Explore the Ash tree, become rooted in your landscape.

Woodland Bard this Sunday

Trefuilynid Tre- ochair, the three cornered strong upholder, a great hero, fair and mighty approached us from the west at sunset…A branch with three fruits was in his right hand and these are the trees which grew up from the berries, the ancient tree of Tortu, the tree of Ross, the tree of Mugna, the branching tree of Dathi and the ancient tree of Uisneach.

The Settling of the Manor of Tara R.I Best

Following on from our exploration of Brighid in our previous session who acts as a foster mother to all of us regardless of our race or background, we shall now explore a male deity, a three cornered strong upholder who supports us by sharing the knowledge that is forgotten or not known to us. Here we are recipients of the ancient lore of the land, witnessed by the poet, remembered through the stories and held by the five directions which root us in the landscape.

Woodland Bard Live this Sunday 18th February @ 6pm

Paid subscribers will receive a FREE link on the morning of the event (please contact me if not received)- no need to book below.

Join us LIVE to experience deep meditation, inspiring prose and gentle Shamanic drumming that will take you into the heart of the Ash grove. We shall meet Trefuilynid Tre-ochair as I introduce the incredible story of ‘The Settling of the Manor of Tara’, which illuminates the qualities of the key provinces and the five sacred trees of Ireland.

WOODLAND BARD YOU TUBE is active again you can join us as we delve deep into the lore of the land inspired by the the wisdom of the Irish medieval source texts including storytelling, peaceful meditation, uplifting prose and poetry as well as gentle Shamanic drumming.

Become rooted in your landscape.

N is for Nion, the ash tree Ash, a check on peace is Ash for of it are made spear shafts by which the piece is broken.
Checking of peace.
Flight of beauty, a weaver’s beam.
Flight of beauty.

The Book of BallyMote 1391

The Ash checks our peace, questions this insatiable search for fulfilment, this constant itch to fill an empty part of our soul which can never be satisfied in the external world.

Rooted; these urges disappear, our being is sated and our world is saved. The restlessness of our spirit is literally destroying our planet, it is never enough, we never feel good enough and now that need is ever present as we try to belong in a world where its quantity rather than quality that is constantly being thrust upon us. This need for growth is attempting to remove the human element of connection and integrity which can lead to soul loss of not only an individual but of the land itself.

I contemplate this as I walk the Downs where I live and literally watch most of the ash trees I have grown up with, indeed had to fell at times due to their abundance, die before me, vast swathes of diseased trees creating a tree graveyard! I know in time they will regenerate but we have lost nearly a whole generation of ash trees and when you acknowledge there are currently a million species in our world under threat it is unperceivable how this must be affecting all of us on so many levels.

Rooted in a landscape

I am rooted in the South downs landscape of chalk and flint, of ancient woodlands that are open and diverse, of chalk rivers filled with life. The source of the river Meon, the nearest river to where I work, I know to be just below where the local chieftains are buried on Old Winchester Hill and I know where the salt was stored on the hill directly above the Meon spring. The Meon river flows over chalk creating a precious world- renowned specialist habitat to which there are only 200 in the world and mostly they are in Southern England where I was born and raised.

Below: the course of the river Meon

The highest point in this area (Hampshire) I know to be Butser hill and beneath that hill is a recreation of an Iron age settlement where I learnt to wattle and daub whilst still at school and helped the thatcher and sheep farmer as my work experience. I now hold ceremonies in the farm at key points of the year.

Below: Butser Ancient Farm where I did my work experience at fifteen ( 33 years ago) and continue to work there.

I can visit one of the most impressive yew woodlands in the world in my locality and meet many plants, trees, shrubs and animals at different times of the year, this is the essence of being rooted in a landscape and of knowing your North, South, East, West as well as your Above and Below, which is why the magnificent giant came to Tara in the opening story for the people were forgetting.

‘I will establish for you the progression of the stories and chronicles of the hearth of Tara itself with the four quarters of Ireland round about; for I am the truly learned witness who explains to all everything unknown’

The giant keeps to his word and explains the qualities of the four directions and where the centre is, this story we shall return to in our next article and explore in our LIVE session on Sunday.

Below: Ancient yews of the South Downs

Belonging to a Tradition

‘All the wild world is beautiful, and it matters but little where we go, to highlands or lowlands, woods or plains, on the sea or land; through all the climates, hot or cold, storms and calms, everywhere and always we are in God's eternal beauty and love. So universally true is this, the spot where we chance to be always seems the best.’

John Muir

I was born overlooked by a chalk ridge known as Portsdown hill, my giants are of chalk and flint, the local life- giving waters I drink ensure the chalk landscape runs through my own body. I know the modest weather and sea landscape intimately and like many I arrived in Portsmouth as both my Grandad and Father were in the Navy.

As the quote above suggests it is the ‘spot we chance to be’, the secret that is in plain sight, the place wherever we live that is of vital importance and is the centre of our universe. It is our lineage and birthplace which is in our blood, bone and DNA.

My earliest memory is of playing on green banks with the first boy I remember being friends with, although it is such a distant memory and the details are blurred it is a happy one, a feeling of belonging. I lived in concrete flats in a dense inner city and this is where I was first rooted and the circumstances I found myself in.

I now work with young people and see their innocent acceptance of the world around them for they have not learnt to judge yet but accept what is before them. I also work with teenagers who have grown up without roots and the behaviours that come out of that ‘not-belonging’.

Fiona Macleod addresses this belonging in beautiful words:

‘There is no law set upon beauty, it has no geography, it is the domain of the spirit. All are welcome for what they bring, nor do we demand that they be dark or fair, Latin or Teuton or Celt or say of them that their tidings are lovelier or less lovely because they were born in the shadow of Gaelic hills or nurtured by Celtic shores.’

Fiona MacLeod

Being proud of who we are and where we come from is essential to feel more complete and can enable our destructive natures to not be acted out or for that insatiable pull to constantly be doing and searching to not dominate our lives.

As a young person I spent my time exploring nature whether it be in a city park or the chalk downs, I loved writing down every plant, bird and tree that I saw. What I find now is that every walk in nature for me is filled with so many plant, tree, bird and animal friends I am sated and although a trip to another county is filled with further discoveries the chalk downs is more than enough. My belonging is with the tree, plant and animals friends that are my kin. I cannot imagine living anywhere else, this is nature’s gift and I see it with the students I teach for they are held without judgement by nature in the garden of Eden which exists before every one of us wherever we live.

After searching for many years I have discovered the stories that hold me and the teachings that resonant with my being, I hope that we can all learn to be rooted and proud of whoever we are.