Guelder rose berry mandala, Glynis Pierson

Guelder rose berry mandala, Glynis Pierson

Guelder rose berries, Glynis Pierson

Guelder rose berry mandala, Glynis Pierson

Day 28 of Commoners’ Advent is for the guelder rose and the beauty of winter.

Guelder rose is a sacred plant in Ukraine and symbolises connection, protection and blessings granted by the ancestors.

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#CelticAdvent #Advent2024

On Saturday, I am walking a labyrinth, making yule boughs, and soaking up the sounds of the cold, approaching solstice. #celticadvent #muscatine

Flower Garland, National Trust

For #CommonersAdvent, day 23 ~ Gathering Up the Sun: the Cotehele Christmas Flower Garland.

Following a scattering of petals to Green Saint George, the Church of the Shepherd & the Shrew, & the hope that life will return in the spring.

beedurban.substack.com/p/gathering-...

#CelticAdvent

The Boar and the Bay: a Rootling Journey Commoners' Advent, day 22

Day 22 of #CommonersAdvent is for the Boar & the Bay: a Rootling Journey.

"I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape...something waits beneath it, the whole story doesn't show". (Andrew Wyeth)

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#CelticAdvent #Advent2024

St Barbara shrine

For #CommonersAdvent, day 20: St Barbara: Hope that Blossoms in the Dark

beedurban.substack.com/p/st-barbara...

She is "...the sun in the dark, invoked against fire and lightning, causing fruit trees to flower in the winter, protecting those who work underground..."

#CelticAdvent #Advent2024

Chestnuts roasting

For #CommonersAdvent 19; the Open Fire of the Anawim

“Roast chestnuts are a beloved & traditional Christmas food, once put in pockets to warm the hands of travellers, but they were also a welcome addition to the winter table of the poor…”

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#CelticAdvent

Cow and calf in the snow

For #CommonersAdvent, day 18; 'We Have Kept Vigil With Owls'; three poems which celebrate the precious light in the winter dark.

"..This time the trees tremble.

Is it with a kind of reckless joy

at the gentle light

lapping their leaves..."

beedurban.substack.com/p/we-have-ke...

#CelticAdvent

Frost covered apples

For Commoners’ Advent, day 17. On the Blessings of the Rot Mother: Who Will We Name as Lord?

“Some find the Rot Mother ugly. I say that she is the most beautiful, & the most generous, of all.”

beedurban.substack.com/p/on-the-ble...

#CelticAdvent #CommonersAdvent #WinterLent #Advent2024

Vintage Advent calendar

Day 16 of Commoners’ Advent is ‘A Short History of Advent Calendars’.

Here’s to the opening of doors!

beedurban.substack.com/p/a-short-hi...

#CelticAdvent #OldAdvent #CommonersAdvent

Also, look at this shareable Substack gave me. Oooh, posh!

Night sky with cave lit from within

For #CommonersAdvent, day 15: Two Poems for Dark Advent.

“And so, Fox began to tell stories about the wonders of darkness. And Fox sang songs about the gifts of darkness. And Fox danced dances of delight for the darkness…”

beedurban.substack.com/p/two-poems-...

#CelticAdvent #WinterLent

My hand on Scots pine bark

For our pine trees, for the hawthorns, and for the ancient olive trees, because there can be no Peace on Earth without peace for the trees.

Commoners' Advent, day 14

beedurban.substack.com/p/a-meeting-...

#CelticAdvent #CommonersAdvent #Advent #Advent2024

Evergreen with pine cones

Church with Christmas tree

"Make this place glad:

adorned with green

With many garlands hung

So shall God’s gift of life be seen

His praises gladly sung!"

For #CommonersAdvent, day 13; the Hanging of the Greens.

beedurban.substack.com/p/the-hangin...

#CelticAdvent #WinterLent #Advent2024

Bare branch tree with snow and sun behind it. Photo: Jacqueline Durban

For day 12 of #CommonersAdvent I want to share this beautiful piece of poetry; 'Illuminate: an Advent Poem' by Brittany Deininger.

beedurban.substack.com/p/illuminate...

"The first word you ever spoke was “light”

and the heat from your voice thawed us..."

#CommonersAdvent #CelticAdvent

Catherine wheel

Reclaiming Catterntide, a Women’s Winter Journey for #CommonersAdvent, day 10.

Today has been Catterntide, the Feast Day of St Catherine, one of the ‘Fourteen Holy Helpers’, champion of self-organisation & work free from exploitation.

beedurban.substack.com/p/reclaiming...

#CelticAdvent

'Checking on the Girls' by Lucy Almey-Bird. A woman feeds chickens in the snow.

Something gentle for this stormy-outside, cosy inside, Stir-up Sunday; the Winter Art of Lucy Almey Bird for Commoners’ Advent, day 8.

beedurban.substack.com/p/the-winter...

#CommonersAdvent #CelticAdvent #WinterLent #Advent2024

Palestine Sunbird, Wiki Commons

For Commoners' Advent, day 7: 'A Star of Hope is Born in Palestine; Remembering is Resistance"

beedurban.substack.com/p/a-star-of-...

On Goose Night, the power of the stories we hear & tell, and the molecules of memory that resist forgetting. Let it be a tale.

#CelticAdvent #Advent2024

Wolf in the snow Image: Public Domain/Raw Pixel

Day 6 of Commoners’ Advent: Wolf Light & the Thread We Follow

beedurban.substack.com/p/wolf-light...

“If we look out from the darkling windows of our Marsh Church of the Shepherd & the Shrew we might see the paw prints of the companion wolves of the old saints in the snow...”

#CelticAdvent

Mistle thrush in winter on twigs with red berries

As I am still in a swoon over the Church of the Shepherd and the Shrew, which we visited for day 4 of #CommonersAdvent, day 5 is a little poem by W.H.Davies, which feels to share its heart with the in-between church on the lonely marsh.

beedurban.substack.com/p/on-a-cold-day

#CelticAdvent #Advent

Tiny marsh church across a field

My next sharing for Commoners' Advent, day 4 is: The Shepherd's Church; a Sanctuary for Shrews; a tiny church in a lost village on the edge of the world, a sanctuary for the wild things of the marsh...

beedurban.substack.com/p/the-shephe...

#CommonersAdvent #CelticAdvent #Advent2024

Sean's head bending towards the left of the image

For Commoners' Advent, day 3: St Hugh & the Swan Wife

Advent & Christmastide are threaded through with goose & swan saints come to overwinter with us for our journey through the dark.

beedurban.substack.com/p/st-hugh-an...

#CommonersAdvent #OldAdvent #CelticAdvent #StMartinsLent #WinterLent

5 candles in the snow with greenery and berries around them

Introducing Commoners’ Advent.

Join me for the 40 days of an older, wilder, more radical Advent, beginning now on my Radical Honey blog. beedurban.substack.com/p/introducin...

I am going to do my very best to write every day. It would be lovely to have you with me.

#CelticAdvent #CommonersAdvent

Very proud of my hand made advent candle 😉
#celticadvent.

Finding Peace in the Art of Non-Argument: Lessons for Modern Life In a simple yet profound teaching of one of the desert fathers, a hermet once advised: “If someone speaks well, agree. If they speak poorly, reply, ‘I know not of such matters.’ Do not argue, and y…

A few thoughts from my new studies for the next couple of months.
ancient-whispers.co.uk/2024/11/16/f...

#celticlent #celticadvent #desertfathers #wisdom #peace

A metal swan being made in a forge (coal and glowing embers)

Today, has been the Feast Day of St Clement, or Old Clem, who brings with him the Forge of Midwinter. You can read all about him, and the traditions that come with him, at the link below if you'd like to.

beedurban.substack.com/p/old-clem-a...

#OldAdvent #CelticAdvent