As the winter solstice approaches...

The pre-holiday season is reaching its crescendo, as festive get-togethers and last-minute gift shopping are packed into ever-rushed schedules - and all at a time when many of us yearn to be at peace, snuggled in the warmth and safety of our homes, in the arms or company of our loved ones, soaking up the magic and meaning of the winter solstice (whatever our religion or beliefs).

Whilst I have been taking moments to enjoy the dim haziness of the winter garden outside my window, with its growing layer of verdant green moss; the colour and twinkle of the decorated tree in the front room; the magic and traditions of the season; and the warm feeling of gift-giving, my nights have been growing increasingly sleepless as that underlying anxiety raises its ugly head.

Rather fortuitously, as I was meditating on the idea of returning to a simpler life earlier this morning, I noticed a new post on one of my favourite blogs, Woolgathering and Wildcrafting, which opened with the words, "Between the time spent navigating family politics and trying to get the tree to stand straight in its stand there is a stream of quietude that runs just beneath the surface. Can you hear it?"

In the post, written by Asia Suler, an American writer, gardener, herbalist, reiki practitioner and founder of One Willow Apothecaries, we are encouraged to tap into the ancient mysticism of this time of year - again, regardless of our beliefs, as it is a special time for people of many religions and of no religion. After all, each and every one of us can feel that pull of our connection with the earth and the seasons, and we can all enjoy some festive spirit!

The blog post is accompanied by a video, shown below, which gives some lovely background information and tips for making the most of the solstice - worth a watch if you have 10 minutes to spare.

To throw in my own two pennies' worth, I also recommend making candles at this time of year. It's so easy to do, it's cathartic, and the candles make great handmade gifts. You could even burn them in the dark evenings as Asia suggests in her video. This year I used essential oils and colour to make a batch of cinnamon-scented yellow-gold pillar candles, and a batch of spruce-scented green pillar candles; both evocative fragrances for winter.

Wishing you all a restful and restorative winter season that is also full of fun and friendship, whichever festival or reason you are celebrating.

Video: Infusing Mysticism into the Holiday Season by Asia Suler
Featured painting: Winter's Dream by Amanda Clark

Magic in metal: September jewellery discoveries

It was that time of year again - time to make my annual pilgrimage to Olympia in London, which for three days each September houses the latest jewellery designs ready to roll out to shops across the UK - and in many cases, the world.

With two floors of exhibition stands at the International Jewellery London (IJL) event packed with sparkly new discoveries, I spent the day seeking out the most magical pieces I could find - with the occasional pit stop for a coffee in the press office of course!

This year certainly didn't disappoint.

I began at the glorious technicolour stand of Hazel Atkinson - a lady I'm always delighted to see. Her latest contemporary designs in aluminium are as bold and as smile-inducing as ever, with rich, autumnal colours heralding the new season.

I noticed a big increase in the number of designs incorporating druzy stones, with their glittering effect produced by a layer of tiny crystals over a mineral beneath. Sometimes treated or coated to create mesmerising colours, they had been chosen by several designers for eye-catching statement rings and pendants.

This Dark Matter ring by Katarina Burghard of Kat B London immediately caught my eye.

This beautiful Lagoon Pendant by Gallardo & Blaine Designs achieves a similar effect, with silver wire encasing a glittering blue-plated fossil, and a tiny silver dragonfly hovering above its hypnotic depths. Each one is unique.

Ortak never fail to capture the myth, mystery and history of the folklore-rich Orkney Islands on which they are based, just off the north-east coast of Scotland. I particularly love their use of enamel, as seen in the Alba collection, inspired by the Pictish carvings of Scotland, and the Coastal collection, with its rolling azure waves.

Two Skies use a variety of gemstones in their jewellery designs, including the lovely mottled green Scottish Iona marble, which is found on beaches and in underwater seams at the south-west corner of the Isle of Iona.

Sometimes referred to as the sacred stone of St Columba, it evokes the rich history of this island, thought to be the first Christian site in Scotland and likely the place in which the beautiful illuminated Book of Kells (now on display at Trinity College Dublin) was produced, or at least begun, in the 8th or 9th century.

The company also creates jewellery from old pieces of porcelain, which would make lovely unique gifts. Pictured are some of their Country Rose pieces.

Alex Monroe's stand is always another favourite stop on my tour of the jewellery show. Earlier in the summer, Alex created this finely detailed Jubilee Carriage necklace as part of an exclusive range sold at Buckingham Palace - a piece that has completely captured my imagination with its Cinderella-esque magic. You can find out how he made the pendant in this episode of his Monroe Mumbles videos.

Last, but most certainly not least, is the work of new designer Katy Tromans, who was one of the winners of this year's Bright Young Gems initiative at IJL, through which the design stars of the future are nominated by a group of leading jewellery and fashion editors. This time, renowned fine jewellery designer Shaun Leane also joined the panel.

I'll leave you with three of her creations - tiny silver sculptures, straight from the pages of a fairytale, each of which functions as a display stand for an ornate ring. Something tells me you won't be at all surprised by her win when you see them!

Alice

Jonah and the Whale

Rapunzel

The last days of summer

As the morning air grows crisp and fresh, and the garden begins its slow retreat towards winter hibernation, Lunar and I are making the most of the sun's ebbing warmth - whilst anticipating the warmth of the fire to come...

Secrets of the scribes

Few objects provide me with quite such an immersive time-travelling experience as an illuminated manuscript.

There's something about those pulsatingly vibrant colours alongside the rich gold, like the sun captured on paper - a combination so powerful that my eyes seem to briefly lose focus. There's something about those layers of symbolism, with each scene, design and colour loaded with meaning to be conveyed to the contemporary viewer. And there's something about their tangibility that whisks me away on a carpet of imagination, picturing them being created, being read, being owned and passed on. Lost, maybe. Found again. Hidden. Valued.

Rarely do the general public get the opportunity to view these precious texts first hand, however - most are locked away in the bowels of libraries and museums in order to preserve them, and are only occasionally revealed through documentaries, such as Illuminations: The Private Lives of Medieval Kings by Dr Janina Ramirez.

But thanks to the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, England, there is now such an opportunity! Running until 30 December this year, Colour: The Art and Science of Illuminated Manuscripts allows visitors to see 150 of the finest and most awe-inspiring examples of complete illuminated texts and fragments from long-lost volumes, produced between the 8^th and 17^th centuries. The majority of these come from the museum’s own collection, as bequeathed by the institution’s founding father Viscount Fitzwilliam in 1816 under strict instructions that they should never leave the building.

I was lucky enough to be invited to the press viewing of the exhibition, at which I was particularly fascinated to discover the close relationship between alchemy and artistic practice at the time in which the manuscripts were created; gold, for example, was known as ‘the sun’ and silver as ‘the moon’. The exhibition’s alchemical scroll (pictured right), partially rolled out in a glass case and viewable in its entirety on the museum’s digital resource, was undoubtedly one of the stars of the show.

Thanks to cutting-edge research by the Fitzwilliam's curators, scientists and conservators, the exhibition is even able to show us the materials that were used to create each colour pigment used on the pages of the manuscripts on display - from plant materials and lichens to minerals such as lapis lazuli and azurite.

Art, science, religion and humanity in perfect harmony.

Taking the coastal path

Ok, I admit it, the sea has claimed my mind once again, thanks to the glorious summer weather in Norfolk and a recent escape to the ever-inspiring coast of Pembrokeshire in Wales.

My Oak King and I embarked on a travelling holiday, staying in a different place each night and covering more ground than we would otherwise have done. Beginning on the English side of the border, with visits to Kenilworth Castle and the Neolithic and Bronze Age Rollright Stones, we moved on for a day at the literary Hay Festival in Hay-on-Wye, before continuing on towards the sea.

At Manorbier we explored the ancient castle, used as a backdrop in the 1980s/90s television adaptation of the Chronicles of Narnia.

At Stackpole, we struggled through the soft sand, paddled in the cool water, and found barnacles, limpets and rich red anemones, like boiled sweets, in the cliff crags and huge jellyfish washed up on the shore.

At Abereiddy we searched for didymograptus fossils and saw jellyfish swimming in the Blue Lagoon and a huge crab scuttle across the sea floor

Meanwhile at nearby Porthgain, after some rather delicious fish and chips at The Shed, we were lucky enough to spot a lone seal, basking on a raft tethered just outside the harbour.

Finally, at Trefin, we walked a little of the Pembrokeshire Coast Path on a baking hot day, where the sea sparkled, the skylarks sang, and the ruins of slate buildings clung to the cliffs.

I also had the opportunity to visit the marvellous Solva Woollen Mill, and collected my signed copy of Jackie Morris's recently republished book, The Seal Children. Back at the B&B, I eagerly devoured both story and illustrations.

Lucky for me, waiting at home was another literary gem - The People of the Sea by David Thomson - and so I was able to indulge in many more tales of coastal life, selkies and mermaids. Thomson's book is hauntingly evocative, detailing the stories of his own journeys and experiences meeting locals in the Hebrides and on the west coast of Ireland. He captured many traditional folk tales, straight from the mouths of the elders, with their dialects preserved, which may otherwise have been lost.

Best wishes for a very happy summer, rich with adventures, for those reading from the Northern Hemisphere, or a magical winter for those in the south.

Photo of Manorbier: Paul Allison

Hidden messages from the past

Have you ever wondered what secrets your house may be hiding? Past events, stories of previous occupants - maybe even long-forgotten or deliberately concealed objects?

Hidden and apotropaic objects, such as witch bottles, shoes and dried or mummified cats, have always fascinated me on so many levels. Not only the objects themselves, but the moment or circumstances of their placement; the reasons for their placement; the people or person who placed them; and the feelings they evoke in the modern day.

Their incongruousness, their age, their mystery, their links with and potential to hold magic all inspire a curious sensation in the 21st century onlooker, which varies very much from individual to individual. The objects often inspire terror, vulnerability and a kind of violation - the householder having been completely unaware of their existence. But for me, it's like butterflies of excitement, a firing of the imagination, and a warm handshake with the past.

It's been almost a week since I attended the Hidden Charms conference at Norwich Castle - an entire day dedicated to this very subject - and my mind is still on overdrive.

It's not very often that you can attend a day of lectures and not start to feel a little drowsy, especially around '3 o'clock noddies' time, but on this occasion I was alert from start to finish, wide-eyed and soaking up ideas like a very excited sponge.

I heard about luck and dread from researcher Jeremy Harte; cunning-folk and their work from museum director and researcher Jason Semmens; the use of the 'archaic head' as a symbol on and in buildings from author and editor John Billingsley; the contents and possible meanings of witch bottles from PhD student Annie Thwaite; and ritual protection in high status houses from senior archaeologist James Wright.

I discovered, thanks to ritual building concealment expert Sonja Hukantaival, that it is quite common to find miniature coffins containing the bodies of small creatures such as frogs buried under church floorboards in Finland. Who'd have thought it!

A whole new light was shed on the caves under the Mendip Hills by researcher and caver Linda Wilson, who revealed that she had discovered ritual protection marks (mostly the conjoined Vs symbol that is commonly found in buildings across the country) carved into the rocks close to chimney-like natural structures, particularly where there was a chilling draught. I am now chomping at the bit to get back to Wookey Hole and look for some of them myself!

I also heard about a variety of hidden shoe discoveries from folklore archaeologist Ceri Houlbrook, who is currently mapping concealed objects across the UK and documenting the accounts of their contemporary finders to see what they mean to people in the modern day.

You can watch the introductory lecture on 'Evidence of Unseen Forces', given by independent researcher Brian Hoggard, who has been recording and mapping finds since 1999, in the video below.

Do hidden charms intrigue you? Have you ever found a concealed object? How did it make you feel?

Concealed shoes from East Anglia: Edmund Patrick

The call of the sea

Periodically throughout the year I am suddenly all-consumed by thoughts of the ocean. Not only does the coast call to me, but all I seem to want to watch, read and look at are programmes, films, artworks and stories of the sea.

And so it is that I've been soaking up every episode of Coast I can lay my eyes on! Luckily, this programme is on television almost every day in the UK (for readers overseas, I wonder if you can view it online?), but of course that hasn't been enough for me! I've been scouring the internet looking for documentaries and films that pique my interest.

Undoubtedly my best discovery is the animated film, Song of the Sea, directed by Tomm Moore. I've watched it three times in two weeks, and I honestly can't believe I'd not heard of it before now! For those who, like me, have been unaware of its existence, or perhaps just haven't got around to watching it yet, I cannot recommend it enough. I was mesmerised from the very beginning, and reduced to tears of wonder by the end. Ocean myth brought to life in the most perfect way. If you like Tomm Moore's style, you may also enjoy The Secret of Kells.

Craving more selkies (about which there seem to be disappointingly few films and documentaries), I also watched Ondine, directed by Neil Jordan, which I thoroughly enjoyed, and an old favourite, The Secret of Roan Inish, directed by John Sayles.

Already a fan of the music of Kevin Kendle, which I find particularly relaxing and inspiring when writing, I was delighted to discover that he had made an album with Llewellyn called Journey to Atlantis. An intriguing, relaxing and imagination-capturing journey of discovery under the sea.

The sea has inspired countless artists, all with their own take on the atmosphere, jagged coastline, crashing waves, wide horizons, wildlife and myth. My favourites are undoubtedly Annie Hudson, Josephine Wall, Victor Nizovtsev and John William Waterhouse, whose work is pictured throughout this blog post.

Finally, it's time for a trip to the coast my mind has been so occupied with!
 

Featured paintings: Call of the Sea by Josephine Wall; The Mermaid by John William Waterhouse; Sea Cave by Annie Hudson; Promise by Victor Nizovtsev