Spirit of Albion Movie Production Diary – Day Six

Here’s the latest Spirit of Albion production diary. Love this one!

In an alternate Universe, yes…

Last Sunday, after the Anderida Gorsedd open ritual at the Long Man of Wilmington, many of the people stayed behind to be extras in the Spirit of Albion movie. It was an amazing day, and here is a short interview conducted by my friend Greg while I had a little time out of filming, and had the opportunity to watch a scene from the film develop.

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New Lyric – Brighid

A couple of years ago, during an Imbolc ritual, I made a promise to Brighid that I would write a song for her. Last week I made good on that promise and I hope that

She is pleased with her song. I’ll be playing it at my forthcoming concerts over the next few weeks, so I hope you all like it too!

Brighid

(Verse 1)

There’s a tree by the well in the woods that’s covered in garlands,

Clooties and ribbons that drift in the cool morning air,

That’s where I met an old woman who came from a far land,

Holding a flame o’er the well, and singing a prayer.

(Chorus)

Goddess of fire, Goddess of healing,

Goddess of Spring, welcome again.

(Verse 2)

She told me she’d been a prisoner trapped in a mountain,

Taken by the Queen of Winter at Summer’s End,

But in her prison she heard a spell the people were chanting,

Three days of Summer, and snowdrops are flowering again.

(Verse 3)

She spoke of the Cell of the Oak where a fire is still burning,

Nineteen Priestesses tend the eternal flame,

Oh but of you, my Lady, we are still learning,

Brighid, Brigantia, the Goddess of Many Names.

(Bridge)

Then I caught her reflection in the mirrored well,

And looked deep into her face,

The old woman gone, a maiden now knelt in her place.

From my pocket I pulled a ribbon,

And in honour of her maidenhood,

I tied it there to the tree by the well in the wood.

(Chorus)

Goddess of fire, Goddess of healing,

Goddess of Spring, welcome again.

(copyright Damh the Bard 2011)

Twa Corbies on video

I love to see what people do with my songs and recordings on video and I was recently sent the links to two versions of the classic folk song Twa Corbies that I recorded on my album Tales from the Crow Man. If you like Ravens you’re going to love them. Enjoy!

Spirit of Albion – The Movie: Production Diary Day 5

Here’s the latest production diary for the Spirit of Albion movie. Things are progressing beautifully!

Magic in Avalon

Here is a lovely video presented by the website Druidic Dawn taken at the Order of Bards Ovates and Druids ceremony on Glastonbury Tor at this year’s Summer Gathering.

Spirit of Albion film Diaries – Day 4

While I was away playing at the OBOD Summer Gathering, the crew for the Spirit of Albion movie were on a road trip around some of our most iconic sacred sites. Here’s the film diary of their weekend!

Spirit of Albion Film Diaries – Day Three

I was away on tour when the third day of filming for the Spirit of Albion movie took place, but it looks like it went really well, and everyone had a great time! Very excited about this project!

 

Tales from the Road: Trains,1937, and a Storm

I’ve been back in the UK for just under a week and my thoughts are turning back to the time we spent at the Michigan Pagan Festival. The flight over from Sydney to LA was pretty bumpy but nothing compared to the one from LA to Detroit. When the plane finally landed safely all of the passengers cheered – I joined in too, I was so happy to be on the ground! We were met at the airport by Diane and David and soon we were on our way to David’s home for a night before the Pagan festival began. David is a fascinating man, with stories of when he used to hang out with Johnny Cash, he is a well-known lyricist, an ex-cop, was a member of Silver Ravenwolf’s Coven, a paramedic, and an all-round wonderful man. I could have listened to him talk all night, but it was a long flight from Australia to the USA, longer than I thought is was going to be, and once again I found my time clock weirded out, so an early night was in order.

We had a free day the next day so David took us to the Crossroads Village, a reconstructed village made up of buildings from the early 1900s, plus a railway, and David’s baby, the Genessee lake paddle boat. It was wonderful to step onto the steam train (being a travelling musician from the UK obviously has its perks!), walking into an old bank and barbers (I sat in the barber’s chair and the barber held my hair for a photo, scissors very close, and wondered how much I trusted them… But the locks survived). Everyone there was so friendly and keen to share the stories of their buildings, and the people who had lived there.

The next day we made our way to the Michigan Pagan Festival but on our way we stopped at the memorial for the 1937 Sitdown Strike – an amazing part of the local history of Flint and its relationship with the General Motors plant. David had written the lyrics to a song called 1937 (the music being written and performed by his musical buddy Dan who we later met at the MPF) so once more we found ourselves being drawn into the local history of the area by a man who so obviously loves living there. Always the best way to learn.

We arrived at the MPF and  were shown the showgrounds and then our hotel room. The festival is held at the Wayne County showgrounds and whilst the festival is taking place on the showground, the speakers, musicians, and many of the stall holders and participants stay at the Holiday Inn on the edge of the showground. So it was incredibly civilised, and a shower was never too far away!

My first appointment was at the ‘Meet and Greet’ panel where people at the event could fire questions at the speakers. I love this kind of thing as it really keeps me on my toes and makes me think – not a chore for a Gemini! After that I could just talk to people and mill around until my gig on Saturday night. Saturday morning I did a workshop on the Ogham, and then the time for sound checking had arrived.

The venue for the concert was a very big tin barn, but with the help of Diane’s partner, Patrick, who was the sound engineer for the event, we got a great sound, and the gig was great. It was dark of the barn, but I could still hear everyone singing, and shapes at the back in the darkness dancing.

The next morning was sunny and clear, but really humid. It was a lovely day, so I was surprised when I got to the venue to see everyone moving the merchandise stalls from the field and into one of the barns. Apparently a storm had been forecast for 3pm that afternoon. I did an encore acoustic concert in the barn, then in the afternoon me and Cerri ran a Sacred Poetry workshop, and it was towards the end of this workshop that the storm arrived. A couple of hours earlier David had said that the weather office had now said that conditions were ‘favourable’ for a Tornado. When the storm finally arrived we were all asked to go into the barn together, but before that I joined a circle to place a Ward over the site and protect us from the storm.

I was excited and terrified all at once. The excitement wore off pretty quickly though, when I looked around and saw the worried faces of the locals. That made it very real. The clouds above seemed to part to create two distinct layers, one very high the other almost low enough to touch the clouds. I could see small twists in the clouds around us, then an air raid siren went off and my heart began to race even more. But pretty soon after that it began to rain, and that was apparently a Good Thing… I didn’t know, I was just mesmerised by the whole experience. The storm passed, but all through the day I could hear the sound of distant thunder.

That evening we took part in a Peruvian fire ceremony. A simple, yet powerful experience. While I was in Australia David Garland had done a palm reading for me during which he told me I had two distinct life lines. I knew this was true, and so my work is to bring these lives fully together. That was my focus during the fire ceremony, and will be my focus all year until they are one.

To round off the weekend I found myself on one more panel, this time discussing ways to promote community. It was a fascinating panel discussion and I hope to have the audio from it for a future DruidCast podcast.

The worst thing about making new friends on trips like these is the leaving, and just as we had to say goodbye to our friends in Australia, so the time came when we had to do the same with those we had met and connected with in Michigan. Again I found myself thinking about those people who say we do not have a worldwide Pagan community, and once more I found myself wondering what they meant. My music is taking me into Pagan communities all over the world, and every time I find the same vibe, the same love of the earth, the same love of myth, or ritual, of Magic, of the animals, birds and plants whom we share this planet. And the same love of music, story and tales that bond us as humans, living on one rock, turning in space.

Tales from the Road: Sydney and the Three Sisters

I’m writing this on the plane to Los Angeles just after taking off from Sydney. So much to think about, so many memories, so many new friends. The day after the gig in Sydney we all gathered at the Five Dragons for our last Yum Cha – a new vice that I’ve been introduced to here in Australia. Although there was much laughter, the atmosphere was tinged with sadness as we all knew that the tour was over and soon Spiral Dance would be leaving and heading back to Adelaide. But that didn’t stop us from thoroughly enjoying the moment while we could. But in the end it came time to say farewell. There were tears and hugs, I felt torn as I saw them all drive away and missed everyone the moment we parted, but we then had the opportunity to spend some time with our hosts here in Sydney, David and Kelly Garland, facilitators of PAN (the Pagan Awareness Network).

We had two days in Sydney and I just had to see the Opera House and

Sydney Harbour bridge – two places I never thought I’d see. So the next day we headed into the city and there they were. The Opera House is an amazing building, completely crazy, and I didn’t know until I saw it up close that the iconic white roof was made out of what look like bathroom tiles. But

it’s a breathtaking sight and that, along with the harbour and bridge, make it well worth the visit.

That night we polished off a bottle of The Devil, the Tawny Port we bought in Mclaren Vale, and the next day drove into the Blue Mountains to visit the home of the artist Norman Lindsay (if you’ve seen the film

Sirens, that was set at the house and was about his life). Apart from being the author and artist of the children’s story The Magic Pudding, he was also a really controversial artist who portrayed naked women happily

engaging with Satyrs, and his most controversial work was the Crucifixion of Venus. An amazingly magical place, and an amazing life.

After that we went to see The Three Sisters. The legend is that three children were being chased by a Banyip, the equivalent of an Australian Yeti, and to save them their father turned them to stone. This reminded me of our British legends that some stone circles were dancers turned to stone

for dancing on the Sabbath Day, so I was expecting a row of three standing stones. What I actually saw took my breath away it was so beautiful. A photo can never capture the majesty of the place but here I really felt the scale of the Australian Bush as it lay endless before me.

That night we watched Sirens and then went to bed as we had to be up at 5.50am for our flight to the USA. Once more we found ourselves saying goodbye to two new friends with whom we had made a deep and lasting bond. So as I look out of the window of this aircraft, I say a very fond farewell to Australia, and to everyone we met who helped to make this trip so wonderful. You all touched our hearts, and I know that we will be back again soon to see you all once more. To play music, laugh, and eat more Yum Cha!! Blessed be!