The Lindisfarne Working Cultural Event
Join David William Parry for an incredible cultural event, party and magical working, designed to rediscover the spirituality of our natural environment through re-creating the Old Norse rituals of our Ancestors.
Valentines Hall is holding its first international festival celebrating Norse cultural roots. In order to do this we will gather together on Friday 29th April for registration and toasts to our kith and kindred.
Saturday, we will have a simple (but traditional) Nordic breakfast, including Norwegian Egg Coffee, followed later that day by a party, through dance, Galdr chanting and rune-workings, before feasting the evening away with a Viking supper to the accompaniment of folk-tunes and poetry. However, for those who wish to go further, an age-old tribal ceremony and astral seance intended to contact the Wyrd will be performed. Indeed, we will seek ever-living advice of this Cosmic Presence and our Sacred Ancestors. Mr Paul Obertelli of THA Talks (radio show) will attend the Working with a view to holding a live broadcast from the Holy Island of Lindisfarne for those wishing to watch highlights from the cultural section of our gathering.
For our party and evening festivities, we are currently talking to Norwegian throat singers with a view to hearing their ancient songs at our Working as well as inviting glima champions to show their fighting skills as part of our entertainments. There will be Skaldskáp as well as dramatised scenes from David William Parry's one-man show, Breathing Like Beowulf, will be premiered as a central facet to our ventures. As such, we will be awarding a prize for new poetry at the Working and publishing the winner (along with all of the best work submitted), on our Valentines Hall. Lastly, the master of inherited Stav Staff combat, Mr Graham Butcher, will be exhibiting his inherited techniques to our party-goers in the form of an Ice and Fire demonstration.
The fee will pay for our morning meal, as well as our evening's entertainment. Also, we are trying to fly some VIP guest speakers from Trondheim. On a personal level, I am giving my services as a priest for no remuneration.
All attendees will have their names listed on our website and newsletter.
This will be our first Ancestral Working in the UK before moving on to Trondheim next year. Indeed, our plans are evolving into an annual celebration of all things Northern.
P.S. as a special preparation, we suggest watching journalist and filmmaker, Tom Rowsell's excellent heathen and cultural mini-doc about megaliths here.
Endorsement from Fr Alan Cox
"The time is so right, 2022 is the beginning of a new togetherness for the world to reunite and resurrect the original ways of doing community.
By acknowledging the Earth and the Stars we are able to thank our ancestors who were far braver than we could ever be. There was no technology thousands of years ago, mankind relied on and survived on what he/she/they had at their disposal which wasn't a lot. By digging deep into their primitive instincts and basic skills they forged the beginning of this world that we know and take for granted to a certain extent today.
By calling out to the Earth's very core of existence our forefathers were able to create their world, they understood the power that lay within its soil, the energy of the trees and the awesome power of its oceans and rivers which sustained life but could also destroy.
Most of us surround ourselves with possessions and live in comfortable homes and take it for granted that we will eat and drink three times a day and only have to drive down to the supermarket to get what we need. We don't even have to do that, we can go online and order our food to be delivered to our door at a time to suit us 7 days a week all-year-round. We complain if the store hasn't got what we want, Try to imagine waking up each day and having to go and hunt for your food whilst trying to protect against being lunch for a wild animal.
These people should be remembered with love and gratitude for they created us all, they understood the force of nature, they respected our home. Earth. We need to enhance their daily tireless work. It doesn't mean we have to forsake our way of life, it does however mean we take time to thank our ancestors for the diligence and compromise our wants, wishes and needs to look after planet Earth so it is still here in thousands of years to come, while future generations can enjoy what we do.
Pagan, heathens, traditionalists, perennialists, theosophist, and spiritualists have a serious role to play in protecting us all. After all, there is an increasing interest in eco-friendly and sustainable ways of living. More people are now questioning the mainstream religions.
I try to help others by healing and sharing the ideas of like-minded people through my radio shows which can be heard via my website:
https://www.understandingspirit.com
In the words of the late Irish comedian Dave Allen "May your God go with you".
Blessing
Fr Alan Cox