Drumming circle

Tonight Toni and I went round to Giselle's for out monthly drum circle.

The group is really starting to gel now. The drumming rhythms are all flowing around each other and the addition of flute and rattle made the perfect backdrop for some meditative thought. It was mainly personal and self reflective type stuff tonight whereas last time it was quick deep environmental stuff.

I love the way things ebb and flow with this group and we all head in roughly the same direction without any prompting.

Dolmen Grove Tribal Dreams day 2

Toni and I woke up quite early this morning and set out for a full english (gluten free) breakfast from Poppy's. What a wonderful way to start the day!

Zoe went off to do the kids workshop and Toni started to prepare for her crochet one leaving me at a bit of a loose end so I just wandered around chatting to folk. Toni's crochet workshop was well attended:

I offered to supply some extra drums to the kids workshop only to find myself getting roped into doing some drumming with them myself. I didn't mind but it was a bit unexpected especially as I had to play a djembe which I had never used before.

It was actually great fun and it turned out that the work being done was for the kids to present their own ceremony later in the day! Great stuff!

There was some time for relaxation between kids and crochet workshops though including a chance for more gluten free goodness at Poppy's.

The afternoon was spent listening to Professor Ronald Hutton doing a talk on labyrinths. As usual it was very interesting.

The kids ceremony was absolutely wonderful. It was a real pleasure to have been involved in something so special and they all did very well especially as it had all been put together in a few hours.

..and here it is:

In the evening it was time to get the glad rags on and go and watch The Dolmen play. As usual this was an electrically charged performance. Following on from this everyone got together for an awesome fire ceremony. This one was really special. All the Dolmen Grove moots performed a piece including Essex and all went very well. So proud of everyone from the Essex moot for putting on a good show.

As the moot performances were coming to a close we were treated to a beautiful shooting star which just added more magick to the proceedings. Then came the fire:

As for the rest of the evening... there was mead, there was singing, there was talking, there was sitting around the fire. Great times with great company!

Dolmen Grove Tribal Dreams day 1

We started the day with breakfast at The Sailors Return in Weymouth before hitting the road and heading off to Templecombe for the Dolmen Grove Tribal Dreams camp. It was a really smooth journey and we were there in less than an hour. Before the fun and merriment could begin though we had to put up FOUR tents!

First up was our bell tent, followed by Mel & Boothy's (with Zoe's popup happening at the same time). Once that was done we then had to put up Mandy's slug. Remind me not to offer to put up everyone else's tent in future LOL! As the day progressed more and more friends arrived on site until the gang was all there!

Drums were collected and then it was time to get the rhythms going for the opening ceremony.

Following the ceremony (with a firm grounding and connection made) it was time to kick back and relax. Toni indulged in a little moonlight crochet

Mr Booth tried on one of Toni's hats and ended up looking like something out of Blackadder!

As the night went on there was fire (and marshmallows):

Here's the sign on the toilet block which I've added just because it was fun:

Toni and I didn't have a massively late one so that we would be bright and fresh and ready for a LONG day tomorrow!

Dolmen Grove Essex Moot

It was that time again as we loaded up the car ready to head into deepest darkest Essex for our monthly Dolmen Grove Essex Moot. We picked up Mandy en route and then we were off.

It was a good moot. Taloch Jameson (Dolmen Grove founder) had come up to give a talk on the state of paganism today and also to give a brief overview of the Dolmen Grove.

After the talk we had an amazing drum ceremony. The level of energy that we raised was out of this world. It was great to see some new members in attendance too. Plans are now set of the August moot too which looks to be filled with more excitement.