went down to the river as the sun was rising. It was a beautiful sunrise that would’ve been perfect for the Solstice. The cold water glinted as the sun rose higher, glittering over all it touched with a pink-gold light. A water rat swam towards the river bank and then disappeared into its hole, and a crowd of mallards quacked loudly at Leveret’s intrusion as they bobbed about searching for an early breakfast. She stood on the river bank and drank in the beauty and peace, making the sign of the pentangle. Earth, fire, water, air – and the spirit in me, she thought. The shimmering water eddied past her, heading out to sea. She breathed deeply, her breath clouding out around her as she exhaled. Then she turned to the great willow that overhung the river, the same one that had sheltered the girls on the day of their preparations for the Rite of Adulthood.
Leveret stroked the lined and deeply fissured bark of the tree, calling on the spirit that lived there. The willow was a feminine tree and the spirit was ancient and powerful. She stood with her hand on the trunk, looking up into the tangle of branches that canopied overhead. She felt the energy all around her, alive and vibrant even though it was the heart of winter and trees were dormant. This one only slept and even in sleep its magic was strong.
‘Sister Willow, I greet you. I honour your spirit and ask forgiveness for the cuts I’m about to make. They’re done with goodness of intention and love in my heart for another. I only take what I need and no more. Blessings, Sister Willow.’
The whispered words hung around her as her breath had done. Taking a small kitchen knife from her pocket she began to cut pieces from the fine branches, wishing it were spring when the tree would be covered in whippy little shoots, so much easier to work with. Leveret felt an overwhelming sadness at the loss of the white-handled gathering knife, for even though she’d spent as much time as she could searching the Green she’d had no luck in finding it. Maybe somebody else had spotted it and picked it up. She grieved for its loss deeply but tried not to think of it now. This willow must be gathered with the right feelings in her heart and so she concentrated on that and shut out her sad thoughts.
At sunset she was out again, this time with a bag containing everything she needed for the spell and the circle tonight. She’d kept it very simple in the end, nothing like she’d planned to do when gathering at the Frost Moon. That bag had been confiscated but maybe that was for the best, the way things had now turned out. The spell she intended to cast tonight would be very basic but hopefully all the more powerful for it. Leveret planned to leave her bag containing all the necessities hidden somewhere on the Green, so she could just slip out of the party later and pick it up. She did a circuit of the clearing, looking for a likely spot. The trees were bare and although darkness would soon fall, she didn’t want to risk somebody finding her bag. She ended up under the only evergreen tree there – the great yew, the tree special to Yul and Sylvie. She felt its intense, powerful magic as she approached and knew it was a fitting choice, for the yew was the tree of the crone and Dark Magic.
But strangely she felt something else as she stepped under the low boughs and stood in the gloomy shelter. She felt love so strong it took her breath away. She felt passion and desire, adoration and ecstasy, an intermingling of souls that time couldn’t destroy. Leveret felt it winding around the branches, mixed up with the eternity that the yew represented, the phoenix-like ability to regenerate and grow again from the ashes and withering. She’d never felt anything like it and realised that it was Yul and Sylvie’s love she was picking up – their union of darkness and brightness into one.
Leveret had never before thought about the beautiful relationship between her oldest brother and his moongazy wife. She’d only ever seen it as a nuisance, something which had taken Yul away from her. Now she sensed a little of the magic of their partnership but realised that recently there’d been little evidence of