Introduction – Scarborough Fair

Scarborough Fair is a northern English folksong which was first recorded in Frank Kidson’s Traditional Tunes in 1891. The fair it is named after took place in Scarborough from 1253 until 1788, running from Assumption Day, August 15th, until Michaelmas day, September 29th. It forms a place-specific variant of an older song, ‘The Elphin Knight’, collected by Francis James Child as Child Ballad 2 with variants dating back to the 1670s. 

The song takes the form of an exchange between a pair of former lovers. The first part is sung by a male, who asks a traveller to take a message to the female. He sets her a trio of impossible tasks – to make him a cambric shirt without seam or needlework, to wash it in a dry well, and hang it on a thorn tree that has never blossomed in order to win him back. She replies with her own trio of impossible tasks – to find an acre of land between the sea foam and sea sand, sow it with one peppercorn and tie it up with a peacock’s feather. Only then, will she make the shirt and agree to be his true love. 

The tradition of lovers completing impossible tasks is a long one. It is found in the medieval Welsh text, Culhwch ac Olwen (1100), in which Culhwch completes forty to win the hand of Olwen from the giant, Ysbaddaden Bencawr. These, too, include ploughing and sowing the land and Ysbaddaden Bencawr means ‘Chief Hawthorn Giant’ which might relate to the thorn tree. ‘The Giant’s Daughter’ international folklore motif, containing the impossible tasks, is pan-European, and dates back to prehistoric times. 

Notably, in the second line of each verse, we find the repetition of the line – ‘savoury (later parsley – the same herb), sage, rosemary and thyme’. This replaced an earlier refrain – ‘Sober and grave grows merry in time’.

This is the version of Scarborough Fair recorded by Frank Kidson:

The male:
O, where are you going? To Scarborough Fair?
Savoury, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Remember me to a lass that lives there,
For she was once a true love of mine.

And tell her to make me a cambric shirt,
Savoury, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Without any seam or needlework,
And then she shall be a true love of mine.

And tell her to wash it in yonder dry well,
Savoury, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Where no water sprung nor a drop of rain fell,
And then she shall be a true love of mine.

And tell her to dry it on yonder thorn,
Savoury, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Which never bore blossom since Adam was born,
And then she shall be a true love of mine.

The female:
O, will you find me an acre of land,
Savoury, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Between the sea foam and the sea sand,
Or never you’ll be a true love of mine.

O, will you plough it with a ram’s horn,
Savoury, sage, rosemary and thyme,
And sow it all over with one peppercorn,
Or else you’ll be a true love of mine.

Or will you reap it with a sickle of leather,
Savoury, sage, rosemary and thyme,
And tie it all up with a peacock’s feather,
Or never you’ll be a true love of mine.

And when you have done and have finished your work,
Savoury, sage, rosemary and thyme,
You can come to me for your cambric shirt,
And then you shall be a true love of mine.

This song has meaning to me because I rewrote and sung the first part based around the impossible tasks Vindos set me for when I married Him in death. 

Are you going to the Land of the Fair
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme
Remember me to one who lived there
For she once was a true love of mine

Tell her to build us a coffin of wood.
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme.
From no tree that ever has stood
And she will be a true love of mine

Tell her to dig the deepest of graves
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme
Without a pick axe or a spade
And she will be a true love of mine

Tell her to seal our burial tomb
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme
Without hammer or nails return to the womb
And she will be a true love of mine

Since then, I have been growing parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme together in my back garden and offering them to Vindos around our wedding day in mid-May.

Whilst the mainstream answer to the origin of the refrain ‘parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme’ lies in its sounding like earlier lines, it has also been suggested that this combination of herbs might be a love charm. Indeed, each of these herbs is associated with love and fertility, as well as death. 

Recently, I received the insight that these herbs might not only symbolise my sacred marriage to Vindos, but might have medicinal benefits for me too. Through shamanic journeying and research, I have discerned their personal meaning.

Parsley – Relax

I see you lying on a rock in the Underworld. 
I lie beside you. It’s a long way up. 
More than 3 miles, 6 miles, 7 miles, or 9. 
It’s said you have walked this path
3 times, 6 times, 7 times, 9 times 
with the Devil or with an Elfin Knight. 
I see I have walked this path with him too.
How long will it take us to stir? To go to the light?

The term ‘parsley’ originates from the Ancient Greek petroselinon, ‘rock celery’, from petros ‘rock’ and selinon ‘celery’. Both parsley and celery belong to the same family – Apicaeae – the parsley, celery, or carrot family. Its Latin name is Petroselinum crispum. It originates from the rocky cliffs of the Mediterranean and, like the other three herbs, was brought to Britain by the Romans. 

In the Greek and Roman traditions, parsley was associated with death. It was said to have sprouted from the blood of Archemorus ‘forerunner of death’. It was sacred to Persephone – the ancient Greek Queen of the Underworld. It was strewn on graves, woven into funeral wreaths and grown on tombs. It was also used to deodorise corpses. It was said that when a person was close to death, they would soon need ‘nothing but parsley’.

Its slow germination period was explained by its going to the Devil 3, 6, 7 or 9 times. This is suggestive of its longstanding associations with the Underworld. Or perhaps it is so relaxed it takes it a while to stir from its sleep?

One of its primary properties is bringing about physical and mental relaxation. It contains a phenylpropene called apiole which has historically been used to relieve stomach cramps and menstrual cramps and also has a diuretic action (warning – too much can irritate the kidneys and being about abortions). 

It is rich in Vitamin K, which promotes relaxation by regulating calcium levels in the body, thereby preventing involuntary muscle contractions and easing cramps.

It contains two important flavonoids called luteolin and apigenin. These regulate stress hormones and neurotransmitters (GABA and serotonin). They also have neuroprotective, anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory effects.

As someone with a family history of diabetes, I was intrigued to find out that it contains an anti-diabetic flavonoid called myricetin, that lowers blood sugar.

It also good for the heart. Apigenin also serves as an inflammatory that relaxes blood vessels. Folate (Vitamin B9) lowers levels of homocysteine—an amino acid which can damage arterial structures and cause heart disease.

Its benefits for the heart might provide a link to link to love and to fertility. In ancient Greece and Rome it was used in both funeral and wedding wreaths.

Across Europe it was said that babies were found in patches of parsley prior to the cabbage patch and that growing parsley in the garden led to pregnancy. Parsley wine has also been drunk as an aphrodisiac.

‘Relax’ is the message that parsley has brought for me. 

If only I could lie down in a bed of parsley and go to sleep…

Sage – Clear your Mind

I float to you light as smoke. 
The smog of black thoughts I leave behind.
By you I am filtrated, siphoned.
Wise old sage, you clear my mind.

The term ‘sage’ originates from the Latin sapere ‘to have good taste, to be wise’. It now refers to a wise person. The Latin name, salvia officinalis, comes from salvia ‘to heal’ and officina, a place where monks kept their herbs. Like rosemary and thyme, it belongs to the Lamiaceae, thesage family.

Sage has long been associated with wisdom. The Romans chewed the herb and drank in their tea to improve their mental sharpness and capacity for learning. Nicholas Culpeper, in his 1653 work, The Complete Herbal, noted its capacity to ‘heal the head and the brain’ and its role in cognition and memory.

Sage contains 160 phytochemicals. A number have been identified as aids in enhancing mental clarity and memory. The primary one is rosmarinic acid and 1,8 cineoloe, camphor, carnosic acid and caffeic acid play a role. Together, they form a powerful ‘phytochemical cocktail’ (2) for the mind.

The phytochemicals in sage improve cognition by inhibiting an enzyme called acetylcholinesterase that breaks down acetylcholine (a primary neurotransmitter that enables your brain to communicate with your body). By protecting acetylcholine, sage supports the body-mind connection.

It also boosts levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). This plays an essential role in neurogenesis (creating new neurons) and synaptogenesis (creating new connections between neurons). This bolsters brain power and improves neuroplasticity, making the mind more flexible.

Sage also prevents neuro-inflammation by repressing inflammatory cytokines.

Like parsley, it, too, is an anti-diabetic. It works like the drug, metformin, lowering blood sugar by reducing the amount of glucose produced by the liver.

Like its kindred, sage is also associated with both love and death. It was used to deodorise corpses and was thrown and planted on graves. Growing a sage bush in the garden enhanced fertility and young women picked a sage leaf on Midsummer or New Year’s eve to see a vision of their future husband. 

Clary sage, (Salvia sclarea from the Latin sclareia ‘clear’), referred to by Nicholas Culpeper as ‘clear-eye sage’, was also used to enhance mental clarity and intuitive insight and might have inspired visions of the Otherworld. 

Rosemary – Remember me

Do you remember my scent, 
the dew of a faraway sea
that froths and chaffs its lament?
Do you remember me?

The name rosemary, Salvia rosmarinus, derives from the Latin ros ‘dew’ and marinus ‘sea’, providing it with the lovely very poetic name ‘dew of the sea’. This relates to it growing in the rocky coastal regions of the Mediterranean.

Its strongest associations are with memory. Greek and Roman students wore crowns of rosemary to aid their memory during examinations. Nicholas Culpeper notes that it ‘helps a weak memory and quickens the senses.’ In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Ophelia laments, ‘there’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance.’

Rosemary’s memory enhancing properties come from rosmarinic acid. Thus, it works in a similar way to sage, inhibiting acetylcholine re-uptake, raising levels of BDNF, and reducing inflammation and oxidative stress in the brain. 

It also inhibits the build-up of amyloid-beta proteins, which form a plaque, cause neuro-inflammation and induce the spread of abnormal tau proteins, destroying brain cells. This process leads to Alzheimer’s. By preventing beta-amyloids from building up, rosemary protects our memory. 

Like its kin it has associations with death. It has been used in embalming fluids, as a deodorant, and sprigs of rosemary were carried by Greek and Roman mourners in funeral processions. It is still used in funeral wreaths and arrangements today, for example on Elizabeth II’s funeral casket.

Similarly, in relation to love, it is worn in bridal headpieces and used in wedding bouquets. It was also added to wine for the toast. Sleeping with a sprig beneath the pillow could lead to a dream of one’s future spouse.

‘Remember me to one who lived there’. 

It seems a fitting herb for recalling memories of a lover. 

Thyme – Have Courage

You visit me on a misty morning. 
A sprig of thyme. A heap of leaves. 
I hold you in my hand. You hold me. 
Together we watch the passing of time. 
I see my smallness and my potency. 
That I am merely an instrument in
the hand of a greater force. 

Great thyme, mighty spirit,
grant me the courage
to do the will of my God. 

The term ‘thyme’ originates from the Latin, thymos, ‘courage’. It has been associated with courage since ancient times. The Romans bathed in waters scented with thyme and added it to their wine before going into battle. Medieval women gifted knights a sprig of thyme to enhance their courage. 

From very early in our relationship, I have given Vindos / Gwyn a sprig of thyme for courage on May morning before He goes to fight His rival, Vitiris / Gwythyr.

Thyme contains two phytochemicals that might bolster courage – thymol and cavacrol. Thymol has protective qualities. It is antibacterial and antiseptic and works by destroying the bacterial cell membrane leading to cell death. It has thus been used in mouthwashes and for disinfecting minor wounds.

Cavacrol is a natural anti-anxiety drug. It works by increasing the levels of serotonin and dopamine (mood stabilisers) in the brain. It does this by inhibiting re-uptake transporters and monoamine oxidase enzymes that break them down. It also neuro-protective. As an antioxidant, it shields dopaminergic and serotoninergic neurons from oxidative stress. This leads to a greater availability of feel good chemicals which make us feel more courageous. 

Thyme shares similarities with its kin in its use around death and love. Additionally, the souls of the dead were said to go into thyme flowers. Patches of thyme were associated with the fairies and it could help you see them. 

William Blake said: “The Wild Thyme is Los’s Messenger to Eden, a mighty Demon.” This conveys the hidden power of this familiar plant.

A Message from Vindos

The message I have received from Vindos through these plants is, ‘relax, clear your mind, remember me, have courage’. His advice, along with these herbs, is helping me to stay strong through the summer in His absence. 

I am spending time with these herbs and cooking with them. Adding parsley to salads. Making sauces and marinades from sage, rosemary and thyme.

Maybe, just maybe, I am becoming a little more relaxed, wiser and more courageous.

SOURCES

Halat, D. et al, ‘A Focused Insight into Thyme: Biological, Chemical, and Therapeutic Properties of an Indigenous Mediterranean Herb’, Nutrients, May 2022
Lopresti, A., ‘Salvia (Sage): A Review of its Potential Cognitive-Enhancing and Protective Effects’, Cross Mark, November 2016
Mussilo et al, ‘Rosmarinic Acid Improves Cognitive Abilities and Glucose Metabolism in Aged C57Bl/6N Mice While Disrupting Lipid Profile in Young Adults in a Sex-Dependent Fashion’, Nutrition, July 2023
Niisato, N., Marunaka, M., ‘Therapeutic potential of multifunctional myricetin for treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus’, Frontiers, May 2023
Sedgwick, I., Icy Sedgwick Folklore Blog, https://www.icysedgwick.com/category/folklore/

Closure of the Monastery of Annwn

Breath and Heart – Sleeper in Deep Annwn

Trance refers to altered states of consciousness of varying degress between sleeping and waking in which a person becomes partially to fully unaware of their surroundings and might have experiences of spiritual realities. 

States of trance include dazes, daydreams, reveries, raptures, ecstasies and soul flights. Trance can be voluntary or involuntary. It can be induced by a number of things including prayer, meditation, singing, dancing, rocking, repetitive music, fasting, thirsting, sweating, sensory deprivation and intoxicants.

In most religions trance is seen as less safe and accessible than prayer and meditation. In Christianity it is associated with the more advanced stages of prayer such as St Teresa’s Prayer of Union and with mystical experiences of God. Deep meditation, in Buddhism and Hinduism, is seen by some to be akin to or identical with trance, whereas others argue it is different because the person meditating remains mindful and present rather than unaware.

In indigenous cultures, whilst it is acknowledged that everyone can access trance states, there are respected spirit-workers who are specialists in carrying out spiritual work whilst in trance states for the benefits of their communities. 

These trance states can be divided into two types. One is spirit flight, in which the spirit-worker’s soul leaves their body and they travel to the spirit realms in order to help other community members by finding lost soul parts, extracting negative entities, or negotiating with the Gods and spirits.

The other is trance possession, in which the spirit-worker calls the spirits into their body. This is sometimes for the purpose of healing. In other cases it can be so the spirits can speak with their people and offer guidance and prophecy. It can also simply be a gift for the spirits to be able to inhabit a body.

In the late 20th century Michael Harner and others developed core shamanism (from the term šaman ‘one who knows’ from the Evenki Tungus tribe in Sibera) from these practices by removing the rites, cosmologies and Deities associated with specific cultures and honing them down to their core.

In core shamanism the primary practice is the shamanic journey in which the practitioner travels to one or more of the three worlds (the Lower World, Middle World and Upper World) with the aid of a drumbeat at 180-250bpms to seek advice, guidance or healing for themselves or others from their spirit allies. The term ‘shamanism’ is now widely used to refer to any form of spirit-work.

*

Looking at archaeological and written records I have been unable to find any evidence for the practice of voluntary spirit flight in the Brythonic tradition. If our ancestors made drums or rattles as aids there is no evidence but this does not mean they didn’t exist as the organic materials might have rotted.

What we do find is evidence for voluntary trance possession. In his Description of Wales (1194) Gerald of Wales writes of ‘awenyddion, people inspired’, who ‘when consulted upon any doubtful event’ ‘roar out violently’ ‘rendered outside themselves’ ‘possessed by a spirit’. Their answers are ‘nugatory, ‘incoherent’ and ‘ornamented’ (this description is suggestive of the symbolic, metaphorical and often poetic language of myth and the Otherworld). When ‘roused from their ecstasy, as from a deep sleep’ they remember nothing and when questioned again they give different answers. ‘Perhaps they speak by the means of fanatic and ignorant spirits.’

In medieval Welsh literature we find references to ‘witches’ such as the witches of Caer Loyw, Orddu and Orwen, who are killed by Arthur and his warriors likely because they held powerful positions as warriors and spirit-workers.

We also find the stories of people who become wyllt ‘mad’ or ‘wild’ as part of an initiatory process that leads to them becoming people inspired. The most famous example is Lailoken / Myrddin Wyllt. Traumatised by fighting in the Battle of Arfderydd he sees warriors in the sky and an endurable brightness then is torn out of himself by a spirit and assigned to the Forest of Celyddon. For thirty years he wanders ‘with madness and madmen’ before he heals and becomes a poet and prophet who warns about future wars.

The notion of a period of madness preceding becoming a spirit-worker is found throughout cultures and is now commonly referred to as ‘shaman sickness.’

In Welsh folklore we find countless stories about people being transported to the land of the fairies by music, dancing, or seduction. It’s not clear whether some of these involuntary travels are in spirit or in body. Those who go in body face dire consequences for time passes differently in Faerie. It seems they’ve only been away a moment yet when they return a hundred or more years have passed, they are no longer recognised, or crumble to dust. These tales warn us that it is a bad idea to travel to the Otherworld in a physical form.

*

In my late teens and early twenties I had experiences of trance leading to visions of the spirit realms when I was going to festivals and night clubs and dancing all night on various concotions of intoxicants. What surprised me was that I was the only one having visionary experiences whilst my friends just reported having a good time, which led me to fear I was going mad.

I went through a long period of mental health problems (anxiety, panic attacks, depression, over and under-eating, self-harm, suicidal ideation and dependence on alcohol) which I only starting getting over when I met my patron God, Gwyn ap Nudd, discovered my visions were of Annwn / Faery, our British Otherworld and I had been seeing His people, the ‘fairies’, and began serving Him, firstly as an awenydd, more recently as a nun of Annwn.

Whether this was a form of ‘shaman sickness’ or was mainly down to my struggles as an autistic person in a neurotypical world remains in question without the knowledge of the elders of a spiritual community to help with my discernment. It’s my personal opinion that it was a little bit of both.

I was first introduced to shamanic practices by attending workshops with a local Heathen, seidr man Runic John, but found I didn’t connect strongly enough with the Norse Gods and cosmology. I also tried core shamanism with Paul Francis but struggled with the psychotherapeutic approach.

I didn’t dare journey alone until Gwyn came into my life and offered to take me to the Otherworld. Without a drumbeat or any other method of inducing trance I just went and I’ve been able to journey whenever I’ve felt the call of Gwyn and my guides or with a few preparatory prayers and songs ever since.

Although I’ve experienced being possessed by the awen and by Gods and spirits when I’ve been writing I’ve only recently started practicing trance possession. One of my practices focuses on the Speaking Ones, seven crow spirits who I invite to come into my body to lend me their voices for oracles. I’ve also recently experienced inviting my spirits into my body during ecstatic dance in a shamanic workshop and am planning to take this practice further.

Since 2013 I’ve been attending shamanic journey circles in core shamanism with the Way of the Buzzard firstly in person then since Covid online. I like Jason and Nicola’s approach because it is well grounded in the landscape of Britain and in the natural history of our land and its plants and animals. 

In response to instructions from Gwyn I’ve just started training as a shamanic practitioner with the Sacred Trust. Progressing from journeying for personal guidance and inspiration to healing others is a big step for me but I see it to be a neglected part of my calling I have fled from, resisted, for far too long.

*

In conclusion to this series I’ll finish by saying for me, as an awenydd and nun of Annwn, as a spirit-worker in the Brythonic tradition, and as an aspiring shamanic healer, prayer and meditation form the bedrock of my practices. 

Without them, without regular prayers and offerings to my Gods, without grounding myself through meditation, breathwork, body postures and other embodiment practices I wouldn’t have the foundations to practice trance safely enough to extend my services to healing other people. 

It’s been a long difficult journey with few way markers along the way. But I’m here now, doing what I’m here to do, and I hope by sharing my writings I will make it a little easier for others who are called to this hard yet sacred work.

So, to You, 
finally I turn, still 
not knowing truly
who You are,

remembering 
how, twenty years ago,
my philosophy tutor criticised me
for prioritising the sublime over the beautiful. 

Yes- the sublime is Him – the power within and beyond
the land, in Annwn, in the cold mountains, the ice of the Ice Age,
all that threatens to tear the body, the mind, the soul apart,
yet, like Rilke’s angels, disdains entirely to destroy us.

And yes – the beautiful is You – the power who arrives
after the winter, after the Ice Age, You who brought the flowering plants
after your mother brought the mosses many aeons ago.

After being torn apart You are the one who heals after the awe,
after the awful, after near-death, the out-breath of the Awen – Life.

I have always avoided the beautiful, drawn instead to the darkness
where beauty cannot be seen because it is too painful.

That’s why You come veiled to Your suitors in Your white dress,
why only He can undress You, fully understands you…

To them You are always riding away on Your white winged horse.

In their longing they do not see the gifts of the flowers
You leave in your steps, Your beauty unveiled in every hoof print.

They long only to tame You, yoke You, at the mounting block.

I shall not be like them, seeking to master You, possess You,
instead I shall come with reverence for Your veil,  Your veiled ones, 
with a patience for every flower, not forcing them to reveal their secrets.

I, who have served Death, will learn to put Life beside Him as a Goddess.

It was a long, long time ago when I was criticised for prioritising the sublime over the beautiful. It has always stuck with me. I avoided our modern conception of beauty because it is so confused, so tainted, by the glossy photographs we see in magazines.

In the Welsh myths Creiddylad is described as ‘the most magnanimous maiden in the Islands of Britain’. She is generous, forgiving, She is the sister of Gwyn ap Nudd, King of Annwn, and His beloved. He is Otherness, She is Hereness, She is Presence, She is what we might call mindfulness today amongst the flowers.

I spent seven years with Him and now I am called to walk with Her in my new role as an ecologist.

My rearrangement of my altar reflects these changes as I give Gwyn and Creiddylad equal space. The plant is, oddly, a Bromeliad, from the tropical Americas, which I sensed She liked when I did our weekly food shopping at Morrisons. It represents the fact that neither plants nor gods know any boundaries.