Norwich Pagan Moot is a gathering of Pagans and others who acknowledge the spirit in the Earth and Sky, Land and Sea. We hold two regular in-person gatherings a month - the second Sunday evening talk or workshop and the fourth Saturday Coffee Moot. We are also starting up the on-line presentations again! See the 'Events' page for more information. In October, we have our annual Boudica's Brocante. We also have a number of public rituals and walks through the year, notably the annual Twelfth Night ritual on Mousehold Heath. Our 'oss, the Ickeny, usually makes an appearance at rituals, especially Twelfth Night! We are a friendly, welcoming and supportive organisation and do not discriminate on grounds of belief, gender, disability, race or sexuality. Our events are public and open to all. Find out more on the 'Events' page and in our Facebook group. Scroll down for our full contact details.
Our new logo, with a Green Man / foliate head, is by the fabulous Vix Valentine: to whom we are very grateful!
Older news is archived here.
Saga by Alice Kerridge-Crick
Val Thomas writes…
Welcome to the second week of our exploration of Frigg and the Asyniur associated with her, in preparation for our 12th Night Ritual in January 2027. Today’s goddess is Saga.
In Gylfaginning, Saga is listed as second to Frigg amongst the Asyniur and we are given the name of her dwelling place as Sokkvabekk (meaning ‘sunken bench’ or possibly ‘treasure bank’), which is said to be very large. Saga is also listed in Skáldskaparmál. However, it is from Grimnir’s sayings that we learn how cool waves resound over Sokkvabekk and that Saga and Odin drink there every day from golden cups. There is also a headland named Saga which is mentioned in the first poem of Helgi Hundingsbane.
Some commentators consider Saga to be another name for Frigg, including Freya Aswynn, who seems to equate Frigg’s fenland home, Fensalir, with Saga’s Sokkvabekk, suggesting that Frigg has foreknowledge of everything while Saga, living by the stream of time and all that has happened, represents Frigg’s memories. Personally, I prefer to see her as a goddess in her own right, because it is possible to be aware of her as a powerful presence with her own distinct characteristics and magical aspects. Her name means ‘story’ and is connected to the Old Norse word seyja, which means to say or to tell and, as Rev. Máire Durkan points out, in Frigg’s Twelvefold Flame, Saga meets Odin as his equal.
Saga brings blessings to those of us who are storytellers, writers, chroniclers, historians, archivists and keepers of memory in whatever form, the latter role applying to all of us as we honour our ancestors and share tales about them. Stories are important and Saga can help us not only to remember them but to speak out and allow what they teach us to inform our lives in the present.
Associating runes with a deity is very personal, but for me, one of Saga’s important runes is laguz, because she dwells by the lake and is ever close to the waters of memory. Setting out upon them can prove a perilous and emotional experience, albeit a necessary one at times. I would also consider ansuz to be a rune which can help us draw upon Saga’s attributes because it represents the mouth and communication, the transmission of information and memories. Othala too, as a rune of ancestral inheritance, be that physical land, our qualities, our genetics or our family stories, is also one to work with in connection with Saga.
So much of our work at the Moot is informed by and hopefully blessed by this beautiful goddess who, if we open ourselves to her qualities, may hold out a horn of golden mead to inspire us in our work. Our Twelfth Night Ritual is itself an act of sacred storytelling and we ask Saga to bless and guide our preparations for it and the performance of the rite itself.
Frigg by Bestla Lavender
Val Thomas writes…
We begin our exploration of the deities we will be working with at 12th Night (see below) with Frigg, who is regarded by many as the foremost of the Norse goddesses, a Queen of Heaven. When Gangleri, in the Gylfaginning, asks, "Who are the Asyniur?" the answer is:
The highest is Frigg. She has a dwelling called Fensalir and it is very splendid.
There follows then a list of all her handmaidens: Saga, Eir, Gefjon, Fulla, Sjofn, Lofn, Var, Vör, Syn, Hlin, Snotra and Gna, each of whom we will be discussing in the coming weeks.
Rev. Máire Durkan, in Frigg’s Twelvefold Flame, traces the name Frigg to root words meaning peace, love, freedom, family, friendship and beauty, and all of these qualities are shown in the stories which feature her.
Frigg knows the Fates of all people but is renowned for her secrecy and, although she is a seeress, she does not make prophesies. Her husband is Odin and her son is Baldur and, in one of the major stories featuring Frigg, she is unable to avert the fate of her son, even though she endeavours to so, but nevertheless has to take on the mantle of grieving mother.
People often like to link Norse deities to particular runes. Freya Aswynn, in Northern Mysteries and Magic: Runes, Gods and Feminine Powers, says that Frigg’s rune is Perthro because she is a goddess governing birth and fate and the outpouring of creativity, but also Berkana, which is breast-shaped, suggesting her nurturing aspect.
Frigg is much beloved by many of us at the Moot as she is a patroness of spinning – taking raw material and producing the magical thread which can be used for weaving. Freya Aswynn, suggests that it is Frigg who is "in charge of the prima materia" and spins the substance from which the Norns weave our fate. Her symbols are spinning tools, the drop spindle and the distaff. Indeed, the constellation, Orion’s Belt is sometimes called Frigg’s Distaff.
Frigg is also a favourite goddess in Norfolk, because the name of her hall, Fensalir, literally means ‘marsh hall’, and we feel her presence very powerfully in the wetter areas of the county, particularly in Broadland. I would definitely recommend a boat trip on the Broads as a way of enhancing your connection with her and Autumn is a particularly good time for this. You will probably also see a heron standing still and silent in the reeds, as this is one of her special birds.
Val Thomas writes…
Now the season is changing once again our thoughts turn to our Autumn activities. We have a lovely programme of events for you and, of course, our annual Boudica's Brocante which celebrates its 10th birthday this year! Put the date in your diary and keeep an eye on the Brocante page for information about our lovely stallholders and what they have to offer this year. We'll also be looking for some helpers too, particularly for the kitchen.
Another exciting announcement is that our 12th Night Ritual for 2027 will be held on Saturday 9th January in the usual place on Mousehold Heath. (It's a bit late this time but the previous Saturday we felt was a bit too early.) The ritual will be written and organised by the wonderful Bestla Lavender with help from Alice Crick and Vix Valentine. The theme is Frigg and her handmaidens. Some of you will remember the wonderful series of workshops which Alice led on this topic three years ago, but just in case you weren't able to attend those, we will be posting information about all these deities during the weeks leading up to Yule!
Chris Wood writes…
And don't forget our very special talk on Sunday 13th September: Jeremy Harte, author and folklorist, will be telling us all about East Anglian Buried Treasure! There's more on the Events page. Admission is a bit higher for this one, as he has a distance to come and will be staying the night, but it is well worth it!
Chris Wood writes…
I attended an inter-faith kite-flying event in Eaton Park on 8th July, organised by Linda Albin of the Progressive Jewish community in support of the Green Olive Collective and in solidarity with ordinary Palestinians subject to the depredations of settlers on the occupied West Bank. It commemorates the attacks on Palestinian farmers cut-off from their land and deprived of an income by the destruction of their olive trees, standing in solidarity in particular with the people of the village of Burin, in the Nablus District, which has held a kite festival every July since 2008.
Some 25 people from a wide range of backgrounds attended, most flying a diverse range of kites - some with more success than others! Linda (below left) spoke of her time as a news reporter during the Second Intifada, twenty years ago. This was sobering enough, but then came a moving presentation from Fiona Haworth, Associate Priest at St Peter Mancroft Anglican church in Norwich (below right). She had just returned from four weeks in the West Bank, including time spent helping on a (Christian run) olive farm. International (very hard) working visitors are a real benefit to Palestinian farmers in terms of assisting with the work of the farm, not least with watering the replanted olive trees, but also as a protective presence, deterring settler attacks. I have usually seen her in clerical uniform; but on this occasion Fiona was without her dog collar and really spoke from the heart of her experience there. Her shirt bore the word 'Sumud', which is the Palestinian expression for 'steadfastness as everyday resistance'.
As an animist Pagan, I feel very strongly we should stand in support of indigenous peoples who are being deprived of their lands, livelihoods, resources and, indeed, very lives, especially when our country is complicit. In some ways Paganism has tended to follow the philosophy of the separation of politics and religion, although in others, such as campaigns against road building and for climate action, Pagans have been at the forefront of activism, I'm pleased to say. Indeed, when discussing the issue of how political we can be, Linda said to me that, as a Jew, she felt that this is not a political issue, but a moral obligation to see justice done. I think we have much in common!
Chris Wood writes…
The We Are Witch project, founded and co-ordinated by Ruth Dillon, is a collaborative arts project, honouring the women judicially murdered for alleged Witchcraft in East Anglia and represents a commitment to on-going remembrance of the witch persecution's legacy for women (and for men). There's more at https://wearewitch.net/.
A key part of the project is the We Are Witch quilt, with panels commemorating 29 of the women killed between 1583 and 1808. Each panel has been made by a different woman, including (below left and right) Elizabeth Bradwell of Great Yarmouth, executed in 1645, made by Val Thomas, and Mary Oliver of Norwich (and Salem), executed in 1659, made by Norfolk Folklore Society's Siofra Connor.
The Solstice Honouring was an amazing and moving evening event organised by Ruth Dillon in conjunction with the Norfolk Folklore Society, with ritual co-ordination by Sue Buck of Soulcraft. It included discussion, music, a ritual of remembrance and an amazing immersive visual and sound experience by Charlotte Arculus, Haley Craw and E.M. Arson. It was the first public display of the quilt following completion.
People are being asked to send a message to these wronged women at times of calm and happiness:
I send back in time to you the freedom and beauty of this place and present moment. In your darkest hour come here, each one of you, come here in your darkest hour. Reside here, it is expansive and lovely, and you are safe and welcome.
There seemed to be another presence there that evening in addition to the women called upon - another wronged woman, with a Norfolk connection. During the interval, while the stage was being set up for the immersive performance, I was amazed to look up and see what in a mundane sense was the shadow of musician Haley (who was wearing a pheasant feather in her hair), stood between the projector and the back of the quilt. The image spoke to me of Pocahontas.
Debz Thompson writes…
Back in the distant past, February 18th to be exact, a volunteer embroiderer was asked to come forward to undertake a task. The task was to create an embroydered panel for an inter-faith "human rights" quilt. The idea is a representative from each faith completes a panel for each of the human rights articles.
Finally it has been finished and has now headed off to join its quilt friends, where it will be put together into the final large piece.
My piece didn’t end up how I initially visualised it, however it grew organically without constraints.
Here is my description and a picture of my final panel.
Article 9
Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights (incorporated by the UK Human Rights Act 1998) protects the fundamental right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion. It covers the right to change religion/belief, and to manifest beliefs through worship, teaching, practice, and observance, either alone or in community with others."
My panel, on behalf of the Pagan community, depicts a human head, full of knowledge, imagined like a library full of books with bookshelves, ever changing and filling. Our conscious thoughts, ideas, manifestations, beliefs etc. come from here, our own minds; they are individual to each of us. We can choose, as individuals, to liberate them, represented by the books transforming into butterflies flying freely from the head into the wider world, or let them to stay on the shelves as our internal thoughts until we feel we can give them freedom. The books becoming butterflies represent transformation, like caterpillars changing into butterflies, so our thoughts, ideas and beliefs also metamorphose into things we reveal to the world, discuss with others and display. The vines represent the wider community, world etc., and like wild vines are free to grow and go where they choose; only we can choose to tame and prune them as, if left to their own nature, they will grow and spread freely. I visualise them winding and growing with our own and others' free thoughts, opinions and ideologies settling on them unhampered for all to see, listen to or think about, in order that each person can then construct their own unconstrained thoughts with autonomy.
Chris Wood writes…
In the Eastern Daily Press of 16th May 2026, there was an inter-faith article putting the case for recognition of community cohesion and kindness between people of diverse backgrounds, deliberately timed to appear on the day of and to counter the views of a right-wing demo in London. Admittedly the piece is rather buried on page 49 of the print edition and doesn't really explain what the "1,000 Acts of Hope" are that it asks to be added to "Orange Hearts" around the county, but the initiative is a very important demonstration that we can be nice to one another, whatever our ethnic or religious/faith background, and work together for our wider community. As such I, as an Organiser of Norwich Pagan Moot, am pleased to have co-signed the piece as one of 40 Norfolk "faith leaders" (not a term I'm comfortable with, but we can work on the language...).
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Chris Wood |
General organiser; Coffee Moot; events; web-site; external and media ambassador; inter-faith; Ickeny Collection; speaker; guided walks; Faceboook admin. |
01603 667 314 |
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Alice Kerridge-Crick |
On sabbatical. |
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Val Thomas |
Talking to people; events; author; speaker; herbalist; herb walks; Facebook admin. |
01603 667 314 |
