Warwickshire Spiritual Network

2007-08-16T10:18:00.000-07:00

Lammas

Fields of listening, whispering corn

Ripen in the heavy air

Lugh the Golden dancing forth,

Leaves and sheaves in his wild hair.

In perfect circles bow the stalks,

Mark the path where great Lugh walks,

Mark days and seasons, round they go,

As above, so below.

Grainne and Diarmuid meet

Clasping in the heady air,

Loving in the dolmen's shadow,

Lost deep in her corn-sweet hair.

And his Moon follows her Sun,

Marks the way where she has gone,

Marks how love and life must be,

Each follows his own destiny.

Misty sun and steaming rain

Upon the pregnant, swelling earth.

Drying trees and tiring fields

Await the mystery of birth.

Now, in her ecstatic sleep

Mark she opens, dark and deep.

Mark, the Neolithic tomb

Pulses, like a throbbing womb.

Poppies scarlet on the gold,

Slashing, gory, gaudy red.

Colour brash and petals frail,

Bright life cut down, blown away, dead.

Now he lies down on the fields.

Mark, his life he freely yields

Mark the blood upon the corn

All that dies shall be reborn

All that dies shall be reborn.

(from Teresa Moorey & Jane Brideson's 'Wheel of the Year')

Lammas has come and gone, and quite strangely, we're almost approaching autumn. It seems unreal, considering how wet and cold it has often been in the last months. Last Saturday, I even found a coloured autumn leaf. Beautiful, I thought, but a bit early.

Warwickshire Spiritual Network has been relatively quiet over the summer. There has been a Past Life Regression workshop in early August that some of you attended, but little else, apart from a daytrip to Avebury, including Silbury Hill and West Kennet Long Barrow, for Lammas. Maddie and I spent a beautifully hot and sunny day on the land, wandering through the stones, making flower and grain offerings and celebrating the day with a delicious feast.

This is a bit of a nostalgic post for me, as it will be my last one, at least for a good while. I am leaving Leamington Spa in September to travel the world by train. I suppose you could say it's a spiritual quest on many levels, following the call of the wild soul that does not want to be contained any longer. I'll be travelling from Leamington to Pakistan on the train, via Eastern Europe, Russia, Mongolia, China, Tibet, Nepal, and possibly India. After that, who knows? I'm looking forward to going with the flow for a while. The focus of my trip is a rare opportunity to celebrate the Winter Solstice festival with the indigenous Kalash tribe in the Hindu Kush mountains on Pakistan's North West Frontier. It's something I'm really excited about and looking forward to, even though it's daunting on some levels, and I'm quite sad about leaving Leamington! This town has been such a transformational, creative place for me, but I suppose it's time to let go and move on to other journeys. I'm having a leaving party in September, too, and details will be sent out to you via our mailing list - if you're not on it and would like to come, please e-mail us on spiritnet@tiscali.co.uk. If you want to keep in touch with me or simply read about my adventures, I have a travel blog online which you can subscribe to: http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Travelling-Priestess/

Warwickshire Spiritual Network will continue as an organic entity, with events, networking etc as usual. Beth will keep up quarterly meetings and inform you about these accordingly. We're not clear yet what will happen to this website, either somebody else will take it over, or there might be a new one - but we'll post details on here as soon as we have them.

For now, lots of love to you all, and I hope to see you before I leave!

2007-07-17T10:45:00.000-07:00

The Holy Wells Procession blog, created by photographer Alison Chakir, is now up. You can view a lot of pictures of this wonderful day on http://wellwishingwater.blogspot.com/

2007-06-28T06:44:00.000-07:00

Clay, Becky and Sheilagh's drum and didgeridoo session at the Procession's start (photo: Alison Chakir)

The approaching Water Goddess... (photo: Alison Chakir)

Processing in the park (photo: Alison Chakir)

What a busy and amazing month June has been! We have been involved in many exciting projects and events, such as the Holy Wells Procession at the Peace Festival, various summer solstice celebrations, and in the midst of all this, Mosaic magazine - a new spiritual magazine for the Warwickshire area - has emerged. All of this has been wonderful and vibrant - and very community-minded.

Our Holy Wells Procession on Sunday 17th June went really well. Despite gloomy prophecies by some, we had perfect sunny and hot weather. The event featured contributions from various local artists, poets, storytellers and musicians, as well as the appearance of a mysterious Water Goddess on the River Leam. Focal point of the procession was a lengthy ‘River of Wool’, made from many individual blue squares, knitted by people all across Warwickshire as part of the ‘Knit a River for Water Aid’ initiative. The procession began at the Pump Rooms Well with a drumming and didgeridoo session by various musicians, and an introductory speech by organiser Tiziana Stupia. The blue ‘River of Wool’ was unrolled and carried by everyone involved in the procession through Jephson Gardens and the town for the following two hours.
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Performers included American poet Clay Lowe, who enchanted attendees with poetry about water at the Polish fountain, and Leamington’s samba band The Sambassadors of Groove, who drummed out powerful rhythms and a dance in honour of the Water Goddess. By the river, storyteller and Druid Daru McAleece narrated the myth of the mysterious Leamington Spa Water Goddess for the first time, and the Songlines choir captivated everyone with their evocative songs about rivers and water. On Mill Bridge, many were surprised and delighted to catch a glimpse of a veiled Water Goddess, floating down the river in a boat with an elfin consort. The Goddess was showered with offerings of flower petals and in turn waved benevolently at the crowd, before disappearing again into the waters. Further contributions of storytelling and poetry followed courtesy of Methodist minister Pauline Warner at the well monument outside All Saint’s Church, and Sheilagh Holmes outside Robbin’s Well. The procession concluded with a closing blessing, flower offerings, and a joint song at the Pump Rooms Well.
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There is an article in this week's Courier about the Procession - it was a fabulous and magical event. Thanks again to everyone who helped to make it such a success. Some people 'blamed' us for the recent floods in Leamington, saying all this invoking of the Water Goddess is obviously having an effect.... hmm! :-) She has indeed been very abundant this year!

A few days later, some of us ventured out to Southam Holy Well for a Summer Solstice celebration. After leaving some offerings of flowers and herbs at the well, we shared poetry, stories, songs, meditation, and a small water ceremony, followed by a shared picnic. The weather was mainly lovely and sunny, apart from the briefest of showers, and the countryside around Southam is enchanting. It's really worth visiting, and there is an actual Holy Wells walk you can follow, which takes about an hour and leads past some old, overgrown and very romantic ruins, as well as through meadows and woodlands.

On the evening of the Summer Solstice, we had our social WSN gathering upstairs at Cafe Rouge. The event was well attended and was longer than usual, as everybody relaxed and had a fab time catching up. Dave Graham is putting together a Past Life Regression workshop in the near future and was sourcing interest for this event, so if you are interested, you can contact him on davegrahamish@yahoo.co.uk or see his website on http://www.allareonetherapies.co.uk/

Two days later, on 23rd June, I (Tiziana), had the honour of appearing as the warrior Queen Boudica as part of a rather bizarre line-up in Atherstone, which included also John the Baptist and Lady Godiva. The event was organised by Pauline 'bizarre is what I do best' Warner as part of the 'Knit a River for Water Aid' campaign. The very long river (probably around half a mile long by now!) was unrolled and displayed next to the River Anker. On the other side of the River is supposedly the site where Boudica fought her last battle of the British Rebellion in 60/61 AD. She led this rebellion to defend the rights of the British against the invading Romans, and to avenge the honour of her daughters, who the Romans raped. Pauline's idea of bringing Boudica 'back to life' with her final speech (see http://members.tripod.com/~ancient_history/boadfinal.html), which I recited, was to avenge her symbolically, and also to address something larger that is going on in that region. Many years ago, Pauline became aware of concern by both clergy and other professionals at the high number of child abuse cases they were hearing about or handling. Being aware that geographical regions can be affected by their history, Pauline commented to someone that it was just 'as if some terrible thing had happened in this area which had drawn, and continues to draw abuse to it.' She consequently found out about the research suggesting that Boudica was defeated in this locality. She further added: 'Boudica's rebellion happened not because she was a nasty, war-mongering female and not simply because she objected to being pushed around by the Romans. It was the rape of her two young daughters which inflamed her to rise up against the oppressor. It was the righteous anger of a mother defending her children from abuse. Her defeat represented the triumph of oppression and cruel patriarchy. If it did happen in this area, that would vindicate my intuition that something huge had happened which let loose forces of abuse and repression, particulary against women and children.' I find Pauline's theory very interesting, and it was an honour to take part in the very ritualistic event, whether it was the actual place of Boudica's defeat or not. It felt important to mark and remember her, and everything she fought for.

Furthermore, the rather dashing John the Baptist made an appearance because he is associated with the summer solstice; and Lady Godiva aka Pru Poretta (http://godiva.webeden.co.uk/) once owned the land we were on. Lady Godiva told us an enchanting story about the Water Goddess Coventina, which linked in nicely with our Holy Wells Procession.

A special treat was the presence of a lady called Angie, who brought some of her reptiles to the centre for the day as part of an educational event. I fell in love with her pet rat snake Tango at first sight and had him coiled around my neck for about an hour. Snakes are such amazing, sensual creatures.

Things have calmed down now, and the next event we can look forward to is our Lammas Bonfire Party on Saturday 28th July. We are not sure yet where exactly it will happen, but I'll post details on this website as soon as I know. The next WSN meeting will be in September, check this site from time to time for details about that also.

I will leave you with the Story of the Leamington Spa Water Goddess, which I was inspired to write on the morning after the procession. Enjoy!

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She lies waiting

She is asleep most of the time. Curled up, she dreamily listens to the sounds of the water as it splashes softly against the rotting boat that is tied to her overgrown little island. Splish, splash. It’s been so long, she has lost track of time. Sometimes, she watches a family of swans that nests on the island. There are three signets, opening their feathers wide with expectation to the life that lies ahead of them. She watches them and sighs. The miracle of youth, she murmurs to herself as she contemplates her own invisibility, lifelessness, transience. It has been so long that algae are growing from her fingers. Memories, flashbacks, come back to her from time to time, some painful, some nostalgic, some joyful like mirages from a distant land. Often, she dreams of a soft, cosy, warm place, and the type of transparent, enveloping warmth that can only be found in the hearts of human beings. She has not felt it for a long time.

When she was a young maiden, a long long time ago, things were different. There were lush springs, wells, and waters all around her, springing from her mouth, her breasts, from between her thighs. She was cherished and loved. People came and celebrated her, thanked her with flowers and gifts, they sang and danced and visited her often. They held her in their hearts, they celebrated the sacred waters that were so much part of their lives. The people cherished her, and in turn, she cherished the people. This continued for a very long time.

In time, the maiden grew into a mother. She wanted to help the people, to help them grow, because she saw their suffering. She loved them, and so she became always more giving, leading the people to more of her sacred spring waters, making them richer and more nourishing. The people cured many ailments from her waters, and they began to prosper. They discovered many healing wells, built big bath houses around them, developed their village into a big town, and yet still honoured her with statues, monuments and mosaics.

But something shifted. Somehow, ever so slightly, things changed. There were less flowers, less singing, less dancing. Less joy. At first, she put it down to lack of attentiveness. The people were so busy, as many visitors came to their town to experience the miraculous waters – even the Queen of England visited. Surely it was only a matter of time until they remembered again, she told herself. And she continued giving. But people paid her less and less attention. Bath house after bath house closed down, well after well disappeared, as the people decided they had more important ventures to pursue.

Without their love, she slowly turned into a crone. Her waters dried up. Still she gave, she flowed, whenever she could, ignoring the sadness and the loneliness that choked her from time to time. Eventually, when she could take it no more, she retreated to the river. She hid. And still she could not stop giving. She sank into a deep sleep.

Yet, almost unbeknown to her, from time to time, somebody remembered her. A small flower, a thought, a friendly word. It was mostly the old people who recalled her, who kept the wells, and their patroness, in their hearts. She experienced this as a gentle warm wave inside her body, a tingling soft sensation like that of a summer breeze, and the waters, of which there was only a trickle left, suddenly flowed more freely for a while.

Then one summer day, as she lay in the deep grass on her island, she heard drumming from afar. Just like in old times, she thought sleepily, maybe I am dreaming again. She scolded herself for being so sentimental, and drifted off again. But the drumming became louder and louder, and through the reeds she could make out dancers, dressed in white and orange. She spotted a big man reading from a book near a fountain, and he was holding a glass of water in his hand. A little closer to her island, she heard a man tell a story to a crowd of curious people. He looked angry, and she thought she heard the word ‘Goddess’ and ‘forgotten’, but surely this could not be. Suddenly, the group of people started singing and dancing in a circle. Most peculiar. They danced onto the bridge, waved flowers and started calling. They started calling… her name. ‘Goddess!’, they called, ‘where are you? Come back!’ She reared her head slowly. No, she decided, it could not be. It had been too long. But they were calling her, from the bridge.

The little elf and boatsman who kept her company sometimes tugged excitedly at her sleeve. ‘Goddess’, he pleaded, ‘there are people who want to see you!’ Only half-dressed, for he had been sleeping too, he jumped into the boat and gestured her to do the same, then rowed her, as fast as he could, towards the bridge. The voices of the people became louder and more consistent ‘Goddess! We remember you!’, they called. ‘What, me? They remember me? Who are they?’, she asked the elf incredulously, who rowed quicker and quicker towards the bridge. Could this be? Many people were leaning over the bridge towards her, with expressions of anticipation and wonder and joy at seeing her. They sang songs, they threw flower petals at her, they welcomed her back amidst much noise and happiness. From despondence and disbelief, her expression changed to deep emotion and joy. She slowly raised her arm, her arm that had become stiff and creaky from the long years on the river. She was no longer alone. She was no longer forgotten. They had remembered her.

2007-05-31T09:21:00.000-07:00

As the sun spirals its longest dance,

Cleanse us

As nature shows bounty and fertility,

Bless us

Let all things live with loving intent

And to fulfill their truest destiny

Greetings everyone,

it's been a while! Beltane, the wonderful festival of love, sensuality and sexuality, has been and gone, and we're now swiftly approaching the Summer Solstice. It's hard to believe, with the current cold weather and 'April showers' that have been confusing me after spending a month in Sicily! Yet, this is a time to embrace and celebrate life and growth, and to mark this special season, we are not only bringing you a special Summer Solstice Network meeting - we're also having a daytime event in the form of a visit to the Holy Well in Southam. We warmly invite you to celebrate with us! Here are the details:

Thursday 21st June 2007

Summer Solstice Celebration at Southam Holy Well

10.30 am: leaving Leamington for Southam, walk to the Holy Well with a summer solstice ceremony and shared lunch at a local pub or cafe. Bring offerings for the well, poetry, songs and stories. For further information and lift-share, e-mail Tiziana at spiritnet@tiscali.co.uk

Warwickshire Spiritual Network Meeting

8 pm: Special SUMMER SOLSTICE SOCIAL NETWORKING EVENT at CAFE ROUGE (upstairs room), Regent Street, Leamington Spa. Come along to network, chat, exchange information, make new friends or catch up with existing ones, relax and have a drink! Everyone welcome.

The Peace Festival is also swiftly approaching on 16th and 17th June. Please come along to our Holy Wells Procession, which is promising to become a big community event! We will be starting the procession at 1.45 pm on Sunday 17th June at the Well outside the Pump Rooms, processing through Jephson Gardens and visiting some of the original well sites around town. So far, we have booked some wonderful storytellers, performance poets, musicians, Leamington's own Songlines choir, contributions from the Warwick Words writer's group, and much more. Keep checking back for latest developments. If you are a performer, in particular a folk musician/band, please get in touch as we'd love your contribution!

Just in time for the Peace Festival, Beth will be launching a new spiritual magazine for Leamington Spa, called Mosaic. In Beth's own words, 'the aim of Mosaic magazine is to bring all that is going on within this arena into one publication (i.e. not mainstream stuff which is already available via many existing papers/mags). It will be free, quarterly, A4 and will include articles, ethical shopping, an interview per issue. I also want to source and feature local people who blend their day to day life with work in all things alternative, green, creative etc. There will be a listings page; for local groups to publicise their own events - and news and letters pages where people can express their views on local, national and global events and other important issues. These are just a few ideas as I hope that the magazine will evolve as more people hear about Mosaic.'

This is an exciting new venture in Leamington and we all look very much forward to seeing the first issue!

Finally, an advance notice for your diaries: there will be a Lammas Bonfire Party on Saturday 28th July somewhere in or around Leamington. Venue to be confirmed!

Hope to see you all at the Summer Solstice!

2007-03-23T10:27:00.000-07:00

The Wheel of the Year has turned once again, and we were blessed with a magnificent and sunny Spring Equinox on Wednesday. As darkness and light were in equal balance once again, we welcomed the arrival of spring, the buds, the spring flowers, and our rising energy. May this time be full of joy, enthusiasm and activity for you, and may the creative passionate fires burn brighly in you!

Clay Lowe gave a very interesting talk about core shamanism at the last WSN meeting on 15th March. He took us through his personal journey before explaining his spiritual path in some depth, and answered general questions about shamanism and its deep connection with nature. For the practical part of the evening, Clay guided us through a scrying exercise, for which we used rocks. This is an ancient rock ceremony, in which objects, such as rocks, water, smoke, crystals, and so on, are utilised to aid the subconscious in guiding our conscious selves. We paired up with a partner, and each of us asked a question, and then described images we saw on the surface of the rocks - leading us to often surprisingly accurate answers. The evening was enjoyed by all, so thanks again, Clay.

On this note, the format of Warwickshire Spiritual Network is changing. Meetings will from now on by quarterly, instead of monthly, at least for the foreseeable future. The reason for this decision is that both Beth and I are very busy this year with our individual projects, and holding monthly meetings (with associated admin, publicity etc.) is just not possible for us at the moment. However, if you would like more frequent meetings and would like to host these, or organize other events, then please get in touch - remember, this is your group, and your input will be gratefully received! So, please note this in your diaries: the next WSN meeting will not be until Thursday 21st June now, coinciding with the Summer Solstice!

We have also set up an interactive Yahoo-Group, for which all WSN-members should by now have received an invite. On this Yahoo group, you can post messages, inform other members of events, workshops, and other interesting spiritual matters, and keep in touch with each other. The web address for this group is:

http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/spiritual_network/ If you have not received an invite, and would like to join, follow the instructions on the website with a little introduction about yourself, and we will add you to the list.

The Faiths Trail, organised by the WDFF on Saturday 17th March went very well. Anne from Coventry Earth Spirit gave an excellent talk about Paganism and Holy Wells at the Sacred Well outside Leamington library, and even made it into the Courier newspaper today (Friday 23rd March)! It was a well-attended event (even the Bishop of Warwick showed up!) with visits to various Faiths Centres, a delicious vegetarian lunch at Babe Ke Gurdwara, and an interesting seminar about the importance of Friends, Family & Friendship in the different faiths. Talks were given by Sikh, Buddhist, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Pagan and Christian representatives. Transcripts of both Anne's and my talk have been uploaded on the 'files' section of the Yahoo group. Photos of the event will follow shortly.

Peace Festival news: We are now getting to work on this year's Holy Wells Procession on Sunday 17th June. For this, we will be collaborating with Pauline Warner from Nuneaton, who is organizing another water event in Warwickshire in conjunction with the charity Water Aid. For her project, people all across Warwickshire are knitting blue squares of wool, which will be sewn together in June to symbolize a river. Pauline will bring this 'river of wool' to the Peace Festival, which might be around one mile long by then, and we will be processing it through Jephson Gardens to the Sacred Wells. Further details about this will follow, and if you would like to get involved in the planning, please get in touch. We would like to hear from musicians, poets and storytellers in particular. We are also finalizing details about a new Sacred Drama about the Goddess of the Water, which will involved storytelling and percussion this time. Watch this space!

2007-03-05T08:45:00.000-08:00

Did you see the lunar eclipse on Saturday night? It was truly awesome - Anne, Barry and I watched it from the (rather muddy and freezing cold) Earlsdon Common. Seeing the brightly lit Full Moon become darker and darker until it was completely eclipsed and dark red was mind-blowing. It was like experiencing the entire monthly lunar cycle in a few hours. Maybe this explains why everything seems to move so incredibly fast at the moment! It was a full moon in Virgo, and according to the wondrous Tara at Wise Moon - http://wisemoon.blogspot.com/ - 'a full moon in Virgo during Pisces highlights the role of the healer in the world, and the healing needed for the world. It is a time for us to really visualize the changes that we would like to see in the world, for the world, but also for ourselves.' Makes sense!

Last month, we were all inspired by Mandy of Wild Soul Art's talk. It was a fairly small meeting (due to some confusion about the new venue and date, I've been told) but because of that, it worked really well. Mandy talked us through her own creative journey, awakening, and the blocks she had to overcome before becoming a successful artist. She also took us through a series of exercises that helped us to assess where we are creatively at the moment, and the resulting awareness was quite deep and moving for some people. Mandy, who is also a Barefoot Boogie DJ, is organizing another party in March - just in time for the Spring Equinox - called 'The Mad March Hare Ball' - on Sunday 25th March at St Columba Hall in Moseley, Birmingham, at 7 pm. Cost is £7. Contact her on mail@mandykasafir.com for more information.

This month's meeting will be on Thursday 15th March at KARMA, 23 Portland Street, Leamington Spa at the usual time of 8 pm. Guest speaker will be Clay Lowe of Ascent Experience, who will talk about core shamanic practice and the visible face of spirit. Clay is a trainer, coach and facilitator. He has been a spiritual seeker for the past 25 years, and has now found a home in the shamanic roots of Taoism. Note: Please bring 2 grapefruit-sized rocks and a blanket to the meeting. For more information on Clay, please visit http://www.ascent-experience.com/

I now have the timetable for the Warwick District Faiths Forum's Faith Trail on Saturday 17th March. This is a day of visits to different faiths centres, and the Programme is as follows:

Faith Trail Programme

9.00 - 9.45 Shree Krishna Centre (Hindu Temple)

10.00 - 10.15 Sacred Well (Pagan site, outside the library)

10.30 - 11.15 All Saints’ Church

11.45 - 12.15 Buddhist Centre in Sherbourne

12.30 - 13.30 Babe Ke Gurdwara (Sikh Temple - including Lunch)

14.00 - 16.00 Seminar at Town Hall Leamington Spa
Presentations by different Faith Groups

Meeting point for the day is at 9.00am Shree Krishna Community Centre, 10(b) High Street, Crown Terrace, Leamington Spa CV31 3EN (but you can join in at any point during the day).

Transport to the Buddhist Centre is available from All Saints’ Church at 11.15am.
For further information contact:

Jatinder Birdi - Chair Warwick District Faith Forum. Tel: (0795) 858 9464
Tim Healey - Warwickshire County Council. Tel: (01926) 736 138

We are particularly pleased about the inclusion of the Sacred Well in the Faiths Trail. Anne Barrowcliffe of Coventry Earth Spirit will give a talk at the Well on the day, and I will give a talk on Paganism at the Town Hall in the afternoon. Hope to see some of you there!

2007-02-05T06:18:00.000-08:00

2007-02-05T05:33:00.000-08:00

Time flies! Imbolc, the beginning of spring, is here, and with it many beautiful snowdrops and crocuses. We marked the turning of the wheel with a ritual on Burton Dassett hills and a silent procession to the nearby Holy Well, incorporating an ancient healing ceremony and small well dressing. It was a wonderful way to mark a special day.

Our last meeting in January was a big success, with over thirty people attending the one-off venue at Sarida's house for an evening of discussion, reminiscence and meditation, featuring some of the pioneers of our current local spiritual environment - Sarida Brown (Sufis, Leamington Health Festival), Bill Heilbronn (Yoga, Kabbalah), Nuala Pinson (Healing, Yoga), and Patrick Tanner (Tibetan Buddhism). We were all fascinated by their accounts of what they dreamt into manifestation to in the 1970's - the incredibly advanced Leamington Health Festival for example, which promoted yoga, nutrition & healthy school meals (probably before Jamie Oliver was born!), natural child birth, Sufi dancing, and all kinds of alternative health therapies long before anyone else. It seems like it was a new and exciting time, and it was wonderful to get a retrospective by the very people that started the movement, and to see that they are still around, continuing the work they started decades ago!

There are some Warwick District Faiths Forum news: On Saturday 17th March, there will be a Faiths Trail in Leamington Spa, organized by WDFF, during which people are able to visit different places of worship. The day will include visits to the Hindu Temple, All Saints Church, the Well outside the library, St Peter's Church, the Buddhist Temple in Sherbourne, and Babe Ke Gurdwara (Sikh Temple) for lunch. In the afternoon, there will be a seminar in the Town Hall about the role of mothers in different religions. I will post a time-table of the event on here as soon as it becomes available.

Our next Network meeting will be on Thursday 15th February at 8 pm, and guest speaker this time will be Mandy Kasafir of Wild Soul Art & Dance, who will talk about creativity and spirituality. Mandy is an artist, dancer, Barefoot Boogie DJ and writer. Over the years, she has worked with her own creative ‘blocks’ to develop an easy, natural and soulful way of connecting with creative energy, and she will lead us through some exercises designed to help unblock buried creativity. Some of you will know Mandy from our collaborations with her on the Temple events - she DJ'd and performed at both the Beltane Temple of Sensual Delights in Birmingham last May, and the Samhain Temple of Transformation in Leamington in November. To find out more about Mandy and her art, please visit http://www.mandykasafir.com/

Please note that we have a NEW VENUE again: it is the downstairs room at KARMA, 23 Portland Street in Leamington Spa.

2007-01-24T06:37:00.000-08:00

Imbolc Celebration Thursday 1st February at Burton Dassett Holy Well

Warwickshire Spiritual Network would like to invite you to an Imbolc celebration on Thursday 1st February at Burton Dassett Holy Well (a few miles outside Leamington Spa).

The Celtic festival of Imbolc traditionally marks a time of new beginnings and fresh ideas after a period of inactivity and reflection; it is a good time to visualise and start whatever we'd like to achieve over the next few months - whether this is a creative project, a work project, or something entirely different. The day is also sacred to the Goddess Brigid, who is the patroness of healing, poetry and smithcraft.

To mark Imbolc, we're planning a small ceremony at Burton Dassett. This ceremony will include the honouring of the Holy Well, as well as Brigid, with flowers and offerings, poetry, song, and whatever else we fancy! There will also be a walk on Burton Dassett hills (weather allowing), and a shared lunch.

Contact us on spiritnet@tiscali.co.uk if you'd like to come, need a lift, or can offer one! Children are welcome.

For more information on Burton Dassett Holy Well, please see: http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=8324

2006-12-23T15:18:00.000-08:00

Solstice Berries at Prinknash (photo: Pamela Dunsdon)

2006-12-23T13:30:00.000-08:00

I called on God, and the spirit of Wisdom came to me,
I preferred her to sceptres and thrones,
and I accounted wealth as nothing in comparison with her...
for it is God's Wisdom who gave me unerring knowledge of what exists,
to know the structure of the world and the activity of the elements,
the beginning and end and middle of times,
the alternations of the solstices and the changes of the seasons,
the cycles of the year and the constellation of the stars,
the natures of animals and the tempers of wild animals,
the powers of spirits and the thoughts of human beings,
the varieties of plants and the virtues of roots,
I learned both what is secret and what is manifest,
for Wisdom, the fashioner of all things, taught me.

(Wisdom of Solomon 7:17-21)

Happy Winter Solstice everyone! The Sun has turned once again, promising us light and warmth as the days grow longer. I love the still, dreamy Yuletide time, where we have the opportunity to go deep inside us, dream our future and prepare to birth our visions. I could really feel the Winter Solstice approaching in the last few days, when it was so beautifully foggy and quiet, especially at night - it was as though the Snow Goddess had drawn her mysterious veils all around us.

We went on a fabulous Winter Solstice outing and celebration to Prinknash Abbey in Gloucestershire last Thursday. Pauline, one of our members from Nuneaton, organised the trip and 23 of us went down in a minibus and car. We spent a lovely day there filled with Solstice storytelling - a particularly evocative story of the Egyptian cat Goddess Bast, interwoven with the Nativity story - , ritual and prayer. And food of course! It was a real interfaith event in that we called in a circle and invoked the elements/directions in the grounds of the Abbey, and many Christians joined us as we did so. Likewise, we joined in with some of their prayers. This is my vision of how interfaith events should work - open, non-judgmental and creative.

We also saw some deer, much to Pam's, Becky's and my delight!, peacocks and other birds in the adjacent animal park, and of course visited the famed Orpheus Roman Pavement, a reconstruction of a mosaic found in Woodchester. I was delighted to see it, because the story of Orpheus and Eurydice is one of my favourite descent myths. For those of you who don't know it, Orpheus was the son of Apollo, God of the Sun, and Calliope, the muse of epic poetry. Orpheus could sing and play the lyre so beautifully that not only mortals but also animals and trees, rivers and rocks listened to him. Orpheus fell in love with Eurydice, who was bitten on the heel by a venomous snake on their wedding day and died. Orpheus was inconsolable and went to the Underworld to retrieve her. With the power of his music he persuaded the guardians of the Underworld to let him pass. This they did, but there was one condition: Orpheus could lead Eurydice back from the Underworld, but was not to look at her before she arrived in the land of the living. Owing to the snake bite on her foot, her progress was slow and just before she emerged, Orpheus could bear it no longer and threw a quick glance at her over his shoulder. Eurydice immediately fell back into the 'thin mist' of the kingdom of the Dead. She was now lost to Orpheus forever.

It is said that Orpheus was born on the Winter Solstice, and that apart from a musician, he was a seer, practiced magical arts, in particular astrology, and that he instituted mystic rites as well as initiatory and purification rituals.

Still from Jean Cocteau's Orphee - The Princess and Orphee

There is also a wonderful exhibition about Orpheus in the hallway leading up to the mosaic, which describes the myth and its symbolic meaning - the balance between light and darkness, the integration of the dark - really well. There was even an exhibit and stills of Jean Cocteau's 'Orphee' , a most wonderful, enchanting black&white film adaptation of the myth - one of the best films of all times.

Prinknash was a very apt place to visit on this special day, so a big thank you again to Pauline for organising it!

We are planning to have more outings over the next year, because they're so much fun - if you have any suggestions, or would like to organise something, in particular for the seasonal festivals, please let me know. So far, we're planning a daytrip to the Holy Well at Burton Dassett for the festival of Imbolc on 1st February.

Our next official meeting is on Thursday 18th January at 8 pm. We have a very special evening planned, led by the fabulous Sarida Brown, founding editor of Caduceus Magazine. She will be presenting an evening called 'Leamington's Spiritual History- A retrospective', and Sarida describes it as follows:

'In the 1970s and 1980s, there was not the richness of spiritual life as we know it now in Leamington Spa: meditation, yoga, natural therapies and healing were introduced and taught from scratch. This evening brings together some of those pioneeers who seeded the foundations of our current local spiritual environment: Sarida Brown (Sufis, Leamington Health Festival), Bill Heilbronn (yoga, Kabbalah), Nuala Pinson (healing, yoga), Barbara Sidebottom (aromatherapy, yoga, intuitive work), Patrick Tanner (Tibetan Buddhism) - and others. We will be meeting again for the first time in years, to share our experience in initiating the elements of this composite project. '

Apart from the discussion, which should prove very interesting and entertaining, the evening will also include a meditation, let by one of the above presenters.

Please be aware that there is a NEW VENUE for this meeting:

38 Russell Terrace, Leamington Spa CV31 1HE

Hope to see you there!

2006-11-22T12:38:00.000-08:00

Inanna - From the Great Above to the Great Below

2006-11-22T10:54:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone,

it's been a while since I last posted our news on here - the main reason being that I was rather pre-occupied with preparations for our Samhain Sacred Drama and Temple of Transformation, which happened on 11th November in Trinity Hall. A Samhain Dark Moon in Scorpio (deep dark transformational energy!) didn't help and brought up a lot challenges. For those of you who were not present at 'The Descent of Inanna' - it was a wonderful, magical and powerful night. In the end, about 16 fantastic people were involved in the production, adding their talents and skills ranging from performing to drumming, making music, set design, and so on. People travelled from as far afield as West Wales, London and Glastonbury to participate and watch. It was magical to see the many months of preparation and hard work fall into place on the night, with dance, meditation, drama, and ceremony all woven together to create a beautiful web.

For me, holding the energy of Inanna in the drama, it was a very challenging and transformational process. Being stripped of the seven 'me', the sacred objects of power, at the gates of the Underworld, was hard and painful - and once again I felt so clearly that in order to gain the wisdom and the shining jewels of the underworld, we have to let go, despite our fear, and descend. 'And as grape juice turns to sweet potent wine, so the powers returned drunk with spirit, greater and purer than before.' It's hard to trust in that process sometimes, but there can be no light without darkness, and vice versa, and the light always follows the darkness, if we embrace and surrender to both aspects fully. As Jacqui put it, the Underworld, our subconscious, really is just separated by a thin veil from our mundane reality.

Our next Sacred Drama performance will take place in June 2007, in line with the Leamington Peace Festival, and focus on the water aspect of Leamington Spa, and the Goddess of the Waters. As well as a Sacred Drama, we are organising a Holy Wells Procession & Well Dressing which will mark all of the original springs and wells in Leamington. This will be a multi-faith event with bands, poets and musicians, aiming to promote tolerance and peace between the different faiths - celebrating our commonalities rather than the differences. It's also a way of addressing and maybe healing of the (not only physical) division between North and South Leamington, separated by water. As usual, we will keep you informed about these projects, and if you would like to get involved, please get in touch!

Warwickshire Spiritual Network has been active as usual, and in October we had Harpal Heer talking about the ancient system of Kundalini Yoga, and lead a short set for us. Kundalini Yoga, taught for thousands of years and brought to the west by Yogi Bhajan, is a brilliant system with many sets for self-awareness, healing and raising energy and consciousness. For more information, please see http://www.3ho.org/

Our November meeting was mainly spent discussing the future of the Network. As you may know by now, Seventh Wave Wellbeing is sadly closing its doors next week, and we will have to find a new meeting place for January. We discussed various options and we'll post our new venue on this page as soon as we have decided on one.

For the December meeting, which will coincide with the Winter Solstice on 21st December, we have planned a special daytime outing to Prinknash Abbey to look at the Roman mosaic of Orpheus (yet another descent story!), a walk, lunch, and solstice stories, led by Pauline Warn. If you are interested in coming along, please contact us and we will give you the details.

There will be more outings and events coming up next year, as the format of the WSN might change slightly. We have discussed visiting different places of worship and asking different faith leaders to come and talk about their faiths, which links in nicely with the Warwick District Faiths Forum. Talking about the latter, the Faiths Calendar 2007 should be for sale in mid-December.

See you next month, and happy Samhain to you all.

2006-11-08T09:22:00.000-08:00

A quick reminder that on Saturday November 11th, we will be presenting an evening of sacred drama, ritual and dance to celebrate the winter festival of Samhain.

We'll be presenting what promises to be a beautiful, powerful and engaging ritual performance of an ancient Sumerian descent myth – ‘The Descent of Inanna’ – offering each of us the opportunity to use the unique transformational energy of Samhain to gently explore and let go of what’s no longer needed in our lives.

Come celebrate with us!

DIRECTIONS: The event will take place at Trinity Hall, Trinity Street, in Leamington Spa, CV32. Trinity Hall is behind Trinity Church on Beauchamp Avenue, on top of the Parade, off the Kenilworth Road.

Please arrive prompt for 7.30 pm, as doors will close at 8 pm and due to the ceremonial nature of the event, no admissions will be made after 8. The event will finish at 11.30 pm. Cost is £5.

Please bring photographs of your ancestors and Samhain offerings for the altar, cushions, candles and soft drinks to share. Come prepared to dance and/or dress up as your favourite Samhain God/dess (optional). This event is drug-, smoke- and alcohol-free.

2006-10-12T07:47:00.000-07:00

Hello again,

autumn is finally here, and with it a sense of grounding and balance, before it is time to journey inwards again. During our last meeting, two days before the autumn equinox, I gave a talk about Paganism, Goddess Spirituality and spiritual work in prisons. I spoke primarily about my lengthy personal journey into this spiritual path, and also offered some general information about the Divine Feminine in religion. In addition, I talked about my training as Priestess of Avalon in Glastonbury, the Pagan Wheel of the Year, and how I practise my beliefs on a daily basis through writing, sacred drama, ritual, ceremony, and prison work. We had a good attendance at the meeting, and a lively, stimulating discussion ensued after the talk.

Our next meeting is on Thursday 19th October at 8 pm at the usual place, with local Kundalini Yoga teacher Harpal Heer talking about this transformational body/mind/spirit system. We will also do a short yoga set with her, in order to experience the powerful energy of this form of yoga directly.

On other news, some of you might have already heard about the Inspiration Network, a new group meeting in Leamington Spa. According to their website, 'The Inspiration Network is a non-profit making group created to bring you high quality speakers and events at affordable prices, locally.' The first meeting is taking place this evening, at 7.30 pm, and features a speaker on NLP. You can find out more about them and further meetings on http://www.theinspirationnetwork.org.uk.

One of our most recent attendees, Clay Lowe of Ascent ( www.ascent-experience.com), will be running a hypnosis practice group at Seventh Wave on 25th October from 7-9 pm. If you are interested, please contact him on clay@ascent-experience.com or book directly at Seventh Wave.

On other exciting news, I have become the Pagan representative at WDFF (Warwick District Faiths Forum), a new Multi-Faith group aiming to make a positive difference to living in harmony in Warwick District through mutual understanding and co-operation between Faith groups. I attended a recent meeting, where we discussed strategies on how to create more tolerance between different faiths. Exciting projects are to take place in the near future - there is talk about arranging visits to various faith centres, producing a Faiths Calendar for 2007, and launching a Faiths Festival for 2008. In addition, I am planning a Holy Wells Procession, Sacred Drama and general multi-faith town event for the Summer Solstice 2007, in line with the Peace Festival. More information on this is to follow.

Another thing to look out for in the community is the Forgivenness Project, brought to Leamington Spa by Rev. Clive Fowle and storyteller Dick Leith, amongst other people. This will be launched with a national week-long exhibition at the Healthy Living Centre in Old Town on 18th November.

As Samhain is looming, so is our Samhain Temple of Transformation event (see last post) at Trinity Hall. We are all busy rehearsing the Sacred Drama, and it promises to be an exciting evening. If you need directions, or have any questions about the night, please contact us on spiritnet@tiscali.co.uk

That's all for now - I leave you with a 'thought for the day', which Beth kindly forwarded to me.

Spiritual AwarenessSpiritual awareness (soul-consciousness) is cultivated through deliberate practice and only those who have understood the need for this kind of true, inner, self-respect will make the effort. Difficulties will arise to test your resolve for self-upliftment - physical illness, relationships, memories of the past, and so on. Yet with patience and introspection, you will come to see how these very tests are the means to strengthen your spiritual identity.

2006-08-23T05:34:00.001-07:00

The next Warwickshire Spiritual Network meeting will take place on Thursday 21st September at 8 pm at Seventh Wave Wellbeing, as usual. Speaker in September will be myself, Tiziana Stupia, talking about Paganism, Goddess spirituality and spiritual work in prisons as well as in the community.

Newsflash: Seventh Wave Wellbeing, the beautiful Leamington Spa healing centre where we hold our meetings, are looking for a creative, energetic business partner to help them realise their full potential. If you are interested, or know of anybody who might be, contact Vivienne Little on 01926-427711 and view their website on http://www.seventhwavewellbeing.co.uk/

2006-08-07T10:03:00.000-07:00

Demeter, radiant Goddess of Fertility and Grain

(more photos at Pete Duckworth's site: http://haleworth.fotopic.net/c1039369.html)

2006-08-07T08:57:00.000-07:00

Greetings everyone,

summer has been a busy time for us so far. At our July meeting, Nick Cummins, renowned crystal healer, enlightened us about the healing powers of crystals in his very comprehensive talk. Shortly afterwards, on 1st August, we organised a lunchtime Lammas Celebration of Abundance at Seventh Wave, during which we met the bountiful Goddess Demeter with her gorgeous daughter Kore. Demeter bestowed blessings of corn upon us, and we had the opportunity to thank her for all the abundance we have in our life, which I really welcomed. It is so easy and seductive sometimes to feel sorry for ourselves, for what we haven't got or for what we haven't achieved - and to forget that we are so well cared for with food and shelter for example, and that our houses are not being bombed. We also asked Demeter for assistance with projects we would like to bring to fruition over the next months. As part of her blessing, Demeter spoke the following words to us (adapted from Agapi Stassinopoulos):

This earth is under my protection, she is my heart.
I love her as a mother loves her only child.
I have no other like her, she is my only daughter.
Every branch in every tree
And every fruit in every seed
And every blade of grass and every field and flower
And every river and all the oceans
And every root that grows deep beneath the earth
I love with all my heart.

I rejoice when things grow,
When I see men take my wheat, make bread,
And feed themselves and their children.
The more they take, the more I give.
That is my nature: life giver, selfless caretaker,
Mother of my children.

And now, my daughter, the earth itself has been abducted,
Raped and polluted,
My heart is ripped by what men have done,
My eyes weep for what they have seen.
My children are hungry and they are starved.
In the midst of plenty there is famine.

I weep but I am angry, angry with the cruelty of man.

What can we do to serve you?

Be kind
Be gentle
Be caring
Be watchful
Be smart.
Educate yourself and learn how your mother is abused
And then take action.

Let's start.
Make this earth whole again,
One seed at a time.
Honour the ground you walk on.
Bless all that you see and touch,
So we can make this earth holy again.

*

After Demeter's blessings, we processed into the garden with the most wonderful Lammas bread courtesy of domestic Goddess Helen, and ritually burnt our offerings to Demeter, as well as a Sun King corn doll - to ensure his rebirth next year. We then blessed the Lammas bread with a chant led by Bruce, broke and ate some of the bread, and commenced our delicious Lammas picnic. May this be an abundant, fruitful and joyful harvest time for all of you.

As far as creative projects go, my own personal harvest included the Lammas release of a little book on Sacred Goddess Sites in Sicily. It's a 30-page booklet and features many full-colour photographs of some of the sacred sites I visited during my recent journey to Sicily. It is available for £3.50 directly from me, or via post. Contact me on spiritnet@tiscali.co.uk for further information.

Upcoming events to look forward to are our next meeting, of course, on Thursday 17th August at 8pm, during which crystal healer and all around spiritual person Toby Knight will delight us with a chakra chanting session and meditation, using his singing bowls.

Further ahead, after the success of our Beltane Temple of Sensual Delights in Birmingham last May, we have decided to bring another Temple Event to Leamington Spa in November in line with Samhain. Samhain, for all of our non-Pagan readers, is an ancient Pagan festival, more commonly known as Halloween. It marks the Celtic New Year and is a time where we traditionally remember our Ancestors and contemplate the Mysteries of Death. Our Samhain Temple of Transformation, an evening of Sacred Drama, Dance and Ritual, will take place on Saturday 11th November at 7.30 pm at Trinity Hall (behind Trinity Church), Trinity Street, Leamington Spa. The evening will include a performance of The Descent of Inanna, an interactive Sacred Drama about the Sumerian Goddess Inanna's transformative journey into the Underworld. It promises to be a magical night with oracles, drumming, dance, ceremony and an art exhibition, and marvellously evocative music and dance by DJ and artist Mandy Kasafir of Birmingham's Barefoot Boogie. Further details are to follow on this website, and you can e-mail us at spiritnet@tiscali.co.uk for more information. As usual, this event is drug-, smoke- and alcohol-free.

On a final note, if you are concerned about the recent events in the Middle East, please think of supporting Palestinian farmers by buying fairly traded Palestinian olive oil - available at Gaia in Leamington Spa, or via www.equalexchange.co.uk. Even though it may appear like a small drop in the ocean compared to the challenges they face, Palestinian farmers do need strong supply chains and greater consumer awareness. Our thoughts and prayers are with all of the victims of the Middle East crisis at this difficult time.

2006-07-28T04:43:00.000-07:00

♥ Lammas Celebration of Abundance ♥

On Tuesday 1st August at 12 pm, we will be marking the ancient Pagan festival of Lammas with a community celebration and picnic at Seventh Wave Wellbeing, 9 Augusta Place, Leamington Spa.

Lammas, also called Loaf-Feast, marks the beginning of harvest. At this time of the year, we start to reap the things we have sown and give thanks for the bounty of the Goddess and the Universe. We will be celebrating this festival with ceremony, meditation, song, laughter, drumming, and a fabulous fruit and Lammas bread feast at the end!

Everyone, including children, is welcome! Musicians and singers are especially welcome. Bring flowers, candles, poetry, offerings, and anything else that inspires you!

This event is facilitated by Priestess of Avalon Tiziana Stupia. For further information, please e-mail spiritnet@tiscali.co.uk

2006-06-20T11:36:00.001-07:00

Offerings to the well

2006-06-20T11:36:00.000-07:00

Tiziana and Anne after the ritual

2006-06-20T11:35:00.000-07:00

Maggie at the dressed well

2006-06-20T10:53:00.000-07:00

At this year's Peace Festival in Leamington Spa, we joined forces with Coventry Earth Spirit to create a Summer Solstice Ritual in Jephson Gardens on Sunday 18th June. As well as giving thanks to the life-giving powers of the Sun and the divine powers of light, it felt important to me to include the Sacred Well in the ritual, as the Summer Solstice is linked with the element of water, which signifies flowing emotions, love and compassion. It is traditionally a time when we Pagans honour holy wells, journey to the sea, rivers and lakes to acknowledge the importance of the generous gift of Mother Earth's water, without which we would not be able to survive. To honour an ancient well like the Leamington Spa waters is symbolic of our gratitude to the Goddess of the Waters.

Before the start of the ritual, we ceremonially purified ourselves with a bowl of sacred water, whilst I handed out little prayer ribbons into which we focused our wishes and intentions for this time of the year. The undercurrent of the ritual, in line with the festival, was peace, and forgivenness.

After calling in the directions & elements, spirits, Goddess and God, Anne lead a chant focused on the Druidic symbol called the Awen, or 'rays,' a glyph with three vertical lines or rays converging at the top. Awen in the Celtic language means means "inspiration," or "essence," and refers to spiritual illumination. The three parts of the Awen symbol represent the harmony of opposites- the left and right rays symbolizing female and male energy; the centre bar their harmonious balance. Holding hands, we visualised the light radiating from the symbol as we repeatedly chanted its name, which was very powerful: I could feel myself literally lifting off the ground as I felt the sounds reverberating all around me and resonate in my solar plexus.

During the chant, we held the prayer ribbons in our hands to infuse them with energy, and later we tied them to a long piece of cord, whilst speaking our wishes, blessings and prayers aloud or silently. After every person had tied their ribbons onto the cord, we created a circle with it, and then processed ceremonially - graced by three flower maidens - through the park towards the well whilst chanting 'Air I am, Fire I am, Water and Earth and Spirit I am', which attracted a good amount of attention from various bystanders! I have to say that part of this procession reminded me of the yearly Catholic procession of Corpus Christi - a very colourful festival during which people follow a statue of Jesus and a band of musicians whilst singing and throwing flower petals. I remember my cousin and I throwing flower petals into the musician's wind instruments when we were children - much to their annoyance! As you can see, my Catholic origins have not passed me by - or maybe we are reclaiming the ancient Goddess ceremonies that were originally adopted and claimed as their own by the early Christians.

When we arrived at the Spa monument, we did a spontaneous spiral dance around it, whilst singing and chanting, and invoking the Lady of the Waters in her many names and guises, among them Sulis Minerva, Domnu, Venus and Aphrodite. We then dressed the well with our flowers and prayer ribbons (see photos) and other offerings, creating a joint work of beauty, before sharing a chalice of water and thanking the elements, spirits and God/desses.

It was a lovely ceremony, and I would like to express many thanks to the people from Coventry Earth Spirit who helped with the planning and organisation. Later I noticed that this ceremony was exactly three months after our initial well dressing ceremony for the spring equinox on 18th March - so maybe we need to have one for the Autumn Equinox now! Anne and I talked about cooperating in creating an annual town procession to the seven ancient wells in Leamington Spa for next year's Peace Festival/Summer Solstice.

There are a few photos of the ceremony at http://haleworth.fotopic.net/c994967.html ,
courtesy of Pete Duckworth, who kindly allowed me to publish some of them here.

2006-06-19T13:38:00.000-07:00

On 15th June, Valerie Odon was guest speaker at the WSN meeting. Valerie is, in her own words, a loving and experienced spiritual leader. She teaches the material first brought through by channel Alice A Bailey and Dwjahl Khul. Her lifelong interest in meditation and the esoteric arts inspired her to learn and study from a number of Buddhist masters before she started studying with various schools in the Alice Bailey tradition.

Valerie spent a few moments talking about her training, which began officially 13 years ago in a Buddhist framework, but unofficially when she was a few months old when her Grandfather took her to the beach every night to watch the sunset. He also taught her how to look at the stars, and this habit has staid with her to this day. Valerie works with solar light and the seven stars and seven rays, and the custodians of the divine will, which she interprets as liberation and the building of a bridge of light. The consequent radiance that can be achieved is a result of skill and strategies.

After Valerie's introductory talk, we engaged in two meditations. The first meditation served to relax and attune us to the work we were about to undertake, and focused on love & light and the opening of our hearts. After a short break, we worked as a group to increase spiritual light on the planet. We used our divine sense of imagination and concentration to energize the project started by Vivienne and Nick in creating the Seventh Wave Wellbeing Centre. It was a lovely and powerful visualisation, which should serve to strengthen the Centre as it continues to grow and reach more people in our community.

Next month's speaker will be Nick Cummins, crystal healer and Vivienne's business partner in the Seventh Wave venture, on Thursday 20th July at 8 pm.

2006-06-14T07:08:00.000-07:00

Warwickshire Spiritual Network and Coventry Earth Spirit are organising an open Summer Solstice ritual at this year's Peace Festival in Leamington Spa on Sunday 18th June at 3 pm.

In line with the festival, the ritual will focus on the theme of peace and forgivenness, as well as the Leamington Spa waters, and will take place somewhere in Jephson Gardens - there will be signs confirming the exact location on both the Seventh Wave Wellbeing and Coventry Earth Spirit stalls on Saturday and Sunday.

We hope to see some of you there!

2006-05-20T13:20:00.000-07:00

Hello again,

our last meeting took place last Thursday, 18th May. Guest speaker was Vivienne Little, Director of Seventh Wave Wellbeing, where we hold our meetings. Vivienne presented us with a fascinating account of her spiritual journey, which started over forty years ago.

Talking about how she came to set up Seventh Wave Wellbeing, something she describes as a 'physical embodiment of a dream' and an 'inspiration from beyond', Vivienne explained that she didn't realize she had this vision until she had created it - as is often the case when spirit guides us!

What I found most interesting was what Vivienne calls her 'Dark Night of the Soul' experience - a state of depression and unhappiness she lived through until she had an experience that she spent the rest of her life until this point understanding and developing. During one night, when she felt exceptionally wretched, she decided she would try prayer. This was a strange thing for her to do, because she was essentially an agnostic, but the subtle response she received to this prayer was to change the course of her life forever. She said she literally 'saw the light' and suddenly understood what life was about. What followed were three months of intense synchronistic events - and although she was not completely 'cured' from her depression and unhappiness, she never hit rock bottom again and her new-found spirituality has served her to this day as a 'blanket'.

I find it really interesting that most spiritual people I speak to have had some Dark Night of the Soul experience such as breakdowns, depression, trauma etc at some point in their lives which either initiates or deepens spiritual awakening and development. Having experienced a particular strong and lengthy 'Descent into the Underworld' myself last year, I can only say that these experiences - if embraced and seen as lessons rather than obstacles - can accelerate one's spiritual development immensely, akin to a 'crash course' in self-development and symbolic understanding that change the course of one's life forever.

Thanks again to Vivienne for delivering such an inspirational talk.

The rest of the evening was spent networking and to round the evening off, I led a guided visualisation.

Our next meeting will take place on Thursday 15th June at 8 p.m. at the usual place - see you there! Speaker will be announced nearer the time.

2006-05-04T12:14:00.000-07:00

The bountiful Beltane altar at our Beltane Temple of Sensual Delights

2006-05-04T11:49:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone,

Beltane is upon us and I hope you are all delighting in the joyful spring energies. Some of us had a fantastic time at the Beltane Temple of Sensual Delights on Beltane Eve in Birmingham - with much dance, ritual, performance art, food and general loveliness. For those of you who would like to carry the dancing earth energy further and deeper, Mandy is running her Barefoot Boogie this Sunday (7th May, and every first and third Sunday of the month) at St Columba's Hall in Moseley from 7-9 pm. For further information, ring her on 0781-4593571. Watch out for further Temple events in the near future.

The last WSN meeting took place on 20th April. I arrived rather 'train-lagged' after spending a fabulous and transformative time at the Findhorn Foundation - three intense days with Caroline Myss -, so the meditation that Richard led to start off with was just what I needed. He led us into a lovely and gentle journey which was deeply relaxing - my only regret being that it didn't last longer! After some general chatting and networking, the lovely Juliet presented us with a talk on Feng Shui. According to Juliet, 'Feng Shui is an ancient art and science first developed some 6000 years ago. It is the study of people, places and time, and how the energies of each interact. It is the practice of harnessing these forces of energy to benefit your well-being. Feng Shui can potentially improve your health, wealth and relationships by seeking a state of harmony and balance.'

The systems Juliet uses are the East-West System, and the Nine Floating Stars. The East-West analysis determines the home's and the occupant's favourable and unfavourable directions. It locates the most productive areas in the house. The Floating Star analysis uses the five physical elements: Fire, Earth, Metal, Water and Wood. These elements will be used to enhance the movement of chi (universal energy) in the house.

It was an interesting talk, and as Juliet did my as well as Beth's Feng Shui, we can wholeheartedly recommend her!

Our next meeting will take place on Thursday 18th May at 8pm, and guest speaker will be Vivienne Little, who runs the Seventh Wave Wellbeing Centre. She will talk about her work and background at the Centre, and how she decided to launch this fabulous place. This time, we will close the meeting with a guided meditation. See you there!

2006-04-04T09:51:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone... please see below some photos from our Water Ceremony in Leamington Spa, courtesy of Colin. We have loads more, and they will be published on a separate website soon.

Next WSN meeting is on 20th April - guest speaker will be Juliet Carter on Feng Shui, plus possibly one more speaker. Richard Brayne will start the meeting off with a meditation at 8pm, so please be prompt.

2006-04-04T09:47:00.001-07:00

In honour of the Well....

2006-04-04T09:47:00.000-07:00

The dressed well!

2006-04-04T09:46:00.000-07:00

Leamington Spa Water Ceremony Saturday 18th March 2006

2006-03-27T08:49:00.000-08:00

On Saturday 18th March 2006, an Alternative Health Fayre took place at Bath Place Community Venture in Leamington Spa, organised by Richard Brayne of Gaia Wholefood Shop. Connected to this, I had the idea to create a Goddess altar in the hall as part of the Fayre to promote my Priestess work, and to organize a Water Ceremony for the Leamington Spa Healing Waters.

The beautiful water monument outside the Royal Pump Rooms has spoken to me ever since I moved to Leamington Spa some 18 months ago. It always struck me as sad, that the once revered healing waters that were responsible for the growth of a small Warwickshire village into a prosperous town now appeared superfluous and neglected. The once glorious Royal Pump Rooms and Bath, where many visitors hoped to soothe various ailments by bathing in pools filled with the salty spa water was sadly turned into a library in 1996. All that remains of the Spa’s former glory is an admittedly charming, but rather insignificant stone monument with a tap outside the Pump Rooms. It feels as though the town consciousness has forgotten that it was the waters that made it prosperous in the first place.

One morning in a meditation, the idea to perform a healing and reclaiming ceremony for the Well popped into my head. Ever since I visited and decorated Brighde’s Well on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides at Imbolc 2004, I felt an ancient intuitive connection to these wells, and have recognised the importance of caring for them. I have since learned about the old Pagan Well Dressing Traditions, in particular in the nearby country of Derbyshire. Whenever I perform a little ritual at an old well, or decorate it with flowers, I can feel that the well really appreciates these honourings. It is a way to give thanks for the supply of fresh water, something that is often taken for granted and yet is so vital to our survival. It is also a way to reclaim and honour the healing aspects of water, physically as well as symbolically and emotionally.

Hence, I acted on my intuition and announced the ceremony via a few flyers and local mailing lists. I had a visual image in my mind to decorate the well monument with beautiful flower garlands and offerings, and went to measure up one evening with Toby and Richard, who thought that a little flower arrangement in the actual monument would look nice, too. The next day, I explained my ideas to Louise from Interflora in Regent Street, and she created the most wonderful 3m long flower garland for us, with lots of yellow and blue flowers, as well as a little flower arrangement that fitted perfectly into the tap area. In addition, I also bought two bunches of muscari flowers to hand out to participants.

Fellow Priestess of Avalon Jacqui Woodward-Smith had kindly travelled from London with her partner Colin to assist me with the ceremony, so on the day at we proceeded to the Well with a huge box of flowers and three photographers in tow!

By 12 pm, nine people were present in total: Maddie, Jo, Helen, Mr Brayne, Juliet, Colin, Jacqui, a Druid from Wales called Chris, and I. We started by decorating the Well with the flowers, a candle in a blue glass, incense and a card in honour of the Well, and by handing out a flower to each of the participants, into which we asked them to focus their healing wishes and blessings. After holding hands and speaking our intentions for the ceremony, we called in the Four Directions, as well as the Lady of Avalon, the Goddess of the Leamington Spa Waters, The Divine Feminine, the Spirits of Place, and various Western EuropeanWater Goddesses that Jacqui found out about.

After a short moment of silence, we invited the participants to offer their flowers to the well and speak their healing wishes, thanksgivings and blessings either aloud, or silently. This was beautiful and moving to behold, as each person did it with grace and honour. Some also placed individual offerings such as bracelets and rings in the well. Amongst other things, I wished for the well to regain its rightful place of honour and respect, and for healing to come to our town. I also asked the Goddess of the Spa Waters to make herself known, and show us how to connect with her again. The ceremonial atmosphere felt very sacred and special throughout. According to the photographers, our little ceremony attracted some attention from passersby on a busy Saturday afternoon, but I didn’t notice it – I was too immersed in the sacred space.

Jacqui then read an enchanting poem (see below), and I poured a libation of water onto the monument, after which we shared a drink of water from the Chalice and blessed each other. To finish the ceremony, we sang the song ‘We will never ever loose our way to the well, of Her memory and the power of Her living flame, it will rise, it will raise again’.

To close, we held hands again and spoke our thanks, and we left the directions open for the healing energies to stay around town. It was a simple ceremony, but to me, it felt so special. People seemed to appreciate it and more than one person said that it had been long overdue.

Unfortunately, by the next morning, the flower garland had disappeared, as had the offerings and candle, and somebody had placed an ominous cross with the words ‘Forgiven’ into the little flower arrangement. I suspect that this initiative came from a group of Christian healers I had invited to the ceremony – and I felt sad that they found it necessary to do this, rather than openly joining the ceremony. Synchronistically, on the Spring Equinox the following Monday, I felt guided to visit the Malvern Hills, and the first thing I came across was ‘Malvhina’, a water monument by the sculptor Rose Gerrard. She is a stone and bronze figure representing a Celtic princess – or Goddess, and there was a plaque next to her talking about the Celtic trinity, as well as the Christian trinity. This felt very inclusive and healing, in particular in view to the hostile reaction I experienced when I tried to invite the Christian healers to our ceremony.

A day later all the flowers had disappeared, but it didn’t really matter – we had honoured the well, and the memory will live on in our hearts, as well as in the many photographs that were taken!

Janet Alty, a local woman, suggested that we make this an annual event, including a procession, because apparently there are seven original wells hidden across town. So, what started as a small spontaneous idea this year might become a bigger tradition by next Spring Equinox. I feel it would be good to perform this as a healing ceremony of the town also, because, as Janet points out, the North and South of Leamington Spa have got so separated over the years, and the split is really prevalent.

The rest of the Health Fayre went well, too – Jacqui and I created two delightful altars on Bath Place’s stage; one big Wheel of Brigit-Ana, and a smaller Water altar, with little chocolate Eostre eggs for people to take away, as well as Mermaid & Dolphin oracle cards, and a mass of information. It looked and smelled lovely, and many people came by to talk to us. Later in the afternoon I led a Water Goddess Chakra meditation to round off the day.

It was a really good experience to do this, and I think it would be great to add more luscious Goddess beauty to events like Health Fayres, and our communities!

Vigil at the Well

A rock ledge. A dark pool.
Pale dawn and cold rain.

And a woman alone
holding three coins.

She circles the well
three times in the rain.

She offers the coins
to a great ancient tree

then bends to the pool.
A glimmer of silver.

Dawn striking the pool?
A fish in its depths?

The pool stills again.
The sky blazes red.

The woman gets up.
Nothing seems changed.

But the next day a wind
blows warm from the sea.

(Patricia Monaghan)

2006-03-24T04:16:00.000-08:00

Upcoming events:

Beltane Temple of Sensual Delights

♥ An evening of love and sensuality in honour of
The Goddess of Love ♥

Come and join us to celebrate Beltane, ancient Pagan Festival of Love, Fertility and the Sacred Union between God and Goddess (or Goddess & Goddess, and God & God!)

With Sacred Drama, Dance, Ritual, Performance Art, and plenty of sensual delights including a delicious love feast!

When: Beltane Eve, Sunday 30th April, 6pm – 10 pm

Where: St Columba Hall, corner of Chantry Road and Alcester Road, Moseley Village, Birmingham

Cost: £5

Bring: love foods - fruit, chocolate, cake, avocado, whatever feels sensual to YOU! – and soft drinks to share. Come prepared to dance – we suggest comfy clothes, loose layers work best. Dance barefoot or in dance shoes - and bring water to drink!

FFI, contact Mandy on mandykasafir@blueyonder.co.uk (venue & dance) or Tiziana on spiritnet@tiscali.co.uk (sacred drama & performance art)

A special joint venture between Barefoot Boogie’s Mandy Kasafir &

Priestess of Avalon Tiziana Stupia.

Drug and alcohol free

2006-03-24T03:50:00.000-08:00

Our second meeting took place on Thursday 16th March, and present, apart from Beth and myself, were Toby, Richard, Amanda, Juliet, Valerie, Helen, Jonathan, Jackie, and Mark from Warwickshire Women Magazine. Mark decided to check our Network out after I sent him some information about it, as spirituality is a direction he is trying to integrate in this new magazine. We discussed the possibility of writing a spiritual column for Warwickshire Women, so watch this space.

Guest speaker for the evening was Margaret Godwin, a Process Oriented Psychotherapist, bodyworker and creative artist from Leamington Spa. Rather than speaking about her work, Margaret decided to do a number of exercises with us that illustrate how Process Therapy might work. Process Therapy, a model developed by Dr Arnold Mitchell et al. in 1960, is 'an innovative approach to those aspects of experience which first appear chaotic, surprising and disruptive. Its methods accurately follow the wisdom of nature, through observing precisely the signals and unique structure of any individual or group process. The methods bring awareness and interaction between all parts of our experience, including those that often remain unseen, unappreciated and marginalised. With awareness, apparently destructive patterns are found to hold creative seeds which, when approached with interest and accuracy, can lead to new information and opportunities for change.' (RSPOPUK booklet, 2006). The works focuses on dreams, personal development, movement, trauma, creative processes and more.

During her demonstration, Margaret paired us up in little groups and we had the opportunity to discuss childhood dreams that had particularly disturbed and/or frightened us, and connect with these feelings. What I found interesting was that I could not actually remember any of my childhood dreams, although there must have been many, but I f0und the exercise useful because I applied it to a recent dream. In another exercise, Margaret invited us to connect with our addictions, or rather, the feelings and needs behind these addictions. Examples were addictions to food, substances, or people. She asked us to focus on the feeling in our body that would be evoked when we actually give in to our addiction, for example, do something that we know is not good for us, and feel the energy without having to act on it - a potentially very powerful and transformative process.

In yet another exercise, we went into a meditative state and scanned our bodies for aches, pains and energy blocks, and tried to visualise them, as well as communicate with them to connect with the underlying message that the pain is trying to give us.

I found the exercises quite useful, but would have appreciated a little more background information on Process Work, and perhaps more space and time to explore the things that came up during the exercises in a group. However, our time was limited! Many thanks again to Margaret for giving her time and energy to the group. For further information on Process Work, please see www.rspopuk.com

Our next meeting will take place on Thursday 20th April at 8 pm. Guest speaker will be announced nearer the time on this site and on flyers around town. Richard has offered to start the meeting off with a small meditation, so please be prompt if you intend to come. We also have a central altar in the room every time to focus the group's energy, and you are all invited to bring personal and special things to place on the altar!

2006-03-09T13:07:00.000-08:00

CEREMONY
TO
HONOUR THE LEAMINGTON SPA
HEALING WATER

On Saturday 18th March at 12 pm, we will be meeting at the Leamington Spa Water monument outside the Pump Rooms for a Water ceremony.

The purpose of this ceremony is to bless, honour and give thanks to the healing waters of Leamington Spa. This will incorporate a small well dressing ritual. Well dressing is a traditional folk custom from Pagan times, performed to give thanks for the supply of fresh water. We feel it is time to re-acknowledge and reclaim the important healing aspect of our town with this ceremony as part of the Bath Place Health Fair taking place on the same day (10.30 - 16.00 at Bath Place Community Venture, Bath Place, Leamington Spa; with many treatments including aromatherapy, thai massage, Reiki etc.)

Everyone is welcome! Bring flowers, candles, poetry, offerings, and anything else that inspires you!

This event is facilitated by Priestesses of Avalon Tiziana Stupia and Jacqui Woodward-Smith. For further information, please e-mail spiritnet@tiscali.co.uk

2006-02-21T07:53:00.000-08:00

Tiziana (complete with halo) and Beth at the altar after the first WSN meeting.

2006-02-21T07:20:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone,

the first meeting of Warwickshire Spiritual Network took place last Thursday at Seventh Wave Wellbeing in Leamington Spa. Present were Hansje, Toby, Richard, Jacky, Roy, Laura, Dave, Sheilagh, and organisers Beth and Tiziana, and it was a creative and vibrant first meeting.

After introducing ourselves and our spiritual paths, we talked about what we envisage WSN to become, and what we would like to do in the framework of this new group. Apart from talks and demonstrations, it was suggested that we could discuss books that have inspired us, share our personal spiritual journeys and areas of interest, bring personal items for the communal altar and share their significance with others. We also hope to have guided meditation, singing bowling, and chanting as part of the meetings.

Interest was expressed in organizing outings, in particular in line with the Celtic festivals such as the Solstices and Equinoxes, for example to the Rollright Stones or other sacred places. In addition, there is a possibility of social 'tea & chat' evenings at the Victoria Coffee House, if there is sufficient interest.

Richard is organising a Health Fair at Bath Place Community Venture in Leamington Spa on Saturday 18th March, and we discussed the possibility of having stalls and offering taster treatments at this event. Full details of the fair and how to get involved will appear on this site shortly.

The next meeting will take place on Thursday 16th March at 8 pm, again at Seventh Wave Wellbeing. Guest speaker will be Margaret Godwin, who will talk about the spiritual aspects of her work as a psychotherapist, bodyworker and creative artist. Future speakers will include Sarida Brown on the spiritual & healing history of Leamington Spa, and Tiziana on Goddess spirituality, Paganism and spiritual work in prisons.

For further information, contact us. Your comments and suggestions to this blog are always very welcome! Check this site for updates, news and networking events.

Tiziana

2006-01-12T11:00:00.000-08:00

Tiziana, Sheilagh and Dave after the first meeting.

Warwickshire Spiritual Network is a new venture that aims to promote & explore spirituality with like-minded individuals.

During our meetings, we aim to share resources, experiences, services, and to build a supportive, nurturing network of contacts. There will be a talk or demonstration for part of each meeting.

Everyone is welcome, whether you are just discovering spirituality or have followed this path for a longer time and would like to engage in deeper exploration. We welcome all spiritual paths, as long as you are interested in developing yourself to your highest potential.

The first meeting will take place on Thursday 16th February 2006 at 8 pm at Seventh Wave Wellbeing, 9 Augusta Place, Leamington Spa, and every third Thursday of the month thereafter.

Contact us on spiritnet@tiscali.co.uk

‘It is not the body's posture but the heart's attitude that counts when we meditate.’