Dear all,

Today, the 4th of June, is St Petroc’s Day. St Petroc was the 6th
century bloke who founded the monasteries at Padstow and Little
Petherick in Cornwall – he also did a lot of other saintly things. It
is also a lovely day of sunshine and blue skies here in Monmouthshire
(Wales, UK) which always makes for celebration. I am planning a
picnic for myself, David and our baby boy down by the mouth of the
river Gavenny a little later this afternoon.

June is filled with saint days and magickal days, St Boniface who
chopped down oak trees which he believed to be sacred to pagan deities
is celebrated tomorrow (5th June) – so if you are a rebel, make sure
to plant at least one oak tree every year on this day, or if you don’t
have the facilities to plant an oak… why not go up to any Oak tree
you can find, and declare it sacred to any God or Goddess which comes
to mind. I suggest Black Annis, the amazing English and Scottish Hag
who might be a survival of the Cailleach Bheur, for any oak trees near
to caves, esp. if they are in the Dane hills of Leicestershire. Any
and all Oak trees in Windsor Great Park, or indeed why not just in any
part of Berkshire or any of the royal estates, could be declared
sacred to Herne, the antlered hunter God. And if any other Oak tree
presents itself to you, then why not declare it sacred to Thunor?
This God, whose name means ‘thunder’, was worshipped throughout
Southern England and is equated to Thor. He was the Saxon god of
thunder and fertility, son of Woden and Frigg. He was sometimes known
as the Lord of the Blasted Oak and replaced Tiw as the god of troth,
so oaths were sworn to him on a hammer. He gave his name to Thursday,
Thundersfield, Thunorslege (Sussex), Thundridge (Hertfordshire),
Thunoreshlaw (Kent), Thunresfeld (Wiltshire), Thundersley (Thunor’s
Sacred Grove, in Essex).

As the month progress there are many saint days, including that of St
Nectan on the 17th of June, with its tradition of children carrying
foxgloves during the procession because of the association that
foxgloves sprang forth wherever his blood fell after this death. He is
also associated with bells, including the silver bell of his chapel
which he threw into the waterfall at St Nectan’s glen which apparently
will only reappear once all the pagan taints had been removed from
christianity. It hasn’t and in a twist of irony, the ceremonies held
over the years in his honour is probably exactly the type of thing he
was trying to preach against! Never mind. Midsummer, later in June,
also has its fair share of myth and legend, much of it associated with
the faery folk. More about that nearer the time!

For now, here are some updates about what we are up to and a couple of
forthcoming events…

Blessings
Sorita d’Este

http://www.avalonia.co.uk
June 2008, Avalonia Newsletter

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JUNE NEWSLETTER: Contents

~ 1 ~ The Esoteric Book Review
~ 2 ~ Reviews of WICCA Magickal Beginnings
~ 3 ~ The Veritable Key of Solomon by Stephen Skinner and David Rankine
~ 4 ~ WITCHFEST Wales
~ 5 ~ Guide to the Feng Shui Compass or lo p’an by Stephen Skinner
~ 6 ~ The Divine Struggle by Frederic Lamond
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~ 1 ~ The Esoteric Book Review

See: http://ritualmagick.co.uk/reviews/
This is the new home of what previously was the Avalonia Esoteric Book
Reviews (first started in 2001). This new format allows for many
changes, and a better format for reviewers to contribute. It is also
a syndicated news site now, which means that reviews posted are
distributed to dozens of websites in a matter of hours. Recent reviews
include: Grimorium Verum by Joseph Peterson, reviewed by David Rankine
(Starsorceror) and WITCH SCHOOL, First Degree by Lewis Highcorrell
reviewed by John Canard (canard). The review of the latter has caused
quite a lot of response from within the Correllian tradition and
students at Witch School who felt that John was being unfair in his
assessment of the book. Have a look and add your voice to it if you
wish. See: http://ritualmagick.co.uk/reviews/

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~ 2 ~ Reviews of WICCA Magickal Beginnings

So whilst we are on the topic of book reviews, those of you who are
interested in such things might find the following reviews of my new
book, co-written with my partner David Rankine, interesting:

Review by Stephen Blake: http://ritualmagick.co.uk/reviews/?p=122 (for
The Esoteric Book Review, but also on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk).
Likewise, this review by Yvonne Aburrow:
http://vogelbeere.livejournal.com/31807.html

We are always interested in hearing about reviews of our books you
have written, good / bad or indifferent – it is good to know what you
think and likewise to know how we can improve things in future. So
let us know if you find a review of our work, or wrote one you would
like us to know about.
Information on this title, which is now back in print, can be found at:
http://avaloniabooks.co.uk/catalog/?p=43

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~ 3 ~ The Veritable Key of Solomon

Later this year we will be releasing the Veritable Key of Solomon by
Stephen Skinner and David Rankine as a limited edition, beautifully
bound in leather, full colour, edition through Golden Hoard Press.
This is the first Key of Solomon to be made available since Mathers’
edition more than a hundred years ago, so it is exciting news for all
of you interested in Solomonic Magic. This book will contain
translations of two previously unpublished MSS. which represents an
amazing corpus of solomonic material which will be invaluable for
practitioners and scholars of the tradition alike. If you have not
done so already, please join the Avalonia Newsletter mailinglist
(http://groups.yahoo.com/group/avalonia_news )to be kept informed of
progress on this title. You can also email admin@… to
be added to our mailinglist. If you would like us to reserve a copy
of the limited edition for you, please email us to say so.

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~ 4 ~ WITCHFEST Wales

This event will be taking place on Midsummer’s day in Cardiff, Wales
(UK) this year. Please see http://www.witchfest.net for full details
and to reserve a ticket for this years event.

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~ 5 ~ Guide to the Feng Shui Compass or lo p’an by Stephen Skinner

This new book by Stephen Skinner is a virtually a Complete compendium
of Classical feng shui. Material never before available in
English…and difficult to find even in Chinese How to read the San He
and San Yuan lo p’an, with an explanation of each ring in detail, the
history and background of feng shui and the lo p’an (luo pan).

This large book is 448 pages in size, and packed with information
which is very clearly explained, so that after reading it anyone
should be comfortable using even the most complex lo p’an. This book
is the result of 30 years of research and practice. More than 50 rings
are illustrated, tabulated, and classified by Plate and School, with
their use and history. Anyone reading the book can go from being a
complete novice to complete familiarity with any lo p’an, ancient or
modern that they may pick up. It clearly explains for the first time
in English how feng shui developed and the relationship between San He
and San Yuan. There are over 65 Tables, more than 174 illustrations,
and 32 full colour plates. These include rare pictures and analyses of
Ming and Ch’ing dynasty lo p’ans. Every technical term, book title or
person’s name is carefully footnoted in traditional Chinese characters
with supporting pinyin and Wade-Giles transliterations. There is a
also a detailed feng shui time line.

For details of this book, which is available from July 2008, see
Stephen Skinner’s website: http://sskinner.com/books.htm

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~ 6 ~ The Divine Struggle by Frederic Lamond *Special Offer*

This book by Frederic Lamond, well known for his lectures on modern
Witchcraft or ‘Wicca’ provides the reader with Inspired & Channelled
writings with a challenging interpretation of human history as the
product of the ‘Divine Struggle’. For the entire month of June, you
can order this book at the special price of just £8.99 (including P&P
to any part of the world) if you order it directly from Avalonia.
This is a saving of £4.00 off the usual RRP of £12.99. Full details
of this book can be found at http://avaloniabooks.co.uk/catalog/?p=29

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Black Annis, Herne, Thunor and Blasted Oak Trees! (June 2008 Newsletter)
www.avalonia.co.uk
www.avaloniabooks.co.uk