Lunar Presence is part of a wider project called Here Now, Yma Nawr, which I undertook throughout Autumn 2020, gratefully funded by Arts Council Wales.
Extract:
I have stayed close to home most of this year. I have become more intimate with the river Ogmore, which runs past my house. I visited the river every day for a moon cycle this Autumn, from the source at the top of the Bwlch mountain down through the Ogmore Valley, through Brynmenyn, Sarn, the edge of Penyfai, past Litchard, Wildmill, Bridgend town centre, Newbridge fields, Merthyr Mawr and out into the estuary at Ogmore by Sea.
This ‘attending’, this ‘showing up’ each day or most days was a way of resourcing myself. I brought small clay offerings and discovered gifts each time.
Nature is ever-giving, ever-present.
Each time I go to the river I receive more and more of myself.
Alongside my daily visits, I have met with people who have experienced birth or a bereavement this year – walking and talking, moving together at times. I have witnessed stories of grief, of hearts and worlds breaking open, of being stripped bare, of being alone, of being afraid, of being alive.
On the final day of the cycle, on the Libra New Moon, I created a ritual performance on the estuary at Ogmore by Sea. Using the form of Authentic Movement, I step into the familiar space of not knowing, of moving from impulse, of staying in my body, of opening and feeling everything.
The sun is shining and the wind is blowing. I am not alone and I am so grateful for this. I hear their voices as I listen to the river rushing to meet the sea. The sand is cool against my skin. I’m twisting and reaching and grabbing. There is so much effort, it is exhausting.
I’m standing and I feel the light on my face. I feel light. I am light. There is a sensation of dissolving around the harder tissue outside my heart – loosening, softening, opening.
The wind blows through me. My hair is blowing in the wind. It travels in the same direction as the river. Towards the sea.
You can read the full pamphlet here.
You can watch the film here and find the journal article here.