Dear All,
So its nearly Easter weekend, which coincides with the Spring Equinox
this year, which is rather nice for those of you who want a bit longer
to celebrate and recover from the celebrations!
Of course with Easter there is all the chocolate bunnies and eggs to
consider into the equation too, face it, if you like chocolate then
any excuse will do, regardless of the religion attached to it. Many
people will of course be telling that unsubstantiated tale of how the
Goddess Eostra walked the fields one morning and how she found a
near-to-death lapwing, unable to heal it as it was, she instead
transformed the bird into a hare. Hence we have egg bearing bunnies
at Easter. Whilst David and I were researching our book “The Isles of
the Many Gods” we found evidence of the goddess Eostra (or Eostre,
both are correct) as being the Saxon goddess of the dawn. Her name is
thought to mean “East” or “Shining” and she may have been derived from
the Germanic goddess Ostara. Bede recorded that the first month of
Spring “Eostre-monath” was named after her, and of course this
survives today as the origins of the Christian festival of Easter. If
there is anyone out there with supporting evidence for the Eostra-Egg
legend, please come and tell us about it on the Avalonia Forums.
Which reminds me. Those of you who haven’t yet visited the shiny new
Avalonia Community Discussions Forums, make sure to do so soon as
there is plenty of exciting activity going on with current discussions
including “Familiars”, “Magickal Make-up”, “To Dare and its
consequences”, “The Grigori” “Blasting Rods & Curses” and “Norse
Witches” – with lots more. So something for everyone really. Come
have a look see at: http://www.avaloniabooks.co.uk/forum
However, I thought I would return to the subject of eggs, as they are
likely to be on many peoples minds as they break into those luscious
but fragile sweet shells this weekend. Though it has nothing to do
with the Spring Equinox I thought that some of you might be interested
to know about the little known goddess Cuda who has close associations
with Gloucestershire, which is where her name was found on a sculpture
in Cirencester, the old capital of the Dobunni tribe. Cuda is shown
bearing an object on her lap, which might be an egg, thus suggesting
fertility – she is also accompanied by three Genii Cucullati.
Likewise another sculpture which was found in Daglingworth nearby
shows another grouping of figures which may also represent Cuda – her
name is thought to originate from the word “cudd” meaning “prosperity”
or “well-being”. Ok, so Cuda hasn’t got anything to do with Spring
Equinox, but I thought it was a nice story to throw in because of the
egg connection and also because it might be nice for people reading
this who find themselves in Gloucestershire to sometimes remember
their local deities! ~Hail Cuda! ~
So lets return to the matter of food for a moment. Apart from
chocolate eggs the other popular foodgroup this coming weekend will be
hot cross buns. Whilst I seriously doubt that these yummy cakes have
any “ancient pagan roots” those with magickal leanings and who happen
to like them, should eat them with the idea that an equal armed cross
is also a very ancient symbol of the Sun in mind. Maybe if everyone
did that we could encourage a warmer summer this year in the UK where
it is desperately needed after last years persistant rain and
flooding? As an aside, if weather magick is something that interest
you, you may find the discussion and poll on Weather Magick in the
“Wicca and Witchcraft” section of the Avalonia forums interesting –
http://avaloniabooks.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=2002
For those of you looking for interesting things to do in the coming
months, make sure to check out the various events listed below –
including an exciting new conference in Brighton at which David and
myself will be speaking in April.
I hope that this newsletter finds you well.
Many spring blessings,
Sorita d’Este
www.avalonia.co.uk
www.avaloniabooks.co.uk
CONTENTS
1. All Fools Gathering (DERBY)
2. Brighton Conference
3. Witchfest England
4. Howlings (New Book from Scarlet Imprint)
5. Forthcoming from Avalonia Books
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1. All Fools Gathering
Saturday 29th March 2008
9am – 6pm
http://www.paganfedeastmids.co.uk/paganfed/fools/
Speakers include Rae Beth, Anna Franklin, Pete Jennings, Glennie
Kindred and many more.
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2. Brighton Conference : BELENUS FESTIVAL
Saturday April 12th Central Brighton
This is a one day festival in the heart of Brighton, walking distance
from the train station (so no excuses). David and I will be speaking,
as will a number of other interesting speakers, including Peter Grey
(author of Red Goddess) as well as Katie and Gareth Gerard.
For more info its best to go and have a look at their website for full
info and ticket details:
http://www.pfse.org.uk/ASPPFSE/PFSEConference.aspx
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3. Witchfest England
10 May 2008
After missing out on Witchfest England and International in London
last year due to being pregnant with our lovely baby boy, both David
and myself are looking forward to being back and presenting lectures
at Witchfest England this year again. Other speakers include Kate
West, Rufus and Melissa Harrington, Teresa Moorey – and Inkubus
Sukkubus will be performing in the evening, something I know many will
be excited about.
For full information see their website: http://www.witchfest.net
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4. HOWLINGS (New Book from Scarlet Imprint)
I haven’t yet been able to read this beautifully produced new tome
from the people at Scarlet Imprint, but it arrived this week looking
so beautiful and promising so much that I thought I would give it a
mention so that those of you who have an interest in the Grimoire
Tradition may have a chance to obtaining one of this new limited
edition. Contributors include David Rankine, Donald Tyson, Peter
Grey, Stafford Stone, Aleq Grai, David Beth, Thea Faye and many other
practitioners of the Art Magickal on topics including the Picatrix,
The Goetia, Liber 231 …
See for yourself by visiting:
http://www.scarletimprint.com/howlings.htm
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5. Forthcoming from Avalonia Books
After some months of silence whilst we focused ourselves on being
first time parents, we are pleased to announce that there will be
number of new releases from Avalonia Books in the coming months. The
first of these will be our long promised volume on the history of the
practices and beliefs commonly found in the Wiccan Tradition today.
“WICCA Magickal Beginnings” is due out on May 1st this year from
Avalonia Books. Details of how you will be able to pre-order this
book will be emailed to subscribers of this newsletter in April, so
keep an eye out for it if its something that interests you.
In July this year we will also be releasing a number of other
interesting titles, including the follow-up to our very popular
“Practical Planetary Magick” which will focus on working with the four
elements and will bear the not surprising title of “Practical
Elemental Magick~ Working the magick of the four elements and their
spiritual creatures in the Western Mystery Tradition”. Additionally,
“Horns of Power” should also make its debut around then, being a
collection of essays on the Horned Gods of classical and modern
Paganism and Witchcraft, again a unique and exciting project which has
been keeping me rather busy! In addition to this we will be joined by
two new authors whose work we are very proud to be publishing as it is
completely original. More about that soon…
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Spring Equinox Newsletter : Avalonia 2008
http://www.avalonia.co.uk
