September Moot

A big thank you to everyone who turned up on Tuesday, most especially our guest speaker, Harry Scanlan, for a fascinating and inspiring talk on the Ogham tree alphabet, its meanings and use in divination.   It was a brilliant night, even if we were all a little squished. 

Some of you left your cardboard Oghams behind, so we'll look after those till next time if you want to reclaim them.  Also safe with us till next time is Harry's wonderful staff. 

Announcements

October Moot: This will be on Tuesday 8th October, and the subject is Divination.  It's a cop-out, but the spirits have not yet revealed to me precisely what this will involve.  Ie. I'm making it up as I go along, and I'm sure I'll think of something :) 

Anit-Fracking ritual:  This is being organised by the Bolton Moot, and will be held at noon on Saturday 28th September, in the amphitheatre field at Moss Bank Park.  It's next to the top car park near the chimney.  The ritual is being timed to co-incide with other events around the country to raise and share energy to protect our green and pleasant land.

Samhain Party:  Once again we're having a fancy dress party for Samhain.  This year it will be on Saturday 26th October and the theme is Alice's Adventures Underground - think White Rabbit, Cheshire Cat, Queen of Hearts, Alice Through the Looking Glass etc. 

August Moot Update

Unfortunately, Harry Scanlan will not be able to do his talk on Ogham at the August Moot as planned.  It's now postponed until the September Moot  (Tuesday 10th September).   We're sorry for the short notice. 

Of course, this now means that we don't have a particular topic for discussion next week, so any suggestions are welcome, especially at this late stage.   It may have to be a pull-a-question-out-of-the-hat Moot :) 

Latest News!

After talking to the lovely Elaine Speakman who did a fascinating talk on nature spirits at the Pagan Wheel Moot on Monday, I am very pleased to announce that Elaine will be doing a talk for us on ley lines round Bury and Radcliffe at the August Moot.  

July Announcements

Running a bit late with this again.  Busy, busy, busy!

We have a speaker for the next Moot.  Our good pal, Harry Scanlan has stepped up to the mark and offered us a talk on the Ogham.  Thanks, Harry!

We've also been so busy that we haven't been able to suss out our annual Whinberry Walk, and all the Saurdays and Sundays around Lughnasadh are spoken for.  So, we're going to cheat slightly because it's the school holidays and go on Monday 29th instead.
If you fancy coming along, meet us in the car park of The Shoulder of Mutton in Holcombe Village at 11am.  Bring your butties in a box and you can use it to collect whinberries on the way down.

See you soon,
Seán x

June Moot

Thank you everyone who came along for the June social moot.  I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get round to the write-up and announcements.  It was good to have a chit-chat :) 

Announcements

Saturday 13th July:  Pagancon at Preston Grasshoppers Rugby Club, featuring some fabulous talks and workshops, dancing from Stone the Crows and music by Damh the Bard.  

Sunday 14th to Tuesday 16th July: Rehearsal Space at Fab Cafe on Portland Street, Manchester, a play featuring our friend Anne :)

Saturday 20th July:  Sara & Janiko's 40th Birthday Bellydance Extravaganza

Friday 26th July:  ArA.  We'll be getting our Goff on and going dancing as part of my Big Birthday Month.  Come and help remind me that being 40 doesn't mean I have to stop being fabulous :) 

July Moot

This will be on Tuesday 9th July.  Bridget's offered to do her talk on The Radcliffe Zodiac, which promises to be irreverent and entertaining - as long as Moot night doesn't clash with work stuff.  We'll come up with an alternative if Bridget can't make it. 

We're still open to offers/suggestions for future Moots. 

April Announcements

A bleary Good Morning from Radcliffe Moot Towers.  Thanks to everyone who turned up last night, to those poor souls who were forced to do silly things by me and if you weren't there, you missed my singing!

Moots!

The next moot on 14th May will be much more sensible because we have wild woman extraordinaire, Edwina, taking us for a wild herb ramble.  To catch as much daylight as possible, we'll be starting the moot an hour earlier than usual at 7pm.  I've been on one of Edwina's rambles and can honestly say it's both a treat and an education.

After that we don't really have anything planned, so we're open to suggestions, ideas, requests, threats ...
We have had a couple of suggestions for some undecided points in the future.  One is a massage moot, concentrating on things like hands and feet as much as backs and shoulders, possibly with a sideline discussion about touching and personal space.
The other suggestion is for a Blue Peter style planting and seed-sowing moot using up-cycled materials.

Whaddya think, folks?

Coming Up 

If you're a vegetablist like me you might be interested in the Northern Vegan Festival, which is happening this Saturday 13th April at Sachas Hotel, Tib St, Manchester.  it starts at 10am and goes on all day.  Entrance will cost you a whole pound!

After that, of course, there's our annual Wicker Man Bealtaine Party.  Hoorah!
It's on Saturday 27th April, here at Radcliffe Moot Towers and festivities start at 8pm.  We don't need any firewood this year but we can always do with maypole dancers and bonfire singists.
See you then!

Love and burny things,
Seán
xx

March Announcements.

Hello everybody from Radcliffe Moot Towers which is currently being filled by the most beautiful Welsh music ever.  Here are the announcements from last night's moot.

Next Two

Due to work commitments I had to postpone my Dionysian Spirit talk last night, so I'm doing it next month - Tuesday 9th April - assuming, of course, that nobody gives me any paying work on that day!

On 14th May Edwina is going to take us for a wild food/herb walk.  So we'll have enough time before it goes dark we'll be starting an hour early at 7pm.  Should be good.

Other Stuff

There's a "bedroom tax" (under-occupancy rules for housing benefit) protest in Manchester.  If you want to go it starts at 1pm in Piccadilly Gardens this Saturday 16th April.

For the vegetablists among us, the Northern Vegan Festival will be happening at Sachas Hotel on Tib Street on Saturday 13th April.  Doors open at 10am and it goes on until 6pm.

Finally, we have a date for our Bealtaine Party - Saturday 27th April, 8pm onwards.  Bring your best Wicker Man singing voice!

Back to the music.
Hwyl!
Seán  xx

January Announcements

Woohoo!  On time for once!

Hello and thanks to everybody who came round last night to fling Poo and go through Therapy afterwards.

We only have a few announcements, and here they are:

Our annual Wassail party will be on Saturday 19th January from 8pm.
Please do come and help us shout at the apple trees.  Any donations of apple-based victuals and/or firewood will be much appreciated.  Don't forget your hat!

ARA is happening on my birthday this year, so that's where we're going for a good old Goth-Out.  It's on Friday 25th January.  Please contact us for details if you fancy joining us.

The next moot will be taken over by Pete on 12th February.  He'll be talking about a trip to India, showing a film and hosting a discussion on spirituality and mountains.

I'll be doing my Dionysian Spirit talk on 12th March, and Bridget has offered to do her Radcliffe Zodiac thingy at some future juncture we've yet to decide on.
We still need more though.  If you want to do a Moot, suggest a Moot or request a Moot please let us know.

Th-th-th-that's all folks!
Love,
Seán

December Announcements (in January)

Hey, guess what I forgot!

The next two moots will be in Tuesday 8th January and Tuesday 12th February.  January's will be our annual games night, and I think we'll be flinging Poo© like monkeys.  It's a card game.  Honest!

After that we don't know what we've got.  I'll be doing my postponed Dionysian Spirit talk at some point, but we're still very much open to offers and suggestions.  If you want a moot or you want to do a moot, please let us know.

Our Wassail Party will be on Saturday 19th January this year.  Please do join us for for fun, frivolity and shouting at apple trees.  Any donations of firewood and apple-based food and beverages will be greatly appreciated..

Finally, we'd love to fill ARA with Pagans to celebrate my birthday on Friday 25th January.  Please do come along and have a dance.
For those who don't know, ARA is an utterly wonderful goth night held in a 17th century church.  The church is called Sacred Trinity and it's at the junction of Blackfriars Street and Chapel Street in Salford, just the other side of the river from Manchester.  Doors open at 9pm.  It's a fiver to get in, bring your own drinks.

That's it.
On behalf of the Radcliffe moot I'd like to wish everyone a Happy New Year and a prosperous, sexy, celebratory 2013.

Love,
Seán
xx