lucky to be conjuring love and light and warmth. Last night was my online book launch for “Crimson Craft – Sexual Magic for the solo witch” and it was an honour to share some magic with those that came (even with the tech trouble!)

Then this evening was spent hosting the local moot’s cocreated ritual, celebrating the growing light of love and inspiration. Brigid made an appearance, we sang together, and there was light, of course.

Imbolc is the festival where we mark the emergence of new life, from lambs to snowdrops to baby songs to tiny humans to the rising hope that we’ve made it through the winter, into the world.

This month is also FAWM – February Album Writing Month – a challenge to write 14 songs in 28 days. I love that it starts on Brigid’s day, the festival of Santes Ffraid (in Welsh), saint/Goddess/midwife of creating, healing, and, importantly, inspiration.

I’ve been secretly writing songs and been mostly too shy to share for years, and now I’m ready to change that. This past year, I’ve been practicing making the songs… But haven’t felt ready to show them to many people. I finally realised that truth, which is so often the case: we rarely feel ready. There is always something else to tweak, to edit, to perfect. And so, in the supportive space of FAWM this month, I’m aiming for 7 sharable songs as the light blossoms brighter.

I asked for Brigid’s blessing on this Imbolc night to overcome the perfectionism that holds me back from sharing the joy that arises when I make music, however unpolished it is…

And as declarations have their own kind of magic, let me be clear on my intention: Over the next month I’ll be sharing a little about my musical journey, the lessons it’s teaching me on magic, and, of course, some of my music.

This month I’m hosting a free Full Moon/ Imbolc ritual online for members of the Crimson Coven Collective, on Sunday 5th February ’23, at 7pm GMT. Join the Crimson Coven here to get access!

And I’m offering a new workshop rooted in the magic of the Crimson Craft on “Courting Divine Love” on 15th February ’23. In this workshop you’ll be guided by the gods in connecting to Divine Love, uncovering both self-love and self-trust within yourself, and laying the foundation to manifest the magical life your heart desires.

Find out more here: Courting Divine Love.

A banner for Courting Divine Love, illustrated with roses and the points above. Click for the workshop page.

Happy 2023! (and where I was in 2022)

24 Tuesday Jan 2023

Posted by in Following Delight, Magic, Reflections, Witchcraft 101

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(Scroll down for – A recap of 2022 – Some tips for navigating real-life plot-twists with the Witches Pyramid – and a glimpse of what’s coming in 2023)

“Oh gods, now this? Really?” ~ This pic is from about a decade ago when I played Miranda in the Tempest with the Longwood Players and, well, isn’t that play as full of surprises as life!

Ok, ok, so we’re 3 weeks into 2023, but we’ve just had the New Moon, kicking off the Lunar New Year (of the Rabbit!) and Imbolc is just around the corner with the new shoots of Spring.

2022… The year of the Hermit… again!

Last I posted I’d just finished my PhD and was focussed on getting the first Goblin Masquerade together…

Well, in case you’re not following me on social media, or have missed my emails on my mailing list, here’s the short version of the subsequent events of 2022:

  • Goblin Masquerade! Great success!
  • I had a couple of weeks off adventuring in Glastonbury with my coven, and then at an Aurora gig.
  • And then I ended up in hospital for a night in so much pain I couldn’t walk. Still not sure why.
  • Recovery. And more recovery. And very, very very slow walking. (I’m much better now, btw.)
  • I did mentoring for the NDSA (NeuroDivergent Self-Advocacy forum) and studied for my Life Coaching Certificate.
  • Aaand I learned songwriting and music production. I’ll be sharing more about that very, very soon…

As much as the world was opening up in 2022, I was back in hermit mode, adjusting, healing, rebuilding my foundations. As autumn went on and I got stronger I returned to teaching cycle 3 of Star Club (multi-disciplinary training for Magicians), opened a little space in the local market – The Rabbit Hole – and an online space, The Crimson Coven Collective. All with lots of rest-time factored in.

Adjusting Course with the Witches Compass

It’s not unusual to have to adjust course, for something unexpected to happen (plot twists abound!) and we can look for the story of “why”, or we can focus on the “next right thing” as the trolls advised in Frozen 2.* While this certainly felt like a stumbling block, I didn’t feel like I’d been thrown entirely off course, which is always a risk if you’ve got a dream.

Instead, I came back to my heart, my compass, my guiding star.

I definitely spent a bit of time wondering how the hell I was going to travel if I could barely walk, when one of my big dreams has always been adventuring and exploring the world, but I didn’t wallow in this too much. Instead I asked myself the questions that guide much of my life.

What do I dream of? How do I want to feel, today?

What can I choose, at this point in time, that feels like a step towards my dreams?

How can I take that next step?

Rather than relying on a set plan for the journey ahead, I follow my compass, my heart. Asking in each moment how I can make this now closer to what I most long to feel. Perhaps the next step isn’t the last one needed but allowing myself to be guided each day in what brings more joy now means I’m enjoying every part of my life as much as I can.

I invite you to try it. When life gives you a plot twist, look for how you can feel more like you choose to feel in this moment. Ask yourself what the next step towards your dreams is from here. Ask yourself what tiny change you have control over that will support you in your adventure-called-life and help you feel more joy today.

Not everything is fun and games – ouch, seriously – but when we carry our compass with us we can always point ourselves towards our True North, our dreams. Let your heart guide you.

The witches pyramid is a useful model to help with this, and is sometimes called the “witches compass” because it is a guide to the steps of our magic.

To Know, To Will, To Dare, To Keep Silent.

~ The Witches Pyramid

And that’s what we do when we find our path disrupted. We ask questions of ourselves so we KNOW what we dream of, and the feeling we desire that we think the dream will bring. What we long to feel. And then, we set our WILL toward it. We choose to orientate ourselves towards our chosen feelings and our dreams. And then we DARE to take that leap. The final step, of KEEPing SILENT, means we don’t reveal things before it is time. Often our dreams are tender things and there is a lot of pessimism that can encourage doubt before we take the steps we need, so they need the nurturing dark of the soil, the silence of the night’s sky, to hold them safely while we carry them into the world.

(*I finally watched this and I loved all the elemental stuff, the animistic environmentalism, the magic, there’s some fun music… it’s far from perfect but there is a lot I liked.)

What’s Next?

Well, firstly, you can join The Crimson Coven Collective where we’re exploring how to embody our magic more fully! There are journaling and creativity prompts, and online circles, and I’m active there every week.

From the group description:

“The Crimson Coven Collective is for magical, creative, and ritual exploration of embodied, sensual magic.

Do you want your life to be magical, filled with playful, pleasurable, practice?

Do you want to be curious, to get creative with your magic, to explore what feels good and learn how to feel what’s right for you?

We aspire to be…

* Open hearted explorers of wyrd, enchanted, possibilities.

* Creatives conjuring beauty and desire.

* Divine beings embodying sensual spirit.

* Witches delving into the darkness and light of magic.

Get your invitation here.“

I’m filling up my diary for 2023 slowly, but so far confirmed magical events include:

  • Talk: MoonCon23 – An online conference by Moon Books, I’m up at 2pm 11th March 2023 (topic TBC)
  • Ritual: Imbolc – Aberystwyth.

And events for the Crimson Coven Collective, including book launch parties for my next book “Crimson Craft – sexual magic for the solo witch”

And I’ll be performing at…