The Magical World of Tylluan Penry

Just a quick update on my latest book. My publishers, Capall Bann have informed me that the proofs are already winging their way to me and should be hear by tomorrow!

So that's the next few days taken care of... sitting over a hot desk, with a pencil, tape recorder and magnifying glass, looking for mistakes.

It's very important when you send your manuscript to your chosen publisher to make sure that it's as clean as possible, i.e. that you've checked it for mistakes and typos, because when you get to the proof checking stage you are faced with a double challenge:
1. To make the finished manuscript as perfect as possible
2. To make as few alterations as possible.

The reason why you want to make as few alterations as possible at this stage is because it can drastically change the layout and page numbering - and can be expensive to put right.

So, to all you budding writers... remember, get it right before you send your manuscript off. That way, when the proofs come back, you will keep your work to a minimum.

Actually, I'm rather looking forward to the proof reading. Like meeting an old friend again... besides, Capall Bann produce such lovely books, it'll be interesting to see how my book has been set out.

Shall keep you informed!

The

I've just had a message that our blogfriend Jollyweez is presently in hospital.

I know I don't have to ask those who know her to send some healing energies her way, and wishes for a speedy recovery.

I shall light some incense for her first thing tomorrow morning.

Brightest blessings, Jollyweez, get well soon!

I'm a great believer in keeping things simple. Nice clear rune shapes, a plain white casting cloth and a simple three-rune spread. I know sometimes people like much more complicated layouts, but I believe that since there are only 24 runes in a set (well, 24 in the Elder Futhark, 30 or 31 in the Anglo Saxon runesets) you have a better reading with fewer runes.

I also make it a point never to ask what the question is about. I don't want to know. I find that way that people are free to ask what's really in their hearts, without worrying whether or not I'm going to sit there judging them. It gives them privacy especially if they're accompanied by a friend or relative.

And the funny thing is that my readings seem to work better this way. Without knowing the question, I can get to grips with the runes in a way that I couldn't if I was looking for certain trends. I just read the runes and leave it to the querent to decide whether or not it answers their question. If they're still not sure, I ask them to pull out another rune and ask for clarification.

Is this the way the runes were read years ago? Who knows. Personally I don't think it matters. The Runes have adapted to many different languages, many different situations. They have been used for writing, for riddles, for charms and for divination.

The very best runes are those you make yourself, preferably from natural materials such as stone or wood. The rune symbols can be engraved, carved, scratched, burned or painted. Some even say you should colour the runes with your own blood. Certainly it's a good idea to cleanse and empower them every so often, otherwise they begin to feel 'stale' and unpleasant to handle.

But the most important thing to do with your runes is to use them. Little by little, day by day, you coax them to give up their secrets, remembering that the lessons they bring to you could well be quite different from the lessons they bring to me.

This weekend I am travelling westwards for the Pagan Federations Summer Camp where I shall be giving a rune workshop on Sunday. I'm really looking forward to it.

The runes are a brilliant method of divination, although people tend not to find them as attractive as the Tarot. I believe this is partly because with the Tarot (depending on which deck you use) you have something recognisable to look at: the magician, the moon, the hermit etc., whereas the runes are completely abstract.

And yet there's a freedom with the runes that you don't get with the Tarot. The runes work on your subconscious if you allow them too. They are tricksy, mischievous things, rather like the Norse trickster god, Loki. No wonder they were used for codes and riddles!

As I get older, I am drawn more and more towards the Anglo Saxon Runes. I'm not quite sure why... I spent an entire summer brushing up on my Anglo Saxon just to be able to get to grips with the Anglo Saxon Rune Poem. A year ago I sat in the garden reading the Leechbook of Bald and the Lacnunga (Anglo Saxon Herbals). There is just something about the Anglo Saxons, in my opinion they are sadly neglected when it comes to magic.

Part of the problem, of course, is that much of the literature we have by them has a distinct Christian gloss to it. Many pagans find this a bit off putting. But often if you dig just that little deeper, if you go the extra mile, the door opens and you're back in a world of feasting, swords, ogres and gods that throw hammers!

For anyone interested in learning more about ancient languages, I can recommend the Tiger of the Stripe website at www.tigerof the stripe.co.uk You need to have a real browse around it to find all the treasures hidden there, but I had my Anglo Saxon dictionary from them at a fraction of the price elsewhere!

Harvests can take many forms. Although for me they still bring back memories of watching people riding on the back of hay carts stacked with bales of hay, a harvest can be more personal: the harvest of long study can be passing an exam, the harvest of sickness can be recovery.... Just because we personally don't get to drink cider as we work in the fields doesn't mean we don't have a harvest - we do.

Years ago the success of the local harvest literally meant the different between life and death and many rituals and celebrations developed to try and magically ensure that the harvest was a good one.

For many Pagans the year has three harvest festivals: 1st August, 21st September and the 31st October. These take account of the different types of food to be gathered, since there is no single date when ALL the crops and harvests will be ready at the same time.

One of the most interesting traditions is the corn dolly which was either made from the last sheaf of the harvest, or the sheaf itself. Around the UK it had a number of different names, including the Hag, the Mare, the Harvest Queen, Corn Dolly, and even Mell Doll.The important thing, I think, is that these were all female - perhaps a forgotten reference to a pagan mother goddess.

If you read Frazer's 'Golden Bough' you will see that this could be a very bloodthirsty ritual in some parts of the world, with a human being sacrificed so that his blood enriched and empower the next year's crops.

In the UK as far as we know, the sheaf (or doll) was decorated with flowers and ribbons and taken back to the farm on a waggon (in Anglo Saxon magic 'following a wagon' was often associated with fertility rites.) The Corn Dolly was then kept safe (usually for a year) but was ritually burned before the next harvest and its ashes ploughed back into the soil as an offering (possibly a symbolic re-enactment of a human sacrifice?).

It's just a beautiful time of year. I think we all deserve our own harvest festival, don't you?

So much for a barbecue summer. Though we have had a few good days, and maybe the last few could even be described as a brief 'Blackberry Summer.' I love seeing blackberries, dark and jewel-like hanging in the hedges. Unlike my neighbours, the ever vigilant Mrs Anubis Evans and Mr Sarcophagus Jones, I like a bit of wilderness in my garden. Mr Penry calls it 'benign neglect'.

In Wales it was traditional to leave a small patch of wilderness (especially nettles) which was said to be for 'the devil.' I suspect this is evidence of later Christianisation, and that originally the ground was left sacred to a pagan deity or earth spirit.

But if you want to pick your blackberries, you have to hurry. For in October (especially around the 10th) it will be Devil's Blackberry Day, and after this date it was traditionally considered unsafe to eat blackberries. Actually, if you look closely, you will see that around this time of year the bramble bushes become covered in small spider's webs, and the fruit themselves are often long past their best, and a bit 'wormy.'

When I was young my father always made blackberry cordial for us to stave off coughs and colds. I loved it, and also elderflower cordial, another rich, heavy syrup.

It's hard to remember that there was a time, not all that many years ago when oranges were strictly seasonal in the shops and hard to come by at certain times of the year. We used to make syrup from rose hips - my father said they had to be picked after the second frost of the year... if you picked them sooner they would be too hard, and if you picked them too late they would be too soft!

Whatever your spiritual path, it's worth noticing the Equinox. At the moment it's a bit like cycling uphill... and just about to go over the crest of the hill. No wonder so many of us feel a distinct unease (a word very closely linked to disease ) at this time of year. The balance is quite literally changing as the year shifts gears. Soon the nights will draw in and the shadows will lengthen.

This is the time of year when spiders start to take up residence indoors... and you will notice more of them out in the garden too. When storms approach, spiders get busy in their webs, tightening them up so they will survive the wind. An old saying ran:

If you wish to live and thrive
Let the spider run alive

[In my next post I hope to tell you a little bit about the corn dolly traditions...]

I've been away from Blogland for ages, I know. Sometimes there simply aren't enough hours in the day and I am desperately playing catch up. And also, I don't like posting entries on the blog that simply say 'I'm soooo bored' (I never am) or 'I'm soooo tired' (by the time I reach that stage I've usually nodded off anyway.)

So, what have I been doing? Well, I've been working on two books, and also on my forthcoming talks : the Pagan Fed's summer camp ( a workshop on RUnes), THe Hay on Fire Festival at Samhain/Halloween, and Witchfest International (plants and anglo saxon charms and magic - probably.)

I write quickly, but obviously not quickly enough. And of course, there's more to life than writing. There's shopping, cooking, cleaning, all the things I would normally be doing anyway.

We're now approaching a very interesting festival. The autumn equinox. It doesn't have the same fun element as Beltane/May Day, or Samhain/Halloween... it hasn't been commercialised like Ostara/Easter or Yule/Christmas. But it's still an incredible time of year. And the reason we know this is because the early Christian Church tried (and largely succeeded) in Christianising it as Michaelmas. The feast of St Michael, the Archangel, usually held on 29th September.

Revels, fairs and wakes were held throughout the period of gathering home the harvest and often it was difficult to tell where one festival ended and another began. I think it was Henry VIII who finally tried to put a stop to the endless rounds of entertainment and feasting which passed along from village to village.

And the choice of Michaelmas is interesting too. St Michael was no ordinary saint, he was an archangel who helped defeat Lucifer and various assorted dragons.

Now the connection of Lucifer and dragons is an interesting one. Many ancient sites have their traditions of serpents and dragons who lived nearby and some peope believe these names were actually euphemisms for power, in particular earth currents. Others claim they represented the old pagan religions. By defeated the dragon or serpent, therefore, St Michael was defeating the old pagan religions and destroying their powers.

Certainly a number of interesting sites have been dedicated to the saint. The chapel on top of Glastonbury Tor. St Michael's Mount in Cornwall, and Mont St Michel off the northern coast of France.

This is a very interesting link if you want to read some more:

http://www.sacredsites.com/europe/england/stmichaels_mount.html

Personally I think the festival deserves a much higher profile than it has nowadays. We might as well make the most of the three harvest celebrations of Lammas (1st August) the Equinox (21st September) and Halloween (31st October) because after that we have the long nights of winter, the frost, the rain and winds.

A good old fashioned feast is just what we need!