Tag Archives: Tamesa London Circle

Feb 11 2013

Tamesa Serpent in Thames Magical Rituals

tamesa-sepent-sm

Logo – Tamesa London Circle

The Chinese New Year decorations.. of snakes (Year of the Snake just began) reminded me of the Thames rituals,where members of the Tamesa London Circle (TLC) called upon the energies of the river Thames in it’s `Tamesa Serpent’ form.  The logo of TLC is a serpent (that mirrors the shape the river Thames takes in London when viewed from above) carrying the `Moon child’ – which symbolises our inner-self being carried by the great Tamesa serpent.

Tamesa-eclipse2008-2

Tamesa Serpent created by ritual group for Eclipse in 2008

Here is a photo of the actual large `snake’  members of the Tamesa ritual team created on the banks of the river Thames for a special Eclipse Ritual back in 2008 (near central London). We used a variety of stones, pebbles, bones, old bricks, tiles and such that were found on the shores to create this colourful physical sculpture.  Following that, we did a magical ritual and then simply left the image on the shores, just as the Thames tide was coming back up. The idea was that as the tide came and washed away the magical design, it would also take into itself the `thought-form’ and energies we had laid on it, and sweep the energies to the Sea!

This year being the Chinese `Year of the Snake’,  we plan to facilitate a similar creative Tamesa Serpent ritual by the shores of river Thames – later in the Summer months of the year.

Check this blog (follow) or visit Tamesa website and opt-in with e-mail, to be kept informed of when this special Serpent ritual on the Thames will be.

Meanwhile, we also have a set of 3 Thames-Isis rituals being planned (March, July, November).

-Mani Navasothy

Links

Tamesa London Circle website (est 2006)

Wicca, Witchcraft & magic in London (website)

 

Oct 23 2012

Woodland & River Thames Samhain (Halloween) Rituals in London

Hi all,    happy to announce plans are firming up for 2 Samhain rituals..

  • Saturday 27th October 2012- Near Croydon (south London area) – is the Hern’s Tribe Samhain (woodland) ritual..  meet-up at 3pm.  (british summer time).
  • Wednesday 31st October 2012 – Central London (underneath Millennium Bridge) – is the Tamesa London Circle’s (river Thames) ritual.. meet-up at 8pm.   (GMT as clocks would have gone to GMT again).

All who are interested are Welcome.  (New comers with no ritual experience are welcome too..  we are friendly and we explain things before we start!)  :-)     Click links/ graphics  to read more about these two ritual groups…(HT started by me…in 2004, TLC started by April & me in 2006).

Here are the pretty graphics / info for them both:-)

Hern’s Tribe Samhain – 27Oct’12 (Croydon Woods)

Hern’s Tribe meets for each of the 8 seasonal festivals, in an outdoor woodland setting, for rituals and socials. For this Samhain ritual, we plan to have a pathworking that takes participants on a spiritual journey to connect (through blood-lines) to their ancestral tribes of times old- for empowerment. There will be some divination work afterwards, as well as magic with a potion brewed in the Cauldron for wisdom & knowledge (works a little with mythology of Cauldron of Cerridwen & myth of Taliesin). Don’t worry..it’s just herbal tea (hopefully fresh fennel we can pick from local park or garden).  

 

Tamesa London Circle’s Samhain Ritual – 31st Oct’12 – by river Thames (central London)

Tamesa  London Circle: We are gathering by the river Thames on the 31st October’2012, around 8pm by the Millennium Bridge (St-Paul’s side) ..for this annual ritual. It’s an evening where you can dress up freely in your Witchy, pagan or magical robes, cloaks and attires…and be seen.. as everyone else is busy doing their fancy-dress parties in London. An opportunity not to be missed. We will facilitate a very simple ceremony.. of creating sacred space, calling ancestral quarters in place of east, south, west & north…and honour our ancestors as well as the thousands of spirits that inhabit the river Thames (from the bodies & bones that have been thrown into Thames for many centuries…).

In Greek mythology, Charon the ferryman sails souls of the dead across river Styx to the Underworld (he requires coins as payment). So for this night, river Thames (meaning `dark one’) stands in for river Styx, and as token gesture for our ancestors’ spirits, we will offer small coins into Thames..

  • Feel free to dress up..in your best Witchy or magical robes, cloaks and attires for these events..   :-) Bring pumpkins, lanterns…and especially food & drinks to share..
  • Don’t forget…warm waterproof clothings…it’s outdoors so will be cold.  Our rituals tend to go ahead whatever the weather (we’ve done then even in snow!)

Bring food and drinks to share…for the social afterwards…After all it’s our Halloween festival

-Mani Navasothy

links to related blogs:

Burning Hern- Hern is Dead Long live Hern

Tamesa – memory streams flowing

Touching the life you take (initiation rites for a warrior)

Paganism & Magic (page)

Jul 24 2012

Bewitching London: Brooms, Pentagrams & Olympic Torches

On Saturday 21st July 2012, the Olympic Torch came to London! That was 3-4 days ago.

Since then it’s been carried by hundreds of individuals in a relay, along a clockwise direction around London, starting from the East, heading south, west, and eventually back to East part of London by 26th July.  And on Friday 27th July, it will be transported (not in a relay but by vehicles) to furthest west point of London- to Hampton Court, and be carried on the Queen’s Jubilee barge..by river Thames, to Tower Bridge.. before being taken to the Olympic Stadium for official launch ceremony!

This whole journey of of high esoteric interest to me.

Way back in 2005, being a practitioner of Magic & Wicca, I had the idea of doing a `London-Circle’ magically. (If others had done it before then, I didn’t know about it).  I had been interested in Earth-Magic -working with the land directly. So with the help of my partner April, and my friend Reggie, I set off to do a series of magical `circles’ around London.

We did the following on 3 separate occasions:

  1. Take a home made Witche’s Broom, in the Circle Line (Tube network) and sat in it for a whole circuit around London.  That took us about 90 minutes. It was our way of `sweeping London’ with a magic broom! Once completed, we took it straight to a PF London open ritual (Yule ritual, in early December).
  2. Trace the shape of a pentagram over London, by travelling (in public transport) from point to point, as if we were drawing a pentagram.  This was easier said than done. For example, imagine travelling by shortest tube possible, from Greenwich (South-East point) to Wembley (North-west point) and so on. We started in a woods in the North London, around 10am and ended the pentagram by about 11pm that night! That was just April & me – just travelling (and having short lunch and evening meal breaks in local cafe/ pub).
  3. Finally, we got in a car, lit a consecrated candle, and took it for a drive around the whole of the M25 – starting from the Southern point, clockwise, back to the South. And at the quarter points, we got out of the car to get on the road side, and `call a quarter’ (as Pagans do in a magic circle).  It was a tough act towards the end..  with the large pillar candle so full of melted liquid wax, that every shake of the car threatened to flood the candle-flame out with liquid wax. But we made it. This was done after traffic time in the evening an took about 3+ hours.  It was actually New year’s eve, and the idea was to then take the candle (still lit) to Trafalgar square/ Thames side for the evening fire works/ celebrations. However, we gave that idea up, and took the incense sticks we had been burning, to central London.

Earlier today, I watched the Torchbearers take it past my local area – around 2.15pm along the streets of Sutton.  And the recent taking of the Olympic Torch around London in a clockwise direction reminded me of the old magical works I had done back in December of 2005.

It is interesting, that the final relay of the Olympic Torch takes it along the river Thames. A flame on the water – opposite elements! The flame arrived n London on the last day of Sun in Cancer (astrological water sign and home of the Moon), and is now gong through London as the Sun travels through the first third section of Leo – a fire sign and home of the Sun! So the flame is in it’s astrological element now.

It is as if – intentionally or unintentionally, London is being consecrated by the flame, and a circle is being cast around it!  Despite all the commercialism of the Olympics, it is nevertheless no ordinary flame. It is one lit by a Priestess of Apollo temple in Greece!  So there was already magic to begin with!  I believe this will change London- not just the economical or political landscapes as everyone expects, predicts and hopes – but on a much deeper magical and spiritual level. When everything else has faded away, the magic will remain – below the surface of the `London Collective’ (and Tamesa!)

Personally, am planning a few magical workings of my own..  starting with a special Flame watch social on 27th July in the morning, followed by a bit of magical working nearby..

-Mani

Related links:

Gaian Times magazine – Olympic special issue out on 4th August’12.

Tamesa London Circle- special rituals by river Thames 

Pagan Federation London ( PF London) – seasonal indoor rituals.

Witchcraft & Wiccan Open Rituals (quarterly) in London

Jul 18 2012

Tamesa London Circle: Memory streams flowing

Tamesa London Circle- Eclipse Ritual

Two days ago, I was walking along the banks of the river Thames, with April, and was reminded of how many days and evenings we had spent on those shores many years ago- during our `courting days’ :-) And then I was aware that how we had more or less stopped spending time there – as other things in life take our attention.

Back in 2006, several things happened . In February 2006, I organised a Masked Ball on board the ship Queen Mary in river Thames (near Waterloo pier). In June, friends had an impromptu social by the bank side- after a meal in a restaurant, and also we had the first Hern’s Tribe riverside social /ceremony (taking mud, body painting etc) by Hammersmith area.  Later that year we had another Masked Ball on the Thames. And we did a full on River of Souls – Samhain ritual on the banks of river Thames.

It all started after  a trip to the London Museum, where I wanted to learn more about the ancient tribal history of the Thames.  Then of course my Hindu upbringing and it’s river-worshiping ideas took over, and I wanted to explore the spiritual mysteries of the Thames more….from source to sea, and in between!

Thus was born the `Tamesa London Circle’- a social & ritual group of friends , yet open to others to join/ attend. The following few years were taken up with planned/ regularly organised TLC activities.  I think a website was created (www.Tamesa.info) and April & I started running Craft & Magic courses under the Tamesa London Circle banner.  Further highlights were when we did Samhain ritual just under the Millennium Bridge, on 31st October (Halloween night!) under the very eyes of Londoners and visitors – on the very front yard of St.Paul’s Cathedral…  It was the perfect night, and perfect cover, for a real Wiccan/ Witchy ritual… as people probably thought it’s a crazy Halloween costumed party! (we all wore robes etc).

We did all sorts of things – Seasonal rituals, picnics &  exploratory walks, at & craft (Jewelry under the name of `Treasures of Tamesis’) , healing circle, courses, rowing trips etc.

Regrettably last few years have been rather quiet for Tamesa London Circle (TLC), apart from us doing Earth Hour candle-lit walks in March 2011 & 2012.

Tamesa London Circle – logo shows moon-child riding the Tamesa Serpent

But a recent walk seems to have been different..  perhaps it’s close to a Cancer new moon and the deeper flow is surfacing because it’s compelled me to rebuild the Tamesa website..the whole lot..  20% better than before, in just one half an obsessive day!!  And it’s up again!

Few months ago we were having drought, and then the deluge and floods… and every river that dried up is now flowing…nay overflowing and breaking banks!  Ground water levels are up. Lakes & city reservoirs are full. Gardens and watered.

And Tamesa London Circle – reduced to  mere trickle for some years and existing only between April & me- are flowing again!   Visit the website for full history of events between 2006-2012, concepts, albums and more.  http://www.Tamesa.info

-Mani