*
… After watching the, again, somewhat recalcitrant sun-up, we decide to head back for breakfast via the cluster of, albeit haphazardly, positioned stones which we have come to call ‘the recumbents’.
This is something of a risk, as we do not yet know what the stones represent and our Companions will undoubtedly be expecting a little more than, ‘we have a vague notion based on the feel of this place that it is something, although, we are not quite sure what.’
However, as an example of how we work, in and with the landscape, it is accurate and will highlight the experiential approach which both we and the ancients favour.
And this we do, telling the story of the site’s gradual introduction to our consciousness and the subsequent discoveries over the course of our last few visits.
We don’t have an ending, of course, except that we now do and that ending has become a beginning for, as we turn to leave the site by a slightly different route than we have done previously, Wen sees it.
“It’s a giant’s head and breast!”…
*
This formation of stones, cunningly crafted into an unmistakable form, by the ancients, stands on the edge of Ilkley Moor and can be seen from the beer garden of the Cow and Calf hotel…
From that vantage though, it does not look quite like the photograph, above, which was taken after a ‘greeting the sun’ on one of our early landscape workshops.
The art of the ancients depended in large part of finding the correct perspective from which to see things…
Which in landscape terms translates as discovering the right angle from which to look…
We stumbled on the form above or, alternatively, were gifted it because we took the time to listen to the land, entered into a ‘conversation’ with it, and undertook to share this process with others…
In this respect the land really does behave like a Cauldron of Plenty, which the ancient myths speak about with such awe and reverence…
Indeed, awe and reverence are two of the keys which will unlock the magic of the land and its living, breathing, loving reality.
Once this is done, as Sue and I found, the world shows forth its true colours…
Sue’s sobriquet in her family of boys was, ‘the hobbit’, which although she pretended to hate, she in fact quite liked, as she was a huge fan of Tolkien, and she also ‘begrudgingly’ allowed me to use the moniker… If done carefully, and sparingly…
At Sue’s funeral last March we walked out to the theme from the recent series of films of that name…
Sue was, it is true, a woman of small, if not diminutive, stature, yet that frame held a heart big as a cauldron, and a spirit that would gladly take on the gods…
Sue grew up on the moors and wrote a fictional tale encapsulating her love of their wild and rugged beauty which was published as, Swords of Destiny.
A year on from her premature departure from the world she loved we returned to mark her passing at the landscape form which she discovered on the edge of her beloved moor.
Maybe you would like to do the same if ever you are passing that way…
You will, though, have to find it first!
Spring 2022
Sue Vincent's Daily Echo 
This past year I was glad to read the daily posts that brought back Sue’s voice and thoughts. And I have read and enjoyed Swords of Destiny.
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Thanks Audrey… It’s a good book that! I am glad you enjoyed it… 😉
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A year flown, Stuart! It’s been one in which many loved ones have left us, but the memory of Sue still burns bright. I love her moors too.
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😉
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I too loved Swords of Destiny and will be sure to visit the moors Sue so loved the next time I am that way. Thanks for continuing her posts as I love reading her words as if she is speaking to me.
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A pleasure, Darlene… 😉
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So much of my current writing is enmeshed with Sue’s prompts as the ideas came from her images. Such an unpaid and payable debt. A year? That long? That short? Thank you Stuart for giving me the chance to tip my pen in her direction. Geoff
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You’re welcome, Geoff… 😉
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Hard to believe it’s been a year Stuart. Thinking of you all today.
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Thanks, Di… 😉
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How’s Ani?
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Ani’s good, thanks… Sleeps a lot these days… 😉
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Bless her.
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😉
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Her spirit still shines bright. My work would not be what it is without her influence. (K)
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😉
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How did that year pass so quickly? As ever, our thoughts are with you, Stuart. Unfortunately, we seem to have become enmeshed in medical issues of our own. Hopefully, not as severe, but all-consuming nevertheless. One day, I hope we can venture out a little more, and you are on our list of people we must get together with. As yet, though, we’ve already had to cancel plans for this year, so I don’t know when that’ll be.
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I know, frightening isn’t it? No worries Graeme… Sorry to hear about the medical probs… It would be great to catch up at some point… Keep me up to date with developments… Love to you both… 😉
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Thanks, Stuart. And to you
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I am so glad to have had you keep Sue right up there with her blogs, so her memory remains bright. Some I read with great pain at her loss. I’m happy to hear that there was a celebration of her life and spirit this year. And I miss Ani.
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There are some Ani posts coming up, Noelle… 😉
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A year already? Yet her voice is still as strong as ever, her presence as bright. It feels like a long time, yet no time at all. Sounds as though you chose the perfect place to remember her xx
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Time flies, it seems, whether or not you’re having fun… It was good to re-introduce Sue’s boys to the Moors… 😉
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It certainly does… I’m glad you and the boys enjoyed the Moors, looking forward to seeing you next month 🙂
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And me, you… 😉
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❤ So beautiful. I didn’t know Sue very well, but can picture her standing on the moors.
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