MY MANY COMPANIONS

“STAND BY THIS CONFLUENCE”

My last post was about the Song of Becoming Us. For me 2026 is all about ‘Becoming Us’

To understand what that means let me tell you about the SoulQuest I did at the end of last year. In essence dawn to dusk sitting on the land on my own fasting. It was the centrepiece of an online guiding I was doing around Purpose Discovery

The spot I found myself was in a beech, birch and oak wood with a beck running through it. It had been a wet few days and the beck was in spate. At one point I followed it’s course downhill to where it met with the River Conder.

At the confluence of Beck and River, watching Beck offer and lose itself in River, it came to me it was time for me to do the same. To let go of a fear of engulfment and allow what I am becoming to merge into a bigger source. To seek community. To ‘Become Us’.

So I’m sharing more of what’s emerged from the time I’ve spent singing in the woods. Both in writing and in person. In future posts I will say more about Becoming Prayer. I will share practical plans of offering a regular public Wild Service too. But today I want you to tell you about the experiment I’m calling My Many Companions (aka MMC) : The Tour.

MMC : THE EVENT

In case you don’t know My Many Companions is the latest Deep Cabaret dreaming. It’s an epic (23minutes!) folksong to stream, an album of enchantments to download, a concertina zine to look at and - an intimate, sharing of personal myth and living prayer coming live to Land near you.

MMC : The Tour is an experiment in sharing this music in a different sort of event. Knowing I needed to share this work in nature, I contacted a few people I love and respect who love and respect the land. I asked if they knew of places that might be suitable for a small group of people to gather to take part in an offering of music. A gig and not at all a gig. An event where people listeners might feel like an audience, witnesses or congregants - all and none of these.

What emerged is this offering of a set of enchantments on deeply cherished land. These are not ‘venues’ and the people helping make them happen are not ‘promoters’ . Part of the experiment is to see together if we can create a new ecosystem - a network of intimate, cherished spaces that can hold an event like this.

The other part of the experiment is to see what happens when I attempt to share in this way, these very personal tales of the shamanic journeyings, mythopoetic encounters and deep questing that have guided my shift from egocentric to ecocentric artistry. Will an hour or more of just me singing and guitaring be enough to hold the attention of all the beings present.

MMC : THE DATES

These are the dates and venues for this pilot - some awaiting details of exact location. If you’re interested in coming or just want to know more please contact me directly or leave a comment below. More details about booking will appear here over the next few weeks. Payment will be what you want with a suggested £10 donation. Numbers will be strictly limited.

• Sun 15/3 2pm (with Andrea Hobbs and Jayne Johnson)

  Deep Dale Woods at Cat Castle, Lartington DL12 9DQ

• Sun 29/3 2pm Windlestone Scout Site, Ferryhill, DL17 0LX

• Sun 10/5 2pm (with Sarah Hymas) nr Storth, Lancs

• Sun 24/5 2pm (with Amy Clouds) nr Ulverston, Cumbria

LAND AND VOICE GATHERING

As part of Becoming Us I’m also wanting to bring together a small gathering of people who have a practise that involves voice and land. If that’s you or someone you know do contact me or leave a message in the comments so you or they can be included.