GreenSpirit Solent

Our numbers have fluctuated since then and have settled recently to six or seven when we are all there. Sadly, one of the group is moving away soon, and we are hoping to gather more members with some advertising. We are far-flung, coming from Southampton, Portsmouth and Petersfield. Once or twice over the years we have joined together with the Southampton Group. I’m hoping we can do this more often. Three of us are GreenSpirit members. Two of us collaborate in leading the meetings.

We aim to meet outside, weather permitting, going to our favourite places in the surrounding countryside: Old Winchester Hill, Clanfield Bluebell Wood, Staunton Park and Butser Hill where we go for walks, enjoying the views and environment, as well as find a suitable place to sit and share readings, poems, guided meditation, make corn dollies or St Brigid’s cross, plant seeds, dance around the Maypole and create other rituals to suit the festivals of the Celtic Year. Every year at Imbolg we find a display of snowdrops to indulge and circle dance to Julian of Norwich’s song. At the Winter Solstice we go to the Sustainability Centre for a vegetarian lunch and a ceremony in the woodland classroom.

Joan Angus  October 2024

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Dates for your diaries:

All welcome!   See you there!

Contact Joan on 02392 599299 or email w.angus202@btinternet.com

or Lene by email: lene.hatch@talktalk.net

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Some of our Last Meetings

We went to Old Winchester Hill again for Lammas. The weather was hot, the breeze was delicious and the view over the Solent, stunning. We grounded ourselves and thought of the severe weather conditions the world is experiencing, acknowledging that Mother Earth is protesting about the damage we have done to her. We walked barefoot to a spot in the shade and shared our thoughts, meditations, poems and readings, sang songs and enjoyed the fruit and nuts we’d brought with us, washed down with elderflower pressé.

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We celebrated Beltane in the bluebell wood on a bright and sunny day. The bluebells were just about exhausted but we enjoyed the show!

We connected with the underlying energies of the season, danced round the Maypole, wrapping up our ambitions for the year, chanted, played drums and bells, sang and discussed ways of slowing down as remedies for depression and stress.

 

We celebrated the Spring Equinox in Catherington Lith where the spring flowers were decorating the woodland; wood anemones, primroses, celandines and a little patch of scilla. Lene led a seed meditation and we played ball with the decorated eggs until they fell to pieces. Clemmie the dog enjoyed an extra meal, shells and all!

At the Winter Solstice we joined others for a celebration in the Hayloft in Emsworth.

We celebrated Samhain in a beech grove among the autumn leaves in the bluebell woods near Clanfield. We brought to mind the achievements of the past year, and thought about our dreams for the coming year. Lene guided us in meditation to meet our animal spirits, and we unwound the Maypole ribbons to release the spent wishes of those who took part in its winding in the spring.

We celebrated the Autumn Equinox on Old Winchester Hill, meditating in the yew wood with the trees. We walked to the Iron Age Hill Fort and collected seeds and berries on the way back to symbolise out intentions for the coming year. On our return to the car park we planted our collections in pots to take home and nurture.

Report of the first three meetings of GreenSpirit Solent 2017

We held our first meetings in a room at Trinity Church, Fareham. This is a short walk away from the train station, and convenient car parks. There is an hourly charge for the room which will hold about twenty people at most. We hoped there would be enough attendants to pay for the room and warned everyone that there would be a charge of £4 each. We will hold meetings outside in the summer and on those occasions will ask for voluntary donations. If there is a surplus we will put it in the pot for any times we don’t have enough people to cover expenses.

There are three of us who run the group, which has already proved useful, as at times there may be only two able to attend. One is treasurer and in charge of booking venues as well as paying for them and keeping the kitty. Another circulates notices to all our contacts, of whom there are now over 20. Notices are sent by email a week or so before each meeting outlining the programme and requesting contributions of poems, readings, songs etc., anything required for the planned activity and nibbles to share with a cup of tea. After each meeting another notices is sent, reporting on how much fun we had and with dates of the next two meetings for diaries.

We meet on the nearest Sunday afternoon to each festival of the Celtic year. The first was Imbolc. We always start with a round of names and a few minutes of stilling and centring. One of us reads about the underlying energy of that festival, taken from one of Glennie Kindred’s source books. A ritual is then performed, with an honouring of the five elements /directions from the GreenSpirit source book, and a meditation. Participants are invited to read their contributions and we perform a body prayer, song or chant. At Imbolc, everyone lit a tea light from the central candle and floated it in a bowl of water expressing their hopes for the coming year. For the Spring Equinox we all brought eggs painted at home and placed them in a basket, expressing our intentions for the season. At the end, we each took someone else’s egg from the basket to take home, while singing a song. We then circle-danced to The Bells of Norwich.

The latest meeting was to celebrate Beltane. We had a record number of participants and enjoyed making May headdresses from the greenery and flowers we had brought with us. Wearing them, we danced round a Maypole, mindful of our hopes for the future and singing The Summer is a-coming in, amidst much hilarity. The pole will be kept until the autumn when we will unwind it and remember what we had hoped for.

We then make our cups of tea and sing From the Earth the Grain, before sitting and chatting. This gives people a chance to socialise and discuss requests and intentions for future gatherings.

The next meeting is at midsummer when we hope to picnic on Old Winchester Hill (an Iron Age Hill Fort.) and do some circle dancing. If it rains, we will retreat to the café at the Sustainability Centre!

Joan Angus, 1^st May, 2017.

For enquiries, please contact Joan Angus  T: 02392 599299  E: w.angus202(at)btinternet.com