Wight Druids

As many of you will know, no sooner had we launched the new and instantly popular Wight Druids Network website than Ning – the social networking platform on which it was built – announced it was withdrawing its free services, profoundly irritating for a vast number of people who had put countless hours into building some good interactive sites this way.

Feeling rather unhappy at the ethics of this sudden move, we decided to develop a new version through another provider, and this is now up and running at http://wightdruids.spruz.com/.

If you haven’t come over and joined us so far, please do so as soon as you can. There is now a ‘button’ link on the front page of the Ning site that allows you to jump straight into the new site without having to fill in most of your details again.

Meanwhile, a longer-term aim is to completely redevelop the main Wight Druids website, making it much wider-ranging and far more interactive, as well as making it simpler for anyone signing up for the free membership to add their own content. This work is just getting under way now on our new server space at http://wightdruids.com. You can visit this embryonic site now if you’d like to see how we’re getting on with this and keep an eye on the construction work as it progresses. It’s already even possible to register as a member of the site, although content is still sparse at the moment.

As ever, we would welcome your comments on either or both of the new sites.

Bendithion Llawen/|\Bright Blessings

Your Friendly Neighbourhood Druid

My teacher, Emma Restall Orr, recently appeared on BBC’s Newsnight in an item about the reburial of ancient pre-christian remains, which is a cause she is closely involved in through her campaign group, Honouring the Ancient Dead.

If you have a few moments, you might well find it worthwhile to take a look at the item through the BBC’s online iPlayer at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00r2b3f/Newsnight_22_02_2010/
The item in question comes up around 36 mins into the programme.

Emma is, as many of you will already know, the author of A Perennial Course in Living Druidry, as well as founder of The Druid Network and co-founder of the British Druid Order, and has written many books on Druidry and paganism, including the superb Living With Honour: A Pagan Ethics.

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Also well worth a look, while you’re in iPlayer:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00r3rzv/Countryfile_21_02_2010/
There’s a nice piece about the Marsden Imbolc celebrations around 26min 30sec into the programme (preceded, incidentally, by an interesting seg on the Cheddar whitebeam).

A NEW campaign, backed by Wight Druids, has now been officially launched on the Isle of Wight: to buy a tract of land for use by pagans for ritual, and as an educational resource to bring a greater understanding of the natural world to the wider community.
A key intent of the project is to preserve and conserve the land in as natural a state as possible for future generations.
The project, named Wild Wood Ways, was established at Samhain with a special ritual and a committee of nine was formed to drive it forward, although the project was publicly launched at Yule.

A few preliminary fund-raising events raised several hundred pounds, without any publicity and mostly before any coherent structure was in place. A great start, although there is obviously a long, long way to go.

An embryonic blog-style website has now been launched at
http://www.wildwoodways.co.uk , where the ‘mission statement’ declares the intent: ‘To honour and share the knowledge and harmony of the land’.
Eventually it is intended to offer a variety of teaching and learning experiences on the land, including tree and wildlife walks, camps and
workshops aimed at schools and the wider public.
There is no shortage of enthusiasm or ideas in the group, although none of us has ever been involved in such a major project before.
We are already in touch with a couple other groups with similar projects under way or completed, but would welcome advice from anyone else who might have been involved in something similar.
Wild Wood Ways would welcome your support. Do visit the website at http://www.wildwoodways.co.uk
Many thanks and Bendithion Llawer – Many Blessings
Scribe/|\

Merry Solstice

A HUGE thank-you to all the brave and hardy souls who turned out in the cold winter rain to join our rite and celebration of Alban Arthan (or Arthuan) – the Winter Solstice – at The Longstone.
Around 30 people gathered to see if they could spot the sunrise, under inky clouds that delivered as much as they threatened.
High point of the event was probably the couple of dozen of us who ran through a necessarily abbreviated ritual, joining hands and risking a slip, slide and splodge in the mud to warm up a bit with a spiral dance.
Once again, many thanks, very well done – and Solstice Blessings to one and all!
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