Round the Herne

The English language has many curiosities, which sometimes interact with psychological theory. How we describe our own or define other people's identities is one of those areas. English does not tend to distinguish between enduring and transient states when it comes to matters of identity. I am ginger. I have always been ginger and, whilst it's possible I might one day be grey-haired or bald, the rest of my body will be decidedly ginger. Given the attitudes of wider society to us red-heads, my hair colour has become very much part of my sense of self. It's more than a mere hue, defines me far more than does my eye colour. I am middle-aged. My sense of age is, sadly, also a part of my identity. I wish it wasn't, but that's a separate issue. Despite what some people might tell you, I wasn't always middle-aged. Once upon a time I was young! If I keep on drawing breath one day I will be old, maybe even ancient. To define someone by their age using the same languag...

The Ipswich Pagan Council is holding its annual ritual to honour the Lar Praestite (Guardian Spirit) of the town on May 25th, the anniversary of the signing of the Royal Charter in the year 1200. This year we will be starting with a procession (well, genteel amble) along the river from the docks and finishing at Yarmouth Road before adjourning to a hall for a ritual and meal. The meal, to which people are encouraged to contribute local produce, will be accompanied by various members reciting poetry and telling stories inspired by Ipswich and its legends. I shall probably include a story of one of my favourite and reputedly real local characters, Old Winter the Cunning Man (who features in a story in A Dangerous Place). Between now and the 25th I shall also be researching other snippets of local folklore to include. Suggestions of Ipswich lore from readers are welcome!

I encountered someone today who bore a strong resemblance to another person that I used to know (and loathe) many years ago. Initially I thought it was the same person with a couple of extra stone piled on, and then I realised the voice was different and the new person was a bit too tall anyway. However, I still found myself responding cautiously to this stranger, expecting those vindictive and unpleasant personality traits of the thankfully long-since avoided original. So a mini "exorcism" is required for me to let go of unpleasant memories enough to see the real person and not the echo. On the positive side, I'm sure there is a short story idea there about the power of memory to possess the present! Logically I know that there is no reason to suppose that these two people share any more than a similar bone structure, but the ghost of the former overshadows the latter. Advertisers and spin doctors have long since known that evoking positive (or negative) memory associa...

I am organising a function on Saturday 14th June at the Oddfellows Hall in Ipswich, partly as one of a series of events marking the 20th anniversary of the Ipswich Pagan Council, and partly to help promote local pagan authors. Tickets are £4, with any profits going towards the Ipswich Hospital CCU (contact me for tickets). My publishers, Moon Books, will be having a stall there. I'll be talking on some of the issues facing pagan storytellers and poets, plus telling some stories towards the end of the day. Not completely decided which stories yet, and am open to requests! I shall be selling and signing my own books, if anyone wants a copy. The programme is as follows (subject to revision): 10.00am - Welcome   10.15am - Beverley Price, "Poetry of Darkness" (Main Hall) 10.15am - Joanna Van Der Hoeven, " Nemetona, Goddess of Sacred Space" (Garden) 11.15am - Robin Herne, "Word Weaving and Tale Spinning" (Main Hall) 11.15am - Silvia Rahmani...

Every year for the last 15 or so the druid group that I am a member of has performed an Insular Celtic myth at the Leaping Hare convention in Colchester. The story we performed this year was that of St Collen's encounter with Gwynn app Nudd on Glastonbury Tor. The story itself is really quite short, so we expanded it with an earlier incident from Collen's life in which he battled a Pagan King. Despite being low on numbers due to illness, we were thankfully supported by two friends who joined us at the last minute to provide some musical accompaniment. A picture or two will be posted in due course. Though short, the story is redolent with imagery that is (like any symbolism) open to interpretation. One particular aspect is the livery sported by Gwynn's courtiers ~ one half red and the other blue. The saint alleges it is the fires of hell combined with the coldness of being cast out from the love of God. The balance between fire and ice carries rather different echoes for ...

It's the Leaping Hare convention in Colchester tomorrow, with a full panel of interesting speakers and workshops. I shall be there telling stories along with the rest of Clan (the druid group of which I am a member). The tale is one based on a Glastonbury legend, but told from a very different angle to the sort of stories that we have told at this venue over the past dozen or more years. I shall post more details of the tale after the event. Moon Books (my publisher) have booked a stall there and I shall be selling my own books if anyone fancies picking up a copy. Anyone thinking of attending can find the details of the day here - www.leapinghare.webs.com

I was recently party to a conversation between several people, one of whom has a serious illness and was given some advice by another person. It was the sort of advice I've seen endlessly floated around Facebook as a twee meme, and been on the receiving end of myself from a number of sources. The advice in question was that the person would receive healing "when the time was right", and was accompanied by the general sentiment that all things would come to people when the time was right (delivered with that saccharine look of cod-wisdom that makes me want to retch). According to the World Hunger website it is estimated that 870 000 000 people are living with daily malnourishment, most of them in that state because of chronic poverty. The same website estimates that over 7 500 000 people die of starvation each year ~ I'm not sure how they reached this number, but let's assume it's roughly correct. These are people who have lived through horrendous circumstance...