The issue of rivers or the river issue . . . issue as a noun being an important topic or the act of supplying . . . issue as a verb as to supply or to flow out from . . . Mandy tells the tale of the river and the football, Jane walks with the River Otter and Freya is on the riverbank
Waters, whether from a spring or under a bridge, are constantly channeled by humans.
Before we start
Shamanic Sundays at Millers Farm in the Forest of Dean is happening this Sunday 1st March - beginners and those more advanced welcome.
Some of the day workshops have been filling up so we suggest you book early if you'd like to come along. This month the Learn the Shaman's Journey on Sat 14th is FULL (next one in Cheltenham in July) whilst the Healing with Nature workshop on Sat 15th still has spaces. More topically, our River Usk pilgrimage continues on Sunday 22nd March and details of the next leg of Jane's River Otter pilgrimage are below. The new Instinction workshops in May both have spaces and the one in Kent is combined with Eco Shamanism at The Quadrangle - see venue here.
For all other workshops, events and the training starting in October please scroll to the bottom of this newsletter for links to the website.
River Issues Rivers as 'conscious beings' may have their own issues
There have been floods and rivers have burst their banks, issuing their contents into their surrounding environments be they flood plains, roads, houses and more. Rivers have always done this, when they fill to overflowing then they flow over whatever is beside them, and this is a normal event for a river. For humans it can be traumatic and exciting in equal measure but for centuries humans have lived with this issue . . . by building settlements above floodplains, by draining great tracts of land to form new lands, the Somerset levels being one example. Our bridges and culverts, weirs, fords, canals and dams are all designed to try and harness, control or cope with rivers in some way.
What about rivers themselves. If we were to step into their waters and seek the energies they experience we can change our perception of how they exist. We try to contain rivers in our language by making them streams, brooks, rivulets, tributaries, bourns, rills, burns, becks, creeks and so on but when does a spring become a stream and when does a stream become a river and a river become a sea . . . it is a watery subject full of flow, and most importantly, in my view, a matter of moving boundaries and letting connections become fluid, not delineating or defining but merging and learning.
The River Chelt plays football with no goals other than pure unabated joy and abandonment.
Above there is a picture of a ball in a river, if you click on it you will go to a short Instagram video of the ball and water at play - you don't need an Instagram account to watch it. The river is the river Chelt in Cheltenham and the steeper flow of water to the right has been created as part of a former mill leet (a mill of some sort having been in existence there since medieval times although not currently functioning as one). There is an energy in the interaction of the ball and river which defies what I would call 'ownership', not of the mill but of the water. The ball is tumbling around where the sluice stops and the river churns and keeps diving into the water bobbing up and trying again. Or, the river has found a ball friend and is dunking it, trying to force it into it's depths. Every now and again the ball moves out of the flow, every now and again the river spurts the ball out, the ball has a rest, the river tempts it back in, and off they go again, in an endless dance of dunking and diving. I watched this happen during an Introduction to Eco Shamanism workshop I was running in Cheltenham last Sunday - we were out in Sandford Park exploring with our senses and this was my sensory 'experience', one of delight and fascination. My brain kept trying to understand what was going on but my heart was entranced and all I could do was grin stupidly at the sheer wild abandonment that both ball and river were experiencing, whether I was there or not. Or maybe they were putting on a show for us humans, with the message that the river loves a flood, a spate of exuberance, a tumbling joy and revelling rapture, that the ball loves to be bobbed and bounced and churned and cherished by the silky hands of a watery torrent. Those on the workshop were equally entranced.
Our rivers can create havoc when they fill then burst their banks but they are also our friends, channelling the waters, enlivening our lands, wriggling above and below the surface of our Earth, making habitats, housing fish (amongst other things), supporting water birds, canoeists etc. And beavers, more on that below with Jane's writings . . .
The issue is one of fluid connection, let us remember the joys of a cooling summer river, the gurgling of a babbling brook and their joy when footballs are about . . . and humans to join in with the experience.
Going with the flow . . . Mandy.
River Otter Energy
Jane begins her River Otter pilgrimage
Dog pilgrim on the River Otter
In our last newsletter I rambled on about the Rivers Wolf and Otter in Devon, inviting you to join the beginning of a walk from source to sea. This idea sprang from a walk along the Wolf several years ago where a friend and I were deeply saddened at the lack of care and attention given to the piece of river close by. We promised to come back and to try to re-verse this, we have and are bringing others with us.
My own experience of getting to know the River Tone has emboldened and enthused me, as my life has been so enriched through it and I believe the river has enjoyed it too. Three times now I have walked its entire lenghth and am often surprised to find the most beautiful pieces where we would least expect it. The Tone, as it runs through Taunton for example, is stunning and you would hardly realise that you are walking through a major town, and yet a promising place that looks pretty further upstream feels sad and abused due to intensive pheasant rearing and shooting.
It feels exciting to begin a conversation with a different landscape and I am really looking forward to getting to know the Otter as a river. Otters being otters there was a playful but testing energy at the start as thirteen of us (11 humans and two dogs) set off to find the source. Storm Dennis had just been to visit so we were unsure as to whether to postpone or not but amazingly we had a sunny day and it was not waterlogged. We fell over and got stuck and were accompanied by a pack of assorted hounds who lived on the land from where the Otter sprang as we tracked upstream to look for the source. Though not sure quite where it was we chose a spot to tune in and give gifts of flowers, waters, soils and words. Downstream we saw beautiful Elf cap fungi, frogspawn on trees, and the complexity of beaver dams at Otterhead lakes on a day when The Guardian wrote a piece about how beavers are really helping with flooding in certain parts of the country - click here to read the article.
Gordon Field, a dowser who lives in the area, was following our progress on the maps and this is what he wrote about the change in the energies as we walked. "When you arrived at the Beacon Spring there was a small increase in the bubble of energy that surrounds it. There are increases on the sides closest to the sources of the Culm and Yarty. Then, as on the River Tone, an energy field formed further out encompassing the Beacon Spring. As you walked along the river the energy field formed on each side. It varies from just over half to three quarters of a mile on either side of the river. It's been a great start on calming and healing the waters of the River Otter."
I am always amazed at these connections even though I have learned that they so often occur when we walk with intention like we did that day. I would like to encourage you all to start a conversation with your own local rivers and streams. For those living in a town or city I expect that it will be especially rewarding and surprising to learn what it has to tell you, and that it will connect you to all sorts of people and places and create change for the better for it and you - Jane.
The next leg of this River Otter pilgrimage is on Monday 9th March. It will be a lot of walking on lanes unless we manage to contact landowners and get permissions to walk the river, but we will cross it many times. If we do get permission from landowners it may be that dogs will have to meet us at the next piece of road (with owners in tow). We were lucky that the guardian of the spring was so dog friendly but some landowners can be less so especially if they are sites of special environmental interest or are lambing sheep.
So we meet at the Sidmouth Arms in Upottery at 10 am, unless you contact us to meet at Royston water (though there is not a lot of parking there) and we will ferry people to the start finishing up at the pub for some food and drinks, always a good end to a pilgrimage. The pub is open all day and serves food all day too.
Freya reminds us of the plant community also affected by the floods.
On my way home yesterday I saw piles of furniture on the side of the road - the aftermath of the recent floods. A home being emptied of treasures, cosy sofas, useful tables and reading lights. Wandering the river bank today I wonder about river bank dwellers displaced as a result of the floods. In the grass mussel shells lie deposited by the flow. Sandy silt coating the grass and damping it’s early spring vigour - for a while at least. Crinkly nettle leaves push forward, crusted in mud.
The alders and willows lining the river bank stand in deep water. Dried grasses and stems tangle around the branches, some large branches ripped off; raw jagged edges poking through the water, loose branches lodged in trees further down stream.
The gentle willow, it’s so easy to see the watery energy flowing through this tree, flexible, bending, yielding, leaning into the water, full of dreamy energy. Going with the flow, broken branches stand a good chance of rooting further along the river, provided it finds good soil. The alders with their brilliant red buds, dark cones, and bright catkins are more fiery. Such a strong wood, red when cut, and black and water-resistant when immersed in water. The roots deep in the water provide cover for small fish and a host of nitrogen fixing bacteria. These bacteria will help generate rich soil suitable for other trees and plants to grow in along the river edges. Both of these trees are holding back the water, slowing water flow, holding precious soil in place, creating new soils and bringing resilience to the land. Each tree playing it’s part in the river bank community, playing its own part in changing landscapes. Stepping back in time, this river and it’s community of plants created this beautiful valley, and it continues to do so.
Freya
2020 events
in date order
What's happening this year - anything in blue and underlined is a weblink. Many workshops are at Millers Farm in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire. If the event says FULL next to it and you'd like to attend please email to go on the waiting list. Any questions or enquiries please get in touch.
If you have any questions feel free to message, ring or email Mandy. If you know someone who might be interested in any of the above please forward this newsletter to them.
