Our journey together really began about 4 years ago. It was before I moved to Germany and I think we were still using the old forum. I can remember dipping in now and then and mentioning an interest in Brigantia. In fact, we had a thread that was about dedicating a year to walking with your patron deities and I had said that I was interested in doing this to get to know Brigantia. I began this too.
Unfortunately, what happened then was devastating to my faith and I ended up turning away, quite bitterly, from paganism and all the new aged things I was into back then.
It is the time before I lost my faith, that I want to recall in this blog.
It all began because I stumbled upon the old coven's workbooks. These had suggested topics of exploration for the various degrees within our coven. While we roughly stuck to the themes and ideas of these guides, we tended to drift off the track a bit and used them very loosely. I had worked through to third degree, but really felt that there were too many gaps in my knowledge. So, I decided to take another look at these booklets and as a solitary, work through them again, from first degree. I forget if it was first or second, but one of the exercises was to explore the folklore, spirits and deities of the local area. At first, it wasn't very easy, but I made some interesting discoveries.
I live in a small town on the banks of the River Tyne, not far from where it meets the North Sea at Tynemouth. The town is called North Shields, after the small huts the fishermen used to live in. On the other side of the river, there is, of course, a town called South Shields (or Sand-Dancer-Land, although I have no idea why we called them this). At the mouth of the Tyne, there is a large Priory. Tynemouth Priory has in itself quite a lot of history surrounding it, but one of the frustrating things is that the powerful and wealthy monks who lived there, as is often the case, saw to it that any old pagan folklore was destroyed. It is rumoured, although impossible to verify, that the priory was itself built on a very important neolithic monument that had become a site of worship for many years. It certainly does appear that this kind of thing did happen, so maybe..
Our quayside;
The view from North Shields, of South Shields and Tynemouth;
Tynemouth Priory (or what's left of it);
Some folklore has survived however. In particular, we have our own dragon, or at least a dragon-like creature, called the Lambton Worm
However, I'd be lying if I said Lambton was on my doorstep. It's actually all the way in county Durham, where my friend Chikae lives. As someone who frequents Durham, I can tell you it isn't a stones throw away. All the same, the Geordie folks like to consider this tale one of their own..and it's close enough to be worth mentioning.
Anextiomarus
I decided then, to look into deities and discovered that there have been quite a lot of shrines and inscriptions uncovered that mention Brythonic deities, so I decided to check out inscriptions from the local area. This led me to first discover Anextiomarus, who is named as the god of the River Tyne itself. He is likened to Apollo and said to protect travellers and see safe passage across the Tyne. His inscription was found near South Shields, but as we once crossed the Tyne between the two Shields', I assume he was revered on both sides of the Tyne (I heard a folk tale about it being possible to cross the Tyne by donkey during low tide at one time. So, you couldn't get a deity more local then Anextiomarus!
Brigantia and Viterus
Then I decided I needed more, so started to explore other deities. It was then that I passingly discovered Bregans, although at this time, he didn't stand out to me as anything special. One deity who did however, was Brigantia. She popped up all over the place and shrines have been found in Northumberland, County Durham and I think Wallsend (I need to check my facts on this one). I became intrigued and felt moved to know her better.. I also started to get to know another local god by the name Viterus, who at that time, I thought would eventually be my patron too.
However, I had not long since started my research and rituals with her, when I broke up with the guy I had originally been moving to Germany to live with and that's when my life just spiralled out of control. I soon forgot all about Brigantia, viterus and Anextiomarus. I may have forgotten Briganita, but I don't think she had forgotten me.. in fact, I think she came for me in Germany and brought me home! Which is for another time.
What I really can't wait to share, is all the small well, miracles, that have happened around her. Things that appear as problems that open up into opportunities, the way I have sudden flashes of inspiration that facilitate my progress in whatever endeavour I might be endeavouring. She doesn't make my problems go away, nor does she give me everything I wish for, but practical solutions to day to day survival seems to be her area of expertise.
However, my stories and the theories I have come up with surrounding her, can wait for another blog.
It goes to show how sometimes the path isn't always straight but one which winds and has many intersections.