I went on a pilgrimage yesterday - not to a famous sacred site, but to somewhere with spiritual significance to me personally. I also took photos to show another place where nature thrives within London's sprawl.
The place I went to is South Norwood Country Park. It's in the highly urban London Borough of Croydon, but is a huge open space with wild flower meadows, streams running through woodlands, and a lake. The spiritual significance for me is that I used to take part in wheel of the year rituals there. The Wiccan high priestess who ran the coven I first joined lived right on the edge of the park. However, when she first moved there the site was a sewage works. I strongly suspect she did a bit of magic, because it was transformed into a country park soon afterwards.
Returning to the park this solstice was a way of reconnecting with how I felt back when I was a young witch. I was open to experiencing magic, and this place felt particularly full of enchantment. It was good to be reminded of that.
I've been blogging about London's green spaces over the past couple of years. 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. Here are links to some previous Green London posts:
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2023/09/green-london-riverview-walk-river-pool.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2023/09/green-london-richmond-park-national.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2023/11/green-london-victoria-park-in-autumn.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2024/05/pagan-eye-south-london-gets-new-erection.html
2 comments:
I enjoyed as I always do, reading your latest Blog. I spent my childhood growing up in West Norwood, a part of the ancient Great North Wood, that the South Norwood Country Park, was also once a part off. Not to far from South Norwood Country Park, are a few places that hold paganistic and spiritual significance to me personally. They are, Norwood Grove, also, once a part of my second choice, Streatham Common, meantioned with that of the Great North Wood, in the Doomsday Book of 1086. The common still has its ancient deciduous woodland, many a tree I climbed as a boy, to its crown.
Not surprisingly, Gypsy's, namely their Queen, Margaret Finch, said to have live to the ripe old age of 108 years old, chose to settle in the area of the Great Northwood, now known as West Norwood. There are numerous streets and public houses named after the gipsy's (local spelling) and Margaret Finch.
Thanks for your comment about the history of the area. Yes indeed lots of spiritual and magical connections in this part of South London.
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