The first day of May in Wales is known as Calan Mai or Calan Haf, meaning the first day of summer. The celebrations always began the evening before, May Eve (which is today!) being one of the ysprydnos or ‘spirit nights’ when spirits were out and about. Love divination was particularly popular on this night.

Until about 150 years ago, bonfires were lit all over Wales on May Eve, in South Wales. Marie Trevelyan, who wrote extensively about Welsh Folk Customs a century ago, describes them like this:

'The fire was done in this way: Nine men would turn their pockets inside out, and see that every piece of money and all metals were off their persons. Then the men went into the nearest woods and collected sticks of nine different kinds of trees. These were carried to the spot where the fire had to be built. There a circle was cut in the sod and the sticks were set crosswise.

'All around the circle the people stood and watched the proceedings. One of the men would then take two bits of oak and rub them together until a flame was kindled. This was applied to the sticks and soon a large fire was made. Sometimes two fires were set up, side by side...

'Round cakes of oatmeal and brown meal were split in four and placed in a small flour-bag, and everybody present had to pick out a portion. The last bit in the bag fell to the lot of the bag-holder.

'Each person who chanced to pick up a piece of brown meal cake was compelled to leap three times over the flames, or to run thrice between the two fires, by which means the people thought they were sure to have a plentiful harvest. .. As a rule, no danger attended these curious celebrations, but occasionally somebody’s clothes caught fire, which was quickly put out...'

They certainly knew how to enjoy themselves in those days, didn't they?

Before we even get to Beltane or May Day we must first cross the great threshhold of Walpurgis Night, the last day of April, sometimes known as May Day Eve. This is one of the most demonised festivals of the entire year, a time when demons, devils, fairies and just about anything else was about and waiting to attack. Or was it?

The fact that something has been so thoroughly demonised usually suggests that certain aspects of the festival resisted all attempts to Christianise it. So maybe the celebrations and activities of this night are a faint remembrance of a once-important Pagan celebration.

One of the main features of Walpurgis night (which falls tomorrow, so I'm telling you all this in advance in case you want to have a go at it) is bringing plants into the home in order to prevent evil from entering. This may have originally been done in order to bless the home or indeed to protect it, and ‘May’ can refer to any flower in bloom at the time. This could include, for example, the Marsh Marigold and not just the May or Hawthorn flowers. Hawthorn’s male counterpart, the Blackthorn, was said to be guarded by fairies on May Day Eve, and traiditonally people seem to have avoided picking it if they could.

Plants brought indoors were hung over doorways, windows and even letter boxes, (all places of entrance or exit) or scattered outside the front door, especially on Walpurgis night or May Eve. Primroses were particularly popular for this purpose, although I think they're far too pretty to scatter!

Protective plants were also placed wherever animals were kept, such as barns and stables. Branches of Rowan were sometimes brought indoors, but these had to be broken off and not cut with a blade. Other popular protective plants were Primroses, Elder leaves, Kingcups, Marsh Marigolds Rushes and Flags. This preference for yellow blooms and green branches for Beltane may be a way of honouring sun Gods, including the Celtic Bel.

Other names for Beltane were the Feast of the Bright Fire, Garland Day and May Day.

On May the 1st Pagans celebrate the festival of Beltane. When I was young we simply called it May Day (but that we before Pagans felt comfortable enough to come out of the broom closet!)

May 1st marked the first day of Summer. The new growth of plants and seeds is well under way, so the purpose of the spring festivals has been fulfilled. In summer, therefore, the underlying theme is one of fertility and abundance, with protection for the coming year.

Now it's the fertility bit that causes some modern Pagans a few problems. Personally I think fertility can mean a lot of things - you can have a fertile imagination, for instance. But for some people fertility just means sex. So it's not unknown for Pagans to go along to a Beltane celebration involving people they don't actually know very well, and end up running off into the night screaming when everyone starts taking their clothes off!

You have been warned.

But actually, there's a lot more to May Day/Beltane than that!

Sorry I've not been around blogland much for the past 24 hours.... I am up to my eyes in Mandrakes. Not literally of course, but I've reached Chapter 15 on my manuscript and this is all about the Mandrake. I have to admit I kept it to the back of the book as an added incentive, and now that I've actually reached the point where I try and put all my mandrake research into some kind of order, I simply can't stop!

I should be around more tomorrow when I shall try and catch up with everyone.

Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend!

Brightest blessings
Tylluan

I was just wondering what you consider makes a good blogger. Is it daily posts? Or always being polite? Maybe you feel a good blogger can argue a point without winding people up!

For me, I do value courtesy. Even if we have to agree to disagree, there's no need to make it personal. I also value bloggers who take the time and trouble to reply to comments (and I know I'm sometimes guilty of not doing this, so mea culpa).

All in all I feel I've made some wonderful friends in Blogland - and seen and benefitted from unstinting support and encouragement. What do you feel?

And who is Robert Dee, I hear you ask? He is the young man who finally, after 54 tennis matches as a professional player, actually managed to win one.

In the press I've heard him described as a loser, or the worst tennis player. Nonsense. He could beat most of us any time.

What he shows - in abundance - is the dogged sort of courage and self belief that keeps on going even when he keeps getting knocked down time and again. It's that, in my book, that makes him one of the greats, not the number of times he manages to win.

Many people would give in after losing a dozen times in a row. Certainly most would give in after twenty. But Robert kept on going, and going, and eventually it paid off. His effort and determination are inspiring.

He's a national treasure - not because he lost, but because there's a man who cannot be beaten!

Thanks to horror films we tend to think of Vampires as belonging strictly to Transylvanian forests, only coming out at night to prey on the unwary. Even the film 'Interview with a Vampire' still stuck with the idea that Vampires were once human, and basically look the same as the rest of us (apart from the teeth, and maybe a big blue vein in the forehead. )

However, we Welsh have slightly different Vampires. These are not human in appearance, but more likely to resemble a well turned piece of oak furniture. Yes folks, in Wales if a vampire attacks you it's more likely to be on the leg, bum or arm than on the neck!

Vampire furniture is a term used to explain old furniture that inflicts odd marks - bruises or scratches - on anyone who uses it. One particular instance was an old four poster bed that 'attacked' anyone brave enough to sleep in it. It's a very old tradition and for all I know exists elsewhere too, although my own knowledge of it is limited to Wales.

Now - sleep tight, won't you?

I haven't had any notifications of comments today which is a tad odd. So if you are waiting to hear from me, please let me know!

Hopefully shall be back later this evening!

The other day I blogged about our clock, Henry, and his odd behaviour, stopping at one particular time of day but only in the morning, and only if he was running at the correct time. One of those kind enough to comment, Kaimi0achava, wondered whether such odd behaviour in a piece of furniture was perhaps a warning of something about to happen.

Psychic warnings via the furniture are not actually uncommon - no, stop rolling around on the floor, I'm serious! There are a lot of well documented cases where people have heard sudden knocks or bangs either coming from the wall, the window or sometimes the furniture. Sometimes these can be so loud they sound like a gun going off.

Of course, such knocks are not the same as 'rapping' where you have a poltergeist who appears to have a psychic drum kit concealed around the house. When there is a psychic warning involved the knock will be sudden, and unlikely to be repeated (though sometimes you will get two of three knocks close together, like someone knocking on a door, it will only happen once.)

Other psychic warnings can be pictures suddenly falling off the wall (or sometimes the picture itself will behave oddly. I had one once that slipped inside the frame. Obviously you have to be sensible about this; if a picture's been hanging from the same piece of string for forty years it's probably not a psychic warning, just a timely reminder that it needs to be re-hung.

Years ago people knew of these premonitions and how to interpret them. In some areas, such as the Scottish Islands, psychic premonitions (particularly of death) were accompanied by ghostly lights.

I've met people who've witnessed psychic warnings, and believe me, the impression never leaves them!

Well, definitely something is in the air today, so I'm glad I started the great psychic cleansing when I did. THere's been loads of police and ambulances about, a military helicopter flying overhead, Crime Scene investigators, all within about a mile of us.... plus some of the worst driving I've ever seen on the roads.

As soon as the cleansing got under way I was glad I'd done it - it actually proved difficult to cleanse, so it was just as well I hadn't left it any longer. 'Smells and bells' are still a good way of cleansing i.e. incense and pure sound. I use solid charcoal incense and believe me today I threw just about every magical herb I possessed at the problem, to make sure it had gone.

I've even done a complete circuit of the house with salt and pentacles!

Now, for a quiet, relaxing evening!

Our house has been psychically very active, this full moon, so I shall be doing some cleansing and protective work today. I think most homes need a bit of cleansing from time to time, it's surprising how much negativity and psychic detritus builds up over the months.

I suspect maybe this is what BCUK needs at the moment too - since the site is still running very slow and everyone seems to be feeling pretty fed up with it (well, okay, not everyone, but certainly many of the regular bloggers.)

I really hope it gets sorted soon.

Virtually everything in my home is old, pre-used, pre-loved..... but one side effect of this is that sometimes we have furniture that brings something of its past to us. In other words, it's haunted.

For example, we have an old welsh longcase clock in our front room. Mr Penry loves clocks, and there's nothing much he cannot do with them, but this one (we call it Henry) has defeated even his ingenuity.

The problem is that the clock stops at 2.46 precisely, every morning. At 2.46 in the afternoon, it's fine, which rather rules out a mechanical problem affecting the way the hands turn. Mr Penry puts the clock back at the right time, and it stops again at 2.46 in the morning. He puts it right again, it's fine in the afternoon.

What is really interesting however, is that if he merely restarts the clock, without correcting the time, then it keeps going.

In other words, if the time is correct, the clock stops. If the time is wrong, it keeps going.

There is no sound mechanical reason why this should be so. Mechanical problems (particularly with a clock of this age, where the mechanism is actually pretty straightforward) are logical, and even if you can't always correct them, you can at least see why they're happening.

Our clock Henry, has clearly been deeply traumatised at some point. I just wish he could bring himself to tell us what it is.....

Recently I wrote a post about pin rag and nail wells. Usksider very kindly has done not one, but two posts that illustrate a Welsh 'raggedy well' at Trellech. I thought to myself it might be a good idea to try and link his posts with mine by means of a trackback.

So off I toddled (well, staggered, more like) to the Help section at BCUK and tried to follow their advice. It doesn't seem to have worked. Can anyone help with this, please? I'm not sure which post to take the trackback from, mine or Usksiders.... can get a trackback from mine but not from his. Went into 'Edit' as the help section says and then - nothing! Couldn't find where to paste it!

If anyone out there knows about trackbacks, do you think they are a good idea? And if so, please can someone advise how to do them?

Today we had a power cut. Not just my house, but quite some distance down the valley too (and possibly up the valley as well, for all I know.) The house was freezing cold, I couldn't cook tea, and it was quickly growing dark.

Now luckily I always keep (and use) plenty of candles, so lighting wasn't a problem. And I grabbed a spare fleece and cwtched up to Barney and Ben to keep me warm. We haven't had a power cut like that (it lasted over an hour) for years, and it was surprising how isolated it makes you feel. Luckily I wasn't on my own in the house, but even so, when it starts getting dark and there are no street lights, no phones (most of them need electrical power these days) it does give a glimpse into life years ago.

Was there really ever a time when there was no electric light, no TV, no central heating.....? Strange how quickly one can forget!

A poetic title for a poetic bit of folklore. In welsh mythology, Olwen is sometimes referred to as 'She of the White track' and closely associated with the Hawthorn tree which is also known as the Whitethorn, and in Pagan terms at least, regarded as feminine. (The masculine equivalent is the Blackthorn or Sloe.)

Anyway, it was believed that at the beginning of time, the Universe was completely empty, and Olwen walked across the heavens, leaving a trail of hawthorn petals in her wake; these became known as the Milky Way.

I just thought it was a nice story!

Yesterday BCUK was so slow I could hardly post. After a while it gets frustrating refreshing pages all the time and losing comments, so I gave up. But I'm a hopeful soul, so here I am today, trying again.... and again having more problems than I would like.

I'm just curious whether anyone else has noticed how slow things are these last few days, and whether they have any idea why this should be so? Is BCUK being hacked? Are we being spied upon? Am I paranoid? Should I be?

And there I was, going to do a nice sensible post about magical thorn trees...... ho hum

There was - as I am so fond of saying - something in the air yesterday. I won't bore you with it, and I know we were approaching the full moon, but even so it took me by surprised. So I shall just use this very short post to let off some steam, and then get down to the serious business of blogging!!

Hope you all fared well yesterday!

Brightest blessings
Tylluan

PS the photo is just to let you know that your friendly, neighbourhood witch (makes a change from neighbourhood watch, I thought ) is keeping a lookout for all these wild energies.....

Had an interesting experience late this afternoon. There I was, playing the piano to accompany one of my granddaughters who plays the violin. Mr Penry was out in the garden birdwatching and the door to the house was open. He said that while we were playing a beautiful blackbird settled nearby in the hedge, and clearly was taking an interest in the music. Towards the end of the piece he began to sing, and it was as though he (it was a male blackbird, all glossy black feathers and golden beak) began to sing too, as though imitating what he could hear.

This is not as strange as it seems. A few years back, we had a couple of blackbirds that used to sing the opening bars to the Addams Family theme tune. Other people in different parts of the country noticed this around the same time and a letter to this effect was actually published in the Times (but not my letter, alas.)

Are blackbirds copying us? Do they have musical preferences? Are they watching Sky?

Sorry I've not been around commenting much in the last day or so - I'm trying to catch up with my writing, yes, but also the Blogsite has been incredibly slow and I've been finding it sometimes difficult to get pages to load. I don't think it's the internet in general because other sites seem to load quite well.

Anyway, I am up to my eyes in the sanctity of plants at the moment. This wasn't a chapter I originally intended to write, but when I collected my research together I found there was quite a lot on this aspect and it would be a shame to leave it out. After that I might finally get to write about the mandrake!

Roll up, roll up! I finally have a photo (albeit a bit old) of me....

So what do you think? Almost green?

One of Jack Frost's posts (about Shoe Trees) set me thinking about Pin, Rag and Nail trees, all of which were popularly used for healing in this country.

Basically, since the well being of Mankind was said to be bound up with the fate of certain trees, people would visit the tree and ask it to magically heal them. Because the tree in some instances was regarded as a God, it would always try to help, feeling it was its duty to help Mankind whenever possible.

Magically speaking, it was important to find a way to leave your pain with the tree. This could be done by hammering a nail, pin or sometimes even a coin into the bark, or sometimes by tying a rag or cloutie in the branches. This last method was popular when the tree grew near water, especially if it was a sacred well (and you might be surprised to realise just how many of those still exist!) In Ireland these trees were sometimes called 'Raggedy Trees'.

You might think that this sort of thing went out with the Ark, but actually it was still practised into the early years of the 20th century (and some say it still is practised in some areas). A wide range of ailments were taken to the trees, including impotence,infertility, warts, tuberculosis, toothache, arthritis and fevers!

Recently I was tagged by Wendlane to post seven weird things about myself and a couple of comments were particularly interested when I said I had seen fairies. So in response to this therefore, I thought I would explain a little more.

I was almost fifty when I first saw fairies. I didn't believe in them, and I certainly didn't go looking for them. When it happened I was sitting in my garden, on a very warm afternoon. I hadn't been reading about fairies, or looking at Arthur Rackham prints or anything that might reasonably have prompted me to suddenly see them. Indeed, if someone else had told me they'd just seen a fairy, I would probably have thought they were mistaken.

That day, however, I saw something that made me change my mind. Down in the garden was the outline of a golden fairy, several feet tall, with wings, just rising up and down. I say outline because it was not solid, but looked as though just its outline had been drawn with golden ink.She'd go up in the air several feet and then down again until she just hovered above the ground. Apart from the fact I was seeing something I didn't believe in, she looked just like a fairy from a Victorian painting.

Shortly afterwards, (maybe ten minutes or so) another fairy, much smaller and brightly coloured like a dragonfly splashed with gold , came right up to me and starting tugging my sleeve. I could see something pressing on my left arm, even moving my sleeve.

I had a strong impression that day that I was meant to see the fairies, and they were pleased about it. It was a lovely experience, totally benign; I was amazed to see how the fairies really did look the way they appear in traditional tales.

And I quite understand if you don't believe me - before I saw them for myself, I mightn't have believed this story either!

I don't have much clue about this, never having been tagged before, and no knowing how to link to other people etc. So please, is it okay if I just post up the seven weird things about me instead?

1. I come from a family of hereditary witches.
2. I come from a line of highwaymen and footpads.
3. I saw my first ghost at home when I was a child.
4. I make great bread.
5. I am really clumsy with doors - I broke two on the day we moved into our present home! My daughters still laugh about the time I accidentally demolished a letter box when I took them carol singing.
6. I saw fairies for the first time when I was almost fifty.
7. I have had a spooky experience in broad daylight in Tintern Abbey.

Is this okay?

No, this isn't another tale about meteorites and UFO's. Instead this wonderful artefact is the oldest map of the heavens known to us.

The first picture does have a little retouching where the original gold is missing.

This was found in Germany, near the town of Nebra, about nine years ago, by treasure hunters, and recovered by the authorities in about 2002. It is believed to be approximately 3,600 years old and is just over a foot across.

The disc maps 32 stars, including the Pleiades, as they appear in reference to a local mountain on the horizon, the Brocken which is the highest mountain in north Germany. It also shows a golden ship, Sun, Moon and stars, and astronomers have confirmed that the sky map matches the latitude of the place where it was found.

Experts believe the star map and the site where it was found formed an observatory, which was used to set the calendar for planting and harvesting crops although you can imagine there are quite a few other theories doing the rounds as well! However, it all points to Bronze Age man having a far greater understanding of the heavens than was previously thought.

Very little is known about the people who made or used the disc. They are not mentioned in ancient Greek or other Mediterranean sources and we only know them through the artifacts that remain.

I think this is a truly beautiful object and it just goes to show that we really know next to nothing about our ancient ancestors....

Here is a wonderful tale from Bosnia - I came across the gist of it in the free newspaper Metro and then tracked down the rest on the internet....

A Bosnian man, Mr Lajic, whose home has been hit five times by meteorites believes he is being targeted by aliens. He took the rocks to experts at Belgrade University where it was confirmed they were all meteorites.

The University is now investigating local magnetic fields to try and work out what makes the property so attractive to the heavenly bodies.

Poor Mr Lajic is taking no chances. He has had his roof reinforced by steel girders. He is also becoming understandably paranoid, saying, 'I am obviously being targeted by extraterrestrials. I don't know what I have done to annoy them but there is no other explanation that makes sense. The chance of being hit by a meteorite is so small that getting hit five times has to be deliberate."

He added, 'I am being targeted by aliens. They are playing games with me. I don't know why they are doing this. When it rains I can't sleep for worrying about another strike.'

Ah. Bless.