Latest / Mooney's Mythic Podcast / Queen of the Solstice

Transcript

Queen of the Solstice · Mooney's Mythic Podcast

0:12
SPEAKER_01: Welcome to Mooney's Mythic Podcast.
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SPEAKER_01: I'm here.
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SPEAKER_01: It's alright everyone, I'm right here.
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SPEAKER_01: This podcast is sponsored by winter.
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SPEAKER_01: By the retreating of our energy deep, deep into our bodies.
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SPEAKER_01: Deep into the safety of our bodies.
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SPEAKER_01: The remembering of our self-care, of our quietness.
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SPEAKER_01: This podcast is sponsored by Winter.
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SPEAKER_01: Hey, hi, I'm really happy to be here.
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SPEAKER_01: I am your host,
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SPEAKER_01: Sarah Mooney,
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SPEAKER_01: and I've got someone on the sofa,
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SPEAKER_01: I'm on the big sofa,
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SPEAKER_01: and I've got Ted Waters on the sofa with me,
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SPEAKER_01: so we're going to have a chit-chat with her later on,
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SPEAKER_01: but even better than that,
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SPEAKER_01: she's going to sing for us.
1:11
SPEAKER_01: She's gonna sing for you.
1:11
SPEAKER_01: She's gonna sing for us.
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SPEAKER_01: She's gonna sing.
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I wanted to tell you that I had such a gorgeous story,
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wintering time on Sunday.
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SPEAKER_01: So thanks to everyone who came to that course.
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SPEAKER_01: It was really, really special.
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And it reminded me even more that stories are just so important
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for us to,
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SPEAKER_01: nourish ourselves with and connect with other people.
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And I was listening to Madonna saying we lost dancing and
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somewhere we've lost dancing,
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SPEAKER_01: we've lost singing,
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SPEAKER_01: we've lost storytelling as a normal practice,
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SPEAKER_01: you know,
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SPEAKER_01: just as a normal way of expressing and connecting.
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SPEAKER_01: So my
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My dreaming for us all this winter is that we find somewhere to
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sing and we find
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SPEAKER_01: somewhere to dance and we find somewhere to listen to the storytellers,
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SPEAKER_01: to listen to the musicians,
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SPEAKER_01: to listen to something live.
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SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'm really praying that that happens for all of us this winter.
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and i am contradicting uh disconnection by having you here
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deadwaters hello yeah
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i'm very good hello pod people and that's amber is just going
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down the stairs with
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SPEAKER_01: a noisy back but um she'll be back later the world
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So I'm just going to say a bit about you Ted because I know
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it's really hard for us
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SPEAKER_01: to talk about each other but you're a farmer.
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SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
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SPEAKER_01: Wow tell me about that.
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We've got a little organic farm just north of Chew Valley Lake
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which is about nine
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SPEAKER_01: acres and it's about two acres of no-dig veg and we've got chicken
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a beautiful roundhouse in our woods that we hire out to kids
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groups and retreats
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and we're planting a lot of trees and the deer are then eating
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a lot of trees and
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yeah and that's that's them deer eat trees deer eat whatever
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they could deer eat
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whatever you try and put in the ground yeah they're really the
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ones that are
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regenerating themselves yeah okay they just like nosh off the
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bark and they're just
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SPEAKER_01: gonna yeah they just
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SPEAKER_01: because at the minute we're guarding up lots of trees to protect them.
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SPEAKER_01: Over the winter.
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SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
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SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so that's our lovely little patch of magic there.
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SPEAKER_01: So what part of yourself are you going to protect for the winter?
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SPEAKER_01: Oh, all of it.
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SPEAKER_01: That's great.
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SPEAKER_01: Like bubble wrap.
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SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
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SPEAKER_01: Bubble wrap.
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like yeah kind of lovely parcel tape around the edges that
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people find really hard
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to crack into they need loads of scissors um yeah i find i love
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winter i really
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deeply love winter and and i always don't rest enough compared
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to the amount i know
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i need to rest and i feel like especially the last couple of
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weeks i felt really
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SPEAKER_01: like oh my god i just want to put everything
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SPEAKER_01: And just snuggle down and just keep things really simple.
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And I think the contrast we have in our culture predominantly
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is that it's not
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SPEAKER_01: simple this time of year.
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It's got lots of pressure and deadlines and really it's not
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natural for us to be rushing about.
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SPEAKER_01: because things are harder anyway,
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SPEAKER_01: and the daylight has diminished,
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SPEAKER_01: and you can only get so much done in the day outdoors,
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SPEAKER_01: and you feel sleepy early in the evenings,
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SPEAKER_01: and we should be sleeping long hours,
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SPEAKER_01: you know,
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SPEAKER_01: and not completely hibernating,
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SPEAKER_01: but we should be really moving much slower.
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SPEAKER_01: So I, each winter, I try and
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SPEAKER_01: winter harder and better.
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SPEAKER_01: It's a thing, isn't it?
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SPEAKER_01: Because it's like, yes, I really hear all that.
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SPEAKER_01: And I spent all day,
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SPEAKER_01: you know,
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SPEAKER_01: everyone got a big buzz on their phone,
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SPEAKER_01: except me,
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SPEAKER_01: because I don't have a smartphone.
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SPEAKER_01: Yeah,
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SPEAKER_01: so we didn't get buzzes,
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but everyone got a big buzz to sort of stay indoors and watch
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out for the wind.
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SPEAKER_01: And I ran with that and I just stayed in bed all day.
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SPEAKER_01: Great.
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felt like my circadian rhythm was sort of swapping over to
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winter and I want to
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stay connected and that's yeah I think that's I want to see my
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solids and my family
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and but in a really unpressured way yeah yeah I was reading
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about solstice
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SPEAKER_01: ceremonies and
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SPEAKER_01: Because you're a seasonal celebrant.
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SPEAKER_01: Yes, I am.
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SPEAKER_01: What does that mean?
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SPEAKER_01: Yeah,
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I think maybe I don't know if I coined the term because I was
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doing more sort of
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SPEAKER_01: weddings and naming ceremonies and things.
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And then I realized that actually I just really love marking
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the seasonal tides
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around the Celtic wheel and holding women's circles and just
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where I can be fully me.
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SPEAKER_01: And I think when you're holding someone else's
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wedding or something where they they want a certain thing you
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can't always bring in
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a full I felt I couldn't bring in a full me whereas when I'm
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yeah in a space so
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what would that look like if you're creating a space for the
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winter season what
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would that look like um so I would yeah I'd bring in um I'd
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bring in elements that
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SPEAKER_01: are around us I would bring in songs and poems
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SPEAKER_01: When you say elements around us,
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SPEAKER_01: you mean bits of stuff,
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SPEAKER_01: twigs,
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SPEAKER_01: berries,
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SPEAKER_01: maybe things growing on the farm,
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SPEAKER_01: maybe something I found.
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SPEAKER_01: Right.
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SPEAKER_01: Just for a sort of alter space.
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SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
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SPEAKER_01: And just to remind me often that they're very bare boned,
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SPEAKER_01: you know,
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SPEAKER_01: this time of year,
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SPEAKER_01: things are very bare boned.
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SPEAKER_01: Maybe it's a bone, maybe it's a branch.
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I love the thing I really love about walking around in the
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wilds is that even
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SPEAKER_01: though everything looks like it's sort of died in inverted commas,
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SPEAKER_01: if you go up closely to all the trees,
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SPEAKER_01: they've all got little buds.
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SPEAKER_00: They're all waiting.
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SPEAKER_01: They're just poised.
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SPEAKER_01: They're ready to go.
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SPEAKER_01: They never stop.
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SPEAKER_01: They just rest.
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SPEAKER_01: And so something like that as a reminder of that spring will always come,
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SPEAKER_01: even though our seasons are a bit wonky.
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SPEAKER_01: Spring does come eventually.
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And maybe some greenery to remind us that some things push
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through the winter and
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SPEAKER_01: hold their leaves and keep the vibrancy and ivy and things like that.
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SPEAKER_01: Yeah,
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SPEAKER_01: I think I've always been a tree that loses its leaves over winter,
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SPEAKER_01: but I think I might be an evergreen this year.
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SPEAKER_01: I'm feeling pretty juicy.
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SPEAKER_01: But I was looking at my Christmas tree and thinking...
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that other years it would have been totally appropriate to
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leave it until every
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needle had dropped to the ground and it just stood there kind
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of bare and naked and
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SPEAKER_01: wonky until I put it on the fire.
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SPEAKER_01: I think it would have been more a sort of representation of my journey.
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SPEAKER_01: But this year feels a bit different.
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SPEAKER_01: And I think that might be because I'm resting deep earlier, you know,
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SPEAKER_01: I remember feeling like so much energy.
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SPEAKER_01: I had so much energy last year until deep into January.
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SPEAKER_01: And then I was just like a kind of automata.
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SPEAKER_01: I just stopped.
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SPEAKER_01: I think as long as we can have space where we need the space,
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SPEAKER_01: that's what we find hard to find,
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SPEAKER_01: I think,
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SPEAKER_01: is being able to follow our own rhythm in with a cyclical rhythm.
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SPEAKER_01: and recognise it.
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SPEAKER_01: And yeah,
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SPEAKER_01: I'm hoping I might come out this year,
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SPEAKER_01: the other side of,
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SPEAKER_01: you know,
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SPEAKER_01: mid-January with a bit of juice in me.
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And I'm not completely wanting to hide in a bubble-wrapped
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telephone ball,
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SPEAKER_01: but,
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SPEAKER_01: especially not telephone,
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SPEAKER_01: be really loud.
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SPEAKER_01: But it's that sort of,
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SPEAKER_01: like you say,
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SPEAKER_01: being able to go out and find those juicy people,
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SPEAKER_01: find those hearty people,
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SPEAKER_01: get out into nature and come back in,
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being able to come back into oneself and into your internal
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process or just into
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SPEAKER_01: your own rest and not have to be...
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doing doing doing um because that's what it feels like that's
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what the summer time
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is for all that sunlight and energy so that's what the sun is
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doing now in the
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SPEAKER_01: solstice so the solstice
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ice which means frozen stillness so in the solstice the sun
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keeps still for about
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three days I think and it's only twice in the year that it
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keeps still and I just
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love this image of this old I think they do it at the White
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Spring I love it when
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they do it at the White Spring which is a it's a walled it's a
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bricked up spring in
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SPEAKER_01: Glastonbury so you can
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there's gates at the front and you can come in but what they do
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is they everyone
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piles in there's hundreds of people in there and all the
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candles are blown out
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there's no electricity in there and it's dark absolutely dark
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and we're all in
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there together totally pitch black for as long as we can
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possibly manage it and
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SPEAKER_01: then we call for light all together and a young girl
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SPEAKER_01: a child represents Bridie,
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SPEAKER_01: who is the goddess of the springtime,
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SPEAKER_01: and she goes around and lights everybody's candles.
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SPEAKER_01: It's so beautiful.
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SPEAKER_01: It's really precious.
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SPEAKER_01: And I was thinking about that this morning,
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about who dares to gather together with a group of friends and
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be in total darkness together.
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SPEAKER_01: How can we be as still
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SPEAKER_01: as possible in company without it involving a screen of any kind.
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So I've been thinking about who do I know well enough or trust
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well enough or that
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SPEAKER_01: I want people in my life who I know and trust well enough that I can say,
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SPEAKER_01: come and sit in the dark with me.
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I've got this great idea.
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SPEAKER_01: Come and sit in the dark with me or let's do nothing.
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SPEAKER_01: And,
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SPEAKER_01: yeah,
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SPEAKER_01: keep getting outdoors as well,
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SPEAKER_01: feels really important in the winter,
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SPEAKER_01: getting those moments.
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SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's right.
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And when the door opens and you come in and the warmth of the
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home wraps around you.
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SPEAKER_01: And your face goes all prickly.
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SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
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SPEAKER_01: And you're like, oh, yeah.
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SPEAKER_01: I think it's that thing of,
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SPEAKER_01: hopefully,
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SPEAKER_01: if you've got warm home,
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SPEAKER_01: and that can be,
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SPEAKER_01: you know,
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SPEAKER_01: not everybody's got that constantly.
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SPEAKER_01: And I, yeah, feeling that quite a lot at the minute.
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SPEAKER_01: We've got a very cozy home.
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SPEAKER_01: But...
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SPEAKER_01: If you can find it, I think it's the contrast.
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SPEAKER_01: It's appreciating the contrast of whatever you've got,
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SPEAKER_01: wherever you are,
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appreciating those moments of lack or seeing those moments of
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lack of like when
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SPEAKER_01: you're hungry.
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SPEAKER_01: And then you eat and your belly's warmed and nourished.
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SPEAKER_01: And when you're cold and then you get warm again.
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SPEAKER_01: And we have much more contrast in winter than we do in summer.
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SPEAKER_01: You know,
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SPEAKER_01: we might want to cool off in summer,
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SPEAKER_01: especially with some well-hot summers,
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SPEAKER_01: but it's not quite the same as that,
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SPEAKER_01: like,
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SPEAKER_01: oh,
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SPEAKER_01: OK,
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SPEAKER_01: now I'm going to be OK.
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And I think it's the same with the light coming up,
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like,
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oh,
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God,
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it's dark.
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SPEAKER_01: Oh, God, it's getting darker.
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SPEAKER_01: Oh, wow.
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SPEAKER_01: It's like, where's the light going?
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SPEAKER_01: And then it will go.
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SPEAKER_01: I love that.
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It's like the summer sort of builds and builds and builds and builds,
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doesn't it?
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SPEAKER_01: But the winter,
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SPEAKER_01: it's dark and light,
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SPEAKER_01: dark and light,
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SPEAKER_01: dark and light,
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SPEAKER_01: hot and cold,
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SPEAKER_01: hot and cold,
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SPEAKER_01: hot and cold.
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SPEAKER_01: I love that.
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It reduces right down,
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like you say,
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until it goes very still on the horizon and very slow.
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SPEAKER_01: Yeah, very gentle.
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SPEAKER_01: It's a gentle time.
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SPEAKER_01: It's time to be gentle with ourselves, gentle with each other.
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SPEAKER_01: you know, if you have anything to give.
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SPEAKER_01: And I do love that about the festive season,
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SPEAKER_01: about the things that we've held on to,
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SPEAKER_01: that people give,
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SPEAKER_01: you know,
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SPEAKER_01: and it is a time to look out beyond ourselves and go,
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SPEAKER_01: okay,
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SPEAKER_01: I have warmth or food or whatever we've got.
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SPEAKER_01: What can I give from what I have?
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SPEAKER_01: And that's a beautiful message that pervades through.
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SPEAKER_01: It's just a bit about some other stuff, isn't it?
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SPEAKER_01: Yeah,
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that's what I've been sort of trying to talk to Noah around
14:16
about Christmas,
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SPEAKER_01: about it not being about
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SPEAKER_01: spending beyond your means or buying what someone else wants,
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SPEAKER_01: but thinking about what have I got and what have I managed
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brought towards me this year or yeah what can i offer that's
14:32
really off of myself
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i'm always trying to get him because he's really good at
14:36
origami i'm always trying
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to get him to make origami things for people but he doesn't
14:42
value them because it
14:43
comes easily to him and he makes this great origami frogs and
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he makes his origami
14:48
trees and all kinds of things and um and i'm saying just make
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people origami know
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SPEAKER_01: they'll love it and he he doesn't value it yeah i
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that's really interesting what we what we find easy we don't
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value i often write
14:59
people birthday songs because i'm like oh i haven't got your
15:01
presents i just wrote
15:02
you this silly song and and people love it i'm like oh it's
15:05
just a stupid song but
15:07
it's yeah it's that because i'm like oh it's just yeah that's
15:10
your thing but it's
15:11
like i've more and more i'm thinking about what is my essence
15:14
yeah and how can i um
15:17
SPEAKER_01: how can i offer that and not feel like
15:22
skint,
15:23
knackered,
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grumpy,
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you know,
15:26
at the end of,
15:27
you know,
15:28
by sort of January the 2nd.
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SPEAKER_01: Hugs.
15:30
SPEAKER_01: I can give hugs.
15:31
SPEAKER_01: They're quite easy.
15:33
SPEAKER_01: This Christmas, I'm giving you a hug.
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SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's fast.
15:37
SPEAKER_01: Getting more comfortable,
15:39
SPEAKER_01: being more intimate with each other so that we can receive more deeply.
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Yeah.
15:45
SPEAKER_01: Will you sing to us there?
15:48
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
15:49
SPEAKER_01: So I'm going to sing.
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SPEAKER_01: A little song that needs a little explanation, actually, for us.
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SPEAKER_01: The other solstice song.
15:58
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we've been in a solstice song.
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SPEAKER_01: The other one needs fluctuation.
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SPEAKER_01: OK, this is winter solstice.
16:05
SPEAKER_01: This is winter solstice.
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SPEAKER_01: And this song, I wrote this song on the way back in a lay-by.
16:12
SPEAKER_01: um,
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SPEAKER_01: having been treated to a spa by a friend after four years of,
16:17
SPEAKER_01: the first four years of setting up our little farm,
16:21
SPEAKER_01: which was just fields.
16:24
SPEAKER_01: And, um, I was so tired.
16:26
She left me in the spa for a bit in the day and kind of came
16:29
back and found me like
16:30
SPEAKER_01: drooling on one of those lounges and woke me up.
16:35
SPEAKER_01: And, um,
16:36
SPEAKER_01: And I hadn't rested.
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SPEAKER_01: I really hadn't rested for a long time.
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SPEAKER_01: I'd been working, working, working, pushing, pushing.
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SPEAKER_01: So this came in quite quickly, which is always nice when it comes in.
16:49
SPEAKER_01: That is the other thing about rest,
16:50
SPEAKER_01: isn't it,
16:51
SPEAKER_01: is that creativity just bubbles out from good work.
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SPEAKER_00: Oh, winter solstice, I'm glad you have come.
17:15
SPEAKER_00: My body is tired from all that I've done.
17:20
I'll rest here a while in your deep winter's night,
17:25
revived and renewed and awake with love.
17:39
the dark will not fear all stronger so deep oh clarity wisdom
17:46
strength come while i
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sleep i'll wake with the dawn so vital and fresh i know at this
17:56
time it was right
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SPEAKER_00: that i rest
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SPEAKER_00: Oh, light, come in gently, oh, light, come in slow.
18:14
SPEAKER_00: Oh, light, come in, show me all that I will know.
18:19
SPEAKER_00: I'll wake with your dawn full of peace, full of rest.
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SPEAKER_00: I know to slow down at this time was the best.
18:38
oh winter solstice we're glad you have come our bodies are
18:45
tired from all that
18:47
we've done we'll rest here a while in your deep winter's night
18:53
revived and renewed
18:55
SPEAKER_00: we're awake with the light
19:07
SPEAKER_00: The dark will not fear, we'll slumber so deep.
19:12
SPEAKER_00: O clarity, wisdom, strength, come when I sleep.
19:18
SPEAKER_00: We'll wake with the dawn, so vital and fresh.
19:23
SPEAKER_00: I know to slow down at this time, what's the best?
19:36
oh light come in gently oh light come in slow oh light come and
19:43
show us all that we
19:45
will know we'll wake with your dawn full of peace full of rest
19:52
and know that this
19:53
SPEAKER_00: time to slow down was the best
20:13
SPEAKER_01: Twas the night before yuletide and all through the glen,
20:17
SPEAKER_01: not a creature was stirring,
20:20
SPEAKER_01: not a fox,
20:21
SPEAKER_01: not a hen.
20:23
A mantle of snow shone brightly that night as it lay on the
20:27
ground reflecting moonlight.
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SPEAKER_01: The fairies were nestled all snug in their trees,
20:35
SPEAKER_01: unmindful of flurries and a chilly north breeze.
20:38
SPEAKER_01: The elves and the gnomes were down in their burrows,
20:42
SPEAKER_01: sleeping like babes in their soft earthen furrows.
20:46
SPEAKER_01: When lo,
20:47
SPEAKER_01: the earth moved with a thunderous quake,
20:50
SPEAKER_01: causing chairs to fall over and dishes to break.
20:53
SPEAKER_01: The little folks scrambled to get on their feet,
20:56
SPEAKER_01: then raced to the river where they usually meet.
20:58
SPEAKER_01: What happened?
21:00
SPEAKER_01: They wondered, they questioned, they pushed.
21:02
SPEAKER_01: As they shivered in nightclothes, some bare arms unrobed.
21:07
caused the earth shudder what caused her to shiver they all
21:11
spoke at once as they
21:12
stood by the river then what to their wandering eyes should
21:17
appear but a shining
21:19
golden light in the shape of a sphere it blinked and it
21:24
twinkled it went like an
21:26
SPEAKER_01: eye
21:31
SPEAKER_01: Before they could murmur,
21:32
SPEAKER_01: before they could bustle,
21:34
SPEAKER_01: there emerged from the crowd with a swish and a bustle.
21:39
The Holly King,
21:40
with his hand on a cane,
21:42
resplendent in green,
21:44
with a flowing white mane.
21:48
SPEAKER_01: As he passed by them smelling of winter and spices,
21:52
SPEAKER_01: reminiscent of earth slumber and robin entices,
21:57
SPEAKER_01: My name is the Holly King,
21:59
SPEAKER_01: the Oak King's twin brother,
22:02
SPEAKER_01: the Holly King proclaimed in a voice wild but tamed.
22:06
I've come to remind you,
22:08
for you seem to forget,
22:10
it is time for deep rest,
22:13
and yet.
22:15
SPEAKER_01: I see no hearth fires,
22:17
SPEAKER_01: I hear no music,
22:18
SPEAKER_01: no bells,
22:19
SPEAKER_01: the air is not filled with rich fragrant smells.
22:25
of baking and roasting and simmering stews,
22:29
of cider that's mulled or other hot brews.
22:32
There aren't any children at play in the snow or houses lit up
22:36
by a warm candle's glow.
22:38
Have you forgotten,
22:40
my children,
22:40
the fun of celebrating the rebirth of the golden bright sun?
22:46
SPEAKER_01: He looked at the Fae folk,
22:48
SPEAKER_01: his eyes going round,
22:49
SPEAKER_01: as they shuffled their feet and stared at the ground.
22:53
SPEAKER_01: Then he smiled the smile that brings lights to the day.
22:57
SPEAKER_01: Come, my children, he said.
22:59
SPEAKER_01: Let's play.
23:00
SPEAKER_01: They gathered the mistletoe, picked spiky holly.
23:03
SPEAKER_01: They threw off the drab and drew on the jolly.
23:07
SPEAKER_01: They lit a big bonfire.
23:09
SPEAKER_01: They danced and they sang.
23:10
SPEAKER_01: They brought out the bells and clapped when they rang.
23:14
They strung lights on the trees and bows oh so merry in colours
23:18
of cranberry,
23:20
bayberry,
23:21
cherry.
23:23
SPEAKER_01: They built giant snowmen and gave them their hats,
23:26
SPEAKER_01: then surrounded them with snowbirds and snowcats and bats.
23:31
SPEAKER_01: Then just before dawn,
23:32
SPEAKER_01: at the end of their fest,
23:34
SPEAKER_01: before they went homeward to seek out their rest,
23:37
SPEAKER_01: the Fae folk,
23:38
they gathered round their favourite oak tree and welcomed the
23:42
sun near the tree's finery.
23:45
SPEAKER_01: They were just reaching home when it suddenly came.
23:48
SPEAKER_01: The golden light returned like an arrow shot aflame.
23:53
SPEAKER_01: It lit on the treetop where they could see from afar.
23:56
SPEAKER_01: The golden-like sphere turned into a five-pointed star.
24:00
SPEAKER_01: The holly king just smiled at the beautiful sight.
24:04
SPEAKER_01: Happy yuletide, he whispered.
24:06
SPEAKER_01: Good night.
24:12
SPEAKER_01: Oh, thank you, Ted.
24:13
SPEAKER_01: That was so gorgeous.
24:14
SPEAKER_01: I just had to read into that.
24:16
Sometimes I just get so excited by the atmosphere that's
24:22
created with music.
24:24
SPEAKER_01: I just wanted to thank you.
24:25
SPEAKER_01: Oh, that was just divine.
24:27
Yeah,
24:28
it actually got me thinking about rest,
24:31
like that rest isn't just lying down.
24:33
SPEAKER_01: Rest is making spice,
24:36
SPEAKER_01: mould,
24:37
SPEAKER_01: cider or juice and having hearty times and being creative and playing,
24:44
SPEAKER_01: isn't it?
24:45
SPEAKER_01: That's rest, I don't know.
24:47
SPEAKER_01: Yeah,
24:47
SPEAKER_01: and doing what's easy,
24:48
putting stews in and mulled wine in the slow cooker and just
24:53
doing what's easy.
24:54
SPEAKER_01: I don't know who wrote that poem.
24:57
SPEAKER_01: That's been on my desk all year.
24:59
SPEAKER_01: I have moved that.
25:01
SPEAKER_01: Every time I've gone to do something,
25:02
SPEAKER_01: I've moved it and I've opened it up and I've gone,
25:04
SPEAKER_01: oh,
25:04
SPEAKER_01: what's that?
25:05
SPEAKER_01: What's that?
25:05
SPEAKER_01: Why is that on there?
25:06
SPEAKER_01: And I haven't done anything with it.
25:08
SPEAKER_01: And then yesterday or the day before, I just thought,
25:11
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I was going to learn that this year.
25:13
SPEAKER_01: She didn't use any bit of paper.
25:17
SPEAKER_01: It was completely for memory.
25:19
SPEAKER_01: Oh, that's beautiful.
25:23
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
25:24
SPEAKER_01: So beyond being a farmer and a seasonal celebrant, you are a singer.
25:29
SPEAKER_01: I'm a singer.
25:31
I even had my name on something as a composer earlier this year,
25:34
which was quite funny.
25:35
SPEAKER_01: I did a big arts council play called Rising Waters in the Chew Valley.
25:42
SPEAKER_01: And it was amazing.
25:42
There was a five meter long,
25:44
massive giant salmon that spoke and came to life.
25:47
SPEAKER_01: And it was fantastic.
25:49
SPEAKER_01: And I did all the sound effects and music for that.
25:51
SPEAKER_01: And it was a real, that was a real new,
25:54
edgy place for you i loved it actually i really enjoyed finding
25:57
like great crested
25:58
green warbler sound effects online and kind of piping them all
26:03
in so i i yeah all
26:05
things music if i can and that's coming more into my life now
26:09
um i co-run the farm
26:10
with my wonderful partner husband and um and um i homeschool
26:16
have homeschooled my
26:17
SPEAKER_01: kids and they're getting older so i've got some space which is lovely and
26:21
well yeah not completely there's still one in the mix that's
26:25
you know homing a lot
26:27
um so yeah lots of lots of lovely music and and really trying
26:32
to having I used to
26:33
do a lot of festivals and gigs and then had to sort of put it
26:36
all down for the kids
26:37
in the farm and and and trying to kind of work out how to bring
26:41
that you know which
26:42
bits of that to bring back in and what I would do with it and
26:44
it's um you know in
26:45
SPEAKER_01: this very
26:47
authentic time of my life where I don't have any capacity to
26:50
not be very authentic
26:52
anymore so yeah it's like what we're talking about isn't it
26:55
about doing things
26:57
easily yeah what's the most kind of delicious way of doing
27:00
something because
27:02
SPEAKER_01: sometimes festivals can mean lots of driving and lots of gigging and
27:06
SPEAKER_01: Yeah,
27:07
and sometimes festivals can be really gorgeous and just as
27:11
rejuvenating as going to one,
27:13
SPEAKER_01: as contributing.
27:14
SPEAKER_01: I love that, about as tiring as Glastonbury Festival is.
27:20
My beating heart wants to lift up the prayer of there being a
27:25
collaboration of
27:26
SPEAKER_01: performing arts on this land every year.
27:28
SPEAKER_01: It really, I feel strongly about that.
27:31
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and that summer energy as well.
27:34
SPEAKER_01: That's a summer creative, like...
27:36
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's a good thing.
27:42
Yeah,
27:42
but so alongside that,
27:46
I recently did the Natural Voice Network choir leading course.
27:49
SPEAKER_01: And I've always, I've already been sort of a whole wassails and things.
27:53
SPEAKER_01: So tell me, all these words, all these words.
27:56
SPEAKER_01: Natural Voice Network, what's that?
27:59
SPEAKER_01: So it's an organisation that really promotes singing, community singing.
28:05
SPEAKER_01: And singing without needing to read music.
28:07
SPEAKER_01: So choirs that you just learn things by ear.
28:09
SPEAKER_01: Maybe there's some words written on a board or on sheet,
28:11
SPEAKER_01: but really not having to have that pressure of that sort of musical.
28:15
SPEAKER_01: OK, let's have a see.
28:18
SPEAKER_01: Oh, no, it's simple.
28:20
SPEAKER_01: Something super simple.
28:22
SPEAKER_01: OK, hang on.
28:23
SPEAKER_01: What were we doing the other day?
28:31
SPEAKER_01: I think it's really important for us to reclaim our singing.
28:34
SPEAKER_01: Really, really important.
28:36
SPEAKER_01: Well,
28:36
SPEAKER_01: whilst you're thinking,
28:37
SPEAKER_01: I'll just say that I went to the...
28:39
SPEAKER_01: I belong to the Avalonian Free State Choir,
28:42
SPEAKER_01: and it's total nepotism,
28:45
SPEAKER_01: yeah,
28:45
SPEAKER_01: because I know the choir leader Sally very well.
28:49
SPEAKER_01: Otherwise, I wouldn't be in there, okay, because I'm...
28:52
hopeless at learning words and um not so great at singing but
28:58
my singing has so
28:59
improved i've been in it a year now and i've started i've
29:03
stopped mouthing and i
29:04
started to let sound come out it's great and everyone's been
29:08
lovely they've
29:08
pretended not to notice that i'm not singing i i have to tell
29:13
the pod people that
29:14
when i heard the pod people the people out there doing you
29:18
listening in that when i
29:19
SPEAKER_01: heard
29:20
SPEAKER_01: not only discovered that Sarah Whitney was doing this podcast,
29:23
SPEAKER_01: but also then heard her sing in the middle of it.
29:25
SPEAKER_01: I was like, oh, my God, she's good at everything.
29:28
SPEAKER_01: She's so amazing.
29:30
SPEAKER_01: Listen to her.
29:31
SPEAKER_01: We can all sing.
29:32
And then the next one,
29:33
I think you said something about your inhibitions about singing.
29:35
SPEAKER_01: So, yeah, we can all sing.
29:39
SPEAKER_01: Actually, I've got a song that's something, if we speak, you can sing.
29:42
There's just so much that holds us back and there's so much
29:45
that there's culture
29:46
SPEAKER_01: that dumbs us down.
29:48
SPEAKER_01: Yeah,
29:48
I think it's a trick to stop us from really meeting our full
29:52
potential to make
29:53
SPEAKER_01: singing unfashionable.
29:55
SPEAKER_01: I think that this is based in no fact at all,
29:59
but I think that the church stole it and made it theirs and
30:04
made it impossible for us.
30:06
or illegal for people to sing other than to praise the Lord and
30:11
then they break
30:11
down the churches so it's like there's nowhere for us to sing
30:16
and I can totally
30:18
feel in my own body from singing more that I'm feeling much
30:23
more connected to the
30:24
SPEAKER_01: inside of myself and I feel good
30:28
SPEAKER_01: So,
30:29
SPEAKER_01: yeah,
30:30
SPEAKER_01: and look at lockdown,
30:31
SPEAKER_01: all the choirs that went wild,
30:33
SPEAKER_01: all the online choirs that went wild over lockdown.
30:36
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, let's just remember that we love singing.
30:39
SPEAKER_01: Remember all of you,
30:41
SPEAKER_01: that place,
30:42
SPEAKER_01: that moment where you love singing and yeah,
30:46
SPEAKER_01: do it in the car,
30:47
SPEAKER_01: you know,
30:48
SPEAKER_01: just like,
30:48
SPEAKER_01: that's a great place to start,
30:50
SPEAKER_01: do it in the car.
30:51
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I do it at petrol stations.
30:54
SPEAKER_01: Yeah,
30:54
SPEAKER_01: it's really weird when I start a very strange habit by saying,
30:58
SPEAKER_01: seem to sing in petrol stations.
30:59
SPEAKER_01: Got nice acoustics.
31:01
SPEAKER_01: But it's a real, there's a real woman thing as well.
31:03
SPEAKER_01: There is a, there's a, it's, our voice has been taken from us.
31:07
And,
31:08
and I hadn't realized that really how deep that had gone in my psyche.
31:13
from even being a performer i still hold stuff there's cultural
31:17
stuff there's
31:18
there's um there's stuff of from school of people saying don't
31:23
show off when you're
31:23
good at something that still despite the fact that i do you
31:27
know countless
31:28
SPEAKER_01: performances over my life
31:31
SPEAKER_01: I still have fear when I sing.
31:34
SPEAKER_01: I'm like,
31:34
SPEAKER_01: God,
31:34
SPEAKER_01: if I have fear when I sing and I listen to that in inverted commas,
31:38
SPEAKER_01: you know,
31:39
SPEAKER_01: it's really helped me kind of realise how much we're all affected by it.
31:43
And I think it's good for people who feel like they're not
31:46
strong singers to
31:47
SPEAKER_01: understand that singers are terrified too,
31:49
SPEAKER_01: that it's such a big thing.
31:52
SPEAKER_01: I wrote a little song when I was on this course about the birds,
31:56
SPEAKER_01: wonderful big trees in this place where we did this choir leading week,
32:00
SPEAKER_01: residential week.
32:02
SPEAKER_01: And the opening line is, imagine if the birds were scared to sing.
32:05
SPEAKER_01: Imagine if you'd never heard their chirping.
32:07
Can you hear the silence it would bring,
32:09
the emptiness I fear would be deafening.
32:12
SPEAKER_01: And it was just this like, what if we weren't all singing?
32:18
And all the women in that room,
32:19
it was all women on this course,
32:20
what if we all had...
32:22
SPEAKER_01: What if we were too scared?
32:23
SPEAKER_01: So, but that's even a message to myself that I'm scared to sing.
32:27
SPEAKER_01: And actually even you saying, Ted, bring us a song.
32:29
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, have I got the right thing?
32:31
SPEAKER_01: You know, there's a whole... Let's sing the wrong song at the wrong time.
32:36
SPEAKER_01: What about summer?
32:38
SPEAKER_01: No,
32:38
SPEAKER_01: I'm wondering if,
32:39
SPEAKER_01: so there's a wonderful call and response thing that Frankie Armstrong,
32:43
SPEAKER_01: who's sort of pioneered a lot of the Natural Voice Network,
32:47
SPEAKER_01: amazing woman.
32:49
She's been blind most of her life and is partly deaf and has
32:53
such incredible
32:55
ability to understand resonance and song and voice and bring it
32:59
out of people.
33:00
She's an incredible human and has dedicated her life to singing
33:04
and helping people sing.
33:06
SPEAKER_01: And so she does this wonderful kind of call and response thing.
33:08
We do it with sort of haymaking and I did it the other day with
33:11
our choir.
33:12
SPEAKER_01: So Ted, there's loads of you who've never made it on the day.
33:16
SPEAKER_01: Imagine you've got this long,
33:18
SPEAKER_01: old-fashioned pitchforks with the sort of four prongs at the end,
33:22
SPEAKER_01: slightly curved.
33:23
And you're kind of,
33:24
we're not making the hay because that's a summer thing.
33:26
SPEAKER_01: We're going to toss the hay up to keep it aired and dry in our barn.
33:31
SPEAKER_01: And what you do is you're standing.
33:32
SPEAKER_01: Imagine you're sort of rocking forward side to side.
33:35
SPEAKER_01: And you just,
33:36
SPEAKER_01: when your body's doing something,
33:37
SPEAKER_01: you kind of get out of your own head a little bit.
33:39
SPEAKER_01: So we'll do a little chord response.
33:41
SPEAKER_01: So I'll sing just anything.
33:44
SPEAKER_01: And then you just go for me.
33:45
SPEAKER_01: We're copycats.
33:46
SPEAKER_01: We did it from birth.
33:47
SPEAKER_01: We did it when we were born.
33:48
SPEAKER_01: We did it with babies.
33:49
SPEAKER_00: That's how we learned to speak.
34:00
SPEAKER_00: Beautiful.
34:04
SPEAKER_01: And everyone join in at home if you want to.
34:07
SPEAKER_01: I'm keeping it low and deep for the wintery vibes.
34:10
SPEAKER_01: Oh,
34:11
SPEAKER_01: yo,
34:11
SPEAKER_01: yo,
34:11
SPEAKER_01: yo,
34:12
SPEAKER_01: yo,
34:13
SPEAKER_03: yo,
34:13
SPEAKER_03: yo,
34:14
SPEAKER_03: yo,
34:14
SPEAKER_03: yo,
34:15
SPEAKER_03: yo,
34:16
SPEAKER_03: yo,
34:16
SPEAKER_03: yo,
34:16
SPEAKER_03: yo,
34:17
SPEAKER_03: yo,
34:17
SPEAKER_03: yo,
34:18
SPEAKER_03: yo,
34:19
SPEAKER_03: yo,
34:19
SPEAKER_03: yo,
34:19
SPEAKER_00: yo,
34:20
SPEAKER_00: yo,
34:21
SPEAKER_00: yo,
34:21
SPEAKER_00: yo,
34:21
SPEAKER_00: yo,
34:22
SPEAKER_00: yo,
34:22
SPEAKER_00: yo,
34:22
SPEAKER_00: yo,
34:23
SPEAKER_00: yo,
34:23
SPEAKER_00: yo,
34:23
SPEAKER_00: yo,
34:23
SPEAKER_00: yo,
34:24
SPEAKER_00: yo,
34:25
SPEAKER_00: yo,
34:25
SPEAKER_00: yo,
34:26
SPEAKER_00: yo,
34:26
SPEAKER_00: yo,
34:27
SPEAKER_00: yo,
34:28
SPEAKER_00: yo,
34:28
SPEAKER_00: yo,
34:28
SPEAKER_00: yo,
34:29
SPEAKER_00: yo,
34:29
SPEAKER_00: yo,
34:29
SPEAKER_00: yo,
34:30
SPEAKER_00: yo,
34:31
SPEAKER_00: yo,
34:31
SPEAKER_00: yo,
34:32
SPEAKER_00: yo,
34:32
SPEAKER_00: yo.
34:33
La-da Ring-ding Ring-ding Mo-yo Boyo Boyo Boyo Boyo Boyo La-la
34:47
La-la Maya
35:00
SPEAKER_00: Maya,
35:01
SPEAKER_00: la-la-no,
35:04
SPEAKER_00: la-la-lo,
35:07
SPEAKER_00: la-la-la,
35:09
SPEAKER_00: la-la-la,
35:09
SPEAKER_00: whoa,
35:09
SPEAKER_00: whoa,
35:11
SPEAKER_00: whoa,
35:11
SPEAKER_00: whoa,
35:12
SPEAKER_00: whoa,
35:13
SPEAKER_00: whoa,
35:14
SPEAKER_00: whoa,
35:15
SPEAKER_00: whoa,
35:15
SPEAKER_00: whoa,
35:16
SPEAKER_00: whoa,
35:16
SPEAKER_00: whoa,
35:19
whoa,
35:20
whoa,
35:21
whoa.
35:28
SPEAKER_01: I really enjoyed that.
35:29
SPEAKER_01: It's really good, isn't it?
35:30
SPEAKER_01: You've got such gorgeous resonance.
35:32
SPEAKER_01: Well, that's, you know, singing every week for a year.
35:35
SPEAKER_01: You know, that's really cool.
35:38
SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
35:39
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I'm going to, I think I could do that.
35:42
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
35:43
You've made me think that there's...
35:45
Because I was thinking about tossing the hay.
35:46
SPEAKER_01: It's a bit like sort of making a bed in the morning.
35:50
And that there's lots of things I do regularly that I could
35:56
sing at the same time
35:57
as doing them and how that might make me feel differently about
36:01
doing them.
36:02
You know,
36:02
I've got such a kind of dinner lady in me that just wants to,
36:05
like...
36:06
get you know get it done um but i could actually enjoy the task
36:10
whilst i'm doing it
36:12
and bring some yeah flow to yeah it might make my life a little
36:16
bit more and so
36:17
many of the songs that around the world are work songs and the
36:20
older songs and the
36:25
SPEAKER_01: A-U-L-K, I think, I-N-G.
36:28
SPEAKER_01: And they're to pass the time on the repetitive things.
36:30
SPEAKER_01: You know,
36:31
you're rolling the tweed and you're singing something
36:33
incredible in Gaelic that I
36:34
SPEAKER_01: won't start now.
36:35
SPEAKER_01: I'll never forget the description, get the pronunciation wrong.
36:38
But they're to pass the time and they build community and they
36:43
literally weave
36:44
SPEAKER_01: while you're weaving,
36:45
SPEAKER_01: you know.
36:46
SPEAKER_01: And they come from every culture.
36:48
SPEAKER_01: They're in every culture.
36:49
SPEAKER_01: They're in us to make those sounds.
36:52
SPEAKER_01: You know, we were probably singing before we were speaking words.
36:55
SPEAKER_01: It's really interesting when you look at it like that.
36:58
SPEAKER_01: And we definitely,
36:58
SPEAKER_01: you know,
36:58
SPEAKER_01: when little kids are making those sounds,
37:01
SPEAKER_01: they're making kind of...
37:04
SPEAKER_01: And they're copycats and we copy.
37:06
SPEAKER_01: So doing that call and response is really helpful and great.
37:10
SPEAKER_01: I loved it.
37:10
SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
37:11
SPEAKER_01: Great.
37:11
SPEAKER_01: We've made our hay nice and dry for the winter.
37:14
SPEAKER_01: Great.
37:14
SPEAKER_01: We need dry hay.
37:16
SPEAKER_01: What was I going to say?
37:21
SPEAKER_01: Before you sing your next song...
37:25
SPEAKER_01: You were telling me about where it came from.
37:28
SPEAKER_01: Now, I haven't quite got it.
37:30
So now you say it all again over the pod,
37:32
I might just slow you down a bit.
37:35
SPEAKER_01: So tell me.
37:35
SPEAKER_01: Okay, I'll try and start at the beginning.
37:37
SPEAKER_01: So there's a wonderful artist called Sophie White,
37:41
SPEAKER_01: who's a potter and an artist of many different mediums.
37:47
and she's also an amazing horse woman and she drives carriages
37:52
and carts and rides
37:54
and she's got an incredible way with horses and she used to go
37:57
around the country i
37:58
think a lot when she was younger just camping out just a horse
38:01
and some saddlebags
38:02
and a tent that was quite easy normal for her and and i think
38:06
she got to i'm not
38:08
SPEAKER_01: quite sure how old she was mid late 40s and um
38:12
SPEAKER_01: thought, I just need to see if I can still do that.
38:15
SPEAKER_01: And so she had this idea of a pilgrimage that she,
38:21
SPEAKER_01: and I'm not quite sure the exact order she chose to do these in,
38:24
SPEAKER_01: but she was living in a converted chapel on the Mary Ley Line,
38:30
which is part of the Michael and Mary Ley Lines that interweave
38:33
across from Cornwall,
38:35
SPEAKER_01: right across England,
38:36
SPEAKER_01: kind of in a straight line,
38:37
SPEAKER_01: almost like a sort of the edges of a double helix,
38:40
SPEAKER_01: I don't know much about the Michael and Mary lines.
38:45
SPEAKER_01: We might do another pod about that.
38:48
But what I do know is I saw a line going through the Michael
38:53
line once and it goes
38:54
SPEAKER_01: through all the ancient sites and Avebury.
38:59
SPEAKER_01: Stonehenge, Glastonbury Tall, dun-dun-dun-dun-dun.
39:01
SPEAKER_01: You can draw a line through them.
39:03
SPEAKER_01: And then someone was in the abbey,
39:05
SPEAKER_01: Billy the Celt and I were in the abbey,
39:08
SPEAKER_01: and he said,
39:09
SPEAKER_01: look at all the spires.
39:10
SPEAKER_01: And from the top of the abbey,
39:11
you could see like three or four spires of churches in
39:15
different villages.
39:17
SPEAKER_01: So they've all been built on what is perceived to be a sacred space,
39:24
SPEAKER_01: which are these lines,
39:26
SPEAKER_01: which are called ley lines,
39:27
SPEAKER_01: and some people call them the
39:29
Mary lines right yeah and they're kind of some people believe
39:32
that they're sort of
39:33
energy lines that have powerful points on them so there's
39:37
there's the less
39:38
well-known places like Borough Mump and Quinch and Saint
39:42
Michael and um and there's
39:45
sort of the other I have I'd love to now having kind of
39:48
immersed myself in this
39:49
SPEAKER_01: whole album of songs around
39:53
explore it more because there's places where I didn't realise
39:55
that was part of this
39:56
whole thread so she went on this pilgrimage on her horse but
40:00
she hang on so she
40:01
went on the pilgrimage she went she walked went on her own I
40:05
think she got dropped
40:06
down in like the bottom of course she did the lines what's she
40:09
doing she's
40:10
following the ancient bridal ways and the ways and some of the
40:14
roads on her horse
40:16
and every day she was she was commissioned by the western royal
40:20
western academy to
40:21
i think someone got wind she was going to do this link and do
40:24
this journey and they
40:26
commissioned her to draw a picture every day and every day she
40:30
managed to somehow
40:31
SPEAKER_01: remarkably with
40:33
technology on the back of a horse put them online and the Royal
40:36
Western Academy
40:37
would print these pictures out and put them on the wall of
40:42
their spaces and so she
40:46
was doing this every day and it went on for weeks and weeks and
40:49
a friend of hers
40:50
SPEAKER_01: called Michael Canning
40:52
um who's actually a vet he wouldn't call himself a poet um
40:55
began to write little
40:57
supporting messages to her and when she put where she put in
41:01
response to her
41:02
pictures and about her yeah about the picture and about her
41:06
journey and it felt as
41:07
almost if he'd been like on the phone to her that day and he
41:09
hadn't at all but he
41:10
SPEAKER_01: had this sort of amazing insight into
41:14
what it would have felt like to go from place to place and
41:16
these moments in time
41:17
SPEAKER_01: that she'd captured in these drawings.
41:19
SPEAKER_01: And some of them are very sketchy,
41:20
SPEAKER_01: some of them are slightly cartoony,
41:22
SPEAKER_01: some of them are like deeply like,
41:25
SPEAKER_01: you know,
41:26
SPEAKER_01: curled up in the earth,
41:27
SPEAKER_01: lots of ravens and
41:29
Lots of really beautiful owls and animals and lots of horse
41:35
energy in them.
41:38
SPEAKER_01: And a few weeks in,
41:40
SPEAKER_01: this is a very long intro to a song,
41:42
SPEAKER_01: a few weeks in,
41:43
SPEAKER_01: I thought I need to catch up with what Sophie's been up to,
41:46
SPEAKER_01: you know,
41:46
SPEAKER_01: sort of knowing what she was doing.
41:49
preparing for it the sort of few weeks before she was going and
41:51
she left in like
41:53
first of April or something it was snowing it was freezing cold
41:56
still and she was
41:57
kind of going what am I doing so I thought okay catch up and I
42:01
went online and
42:02
found these pictures and found these poems and had a very sort
42:06
of dialed in moment
42:07
SPEAKER_01: with a glass of wine kids gone to bed and
42:10
and put more to music without intending to just put about 20 of
42:15
them to song and
42:16
SPEAKER_01: just kept pressing play.
42:18
SPEAKER_01: One of them was written very like a song that was sort of cover,
42:21
SPEAKER_01: sounded very like a Led Zeppelin song.
42:22
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, oh, hang on, there's something in this.
42:25
SPEAKER_01: And so created this accidental album of...
42:29
songs about her journey wow and then we recorded them actually
42:32
in glastonbury
42:33
because we wanted to do it somewhere along that you know with
42:35
that energy along
42:36
that along that sort of line the ley line energy to record them
42:40
with jem at the
42:41
hive studios originally they've been remastered recently um
42:46
yeah so wow so it's got
42:48
this amazing and we you know none of it was intended he didn't
42:51
mean to write the
42:52
SPEAKER_01: poems we never planned any of it which is
42:55
SPEAKER_01: Which is wonderful because I think if we planned that kind of project,
42:57
we would have killed over and had a heart attack because it
42:59
would have been a bit huge.
43:00
SPEAKER_01: But it sort of kept evolving and really run magically.
43:05
We have a sign in the kitchen that says art is the thing that
43:08
nobody asks you to do.
43:10
SPEAKER_01: And I think about that sometimes about what am I doing?
43:14
tinkering with what am i playing with you know um nobody asked
43:19
me to do a podcast
43:20
but i'm i'm glad you're listening by the way i am like the
43:25
super fan sitting on the
43:27
SPEAKER_01: sofa feeling like i'm in like you know with the with the like film star
43:32
of the podcast world in my view so play us one of these songs
43:38
from this beautiful
43:39
album we are slap bang on the ley line guys playing you this
43:43
song so if we
43:44
SPEAKER_01: disapparate after the song is finished then you know
43:48
SPEAKER_01: Well, it's called Time for Home.
43:50
SPEAKER_01: We may go home.
43:51
SPEAKER_01: We might.
43:52
SPEAKER_01: Okay, I'm going to get really clumsy.
43:54
SPEAKER_01: So it's called Time for Home,
43:55
SPEAKER_01: and it's one of the last ones that I wrote,
43:59
SPEAKER_01: where she was bringing...
44:00
SPEAKER_01: She actually did it in two stages.
44:01
SPEAKER_01: She did it on one beautiful horse called Oski,
44:05
SPEAKER_01: who was about four years old,
44:06
SPEAKER_01: beautiful Appaloosa,
44:08
SPEAKER_01: if anyone is a horsey person.
44:09
He's a kind of spotty,
44:11
not a very big mane,
44:12
sort of slightly odd-looking horse,
44:14
but he's just...
44:15
SPEAKER_01: Got our most amazing energies, the gentlest, beautiful, goofy soul.
44:21
SPEAKER_01: And he was quite young and she was like, I think he's done enough.
44:24
SPEAKER_01: She'd done like 100 days with him or something.
44:27
SPEAKER_01: And so she was bringing him home and then going to continue with her.
44:31
little dartmoor pony and a cart for the second leg of it so
44:35
this is time for homes
44:36
for oscar oh osky's going home honestly i just i have oh it's
44:41
just the most
44:42
beautiful soul i love that horse very deeply he's still she's
44:45
actually sold him but
44:46
he's still in our valley and every time i go near him i just
44:49
have to go like oh
44:50
SPEAKER_01: leave my head on his head it's very divine
44:54
I had a car accident once when my car flew in the air and it
44:58
rolled three times and
44:59
it landed upside down and I was advised to spend time with
45:04
horses and I was expecting,
45:06
SPEAKER_01: because this person who I...
45:09
said you know you're way out of your body you need to spend
45:11
time with horses and
45:12
I'd not spent much time with horses before and I was expecting
45:16
that to be very
45:17
grounded like four feet on the ground and actually what I
45:21
discovered when I was
45:22
SPEAKER_01: with the horses that it was constant adjustment yeah
45:24
constant flow,
45:25
constant movement,
45:27
they didn't for a second keep all four feet on the ground.
45:32
SPEAKER_01: And through that,
45:33
through spending time with them and being able to kind of allow
45:36
that constant
45:37
SPEAKER_01: movement to come through my body and adjust my body as it needed,
45:42
SPEAKER_01: I did start to get kind of heal.
45:46
SPEAKER_01: Oh, they are incredible.
45:47
I have also owned a very difficult horse who was very much a
45:51
soul challenge.
45:53
SPEAKER_01: And he was living with Oski at the time at some points of me having him.
45:57
And it was such a contrast having this little teenager horse
46:02
and then having Oski
46:02
SPEAKER_01: in the same space.
46:03
SPEAKER_01: I was like, I love you so much, Oski.
46:06
SPEAKER_01: I wish you were mine.
46:10
SPEAKER_01: So, yeah, they sometimes come to us to teach us things.
46:12
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and maybe we'll find ways to welcome our teenagers.
46:17
SPEAKER_01: Teenagers.
46:18
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes they're not welcome, are they?
46:21
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes they come in anyway when they need to teach us stuff.
46:24
SPEAKER_01: They're welcome.
46:24
SPEAKER_01: They're really welcome.
46:26
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
46:28
When you're finished singing,
46:29
I may do a small journey afterwards,
46:32
but we'll see how it goes.
46:32
SPEAKER_01: Beautiful.
46:33
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
46:46
SPEAKER_00: Wide daylines,
46:48
SPEAKER_00: rains on night Early mornings,
46:53
SPEAKER_00: something to find A cloud of snow,
46:58
SPEAKER_00: sun shot through,
46:59
SPEAKER_00: struck my heart Blanket round me,
47:07
SPEAKER_00: sky and rain apart
47:12
smiles to my eyes or ski strides on ride and ride onto the tour
47:27
until we can know
47:30
SPEAKER_00: more until we can know more like a cloud
47:42
SPEAKER_00: On a Sunday morning have we come our way Michael and Mary lay
47:58
SPEAKER_00: Dark skies look apple green, none such as I have seen.
48:07
SPEAKER_00: Come, Oski, turn with me.
48:10
SPEAKER_00: I'll hold your end, move your main.
48:16
SPEAKER_00: You and me, I know.
48:21
SPEAKER_00: Time for home.
48:27
SPEAKER_00: Time for hope
48:50
SPEAKER_00: Time for Time for Deep inside all of us is a cave
49:24
SPEAKER_01: time for home, always coming home.
49:29
And we find ourselves at the mouth of that cave,
49:33
ready to go deeper inwards.
49:37
SPEAKER_01: And we call,
49:39
SPEAKER_01: we call for good company,
49:42
SPEAKER_01: whether that's a scent or a person or an animal or a guide,
49:48
SPEAKER_01: we call for good company and it comes.
49:53
SPEAKER_01: And so we walk deeper into this cave,
49:56
SPEAKER_01: into our winter,
49:59
SPEAKER_01: into our soul,
50:01
SPEAKER_01: into our safe place,
50:03
SPEAKER_01: deep,
50:03
SPEAKER_01: deep,
50:04
SPEAKER_01: deep inside.
50:10
And we know that the fires will burn in here and the candles
50:14
will be lit and
50:15
SPEAKER_01: there'll be a deep welcome for us.
50:18
SPEAKER_01: And we look around this place and we see who's there
50:24
SPEAKER_01: what is feeding us,
50:27
SPEAKER_01: where we're getting our warmth from,
50:30
SPEAKER_01: our joy,
50:31
SPEAKER_01: our delight and our deep rest.
50:37
And we find a place in this cave where we lay down for a while
50:41
that suits us just so.
50:49
SPEAKER_01: And as we lay there, our body drops down
50:55
SPEAKER_01: our neck letting go of our head,
50:58
SPEAKER_01: our shoulders melting,
51:01
SPEAKER_01: body resting back,
51:04
SPEAKER_01: resting back,
51:05
SPEAKER_01: resting back.
51:09
SPEAKER_01: Breathing, resting, deepening into winter.
51:24
SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Ted.
51:26
SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
51:28
SPEAKER_01: And I wouldn't call that a long introduction into that song.
51:32
SPEAKER_01: I would have called that a great story.
51:37
SPEAKER_01: Yeah,
51:38
it's a great story and it's inspiring about what is possible in
51:44
a life and how we
51:45
SPEAKER_01: can live life differently.
51:47
SPEAKER_01: So thank you for that.
51:49
SPEAKER_01: And I just,
51:49
SPEAKER_01: what we were saying before,
51:50
there's something about one creative act can spark another and
51:54
another and another.
51:56
SPEAKER_01: And I think sometimes it doesn't matter what
52:03
SPEAKER_01: And it can be completely unplanned.
52:05
SPEAKER_01: And yeah, best not to plan in some ways.
52:08
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
52:09
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
52:10
SPEAKER_01: And to collaborate.
52:11
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
52:12
I would like to do more collaboration next year with different
52:15
artists for sure.
52:21
SPEAKER_01: Ah, yes.
52:22
SPEAKER_01: So when I was getting my Christmas decorations out,
52:25
SPEAKER_01: I found some books,
52:28
SPEAKER_01: some storybooks that I thought I'd run out of.
52:33
SPEAKER_01: So you should be getting some storybooks for Christmas, guys.
52:38
SPEAKER_01: And if anybody wants one,
52:39
you can message me on Substack for listening this year to this
52:45
podcast today.
52:46
SPEAKER_01: I'd love to send you a storybook.
52:48
SPEAKER_01: So if you message me with your address, I'll send it to you.
52:53
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that was the one thing.
52:55
SPEAKER_01: How can people get in touch?
52:56
SPEAKER_01: How can they listen to your horse?
53:00
SPEAKER_01: What's your horse album called?
53:00
SPEAKER_01: It's called Earthline.
53:02
SPEAKER_01: Earthline.
53:03
SPEAKER_01: Earthline.
53:04
SPEAKER_01: So it is on Bandcamp.
53:07
SPEAKER_01: It's not on my Bandcamp, maybe, but it's on Bandcamp as Earthline.
53:11
It's also the four,
53:12
we've been remastering some of the tracks and putting them on
53:15
to Spotify.
53:17
So there's four up there,
53:18
three up there now,
53:19
under Ted Waters,
53:21
Ted Waters on Spotify.
53:23
SPEAKER_01: And the rest of the album is coming in the spring.
53:26
SPEAKER_01: And on there is also the Winter Solstice song.
53:28
SPEAKER_01: Brilliant.
53:31
SPEAKER_01: But you can find out what it's called in the album.
53:33
um it's the album that oh that that's there's earth line is the
53:37
whole album with
53:38
with time for home and and all the all the um songs about
53:42
sophie's journey safe
53:43
story and then um currently i just have winter solstice is just
53:47
the one single
53:48
that's not part of that album is up there for now and there's
53:50
more coming there's a
53:52
song called billion atoms coming up next year which was written
53:54
about my dear
53:55
SPEAKER_01: friend who died couple
53:57
SPEAKER_01: But we can find you.
53:58
SPEAKER_01: You can find me there.
53:59
SPEAKER_01: You can find me on Spotify.
54:00
SPEAKER_01: You can find me on Bandcamp.
54:02
SPEAKER_01: You can find me on Instagram, Ted Waters Music.
54:08
SPEAKER_01: All the other places.
54:09
SPEAKER_01: She's going red.
54:10
SPEAKER_01: It's just the mirror of all of this.
54:12
SPEAKER_01: It's wonderful.
54:13
SPEAKER_01: Stream marketing.
54:15
SPEAKER_01: So, yes, it's TikTok, which I believe.
54:20
SPEAKER_01: But they're all Ted Waters Music.
54:21
SPEAKER_01: Great.
54:22
SPEAKER_01: We've just ducked up goose Ted Waters Music.
54:25
SPEAKER_01: And there we go.
54:28
And I would like to invite you to come on the 19th of December
54:35
to see some
54:36
SPEAKER_01: storytelling and music.
54:39
Sarah Curtis is going to be playing some music and we're going
54:42
to tell the story of
54:43
SPEAKER_01: the Snow Queen and a couple of other things.
54:45
I asked a lot of people what their favourite story was and a
54:49
lot of people have
54:50
SPEAKER_01: been saying Snow Queen.
54:51
SPEAKER_01: So I'm going to, OK, I don't have that much of a connection to it.
54:57
SPEAKER_01: So I'm looking forward to telling it.
54:59
SPEAKER_01: And there's lots of potential for deep magic.
55:02
SPEAKER_01: So that's on the 19th of December.
55:04
SPEAKER_01: If you've got the stamina after that,
55:06
SPEAKER_01: I am actually telling a bedtime story at a cabaret around the corner.
55:10
Oh,
55:10
I've just remembered actually that I think that this is going
55:13
to go out a little after that.
55:14
SPEAKER_01: So you might miss it, guys.
55:17
SPEAKER_01: Never fear.
55:18
SPEAKER_01: I hope you energetically buy your tickets.
55:26
But the only other thing I wanted to say to you before we go is
55:33
that at the end of February,
55:35
SPEAKER_01: I booked out the retreat house at the Chalicewell Gardens,
55:38
SPEAKER_01: which is so holy,
55:41
SPEAKER_01: so magical,
55:42
SPEAKER_01: really.
55:44
I ran a retreat there last year and the profoundity of the
55:48
sacredness of the space
55:49
SPEAKER_01: really was incredible.
55:52
SPEAKER_01: And what I do is I take a story
55:55
SPEAKER_01: as a framework.
55:56
SPEAKER_01: And then we create ritual initiation,
56:00
SPEAKER_01: anything in you that you need to let go of,
56:03
SPEAKER_01: that you want to be witnessed,
56:04
SPEAKER_01: that wants to emerge.
56:06
SPEAKER_01: We create ceremony in the gardens at night, which you have to ourselves.
56:11
SPEAKER_01: And we also use the white spring through storytelling.
56:17
SPEAKER_01: It's exquisite.
56:18
SPEAKER_01: So I've got six places, I think, left on that.
56:25
SPEAKER_01: So, yeah, let me know.
56:27
SPEAKER_01: And I've been awful, as you know, at getting it out there.
56:32
SPEAKER_01: So people, you just have to get in touch if you're interested right now.
56:37
SPEAKER_01: Get in touch with me.
56:38
SPEAKER_01: Where can people find you then, Sarah Mooney?
56:42
SPEAKER_01: Where can they find you?
56:44
SPEAKER_01: Well, I'm not really sure.
56:48
SPEAKER_01: But you can,
56:48
SPEAKER_01: if you duck,
56:50
SPEAKER_01: duck,
56:50
SPEAKER_01: goose,
56:50
SPEAKER_01: I'm trying not to say the G word,
56:53
SPEAKER_01: Mooney's Mythic Podcast,
56:55
SPEAKER_01: then I'll come up in certain spaces.
56:58
SPEAKER_01: And yeah, but also...
57:02
so i do have a patreon page and i do have some patrons thank
57:11
you very very very
57:12
much you know who you are i'm thinking of you and saying your
57:15
names in my heart
57:16
right now um yeah if you think oh that woman needs a cup of
57:19
coffee although she
57:20
doesn't because she's given up coffee two weeks and counting
57:24
but she needs
57:25
SPEAKER_01: hydrating let's say
57:27
then you can buy me a cup of coffee on Patreon and that's
57:30
Moony's Mythic podcast as
57:32
well I think go for it you know it'll it'll be the it'll give
57:39
you that warm fuzzy
57:40
Christmas feeling if you can afford it and if you can't no
57:43
problem come and listen
57:44
anyway lots of love guys see you next week please get in touch
57:49
let me know what
57:50
your winter's looking like and what you're liking or not liking
57:54
about this pod
57:55
SPEAKER_01: Lots of love.
57:56
SPEAKER_01: Bye-bye.