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" Friendship is a sheltering tree "

Coleridge

Eostre’s Egg

March 20th, 2024

Some thoughts about the Spring Equinox from Maria Ede-Weaving…

The Goddess I personally associated with the Spring Equinox is the Anglo-Saxon Eostre. Although she is historically obscured by the mists of time, something about her has always drawn me. For me, she is the spring maiden of vibrant new life in abundance but also the golden dawn that brings with it a new day of possibilities; the bright hope of each new morning. She is the breeze of spring that clears and freshens our minds; she is the boundless life and desire that fuels us. She is also the egg of creation that birthed the world and the rising warmth and light of the sun brought down to earth in the yellow of primrose, forsythia and broom, of daffodil and crocus.

Eostre is the dawn that, at the Equinox, rises due east. She holds in her hands the balance of light and dark. In one hand is the bulb buried in the dark soil, rooted and secure; in the other is the blossoming daffodil moving towards the light. In one hand she also holds the egg, perfectly oval, its life contained safely within; with the other she holds the chick, ever-growing and learning in the light of a new life.

Eostre brings us to a point of transition – to the moment just prior to birth – a place of perfect balance between light and dark; the dawn between night and day. It is a moment to take breath, to be touched by that stillness at a deep inner level, before the final push that will birth us. At the Equinox we seek the balance of this moment within, and in doing so, draw strength from that sense of equilibrium, even when our imminent rebirth frightens and overwhelms us.

Many people find the Spring Equinox a stressful time. The rising energy stirring up our static winter selves can feel uncomfortable, like rising from sleep before we are ready. Beginnings can be alarming and unnerving times, as well as bringing excitement and renewed enthusiasm and energy. Birth is potentially dangerous but we cannot remain tucked up in our egg/womb, a known and safe environment that has nourished us because Eostre’s energy brings a tense, urgent moment when we feel the tightness of the egg’s shell painfully confining us. Our constantly evolving shape will always eventually outgrow any space/womb we inhabit. We must risk the dangers of birth to truly live and grow; we must risk the unknown that we might reach our full potential.
It takes courage to expand beyond our known boundaries, to crack the shell of our limitations that we might take the true place in our own unfolding story. Sometimes it can be tempting to want to remain in that warm, safe womb, regardless of how cramped it may have become. It can be helpful to understand that the struggle of the tender shoot through the soil is rewarded by its eventual blossoming and fruit.

Many years ago, my mother died on the Spring Equinox. It was a beautiful sunny day and the daffodils she had planted in the autumn, had blossomed in the warmth. They were so startlingly vibrant and yet so painfully incongruous at that moment. Being a young girl, I had thought ‘how could spring be here when the world is ending’ – the juxtaposition of those two seemingly very different life moments jarred me emotionally. And yet now, all these years later, I understand that the coming together of those two events perfectly illustrated that place of taut balance, where all our endings and beginnings overlap. I now know this place to be a fertile one, its energy often tightly coiled because of the tension, strength and power needed to propel birth; to shoot us into the light.

Birth may be dangerous; we might not even survive it and yet what is far more deadly is to remain where we are. Like Alice growing unfeasibly large in Wonderland, we risk remaining stuck and missing out on the adventure.

This coming Spring Equinox, may Eostre bring you the courage to explore new territories, new perspectives, to find the strength to be reborn to new and exciting possibilities. Although it might feel frightening to be pushing against your shell, if your call on Eostre’s irrepressible energy, you will feel that fragile casing give way and, through it cracks, see the light of the dawn breaking. In that moment we are each hope eternal and infinite possibility; the bud bursting and the sap rising.
~ Maria Ede-Weaving

Equinox Blessings!

March 20th, 2024

Wishing everyone peace and equilibrium this Equinox! Spring Blossom and Autumn Fruit Blessings to all! /|\

Time for Magic: A Shamanarchist’s Guide to the Wheel of the Year

February 28th, 2024

I am so pleased to be a part of the beautiful book Time for Magic: A Shamanarchist’s Guide to the Wheel of the Year. The publisher Watkins have shared a press release: 

Watkins Publisher Fiona Robertson has acquired the only trade edition of late renowned artist and anarchist Jamie Reid’s work, in which Reid’s radical art images are woven into the structure of the pagan Eightfold Year. The book, entitled Time for Magic: A Shamanarchist’s Guide to the Wheel of the Year, will be released globally by Watkins on 11th June.

Described as “Punk meets Druidry,” the book offers an entrancing overview of Reid’s incredible art, structured around eight seasonal festivals such as Beltaine, Samhain and Summer Solstice, selected by curator Stephen Ellcock (England on Fire, Underworlds, The Cosmic Dance) and introduced in conjunction with Reid’s gallerist and agent John Marchant. It also features notes on observing the seasonal celebrations from former Chief Druid of the Order of Bards Ovates & Druids Philip Carr-Gomm.

It is the first trade book of Jamie’s art since Up They Rise, published by Faber in 1987. “Jamie was an honorary Druid and he observed these festivals, holding rituals at his allotment in Liverpool, and focused on this theme in his later paintings,” shares Robertson. “We feel incredibly fortunate to share these key Wheel of the Year artworks in the book, which most people will never have seen before, as well as many of Jamie’s famous earlier pieces, including the agit-prop and Sex Pistols work. It’s an incredible book.”

Ellock comments: “I’ve always believed that Jamie Reid will come to be regarded as one of the most important and influential figures in British culture of the past 50–60 years. People still haven’t really come to terms with his extraordinary body of work or with his legacy. I hope Time for Magic will allow people to see Jamie’s vision and be a sort of visual manifesto for a better world.”

Marchant says: “Although Jamie is now not here to see this wonderful path into the more spiritual side of this most radical of artist’s work, he would have been very proud of this beautiful and bountiful book.”

And Philip Carr-Gomm adds: “Jamie’s colours, symbols and patterns combine with the ideas and suggestions in the descriptions of each festival to spark new connections and hope and wonder in the turning of the seasons.”

You can pre-order your copy here.