Round the Herne

Well, with Halloween a couple of days away I thought I'd write a suitably horrible tale. Tommy Rawbones started as an idea on Saturday past, when I had hoped to tell it at an LGBT event - but it just wouldn't gel at the time. It has gone through a number of major changes, such as shifting location from central America to Ireland! I'm still not entirely happy with how it plays out, or the style of telling, and would appreciate some feedback. If you're wondering about the peculiar name, it's a traditional monster who appears in Irish and Northern English folklore, as well as undergoing a major mutation in American folk tradition. The Gaelic feast of Samhain appears in a great many myths, some beautiful ones such as the dream of Oengus Og, and others far more spectral and gruesome such as Fergus and the Hanged Man. More thoughts on Samhain shortly.

Last night I hosted a small fundraising event for the UK Wolf Trust with an evening of wolf-related stories told in front of a log fire. It was a nice crowd and the event seemed to work very well - so much so, I may try similar things again in the future. One of the stories was a Native American tale about the hunters realising the impact they were having on the local animal population, and finally deciding that someone had to speak on behalf of the wolf; someone had to step outside their own tribal loyalties to consider the consequences of their actions for other beings. As a species we're not very good at considering the needs of others. Frequently we don't even think about the impact our actions have on our fellow human beings, let alone other species. Though the upside of the globalisation process is that we are beginning to realise what happens when we destroy the world around us, or exploit it to the point of exhaustion. I think it's something that modern pagans ...