Walking the Tides by Nigel Pearson (paperback)

Pagination; 360 pages with 16 pages of black and white photo plates.

Behind the seasonal calendar celebrated by most modern pagans is an ebb and flow of natural energies that is seldom mentioned and whose meaning is very little understood. Those that take their practice from a direct experience of the Land and its natural rhythms and tides have always understood and worked with these energies, which gives them a direct connection to the reality behind the modern festivals.

This book aims to give the reader an insight into the great rhythmic tides and flows of energy that animate the Land throughout the year and the natural happenings that occur along the way, thereby giving their practice a validity that it may currently lack.

Walking the Tides describes holy days, celebrations, saints’ days, animals, birds, herbs, trees, weather and starlore that are featured in the natural calendar of the British Isles, and the uses to which many of these things are put in traditional practice.

Divided into four sections describing the Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn Tides (and monthly within these), the author gives the reader a feeling of connection to what is actually going on around them in the natural world, at any given point in the year.

Many books describe the so-called “Wheel of the Year”, without giving any context, reason or validation for the practices described; Walking the Tides takes the reader on an intimate journey into the heart of the Land and shows what actually occurs, rather than what is supposed to, enabling the reader to understand the rhythms and tides of the Land around them and to formulate their own celebrations and observances of these tides and their significant points, based on a clear understanding of the world around them.

Much of the information given is taken from Traditional Craft practice, but also from old British folklore, the lore of the Farm, the author’s own experience and even Church tradition, the better to give the reader a greater and deeper appreciation and understanding of the seasonal flows throughout the natural year and their place in it.