Arthur’s Awakening - A Rousing Tale
The Strolling Mummers are setting off again, this time walking from north to south, along the Spine of Albion, along the Belinus and Elen energy lines, starting at Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh and ending at Culver Down on the Isle of Wight.
Earlier in the year the Mummers met at Dragon Hill and had an incredible week developing a new mummers play, based on the legend of King Arthur entitled Arthur’s Awakening - A Rousing Tale. On the Spine of Albion are many sacred sites, associated with Arthurian legends, including a cave at Alderley Edge where he is said to reside, until such a time as when the land needs him once more, he shall rise to save his people.
At a time when events in the world mean that perhaps Arthur is beginning to stir, we will walk this land, putting one foot in front of the other, seeking to re-pair and re-imagine relations between the inner and outer worlds, re-membering and re-claiming our own Sovereignty, and our deep connection and marriage to the land.
As a collective we are breathing new life back into our indigenous culture, which used to deeply root us to the land. The common people of the UK were the first to be colonised and those who took our lands as their own have not taken the best care of them. The land, this planet, is all our birthright, and by remembering, reclaiming, and deepening our connection to Mumma Earth, we strengthen our resolve to protect her, as well as finding this ever deepening relationship enriches our lives in ways that are unimaginable.
The Strolling Mummers came together in 2021 when we walked from London to Glasgow, along the Spine of Albion, a vertical leyline, to the UN Climate Conference 'COP26' for Listening to the Land, Pilgrimage for Nature, creating a performance en route, which we presented to the delegates in the Green Zone. Then last year we walked a Pilgrimage for Unity, along a horizontal leyline known as the Michael Line that spans from Carn Les Boel, near Land’s End in Cornwall, all the way to Hopton-on-Sea on the Norfolk Coast. On this route we performed a traditional mummers play of Saint George and his Many Enemies, exploring how we create our own enemies through projections, and that really we are all one. This year we are walking a Pilgrimage for Re-Pair, with our own mummers play that we recently coined, that explores how we can reunite the inner and outer worlds, the head and the heart, finding our own High King, whilst hiking, and helping to bring us back home to and in flow with all parts of ourselves, each other, and the land.
Our route will take us through Edinburgh, Carlisle, Burnley, Stoke, Manchester, Birmingham, Stratford, Winchester, and the Isle of Wight. If you live along this route and would like to help by hosting a performance, or putting us up for the night (there's seven of us), then please get in touch. Follow our adventures @strollingmummers on Instagram and Facebook and come see a performance or spend a day walking with us if you're able.