Round the Herne

A short and mildly spectral tale for the Halloween season. There are several variations of this story from around the world, accounting for unusual stone landscape features. This version is from Ceredigion in Wales and explains how the original bridge across the Mynarch was made (not the modern bridge, whose origins are rather more prosaic).

With Halloween just around the corner I am going to record one or two gruesome stories. A friend, Nick, suggested something about a dybbuk - the dibbukim are ghostly entities that possess living flesh, often because they have some task left incomplete in this world that must be done (frequently connected to the idea of teshuva, repenting for wickedness as the dybbuk are decidedly unhappy, often unpleasant ghosts). This tale is a combination of several short anecdotal accounts - too brief to make stories in their own right - overlaid with a brief and ugly snippet of recent history. If you want to understand what a greifer is, have a look here . I hope mashing up stories does not offend any Jewish people who might listen to it (let me know if there's a better version of a dybbuk story that I could record if this one does give offence). I thought about making this tale more graphic, but decided better of it.

The eighth part of the prattle about basic paganism reflects some thoughts and notions around festivals and rituals - why we celebrate, what we celebrate, and how we celebrate. Cake is the answer to most of it.

Seventh part (I know I keep saying each will be the last one, but keeping keep asking questions). Picking on further on paganism and healing, this time looking at animistic concepts within healing and also touching on Ancient Greek ideas around mental illness (it gets weird).

The sixth, and one sincerely hopes final, installment of pagan waffle in response to a query from my acquired nephew Tom (who is studying medicine) who wanted to know about pagan views on healing. I was going to record a story about an octopus, but that seems to have gone astray somewhere. I'll try again tomorrow night. It's been a long week (hence the incoherence).

The trouble is, once I start waffling it's very difficult to shut me up. This fifth part of the Introduction to Paganism series looks at ideas around magic (at an abstract level - it's not some kind of teen Wiccan's guide on how to cast spells!) and also touching a tiny bit on pagan metaphysics. I don't know whether to go into a bit more detail on the different types of paganism - I think it would be better to see Heathens, Wiccans, Kemetics etc. making their own recordings about what they do/believe rather than me recording something. Room for a collaborative effort, maybe?

Unfortunately we have had to postpone the eisteddfod that was happening this weekend. It will now take place on February 10th, venue to be confirmed shortly. The themes for poems and stories remains the same. More details to follow soon.

It's been a long day (no thanks to bloody Abellio trains canceling their service this evening - makes a change from just running late as per) and six hours of semi-coherent lectures. So tonight's quasi-coherent waffle around differing pagan ethical codes may be the least intelligible of the lot. Don't know if I'll stretch to a fifth, as I'm not sure what kinds of things people want to know about (or if I've run out of things worth saying).

I will be taking part in an event on November 25th to raise money for The Dogs Trust, held at Cockfield Village Hall (Church Lane, IP30 OLA in deepest Suffolk) from 7pm to approximately 9pm (storytelling standard time). I will be recounting canine myths and legends from around the world. Tickets are £4 in advance, £5 on the door (contact Kathryn Vernon 01284 827553 to book). Refreshments and a raffle will be available. Do pass the invite on to anyone from the area who might be interested.

Part three of the Introducing Paganism spiel - I promise to leave your ears unassailed for a few days before foisting the fourth part on you. I am not wholly sure where this is going, beyond my indulging the sound of my own voice. If there are specific aspects of general paganism that people would like covered, do say. This section is addressing nature worship, the role of ancestor reverencing, and touches a tiny bit on ethics.

There was a bit of positive feedback from the first introductory spiel about paganism, so here is a follow up. When I've found the missing kitchen utensil, I may do a third part!