Some of the work students have produced in their
1st and 2nd spiral 2022-2024
Now in their 2nd Spiral - 2023/2024
A new moon visualisation
I stand on the bridge over the River Welland in Crowland, facing the North-East. Above, I can see the swans in flight honking as their wings beat and their necks stretched straight and long. The sky is ice-grey and feels ice-cold. The river banks and the nearby fields are flooded from the latest storms, devastating the crops that the fields were planned for.
I turn back towards the North-East and I see a figure flying towards me – it looked confusing as she is blonde but feathered! As she comes nearer, I recognise her as Idunna in her cloak of feathers. I call her in, telling her that the Cailleach has had her fun with these floods and now it’s her turn to return to us.
Idunna lands in front of me and without words, she smiles at me and removes her feathered cloak and drapes it over me. Its warmth was engulfing and comforting, like wearing my nan’s fur coat. Snuggled within the coat, I feel myself raise from the bridge up into the sky and Idunna waves me off.
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I follow the swollen river and its flooded banks and fields out to the wash and marshes of Lincolnshire, with the vast flatness of the fens around me. I skirt onwards and saw:
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The red cliffs of Old Hunstanton
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Yellow beaches of North Norfolk, wild with its dunes
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Evergreen Thetford Forest
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Beautiful stone cottages of grey and terracotta which are specific to the area of Norfolk
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Ruined, ancient castles and ever green woodlands
Then we swooped over the spire of Norwich Cathedral and onwards over the Broads and it’s watery network out back to the coast, of Horsey Gap where I can see the seals and their new pups. I fly downwards towards the sleepy villages of Suffolk surrounded by fields and onwards to Essex. I saw:
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The ancient city of Colchester with it’s ancient earthworks and Roman Wall and it’s many ruins
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Undulating hills and fields
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Hatfield Forest – ancient and sprawling and keeping and eye out for the airplanes flying overhead. It lacked the green, as the trees were bare with their skeletal branches reaching skywards
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The fragrant salt marshes of the Essex coast
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I fly amongst heron, swan, gull and Kites. Then from Hatfield, I follow the old North Road, where Boudicca once trod, past fields, woods, towns and villages. The undulating fields give way to flatness as we approach Cambridge, the vast fenland sprawls before me - wet, wild and beguiling. There are earthworks here – discovered and undiscovered, fields, ditches. I fly onwards until I see the ruins of Crowland Abbey ahead, like a little beacon and I start my descent. I see the river ahead and the bridge, where Idunna waits. I land back where I had launched and I greet Idunna with a smile and she returns the smile and beckons me to share my experiences with her. First of all I thanked her for lending me the cloak of feathers and in elation, I told her all I saw of vast East Anglia: the huge skies, ancient landscapes, coastal areas and the places where Boudicca trod and how beautiful it all was. She nods in thanks and smiles at me as I hand her back her cloak. She puts it back around her shoulders and bids me farewell as flies off back to the North East.
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By Michelle at Imbolc 2024
Imbolc Poems
Winter Solstice /Imbolc
Winter’s cold, steamy breath
Shocking me into the moment of where I am.
Here, now, in this space
Never to have this moment in time again.
Winter’s cold, steamy breath, casting shapes and swirls
As she breathes out a kaleidoscope of intricate patterns.
Found in the twists and turns of mycelium, earth, rocks and caverns.
Winter trees stand stoic like an army of skeletons,
Inky black against the winter sky.
Birds sparse in their numbers now, huddle together
For comfort and warmth, waiting patiently,
for the hours to pass by.
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Squirrels doze in their cosy dreys, one eye on their precious cargo.
Insects hide away, preserving their energy in pupa and chryalis,
Patiently waiting for transformation and identity.
Plants and flowers dying, releasing seeds for rebirth in the spring,
Trees, our standing ones, digging their roots deeper.
Holding foundations and grounding their energy.
Storing sap in their trunks for winter strength, so cleverly.
How too must we emulate nature,
She who teaches us to go within.
To nurture, to withdraw and incubate our hopes and dreams therein.
To go to ground, to pause and withhold that pause.
Breathe gently, slowly and be kind to ourselves,
As we too prepare for a long winter repose.
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By Carina 2024
Idunna
The earth in deep slumber
The animals hibernate down under
Idunna wakes the earth
But we still huddle round the hearth
The days grow brighter
The evenings lighter
The weather is fickle
The air like a tickle
Snowdrops bloom
For daffodils they will make room
Spring is here
So until next year…..
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Rachel Imbolc 2024
Imbolc Full Moon
Imbolc full moon,
Old moon, Wolf moon, Snow moon.
You shine so brightly upon our land.
From the night sky, we see your face.
With the power of your light,
You watch over us tonight.
Blessings you bring this cold, dark time.
Hanging in there, lighting our way.
Along the path of the Divine.
Caryl Imbolc 2024
When they were in their 1st spiral 2022/2023
Bridie Dolls
Carina's Bridie
Michelle's Bridie
Suzie's Bridie
Rachel's Bridie
Caryl's Bridie
Poems written at Imbolc for Idunna
Idunna's Earth Song
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Softly, softly, I hear the earth moving
into sparkling sounds of new life.
Idunna's earth song being sung.
Birds singing, bulbs imploding, bluebells tinkling,
Daffodils trumpeting, harebells trilling,
Hyacinths silently ringing.
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Crocus faces opening, soft
Breezes whispering to those who can hear.
Earth creatures stirring, leaves rustling,
listen to Idunna's Earth Song light
up your heart.
Sea and shingle, ebb and flow,
crashing waves. Crescendo!
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Dawn chorus, dawn and dusk, betwixt, between.
Low notes of earth, high notes of air, fluid notes of water.
Passionate notes of Fire.
Idunna sings her lullaby as the Earth Mother sleeps,
Hush it is Idunna's Earth Song.
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Carina - Imbolc 2023
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A Poem for Idunna
I sit in stillness.
Awaiting your return.
Why are you taking so long?
It’s colder and colder.
With no sign of spring.
I wait patiently.
For your return.
Checking the ground on every walk,
For signs of spring.
None to be seen.
Goddess has answered.
You have returned.
I can see the snowdrops.
It is warmer. It is lighter.
The stirrings of spring have arrived.
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Caryl – Imbolc 2023
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Awaken
Midwinter and the east wind blows
The ground is wet with ice and trees are bone
Arianrhod is preparing to hand over her rod of black
the days are longer life is coming back
Once again, the wheel is turning
Underground the life is stirring
She walks the earth knowing her time is near the end
The aged queen knows there is much to tend
Rebirthing of the life beneath
Down in the ground where they do sleep
She whispers “It’s time. Awaken Idunna from your slumber,
it’s time to rise”
The young maiden stretches and yawns, from in the earth
where she lies
Bulbs are pushed up through the earth
New life is about to birth
Sap rises in the trees.
Where they catch the gentle breeze
Fluffy white buds of willow appear
A call from a fallow deer
Idunna grasps her rod of life and strikes the ground
Letting out a bursting sound
The longer days, the quickening
“Rejoice its spring”, the song bird sings
“Push Idunna” contractions are coming strong
A new lamb is being born
It is time ……..
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Willow - Imbolc 2023
Goddess of Spring
As the end of winter becomes early spring,
we think of the Goddess Idunna.
Immortal, magic golden apples,
Goddess of spring, bring us bright sunrise and our youth again,
bring to the core our inner child, generosity and playfulness
Love and light rejuvenation
The smell of apple blossom
She comes with her swans who mate for life.
Willow and Wormwood,
white and green, the colours of late winter and early spring
We think of the Goddess Idunna.
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Rachel - Imbolc 2023
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Idun
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Goddess of the Northern tribes
Mother of the waking Nature
Keeper of the golden apples
Lady of bells and swans
Idun ring your bells and wake us all
Bring us back the sun and warmth
Gives again the beauty of the flowers
Lengthen the days that make us smile
Iduna maiden of us all, Maiden in us all
Share with us your thought and inspiration
Let us sing and dance
Winter is over and came to its end
Snowbells are flowering and daffodils are on their way
Mother bear is waking
Birds are searching for mating
Lady give us pleasure after the dark time of winter
Our hearts are singing the song of life
Poetry is flowing from our minds
Art and colours are made by Mother Nature
Thank you Iduna, Goddess and Lady of us all
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Chantel - Tutor and Madron Mother
Wands made at Ostara for Sulis
by first spiral students
Willow's Wand
Rachel's Wand
Carina's Wand
Caryl's Wand
Masks created by Spiral One students at Beltane
Carina's Mask
Willow's Mask
Caryl's Mask
Rachel's Mask
Michelle's Mask
Faery Story for Beltane
A group of little Faeries lived at the bottom of the garden belonging to Grandma. They loved to live here as they were safe and sound and no-one ever bothered them. Grandma came down each evening to watch the Moon and speak with them while she sat and had a cup of tea on her bench and drop them a few crumbs from her biscuit to eat later.
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The faery houses were made of toadstools and mushrooms and very brightly coloured in the spring. Their homes were lined with bird feathers and moss – the decorations were good and comfortable. They would come out and mingle with the earth animals and owls at night.
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One day Grandma did not come down to the faery garden and then neither the next day nor the next. The faeries were really worried, wondering what might have happened. They talked about one of them flying up to the cottage and looking through the window to see if she was there. But there was no volunteer for this job.
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They carried on their lives, always wondering where Grandma might be and missing the crumbs to eat and watching the grass grow high. Until one day when there was a huge noise outside their doors, so frightening they did not know what to do and were too scared to look outside. The ground was rumbling and lots of talking. What was happening?
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Then they heard a little girl’s voice – she said ‘Daddy, you can’t mow over that, this is where the faeries live. Can’t you see their toadstool houses? Please mow round it.
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There was a grown-up grunting, which the faeries could not quite hear. They were now crying, thinking their homes were about to be destroyed. The noise carried on and seemed to get closer. Then they could hear some thumping, like stones dropping around them. Hooray, it was the little girl placing stones around their homes making a faery ring, so her Daddy would not mow over them. They were saved!
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The little girl spoke to them, knowing they were inside their toadstools. She told them that her Grandma had told her about the faery garden and that she was to protect it when Grandma no longer lived there, and she did instead.
To this day, the faeries are safe and well, encircled in the stones – they never get mowed over and the little girl, now grown up, always comes to talk with them when she comes home to see her Mummy and Daddy. And she always checks that Daddy has not mowed over the faery ring!
Copyright © Caryl @ EAGT 2023
Lammas Poem by First Spiral Students
Lammas
For the beauty of the Earth,
For the sacrifice of a Mother's love.
For the wisdom of my Ancestors,
For the spirits at my birth.
For those looking down from above,
I give you gratitude, thanks and praise.
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For times of sadness and sorrow,
For night of tears and regret.
For days of happiness and new tomorrows,
For new beginnings and changing mindset.
For happy times and sunlit ways,
For laughter, joy and peaceful days.
I give you gratitude, thanks and praise.
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For my health and strength,
For my mind to think.
For my heart to love, and for my mouth to speak.
For my eyes to see beauty all around me,
For in my Mother's love, I am content to be.
I give you gratitude, thanks and praise.
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Blesse Be
Copyright © Carina 2023
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Poem for Habondia
As the sun shines, you can feel Her,
Walking in the meadow you can smell Her.
In your dreams you see Her
We thank Her for the fruit harvest.
Awaiting the grain harvest,
She makes me feel love and hope.
Gratitude for Her abundance.
I worship you Habondia.
Copyright © Rachel 2023
Poems from students at Litha
Emotions surface on the crest of a wave,
.......... trying hard to contain.
Pause for a moment,
.......... face contorted with pain.
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The dam breaks open, the wave breaks uncontrollably,
Exploding with force!
Scattering shingle ............
Releasing, pounding, with my heart on the shore.
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Exhausted, empty, tired, and weary .............
Patterns repeated as the waves roll in!
Then comes release as the waters flow .............
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Nehalennia, Goddess of the ocean, Goddess of my heart
Goddess of the ebb and flow, I watch you come and go.
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Your wisdom to impart.
We come from the ocean, some say from the stars.
Above and below. Within, without, we have to somewhere start ..........
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Looking up to the sky, clouds breezing and changing,
Sulis parts the clouds ......... glimpses of sunlight.
Seagulls laugh with their mimicking cry, then .........
release, release, release ........ I hear.
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And on the winds of change I hear a whispered sigh ........
Open your heart to the healing waters of my womb,
as we cleanse, refresh and renew you through the Sun and the Moon.
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Seline, Sulis and I.
Copyright © Carina 2023, 1st spiral student
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The moon She welcomes the waves.
Shining brightly upon the shore.
Always guiding us to where we need to be.
Stay with us, never leave.
Nehalennia come ride the waves.
Keep us safe upon your seas.
Wrap your arms around us.
And never will we leave.
Copyright © Caryl 2023, 1st spiral student
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Autumn Equinox Poems
Autumn's Breath
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Breathing in musky scents of autumn
Trees our standing over breathing in as I breathe out
Ebb and flow between us. Connecting.
Leaves fall silently to the Earth
Earth Mother help me to let go
Orange, reds, purple, golds carpet my feet upon the soft earth.
Seasons changing, always moving, silently renewing
Earth Goddess, holding, supporting, structures strengthening
Blessing me with nature's abundance
The Wheel turning, days shortening, darkness returning
Blackbird singing. Earth's creatures move silently across the land
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Come to me Erce. Come in your every aspect of Maiden, Mother Crone
Whispers floating through branches on the breeze
Breathe in the Mother's breath of comfort, love and abundance
All will be well, She breathes.
All this shall pass and all will return
Refreshed and renewed in my body.
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Blessed Be!
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Copyright © Carina 2023, 1st spiral student
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OTHER CREATIONS BY SPIRAL ONE STUDENTS
Sometimes students will create things outside of what they are asked to do for their course work
Carina's Emotional Healing Wheel