Green London: Ancient Woodlands Around Highgate

Highgate might be most famous for its Victorian cemetery, but many pagans know it because it has acres of woodland that are a wonderful site for rituals. There are actually four ancient woods in the borough of Haringey in North London: Highgate Wood, Queen's Wood, Coldfall Wood and Bluebell Wood. 

Visit the woods around the time of any of the Wheel of the Year festivals and you are likely to see druids, witches, shamanic drummers and followers of various spiritual traditions honouring nature, the season and the ancient gods. I was in Queens Wood at the weekend for a beautiful Druid Samhain rite and took the photo at the top of this post. I also took the photo of our altar with a cauldron and turnip lanterns set up before we began.

I've been blogging regularly about London's green spaces in an effort to dispel a prevalent myth that it's just all concrete. My posts cover everything from beautiful trees in the Square Mile itself, to gardens in and around Bloomsbury, to rivers running through meadows in south London, to large parks and woods where you can wander for hours.

Previous related posts
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2023/09/green-london-richmond-park-national.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2023/09/green-london-riverview-walk-river-pool.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2023/06/green-london-betts-park-tales-of.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2023/07/green-london-st-jamess-park-ghost-and.html