Our group of seven gathered at Sam’s where we sat in the garden, in beautiful May sunshine, sharing a birthday breakfast with Beth.
Such a lovely space. We were tempted to chuck our plans away and stay there all day, but the high moors were calling and so we set off towards Merrivale which was the first point on our little pilgrimage.
When we arrived at the Bronze Age site of Merrivale, we gathered our thoughts and turned them, with love, towards the members of our Wild Wisdom community who were not present with us. Then we allowed our thoughts and feelings to roam back in time to a wider community: our forebears and the ancestors of the land around us.
Stone row at Merrivale
As we walked quietly along the stone rows, I wondered what they had been created for, what rituals and ceremonies had taken place there, and I saw myself walking beside one of the women of pre-history in silent contemplation of the land around and the mystery of the eternal cycles of life of which the land speaks to us.
We offered a libation and brief meditation to honour the place then walked slowly back via the stone circle towards our cars.
The next point in our pilgrimage was to return fully to the here and now, acknowledge the rumbling tums and find a suitable spot for a picnic lunch. This was a glorious spot by the river near Hexworthy and, as ever, our bring and share efforts turned into a perfect feast. Over lunch, Clare told us a short but intriguing local story about a midwife whose encounter with the faerie folk leaves her with only one eye – but an eye that sees with faerie vision. It had echoes of the previous day’s story of The Loathly Lady who in Sam’s wonderful telling also had one eye. We had an interesting conversation about this: the one eyed hag who sees everything as one……….
Restored by our rest and repast we carried on up the road to the beautiful little chapel of St. Raphael. We had decided over lunch to make this the last point in our pilgrimage, so that we could spend some spacious time there, and what a good decision that turned out to be!
Believed to be the only church or chapel in the country to be dedicated to St. Raphael, it is a very special place. I felt that the simplicity and stillness allowed for something much bigger to be present there and also that we were very welcome. The few “decorations” were beautifully appropriate, including a rich icon of Raphael and two beautiful arrangements of fresh wild flowers.
We sat in a circle, lit some incense and listened to the story of Raphael and Tobias, told by Helen. It is a wonderful mini-novella from the book of Tobit and it touches on many themes including companionship, trust, protection and healing – all very resonant for our community and our pilgrimage. Then we sang a gentle Jewish chant which invoked four of the archangels, and it was a lovely ending to our day.
The places we visited all had their own magic, but I am reminded yet again how much more potent it can be when shared in community. Images and feelings are with me even now; I am glad that I was able to be part of the day and I look forward to future community days. It is, for me, a crucial and enriching part of the Wild Widsom we are exploring.
This is my second cycle of Wild Wisdom School year one, which for me and a few others also runs alongside year two. This means there is a double helix pattern that unfolds itself through the year; one month in the time span of year one – meeting themes for a second time – and the next in the time span of year two – meeting themes afresh. However, each weekend with year one feels very different to the previous time because one year later the ears that hear are different ears! In Ancient Egypt this week, our story was of the goddess Isis and her consort Osiris, and our portal into this mythology was through the Biblical mythology of Dinah, Asenath and Joseph*. Last time I heard this story, I was in the beginnings of a beautiful relationship, this time I was in the endings of this relationship. Last time, the Biblical portal was familiar but not close to me, this time the story of Dinah was embedded in my heart after having read Anita Diamant’s telling in “The Red Tent”. These differences in my being direct the focus of my attention in the story. On hearing the story last year, what moved my heart most deeply was the image of Isis crying tears of grief for the loss of her love Osiris, and later tears of joy for his return. Her tears fell to the dry and cracked ground until the waters of the river Nile began to swell, and the land became fertile and full of life once again. This image holds so many layers of truth, revealing (in Sam’s words) “the power of love to restore, heal and rebirth that which is lost, wounded or broken…”
This year, I was so moved and gripped by the story of Dinah and her daughter Asenath, that when we entered the story of Isis I found myself stubbornly not moving on, but rather dwelling for longer with Dinah. In the Bible, Dinah is the only daughter of Jacob and Leah; Jacob being the son of Isaac and Rebekah, Isaac the son of Abraham and Sarah. Like other female characters, there is very little emphasis on Dinah’s story in the Bible, but people like Anita Diamant have dug her up and put flesh to her name. In Sam’s telling, I returned to her passionate story; from her birth to her first blood to the bloody murder of her husband, and then to the story of her daughter Asenath (who in The Red Tent is actually a son). I am reminded of how dynamic and alive story is; never do I hear the same story in quite the same way.
Sacred Icons painted by Sam
After lunch – a feast as always – we moved into the studio and into a different way of being with the story through Sacred Art. Each with a patch of papyrus and some acrylic paint, we painted symbols and motifs from the myth of Isis and Osiris. We were guided by Sam into the practice of Sacred Art, something she’s been exploring at the Princes School of Traditional Arts (see her icon drawings above). She advised us that “Sacred Art isn’t about what you produce; it’s about what’s going on inside you during the process”. So I slowly felt into which motif I wanted to paint, and it was the Eye of Horus that caught my painting hand. I entered deeply this symbol through painting it, and to paint on the material used at this time in history was very cool. I am certainly no painter, but painting this symbol with such attention and sacred intent, I found something of a love for painting that is very unfamiliar to me! I even loved what I managed to produced, which again is an unfamiliar feeling when it comes to artwork.
Our collection of papyruses, with my Eye of Horus in the forefront.
Our ceremony today was short and simple since we were all a bit too caught up in our pieces of papyrus! But a ceremony it was nonetheless; including sharing in collaborative communion with Jan’s Orange and Ginger vodka, contemplatively appreciating each other’s artwork, and exchanging in hugs. Four weekends on, there is a definite felt sense of love and depth in our Wild Wisdom vessel, and so the journey in the wild seas of the Western Mysteries continues…
*This is a speculative association between the Biblical myths and earlier myths and is based on the location and time period that Dinah is thought to have lived.
This was a glorious spot by the river near Hexworthy and, as ever, our bring and share efforts turned into a perfect feast. 
Over lunch, Clare told us a short but intriguing local story about a midwife whose encounter with the faerie folk leaves her with only one eye – but an eye that sees with faerie vision. It had echoes of the previous day’s story of The Loathly Lady who in Sam’s wonderful telling also had one eye. We had an interesting conversation about this: the one eyed hag who sees everything as one……….
