Red Tent Quest
How many Wood Sisters does it take to put up a Red Tent on the tarmac of Newton Abbot racecourse in the pouring rain? Four plus two Wood Brothers and a strong hat we discovered!
Travelling Mammoth Graveyard aka Red Tent
Following our finishing and fireproofing day less than a week before, we set off on Thursday 12th July for our first outing as a travelling sanctuary for women’s mysteries to the Quest Natural Health Festival. As with any true Quest, there were plenty of challenges along the way… Was it actually going to be possible to fit a 21 foot alachig on and in one estate car and all the contents in one small Peugeot ? (and ourselves). How does one fix 32 long curved wooden poles onto said estate car? Happily it did turn out to be possible by virtue of turning into a kind of travelling mammoth graveyard and we certainly drew some interesting looks as we headed off down the A38.
Wood Brothers using their heads
Taking the poles off was no less of a challenge as it turned out, followed by our first attempt to put the tent up on tarmac, which is much less supportive than grass. The weather added its own baptismal quality to our first outing into the wider world and yet it didn’t dampen our excitement but rather added its own elemental magic as the tent went up. Fellow Questers looked on with interest as a pile of poles and a large canvas bag soon turned into an eye catching giant red breast of a festival tent!
Soon we were spreading out the groundsheet, rugs, chairs and setting out my (Sam’s) large red cushion collection (including ones made specially for the tent by my mum, Anne…thanks Mut!) Miriam arrived to work her altar creating magic and by the end of the day the Red Tent truly was a sacred space.
A giant 'red breast' of a Quest Festival tent
From early Friday morning Sue and I began our three day otherworldly journey through the festival, with a wonderful team of Wood Sisters. Our deep appreciation and thanks go out to Ronnie, Jo, Lisa, Linda, Abigail, Izzy, Jade, Kes, Debbie, Joyce, Glen, Miriam and to visiting sister and storyteller Laura Salmon and all our sisters from the women’s Playback Theatre company Tarte Noire, especially Alison Fairlove. Special thanks also to Wood Brothers Martin, Ian and Chris.
Each day had been designed to give something of a taste of a Wood Sisters gathering and as such reflected our usual bringing together of head, heart and hands through mythic storytelling, meditation, natural crafts and ceremony. This was followed by evening celebrations of music, storytelling, poetry or playback theatre. For each day we had chosen one of our great guiding stories with accompanying meditations and related crafts and ceremonies. Of course a festival day is very different from a day gathering as people drop in and out of the activities on offer. But this structure gave a supportive retreat like experience to those of us who were there throughout and it was heartening to see how some folks returned repeatedly to the Ted Tent over the weekend and that everyone, even if they just dropped in for a few moments, was touched by the beauty of the space and by the sense of peace and sanctuary within all the busy-ness and business of a large festival.
Sam guiding a group meditation
Friday was open to women and men and started with a Sacred Grove meditation. The altar candles were lit and fragrant smoke from Linda’s specially blended Red Tent incense curled up towards the light shining down through the roof wheel. This felt like a real opening dedication of the tent and it was deeply moving and powerful to sense our circle sitting within a literal grove of ash trees as each tree from Killerton Woods, that we had shaped to form the Red Tent poles, stood in a circle around us holding the sacred enclosure of the tent. As we shared our reflections into our collective ‘wisdom pot’ afterwards, it seemed that each of us had felt together like a beautiful grove of trees as we meditatively rooted our awareness down into the good Devon soil beneath the tarmac and deep down into the hot heart of the Earth’s core below, then grew up from our roots, drawing that earth light up the length of our center lines to connect with the sunlight shining down through that beautiful open roof wheel above us.
Sue storytelling
The Druidic theme then continued with Sue’s wonderful telling of the story of Ceridwen and Taliesin. (Our thanks and blessings go out to Debbie, a new friend and fellow member of the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids who arrived to join us for this story and more). The story carried us away into the Otherworld through shapeshifting transformations and deep into the belly of the Goddess, from which we like Taliesin might perhaps also emerge ‘twice born’ and inspired.
After more meditation and lunch, the tent door was open for folks to drop in and taste some sacred craft lovingly co ordinated by Izzy with her helpers Jade and Kes. There is always something special about the conversations and creativity that flows as hands are busy with beautiful, natural materials. I for one was delighted to end that session with my own medicine pouch decorated with carnelian and troll beads (whatever they are!) Some had also carved runes to place within their pouches but I was happy to have a sprig of sage from Izzy’s garden and to wait to find my own sacred tokens from the wild.
Natural crafts (and natural feet)
After tea we gathered for our first ceremony with the elemental theme of earth. Together we reflected on this time of harvest as we approach Lughnasadh/Lammas in early August, with its bitter sweet harvest themes of sacrifice, letting go and the sifting out of new seeds for another cycle of growth to come. A we sat quietly around the altar we mused on these themes in our own lives and the life of the world and focussed sacred intention through a simple ritual of lighting candles in a great black cauldron of earth on the altar, for letting go and with wishes for the future.
Miriam's Earth Altar
The Red Tent closed then for a while as we headed off for a delicious feast at the Food Groove before re opening for our Friday evening celebration. Laura Salmon arrived minutes before she was due on, clutching mandolin and drum and straight from work in Cornwall. Trooper that she was, she went straight on and a delighted an audience of men and women (our first large audience in the Red Tent!) who listened to her haunting melodies and the wonderful stories of Fatima the Spinner (whose seemingly random and surprising life gave her the skills to create a tent for the Emperor and she never once doubted she could!) So Fatima wove her way into the fabric of the Red Tent along with the dragons of creation: the sun and water serpents, in a coiled dance from Laura’s second tale.
Friday Evening Celebration
Jade then took the stage to recite some of her own rich, deep, wrigglingly-alive poetry which was hugely appreciated by the audience. An Isis gong was sounded and after a short break, Lisa, a regular Wood Sister and accomplished storyteller, took us into the night with the story of The Seven Swans. It was a magical and moving end to our first day in the tent, which felt truly birthed and inhabited. I (Sue) felt very moved by the whole day and particularly by the evening celebration where audience and performers were profoundly connected and enjoyed something soulful and sweet and sacred.
The magic continued on Saturday for a women’s only day focussed on the motif of the Red Tent. In a similar pattern to yesterday we moved in the morning from visiting (in meditation) our Biblical matriarch ancestors in their Red Tent, to the story of the Red Tent of Rachel and Leah and an ancient Mesopotamian story of Uttu the spider Goddess that they might have known and told in their own sacred space and time.
One of the many beautiful Asherah
After lunch, Izzy and team returned with Dartington clay for a lively session of Asherah (Goddess) sculpting. Soon the altar was resplendent with a diverse collection of goddesses, each as unique and beautiful as the women who formed them. The day ended with a simple air and fire ceremony in which each woman released a token of the past, lit a candle on the altar and spoke movingly of her desire for inspiration and transformation. It was touching to experience how this group of women, who had never met before, came together with such honesty, depth and heartfulness. This heart quality continued into the evening performances from Tarte Noire. This was my (Sam’s) first experience of Playback Theatre and I was inspired by how the performers could listen to the ordinary/extraordinary everyday stories of the women present and then enact them in a way that was clearly moving, affirming and transformative for the audience.
Closing ceremony with Abigail's soulful harp playing
Come Sunday, there we were again, for our final day. Today we were joined by a number of Wood Brothers, which was great, as we explored themes from the story of the Handless Maiden and the element of water. In the morning we visited the Secret Garden or Soul Orchard in meditation, followed by a dramatic telling of the story. After lunch we wove together bay and barley, wool and cloth, beads and coloured threads to create ‘corn maidens’ and then gathered for our closing ceremony. The Tent was full with sisters and brothers sitting side by side quietly, as Abigail guided us into the depths of being through her soulful harp music. There was a deep sense of communion as each person took their turn to walk slowly to the altar, released a jewel into water and made their own silent prayers. A beautiful sacred close to a special weekend.
De-constructing the Sanctuary
For the Wood Sisters team the day wasn’t truly complete until the circle was unwound, with the tent taken down and everything packed away. Tired but happy we went our various ways back home, to re-unite with our families or even to dance the night away! Thank you Quest and all who visited the Red Tent… your donations (along with sales of Linda’s delicious incense and Hilda’s colourful jewellery) raised exactly the £200 we needed to finish the tent. In so many ways our first outing was a wonderful success… so here’s to the next Red Tent adventure at the Westcountry Storytelling Festival!