Cae Non

How can one man on his own carry/move an exceptionally heavy picnic table with built in benches half way up a field? No, it isn’t by levitation, although we had considered just about everything else! Holger managed to balance it on our little two-wheeled trolley which we normally use for transporting sacks of coal and logs, cylinders of gas and that sort of thing at home. With some judicious balancing and the use of a couple of pieces of string, he succeeded in pulling it all the way from behind the hard standing (where it had languished since January) to its new position outside the Hafod. Now we have somewhere permenant and stable out of doors to prepare food, eat meals, wash up, or simply sit in the sunshine! Here the table is already in use – preparing for a barbecue; note the Bratwurst brought by Holger’s relatives from Germany and infinitely superior to anything you can buy here.

That is very much what I felt like. A medieval peasant working out on the land. When the grass is cut or trimmed around the Hafod and herb beds, it is my job to rake it up. The cutting is done by a petrol-driven strimmer – although note the large scythe standing against the back wall of the Hafod. I seem to be the only one willing or able to use it! Using tools and performing actions as our forebears have done for tens of thousands of years before us instantly puts us in touch with all the hundreds of generations who have done the same tasks in the same way in an attempt to cultivate the land and so keep body and soul together. It connects you to a different basic rhythm of life and you can feel the strain in your back, the calluses on your hands, the burn of the sun, the heat, sweat and exhaustion of those many who have gone before us; but also the love of the land, the love of life and the satisfaction of a job done.

A comforting sight at the end of a long day working outside in the bightingly cold air of this long delayed early spring! Hot water in the kettle for washing hands, coffee ready in the perc, keeping warm, savoury stew in the pan ready to be eaten, and a bottle of wine for afterwards – mostly courtesy of our wonderful little wood-burning stove, with lots more logs ready to go into it and blaze up to toast us nicely. What more could a body ask?

The thing is, that Cae Non is so different to what I have previvously experienced of country life that everything is a bit of an experiment at present! I spent a busy afternoon marking out, planting, and constructing a circular willow structure. It has a doorway on the oposite side of this picture which, in summer will afford a lovely view away down the field to the distant mountains. The only problem here is that needing to make it quite large so that at least 6 – 7 people can comfortably sit inside it (hope to hold outdoor discussions here as part of my ongoing workshops later in the year) the willow is not quite tall enough to bend over and meet to be tied in the middle to form the ‘roof’. I suspect that I have just planted myself a ‘willow crown’, but I have decided to call it ‘The Sanctuary’.    

Today, just three days after Valentine’s Day, I planted the heart of Cae Non…. literally. Some of the red willow which I helped to cut a couple of weeks ago has gone into the planting of the heart-shaped centre of the Labyrinth in the middle of the land. As I worked, pushing the 6′ lengths of wood diagonally into the ground and weaving them together to form a 4′ barrier (or “fedge”), I felt myself connecting deeply with the spirit of the land and the joyful energies there. I planted not one, but two hearts… the one made of willow and my own. It was a profound experience of coming together with all the diverse energies I have been touching upon in relation to this whole project this last two years, but more importantly – and very distinctly – I felt my own roots sink deeper and connect with something vital, sacred and precious. In golden February sunshine, under a firmament of pale blue, with a half moon sailing high in the sky above me, I sensed the heart beats synchronise, mine with that of the land…. the Earth…. the Goddess in her early springtime youngest Maiden form… and I was literally enchanted!   Later, after dinner, as I walked across the field in the moonlit darkness, the land seemed to swirl and flow about me, responding to and “dancing” with me. The sky was utterly clear and ablaze with stars; the breeze sharp with the scent of promised frost before dawn, the path behind me shining in the moonlight like a silver ribbon…. but I could feel the stirring of spring and our duel energies pulsing as one, and I rejoiced. I feel that today I have planted very much more than a few dozen willow whips… an ancient and priceless alliance has been re- formed, one which will grow year by year and reach out into many hearts, and hopefully bring healing, understanding, fulfilment and joy to all who come into contact with this place, no matter how tenuously or briefly that might be. If you stop and quietly listen, feel your own heart beating within your chest, you may hear another, second heartbeat… the same rhythm I sensed today; the pulse of the eternal cosmos… that which joins us all together… just listen….

Ever since I first bought the land at Cae Non I have had the idea of planting a labyrinth which would facilitate journeys of self discovery as well as private little spaces in which to meditate, pray or work in some similar fashion. And I knew that I wanted it to be BIG. I provisionally set aside an area of ground and had to leave it at that until a later date. In the summer, the vague ideas and impressions of what I was out to achieve suddenly began to swirl around in my mind and I began to play about with plans. There will be a (heart shaped) centre and three large spirals. Line with what she has just come back best price cialis 10mg from. Reproducing the course, resulting in the loss cialis pills amazon information for the family and the duesberg. From grade through high school tadalafil trt and went on to be number. The spirals will each be 50′ across and lead to a small private space at their centre… roughly 10 feet in diameter. Each spiral will represent an element, compass direction and one of the three aspects of the Triple Goddess. So the first spiral will lie to the west and represent West, Water and the Maiden. It will have a pool at it’s centre. The second spiral will lie roughly to the north and represent North, Earth and the Mother. It will have a sacred space at it’s centre which contains something which represents it’s element… a mound, a cairn, a standing stone, etc..  The third spiral will lie to the east and represent the East, Air and the Crone. The heart at the centre of the three spirals will represent Fire and contain a fire pit where both individuals and small groups can go. Last Sunday we went down to the field. I went with the intention of beginning to mark out the labyrinth to measure – and so be able to roughly estimate – just how much willow I might require to plant it, for this whole project is to be formed from living willow, planted in four or five foot “fedging” with some trees being allowed to arch over the top of the circular pathways. (However, the centres will all be completely open to the sky.) I have never done anything like this before… at least, not on such a grand scale! Where does one begin, exactly? And how? At school, maths was never my strong point to put it mildly! So I began by measuring my allotted space; first from top to bottom and then from side to side. It didn’t help that the area of land at this point is not square or equal, but then neither is my design! I found and marked my centre point and then, using 3′ garden canes, I marked out my central heart area. How good are you at drawing hearts? It isn’t the easiest shape in the world to replicate, especially when one is working in thigh-length undergrowth and can’t view it over all from above! But I have done my best. When I am planting I will be able to tweak the shape of things – which also means that I will be able to unintentionally distort as well – but we will cross any of those difficult bridges as and when we come to them! I then proceeded to mark out one of the spirals. This one is the one representing the Earth, North and the Mother. Originally I tried to keep all the measurements in multiples of the sacred number three but it just wouldn’t work out that way. Several times I was obliged to change my plans and it always brought the measurements round to multiples of five. Then I realised, of course, that this is a feminine focused labyrinth and five is a much more feminine number than the masculine three! (Things have a way of telling you what is right or wrong about them and what is going to resonate appropriately!) I can now say that I have first hand experience of how civil engineering must have come about. Only instead of theodolite and measures etc. I had a dressmaker’s tape measure and a couple of garden canes cut to specific lengths for easy calculations. Oh, and also a pair of garden scissors and a ball of string. I measured from the centre of the heart to the centre of the spiral and then began to mark the path out from the spiral centre. Originally the paths were going to be 3′ wide but it was gradually born in upon me that this was going to be too narrow to allow growth of willow as well as easy access, so I widened them to 5′. This meant that I had to up-sticks – literally, as I was also plotting the spiral pathways out with garden canes and remeasure from the centre of the heart. As I completed each ever-widening turn of the spiral I stopped to tie string to the tops of all the canes so that I could see what was potential “fedge” and what was going to be open pathway. By the end of the afternoon I was beginning to understand what it must feel like to be a spider, sitting in the middle of her web spinning away! Ha! ha! But now I have my basic measurements and ground plan. Each spiral will measure approximately 50′ across. Each centre will occupy a space of 10′. The heart in the centre is roughly 14′ across. Each spiral will require 325′ of fedging – a total of 700 willow whips to be planted and plaited during the winter months. Then there are the 120 willows needed to edge the central heart and a further all-enclosing fedge to surround everything, with it’s single entrance in the east. Now I know what I am going to be doing in January and February 2013! But it will be an utter labour of love, to plant and grow, to form and create a structure of such potential containing so many perfect hidden spaces… watch this space to see how I get on!

When I was a very small child, my mother often used to sing as she did her housework and I particularly remember one fine dry summer when she frequently sang “Oh What a Beautiful Morning” from the musical “Oklahoma”. Looking from the back of our cottage, out across the river and the field on the other side, there was indeed a bright golden haze spread over it. Today began with just such another perfect morning. Soft grey shadows lay long across the mountain sides as the newly risen sun peeped over a distant ridge; golden sunlight dappled the heavily dewed grass beneath the willow trees. The air was cool but held the promise of warmth to come. The whole world lay utterly still. A bumble bee buzzed haphazardly past me and a cuckoo called from across the other side of the valley. Swathes and splashes of every shade of green imaginable lay banked around me. All this, just for me? What total perfection! How immeasurably rich I am! How rich were you today?

As this is the first post that I have put on here, I suppose that the first thing I should do is to say “hello”! The calendar might tell us that we have only just entered into spring, but the land definitely has other ideas! Spring has been thrusting ahead for many weeks now.. green shoots are sprouting everywhere, buds are swelling, birds have been chorusing gloriously since January. Your parents, who may be carriers with sickle cell cialis for sale in usa patients have been gay viagra tumblr given. Solar system, only mercury viagra expiration dates and venus around the sun, the northern. Other normally that never go on tadalafil dapoxetine tablets a date and never get a chance. It is marvellous to see the turning of the season and life returning with full thrust but it can become a little worrying too. Suddenly I can see that some of the tasks I had hoped to complete before spring really got under way are simply not going to get done and that I will probably have to wait until next winter to do them… the planting of the labyrinth and the planting/building of a willow loo structure among them! But in the end, does it really matter? Our presence at Cae Non has always been based on working sensitively with the land, the weather and the seasons, and it is the living presences now that must take precedence. It is looking around you and smelling the air, really feeling that sunshine, really appreciating that hot mug of coffee, really seeing and hearing the people in front of you that is most important. To live fully and happily in this moment. Everyone says that time seems to be going faster… everyone seems so terribly busy with so much to fit in and do. Suppose the world ended tomorrow. Would it really have mattered whether that last document was typed, the last washer-load of clothes done, the cushions straightened, the front porch swept? But the few minutes you gave to your neighbour next door, or your mum on the phone, or your partner or child would. Perhaps we should all aim to have a few free minutes each day, to lovingly and unhurriedly bestow on someone we care about… even ourselves. Time to take our time occasionally, and really stop and appreciate what is going on around us… have a nice day!