Meeting 11th December

The theme, as we approach the shortest day, was Darkness and Light. 

We sang,
"Be still and know that day and night,
Be still and know that dark and light
Are one holy circle"

and Ring the Living Bell.

Peter told the story of Mullah Nazrudin and his lost key, the read a poem The Key is in the Darkness while we meditated on a word to share with the group.  Then we covered ourselves with blankets and whent into the darkness while listening to Eve read part of a poem:
"I said to my soul, be still and wait without hope, for hope would be hope for the wrong thing; wait without love, for love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faith, but the faith and the love are all in the waiting. Wait without thought, for you are not ready for thought: So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing."
— T.S. Eliot

Then we lit a candle, and shared our reflections on darkness and light.

Neesa led us in a dance "Thy light is in all forms, thy love in all beings".  Then Jehanne and Rob played us two songs, The Winter Solstice and The Gift of Winter.

WINTER SOLSTICE

It’s four o’clock and it’s almost dark;
The darkness falls so soon today.
The swings are empty on the park;
Cold winter’s on it’s way…
But it’s time to pass around the bowl
And it’s lighting up time in my soul
For the winter solstice.

The leaves are trodden on the ground.
So many hopes have fluttered down.
Sometimes I don’t know where I’m bound
And the path is hard to see…
But if trees could talk then they would tell
How the leaves were blazing as they fell
With hidden fire.

The doors are shut and the curtains drawn;
Cold winter locked out in the street;
The hours seem endless to the dawn
And the stars so far away…
But every star is listening
To hear what music we shall bring
To the winter solstice.

The seed lies buried in the ground;
The longest night will soon be done.
As the year begins another round
The seed begins to grow.
Then the dawn will chase the dark away
And the bells ring out the livelong day
On Christmas morning.

Song lyric © Jehanne Mehta


THE GIFT OF WINTER

Here the land is open and the stream is singing free,
But where are willow, alder oak, as it dances to the sea,
That hold the banks and cool the earth, allowing springs to rise,
Springs that ripen in the dark to well up through the ground?

Here the land is open and the roads go seething by,
But where is all the boggy land the soaks the floods away?
Here stand high fields of winter wheat, where once the earth lay resting.
Now the rain pours down and tumbles through the little houses in the vale.

We have clothed the earth in surface, shutting off what lies below,
Where the life withdraws in winter that in spring will rise anew.
Midwinter calls ‘Oh come inside, wake up and meet the challenge!’
The gift of winter is the chance to find a way into the ground.

The ploughman in his furrow knows the smell of earth is sweet.
The walker on the mountain feels the life beneath her feet,
The ground beneath is the ground inside, where the light unborn is stirring:
The seed that ripens in the heart for the new song of the earth.

Come one and all who battle on through wind and rain and cloud,
As we raise our voices in one song and carol it aloud:
The ground beneath is the ground inside, where the light unborn is stirring:
The seed that ripens in the heart for the new song of the earth.


Song lyric © Jehanne Mehta


We ended by gathering around the candles in the centre.

There will be a meeting at 10.00 on Christmas day at the Centre for Science and Art for those who can make it.

Vocal Improvisation Course

Vocal Improvisation - TASTER - Jenna Monroe

This Taster for Jenna’s six week vocal improvisation course introduces you to meditative breath techniques, singing from your core muscles to allow the expression of authentic emotion and weaving together spontaneous sound tapestries.  Invigorating, grounding and liberating. 

Date: Thursday, January 12, 2012

Time: 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm (1 Hour )

Price: Free

At The Isbourne Holistic Centre, Cheltenham.

Meeting 13th November

The theme was "Trust", and as it was Remembrance Sunday we also built remembrance into our theme.

We sang,
Good friends when gathered together
Sing for the joy of singing,
No matter what the weather
Good friends are happy together.

Then Neesa and Eve led us in another song written by Peter to the tune of a Starhawk chant:
Freedom comes with every chain we break,
Life's reborn with every chance we take;
The future starts with every step we take,
Energy comes from every change we make.


Peter read a poem by Pablo Neruda, "Keeping Quiet" which led us into a period of silence, followed by another poem read by our guest Kevan Manwaring, "Eden Rock" by Charles Causley.
Neesa led us in two dances:

Into the Earth I go,
Into the Earth I know.
Into the Earth I go,
Into the Earth I know.
Take my hand, sister, take my hand.
Take my hand, sister, take my hand.
Take my hand, brother, take my hand.
Take my hand, brother, take my hand.


Into the silence of the night,
Into the silence of the moon,
I am making my dreams come true.

Then Cynthia led us in an exercise of laughter, and finally Jehanne and Rob sang two songs for us.


The next meeting will be 11th December; note the different location, the Centre for Science and Art on Lansdown, opposite Stroud Library.