Ben Rowarth & Sophia Carr-Gomm at the Fall, Wigmore Hall, July 2025

Ben Rowarth & Sophia Carr-Gomm at the Fall, Wigmore Hall, July 2025

Last week Stephanie and I were at Wigmore Hall in London for a performance of a new oratorio composed by Ben Rowarth with the libretto written by our daughter Sophia. What a powerful experience this was! The Siglo de Oro choir and ensemble performed the work in the perfect acoustics of the hall, using whispering, loud breathing, full-throated singing, the virtuoso violin of Amy Tress – and pre-recorded sounds – to create an uplifting, and at times ominous, immersive experience that fitted the serious theme of this oratorio: how far have we fallen that we ‘savage our world’?:

Pain done to others
Is pain done to ourselves
May we have the humility to save our home
To save ourselves.

To get to this message, Sophia re-tells the story of the Fall of Troy, confiding to us that she managed to include a reference to the Druid’s Prayer (Strength, Protection, Knowledge):

Of the Gods, there is Apollo
He shines, he is mighty
He protects us
Molton flame
The sinews and curves of his muscular features
Strength, protection and knowledge
Music and poetry, he is a God

I hope this work is filmed and in a future blog I can show you it all, or parts of it. Our world today is so full of ‘resounding gongs and clanging cymbals’ meaning nothing. More than ever we need to hear beautiful and important voices that lift us beyond and through the noise to a realm of deeper meaning.

Thanks to the generosity of the Order’s patroness, Dwina Murphy-Gibb, the Order grants a scholarship each year for original research in Druidism and related subjects. We have called this scholarship the Mount Haemus Award, after the apocryphal Druid grove of Mt Haemus that was said to have been established near Oxford in 1245.

If you haven’t already, do please check out the 26th Mount Haemus Lecture awarded this year to Pat Booker for her fabulous paper: The Fifth Province: Myth and Metaphor in Twentieth Century Ireland

This paper explores the ancient Irish myth of the Fifth Province as described in The Settling of the Manor of Tara, tracing its transformation into a powerful cultural metaphor in twentieth-century Ireland. It argues that the myth’s symbolism — a central unifying force among divisions — was reimagined by thinkers, artists, and politicians to promote dialogue, healing, and postcolonial reflection. Drawing on figures such as Richard Kearney, Seamus Heaney, and Imelda McCarthy, the study shows how the Fifth Province served as a philosophical and creative space during key moments in Irish political and spiritual renewal, including the peace process and the cultural liberalization of the Republic. The paper concludes by considering how this mythic structure offers practical tools for contemporary Druids seeking to balance personal, communal, and ecological harmony.

About the Author:

Pat Booker holds qualifications From Oxford, Queens University Belfast and the University of Ulster. However, she has never used them for anything sensible or lucrative. Currently she is a trainer who lives in the Northern Irish countryside with a dog and a cat and too many books. Ten years ago, she wandered into a Druid retreat out of curiosity, and she liked it so she stayed and has been in the Bardic grade ever since.

Figment Arts warmly invites you to an open evening to celebrate the exciting flagship exhibition of Story Maps, developed in collaboration with the wonderful Newhaven Museum.

This unique project explores local history and folklore from Newhaven and across Sussex, reimagined through powerful solo and collaborative artworks made in pop up studios with the public. The evening will be an opportunity to view the artworks, meet the artists and watch beautiful music and storytelling performances based on the stories central to the exhibition’s theme. Figment Arts is an arts organisation supporting neurodivergent and learning disabled artists.

Details:

Where: Marine Workshops, Newhaven BN9 0DH
When: 6-8pm Friday 27 June 2025

The ongoing exhibition will be held at both the Marine Workshops and Newhaven Museum from 24 June – 5 July 2025. I have attached a flyer for the exhibition and I’d be really grateful if you could share the exhibition across your wider networks and communities. We’d love for you to join us for this special evening and celebration of creativity and storytelling.Please RSVP to info@figmentarts.co.uk

9 trees is the number required to balance the average UK citizen’s carbon consumption each year.
The tree planting charity I mention:   https://www.9trees.org

The Sun

Have you ever seen
anything
in your life
more wonderful

than the way the sun,
every evening,
relaxed and easy,
floats toward the horizon

and into the clouds or the hills,
or the rumpled sea,
and is gone–
and how it slides again

out of the blackness,
every morning,
on the other side of the world,
like a red flower

streaming upward on its heavenly oils,
say, on a morning in early summer,
at its perfect imperial distance–
and have you ever felt for anything
such wild love–
do you think there is anywhere, in any language,
a word billowing enough
for the pleasure

that fills you,
as the sun
reaches out,
as it warms you

as you stand there,
empty-handed–
or have you too
turned from this world–

or have you too
gone crazy
for power,
for things?

– Mary Oliver

You can find the book ‘The Long Man & Friends’ here: https://store.druidry.org/products/the-long-man-and-friends. In Tea with a Druid join a worldwide community of like-minded people interested in nature-based spirituality for a weekly exploration of a spiritual topic and a meditation. Live every Monday at 8pm UK time. Learn more about the Druid community and training at https://www.druidry.org To find all the Tea with a Druid meditations on the ‘Yewtube’ Outdoor Woodland Cinema, go to: https://zodogo.com/yewtube/ The music used in the opening title is ‘Druid Circle’ by Charlie Roscoe.

see: https://druidry.org/druid-way/other-paths/druidry-dharma