Here you will find stories about… returning home, constant rivers & ancient paths… feeding the soul & gathering the harvest of songs… binding power & the work of wise hands… womanhood & the mysteries of blood and moon… lost clans, remembered ancestors & sacred lovers… protection, deep magic & old knowledge… darkening shadows, death totems & intuitive voices… weaving the land, wild places & the turn of seasons… deep winter, ice warriors & the web of mother lines… primordial rhythms, prayer dances & drum rituals… grieving hearts, unbound spirits & distant terrains… sisterhood, strong circles & shared journeys… the dances of life & bright joy…

Sacred House by Carolyn Hillyer –  WHERE WOMEN WEAVE WORDS INTO THE EARTH

Weaving together profound stories, original source materials and lyrical texts, this extraordinary book travels a spiralling route around the hearth fire of a sacred ceremonial house, gathering up the words that are fed into the ancient flames.  Drawing on over 30 years of being absorbed in women’s work (political, spiritual, creative and magical), and decades spent as a workshop creator, song writer, intuitive painter and inhabitant of hills and moors, Carolyn has written a book that describes a deep mythology for women in relation to earth, spirit mothers, mystical journeys, sisterhood and the unfolding landscape of our travelling souls, as well as a view through a personal window into life and wild land. Now in its fourth edition.

“This book is written as a spiral that spins in both directions. After a long time searching for the bones on which to hang these stories, the skeletal form finally emerged, a non-linear structure that could gather up all my dancing words and tie them together. A circular loom, in fact, on which I could weave fragments of texture and colour, and then stand back to see how the pattern of the threads was spreading out to feed the cloth. A sacred house, indeed, that was solid and magical and timeless enough to accommodate all the many women who were travelling into these tales, and friendly enough to encourage their voices to sing out across the flaming hearth. With wild nature prowling so strongly at the centre and around the edges of these stories, I wanted to catch something of the raw dynamic of the land within these words. Some of these story cycles have emerged from workshop journeys that I have created for women over many years. Some stories are newly born and freshly grown; they have flown in over winter snows and scarcely left a trail, so lightly they have woven themselves into this book. Some are written around a rhythm that can best be experienced when they are spoken out loud; some will even take you out to dream and trance if you stay with them for a while. The songs that are threaded through the book can of course be read as lyrical text, although they will enjoy being sung, with your own tunes if you are not familiar with the original melody, harmonies or rhythm. The sacred house exists; it was built some years ago on the wild land where I live, a ceremonial roundhouse like those used by the ancestors who walked these hills five thousand years ago. Its roots and soul are far, far older. Time inevitably shifts from lines to circles within its walls, and layers of ancient faces flicker across those of the women sat within. I welcome you through its door and invite you to travel with these stories as they are woven by us onto this loom.”  Carolyn Hillyer