Round the Herne

 Not what the title may lead you to expect, but some poems - some of which I shared at the Wolfshead Pagan camp this weekend past and others which I would have shared had we not all nearly died of heatstroke from the excessive weather! The two of my mine are 'Song of the Wolf Clan' and 'Sigyn's Burden' from the Moon Poets anthology (edited by Trevor Greenfield) whilst the two by Hilary Llewellyn-Williams are 'The Song of Blodeuwedd on May Morning' and 'Muin' from her collection Hummadruz. Finally, the poem by Cathal O' Searcaigh is 'Hound of Ulster' from his collection Homecoming.

 A reflection on Jung's ideas around the Intuitive personality type, mainly for the benefit of members of the Suffolk Jungian Circle preparatory to our monthly discussion group. Hopefully I haven't made all Intuitives sound like Professor Trelawny out on the screaming piss with Doris Stokes - that's not what Jung wanted to say at all. They are just very good at picking up on things that most other people would miss!

 Finally got round to continuing with the series of recordings about the Irish ogham alphabet, now up to the ninth letter Coll (which means 'hazel tree').

  My reading of the sixteenth and seventeenth chapters (the final ones) of Kenneth Grahame's children's book "The Golden Age" (1895). A sibling tiff is resolved through an appropriate offering, and then comes the grim day when the eldest brother is packed off to boarding school. The whole story has been about the gulf between children and adults with their differing views of the world and contrasting priorities. In the end it is also about the inevitable pull of the upgrown world that drags all small boys and girls into its thrall. Is the narrator accepting the way of the world, mourning a loss, maybe a bit of both? you decide.

  My reading of the fourteenth and fifteenth chapters of Kenneth Grahame's children's classic "The Golden Age" (1895). The loathed governess moves on to pastures new, and a subsequent tutor arrives to dint knowledge into the unwilling heads of the siblings.

  My reading of the twelfth and thirteenth chapters of Kenneth Grahame's children's story "The Golden Age" (1895). This time the young hero encounters a mysterious artist with whom the realm of fantasy is shared, and then an old bureau proves itself to be an object of mystery - a reminder that, to children and a tiny number of adults, the world can either be prosaic and dull or a source of wonder. the difference is in the eye of the beholder rather than the innate quality of the objects that fill the world.

  My reading of the tenth and eleventh chapters of Kenneth Grahame's childhood nostalgia trip "The Golden Age" (1895). Feminist sensibilities may be offended by the prepubescent mullings as to what it is exactly that girls talk about, then the lads venture off in search of Grecian adventures and encounter a figure from mythology.