Dear all,
For those of us in the UK, the last few days have brought a promise of
Summer, which for some of us who have been having sunshine cravings
since last year, when the year seemingly skipped Summer, is of course
good news. This however still doesn’t mean that the seasons are back
on track, its May the 8th today and the ancient Hawthorn tree at the
back of our garden is still showing no signs of blossoming!
Today is also the `Furry Day’ and St Indract’s Day. The St Indract
story is quite a gory one – maybe this explains why St Indract is not
all that popular as a saint! Furry day on the other hand is a day of
festivities and fun, much more in the spirit of the pagan soul! It
has a history firmly rooted in Helston, Cornwall and is believed by
some to be a folk memory of an earlier festival based on the Roman
Floralia, honouring the goddess Flora. Furry dancing, is a joyous
affair, with greenery adorning the buildings and people. There are of
course different accounts of why it is held, and those who want to
find out more should have a look at:
http://www.timetravel-britain.com/articles/history/helston.shtml
For those of you who missed out on celebrating Beltane on the 1st of
May, you have a second chance. On the 11th of May (Sunday) it is Old
May Eve! (or some would say the `proper’ May Eve!) It is a day steeped
in folklore and magic, prophecy and all kinds. All the same kind of
customs associated with the eve of Beltane, holy wells, greenery and
flowers … You should however avoid picking blackthorn and bringing
that into the home on Old May Eve, as it is said that a very
unpleasant and unpredictable faery tribe, the Lunantishee, who guard
the blackthorn can be especially highly strung on this night.
Katherine Briggs explains in her `Dictionary of Fairies”:
“the Lunantishee are the tribe that guards the blackthorn bushes, and
will allow not a stick to be cut on 11 November (originally Hallows
Day) or on 11 May (originally May Day). If you cut blackthorn on
those days, some misfortune will befall you…”
Enjoy whatever you get up to!
Blessings
Sorita d’Este
www.avalonia.co.uk
8th May 2008 – Avalonia Newsletter
———————————–
~ 1 ~ Wicca Magickal Beginnings (New Book!)
~ 2 ~ Witchfest England
~ 3 ~ Esoteric Book Review Website
~ 4 ~ Closure of the Avalonia Community Forums
~ 5 ~ Offers from Avalonia Books
~ 6 ~ Other upcoming events! (UK)
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~ 1 ~ Wicca Magickal Beginnings by Sorita d’Este & David Rankine –
www.avaloniabooks.co.uk
As per my email earlier this week, our new book `Wicca Magickal
Beginnings’ is now finally available for pre-order. The interest in
this title has been phenomenal and we have just ordered a second print
run to cope with demand! We will have copies available at Witchfest
England this coming Saturday – both on the Avalonia Books stall, and
on the CoA’s stall, however, we only have limited stock available at
this time, so if you want a copy now you should make sure to either
email us to reserve a copy, or to order one through the website.
Details can be found at www.avaloniabooks.co.uk
——————————–
~ 2 ~ Witchfest England – www.witchfest.net
Witchfest England is this coming Saturday, 10th of May. I am assured
that there will be tickets available on the door, so if you have left
it till the last moment, then there is no reason for despair. David
will be giving his first lecture of the day at 11:45am entitled
`Magick Outside the Circle’ – which will be interesting for those of
you interested in different ways of performing magick. My lecture is
at 13:45 and is entitled `Wicca The Untold Practical History’ – which
will be exactly as the title suggest! I will be drawing from some of
the research David and I have been doing for our new book, and looking
at the origins for practices generally considered as `Wiccan’ today in
the magickal grimoires and folk magic of the centuries preceding the
public emergence of it in the 1950’s. There will be a second lecture
/ workshop by David in the afternoon on `Planetary Magick’. Other
speakers which have been confirmed include James Bennett, Katie &
Gareth Gerard, Tam Campbell, Teresa Moorey, Kate West, Rufus &
Mellissa Harrington and Rhys Chisnall. Entertainment include Inkubus
Sukkubus, Kitty Hudson and Hunter’s Moon. It should be an interesting
day and if you are coming you better come and say hi!
www.witchfest.net for info.
——————————–
~ 3~ Esoteric Book Review Website
The Book Review section of Avalonia was first created in 2001 and has
since grown into one of the most popular sections of the Avalonia
website. The decision to create a separate website for the book
reviews was made at Beltane 2008 as part of a program of restructuring
the various associated websites into a more manageable format. This
new system (which is a `blog style’ site) allows the book review team
to upload and edit their own reviews and as such means that reviews
can be added more promptly and in a easier to use format than before.
This has obvious benefits to both the visitors who read and enjoy
these reviews, as well as the reviewers (who don’t have to wait for
Sorita to update the website to see their reviews online!).
At the moment we are still working on adding all the archived reviews
from the last few years to it, as well as the various author
interviews which were previously featured on Avalonia – there are
already more than a 100 entries and more being added as we get the
time. New book reviews will soon be added too – so worth checking it
out if you are a bookworm like us, you may find some interesting books
by searching through the archives. We are also looking for
contributors – see the website for more information. You can find the
Esoteric Book Review by going to http://www.ritualmagick.co.uk/reviews
——————————–
~ 4 ~ Closure of the Avalonia Community Discussion Forums
As will be clear to regular visitors, we are in the process of doing a
complete make-over for Avalonia.co.uk. This was originally planned for
October last year when Avalonia celebrated 10 years since its first
‘incarnation’ – and will now be going ahead on the 14th of May. The
closure of the forums was not an easy decision for us, but we simply
no longer have the time we once had to devote the discussions there
and maintaining the associated administration. If you wish to say
your goodbyes you can still do so over the next few days:
http://www.avaloniabooks.co.uk/forum
You will find a listing of alternative forums, facilitated by members
who were active on the Avalonia forums (and its predecessors) over the
years here:
http://www.avalonia.co.uk/forums/index.htm
——————————–
~ 5 ~ Offers – www.avaloniabooks.co.uk
Avalonia Books has also been given a make-over. As part of this we
now have a dedicated page for special offers which will list our
seasonal book offers and pre-order offers. We are currently offering
our new book Wicca Magickal Beginnings at 20% discount for all orders
received before or on the 13th of May (£12.00 instead of £14.99) and
there is 25% off The Isles of the Many Gods (£13.50 instead of £17.99)
for the entire month of May!
As our catalogue will be expanding significantly over the coming
months, it might be worth checking it out on a regular basis – we will
of course also be including details of offers in this newsletter!
See http://avaloniabooks.co.uk/catalog/?page_id=47 for offer details.
——————————–
~ 6 ~ Other Upcoming Events (UK)
The next few months is an exciting time for anyone looking for a
magickal or pagan event to attend. They seem to be everywhere – here
are just a few of the interesting sounding ones:
* Beltane Bash, 25 & 26th May (bank holiday weekend) –
www.paganfestivals.com
* Witchfest Cardiff – 21st June, Cardiff – www.witchfest.net
* Ludlow Esoteric Bookfair and Conference – 28th June, Ludlow
* Myddle Earth Pagan Camp, w/e 4-6 July, Gower, Wales -
http://www.myddle-earth.co.uk/events.htm
* Artemis Gathering (Camp), w/e 8-10 August, Oxfordshire –
www.witchfest.net
* Gaia Fortuna Convention, 27th of September, London. Contact
info@… for info.
* Nu Thelemic Symposium – 4th of October, Oxford. See
http://www.compulink.co.uk/~mandrake/ogdos.htm for details.
——————————–
Promise of Summer (May Newsletter)
www.avalonia.co.uk
www.avaloniabooks.co.uk
