Names are important and frequently problematic. There are plenty of examples in myth, religion and fiction of the power that comes with knowing the True Name of something or someone.
My own name has certainly caused me problems over the years. One of my earliest school memories is of being very distressed when the headmaster mis-spelled my name on some paperwork; he told me it didn’t matter, but it mattered to me.
Continue reading “by any other name”
Occasionally a phrase in a news story or online article brings me up short and demands to be noted and preserved in some way.
The phrase that caught my attention this week comes from an article on the current all-time high of double births, which has been so widely reported under headlines that use the phrase “Twins peak” that I can only assume that is an exact quotation from a press release.
Continue reading “counting on it”
Yesterday I went out to the local shop at lunchtime. I was in a bit of a hurry as I had come out of one virtual meeting later than expected and had to hurry back for another. But I got to the shop, bought the couple of things I needed, and set off home before I realised I didn’t have my phone.
I paused in the middle of the street and did a quick mental check of pockets and was shocked to realise there was no way I’d dropped it or left it in the shop: I must have left my phone at home.
Continue reading “what a difference a week makes”
My co-author, Lucía, and I are still working on the final pieces for the third of the Modern Pagan Prayers books, which will include pieces for each of the eight festivals of the wheel of the year.
We’re definitely on the home straight, but the last few weeks haven’t been very productive, not least because it’s not particularly easy to write about summer and harvest time in the middle of winter when temperatures are sub-zero or the wind is wuthering and the rain is soldiering down.
Continue reading “rumours of spring”
It’s the last day of February, and the daffodils are in bloom. Perhaps there aren’t ten thousand visible at a single glance, but there are certainly a great number in all different spaces, from public parks and private gardens to pub yards and churchyards.
In view of the fact that tomorrow is St David’s day, I have been collecting photographs over the last week.
Continue reading “ten thousand saw I at a glance”
don't confuse the narrator 