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Uncovering Cornwall's Spirit and Sound: Emma's Journey · The Corn(ish) Witch

• 0:40
  SPEAKER_01: Hello and welcome to the Cornish Witch podcast.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_01: I'm your host, Freya, a witch who lives in Cornwall but who isn't a born and bred Cornish maid.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_01: I am back after a short break, and I am feeling quite refreshed and really excited for today's episode.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_01: Just before we get into the episode, I do have some exciting announcements.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_01: The first announcement is mine and Emily's tarot card raffle is still ongoing, so there's still two more drawers that you can enter.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_01: That'll be the April draw and the May draw.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_01: So if you're still interested in entering the raffle, then please have a look at Emily's website in the show notes and our Instagram page, and you will find all the details there on how to enter.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_01: Also, thank you for all of the lovely birthday messages.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_01: I really appreciated everyone wishing me happy birthday.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_01: That was very lovely.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_01: Not so sure how I feel about turning 37, but I'm trying to make my peace with it.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_01: My mum kept saying and winding me up, so what are you gonna do if you're 40th?
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, I'm not turning 40.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_01: It's not happening.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just gonna age backwards.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, or I do like to think that because of COVID and lockdown, um, I can just shave off three years because they don't count.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_01: So perhaps I can just still keep going and pretending I'm 34.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_01: I'll see how long I can get away with that.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_01: Anyway, um, moving on.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_01: So something that's really exciting that I'd like to talk about is next weekend, which is the 27th of March through to the 29th of March, so that's Friday to Sunday, in Launston, there is going to be Tarosvan.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_01: Taros Van is a Cornish word for ghost, and the festival is all based on Cornish ghost stories.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_01: It's the first of its kind, and it's been created by Emily and Lawrence.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_01: Emily runs Black Cat Books and Lawrence does the ghost tours around Launston, and you would have heard Lawrence in my Christmas special episode, The Dark House, and then Emily also features on uh episode two called The Bookish Witch in season one.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_01: So if you're interested in coming to Launston um in the last weekend of March and experiencing the Ghost Story Festival that is Tara's van, then please come along.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_01: You can get your tickets at the Black Cat Books website.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_01: It is selling out very fast.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I'm going to be podcasting there throughout the entire weekend.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_01: So if you fancy coming along and you see me there with my headphones and my microphone, please come and say hello.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_01: And then last little announcement or the last little thing that I have for you is I have a book review, uh, which is a first for uh this podcast, and hopefully not the last.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_01: It's not something I usually do.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um but at the start of the year, I had a publishing company reach out to me called um Crossed Crow Books, and they are based in uh Evanston, which is in Illinois in the USA.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_01: And they approached me and asked if I would like to review a book that was being published in March.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_01: The book is called Roadmap by Moonlight, which is a guide to Wicker for Life by the author Deborah Lipp, and it's the ultimate modern guidebook for those looking to build a fulfilling, magical and spiritual practice.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_01: I was really honoured and grateful for them to just sort of reach out to me and ask me to to review this book that you know has only just been published this month.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um so they sent me a copy and I read it and I loved it.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_01: I really did.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um it's a really practical and grounded introduction to Wicca, and it's not looking at, you know, it doesn't look at it as just a belief system, but also as a way of living day to day.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um and what I really enjoyed is how approachable the book is.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_01: It's it isn't too complicated, you know.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_01: Deborah Lipp, the author, she she breaks down quite complex spiritual ideas into something quite clear and usable, and it makes it especially helpful for, you know, I I think beginners or anyone who is looking to even deepen their practice.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_01: It's not overly mystical or abstract, it's very much about sort of integrating Wicca, you know, if that's the practice that you want to go into, into your real daily life.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um, there's also really nice illustrations in the book, and I think they add a really nice sort of personal and handmade touch to it, and it helps up to break the text as well, so it makes the material of the book feel more accessible and and it helped me engage in the book more as well.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_01: I I'm quite a visual person, so I like to have I like to have pictures to look at.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but also one of the highlights that I really enjoyed about this book is the way that Deborah connects with ritual and ethics and personal growth, and she shows how they all fit together rather than sort of I suppose treating them as separate entities or separate topics, um, it's quite structured.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_01: But for me, I find that actually works really well.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_01: I'm the sort of person that if I'm reading a book about spirituality and if I'm reading a book about non-fiction and I'm looking to learn, then I find that structure works well for me because I I'm looking for guidance and direction.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_01: So if you're a reader that likes structure and you want guidance and direction, then I would say this book is, you know, it it's really something that I would recommend.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_01: The book is available through major retailers and online platforms such as AppleBooks and also directly from the publisher Crossed Crow Books.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and it was released in March, so this month in a paperback format and also a digital format as well.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_01: But overall, I would recommend this actually to anyone who is curious about Wicca, or they're just looking for a steady and thoughtful guide to spiritual practice.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um so I just want to say a huge thank you to Crossed Crow Books for reaching out and taking a chance and asking me to review this book.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_01: I absolutely loved it.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um a huge congratulations to Deborah Lip for you know putting this piece of work together.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_01: I can tell that a lot of love went into it and a lot of hard work and it's absolutely paid off.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, um I've never done a book review before, so I hope that this was understandable and succinct.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_01: And I will uh put the link in the show notes if you would like to go and have a look and purchase the book, and I will also add Cross Crow books and Deborah Lipp's Instagram profiles into the show notes as well if you want to go and check them out.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_01: In today's episode, my guest is Emma Jaynes.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_01: Join us as we explore the rich tapestry of Cornish culture, folk traditions, and spiritual practices through heartfelt conversations, storytelling, and community initiatives.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_01: Discover how grassroots movements, local festivals, and personal journeys intertwine to keep tradition alive and foster connection.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_01: Emma also shares her personal spiritual journey, exploring her diverse heritage, experiences with Angelic Reiki, shamanic practice, and balancing various belief systems.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_01: And she reveals the haunted history of her home, living in a Victorian police station.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_01: Emma James.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the Cornish Witch podcast.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_01: Hi Freya, thank you for having me.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_01: You are very welcome.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um I'm really glad to have you on the show.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we met oh my gosh, it's in last September 2025 at Borderlands Festival when I came and did some volunteer work at the festival, which was such a great success, such a wonderful success.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_01: And then yeah, we've we've kept in contact since then.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_01: And I know that you uh run the Nonston folk club and uh were sort of like involved with lots of stuff that's going on, like folk stuff that's going on.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, when we've got um Meeters at Lance Stefan and the um witchcraft museum of witchcraft and nothing down and boss castle.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_01: So we have our it seems like we have our our feet in a lot of different territories, which isn't it really really nice.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely, and it was really nice that um, you know, Simon and Fergus from as both the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic and the Museum of British Folklore were very much part of the sort of uh team along with Tasha Nennette from Make Stuff Happen and Barry from Elmsgrove Community Music sort of came together.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um and yeah, and it was it was it was a it ended up as a fabulous day in the end.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um you know, and uh yeah, it we we kind of pulled that together in quite a short space of time, so we weren't sure how it was going to come off, but we were so happy, like by all of us by the by the end of the energy in this in the in the room, because we had to move, if you remember, we had to move everything from outside because it was raining.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and then the only time the sun came out was the parade.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: I know it was so funny because I I didn't know if um at the time we had no idea whether there was going to be like two people in the parade or how there were, because it was so wet.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: And at the time I had to go stand sentinel west gate on the west gate, and I had this like fairy dress thing on with no straps and sandals.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: I was absolutely drenched, and and then it was it was weird because I I could hear the music coming, and I'm a kid, you know, it was like someone was pouring just a bucket of water on my head, that's how bad it was, and it was running like a river down.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I turned around because I heard the music, and the sky was blue, and the sun was just a tash came over the hill eating the thing, and I was like, Oh my goodness, this is like I was like, it's we've done it, it's so joyful.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, it was like it was a fabulous day.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: It was, and are you gonna be doing it again this year?
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: We're probably going to be doing what we I think we're we're sort of toying with the idea at the moment of whether we might have a a year's gap and do some fundraising this year.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: So we'll we will do a Borderlands type event, definitely.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: We haven't sort of decided 100% whether it's going to be that or not.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's getting we we've all got so many other things going on.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: It's getting a little bit late in the year to sort of pull off a big thing again like that.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: But um, we're definitely coming back to do a full festival in 2027.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um so we will it that weekend is actually launched on folk clubs um anniversary weekend.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_01: Coincides nice.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I I actually set it up because it was the around the it was the autumn equinox, so I wanted that energy there.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: And so it'll always be that kind of there'll always be something going on that weekend.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: So whether we have a just a slightly scaled down Borderlands event or whether we, you know, celebrate, mark the folk club anniversary and fundraise for the for the next year, we're gonna be doing perhaps lots of smaller fundraising things for sure under the sort of Borderlands banner, if you like, but uh there'll be something this year, but we'll go full pal in uh 2027.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so mark the date for the 26th of September.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_01: For my listeners, because I've got lots of listeners all over the world, which is amazing.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_01: Oh wow.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um, would you be able to explain what Borderlands Festival is for those who aren't sure what we're talking about?
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so but we Borderlands Festival, um, we came up with the name Borderlands purely because Launchden is based on the right on the border of Cornwall and Devon.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that gives it um a really kind of unique sort of identity, you know.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: As we're driving around, we're sort of going in and out of Devon.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_00: You know, if you go up to Bude or further south, you sort of weave in and out of the border.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: And and I think it's got a real unique identity in a in a funny way.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: I think people in Locester are hugely sort of patriotic for Cornwall, almost, you know, and some people will say, well, it's because we always have we defended the border, you know, back back in the day.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: So so I think sometimes, you know, there can be a little bit of tension between different different parts.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: But I think jam and cream or cream or jam.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, oh, I'm definitely jam first for sure.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um that's non-negotiable, yeah.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_00: But I think there's you know, sometimes I think people think, oh, further further west there must be more clornishness, but in a way, because they've always been on having to defend caught the clornishness, yeah.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, people in Launston are hugely sort of patriotic for Cornwall, if that's the right word.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: I that's the only word I think or patriotism is patriotism, I guess.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and you know, but at the same time, we're a bit stuck out on the limbs, so quite often tourists will sort of just pass through or past Launston.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of people don't even realise there's a castle, you know, and um and you know, we get a little we we're a little bit stuck out on a limb.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_00: So uh we we wanted to mark that sort of borderland thing, and actually I'm sort of um now collaborating with and and you know in connection with quite a lot of other arts organisations in that sort of borderlands field, I think.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, so it was the Borderlands Festival of Folklore, uh, music, arts and culture.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_00: So um really with the folklore element at the front and the music and uh you know the arts and culture because we wanted it to sort of encompass that feel, and of course, um the museums uh provided the fabulous graphics that came with that, you know, um from those real sort of ancient style pictures of you know cornish sort of mythological creatures and objects and and things like that, and it was really stunning, it was it looked so you know striking and really professional.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um and um yeah, and so we we sort of pulled that off.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: So um yeah, it was really about you know getting getting that just starting.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, we had no idea because obviously the first one we did, and I I think I sort of it was well now the idea that I didn't want to keep running folk folk club anniversary concerts every year.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because even though we I've always made them as sort of community, whole community events, I think because it it was called, you know, the folk club first anniversary or second anniversary or whatever, people a lot of people kind of think, Oh, I don't identify myself as a folk club person, so it it's not really for me.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_00: Do you know what I mean?
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um so I sort of decided quite early on that actually I wanted to drop this sort of folk club anniversary label with it, I guess, and building it out so it really appeals to the whole community and then make sure there's kind of stuff for everyone.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: So we obviously it was there was a lot of music going on in the it was it was amazing, wasn't it?
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um and we had a Nosloen, which is a a kind of um, you know, I know the Nosloan people don't really like it being called a Cornish Cayley, but for people who don't understand what a Nosloan is, it's Cornish like Cornish dance.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_00: It's Cornish dance, yeah.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, people who leave.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: So there are people in the crowd that um do and and Nos Loan stands for happy night in Cornish, so it's lovely.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's got you know, and and it's it's almost like a dance craze in in Cornwall now, you know, particularly further west.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_00: And I know um Baggusphelium and I know Karenza very well, who plays the Hammer Dolzman in Baggasphellia and she's lovely, and they're from further west, um, and it's really taken off in a big way down there.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um they have Club Nosloen sort of weekly at the Cornish Bank, yeah.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and you know, they have them sort of Red Reese, Helston, Falmouth, and further west, um, they they sort of really got to grips with the whole Nosloan thing.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um and Karenzo had been really keen to bring it up further east and would not manage to pull it off before because we tried to do it earlier in the year.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so to have everyone there with the Nosloan before the main sort of banner, um, which was Black Friday, which was great, um, have that Nos Loan in the uh sort of early evening, so it family, that was the idea, so families could come along.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_00: It was just amazing.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_00: I was just like on the verge of tears, like seeing all these people up dancing, there were toddlers, you know, there were elderly, uh older people, and um everyone in between, um, you know, uh across all genders, and it was just such such a lovely, uh, a lovely um event.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_00: So we've managed to bring North Lowen so far up to uh this part of the country.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: But there was also storytellers in town.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um I know Chris Heitch from a Nowan uh told uh story based on uh you know, he's a very, very good songwriter, writes a lot about Cornish themed stuff, a lot of Cornish myths and legends and uh Cornish stories and stuff.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um and also Pisky Trap.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um they they they were there too.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_00: Oh I listened to the Pisky Trap and suddenly his name's completely escaped me.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_01: Me too, and I feel really bad about that.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_01: Keith?
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_01: Is it Keith?
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_01: I'm s to the Pisky Trap.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_01: I do apologise.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just having a complete brain meltdown moment.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_01: Me too.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_00: So awesome.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_00: He was at the um uh Call of the Fate Festival as well last year, too.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_00: Keith Wallace.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_00: Keith Wallace, that's it.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_01: I daddy just suddenly remembered Keith, yeah, Keith's awesome.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_01: I do enjoy the Pisky Trap podcast.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so the Pisky Trap did stories and um you know uh there was uh Fedel was doing meetings in Crates as High, and they they had we had um sort of loads of music down at Keep Audio all day, and um then um Emily and Simon and Fergus were in the Guild Hall with all those authors um doing author talks and everything.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um it was just amazing, and then in the evening, of course, Sean Bell um had come over from uh the Netherlands uh to do his wonderful kind of um uh r medieval sort of uh contemporary medieval mashup of stuff, which is just amazing and his wonderful voice.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_00: Uh amazing his mountain amazing sort of counter-tenor of voice, and um you know that that and that was great because you know, we we had no idea that was something completely different, you know.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um we had no idea, you know, how if it would appeal to anyone in Launchon or not.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_00: But that was we ended up having to put a security person on the door to stop people going in.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_00: And what was great was because by that time, obviously Black Friday is kind of punk folk rock, and so by that time we had people of all kinds of descriptions and you know, from different uh you know, groups kind of uh so by that time we had sort of the real punky types in the audience and the Nosleran types and the folky types and and everything.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um uh and there were sort of punks with their ear up against the door, you know, like this is a me.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_00: I think so somebody came out, this chap came outside afterwards, and he was like, I have no idea what my ears just had.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_00: But that was out of this world.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_00: It was like it was it was really great because it sort of you know brought people from different sort of genres of music all together.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um and they everyone loved it.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_00: So it was really nice, people really came together and and you know that's what what it's all about.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_00: And it was all voluntary or everyone, you know.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um so it's lovely, yeah.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_01: It was a huge success and yeah, really looking forward to.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: Whatever you're gonna do this year and then yeah, come back to it again next year.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_01: It's gonna be awesome.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_01: Wonderful.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um so moving away from Borderlands and we'll come back to Launchdown Folk Club in a bit, because it's definitely something that I wanna talk to you about and promote on the show.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um but how long have you been down in Cornwall for?
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_00: Well I've kind of been backwards and forwards.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um so I actually I lived in Cornwall when I was in my late teens and uh early twenties and then I also went to uh Falmouth Art College back in the 90s when it wasn't actually when it was actually an art college and before the whole big campus at Tremot uh went up.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_00: So I was there for a while.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_00: And I worked in various so I actually lived in in Falmouth for a while.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_00: I lived in uh I sort of worked in hotels.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_00: That was that was how I could afford to kind of move then because I was sort of 18 as soon as I uh you know left school.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_00: I went to work in a hotel in Stratford-upon Oven for a bit, and then I was working my way down to Cornwall because that's where I'd always wanted to be, because ever since I was very little, I fell in love with Cornwall when I was like really small, uh maybe four or five.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_00: Like I can actually remember this moment down at Tintadel Castle.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's on the base.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, when I was very small, and I was absolutely like enraptured with the um Arthurian legends.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and you know, I was very reluctant to let go of their whole like I'm like, no, it's absolutely all true.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_00: Do you know what I mean?
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um very, very reluctant to be told by people sort of later in life, oh well, you know, King Arthur probably didn't exist.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, yes, he did.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_00: And and you know, there are still I've I've read all sorts of things about it.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_00: I remember getting my first book um down there when I was very young.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um and that that was sort of you know, we came down to Cornwall on holiday quite a lot all throughout my childhood.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um and then, you know, when I was 18, I ended up moving down for the first time.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_00: And then essentially what happened was I during lockdown, um, and I was I've got three three sons who at the time were sort of doing their G C Cs and A levels.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um there's only three years between the oldest and the youngest.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_00: And it was just miserable.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_00: Various it affected them all, you know, across their G C Cs and A levels, um, in different ways, because I they couldn't take them, they either couldn't take them or when they some of them took various exams, but you know, they'd only been in school a couple of weeks or whatever, you know, uh by the time they got sort of got to A levels, because it spanned over the two years, it was directly when they were all doing GCCs and A levels, it affected them all.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um and I got to a point in lockdown where, you know, because at that point we had no idea if this was gonna go on for the next two decades, you know, no one had a clue.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_00: And I I said, because it'd always been my my kind of um in my long-term plan, I guess, to move back to Cornwall.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_00: And I'd been coming down sort of four times a year anyway, um, because I just love it.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_00: So uh that was always my intention.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_00: So I remember speaking to my dad on the phone, and I'd been looking at different things, uh, properties and things, and and I said to my dad, I said, you know what?
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_00: I'd rather be locked down in Cornwall than than Bedfordshire.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_00: And uh I said, I'm thinking of, you know, doing it and putting the wills in motion.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_00: And Dad said, Well, I'll tell you what, I'll sell my house and we'll go, you know, we'll go together.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we'll put our money together, you know.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um so um so that's what we did in a nutshell.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_00: There's a whole story behind trying to move in lockdown and the skullduggery that went on in the housing market, but um we ended up, I mean, just by luck actually, or destiny, um, we hadn't intended on Launston, you know, hadn't really been on our radar.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's just that we had been staying n in in a place near Alton Un.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_00: And so every time we stayed to go and view properties, because you were allowed if you were moving house, yeah, you were allowed to travel.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um so every time we stayed there, Launston was our local town, and we stayed there, you know, really regularly because we'd we had to keep nipping down.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we'd stay for a week, and sometimes we'd have to pop down really quickly to view something.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and we always stayed in the same place, and of course we were in and out of Launston getting supplies, and we were actually this quite nice here, you know.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um we lost five houses uh in that whole process.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_00: It was a nightmare.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because unping was rife.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_00: And also I think, you know, because we had, you know, Southeast UK addresses, I think people assumed that you had like a spare 200k in your back pocket, you know.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_00: So we'll we were I think you know, some people took took advantage of of that myth a bit because we weren't weren't like that, you know.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um and so obviously house prices had gone up quite a lot uh by that time.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_00: So a lot of the sort of things that we wanted were completely out of our prize range.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um we ended up viewing, actually it was on the same day, we viewed the old uh the an old bank in Camelford um that still had the vault.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_00: Oh wow! Yeah, it was amazing.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um trouble was there was people still living in there who didn't want to go, there were because there were flats upstairs, and it had been a crystal shop downstairs, actually.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_00: I know exactly.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's yeah, yeah.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_00: And um we looked at this place, it was huge, it was really cheap, and it was right on the roof.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_00: My dad's a cabinet maker and restorer and a luthier, and so like he can do all he could do any sort of renovation.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's his he he spent a lot of time like renovating properties and coping with listed buildings and things like that.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, it you know, we we're fortunate in that respect that we could do a self-renovation job.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um but the same day we viewed the old police station in Launston, which at the time was owned by the British Legion, the Royal British Legion.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_00: So it was a commercial property, and um I remember walking in there, and because I was thinking, oh, I wonder what an old police station feels like Victorian, and and I remember walking in there, immediately being aware of this amazing, beautiful, expansive light energy that was in there, and I was like, this is the best NAG place that I've ever been in, like of all the houses that we looked at, it was so lovely, and the ceilings are high, and and again, because you know it was it was very reasonably priced because nobody really wanted to do, I think it was suggested that it could have been turned into two houses or a few flats or whatever.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I think some developers had looked at it, but you know, it wasn't really uh you know uh they hadn't it made it work.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um and so and it's got it it even had a barn and it's got a car park at the back and it has a barn at the at the end, a big long barn that used to be where the police force kept their horses and carriages.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_00: And so we we put an offer in and and we got it.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_00: So we live in a Victorian police station which actually has two of the old police cells with the original doors.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um and they're beautiful.
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_00: And now we rent them out on a on booking.com.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_01: So it's such a coincidence you say it's because um I had a lovely um a lovely person from Wales contact me telling me that they were coming to Launch um or coming to Cornwall for a bit of a trip and that they would be in Launch and that they would love the podcast and I'd like to meet up, and I was like, absolutely.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um and when I met up with them, um they said that they were staying at the old police station.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_00: Oh really?
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_00: Oh funny.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so we've got two, we've got two like small apartments, basically two little apartments.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_00: So we first thing we had to do because the thing was at the time in COVID, like builder supplies went up massively.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_00: We were fortunate that um the Legion basically left everything there, including like random bits of old wood, yeah, you know, yeah.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_00: And my dad like managed to use all this this stuff, so we we we managed to sort of do quite a lot of the work.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_00: But in order to afford to keep doing it, we needed to rent out one of the rooms.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_00: And so we ended up um we were fortunate because that building, the Legion when they first got it, did quite a lot of sort of um of the structural stuff to it.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_00: You know, the roof was fine.
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_00: So the only house that we looked at didn't need a new roof.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you know, um and roofs are expensive, they're inexpensive.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_01: And with with the weather in Cornwall as well and the damp, oh god, it's yeah.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_00: Well I know, and everything's Della Bowl slate, which is the most expensive slate.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, because it's in a conservation area, yeah, if you're doing something that faces outwards, like the council have to make sure if you're doing something like to the front of your to the outside of your building, the the town council has to like it has to be approved.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because everything in the town centre is a conservation area because of like the histor the history and the castle and everything, everything has to look right, if you see what I mean.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_00: But um, yeah, so we what used to be the offices of the Legion, it's at the back, and it we've got a view of the castle out the back, which is nice.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um so there's like a bedroom and it's an L shape, and they had a little kitchenette in there, so we kept that.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so it's a bedroom, it's got like a little study area in the middle, and what used to be a disabled loo, we turned that into a big shower room.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_00: So that's like self-contained.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_00: So you go in the side door, turn right, and there's just this like little sort of apartment there that we rent out inside the house, but self-contained, and the same with the cells, it comes off the living room, there's a little corridor, and the two cells have got these beautiful barrel-vaulted uh ceilings with you know, it's all slate walls, so yeah, we've exposed a lot of the slate because it's just so stunning.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_00: I love there's nothing quite so wonderful as you know, raw stone, you know.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_00: It's like it feels like because it's a solid stone house, you know, and it's uh like a lot of buildings are in Cornwall.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_00: But it just for me, it's like living in a a living organism, you know.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_00: It's just it's it's wonderful.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, so I have now I have to ask, have you got any ghosts?
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, please tell me about that.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_00: Help me to speak about that.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, that's all right.
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um I I I have had to like repel some um investigators who not not ghosts, because I don't want them to interfere with our lovely Larry that we lovingly we lovely cool in.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it was a difficult time when we first moved in, um, because there was a lot we had to we because we lost a house last minute, we'd sorry about houses, we had to live on a campsite for like six months before we could move in, before we completed on the police station.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, so it was like proper stressful.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_00: And and so when when we finally got the house, um I got the keys and I was like, right, we're moving, we're moving in.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_00: My dad stayed in camping for a while.
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um, well, he was actually in in inside, he was renting a room in the house of the campsite.
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um but so he was a bit more comfortable.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_00: We we got it, and and actually the proviso for the change of use was that we kept the historical cell doors, yeah, which was like a noble, in it.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_00: We were like, we're not getting rid of those.
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_00: That's like a really cool part of the house.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_00: So they've actually got like the peephole things and the shutters, yeah, yeah, and the and the food flap.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_01: No, oh my god, yeah, there's keys to them still.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we've got the old key.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_00: Well, we've made it so that people can't lock themselves in.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_00: But can you oh but can you lock people in?
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_00: And then we're like, if you've been naughty, we'll give you all the royal through the wind and that was a real historic experience.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_00: Well, uh, I remember um someone said to me, Oh, you know, maybe you could do like feature, maybe you could um what was it?
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_00: We haven't had a brothel in town for a while.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you could do that, you know.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_00: Really golf.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_00: No, don't worry, there's no brothel going on there.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_00: There's no brothels here.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_00: So just to make that clear people came up with some funny suggestions about what we might do.
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_00: And um, yeah, so Larry, and so I was telling that story because when I when I I was actually quite pulley when we once we got in, and that you know, that whole like had to pass, I was like, oh and your body and then my body just went, yeah, no, no, we ain't yeah, we ain't moving now, like and um and and I felt, you know, I felt quite low, you know, because I was in a lot of pain, I was exhausted, and um and also I was away from you know two of my closest friends, um, and I really missed, you know, uh I really missed uh them.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_00: And so there was a whole kind of mixed bag of of feelings.
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_00: It was a transition stage, isn't it?
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_00: It is, yeah, and and so I I basically um became aware of this like protective presence by my door, like and I was I sort of tuned into it because I I actually asked many years ago when I was much younger, I I kind of asked for spirits to stop like appearing to me because it freaked me out.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_00: So to have spiritual spirits.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_00: So I I'm like I'm very, very clear now.
• 36:49
  SPEAKER_00: I have this boundary with them in ways that I don't have boundaries in other parts of my life.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_00: But with the two, with the with the I'm like, look, he gives me a hard tag every time I see some something.
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm like, look, I don't mind knowing that you're here, but like I just don't want to see you.
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_00: I also said that to my mum when she passed too.
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's like I don't I don't mind you like making known you're here, but I don't want to see you because that's just freaking me out.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_00: And um so I I yeah and I I became aware, I sort of tuned into it a bit and I was like, that I've actually got um a man stood outside my door protecting, like protecting me.
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_00: Like, and he stood there, you know, and I realized, you know, spiritual bouncer.
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah, massively.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it was totally.
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_00: And whichever room I slept in, because at that time I was we were moving around all the rooms because we had different things going on, um I had this guard stood by my door, and I, you know, and then and weirdly, what was really interesting was because my youngest son had always been quite sensitive, but he was like really in our old house, and it my old house wasn't very old, relatively speaking, but he he was always like he had always been the kid who was like totally freaked out by like scary movies, and then he'd have nightmares, and then you know, so and he never liked being on his own in our old house.
• 38:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, if I was going out, he didn't want to stay on his own, you know, he'd ring me up all the time if it was dark or whatever.
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_00: So he was freaked out by the idea of ghosts.
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_00: But as soon as like when when we were talking about this, uh he felt that too.
• 38:29
  SPEAKER_00: I and I went out like one night um till really early hours of the morning, and I ended up having to ring him sort of about midnight or something to make sure he was okay because he hadn't rung me.
• 38:43
  SPEAKER_00: And then he he woke up, he's like, What mum?
• 38:45
  SPEAKER_00: What?
• 38:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, I'm just seeing if you're okay because you haven't wrong me.
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, I'm trying to sleep.
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, Well, normally, like, you're freaking out at this point, asking me when I'm coming home.
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, Why?
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_00: There's nothing there's no problem.
• 38:56
  SPEAKER_00: Like, he he felt that protection, he was really chilled out in the house.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_00: He'd never been frightened, never had nightmares or anything like that.
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_00: So it was massively pr protective, and and we always make a joke because things have weird things like get moved around.
• 39:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um sometimes, you know, it'll be like so.
• 39:17
  SPEAKER_00: There's like a joke now.
• 39:18
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, where's my such and such?
• 39:20
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, Larry's probably moved, you know.
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_00: So it's a bit like that.
• 39:23
  SPEAKER_00: So I've never um so it's a lovely presence, actually.
• 39:28
  SPEAKER_00: Oh that's that's so nice.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_00: That you've got nice, yeah.
• 39:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I've got a policeman guard guarding and lovely.
• 39:36
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, that's so nice.
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_01: So have you done any sort of digging to see who it might be, like any archives or anything like that?
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_00: I have actually.
• 39:45
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I've tried.
• 39:46
  SPEAKER_00: I actually um so obviously there's a there's uh a page on the Launchdon then website that talks about the old police station and it mentions some some of the um policeman and talks about like how much it cost to build and you know when it was built and it was actually the it was bought it was built in 18 uh 1896 and um sorry, 1886.
• 40:18
  SPEAKER_00: And um basically it it w before then the jail was Southgate Arch.
• 40:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, it was yeah, it was the dark house.
• 40:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yeah, yeah.
• 40:29
  SPEAKER_00: And um so so it they went straight from like the you know medieval castle being the jail to our house being the jail.
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_01: Well an upgrade because they had Yeah Yeah, because I did an episode Christmas special with Lawrence and we were in the Southgate Arch talking about how the conditions were just awful.
• 40:53
  SPEAKER_01: No running water, yeah, just not just yeah, terrible conditions.
• 40:57
  SPEAKER_01: So what an upgrade.
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_00: So go to that jail over there.
• 41:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
• 41:01
  SPEAKER_00: So there is a page on there, but I actually went over to the because the Cornish and Devon Post building is directly opposite or what used to be, and they were still in there when we first moved in.
• 41:12
  SPEAKER_00: And I did go over there to say, could they have a look in their archive for any material or articles or anything about the old police station, but I never got anything back from there.
• 41:23
  SPEAKER_00: So I probably need to because the library has got a a cool like Cornish or local history section upstairs.
• 41:32
  SPEAKER_01: We have a historical society here.
• 41:34
  SPEAKER_01: We've got the we've got the Lorster Museum, haven't we?
• 41:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 41:38
  SPEAKER_00: Which is in a temporary location.
• 41:40
  SPEAKER_00: The um I've been able to get a bit of um Rob Tremain, our town crier, councillor Rob Tremain, the town crier.
• 41:48
  SPEAKER_00: His granddad um was a policeman there.
• 41:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so he gave us a photo that we've got up on the door of the that leads from the living room to the cells.
• 41:59
  SPEAKER_00: He gave us a photograph, black and white photograph, of the police force um stood outside our barn um back in the twenties, and he's got names for like some of the people that were in the thing.
• 42:12
  SPEAKER_00: There are some gaps, but his granddad is in that picture.
• 42:15
  SPEAKER_00: So stuff like that.
• 42:16
  SPEAKER_00: I know, I know, and he's he said his m his grandmother used to make I think they lived in a police house next door, and um they she used to make dinners for all for the um policemen that were like in lodgings around the town and that and yeah, so there are like snippets of things.
• 42:34
  SPEAKER_00: And we've also had people that have that sort of have knocked on the door and and said, Oh, can we can we have a look?
• 42:41
  SPEAKER_00: Because they had like been locked up for a night because they were drunk or something in the in the in the sixty in the in the 1960s or whatever, you know, and it's really funny.
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um I don't think there was any like really horrific things that that people have been locked up for.
• 42:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um but when we did it, because originally the cells were the ladies and gents lose for the British Legion, excuse me, um, but we we so they each had two cubicles in and it was like boarded out.
• 43:11
  SPEAKER_00: So we basically stripped the whole thing out, um, kept some of the stone bare, because it was all like white was, but some of it we left completely um raw stone, and then we found that there were like different sort of bits of markings on the wall from things that have been there before.
• 43:30
  SPEAKER_00: So we've actually left the outline of where the bed was in the in one of the rooms, um uh because it's like dug into the stone, if you see what I mean.
• 43:41
  SPEAKER_00: That outline was dug in.
• 43:42
  SPEAKER_00: So we we've kind of kept that there and uh yeah, it's it's a wonderful, like it feels a real privilege to be like almost like a custodian of the of the building, you know.
• 43:53
  SPEAKER_00: I I've I feel really you know really honoured to to to have that building.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_01: I'd love to see it.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because it's online, we've got a website.
• 44:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so oh brilliant.
• 44:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because um there's photos of both rooms on there.
• 44:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um but you're welcome to pop in any time and have a look.
• 44:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we we we often if there are like open house things, we we'll open we open it and that's amazing.
• 44:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 44:17
  SPEAKER_00: We're still working, and there's still quite a lot of bits to do.
• 44:21
  SPEAKER_00: So we've obviously those mostly our own spaces that needs work on because we did those first so that we could physically keep, you know, uh keep afloat and um uh pay the bills.
• 44:34
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, so that's that's good.
• 44:36
  SPEAKER_00: So uh they could find it on online and on booking.com and stuff.
• 44:41
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, it's awesome.
• 44:43
  SPEAKER_01: So you mentioned that um we're talking about Larry and how you used to see him, and then you did mention that how you had experiences um earlier in your life with seeing spirit and then how you've got those really good boundaries in there now.
• 44:56
  SPEAKER_01: Can we talk a little bit about your spirituality and how you Yeah, and and how you I suppose embody spirit your your own sort of spiritual practice, yeah, you know, within within your life and within your world.
• 45:11
  SPEAKER_01: We've talked about angel cards a little bit earlier.
• 45:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we've done a lot of lots of things, various things over the years.
• 45:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'll try and keep it brief as I can.
• 45:21
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm like.
• 45:22
  SPEAKER_00: I guess in my household, I was brought up.
• 45:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um my mum and dad were like chalk and cheese when it came to this to sort of spirituality.
• 45:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, no, no, they were they were quite opposite, and they're not always.
• 45:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um my mum's no longer with us, bless her.
• 45:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um she's an incredibly funny, bright, you know, witty, intelligent uh woman, but had not had any formal education, you know.
• 45:48
  SPEAKER_00: Her my granddad, her dad, basically, she was like at the top of her class in everything.
• 45:54
  SPEAKER_00: And then when it came to her, they had a choice in whether they took O-levels or not.
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_00: When it came to that, even her teacher went round to my my grandparents' house and said, please let her do her O levels.
• 46:05
  SPEAKER_00: And he said, Well, there's no point, she's a girl and she'll just get married and have children.
• 46:10
  SPEAKER_00: So I know, and I I think God love her.
• 46:12
  SPEAKER_00: That probably caused her some, you know, a lot of challenges throughout her life.
• 46:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but she was incredibly bright, very funny, um, and had a real beautiful sort of childlike um way with her.
• 46:27
  SPEAKER_00: She was just wonderful, and um yeah, so she but she would she sort of would say that she was an atheist, um, but she saw spirit, like she saw she absolutely did, because she would say, Oh, I saw grandad the other night, you know, my dad's dad, you know, and tell me these things.
• 46:47
  SPEAKER_00: And um, oh, I saw, you know, um uh so I think she just said she was an atheist to kind of rile my dad up, who was brought up by my grandmother was quite religious in a sort of Church of England way.
• 47:02
  SPEAKER_00: So we my s my sisters and I were brought up in it in the Church of England sort of faith, I guess.
• 47:07
  SPEAKER_00: And we were even um you know, I was in the choir from a very church choir from a very young age, and I have to say I love church music, I love hymns, I love um you I really do, and um you know it it's sort of quite a formative thing.
• 47:26
  SPEAKER_00: But my dad has always been a musician all the time I was growing up, played the guitar and was always in bands, and we used to get pulled up to sing bands.
• 47:34
  SPEAKER_00: So going back to the spirituality, um, yeah, my my my sort of heritage, I guess, is quite quite um a mixture as well.
• 47:44
  SPEAKER_00: Like my grandmother on my dad's side, there's a sort of a mixture of like pretty much all the Celtic nations in there.
• 47:52
  SPEAKER_00: Well, not so cool.
• 47:53
  SPEAKER_00: Well, Irish Scotty, you know, everything.
• 47:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and possibly a bit of Breton for my granddad's side.
• 48:00
  SPEAKER_00: So um uh because the Janeses I think came, I think there's some kind of journey coming around from sort of Scandinavia down round through Brittany and up that way, um, way back, um, which is quite an unusual name, Janes.
• 48:15
  SPEAKER_00: There's not many Janeses um in in in in the country, I think the supreme.
• 48:20
  SPEAKER_01: You've got a Y in your name.
• 48:21
  SPEAKER_00: So Yesual Spanish.
• 48:23
  SPEAKER_00: It is an unusual Spanish.
• 48:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um so uh yeah, but so there was all all all always that kind of slight, slight, slight tension, but um I guess I can't really pinpoint an exact moment when I sort of consciously went on a spiritual path, I guess.
• 48:46
  SPEAKER_00: I think I'd always been very open to to it.
• 48:49
  SPEAKER_00: I was never uncomfortable with the idea that there was a God or a source or a, you know, uh a source power, and I never really wanted to, as I got older, I guess, when I sort of got into my teens and I went to university, I guess I started to um to and and in a way having thinking thinking back to that sort of early encounter with sort of Arthurian myth and legend and then and Quernish culture and folklore and stuff, that was always around, and that naturally I think lends itself to exploring other parts, and of course, being around Tintagel a lot makes you um there's a lot of uh you know uh places to delve into various different types of spirituality, and so I by the time I got to my sort of teens and um uh at art college at Falmouth and stuff, I guess I I was at that stage where you sort of look at all different types of things.
• 49:54
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, for a while I was very taken with sort of um the Buddhist meditation and and that sort of thing, and even I went to a retreat at Gaia House when I was sort of 18, I think.
• 50:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um and uh you know, so I was very comfortable with that.
• 50:13
  SPEAKER_00: And then naturally, but I never sort of pinned myself to one what to a particular faith, I guess, at that group at that at that time.
• 50:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um and then I I kind of, you know, I had sort of various uh emotional health challenges a lot, quite seriously, when I was uh when I was younger.
• 50:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um and I found that having that sense that there is something greater than myself out there, that there is a power, you know, um out there where I can draw strength from has always been really, really important part of my healing journey, I guess.
• 50:59
  SPEAKER_00: And that that naturally, I guess, took me into the realms of sort of, I guess, quotes, new age spirituality.
• 51:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um when I was a lot younger, um, and I found Glastonbury with the goddess temple and you know uh the the goddess stuff.
• 51:16
  SPEAKER_00: And actually, I ended up my first uh degree was in art history, and then my master's was in essentially feminist art history.
• 51:27
  SPEAKER_00: Love it.
• 51:28
  SPEAKER_00: And um we sp I was very interested in in feminist theory and f feminism uh around that time, sort of right through in my in my teens into my twenties.
• 51:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um and as a result of that, and particularly being around the sort of art stuff, um, you know, I'd always been a musician as well.
• 51:52
  SPEAKER_00: I think a lot of people were surprised I didn't do music at university, but I I'd also been then playing on the folk circuit as a professional musician with uh my Jibo partner.
• 52:04
  SPEAKER_00: So that in itself, as soon as you're sort of immersed in into that world, you're uh you know, a lot of folklore sort of links in with a pagan sense of of of of things.
• 52:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um so I was very aware and familiar and comfortable with it, but sort of going into that new age world as part of a healing journey, I guess, um uh naturally made me look at um, you know, I guess things that could be broadly broadly called new new age and perhaps look at Wicca and and uh and things like that.
• 52:41
  SPEAKER_00: But um and I ended up sort of training myself in various um by that point I after I'd had my sort of in my late twenties after I'd had three my three children and that was when I really sort of embarked on that healing uh journey because I was, you know, I'd been very unwell.
• 53:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 53:01
  SPEAKER_00: And um I as well as retraining myself in in psychology and counselling and various forms of sort of coaching and things, I also simultaneously trained in various complementary practices, um, including Angelic Reiki.
• 53:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um and that so I've I've had Reiki, and I'm I'm sure a lot of people will know what Reiki is.
• 53:26
  SPEAKER_01: You listen to this, but I what is Angelic Reiki?
• 53:29
  SPEAKER_01: How does that work?
• 53:30
  SPEAKER_00: Sounds lovely.
• 53:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so so the idea with that, and Angelic Reiki, um, is kind of that you're almost like um channelling the um the energy of uh of a healing angel that that you sort of partner with, I guess.
• 53:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um so uh and that sort of energy is coming through you, um, and it's not I think in practice, in whereas Reiki, I think there are different hand positions and different symbols and and that sort of thing.
• 54:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um with angelic Reiki, it's it's you know, it's not it's more it's it's kind of a hands-on, but you don't even have to touch someone really.
• 54:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um and uh you're almost just asking for I mean I guess a lot of people say it's the same with any kind of healing practice where you're not kind of doing something to someone, you're you're you're you know, for me, healing is about um creating the kind of uh space where someone uh is able to sort of heal themselves, you know, you're not I never think oh I'm a healer, I can go and fix loads of people or whatever.
• 54:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um and you know, it's more about almost creating the environment, and really that that um you know I I don't practice as an angelic Reiki healer anymore.
• 54:57
  SPEAKER_00: I used to I used to and I used to um teach it as well.
• 55:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um and that's not really for any specific reason.
• 55:08
  SPEAKER_00: I sort of veered back more to the sort of direct peer support work, I guess.
• 55:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um and I've disc I discovered that with that kind of I guess knowledge and uh ability, it doesn't really you don't really have to say, I am now doing angelic Reiki for that kind of I guess healing environment and space to be created for for healing, which you can do as we are having a conversation.
• 55:35
  SPEAKER_00: Do you know what I mean?
• 55:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's sort of um that's that's always there if you if with the intention to kind of um I guess convert confer a sort of presence or an energy where someone feels safe enough to um open up to to to healing in the broadest sense, I guess.
• 55:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um so yeah, so that that's more about that's that's the difference, I guess, with uh um sort of Reiki that some people might be familiar with, and an angelic Reiki is more about the presence of the the the actual conscious presence of the uh angelic force, I guess.
• 56:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um which is beautiful, and and it was a really big part of my you know personal healing process, I guess.
• 56:21
  SPEAKER_00: It was it was during a time when I'd come off uh quite a lot of medications that were weren't really good for me.
• 56:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, yeah, it was really hard to come off a lot of those things.
• 56:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um and there were lots of adverse effects from the withdrawal process of that.
• 56:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um as in prescription drugs, I'm not talking about you know, recreational drugs.
• 56:47
  SPEAKER_00: Just very quick with withdrawal slimes.
• 56:50
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely, they do, yeah.
• 56:52
  SPEAKER_00: It took me two years with my GP to come off all of that, and um and then after the last dose, I was really physically poor.
• 57:00
  SPEAKER_00: It was almost like a purging, you know, and I um ended up like with insomnia for like horror, total insomnia for like months, and I had to go to work.
• 57:12
  SPEAKER_00: I was working in a mental health charity, I'd come out of the NHS by that point.
• 57:15
  SPEAKER_00: I was working in mental health charity as general manager of a peer-led mental health charity, and and um and I needed to be fit to work with people who are struggling, and the irony being I felt awful, you know.
• 57:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um that sleep is has such a huge impact on our mental health.
• 57:35
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah.
• 57:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, if we don't even if we have one bad night, our mental health rubbish the next day.
• 57:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so absolutely.
• 57:42
  SPEAKER_00: And so I basically remembered that I'd won an angelic Reiki session in my yeah, and I have no clue what it was, and I went along, um, I think I was telling you about this earlier, um, before we went on.
• 57:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um I went, I I was sort of out of desperation.
• 57:59
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, oh I'll see if this helps, you know.
• 58:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I went to it was someone I knew actually who you know who was doing it, and I spent hours with her.
• 58:08
  SPEAKER_00: And um I was at that point, it was the first time I'd really become I'd read I remember having an a couple of angel books when I was at uni.
• 58:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um and so, you know, I was aware of that stuff.
• 58:22
  SPEAKER_00: Again, I was always very aware of, you know, shamanism and um and you know, which witchcraft and magic and um different forms of spirituality, but discernment, you know, all these different things, and uh but I'd never really thought about it from a healing point of view, I guess.
• 58:44
  SPEAKER_00: And um, yeah, so I went and I remember having this profound experience, like, you know, it it just sort of opened me up, you know, and um and I slept and I was like, this thing is a miracle, you know, and and and that was that was when I I sort of had a uh, you know, I felt I could feel and see and you know, the presence of Archangel Michael very strongly in that particular session, and then I was like hooked, do you know what I mean?
• 59:18
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, this is amazing, you know, there's this force a positive experience.
• 59:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it was great, and so I I went, I kept going to her for sessions um every few weeks, and uh and then I decided she said, Oh, do you want to come along?
• 59:35
  SPEAKER_00: I'm doing the first level training.
• 59:37
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, Oh, I yeah, I'm not really a healer.
• 59:39
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just like, Well, you know, uh well you are, because you're all that's what you're doing in in the world, you know, you're working in mental health, like you're you're a healer, you know.
• 59:49
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, oh that's a bit, you know, and I'm always quite I never make any claims to be a you know whatever big I am or about anything that that I do reading, and I I didn't really consider myself as a as a healer or even if I could do it, you know.
• 1:00:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um but I went along to this thing and I again had an amazing um experience with that.
• 1:00:12
  SPEAKER_00: And then about a year later I did the next the the master teacher level, which was wonderful as well, and met someone who's a very close now a very close friend of mine on that course and um and then I started sort of doing it on friends and family and and then people would say, Oh, can I come and ha and have one?
• 1:00:33
  SPEAKER_00: And so I I did it for a while.
• 1:00:35
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:00:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um and I, you know, I I uh I used it quite a lot and then uh it's at the same time I was trying out all all sorts of other things.
• 1:00:46
  SPEAKER_00: So I I um I did a shamanic course in uh London with a guy who actually lives in Devon now, um a Celtic sham shamanic uh practitioner.
• 1:01:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:01:01
  SPEAKER_00: I I was very I very wanted things that were like rooted in in our uh culture.
• 1:01:06
  SPEAKER_00: No, not that I have a I've read a lot of things and I've been to lots of um different groups and things where people are doing, you know, um a lot of sort of South South American sort of shamanism and and um you know North American actually, because the uh um First Nation uh people there's a lot of um Native Americans.
• 1:01:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 1:01:30
  SPEAKER_00: Native American center.
• 1:01:31
  SPEAKER_00: And um met a a Lakota, uh someone from the Lakota tribe actually came to uh do a thing at the centre, which of the we had this amazing spiritual and healing centre up the just up the road from us, it was it was brilliant, and they had all sorts of people, they were connected with people all over the world.
• 1:01:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I used to go to Sacred Fire there every month.
• 1:01:51
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 1:01:52
  SPEAKER_00: And it was huge, it was amazing.
• 1:01:53
  SPEAKER_00: They had this big piece of land with woods, and and we used to meet in it in the woods and you know, Grandfather Fire, and then we'd make offerings to the fire before we started and it was amazing, yeah, yeah tobacco on wood and you know, and all that, and and then dry and then we'd we'd all share.
• 1:02:12
  SPEAKER_00: So it was basically like peer support, but in this amazing healing thing where it all gets taken away by the fire, and and I used to take my sons with me actually, and as my older two got a bit older, they were like, We're not going to the room.
• 1:02:26
  SPEAKER_00: But they really liked it because every sort of thing came along, and then my youngest kept coming for a while, and I think they really benefited from it, and um it was beautiful because we used to just share and and then afterwards it'd be loads of drumming, and I just found that oh gosh, such an amazing, you know, part of my life then.
• 1:02:44
  SPEAKER_00: So I was really involved in that.
• 1:02:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and you know, oh gosh, all sorts of things.
• 1:02:50
  SPEAKER_00: I did um romotherapy method, I did uh reflexology and batchology.
• 1:02:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I've had a bit of a taste for it, it's really quite amazing.
• 1:03:01
  SPEAKER_00: It is it is amazing, yeah.
• 1:03:03
  SPEAKER_00: Batch flower remedies and um all sorts of things.
• 1:03:09
  SPEAKER_00: I did actually train in to be a mindfulness-based stress reduction uh uh uh trainer too, and um you know, it was part of the mental health sort of training, really, and and that was that was that was good.
• 1:03:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, I can't even think.
• 1:03:27
  SPEAKER_00: There's a whole whole list.
• 1:03:29
  SPEAKER_00: I went incredible.
• 1:03:30
  SPEAKER_00: I used to say I was like, um, and I went to uh that's what we were talking about earlier, Doreen Virtue.
• 1:03:36
  SPEAKER_00: At the time, you know, Doreen Virtue was a she was a big hero of mine, and um uh you know, I I did her sort of angel healing thing and her angel tarot thing.
• 1:03:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um that was a great week actually in London and Yeah, all that sort of thing.
• 1:03:55
  SPEAKER_00: But then I I gradually over time I got a little bit disillusioned with the kind of new age um thing, I guess.
• 1:04:06
  SPEAKER_00: Uh for all sorts of reasons.
• 1:04:09
  SPEAKER_00: I I I ended up finding myself in kind of quote spiritual business networking events and um I yeah, I I didn't I didn't really I I didn't I didn't really like it with it.
• 1:04:28
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't resonate with it.
• 1:04:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, there there was quite a lot of toxicity in that environment, I have to say.
• 1:04:35
  SPEAKER_00: You can't yeah and um and I I sort of kept going and thinking, oh i it'll be alright, you know.
• 1:04:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um and you should never ignore that in intuition, but I I found a lot of I guess of what not wanting to say some cliched terms, but a lot of spiritual bypassing and um and you know when someone turns around to you and says something really horrible and says, Spirits hold me to tell you that, you know, and then say some horrible insulting thing to you, it's like yeah, I I'm not I'm not vibing with this, you know what I mean?
• 1:05:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, it's like if you've got something horrible that you want to say to me, don't like try and blame spirits get out of it by saying your spirits told you to say.
• 1:05:23
  SPEAKER_01: But I think, you know.
• 1:05:27
  SPEAKER_00: What sort of spirit you colluding were?
• 1:05:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I don't I know it's like I found that really um you know difficult.
• 1:05:34
  SPEAKER_00: But I mean, you know, there were some sort of people I I listened to.
• 1:05:38
  SPEAKER_00: I have to say, you know, it was a big part of my journey.
• 1:05:41
  SPEAKER_00: It was really helpful, and I learned a lot from it, and I read obsessively, and I was a bit of a kind of spiritual cause junkie.
• 1:05:50
  SPEAKER_00: Do you know what I mean?
• 1:05:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um but being in group with people was wonderful, and uh with you know, different things like the sacred fire was a a beautiful thing.
• 1:06:01
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, so so I I did that and um and at the same time I you know as I say I had I have a very very close friend who's actually uh he's a Catholic and um he has uh done he's he's one of these amazing people that's like done all sorts of things.
• 1:06:25
  SPEAKER_00: He's had a very big life, you know so he's he's been in the military.
• 1:06:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um he's been uh you know uh and then came out and he was a an accountant and um was the f youngest ever finance director for like a big global business in the UK and and then he also he trained as a psychotherapist and he specialised in trauma therapy and he was on at Harley Street but at the same time he did shamanic work too and it was like really good nice to see how that sort of and the way he talks about things it's amazing because he has a real knowledge of kind of pagan pagan spirituality and obviously Catholicism has been he never it lets he never sort of says that there has to be an either or do you know to me that's nice you either have to you know but and he talks the way he's he's taught me so much since I've known him over the last oh god what year are we now maybe 2026.
• 1:07:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah 12, 13 years I've known him.
• 1:07:31
  SPEAKER_00: And he's taught me a lot about the real kind of I guess esoteric side of Catholicism you know um and the real core almost like the values and the ethics side of things away from the sort of institutional canonic side but the real you know the symbolism the ritual and everything and then he has this great way of like explaining it in a sort of a pagan and or you know even shamanic way you know and um uh you know so that I I I've understood how how things sort of relate to each other and that and that's been been great so I I I read a lot uh I've read a lot of uh of stuff and one person actually who who springs to mind is Caroline Miss she was actually uh taught by nuns so she was a a Catholic originally but she's written a lot of books so she was published she used to be published under Hay House but um she wrote a great book called um Anatomy of the Spirit um where she literally kind of talks about the links between she does this whole link thing between the Kabbalah um the chakra system and the sacraments and how they sort of link together and I really love that sort of almost like bending so I think we can end up quite sort of siloed and segregated by religion sometimes or our faith groups if you see what I mean and I love to see that um ways that we can relate to each other by talking in each other's language I I guess in a way if that makes sense.
• 1:09:19
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely um and another book called Why People Don't Heal and How They Can Yeah I thought you're talking about books I'm gonna say you got any book recommendations or books that you know that really yeah inspired you on your spiritual journey but you're already like answering my question before I've asked it which is brilliant.
• 1:09:40
  SPEAKER_00: But there are just so many I I mean if we're think if we're talking about witchy things I mean there was there was um book that I had when I was really really young called um a witch alone by Marion Green and that was great because that was all sort of talking about that real sort of earthy sort of thing.
• 1:10:02
  SPEAKER_00: So I was very interested in in I guess the sort of nature side of things and how you know the cycles of the planet and the um you know the the moon yes and and all of that so I love the moon a lot of her stuff was really about that how we can develop spiritual practice by ourselves in communion with nature and you know different cycles and of course as women we're very connected to cycles and um that was uh very interesting for me uh so she she was one but I mean equally on the other side of things there's an author called uh Thomas More not not the old no Thomas it was two O's yeah Mou R E and he's a uh Irish American I think uh guy and he he's written a whole load of books and he was uh brought up an I uh Catholic but it so he was born in America Canada maybe to Irish parents who were Catholics and he was a monk for a period of time but he trained as a psychologist or a psychotherapist and um then I think moved away from from the sort of uh I guess more dogmatic side of things um but he wrote uh a whole load of books and one of them uh two of them that that sort of spin to mind are Dark Knights of the Soul and Care of the Soul two bits so that was those sorts of books were really helpful to me.
• 1:11:38
  SPEAKER_00: In fact I reread Dark Knights of the Soul last year um and you know I always find with a lot of these I don't often re reread books but sometimes I revisit things and when you revisit things at different parts of your life they teach you different things.
• 1:11:56
  SPEAKER_00: I also remember there was um when I was sort of about 18 I was 17 or 18, 19, someone gave me this C D by Jack Quurnfield um which was about Buddhist meditation for beginners or something.
• 1:12:09
  SPEAKER_00: It had about four CDs in it.
• 1:12:11
  SPEAKER_00: Wow and it was great because again it talked about Buddhism and it talked and it talked you through meditations and you know I was quite troubled as a teenager in various ways and I just liked to find things that really really helped and that started to help me make sense of things you know um there's that oh gosh there was one one that I sort of I I was a bit of um I guess it in the in the sort of healing journey there's a real kind of seeking phase yeah you know where you you you almost like constantly seeking um yeah yeah you know and yeah spiritual seeking yeah and and um you know I I found that I read a heck of a lot of self-help books and and um I I kind of realize after after a few years that you can kind of disturb self-help book down to kind of a few key points if you know what I mean.
• 1:13:19
  SPEAKER_00: But and and the one that I really I still recommend to people who particularly who are going through a mental health journey who perhaps don't really have a spiritual journey as such um the only one I sort of refer to is one that's called um Feel the fear and do it anyway.
• 1:13:39
  SPEAKER_00: Well I think I have that book and I think my Susan does it as well yeah yeah and um Susan Jeffers and so I was sometimes that that that sort of is almost like a really good sort of solid introduction and there's a bit at the end where she talks about the five fears about truth sorry the five truths about fear and essentially the last one is you know we're always gonna have fear because that means we're gonna grow so you can either have it was like the the the the sort of helplessness of of uh staying where you are moving to sort of hopefulness and just plunging and you know just knowing that uh a sign of growth is that we're feeling fear and that we you know kind of just in a nutshell I guess if you look up the five trees of about fear it comes up on online the the list and I always found that very helpful.
• 1:14:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah so oh gosh there are just so many and it's it doesn't really follow one particular you know I think there is a lot to be taken from yeah from different things of them.
• 1:14:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah yeah yeah what I'll do is I will um all the books that you've mentioned I will put them in the show notes so then if people want to go and yeah thinking about buying a book they can go and look it up online and see read a bit more about it so I'll pop that all in the show notes for everyone as well.
• 1:15:11
  SPEAKER_01: Let's have a chat about Lauxdon Folk Club and the radio because um I really want to get yeah get into that and do a bit of promotion for the folk club and records radio as well.
• 1:15:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:15:22
  SPEAKER_01: So how did you get involved with the folk club actually?
• 1:15:25
  SPEAKER_00: Well yeah on the folk circuit years ago when I was I mean I've always sung but then when I was sort of late teens, early twenties, we happen to have we happened to live really close to the oldest and longest running folk club in the country Hitchin Folk Club and Maureen and Kieran Maureen has been running Hitchin Folk Club um since she was 15 um and it's been going for like over 65 years.
• 1:15:56
  SPEAKER_00: Forgive me Maureen if you hear this and I've forgotten exactly which year we were on for a very long time.
• 1:16:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah and um her daughter was a musician and we were both back home um uh uh sort of in our early twenties for one reason or another and um we decided to get together and film a duo and we sort of went around the folk circuit and um and it was it was it was absolutely brilliant.
• 1:16:26
  SPEAKER_00: So um I sang I actually did a year of operatic singing when I lived here I learned with a lady I was a massive fan of Maria Callas and um I was like I want to be Maria Callas when I grow up and and um so when I was living in Luxilian weird thing was she was taught by this woman called Elvira de Hidalgo who created her own method which she designed so it wasn't like sort of uh straining on the throat and the um so it's very sort of stomach abdomen um uh method yeah so um I decided that I wanted to learn by the Elvira de Hidalgo method when I was and I had this like absolute thing right I'm going to find an El verde Hidalgo method teacher and um everyone went you're never gonna find one of those in in in Cornwall like you probably won't even find one in the UK doing like a very specific you know I was like I'll find anyway she lived in Par.
• 1:17:35
  SPEAKER_00: Amazing I used to go get to PA and like because I already sang I I was just like so enthusiastic.
• 1:17:44
  SPEAKER_00: So I learned all these aria's and like almost instantly she's like well I'm going to put you in for these aria contests or I used to go around in these operatic aria competitions in like Truro Cathedral and stuff and it was I know it was wonderful.
• 1:17:57
  SPEAKER_00: I did that for about a year or so and then ended up coming back up country and um Emily and I got together and we we did this folk duo and it it was it was wonderful and then for various reasons we we um we were sort of doing university and um actually by that point we were both living in Cambridge she was doing teaching and I was doing art history.
• 1:18:24
  SPEAKER_00: I wasn't really sure what I was going to do next.
• 1:18:27
  SPEAKER_00: I kind of wanted to do music and then I met my husband my what who became my husband and got pregnant fairly quickly um because I what I was going to do was go off and do a masters um and then I had to take a year or two off to try and earn some money before I could do that.
• 1:18:46
  SPEAKER_00: Kind of ended up sort of stopping music really for while our children so when I moved back to Cornwall I'd obviously then gone on this whole journey of mm moving from being kind of a in the arts I guess to retraining in psychology and going back to uni and getting a BSc in psychology and then doing the whole sort of mental health work and that that was sort of my passion for a while and then moving back to Cornwall I was like right I absolutely want to get back into music now and I um you know just started connecting in with people started going to the open mics and various things and I remember just having conversations with people and someone saying oh what we need is a folk club and um you know and I I'd sort of been involved in I was in the chamber for a while I was chair of the the chamber for a while and we would had been running lots of events with um uh When Annette and Tash were also in the chamber from Make Stop Happen.
• 1:19:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah and um so I'd been used to sort of running events in town and I got to know uh people um in the music world down here um and I became uh friends with um uh someone who lives in Launston who um uh whose late husband was actually one of the uh founder members of Fairport Convention.
• 1:20:21
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 1:20:21
  SPEAKER_00: Lives just up the hill.
• 1:20:23
  SPEAKER_00: And um I remember someone had said to me about starting up a folk club and I thought to myself well I've got such a great model you know and I spoke to Maureen from Hitchin Folk Club and she'd always run it as a concert fake club with resident so a main act drawn from the wider folk circuit and a resident uh she had a list of sort of resident artists who did a half hour supports more hands.
• 1:20:49
  SPEAKER_00: So for me that's what a fake club was yeah um a lot of the fake clubs who that are in in Quilmore are um very traditional fake clubs um and you know so everyone's doing their their own thing so I thought well that's not really a sort of concert fake club like that in this part of the world um so I I obviously connected with people from Bobman Fake Club and said what I was going to do and I joined Bobmin and connected up with people at Cornwall Fake Festival and everything and um you know I said to uh Keith the friend I was talking about earlier you know oh you know people are sort of like I'm thinking of starting a fake club but I I don't think I will and he's like yeah do it just speak to Maureen and I was like oh I'm not sure and um I ended up bumping into Jill um in the in the street uh and saying oh you know thinking about this folk club idea and she went yeah do it do it and she was so enthusiastic about it Jill's the one with the whose husband was in Fairport uh late husband was in Fairport convention and I remember seeing her face and her enthusiasm and I thought well there's there's definitely support for this and she really sort of inspired me to just do it and she was great and um she gave us a uh an image of Dave because I asked her if if Dave she if if it would be okay if we had Dave as our folk club mascot and she was over at the moon she gave us an image that she'd painted of him um so I just sort of went for it really in this sort of moment of of like yeah why not this will be great and all naivety really about what was going to be re involved and um and we launched in September 23 and then thankfully I've I sort of reconnected with a lot of people who I'd known in the folk world and um you know very quickly um we had you know some really great musicians off the circuit coming to play um so we've had like Philbeer who's actually only in Devon um who uh uh is one half of what used to be show of hands um and we've obviously had Fairport Convention down we've had Gig Spanner um which uh um was started by one of the mem founder members of Steel I Span Peter Knight and um gosh Mike Silver he only I knew him from Hitch and Fape Club because he's massive he was massive on well he is massive on the circuit and he was like a massive hero of mine when I was growing up and I remember he came Emily has been she comes to play every year my old duo partner she comes every year which is lovely and I remember him turning up and Emily and I always do a few of the songs that we used to do together and he turned up um when Emily first came to do a concert we were singing one of his songs together and we were like now he's become a lovely friend I love him to bits him and his wife Julie lovely and gosh um Kevin Dempsey launched the folk club for us he's amazing and of course I was just over the moon but Kev was over the moon you know what was really nice is I thought you know I've I was a bit like oh so and so like they've been saying they want to come and play and and and I hadn't realised you know sort of getting back into that folk how lovely everyone is you know people are overjoyed to to come and play you know and um it's been a real amazing journey sort of getting to know people again and reconnecting with people and also meeting new new people that I kind of knew of you know before and so we're trying to have a so the model really with Launchden is that we have our main act um and a support slot chosen from the local music scene.
• 1:24:58
  SPEAKER_00: The idea being that you know with the support obviously connected with the radios is kind of getting Cornwall based music and Devon based music known yes further than further than the South than the Tamar.
• 1:25:14
  SPEAKER_00: So really by giving sort of local musicians the opportunity to meet some really well known established artists on the circuit hopefully you know and that has worked quite a few times you know where um local musicians and often younger musicians have connected with uh some of the bigger artists and they've you know uh you know connected with them and shared and connected them with other people in the in the scene and maybe helped to push them along and that's that's that's really lovely.
• 1:25:46
  SPEAKER_00: So it was a combination of wanting to bring acts into Cornwall that typically their tours stop at like Exeter or Plymouth and and bring them further into Cornwall and wanting to connect up the Cornish folk scene because I mean the Cornish folk scene is massive it's just so wonderful so rich.
• 1:26:08
  SPEAKER_00: There are some wonderful musicians and we found that from doing the songwriters Open Mike who knew there were just so many creative people that come out of the woodwork every month.
• 1:26:21
  SPEAKER_00: So you know I sometimes think oh you know some few people might message me one month say I can't come this month I can't I think oh no one's gonna turn up and then all of a sudden a whole bunch of people I never knew even existed turn up you know it's been one what's great about the songwriters as well is that we get some like people that have written their first song you know come in as well as yeah yeah as well as and it's really supportive you know people uh the people who are there as well as like some people who are quite well known on the circuit so we had Samantha from uh all for jolly came last time and and often Chris from now and comes um and it and you know Hayden Biddle he's he's just released his first uh originals album which is wonderful but he's been known on the local scene for a while and you know we it's lovely having that blend of of people come together.
• 1:27:17
  SPEAKER_01: If people want to get involved with Law's and folklore they want to support it how can they do that?
• 1:27:22
  SPEAKER_01: Like some people might be listening thinking oh that's just something I really would like to get involved in or support.
• 1:27:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah sure so the the best way to do is I've kind of I've moved everything under one banner now.
• 1:27:34
  SPEAKER_00: I've actually brought that all under Wrecker's Music now.
• 1:27:37
  SPEAKER_01: So if people go to wrecker's music.org Wreckersmusic.org and I'll put this in the show notes for people to click on to as well.
• 1:27:45
  SPEAKER_00: Brilliant yeah they can see um all the stuff that we've got going on so there's an events page that's where all the events are listed including the sort of monthly informal events but all the concerts so we're already this year we've had our first concert of The year was actually Martha Woods, who's a brilliant young Cornish musician from Los With You, who's doing really well on the folk scene at the moment with Ben Bamford from Bude.
• 1:28:10
  SPEAKER_00: Last month we had Cohen, uh we also had Cohen Braithwaite Kilcoyne, who's just this amazing um squeeze box player who mixes like um uh sort of English folk music with uh Caribbean music, yeah.
• 1:28:30
  SPEAKER_00: He's he's he has mixed heritage himself, and so and he does this wonderful storytelling about how you know the Caribbeans picked up the English music when the English obviously went over there, and you know, so these tunes are uh just amazing.
• 1:28:44
  SPEAKER_00: There's some footage of him on the thing.
• 1:28:46
  SPEAKER_00: So um we're having some, you know, we have some amazing musicians.
• 1:28:50
  SPEAKER_00: I can't possibly list all the people that we've had, but in on the 22nd of March, we've got Bob Fox coming, who has got one of the best voices on the set here.
• 1:29:02
  SPEAKER_00: Is that the next event?
• 1:29:03
  SPEAKER_00: The 22nd of March?
• 1:29:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and that's at Launston Golf Club.
• 1:29:07
  SPEAKER_00: And um doors open at seven, and he's an amazing singer and guitarist, so his guitar playing his his singing are amazing.
• 1:29:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um he's fabulous.
• 1:29:17
  SPEAKER_00: I can't even like I can't even describe how he's got this rich velvety voice, and he's he's from the northeast.
• 1:29:26
  SPEAKER_00: So a lot of his he does a lot of songs about the kind of mining heritage, but he was also the songman in the Warhorse done by a National Theatre.
• 1:29:35
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 1:29:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, he's been around for a long time, but he's still got this beautiful voice, and his guitar playing is a is stunning, and he tells great stories, very engaging.
• 1:29:46
  SPEAKER_00: So beautiful.
• 1:29:47
  SPEAKER_00: Then we've got a big one in in April.
• 1:29:50
  SPEAKER_00: I'm hosting um Mary Hell twice in uh April, once in Farmath on the 17th, and then on Saturday the 18th in Launston Town Hall, and they're a big folk rock band, very high energy.
• 1:30:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um, they're from the Northwest and they're they're fabulous.
• 1:30:07
  SPEAKER_00: They were at Cormall Folk Festival last year and they came to us the year before, so they're back and they're they're they're absolutely amazing as well.
• 1:30:15
  SPEAKER_00: That's going to be a great night, and actually, it might be useful for people out there.
• 1:30:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, Damien Liptrot, their manager, is doing a workshop in the afternoon in Luxon for because obviously I'm trying to sort of connect with lots of people and see how we can kind of save grassroots music in in the air in the southwest and um and we can only do that by working together.
• 1:30:41
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's sort of the aim behind it, Dame is gonna talk about music management, tour management.
• 1:30:47
  SPEAKER_00: He's also gonna he's done a lot of work with independent musicians who sometimes you know perhaps have gone into the studio recording an album and they don't really know what to do with it or how to promote themselves.
• 1:30:58
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, he he knows about all that stuff, and so it's for like venues, promoters, agents, musicians, um, you know, clubs, any any anyone come along, it's a networking opportunity as well.
• 1:31:12
  SPEAKER_00: And it's only a fiver for that ticket.
• 1:31:13
  SPEAKER_00: And if you come to that, you get a member price ticket to the concert in the evening.
• 1:31:18
  SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
• 1:31:19
  SPEAKER_00: But that's all on at Wreckersmusic.org.
• 1:31:22
  SPEAKER_01: So how do people listen to Wreckers Radio?
• 1:31:25
  SPEAKER_01: How can they what's the so is it is it D A B, is it FM?
• 1:31:28
  SPEAKER_01: Is it how do they find you?
• 1:31:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so basically, um we're hopefully gonna work towards um becoming like a community radio station that's registered by Ofcom.
• 1:31:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um but we're not there yet.
• 1:31:41
  SPEAKER_00: Gotta wait for an FM mast in this area, actually.
• 1:31:43
  SPEAKER_00: So put one on the south on top of the sound.
• 1:31:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:31:49
  SPEAKER_00: So it's purely online at the moment.
• 1:31:52
  SPEAKER_00: So um you go to wreckers.radio.
• 1:31:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:31:55
  SPEAKER_00: And that's Wreckers like the you know, the Cronish Wreckers, the sh the shit's Wreckers.
• 1:32:05
  SPEAKER_00: And you just play and you listen, and it's streams music 24-7 at the moment.
• 1:32:10
  SPEAKER_00: So we're trying to uh encourage people if you want to if you've already got a podcast, yeah, by all means we'll stick it in the programme and you can have a weekly slot.
• 1:32:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and it'll be branded towards to your own organisation with links to your stuff.
• 1:32:25
  SPEAKER_00: If you fancy doing a podcast and you've never done it yet, come and do it.
• 1:32:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and again, it can be branded to you and your organisation.
• 1:32:34
  SPEAKER_00: Put on our socials and um website, there'll be like a a page for everyone's for a bio for everyone who who does something like that.
• 1:32:44
  SPEAKER_00: You know, if you want to, I don't know, it could be any genre.
• 1:32:48
  SPEAKER_00: So the the remit for Record Radio is independent musicians and grassroots venues across Cormall and Devon.
• 1:32:57
  SPEAKER_00: We say West of the X because that just sounds a bit catchier than West of the X West of the X.
• 1:33:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but it's basically Cormallin Devon.
• 1:33:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:33:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um or anyone playing who's coming to visit and play.
• 1:33:08
  SPEAKER_00: So if you've got recorded music, MP3s or WAF files, by all means send them to us at hello at recurs.radio.
• 1:33:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um connect with us on social media.
• 1:33:20
  SPEAKER_00: We've got a Wreckers uh radio Facebook page, a Wreckers Live Music Facebook group and a Wreckers Radio uh Instagram page, same with Rilston Folk Club has an Instagram and a Facebook group.
• 1:33:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:33:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um there's quite a lot of people, and I'm really open to people sharing their music and events in those groups.
• 1:33:38
  SPEAKER_00: So um once you've been approved once, because we had a bunch of like spammers that were like yeah, yeah, it's nasty things going on, so um you know lewd pictures and stuff.
• 1:33:51
  SPEAKER_00: So I had to put a approve once, once you've been approved once, then you can post.
• 1:33:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um so yeah, it's it's all going on, it's really exciting, and we just need more people involved.
• 1:34:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um so with the radio, it's purely there.
• 1:34:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's like for me, it's as I say, I was telling you earlier, I took it over.
• 1:34:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um it's it it to sort of save what used to be Cornwall Folk Radio because it was going to shut down.
• 1:34:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um there's a very small group for us.
• 1:34:22
  SPEAKER_00: Cornwall Folk Festival is a is you know, we do it in conjunction with them.
• 1:34:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um so we always live broadcast from Cornwall Folk Festival.
• 1:34:31
  SPEAKER_00: If you want us to come and live broadcast from your venue or your gig, or um, you know, that will take a little bit of organizing, but we can do that, it's the sort of thing we'd like to do.
• 1:34:43
  SPEAKER_00: Or if you've recorded your gig and you want to send it to us and we can do a thing, you know, whatever.
• 1:34:49
  SPEAKER_00: 10% on the radio.
• 1:34:51
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that's that's that what we're trying to encourage.
• 1:34:54
  SPEAKER_00: So um when I get the time, yeah, I will would like to present my own programme.
• 1:35:00
  SPEAKER_00: But it's it's literally it's it it's it's all voluntary as well, and it's it takes up every waking hour of my life at the moment.
• 1:35:09
  SPEAKER_00: So honestly, if you are interested in in that in any way, shape or form, I just encourage people to get in touch because we need help.
• 1:35:18
  SPEAKER_01: Like if there's anyone out there, you know, who's who's based up around here in like you know, North Cornwall, South Devon, any sort of um media students who are looking to get into radio and they want to have a have a go at presenting something, yeah.
• 1:35:34
  SPEAKER_01: Please, please contact Emma for sure.
• 1:35:36
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely, it's a blank slate.
• 1:35:38
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not at all precious about it.
• 1:35:40
  SPEAKER_00: I want it to do for the community what I what we have said we want it to do, which is support musicians and venues, independent musicians, grassroots venues in Cornwall and Devon.
• 1:35:52
  SPEAKER_00: That's my soul, it's it's theirs, right?
• 1:35:55
  SPEAKER_00: You know, so if you're one of those or if it can help you in any way, if you want to even curate a playlist of your favourite local musicians or of any music that you like, you know, you come and do a I don't know, desert islands type of thing, you know.
• 1:36:10
  SPEAKER_00: Not too great, which is playlist.
• 1:36:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, that would be that would be lovely, you know.
• 1:36:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, seriously, um, we're open to suggestions as well.
• 1:36:18
  SPEAKER_00: As I say, uh it's this isn't a vanity project for me.
• 1:36:22
  SPEAKER_00: So um I to be honest, it takes up a lot of time.
• 1:36:25
  SPEAKER_01: It's like it says keeping Cornish culture and community alive, and it's so important, you know, and we want to keep it going, and you're doing such a wonderful job.
• 1:36:33
  SPEAKER_01: But I get that it's it's it takes up a lot of time, and yeah, you need you need the help.
• 1:36:38
  SPEAKER_01: So if anyone's wanting to come and help Emma, I'm and I've already offered my services, but yeah, just come and get in touch if you're based in North Cornwall and South Devon.
• 1:36:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
• 1:36:50
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, the great thing with with the online space at the moment is you know, even if you record something at home in in, you know, it doesn't matter where you are really.
• 1:37:01
  SPEAKER_00: So but if you want to come and get involved, sort of hands-on and you know, any help, social media, graphic designer, whatever it is, um, you know, it's not that's not my forte.
• 1:37:14
  SPEAKER_00: So if anyone has any great ideas, uh so we're trying, we're gonna try and get some fun more funding in this year.
• 1:37:21
  SPEAKER_00: When I say more funding, some funding.
• 1:37:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:37:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because obviously we have to pay PRS and PPR licenses, we have costs, and we we currently don't uh you know have any sort of separate funding for that.
• 1:37:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um that's sort of all coming out of our pockets and we're volunteers.
• 1:37:38
  SPEAKER_01: So uh yeah, you need the income for that necessary expenditure to keep it going, I get that.
• 1:37:44
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely, yeah.
• 1:37:45
  SPEAKER_00: So if anyone um fancies sort of helping out with socials around that, that would be great.
• 1:37:52
  SPEAKER_00: And uh yeah, and I and as you say, you've offered to help and yeah.
• 1:37:57
  SPEAKER_00: Very grateful, really grateful for anyone, and uh yeah, so that's amazing.
• 1:38:02
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I'm so grateful for having you on the show for joining just joining on the on the show today.
• 1:38:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um all the stuff you're doing with the folk club and yeah, and records radio, and then and just sharing that is really, really exciting, and I can't wait to see how it all goes and yeah, all the events that'll be coming up this year and next year for sure.
• 1:38:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, thank thank you, Fred.
• 1:38:25
  SPEAKER_01: You're very welcome for sharing your spiritual journey with me today as well.
• 1:38:29
  SPEAKER_01: It's been so lovely.
• 1:38:31
  SPEAKER_01: I hope it made sense.
• 1:38:32
  SPEAKER_01: I hope it made sense to me.
• 1:38:34
  SPEAKER_01: I've been hanging on to your every work.
• 1:38:37
  SPEAKER_01: I'd love to have you back in the future to talk more about the Cornish folk culture and more about folk music.
• 1:38:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, because I think we could really do a deep dive into that.
• 1:38:46
  SPEAKER_00: That that would be great, actually.
• 1:38:47
  SPEAKER_00: Is I've I've sort of been around all corners of my life in this in this, I feel like I am not known for being succinct, as folk club members will tell you.
• 1:38:56
  SPEAKER_00: I've had to really practice, like um, but anyway, it went where it went, and uh that's what what's meant to be.
• 1:39:04
  SPEAKER_00: So but I'd love to come back and talk about Cornish culture and Cornish folk music and talk about some of the wonderful musicians that are you know performing in our area.
• 1:39:15
  SPEAKER_01: We could get some of them on with you and have a bit of a jam.
• 1:39:18
  SPEAKER_00: That would be really nice, actually.
• 1:39:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, some of the not a job provider.
• 1:39:23
  SPEAKER_00: It's gonna it was fine, but we could have left it there.
• 1:39:27
  SPEAKER_00: Put it out there.
• 1:39:30
  unknown: That's okay.
• 1:39:31
  SPEAKER_01: Oh Emma, it's been such a pleasure.
• 1:39:33
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much.
• 1:39:34
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 1:39:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, everyone, please go and have a look um at all of the links I've put in the show notes and go and show Emma and Launcedon Folk Club and Records Radio um some support.
• 1:39:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, thank you.
• 1:39:46
  SPEAKER_00: And uh it's it's been really lovely chatting to you, Fred.
• 1:39:49
  SPEAKER_00: And honestly, thank you for your time.
• 1:39:50
  SPEAKER_00: You're very welcome.
• 1:39:52
  SPEAKER_00: Pleasure.
• 1:40:00
  SPEAKER_01: I hope you all enjoyed listening to my conversation with Emma.
• 1:40:04
  SPEAKER_01: It was such a pleasure having her on the show.
• 1:40:06
  SPEAKER_01: I really enjoyed chatting to her.
• 1:40:08
  SPEAKER_01: And fingers crossed, hopefully, her and I will be doing some more collaborating in the future.
• 1:40:14
  SPEAKER_01: So you never know.
• 1:40:15
  SPEAKER_01: Watch this space, and perhaps one day you might see my podcast on Wreckers Radio.
• 1:40:21
  SPEAKER_01: I have linked all of her information, including the website to Launston Folk Club and Wreckers Radio in the show notes.
• 1:40:30
  SPEAKER_01: So you can click on those links and then you can go and find all of the information and the events and the gigs that Emma mentioned through the website.
• 1:40:39
  SPEAKER_01: Let's move on to our witch weekly events where I let you know what witchy or spiritual events are happening in and around South Devon and Cornwall.
• 1:40:50
  SPEAKER_01: Starting with local covens that are seeking new members, so if you're a solitary witch looking to join a coven, this might be for you.
• 1:40:59
  SPEAKER_01: Roz and Booker, one of Cornwall's longest established covens, hold meetings in North Cornwall and the Devon-Cornwall border.
• 1:41:08
  SPEAKER_01: Applicants are welcome to introduce themselves via email and can visit their website for more information.
• 1:41:15
  SPEAKER_01: The Cunning Grove is a witch and a cult shop based in Plymouth.
• 1:41:19
  SPEAKER_01: They currently hold the Coven of the Sacred Grove.
• 1:41:22
  SPEAKER_01: They are a diverse group of witches from different paths that come together to learn and support each other.
• 1:41:29
  SPEAKER_01: Within their coven, they break the year down into four seasons.
• 1:41:34
  SPEAKER_01: The physical coven meets on a Tuesday and Thursday nights fortnightly.
• 1:41:39
  SPEAKER_01: They also have an online coven with spaces available.
• 1:41:42
  SPEAKER_01: Everyone is in a group together, and each week they drop different techniques and teachings from PDFs, slides, and videos.
• 1:41:52
  SPEAKER_01: Joining the covens comes with a range of benefits.
• 1:41:55
  SPEAKER_01: You can get money off the shop and services, and you can also make use of the Coven Library, which is for local members only.
• 1:42:03
  SPEAKER_01: To join the physical coven, it's£30 per person.
• 1:42:07
  SPEAKER_01: And if you want to join the online coven, that's£15.
• 1:42:11
  SPEAKER_01: If you would like to get in touch, you can message them through their Instagram page or Facebook page.
• 1:42:17
  SPEAKER_01: And I've also added their email address in the show notes.
• 1:42:21
  SPEAKER_01: The lovely Seren from Serendipity Healing is back and she's advertising her women's circles again.
• 1:42:28
  SPEAKER_01: So she holds three women's circles.
• 1:42:31
  SPEAKER_01: These are Tuesday in Abbot Skurswell, Wednesday in Torquay, and Thursday in Totnes, and they are all from 7pm until 9 pm.
• 1:42:41
  SPEAKER_01: Participants can choose the date and venue that suits them, and she covers the same information in each one.
• 1:42:48
  SPEAKER_01: They happen every three weeks so you can celebrate the Sabbath and connect to nature's cycles.
• 1:42:53
  SPEAKER_01: And then you will have a session between each Sabbath to look inward.
• 1:42:58
  SPEAKER_01: She teaches a variety of modalities.
• 1:43:00
  SPEAKER_01: These include somatic movement, guided meditations, tarot and oracle cards, witch runes, exploring crystals, herbs, journaling, creative expression through arts and crafts, reiki, sechhem energy, drumming and sound, goddess work with the archetypes, meaningful ritual and ceremonies, and lots more.
• 1:43:23
  SPEAKER_01: Local witchy and spiritual events.
• 1:43:26
  SPEAKER_01: Continuing with the Cunning Grove, on Wednesdays they hold a witch and stitch, which is a free weekly crochet, knitting and witchcraft session.
• 1:43:36
  SPEAKER_01: And on Saturday mornings, they hold a free witch and brew session, which is a social with tea, talk, and it has a teaching focus.
• 1:43:46
  SPEAKER_01: And you can find out more information via their website, which is linked in the show notes.
• 1:43:51
  SPEAKER_01: Looking forward to this week, the weekend, and a little into next week, and starting with Thursday, the 19th of March, so today.
• 1:44:00
  SPEAKER_01: Today is the last day to apply to the Temple of Cornwall's Mystery School to become a sister, brother, or sacred sibling of Cornwall.
• 1:44:09
  SPEAKER_01: It's a course where you step onto the path of deep divine connection and liberating healing with this 11-month spiral devotional journey through myths, mysteries, magic, and the ancient energies of Cornwall.
• 1:44:24
  SPEAKER_01: This is run by Rebecca, who is the High Priestess of the Temple of Cornwall, and she also featured on one of my episodes back in season one.
• 1:44:32
  SPEAKER_01: The Cabinet of Folklore and Magic in Falmouth will be holding their tarot card readings on Saturday.
• 1:44:38
  SPEAKER_01: On Sunday, the 22nd of March, a spring equinox ritual is being held.
• 1:44:43
  SPEAKER_01: This will be held at Tahiti Woods on the North Cliffs Car Park from 6 pm.
• 1:44:48
  SPEAKER_01: It's open to witches, pagans, or those just curious about celebrating festivals.
• 1:44:53
  SPEAKER_01: Volunteers are welcome to take part.
• 1:44:56
  SPEAKER_01: It's a£3-5 donation, and there's no dress code where whatever you feel comfortable with, but please do dress appropriately for the weather.
• 1:45:05
  SPEAKER_01: Knowing Cornwall, one minute we're gonna have sunshine, and the next it's gonna be a downpour.
• 1:45:11
  SPEAKER_01: Although I am enjoying the sunny weather that we're having at the moment.
• 1:45:16
  SPEAKER_01: And then next Sunday on the 29th of March, a sigil workshop is being held at 2 pm at the Cabinet of Folklore and Magic in Falmouth.
• 1:45:25
  SPEAKER_01: There are limited spaces and it's£25 per person.
• 1:45:29
  SPEAKER_01: This includes all the supplies you will need.
• 1:45:32
  SPEAKER_01: Step into the world of sigil magic, where you will briefly look into the history and its use in magic, and then you will learn how to create and activate your own designs.
• 1:45:43
  SPEAKER_01: Links to all of the events that I have mentioned are in the show notes.
• 1:45:47
  SPEAKER_01: If you have an upcoming witchy or spiritual event and you would like me to do a shout out for your event on the show, then please contact me.
• 1:45:56
  SPEAKER_01: My details are in the show notes, and you can find me at the Cornish Witch podcast on Instagram and Facebook.
• 1:46:03
  SPEAKER_01: That is all I have for you for this episode.
• 1:46:05
  SPEAKER_01: It is so nice to be back, and I'm really looking forward to the future episodes.
• 1:46:09
  SPEAKER_01: I've got some very exciting guests coming on.
• 1:46:12
  SPEAKER_01: I hope you all have a blessed ostara or spring equinox, whatever you're doing to celebrate the equinox and the lighter days and the air being sweeter and all of the flowers are out and it's warmer, and it just feels so exciting, especially with the days getting a little bit longer as well.
• 1:46:30
  SPEAKER_01: So I hope you all enjoy celebrating this weekend, and I will be back next week for another episode.
• 1:46:38
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much for listening to the Cornish Witch podcast.
• 1:46:43
  SPEAKER_01: This podcast is an independent personal project created outside of my professional life.
• 1:46:50
  SPEAKER_01: It exists as a space for conversation with witches, spiritual practitioners, and those walking their own paths, sharing lived practice, ritual, experience, and folklore often rooted here in Cornwall and the land itself.
• 1:47:08
  SPEAKER_01: If you value these conversations and would like to support the continuation of the podcast, there is a voluntary link in the show notes.
• 1:47:16
  SPEAKER_01: Listening will always remain free and there is no expectation to contribute.
• 1:47:21
  SPEAKER_01: Whether you support here, listen quietly, or carry these stories onward by sharing them with others, thank you.
• 1:47:29
  SPEAKER_01: Your presence honors the craft and keeps these tellings alive.
• 1:47:34
  SPEAKER_01: May these stories find you when they are meant to.
• 1:47:38
  SPEAKER_01: And until next time, may the path rise to meet you.