The Magical World of Tylluan Penry

Okay, somebody please tell me I'm not going mad. Every time I try to 'write' here, I get one of my replies to a comment on the post about psychic attacks automatically appearing in the part where I'm supposed to write.

I know I get very paranoid about these things, but just what is happening to my blog?

I'll try and post tomorrow when things calm down a bit!

I know I'm a bit behind catching up with comments.... hopefully shall be back later on today!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend!

For those of you who missed my talk at the Witchfest last Saturday, I'm now putting some of it up online. Basically I tried to cover three main topics.

1. How do you know you’re under psychic attack?
2. Types of psychic attack,
3. And most important : What you can do about it.

How do you know you’re under attack?

The best thing to do first is to make a list of what’s happening that makes you suspect an attack.

There are 2 things you have to look for – one is evidence of psychic activity and the other is some evidence of an attack. If someone heaves a brick through your window that’s an attack, but probably not a psychic one. And although you might see a ghost, if there’s no evidence of malice, that isn’t a psychic attack either.

BUT - sometimes you get a combination of very trivial things that might be warnings that something is amiss. What you’re looking for here is a combination of things…
• Aural disturbances, such as the sound of a bell ringing when you don’t have a bell!
• Odd smells – now use some sense here. First go and check the drains. Then the bins. Then the dog. The most common psychic smells are intended to scare – fire and smoke, for instance. Rotting flesh is another.
• Waking up in the morning with strange scratches or bite marks… but again you should first check for physical causes. Your cat might have fleas.
• Another sign is waking in the middle of the night feeling something pressing down hard on your chest. But first go to see your GP and check you don’t have any medical condition that could cause it.
• And obviously if some object is thrown at you out of nowhere, well, you should consider that a bit dodgy too!

It's really important not to jump to conclusions. Most of the time you can find an ordinary, everyday reason why something happens. Don't let yourself become paranoid!

Some advance news.... I will be one of the speakers at Witchfest International in Croydon on November 8th! Amazing - I'm so excited about it!

Last years was apparently 'the largest Witchcraft festival held in the World within recorded history',and the talks and workshops were given by the most famous Witchcraft/Wiccan authors and experts in the world....
(Hope they won't think I'm lowering the tone this year )

Will keep you informed as and when there's more news....

I was very excited to be asked to conduct the blessing ceremony for Saturday's Witchfest. This is the closing blessing for the festival. I didn't have a lot of notice to prepare it, and part of me was panicking but I'm so glad I agreed to do it!

Since I am a solitary witch, organising large groups of people is a bit intimidating, especially since some people want to be actively involved and others prefer to watch. Also because of fire regulations I couldn't use incense or candles.

Instead I used Rosemary from my garden - I went out and gathered a carrier bag full very early on the solstice morning, when all plants are at their most powerful. There was plenty to go round, and people were invited to take what they wanted.

Rosemary has amazing cleansing and protective powers and I concentrated on these bringing blessings to everyone present. I demonstrated a very short three line invocation to the solstice, which was fun and everyone joined in.

We then did some circle walking... changing direction so that we physically experienced the effect the solstice has upon us. Everyone was encouraged to shake hands with their neighbours and also to wish blessings upon them. THen we had a few minutes of some enjoyable cirle dancing. It was great fun and very calming.

We finished with Mr Penry's Welsh blessing (I did give a translation). It was a wonderful experience and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Well, I'm back from the Witchfest and I have to say it was wonderful! I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Firstly a big thank you from Usky for coming down with his family - it was great to meet them all and I hope they enjoyed the Witchfest.

My talk went well (I'm going to post bits and pieces from it on the blog soon for anyone that wanted to get to the Witchfest but couldn't) and a lot of people said they enjoyed it. Heck, I enjoyed doing it too!

I think I was the only speaker to run my own free raffle afterwards (for the two paintings I blogged earlier this week) and I think that was appreciated. Certainly at the main raffle, the first prize winner chose my pastel painting as their prize.

I also got to see my book for the first time! It was a weird experience because prior to this is has only existed as a manuscript... Capall Bann have done a wonderful job on it. It looks just the way I hoped it would, even down to the font and the layout!

I did a book signing (duw, but I felt self conscious sitting there waiting for people to come and get their copy signed - but a big thank you to those who did!)

The day before the Witchfest I was asked to do the closing blessing ceremony - it was rather short notice and there was no incense allowed in the building (because it would set the fire alarms off) so early on the Solstice morning I went and picked a great bag full of Rosemary from my garden and incorporated that into a blessing ceremony, along with the Welsh blessing Mr Penry kindly wrote for me (mentioned in yesterday's post.)

Apparently last year's closing blessing had been very 'hands on' with lots of singing and chanting (at least, that's what some people told me) but I kept this deliberately low key, concentrating on the blessing side of the day and winding down...

Well, I shall try and catch up on some posts today, and get on with my book!

Well it's finally here - the Solstice! But no sunshine this morning for me to greet, just misty mountains and a smattering of rain washing the world clean.

And I am off to the Witchfest, which is all very exciting... I hope I have everything ready for it, and that people enjoy my talk which is on Psychic Self Defence. If anyone does turn up, my talk is in CF10 in the Sutdent's Union Building, and it's at 1.45pm. I'm doing a booksigning upstairs after that at 2.30.

And after that I've been asked to take the closing blessing ceremony. Being a solitary you can imagine this is a bit scary for me, but I'm looking forward to it and I'll tell you all how it went afterwards.

But before I go, here is a translation of a lovely solstice blessing that Mr Penry wrote for me: (the original is in Welsh)

Blessings of the earth to you all,
Blessings of heaven,
Blessings of the stars,
Blessings of the moon,
And last, but not least, Blessings of the sun.

Have a wonderful day, I'll catch up with you later!

Here is an account from the icwales news site that seems intriguing:

Police: Don't panic over UFO sighting
Jun 20 2008 by Katie Bodinger, South Wales Echo
A MYSTERY aircraft spotted in the skies today sparked a debate over whether UFOs could be flying over South Wales.

According to some reports, South Wales Police officers in a helicopter gave chase to “flying-saucer shaped” aircraft, after it zoomed over South Wales.

A spokeswoman for the force was today quick to play down the incident.

An anonymous source said the incident happened while the helicopter was at 500ft and waiting to land at the Ministry of Defence’s St Athan base in the Vale of Glamorgan. The crew saw the UFO speeding towards them from below, the source said.

“It closed in at great speed, aiming straight at the helicopter,” the source said.

“The chopper had to swerve sharply to avoid being hit. The guys said if they’d stayed where they were, they’d be dead – it would have been a direct hit.

“They are convinced it was a UFO. It sounds far-fetched, but they know what they saw.

“These guys are hardened professionals and know people will take the mickey, but they are certain they saw a UFO.”

The source added that afterwards it flew towards Cardiff and then headed across the Bristol Channel.

The un-named source also claimed the crew could not see the craft with their night-vision goggles, but that it was clearly visible to the naked eye.

South Wales Police Control Room Inspector Ann Johnson confirmed the air support unit had spotted an unusual aircraft.

“This was reported to the relevant authority,” she said.

But she added: “In today’s skies, there are a large number of aircraft which come in a range of different shapes and sizes and in all probability, this sighting has just confirmed that one of these was in the area at the time.”

But Terry Phillips, a neighbourhood watch coordinator, who contacted 101 about the sighting, said there was no doubt in his mind that the sighting was an alien from another world.

“I have seen strange things in the sky over the years,” said the 64-year-old, from Pontcanna, Cardiff.

“The government will always says it’s a load of nonsense or that it was a balloon. But I think it was something following them – something not from this planet.”

MoD community relations officer for Wales, Peter Sinclair, said he was baffled by the incident.

“Nobody from the MoD was at the base at the time it happened,” he said.

“We couldn’t find any information about it. I would really like to know the truth of the story.”

I would, too.....

Here is the main raffle prize I am donating for the witchfest. It was done in pastels:

And this much smaller one is one of two I am going to raffle amongst those who actually come and hear me speak:

This is the other:

I apologise for the quality of the pictures - I took them in a hurry and they are behind glass... I hope whoever wins them enjoys them!

Great news - I had a phone call from my Publishers, Capall Bann this morning and the book is out! It has substance! It is real! (and you can find more about it here:

http://www.capallbann.co.uk/popup.cfm?p_n=468211&p_i=468211

I am so pleased, I am bouncing around all over the place. Last night I also heard about the Witchfest, I shall be speaking at 1.45pm, which is a good time for me because it gives me plenty of time to make my way down to Cardiff.

I'm going to blog some pictures of the raffle prizes later....

Nobody who has met Mr Penry has ever described him as a smoothie. Gentle Giant - yes. Craggy Bloke - yes. But smoothie? Never!

The other day I was making Glamorgan Sausages (a vegetarian mix of breadcrumbs, cheese, fresh herbs and spring onions) and needed to make some breadcrumbs from stale bread. Normally this isn't a problem. My elderly blender/liquidiser does the job nicely for me.

At first, all went well. THe first few cubes of bread reduced down perfectly. Then it stopped. I fiddled about with it. I changed the fuse. No joy. I checked the plug wiring. It was fine. I checked the main wire was intact. I checked other plugs in the same socket. I even banged it down had on the worktop and gave it a good talking to. All to no avail. My blender had died.

Now Mr Penry enjoys a Glamorgan Sausage (or six) with a plate of chips and a keg of bitter, so he very kindly offered to go and get me a new one. I said I'd go with him, but no, he said 'A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do' or something along those lines.

Off he went and came back with - a smoothie maker. Well, it looked similar, he said. I have to admit I was a tad dubious, but bless him, he was so pleased with his purchase that I unpacked it, read the instructions briefly and switched on.

I hadn't expected the newly crumbed bread to fly out of the bottom of the jug at me, like an insane popcorn machine. Within thirty seconds I was plastered, all over my clothes, in my hair, probably even up my nose ...

It turns out there is an important difference between smoothie makers and simple liquidisers.... smoothies are fitted with a tap. I hadn't realised that the bit of black plastic at the bottom of the box was actually all that important, had I?

The thing is, how do you pour breadcrumbs from a tap anyway?

I'm fond of saying 'the world's gone mad' but today I had proof that it is, indeed, on its way to hell in a handcart....

I've not seen our GP at all in the past 8 years, so since I've been feeling unwell for a while, thought I had better make the effort. I rang up last week, asking for an appointment, only to be told I couldn't even ring and ask for the appointment (let alone get one) until the following week as 'the rotas aren't made up until then.'

Besides, all the GPs were on annual leave, and nobody was quite sure which locum would be on duty at any given time. I thought it was a bit ridiculous to give everyone their leave at the same time and rely on temporary doctors, but didn't kick up any fuss.

This morning I rang and was told all the appointments for tomorrow were full.
'That's okay,' I said, 'Could I have Wednesday or Thursday then please?'
Silly me. I hadn't realised that you can now only phone for an appointment the day before you want it.

In other words I would have to phone again tomorrow to get an appontment for Wednesday. But only if I was lucky - the receptionist pointed out that there will only be FOUR appointments on Wednesday, strictly on a first come first served basis. So if I fail to get one of those, I shall have to wait for the next day and try again.

I suspect the intention behind the system is that patients will go off and (a) clutter up the local A & E instead (it already keeps you waiting about eight hours ) or (b) recover by yourself or (c) die.

So my question is this - for whose benefit is the NHS being run, exactly? It's certainly not for the patients'.

Tucked in near the honeysuckle, I spotted this rather lovely visitor to my garden yesterday....

I'm busy writing up my talk for the Witchfest this week, so please bear with me if I'm not around much in the coming days. I'm doing my talk on Psychic Self Defence and it should last around 45 minutes. The thing is, talks always change a bit according to the make up of the audience, so I have to be flexible.

Anyway, I hope those who attend will enjoy it - and I'll try and blog the picture I've done for the raffle soon.

It's been cloudy here today, but we've had the odd burst of sunshine. I was out taking a few photos and thought you might like to see what's been growing in my garden this year....

I just love poppies! And this year they've been particularly bright and cheerful.

This is a very old single rose, that blooms outside my kitchen window. The bees seem to love it.

And look at the colour of this cornflower! Together with poppies it's hard to believe they were once regarded as weeds of the cornfield, isn't it? The cornflower was popular in love divination, too!

This sweet smelling honeysuckle twines in with the pink rose outside my kitchen. There's a path just beneath it, so sometimes we have to cut it back severely. When we first moved here it was all overgrown, (a bit like the secret garden) and it was fun discovering where the paths led once we'd cut back the vegetation!

The period roughly 3rd July - 11th August is called the Dog Days of Summer (at least, that's what I used to call them.) This is because the Dog Star, Sirius, rises and sets with the sun at this time of year.

Obviously we're still in June, so this post has absolutely nothing to do with Sirius, instead, here are some photos of the dogs enjoying the garden over the past few sunny days.

Here is Florence, on her tenth birthday. This may not sound particularly old, but for a St Bernard it's quite a venerable age. She had a great time and was spoiled rotten....

This is Barney, looking rather mournful although I think he was having quite a good day. He seems to spend a lot of time worrying though, I think he needs to relax more....

Here is Ben, the Love God. He has the softest fur I've ever encountered on a dog, and added to that has a sweet, loving nature.

And finally.....

Here's the boss, enjoying a well earned rest in what remains of our grass. He has recently appointed himself Florence's personal physician and spends a lot of time fussing over her.

If you are ever happily browsing in a shop in my part of the world, and hear a sudden terrifying crash, the chances are that it's me. Yesterday I managed to demolish an entire stand of reading glasses in Superdrug.

I don't know what happened, one minute there they were and I just nudged them and wham! Down they fell, scattered all over the floor. It was so embarrassing.

Mr Penry didn't know where to look, so he just took off and left me there, surrounded by all these unseeing spectacles. I found him later near the toothpaste section, laughing like a drain.

But I've always been like that. In the past I've accidentally demolished doors, cupboards, gates, letter boxes and even managed to disconnect the cold water tap in a public convenience in Brecon.... Sorry.

My publisher, Capall Bann, phoned me today to say the book will be out in the coming week. There have been a couple of hiccups and we really began to doubt whether it was going to be ready for the Witchfest, which would have been embarrassing as I was supposed to be doing a book signing! I supposed I'd just have sat there with a biro and a silly grin!

Anyway, it's very exciting and I'm looking forward to seeing how it looks. I'm sorry I'm not around much at the moment, I've just been working on my talk for the Witchfest down in Cardiff on June 21st. I just hope I get a chair to sit on.........

I haven't been blogging much lately as I'm not only working on my book but also on my talk for Witchfest Wales on 21st June. Any of you able to come will be very welcome, and I've contributed a Green Man pastel painting for the main raffle, plus another smaller painting for a raffle amongst any hardy souls who actually come to hear me talk. (I've even managed to find some green raffle tickets!

Of all the weird and wacky things I thought I might be doing today, rescuing a drowning Coal Tit was definitely not one of them. In fact, I'd only gone out into the garden to hang the washing out, and Mr Penry had come with me to dig a hole to stop the clothes prop falling over.

I'd gone to get the spade for him and happened to glance down into one of the many water buckets we keep for the dogs in the hot weather, when I saw what looked like a dead bird floating in it. I picked it up and was surprised to find it was still alive.

Somehow it had managed to keep its beak above water, but it was cold, terrified and shaking like a leaf. Worse, it was covered in dog drool that was gluing its feathers together.

I took it to the bench where it's really warm and sunny and went and got some kitchen towel to help dry its feathers. You can't really rub something the size of a Coal Tit, but when he sat on the paper towels they absorbed a lot of the water. Then I gently washed down his feathers and spread them out to make sure the last of the drool had gone.

After that it was just a waiting game. For ages all he did was shake. His feet were stiff and twisted; once he keeled over and lay on his back with his legs in the air, shaking.

About twenty minutes ago, I went to see how he was and the shaking had stopped. He was looking around now with some interest and I could see his feathers were dryig out.

Then, just now, I went to look again, peeping around the front door so as not to startle him. He saw me, hopped onto the back of the bench, and then took off across the garden.

It was quite a magical experience. He seemed to know I wanted to help him and was perfectly co-operative, never showing any alarm or struggling.

I'm just glad it all turned out well. And he'll have a great story to tell his Mam and Dad when he gets back to the nest tonight!

I can no longer write anything in the group blogs I belong to because I now get a little white box that says 'undefined' pasted across the top right hand corner where the 'write' button usually is.

Does anyone have any ideas what has been sent to torment me this time?

As regular readers of this blog will know, I have four dogs. These are my pets, my friends, even, very possibly, my substitute children. But they are most definitely not - NOT - my familiars.

Witch hunters years ago got it into their head that witches kept animals who drank their blood - their 'familiars,' and these were often owls and cats.

But although I have yet to meet a witch who really does keep a 'familiar' there could be a good reason why cats and owls were so popular. These are both creatures that hunt by night, and can operate in almost total darkness. Owls can detect a mouse some distance away, but not a piece of dead meat even if it's the same size and shape.

Basically what they are doing is seeing in infrared, and this is another way of seeing the 'aura.' Some people can do this, perhaps because their vision is better at the infrared end of the spectrum. This has something to do with the cone shaped cells in the retina, which just cannot cope with these visual wavelengths.

A traditional way of seeing the aura has been to look at someone in dim light, with your eyes partly closed and the light striking the corner of the eye. Personally I'm not sure about this. Some people swear by the method, others don't find it makes a blind bit of difference.

Mr Penry can see the aura perfectly well in broad daylight and never half closes his eyes (unless savouring a particularly good malt whiskey).