The View from the Circle
I am privileged to be able to be able to spend time in a sacred space that has been created in a few acres of The Old Shippen. A place of beauty, for meditation, deep thought or even no thoughts and to look out at the world around me.
Winter Solstice Sunrise from the circle
This little corner of Cornwall is a small haven of wildlife. Here I'd like to share just a few of the occassional sightings as the wheel turns and the seasons change.
2008
Feb 23 Today I discovered what appears to be a stoats den inside the base of the hollowed out Ash trunk in the paddock. I've yet to see it but the musky smell, fresh diggings and rabbit fur remains point that way. Stoats live off small mammals like rabbits and voles of which there is an abundance in the fields around.
March 21 When 8000 sacred drums play together, an intense healing of Mother
Earth will commence. (500yr old Otomi Prophecy)
Please spare some time to join together with peoples of all nations
across the world, this Friday March 21st on the full moon, just past
the equinox.
bright blessings
A prophecy was written on a rock within a sacred cave of Mexico
over 500 years ago, which only the high priests had access to. In
1995, the current high priest felt it was the appointed time in
history and so he alerted the Otomi Elders who went about making
preparations for the ceremony. In order for the Otomi Elders to ensure
that the prophecy was properly fulfilled, they put out a worldwide call for
people to register with the organisers to make sure they would have a minimum
of 8000 people drumming on the appointed day. Please offer your drumming,
songs and prayers at any time; people from all over the world will be
participating at different times, you will be in synch with others somewhere!
March 28 This years first sighting of a Roe Deer as it sprinted across the paddock outwitting my dog Tara who was in hot pursuit. Shes clever enough not to run too fast in case she catches up with it, but just fast enough to see it off her territory. Tara entertains herself now by trying to see off the magpies who are pairing up and building a new nest in the hedge, distinctive by its structure of mud and branches and grass with a messy roof like covering of matted twigs.
April 3 I woke early today and went to sit in the paddock in the first light. Everything appears still in the thick early morning mist broken only by the dawn chorus of blackbirds, robins, great tits and the little wren. Later, as the glorious spring sunshine melted the mist, I disturbed a Hen Harier that flew up from the hedgerow and glided off down the valley.
April 8 Greeted by the dawn after a long, hard, cold frosty night, welcoming the sun as it tips over the horizon. Always reliable, it demands nothing of you and gives you no pain. Forever eternal, giving constant support, love and honesty.
April 20 The first two swallows have made their way back from their travels across the continent. Amazing how they navigate back to their nest sites. They are swooping in and out of the barns and its amazing to watch, their agile flight and sharp manouevering around the beams.
April 22 "Ash before Oak, we’re in for a soak, Oak before Ash, we’re in for a splash." Well the Ash buds are bursting into leaf in the paddock so it looks like we may be in for a wet summer. Last year though, the Oak was out first and that was the wettest summer for ages so that doesnt seem very reliable.
April 25 Driving home yesterday evening at dusk, the ghostly apparition of a barn owl glided in front of my car. It turned and floated over the hedgerow, its wings moving effortlessly and flew in the same direction as I was driving. I slowed and for an eternal moment in time it flew, feet away, beside me with its almost pearlescent feathers glowing in the moonlight. Dipping over the hedge, it disappeared to carry on its evening hunt, quartering the fields around the Old Shippen.
May 1 Its a beautiful Beltane day and there are several pairs of Swallows flying around the outbuildings. They have returned to the small shed and skillfully swoop in through the partially open window. . Overhead a pair of Buzzards soar gracefully in circles and a Raven crosses past them with its distinctive cawing.
May 18 There is a pair of Raven that must be nesting high up in some nearby trees. They regularly fly over the paddock and today were displaying their skillful acrobatics and its amazing to watch them flipping right over.
July 5
July 12 After days of continuous heavy rain that has given the grass a second flourish it is a beautiful sunny evening with the distant grey clouds and the flame red sunset looking like a raging fire. Walking up the short lane from the barn with Tara the German Shepherd a dozen swallows swoop all around my head, darting at the abundant flies.
Sept 21 Equinox. Usually a busy time of fruit picking in the hedgerows with an abundance of blackberries and Sloes but 2008, with its damp summer and little sun has meant there is a shortgage of ripened hedgerow fruits. No Sloe Gin or Blackberry Vodka this year!
Oct 21 In celebration of Apple Day I have planted some old varieties of apple tress around the garden to reinstate a smalll orchard that was once close to the old farmhouse. The sacred fruit of many Goddesses, apples have known healing qualities. I've been able to find the local varieties of Cornish Aromatic and Tregonna King, both sweet and tasty eating apples.
Oct 22 Over 2 years ago, me and a group of like minded friends erected a tall straight ash pole to use as a May pole for our Beltane festivities. It is still standing today but is used by so much more. Today, in the bright autumnal sunlight, there was a large dark Buzzard using it as a perch that flew off over the padock when disturbed. Then shortly afterwards a Kestrel was resting and watching for rodents in the tussocky grass. Later, the Buzzard returned to take its place on the pole and as I watched through binoculars from the caravan, it was mobbed 3 times by the much smaller Kestrel, trying to reclaim its territory.
Oct 23 Underneath the May pole, there is evidence that the nocturnal Barn Owl perches here and ejects its shiny black pellets. As a child, I found it fascinating to dissect these in water and piece together jawbone and skull to find out what the owls last catch was.