News - Cailleach Dolls, Swifts & Keening Funding

April Newsletter - New Dolls available, Being a Good Relative

Click on the image to visit the available dolls & Weavings

Hello,

Welcome to my monthly newsletter. Some news on what classes might be happening, dolls and art heading into the shop - and anything else that wants to be shared.

This weekend we had some glorious weather. I don’t complain about grey skies and rain, but the change was wonderful. I got out with friends and the dogs on a long walk along the banks of the River Clyde. The day reminded me of when I was wee and my parents would take us kids down to the park for the afternoon. We peered into rockpools, ran in the waves, and squelched in the mud - and the afternoon stretched on for hours.

I’ve never lost my fascination and excitement for beach combing.

It’s been a gloriously cold April, just last week The Ben (Ben Lomond) had a fresh dusting of snow - a sure sign that the Cailleach has been around, the tip of her plaid dusting the top of the summit.

The birds are busy weaving, and patching nests - I watched some crows stripping off some weathered bark from twigs while jackdaws flew off together with beakfulls of pussy willow. Heron has been visiting the river each morning, how wonderful to live under the flight path of a Heron, and I often catch her heading back after lunch.

The seagulls have moved in from mainly living by the river into the roofs of the buildings in the Industrial Estate. Their arrival always involves a great party, fighting over the best nesting spots. They are pretty much nocturnal, chattering into the wee hours. I don’t generally use the word angels, but seagulls grinding by night, underlie by streetlights changes their birds into angels.

Swift painting - Jude Lally

Our summer visitors have arrived, and I’ve already spotted a Houremartin and a swallow, but my favourite, the Swifts won’t arrive for another week or so. I joined a Facebook group where folks in the UK have their eyes to the sky and their ears tuned for that familiar screech.

Swift

I remember a few years ago when the swifts arrival was affected by European storms. They overwinter in Africa and the wondrous Chris Packham explained that on reaching a point in their journey with storms, they will turn around and head back to a previous location, to wait till the storms pass. That year only a few swifts made it back to this area, but thankfully a few weeks later they were joined by at least another 20.

Unfortunately, Swifts are now on the Birds of Conservation Concern (BoCC) Red List and are classified as Endangered on the IUCN Red List assessment of extinction risk for Great Britain. Their numbers declined by 60% between 1995 and 2020 and by 41% in just 10 years up to 2018, which is over 5% per annum!

That is scary news. The weather is set and the skies are waiting for the return of the swifts, thousands of folks across the UK are awaiting their return.

As I await these glorious birds, what does it feel like to be this small-winged creature? Curved wings like a scythe, which cut through the air on impossibly long journeys of 22,000 kilometers (14,000 miles) every year.

What does it feel like to have that urge to migrate, feeling that draw arise in your chest and on reading the weather, knowing when the time is right? Swifts spend most of their life in the air, at night they fly high to drift as they sleep.

Subscription Changes - Funding Keening

Your Subscription fees are now funding bringing Keening Circles to communities. From mid-April all new subscriptions go into the Keening fund.

As well as offering stories of the Ancestral Mothers I also want my Substack to be a home to exploring all different threads of Keening.

I plan to take my Keening Circles into local communities, offering an invitation to speak to grief, the threads of grief we carry - from the personal to community and the global - which then cycle back to the personal.

So thank you for your subscriptions I plan the first of these workshops this summer on the Isle of Eigg, while I’m there with my Keening Woman retreat, and hopefully a second towards the end of the summer on the Isle of Skye.

Becoming a Good Relative

I’m excited for the publication of my friend Hilary Giovale’s book - Becoming A Good Relative.

You might recall previous fundraisers I ran, which were in partnership with Hilary - funds going to support Dine elder Andy Dann. I’m honored to be a small part of Hilary’s story. We got to meet in person last year and walked to my favourite hill.

Here is Hilary’s story:

The seeds of the book were planted 9 years ago and I began writing 8 years ago.

The book shares stories of unpacking the realization that some of my ancestors were early colonizers and enslavers on this continent. Along the way, I grappled with whiteness and how it affects me. The Hopi/Diné/Apache/Havasupai/Hualapai/Yavapai/Paiute/Pueblo land where I live taught me. I reconnected with my Earth-honoring ancestors in Europe, and made a personal reparations plan that's been underway for several years.

Writing the book has been supported and guided by many, many friends and relatives. Over 60 readers gave brilliant feedback. Each of them helped me to see things differently. Yeye Luisah Teish wrote the foreword and Diné sister Lyla June Johnston wrote the closing words. Flagstaff artist Ashley Matelski illustrated the cover. I am so grateful for the lands, waters, and people (too many to name them all here) who have shaped this journey.

I hope my story can be of service to some of the work of our time - ancestral healing, undoing settler colonialism, ending white supremacy, wealth redistribution, truth-telling, rematriation, and repair. I will return all the income I receive from book sales to the Decolonizing Wealth Project and Jubilee Justice.

If you would like updates on the book, please follow @hilarygiovaleauthor on IG. To pre-order a copy from the publisher: https://green-writers-press.square.site/.../becomin.../35...

Writing this book has been a labor of love and I am ready to share it, with gratitude!

~ Hilary Giovale

Shop Update - Dolls and felted weavings available

I have a couple of Cailleach dolls and some weaving art for sale but am currently between shops - about to close my Etsy shop and finishing opening up my website shop.

If you are interested in homing any of the new items, email me with your address and I’ll calculate shipping and email you a PayPal invoice.

Click here for more info & ordering

Many thanks,