#CommonersAdvent
Day 40 of #CommonersAdvent and the 1st day of Christmas is Two poems for a Winter Child.

This part of the journey is over for now but I won’t be disappearing just yet, as I have plans for the Twelvetide. But, for now, a very Merry Christmas to us all!

beedurban.substack.com/p/two-poems-...
Two Poems for a Winter Child
Commoners' Advent, day 40 and the 1st day of Christmas
beedurban.substack.com
December 25, 2024 at 11:19 PM
Day 39 of #CommonersAdvent is The Canticle of the Bees: the Spells & Songs of Christmas Eve.

...the Psalmody of the Bees, Burning the Ashen Faggot, and Welsh Plygain singing. What could be more beautiful!?

beedurban.substack.com/p/the-cantic...

#Advent2024
December 25, 2024 at 10:51 PM
Days 34 & 35 of #CommonersAdvent are 'From Lack to Light', for a-Thomassing on St Thomas’ Day & the light of the Morning Star.

beedurban.substack.com/p/from-lack-...

#Advent2024
December 23, 2024 at 9:32 AM
Day 34 of #CommonersAdvent is a Praise Song for the Dark on the Longest Night.

…maybe on this longest night in the midnight of the year, it is ok to say that I have given up on hope, because in the darkness I have seen such beauty and wonders.

beedurban.substack.com/p/a-praise-s...
A Praise Song for the Dark on the Longest Night
Commoners' Advent, day 34
beedurban.substack.com
December 21, 2024 at 11:26 AM
Day 33 of #CommonersAdvent is ‘Embertide for a Shrew’

How does a tiny being survive the long dark?

...the frost & snow is scattered with the pattern of her pawprints & the trail of her tail; a constellation of faith that life endures.

beedurban.substack.com/p/embertide-...

#Advent2024
December 20, 2024 at 4:50 AM
Day 32 of #CommonersAdvent is ‘The Winter Art of Tamsin Abbott’.

I adore the glass engravings of Tamsin Abbott, who writes;

“My work is influenced by this ancient land and how we are connected to it. The hills, the woods, the plants...”

beedurban.substack.com/p/the-winter...

#Advent2024
December 20, 2024 at 4:49 AM
Day 31 of #CommonersAdvent is all about the old growth fen-magic of cranberries, plus two festive makings!

Cranberries are edge-dwellers of the bogs & fens, & are woven into the Christmas story in the most surprising of ways...

beedurban.substack.com/p/old-growth...

#Advent2024
December 18, 2024 at 2:55 AM
The 3rd candle has been lit for #CommonersAdvent & the light is quietly increasing, although it may feel to many of us that the darkness has deepened.

And so, I take a long breath as I write that this week's candle is dedicated to joy...

beedurban.substack.com/p/rejoice-fo...

#Advent2024
Rejoice! For Gaudete Sunday
Commoners' Advent, day 29
beedurban.substack.com
December 17, 2024 at 1:26 AM
Day 27 of #CommonersAdvent is for St Lucy's Day; as we begin, imperceptibly at first, to turn towards the light we must first honour the ‘midnight of the year’.

beedurban.substack.com/p/glad-lucia...
December 15, 2024 at 12:14 AM
For #CommonersAdvent, day 26: Carolling the Trees

Our Midwinter festivities are deeply intertwined with the enduring praise song of evergreens, & so today, for day 26 of Commoners’ Advent, I want to explore three carols that hold trees at their heart.

beedurban.substack.com/p/carolling-...
December 13, 2024 at 4:28 AM
For #CommonersAdvent, day 23 ~ Gathering Up the Sun: the Cotehele Christmas Flower Garland.

Following a scattering of petals to Green Saint George, the Church of the Shepherd & the Shrew, & the hope that life will return in the spring.

beedurban.substack.com/p/gathering-...

#CelticAdvent
December 11, 2024 at 1:49 AM
Day 23 of #CommonersAdvent is Longing for Darkness: Our Third Sunday.

..this week, we have rooted ourselves in the older traditions of Christmas, in warm, full bellies, & in the cave where we can mine the treasures of the dark.

The light can wait.

beedurban.substack.com/p/longing-fo...

#Advent
Longing for Darkness ~ Our Third Sunday
Commoners' Advent, day 23
beedurban.substack.com
December 9, 2024 at 5:10 AM
Day 22 of #CommonersAdvent is for the Boar & the Bay: a Rootling Journey.

"I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape...something waits beneath it, the whole story doesn't show". (Andrew Wyeth)

beedurban.substack.com/p/the-boar-a...

#CelticAdvent #Advent2024
The Boar and the Bay: a Rootling Journey
Commoners' Advent, day 22
beedurban.substack.com
December 9, 2024 at 1:45 AM
For #CommonersAdvent, day 20: St Barbara: Hope that Blossoms in the Dark

beedurban.substack.com/p/st-barbara...

She is "...the sun in the dark, invoked against fire and lightning, causing fruit trees to flower in the winter, protecting those who work underground..."

#CelticAdvent #Advent2024
December 6, 2024 at 5:30 AM
For #CommonersAdvent 19; the Open Fire of the Anawim

“Roast chestnuts are a beloved & traditional Christmas food, once put in pockets to warm the hands of travellers, but they were also a welcome addition to the winter table of the poor…”

beedurban.substack.com/p/the-open-f...

#CelticAdvent
December 4, 2024 at 4:03 AM
For #CommonersAdvent, day 18; 'We Have Kept Vigil With Owls'; three poems which celebrate the precious light in the winter dark.

"..This time the trees tremble.

Is it with a kind of reckless joy

at the gentle light

lapping their leaves..."

beedurban.substack.com/p/we-have-ke...

#CelticAdvent
December 3, 2024 at 10:37 PM
For Commoners’ Advent, day 17. On the Blessings of the Rot Mother: Who Will We Name as Lord?

“Some find the Rot Mother ugly. I say that she is the most beautiful, & the most generous, of all.”

beedurban.substack.com/p/on-the-ble...

#CelticAdvent #CommonersAdvent #WinterLent #Advent2024
December 2, 2024 at 6:50 AM
For Commoners’ Advent, day 17. On the Blessings of the Rot Mother: Who Will We Name as Lord?

“Some find the Rot Mother ugly. I say that she is the most beautiful, & the most generous, of all.”

beedurban.substack.com/p/on-the-ble...

#CelticAdvent #CommonersAdvent #WinterLent #Advent2024
December 2, 2024 at 4:35 AM
Day 16 of Commoners’ Advent is ‘A Short History of Advent Calendars’.

Here’s to the opening of doors!

beedurban.substack.com/p/a-short-hi...

#CelticAdvent #OldAdvent #CommonersAdvent

Also, look at this shareable Substack gave me. Oooh, posh!
December 1, 2024 at 11:40 PM
For #CommonersAdvent, day 15: Two Poems for Dark Advent.

“And so, Fox began to tell stories about the wonders of darkness. And Fox sang songs about the gifts of darkness. And Fox danced dances of delight for the darkness…”

beedurban.substack.com/p/two-poems-...

#CelticAdvent #WinterLent
December 1, 2024 at 2:09 AM
For our pine trees, for the hawthorns, and for the ancient olive trees, because there can be no Peace on Earth without peace for the trees.

Commoners' Advent, day 14

beedurban.substack.com/p/a-meeting-...

#CelticAdvent #CommonersAdvent #Advent #Advent2024
November 30, 2024 at 5:08 AM
"Make this place glad:

adorned with green

With many garlands hung

So shall God’s gift of life be seen

His praises gladly sung!"

For #CommonersAdvent, day 13; the Hanging of the Greens.

beedurban.substack.com/p/the-hangin...

#CelticAdvent #WinterLent #Advent2024
November 29, 2024 at 1:24 AM
For day 12 of #CommonersAdvent I want to share this beautiful piece of poetry; 'Illuminate: an Advent Poem' by Brittany Deininger.

beedurban.substack.com/p/illuminate...

"The first word you ever spoke was “light”

and the heat from your voice thawed us..."

#CommonersAdvent #CelticAdvent
November 28, 2024 at 7:06 AM
For day 12 of #CommonersAdvent I want to share this beautiful piece of poetry; 'Illuminate: an Advent Poem' by Brittany Deininger.

beedurban.substack.com/p/illuminate...

"The first word you ever spoke was “light”

and the heat from your voice thawed us..."

#CommonersAdvent #CelticAdvent
November 28, 2024 at 12:50 AM
This is a candle-block that provides light for many lacemakers using only a single flame in the centre of glass globes or flasks filled with snow-water.
Read more about it in @radicalhoneybee.bsky.social #commonersadvent post for today
Also I get a mention!
beedurban.substack.com/p/cattern-an...
November 27, 2024 at 9:48 AM