And of course, prayer need not always be verbal. It can be as simple as standing barefoot on the grass or listening to the birdsong at sunrise. But even from this must come action to protect those very things that give solace, that cannot protect themselves. In this way, this communion with this other becomes something that is reciprocal.

‘In his healing of myself, my family, and of this plague I see the work of his silver hand.’

In the Norse myths the great ash, Yggdrasil, is the World Tree. Its image is one of ecological integrity. Ash dieback, a disease of the European ash, has both profound ecological and mythological implications.

Gwyn might be seen as a god who not only guides the dead to the Otherworld but also oversees the passage of the living through trauma and madness to the healing art of the awenydd.

Yesterday, December 4th, 2020, we had to say goodbye to our beloved writer and friend — Judith O’Grady.

The crossroads are steeped in mystery and folklore. The place where two or more roads intersect is a liminal space, a no man’s land belonging to no person. Perhaps that is why they are places of magick and folklore. Perhaps this is why they are spaces to commune with the spirits of the wild, unseen forces that pull at us. In this world where every inch of land is owned, where we are expected to be on the go, never stopping, trying to fit it all in, where we must always be something other than our true natures, perhaps that is why the crossroads call to us.

‘When frost rimes my window I cannot forget
you were there at my beginning
and will greet me again at the end.’

Gods&Radicals published a book I have written: three linked essays about trancing, speaking to the Gods and hearing a response, and being a Believer/Animist. I wrote these essays with taken-by-me photos as part of the story but publishing, alas, puts an unacceptable price on photographs and they had to be left out when we came to it. Here they are-

The Anansi stories hold a special place in my heart, what with my family, or at least the paternal side, hailing from the Caribbean. But there’s another important aspect to not only the Anansi stories, but most folk stories, generally speaking of course. Many of them come from the common people. These stories are born from the shared struggle against the harshness of life.

the land is the gods

We cannot return to our home, any more than we can return to the wholeness that was taken from us. But we can reclaim something of our inheritance. We may light the fire in the hearth, call the gods and spirits to us, and make a new home for ourselves.

"The true war against the modern world is not a war for racial or sexual hierarchy. The war against the modern world, a holy war, is debased by the bigots, who are only too quick to use it to pursue their own fantasies."

It is rare that I find myself of the belief that the Gods will step in and shape your path. But in this case, I believe it is possible to make an exception.

What is needed now is reconsecration, for there are no longer any paths for us to follow. Let us proudly declare to the mountains and the rivers: we renounce the cult of humanity, we renounce the world of techno-industrial society, and we bind ourselves in reverence and service to the living gods of earth and sky.

The Spirit of the Depths had shown me how to awaken the dead,How to bring forth the lost memories of the dream world

But with what desperation do we seek to deny the cycles of time! That it were not so is the dearest wish of humanity. Any catastrophe imaginable would be preferable to the secrets hidden in Troy Town.

Said the old beast to the young: Unless you make a hollow of yourself. There will be no room for the gods to dwell inside of you.

Practical steps that universal/independent Kindreds and Heathens can take to: Combat the overall appearance of collusion with the Odinist racist ideology by no longer keeping a shameful silence.

To join our essence and consciousness with the world was once the common inheritance of humanity. Now, it can only be found in the hinterland, the lands beyond. Beyond techno-industrial society. For what is there to join with in concrete and steel?

Death is not the enemy of life, but godlessness. The despair of humanity today is the product of centuries worth of both the denial of the spiritual life of the world and the suppression of the natural urge to reintegrate with that world.