My new track is out on the 27th. It’s called The Wheel Of The Year. Here is the link to hear it on all the usual streaming services.

It’s a song inspired by the ritual year. The seasons turn in a never ending wheel and the calendar celebrations of Samhain, Winter Solstice, Imbolc, Spring Equinox, Beltane, Summer Solstice, Lammas, and Mabon are spokes of that wheel.

I sing this song at online rituals where we share our part in the wheel of the year where-ever and whoever we are.

The next celebration is Samhain on October 31st and you are welcome to join the Zoom.

Take care and Bright Blessings.

Enchantment is where you find it. It can be a melody, a turn of phrase, a smell, a taste, a view, an encounter, a new piece of knowledge. Those in-between vignettes that turn an every day into a different place. A different perspective that turns the familiar into the strange, or maybe turns grief into comfort. Maybe an enchantment takes you away from the life you lead to show you what it might mean. I don’t know: I’m just imagining. Anyway here are a few things I find enchanting.

This is Knowlton, on Cranborne Chase. It is a ruined Norman Church inside a Neolithic Henge with an ancient Yew grove. I go there twice a year and tie a ribbon to a Yew.

I recently found out that Aleister Crowley gave Frieda Kahlo lessons in Tarot. I wish I could have been a fly on the wall.

When David Bowie seriously needed to clean up his act in the 1970s he chose as his de-tox partners Iggy Pop and Lou Reed and they lived in West Berlin. Just think about that.

Twice a year the sunsets and sunrises align with the east west streets of Manhatten main street grid. Some folk call it Manhatten Solstice. How wonderful.

I’m looking forward to this event in a few weeks time. A secret location, storytelling and singing about the sea.

This is Vanessa: she will be telling a tale. She is magical.

This is me. I’ll be singing, accompanied by Katherine. I’m magical too.

My new song is called Anything is Possible.

Anything is Possible is inspired by playing card divination. It’s out now. Here is the link to the electronic music streams.

I worked out how to divine using playing cards.

Below is a set of tables showing different interpretations of playing cards which diviners used over the 18th, 19th and 20th century to read the cards. You can download it if you like: you are very welcome!

How it works is like this. The person being read chooses a queen or king to represent them. They shuffle the deck and cut it into three piles. The fortune teller takes the piles and deals all the cards out in five rows of nine and one row of seven. You locate the queen that was chosen and count nine cards in any direction counting the queen as one. When you hit an edge you can choose to go up or down, left or right. The card you end up at is the one you make your interpretation of. That is pretty much how to do it. Below is a podcast all about it in more detail. Drop me a line if you need any more pointers.

Anything is Possible is also inspired by a coffee shop owner in St Andrews. I asked for a buttered scone and he responded ‘Anything is Possible’. We both laughed and talked about stuff. The line stayed with me. An affirmation, a statement of optimism, a game plan. When I was writing the lyrics.

I find the process of writing, arranging, producing, recording and performing my songs joyful. The creation takes me to an empty place which I occupy in delight. It’s a mystery I know and do not know.

I do know that I love sharing music, magic and folklore with you.

I love foxes. Living in a city I see them every day. Several live in our back garden and we have watched them grow from cubs into fine renards. I love the way they move and their inquisitive nature. I grew up in the countryside and could never understand the fox hunt. I understand that foxes can attack and kill livestock, as an urban poultryman I understand that only too well, however in my opinion there are more effective and humane methods of population control than the hunt.

This song ‘Where you belong’ is a meditation on the adaptibility of the fox, how it is just as at home in the city as in the forest and field. It is about belonging wherever you end up, just like the fox. It also contains the concept of the dream foxes who hunt the fox hunters on their final nights…

I wrote, produced, recorded and mixed the song in my living room. The drums were from a project I worked on about 20 years ago, repurposed like some sonic palimpsest.

If you like you can listen to the song on the Spotify link above and follow me, or click on my bandcamp link and listen or perhaps buy.

If you are interested in the folklore of foxes I made this podcast about it too.

So where was I? I spend so much of my life in an inner world of imagination, reading & creating, that I find it hard to maintain a dialogue with the outer world. The joy of reading Russian wonder tales in preparation for giving a talk on Baba Yaga next Thursday makes me forget I ought to be promoting it. The fascination brought about by rehearsing musical accompaniments to London Dreamtime’s masterful telling of one of the Russian wonder tales this Saturday distracts me from telling anyone about it. My immersion in the process of writing, recording & mixing monthly songs about folklore & magic often results in me not promoting myself. I think that maybe I’m shy. I’m in love with music folklore & magic & I have a great life with music, folklore & magic as constant companions, however I find it hard to communicate that. I’m unsure whether I mind or not. I think I have always been an outsider, able to get on but not able to fit in. After a while I got used to it & even learned to be comfortable being an unconventional soul in a conventional world. Do you know what? I feel better for sharing.

Speaking of sharing; here is my most recent podcast. It’s all about the history of the Tarot. I found it very interesting to research. So interesting that I am gearing up to research playing card cartomancy for a future podcast. In the meantime here is my new song about the Tarot.

I am going to spend the rest of the afternoon drinking copious amounts of tea while completing sundry tasks including; writing a song about a spirit fox, researching the ritual components existing as residues in Russian wonder tales & some ironing. I may boil a witch bottle at midnight as Cunning Murell was prone to do just to be safe.

I am in love with music. I have played & sung since I was 6. I am so grateful for music. My songs are an expression of that love & are a chance for me to express my passion for folklore & magic in the way I can best. Every month I write, perform, record & mix a song on a folkloric or magical subject. This month I wrote a song on the subject of card divination, cartomancy.

I created the track using lithophone samples randomly loaded into the sampler to create an atonal yet regular motif, over this I overlaid some acoustic guitar, electric bass & layers of synthesizers before spending a day programming drum machine & drum samples. I wrote the topline melody next & then lyrics fell out of me inspired by my researches into Tarot & 52 card cartomancy. (I will be putting out a podcast on the history of the Tarot next week) My friend, Harriet Webb, came over & sang backing vocals & was inspired to record some harp. Harriet is incredibly talented.

My artistic method is a mix of craft process, untethered creativity somewhat akin to automatic writing & focussed writing to ensure that I have hit the standard I have set myself.

Some people keep diaries, these songs I write are my expression of where I am right now.

Other news this week; I am delighted to have found a venue to give live folklore talks in. It’s called The Electric Elephant Cafe & is close to Kennington & Elephant & Castle tube stations & is just off the Walworth Road in South East London. The South East London Folklore Society is a monthly meeting which I have been running for over 10 years & has been running for about 15 years before that. On Thursday December 9th I will be talking & singing about Baba Yaga, the Russian witch of the forest. The lore of Baba Yaga is fascinating & this talk is going to be very interesting. I will be making an online slideshow about it & running an online event about it the following week.

This is what my folklore slideshows are like. This one is about Vampire Lore.

& here is a song about Vampires.

Cheers

So my new track, Vampires, is out on Friday. Click on this link to pre-save it to your streaming services. I love writing music inspired by the weird & vampires are so interesting. I am finishing a blog about folklore & cultural history of vampires which will be out next week where I go into detail on the subject.

Here are the lyrics. I love writing lyrics. Once I have nailed the subtext they fly out. Expect more music magic & folklore from me soon.

The first Cunning Folk release in a while is tomorrow. It’s called ‘You Think You’re A Giant’ & is about what it would be to be a modern giant of folklore & myth.

I made a podcast about Giants of Myth & Folklore to accompany the song release. I called my podcast ‘The Autonomic Tarot Collective’ in honour of my favourite card game. It’s a good podcast: click on the link to enjoy it.

I will be releasing a track & a podcast a month from now on & look forward to sharing more music magic & folklore with you.

I’m fascinated by the folklore & mythology of giants. So much so that I am giving an online talk on the subject on Thursday at 8pm. Follow this link for more details. But that’s not all: I was inspired by my research to write a song about it & it will be released on Friday 17th on Spotify & Bandcamp.

Not content with doing things by halves I will be putting out a podcast about giants next week & doing an online gig too.

I am going to be doing a talk & a song release & a podcast & a livestream every month from now on.

Music Magic Folklore.

I’m currently reading Red Shift by Alan Garner in advance of a free online reading group I will be leading on August 26th. I’m a big fan of Alan Garner & have enjoyed Weirdstone of Brisingamen, Moon Of Gomrath & Owl Service over the past few years. Garner is often classified as a children’s author & I am not sure that this is altogether accurate. I find the reading often challenging & rewarding & many adults enjoy Garner’s work.

I first encountered Red Shift through the recent BFI reissue of the 1978 BBC Play For Today adaptation which the trailer is of. Garner made the adaptation himself. The film is an unsettling piece with strong themes of mysticism, folklore & place. The book is also unsettling, some of the episodes in it are distressing to me, however the journey of the story is enthralling.

If you like Red Shift & fancy talking about your experience of reading it or watching the BBC Play For Today on a free Zoom meeting you are very welcome. You are also welcome to join the meeting & listen to the conversation. Shy folk are just as welcome.