Shipley Moot

The nights are noticeably longer. There is the faint promise of spring in the air. Gaia stirs in her sleep. A very pleasant Imbolc to you all

Hello lovely people - icy roads and a cold epidemic (yes, epidemic!) - is anyone turning up tonight?

Interesting. There's always been an element of the Anglican Church in the nudd about modern witchcraft, with its formal covens and its careful social vetting, and its high priests of all things. Really? High priests? And why would you write down a Book of Shadows, considering how expensive paper was, and how unlikely it was that you were literate anyway?

Debunking the Pervasive Myths About Medieval Witch Hunts Head over to and watch the new A Style is Born episode on Biophilic style! https://astyleisborn.link/ASIBs2e5KazWe all have a similar image that com...

Moot. Thursday 30th November. See you there!

Fascinating essay. It doesn't say it, but the insistence on framing Western Witchcraft as an offshoot of Christianity (we're told witches worship "The Devil", a Christian demi-god, and that they mock Christ, even though they inherited practices from a very long time before Jesus of Nazareth was born) does hint at an agenda that's more misogynist (and homophobic) than faith based. Great illustrations.

Woodcuts and Witches Jon Crabb on the witch craze of early modern Europe, and how the concurrent rise of the mass-produced woodcut helped forge the archetype of the broom-riding crone — complete with cauldron and cats — so familiar today.

Here's the story I was told:

If you're making your calendar out of the natural cycle of the year then you will use observable events: days and nights, the turn of the seasons, and the phases of the moon.

If you're clever (which our ancestors most definitely were) you will notice that there are two points in the year where the sun stands still in the sky and then starts going back the way it came, one in June and one in December. We call these points solstices.

There are 28 days in a full cycle of moon phases. We call this a lunar month. There are 13 lunar months from one solstice to next year's counterpart.

This gives us a year of 364 days.

There is one day that doesn't fit. One day that stands outside, where that clever, new fangled calendar can't reach, where the old wildness can still peep through and the old laws still apply.

That day began at sundown today. It will end at sundown tomorrow.

The old year has died. The new year is yet to be born. This is the day of infinite possibilities.

Make a wish, you never know who's listening 😁

)O(

(next Moot on the 30th November btw, Hullaballoo bar in Shipley. See you there.)

Next month (November) there are Thursdays on the 23rd and 30th.

Is Thursday the best day?
Is 7.30pm the best start time? Would people prefer earlier?
Which out of those two dates would be best?

Eclipses in the United Kingdom Which upcoming lunar and solar eclipses are visible in the United Kingdom and what do they look like?

There's a lunar eclipse tonight. Sort of. Starts at 7pm.

It's tiny but y'know, still Moon energy, so watch out for that sensitivity and heart stuff (you get all the best jargon here)

As if the veil weren't thin enough this year....

Eclipses in the United Kingdom Which upcoming lunar and solar eclipses are visible in the United Kingdom and what do they look like?

Well that was fun - a good start. We laughed, drank, and explored.

Next month.... do we want a theme? It's difficult to predict. We have a few presentations we can do inhouse, sigil magic is easy to do and always popular, would people be interested?

of interest to some I'm sure

EVENT: Pompom Christmas Wreath Making, Thursday 2nd and 9th November, 7-9pm.

Join eco-artist Angie and
learn how to make your own sustainable, unique Christmas Wreath.

Tickets cost £20.00 per person.
Only 12 spaces available.
Contact Angie to book: Hoops & Dreams.

About the artist: Angie Coburn has been teaching arts/crafts in the community for over 20 years. Her classes are fun and informal. Angie is a true eco-warrior and buys all her stock from the scrap store.

All materials are provided but feel free to bring any wool you have kicking around. All welcome. No experience needed.

Hullabaloo will be serving food and festive drinks throughout the evening. Mulled wine and Winter warmers!

Looks fun. Two weeks after the moot.

EVENT: Pompom Christmas Wreath Making, Thursday 2nd and 9th November, 7-9pm.

Join eco-artist Angie and
learn how to make your own sustainable, unique Christmas Wreath.

Tickets cost £20.00 per person.
Only 12 spaces available.
Contact Angie to book: Hoops & Dreams.

About the artist: Angie Coburn has been teaching arts/crafts in the community for over 20 years. Her classes are fun and informal. Angie is a true eco-warrior and buys all her stock from the scrap store.

All materials are provided but feel free to bring any wool you have kicking around. All welcome. No experience needed.

Hullabaloo will be serving food and festive drinks throughout the evening. Mulled wine and Winter warmers!

(just to clarify, the moot is for everyone, not just one path. Still....)

https://www.openculture.com/2023/10/carl-jung-on-the-power-of-tarot-cards.html

Carl Jung on the Power of Tarot Cards: They Provide Doorways to the Unconscious & Perhaps a Way to Predict the Future It is generally accepted that the standard deck of playing cards we use for everything from three-card monte to high-stakes Vegas poker evolved from the Tarot. “Like our modern cards,” writes Sallie Nichols, “the Tarot deck has four suits with ten ‘pip’ or numbered cards in each….

ah go on, an oldie but a goodie

"And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it.”

― Roald Dahl