Marking Time

Marking Time

Soon it will be Midsummer. The longest day of daylight hours will be celebrated here in Whitstable again as it has been over the past few years when I will lead a procession of people up the hill on the old Salt Way, walking slowly and mindfully.

The Salt Way, Whitstable.

We will remember the history of this place in another time when it was a main trading route which carried salt from its origins on the coast through to the centre of Kent, where it was needed as an essential commodity.

Seawater, handmade clay vessel and small copper fire-pit.

I initially created this event as a one off piece of fieldwork for the MA project I was working on. I wanted to ‘re-enchant’ this overlooked and disused historic path by creating a spectacle that could be both participated in and viewed as a shared experience. Over the years it has become a regular occurrence and now past participants look forward to it.

Midsummer Fire on the Salt Way.

Midsummer day is a natural marker in the year to take stock of what has already been achieved and take some time out for anticipating future developments and clarifying the flow of our own activity on this lightest of days.

The sun setting last Midsummer.

From past experience I know that the practice of walking together in a procession and slowing down to a steady mindful pace does physically mark time for all of us and creates a wonderful and essential sense of connection with people, place and season, outside our busy lives.

Seasonal Senses

Over Easter I had a great break away, staying in a treehouse in Wales. I wrote about it here, two entries ago. What I most appreciated when I returned to Kent was the abundance of fruit blossom that was out in the orchards, amongst the roadside hedgerows and especially in my garden. We have planted many fruit trees here to add to the much older stock that we were lucky enough to inherit when we moved into the house and its garden 20 years ago.

Returning from the beautiful lush, wild and rocky landscape of Wales to suburban Kent was slightly disappointing until I opened the back door and saw that our garden was full of blossom! The pear blossom was nearly finished and didn't smell as sweet as the fresh apple tree flowers that were busy with bees, but the overall view of the garden was one of abundance and beauty.

Apple blossom.

Throughout the year as the seasons change there are always familiar elements to look forward to. In the woods in which I regularly walk, once the white carpet of Wood Anemones has finished, the Bluebells fragrance the air and their vibrant blue colour can become almost overwhelming in its intensity.

Seasonal variations in light and shadow can be appreciated whilst out walking.

These cyclic seasonal changes are reassuring and a great reminder of our place in the world, putting ‘front page news events’ into perspective. I believe that to walk and observe this regular seasonal change connect us to our senses and in fact sometimes are the only thing that ‘makes sense’. It reminds us that we are also part of the flora and fauna of these islands and that in itself is a humbling thought.

Making Sense

We like things to make sense; it gives us a feeling of well-being and security. With the onward march of the terror group ISIS, record and fatally high temperatures in India, FIFA corruption and constant government policy announcements in the news it can be a relief to walk out and use our senses to remind ourselves of the real world.

Walking allows us to focus on reality.

Walking allows us to slow down and observe seasonal changes and as we do so we start to recognise natural fragrances such as Bluebells or leaf litter, learn bird-songs or understand the light and shadow play at a specific time of year. Wild food foraging allows us to connect deeper to our environment knowing when and where to look for specific berries, leaves, seeds etc.

Wild Food Mandala created by Jo Barker and participants of her foraging walks.

‘The Spell of the Sensuous’ by David Abram was one of my favorite books I used when I studied for my MA. Its subtitle was ‘Perception and language in a More-Than-Human-World’. There is a chapter on the 'Ecology of Magic' that includes this quote,

‘Caught up in a mass of abstractions, our attention hypnotised by a host of human-made technologies that only reflect us back to ourselves, it is all too easy for us to forget our carnal inherence in a more-than-human matrix of sensations and sensibilities.’

Walking encourages us to slow down, that in itself is a start to making sense of it all. When we are at a walking pace we are able to observe and recognise the place that we are in. Steadily one step at a time we are able to become more than human.

Last years Midsummer gathering.

Mindful walking, alone or in a procession, creates a sense of enormous well-being and that is why I will be returning once again to the Salt Way at Midsummer, with others, to share a special experience that will help us make sense of it all.