We shared a lovely day, gathered in Sawpit Woods to celebrate the middle of winter, the turning of the light and to learn and connect with the holly tree.
With blessings of dryness and warmth from the weather spirits, the fire centred us with a welcome glow and focus of arrival. We shared tea and thoughts of the midwinter celebrations of our ancestors. We shared some ashes from a previous fire to add the connection of people and place and continuity of gatherings.
We created log dogs to take on a wander through the woods, with logs, leads and ivy and bay leaf ears. They sniffed out the holly tree where we sang to the tree, shared gratitude for its winter berries and learned the magic of the tree by making wands of holly, which work with the spell of "Ilex aquafolium".
The log dogs continued on their walk to an oak circle, where we played at being robins and frost sprites and then onto, over, up and through the stream and to the giant oak tree where we sang;
"Oak, oak, oak of old,
King of trees, with your crown of gold,
You are the door to worlds unseen,
In winter bare and in summer green"
After lunch around the fire we processed some holly for their seeds; washing and pulping to collect the seeds at the centre of their rosy berries. The children planted them in pots and created their own ogham sign sticks from hazel they had peeled themselves.
The children cleared a double spiral around the stump of a hawthorn tree, and set it with evergreen plants from the woodland; bay, ivy, pine, fir and holly. With freshly dug clay from the earth, we sculpted candle holders and made our own yule logs and lit the candle in the centre of our spiral.
We looked for the similarities in the patterns on our palms and those of the leafless canopy above us; finding unique and varied patterns and viewpoints of the space and our connection to it.
To close the circle at the end of the day, we sipped hot apple from the fire and wished with a bay leaf. The sounds of the leaves crackled brightly as each of the wishes were sent up into the branches of the woodland and beyond. we collected ashes from the fire to add to the next fire we might share in the future.
Thanks to all for coming and sharing the space and developing connections to the woodland and each other. Happy Midwinter to all.