Original oil painting by me Steve Cousins the Green Man
Any of you that have visited the Wooded Henge at Thornborough, North Yorkshire, will have had to face this choice.
If you had never visited a Neolithic henge before, and didn't know their general layout, you could be totally confused as to which way to go; especially with the trees obscuring so much of things. They are left to explore without pre-knowledge. Those of us that have been before and/or have some knowledge of how a henge is layout still face a choice. Left or right? Or do we just ignore the well trodden path and scramble directly through to the centre?
The henge consists, overall, of a circular ritual monument; an outer bank built from the material excavated to form a deep inner ditch. But neither is a complete circle. The ditch is in two segments, with two causeways of unexcavated ground at the northern and southern ends, allowing level access to the centre. And similarly, there were two gaps left deliberately in the bank, corresponding with the causeways. Between the bank and the ditch is a 'berm' a flat area on which a circular path now exists, worn by visitors walking around the outside of the ditch.
But here's the choice.
Do we follow the circular path to the left or the right? Or scramble down into the ditch and up directly into the centre?
If we follow the path and want to visit the centre, then you are left with other choices.
You will either have to not walk around half of the circular path, entering the central area via one of the causeways. And then when you leave the centre, do you use the causeway you entered by? In which case you could return the way you came, or turn the other way and complete the circular path. But then you will not use one of the causeways. Or do we leave the centre via the other causeway? But then you are faced again with either not walking half the circular path, and just walk the quarter back to where you started, again missing half the circular path, or turn the other way and then you will have to cover the first quarter of the circular path.
If you just scramble straight through to the centre, you will get there sooner, but it is far more risky, and then you either have all the same choices about which path to follow when you leave and what you miss out on, or scramble back out again, missing everything, but then you have had a very different experience from most other people for good or ill.
Sounds very much like life; doesn't it? What choices do I make? How much risk am I willing to do? How much do I want to do? How much am I willing to miss out on? It is difficult to do all. And those choices can depend very much on your personal circumstances at the time.
But I would say, don't worry too much about what you missed out. There were a multitude of reasons, not all within your control. Just try to enjoy the journey you are on.
PS I only started painting in September 2021, and this is only my 23rd painting. I am rather chuffed with it. :)
I don't know. Nothing from me for months and then 3 blogs in less than 2 weeks! But I have been trying to enjoy as much of the beautiful Spring woods, between poor weather, and work, when I can. And when I can be arsed, of course.
This time it was to scratch a spiritual itch that needed to be scratched with a visit to the wooded northern henge of the Thornborough Henge complex, in North Yorkshire. You can do an internet search on it if you want the details, that is not what I will be doing here today. Needless to say that over the last few years I have regularly attended the Beltane and Mabon pagan gatherings in the central henge (around May 1st & September 21st); the biggest gathering of pagans in the north of England each Spring and Autumn. Sadly, due to the Covid pandemic, this is the second year there will be no gatherings here.
As part of these gatherings, a highlight for me is a walk up to the northern henge (when I have the time and energy), which is covered in woodland, and generally has a lot less human activity in it. It is at it's best when the bluebells are in full bloom and the leaves are bursting out. But a visit in the early autumn is interesting, to see the contrast, with the tired leaves, still green, but getting ready to change colour and fall. I like to make my trip to the wooded henge a bit of a spiritual journey, and go and play my medieval bagpipes or recorders there; preferable on my own, or with a select group of friends who have wanted to come with me. If someone is already there doing 'their thing' I will shy away from interrupting them (generally, depending on who they are and/or what they are doing), and I feel uncomfortable if people turn up while I am doing 'my thing'.
So last year I only managed to get one visit to the henge, last July, with a friend and we played some music in the woods, but all Spring I have been wanting to get back and enjoy the wood in full bloom. With the cold weather delaying things, I knew that the bluebells would be displaying later, so I was fairly confident there would be a good show.
I knew that today would be the last chance to visit the henge between rain bands, but with a chance of getting caught in a heavy shower, but the weather was good in between, and I was lucky with the weather when I was there.
So here goes!
What lies behind this screen of vivid green?
As I ducked in under the branches, I was hit by a wonderful wall of birdsong and the smell of wildflowers.
This is what was behind the green screen.
I made my way along the path around the inside of the henge bank and crossed over into the centre of the henge from the north side.
And of course I did some playing of my Russian Tank/Tongue Drum too, and some recorder playing too, but to be honest the natural sounds of the birds was far better than anything I did.
A nice variety of plants here.
I left the central area from the south to re-join the circular path that runs along the berm between the outer bank and the two inner ditch sections.
It is because the ditch sections are inside the banks (created by digging out the ditches) that archaeologists knew that these were not defensive structures.
Sections of the outer bank.
These yellow flowers shone out among the mostly greens and blues. I thought they might be oxslips, but on closer examination it turns out that they are the more common cowslips. One hopes they are here naturally, but these days with so many people and organisations reseeding woodlands with plants like this you never know.
A last view before leaving, Although I know I will be back.
No timid beasts to tame this time, a week on from my last visit to Brussleton Wood, County Durham, except for some squirrely squirrels (grey) that didn't run away from me, but they didn't seem to react to my playing either.
So a week on, due to the cold Spring delaying them, there was now a fine show of bluebells, but it is still not at its peak for this wood. I was in nearby Bellburn Wood the other day, and that was much more advanced on the slopes facing west, but not so much on the east facing slope, and Brussleton faces north.
So here goes. Todays little trip. Basically the same as last week, but greener.
The Roman Road again.
There are some lovely old rowan trees along this bit.
And into the main wood again.
Looking mostly green at the moment.
It was about here that there was a group of squirrely grey squirrels, who didn't run off, but they weren't that impressed with my playing! LOL!
That's more like it! Bluebell wise.
I wandered a little deeper into the wood this time, looking for a spot to sit and play. And then suddenly my Russian Tank/Tongue Drum 'ponged', even though I hadn't knocked it. I took this as a sign, that this was the right place. On the way back to the car, it made several similar noises, and it turned out that the keys in my pocket would occasionally knock against it. LOL! But at the time it seemed all very 'magical and mysterious'. LOL! But then again, why should it happen when it happened? right where there was a convenient place to sit and play?
And! When I placed the drum on this branch it actually hummed with happiness!
So this is the spot that seemed to have been decided for me where I should play.
Before I started I did this little video (above) of the area so you could see the extent of the bluebells and hear the bird song. The carrion crow was particularly noticeable.
Bluebells surrounded me. 😊
I managed to prop the outsmartsmephone up so that you could enjoy seeing the Bluebells while I played, rather than seeing me.
Again, it is so long since I blogged. Never my intention to go so long. I am always full of ideas and things I would like to blog, but rarely seem to get round to it.
Well! It is my favourite time of year again, and this Spring I have been trying to get out and enjoy my local woods in their full glory, even though everything has been held back by the cold weather. It has been good for the Wood Anemones, but the Bluebells are only just starting to come out in dribs and drabs.
But now is the month of Maying, and I have been desperate to do something spiritual in among the bluebells, but the weather has not been good, and as I said the bluebells delayed. Well today I was determined to get out. It was a glorious morning, with gigantic billowing Nimbus clouds, so I knew it wouldn't last long. In fact for the last week we have often had a good morning, and then hailstorms in the afternoon due to the strong Spring sunshine building up energy in the sky, and the cold weather. Now it has turned a bit warmer, and it looks like rather than hail it will be thunder storms. I had wanted to get out before the storm arrived, but I had some work to do, and indeed the storm broke on my way to my workshop, and on the way back there was lots of lightning too. So I thought my plans to go and play in Brussleton Wood were scuppered. But on my way home I could see that the rain was clearing, and there was a bright blue patch of sky in the west, so I thought it was worth 'risking it for a biscuit', and carried on driving past my house and on to the wood. And it stopped raining soon after I got there, and I hoped to get some spiritual time in before the next storm.
I have visited Brussleton Wood a few times over the years, especially at Bluebell time; it has one of the best displays of them that I have seen anywhere. And, over the years I have played my recorder and medieval bagpipes there, and in other woods and special places, but this was the first time I have brought out my Russian Tank/Tongue Drum (due to the pandemic there is a lot we haven't been able to do during various levels of lockdown). It is a heavy Russian tank, so not something I wanted to carry far, or for long, but I wouldn't have to take it far; just a short way down the old Roman Road (Dere Street), and then hopefully find somewhere I could sit and play it on my own; and with it being a Monday afternoon, and with the thunderstorms, there should be few others around. And as it turned out I did get the place to myself.
Or so it seemed!
So off I set down the Roman Road, struggling to take photos one-handed, due to not wanting to put my heavy drum down.
I could see it was a lot greener than when I sneaked a peek last week, but I also suspected that the bluebells were still far from at their best.
And this suspicion was proved right, as I entered the wood properly.
But I didn't mind, as the wood was looking lovely and peaceful anyway; and I was here now, and so happy to be here. It felt really happy!
I then began to look around for the right place to sit and play, and set off down a path I know, still struggling to take photos while holding my heavy drum.
Then came one of those times in your life of happy sublime co-incidence and serendipity, when you are just in the right place at the right time, in the right mood, and with the right equipment for that time and place and moment in time. A lot of the pictures I thought I took over the next few minutes, I clearly didn't, due to trying to operate the phone camera one handed and not move too much.
I had intended to go much further into the wood, and was looking for a suitable fallen tree to sit on. There was one near this spot (above), but something happened here, that meant I didn't go any further this time. Even I can't see her in the above picture, but I saw her in the distance at the time. A row deer, with her white arse towards me, but she had probably turned towards me at this stage, deciding on whether I had seen her, and whether to run or not (I am assuming it is a 'her', I certainly 'feel' it was a her). So I think she is in the above picture, or maybe it was one of the ones that didn't get taken? Luckily some of them did get taken, as you will soon see.
So I saw her in the distance, and she saw me. I stood still, and so did she. Then I brought up my drum, cradling it in my left arm, and started playing with my right. "What is this strange noise?" you could see her thinking. "What is it? What is it??" As I played, I was delighted that she did not bolt as I expected her to have done as soon as she had seen me (as has happened before in this wood). But instead of running away, she turned towards me, and slowly......, cautiously....., at first, she started coming towards me!!! I couldn't believe it. My music was enticing her towards me! Not directly towards me, but she went in stops and starts, starts and stops, in a wide circle, gradually coming closer towards me, as her curiosity over came her timid fear. "What is this strange noise?"
And as she came closer, I stopped and tried to take the odd photo, hoping not to scare her, and, as I keep saying, it was a bit of a struggle and not all of what I thought I had taken were; not helped by the tears of pure joy I had in my eyes too. And as usual, what seems close and clear to you, at the time, is not as clear and obvious in the pictures.
Can you see her now? he is there.
See!
And again, a little closer.
And closer still.
I am sure that she got closer still before she finally bound away?
At this point it seemed obviously to me that this is the place that had been chosen for me by the nature spirits for me to play at this moment in time. This was the place. And I hoped that my darling doe would return if I played here (sadly she didn't, but you will see in the video that I kept looking out for her or anything else that might happen.
So I sat down on this fallen tree trunk, set up my phone and began to play.
In the first bit I played like I did when charming the beast. One-handed. Then I played more like normal, although it was a struggle to keep the drum on my lap due to the angle. It is only a short video, I had hoped to capture some of the bird song at the beginning and end, and stopped when I did as it started to rain again.
But then, as it turned out, it actually soon stopped raining, and the sun came out and it was glorious; but there are times when enjoying to time and place is more important than trying to record it. I sat there for about an hour playing, much better than this, I think, as I was more relaxed, not worrying about being recorded. I didn't really want to stop playing, in some ways, as I was just so enjoying being alive and living this very special magical moment.
As a post script. I didn't realise just who had selected this place for me to experience such magic and joy. It was only when I got home and was examining the photos that I spotted the Green Man at exactly the place where I saw the doe and decided that this was the place to play.
