Excerpt from The Rat Race by Andy Norfolk
Ostara / Beltane 2009 issue

This article has been prompted by recent discussions on the Pagan Network forum in which someone from outside of the United Kingdom claimed various things about racial origins and what they might mean. Do you feel Celtic? Does that make you feel superior? Well it shouldn't! The Celts are not quite what, or who, you might think and nor are the British.

People weren't present in Britain during the upper Palaeolithic - about 14,000 bc. They came back as the ice retreated at the end of the last glaciation and we know that people were here from at least 12,000 years ago because of C14 dating of skeletal remains. The Mesolithic is the period of transition from the last glaciation to the development of farming and pottery in the Neolithic. In the Mesolithic, from about 8,500 bc to 4,000 bc people were hunter-gatherers, collecting wild food from the land around them. It has been estimated that there may have been no more than about 24,400 people in Britain at that time, based on how much land it needs to support contemporary hunter-gatherer societies. So where did these people come from?

Geneticists, such as Professor Goldstein, studying the influence of the Vikings on Britain looked at the Y chromosome which passed from father to son. While there are some traces of Norwegian DNA, what has become clear as a result of further work by people such Capelli, Sykes and Oppenheimer, is that about 75% of the population of Britain have very similar genetic origins. The remaining 25% are a mix of all sorts. During the last ice age there were human populations surviving in various places; on the Iberian peninsula, around modern day Kosovo and Macedonia and also to the north-east of the Black Sea. These population groups each had different Y chromosome groups. These haplogroups are labelled R1b, I and R1a respectively. We now know that the original people in Britain mostly came from the Iberian R1b haplogroup and that about three-quarters of us are their direct descendants. The same people also of course colonised Ireland. Our closest modern European relatives, if you study male DNA, turn out to the Basques.

Professor Sykes has studied mitochondrial DNA passed down the female line. He has identified 36 women from whom almost everyone on earth is directly descended. Seven of these are the "clan-mothers" from whom Europeans are descended. One of these, who was born 20,000 years ago near the present day border between France and Spain close to Perpignan, has been nicknamed Helena, which is the Greek for light. Her offspring have spread out to occupy territory from the Alps to Russia and Norway, including the British Isles. This is another link to our origins in a small part of Europe where people managed to survive the ice age.

Excerpt from Herbal Teas by Twilightgirl
Autumn Equinox / Samhain 2008

Herbal Teas are made from the roots, bark, leaves, berries and seeds from a variety of plants and herbs. Unlike traditional teas, most herbal teas do not contain caffeine, so are safe to drink before retiring for the night or if you are simply trying to cut back on your daily caffeine intake. Herbal teas come in a wide range of delightful flavours (and some not so delightful depending on your taste buds!) and they can be drunk hot or cold. Herbal teas are reputed to have healing properties and these are absorbed into your body through the tea.

As with any herb or medication caution should be practiced. Herbs should never be used as substitutes for a doctor's prescription. If you are being treated for any illness and are taking prescription medication seek the advice and consent of your doctor prior to taking herbs. Children, pregnant women, and nursing mothers should not take herbs without a doctor's consent.

The most convenient way to make herbal tea is to buy it already made up in a bag, plus you know that this way you're not going to get any surprises in your tea such as a boiled bug or caterpillar! However, if you want a pure flavour with more health benefits then opt for making your own herbal tea. This is easy to do and you can mix a variety of herbs together to form some unusual flavours.

Herbs can be bought either in dried form from the supermarket or local health store or you can grow your own herbs. If you're going to use fresh herbs, you should tear and bruise the leaves so the aromatic oils can be released into the water. You will also need to use more fresh herbs than you would with dried herbs. With most plants, you can just pluck off a few leaves whenever you want to make tea, although try not to strip your plant bare or you could end up killing it!

If you are making herbal tea consisting of leaves and/or flowers this is called an Infusion. To make an infusion place one or two teaspoonfuls of dried herbs into a tea ball and place this in your cup. Pour on boiling water and place a saucer or cover on top of the cup. Covering the cup enables the herbs to infuse. Leave for around 5-10 minutes. After several experiments you will discover the exact timing for your taste buds. Remove the  saucer/cover and tea ball then sit back and prepare to enjoy your tea. You can also use herbs in a teapot. Place 1-2 teaspoonfuls of dried herb per cup in a teapot, pour on boiling water and give the herbs a stir. Replace the teapot lid and leave for up to 10 minutes. When pouring the tea, use a tea strainer.

Excerpt from Pagan Postcards by Beth-ann
Yule 2008 / Imbolc 2009 issue

Orkney

When we got on the ferry from Scrabster the Sun was just beginning to come out. It was the end of July and we had planned to spend just one day there. We had a lot to fit in that day. We had driven up the east coast of Scotland for most of the day before in rain with a grey sky and high winds so we thought that the trip would be a bit rough. It took 90 minutes to cross and although it was quite breezy the Sun stayed out and it became very warm. About an hour into the journey we passed the Old Man of Hoy, a quite magnificent rock stack which is better in real life than on the pictures that I had seen. This was our welcome to the Islands of Orkney.

We disembarked at Stromness, a small fishing port with little passage like streets, where even the roads were paved instead of tarmacked, and made our way to Scara Brae, the first stop on our sight seeing tour. Skara Brea is the best preserved group of stone age houses in Europe, uncovered by a winter storm in 1850.

"This revealed the outline of a number of stone buildings. The discovery intrigued the local laird, William Watt of Skaill, so he embarked on an excavation of the site.

By 1868, after the remains of four ancient houses had been unearthed, work at Skerrabra was abandoned. The settlement remained undisturbed until 1925, when another storm damaged some of the previously-excavated structures. A sea-wall was built to preserve these remains, but during the construction work more ancient structures were discovered".

This was not a disappointment and was situated right on the coast, the view was magnificent and it was a real treat for the beginning of our discovery of some of the sites on the Island.

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Opportunity to join the Witchtower Magazine Team

Published at 10:50 in


We have an opening for a new writer to join the Witchtower team. You must be reliable and able to commit to deadlines (and be able to write to a good standard obviously!)

As with all positions on Pagan Network, it is unpaid, but you do get a PDF copy of the magazine (not to mention you get to work with the friendly & supportive team of myself, Andy Norfolk and Beith-ann).

If you are interested please email me either samples of your work or links to your work online. Also please indicate your areas of interest.

Email address - witchtower @ gmail.com

Twilightgirl

Excerpt from Dem Bones by Andy Norfolk
Yule 2008 / Imbolc 2009 issue

Paganism in Britain, according to some who know about these things, is a recent reinterpretation of what the beliefs of the pre-Christian people of these islands may have been, with a large dollop of invention, wishful thinking and imagination. That's not necessarily a bad thing - all that positive creativity is probably one of the most important factors in making British Paganism the vibrant and energetic, if occasionally rather odd, thing it is today. People who have thought about these things and who have read some of Ronald Hutton's books, or at least heard about them, may also be a bit coy about claiming an unbroken Pagan tradition back to - well - before the year dot! There is after all no evidence that stands up to a bit of reasonably intelligent scrutiny that  contemporary Paganism goes back very far at all. However Pagans do say that they draw inspiration from the pre-Christian religions of the world and in Britain this means whatever our ancestors were up to before about the 6th century. In particular prehistoric monuments from the Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Ages are important to many Pagans. Not surprisingly what our ancestors did is important to us, though we may not have a clear idea of what that was. Recent genetic research shows that most of us are directly related to the ancient peoples of these islands. For many Pagans our ancestors themselves are of great importance and are part of their lives and practises.  Ancestors are asked for guidance, or just "company", in rituals and everyday life.

In 2006 Paul Davies, reburial officer for the Council of British Druid Orders, asked English Heritage and the National Trust to rebury prehistoric human remains from the Avebury area presently in the Alexander Keiller Museum.

Both EH and NT are seeking responses to a consultation exercise about this request, which should be made by 31st January 2009. As they point out this request raises a great many issues. In doing so they are following the advice in "Guidance for the Care of Human Remains in Museums" published by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport in 2005, Part 3 of which deals with claims for the return of remains.

The publication of this guidance seems to have been prompted by a request from Australia for the return of Aboriginal remains and Part 3 begins with a quotation: "The express recognition that the concerns of various ethnic groups, as well as those of science, are legitimate and to be respected will permit acceptable agreements to be reached and honoured". (From the Vermilion Accord, World Archaeological Congress, 1989) The guidance recognises that requests can be made for religious or spiritual reasons and may include a desire to lay ancestors to rest on ancestral land. EH and NT have written a draft report and this and supporting documents can be found at:
www.thenationaltrust.org.uk/remains.

The guidance says that certain things must be considered when requests for the return of remains are made. The status of those making the request and continuity with the remains.

The draft report points out that CoBDO represent some, but not all, Pagan groups. Its members claim genetic relationship with the remains, but make no claim for continuity of belief, customs or language with the human remains. EH and NT comment that there is no evidence that members of CoBDO have any closer relationship with the human remains than most.

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