Smorgasbord Posts from Your Archives -#NewSeries August 2020- Pot Luck -#Birth – On the Eve of Beltane by Sue Vincent

Welcome to the current series of Posts from Your Archives… and I will be picking two posts from the blogs of those participating from the first six months of 2020. If you don’t mind me rifling through your archives… just let me know in the comments or you can find out the full scope: Posts from Your Archives – Pot Luck – 2020

This is the second post from author Sue Vincent from April this year.  This week Sue shares the  eventful arrival of her son with added complications, adding even more memorable moments than might have been expected!

On the Eve of Beltane by Sue Vincent

It is Beltane Eve and, every year, the same few things come back to me… There is the battle between the Winter King and the Summer King that I loved as a child, from William Croft Dickinson’s Borrobil, the number 77 bus that took us past a Beltane hill where the fires were once lit, according to my grandad… and a burglary.

I could not believe what I was seeing. The little kitchen window looked across the paths between the houses to my neighbour’s door. Which a hooded figure was busy levering open with a crowbar. Knowing my neighbour to be at work, I needed to call the police. Unfortunately, this was thirty three years ago and the nearest phone was a booth half a mile away. I grabbed my keys, locked the door, wondering how much good that would do… and ran.

The police dispatched a car right away and told me to go home and stay there. By the time I reached my gate, I had little choice about that. Running is not recommended when you are the size of a beached whale.

But, in spite of the pain, I was not too worried. The baby wasn’t due for over five weeks. I breathed through the contractions and waited for them to go away. Which they didn’t. When my husband came home, he called the hospital. They told him to bring me in when the contractions were… well, he said two minutes apart, but being French and panicking, I cannot be sure that communications were accurate at that point.

So, three days later, we headed to the hospital.

“Being so early,” said a disapproving midwife, “you do realise how small this baby is going to be?” I’d heard that one before… my elder son had been just over a month early and weighed in at nine pounds. Still… an easy delivery would be nice. I was already shattered. So making me babysit a nervous student doctor who needed his hand holding was a tad unfair.

Once the epidural was in place, all I wanted to do was sleep. All he wanted to do was talk and take my pulse every few minutes. He’d never delivered a baby before… my confidence was sky-high…

Hours later, my (now ex-) husband had gone home because he was tired… The midwife decided it was time. None of this TV birthing, where you lie there looking glamourous, pull a few faces, while someone mops the beads of sweat from your forehead… oh no. They tried me every way up and then squeezed me like a tube of toothpaste… but the little sod wouldn’t come out.

By the time they realised he was facing the wrong way up, the epidural had worn off and there was no time to top it up. A doctor armed with lethal-looking forceps and a small army of med students crowded around my knees… and several versions of Hell later, my son was born.

Being premature, he was indeed very small… a mere nine and a half pounds.

That, though, is probably the most trouble he ever caused me. Apart from the incident with the wooden Meccano when he set the rug on fire by extending it through the fire guard… and the innumerable times he and his motorbike ended up in ditches and emergency rooms… Curly blond hair and big brown eyes in the face of an angel mitigated the mischief of a demon. But he has grown into a quietly remarkable young man and a wonderful father of whom I am exceedingly proud.

So, while Beltane Eve celebrates the coming of the summer sun, I think back to the arrival of my son.

Although he lives just minutes away, I will not see him today because of the lockdown, so I’ll say it here…

Happy birthday, Alex.

Image Sue Vincent

©Sue Vincent 2020

Sue Vincent is a Yorkshire born writer, esoteric teacher and Director of The Silent Eye. She has been immersed in the Mysteries all her life. Sue maintains a popular blog and is co-author of The Mystical Hexagram with Dr G.M.Vasey. Sue lives in Buckinghamshire, having been stranded there some years ago due to an accident with a blindfold, a pin and a map. She has a lasting love-affair with the landscape of Albion, the hidden country of the heart. She is currently owned by a small dog who also writes at scvincent.com.

The Silent Eye School of Consciousness is a modern Mystery School that seeks to allow its students to find the inherent magic in living and being. With students around the world the School offers a fully supervised and practical correspondence course that explores the self through guided inner journeys and daily exercises. It also offers workshops that combine sacred drama, lectures and informal gatherings to bring the teachings to life in a vivid and exciting format. The Silent Eye operates on a not-for-profit basis. Full details of the School may be found on the official website, The Silent Eye

Please visit Amazon to view all Sue’s books and those written with Stuart France.

A recent review for Mr. Fox The Legend

Robbie Cheadle 5.0 out of 5 stars An informative, entertaining and beautifully illustrated graphic novel  Reviewed in the United States on May 25, 2020

I purchased the hard copy of this graphic novel and I was very pleased that I did. The artwork is very visually appealing and really adds to the enjoyment of this intriguing and mysterious story.

I was not familiar with the legend of Mister Fox or the dance which tells his story until I read this book. I was intrigued by the story of the crow that hatched a devious plan to steal the sun from old man fox who cared for it. The way in which the crow tricks old man fox and his vixen daughter reminded me of other myths and legends I have read, in particular, Brer Rabbit, which was a great favourite of mine when I was a girl.

Of course, as with all good tales, the crow gets caught and punished and is doomed to spend his life trapped in time, where he is cast by old man fox and his fox troupe, and surrounded by “seven leaping tongues of flame.”

The next part of the book tells the tale of how the story of Mr Fox came to in Yorkshire and associated with certain sports and revelries which have survived over the years.

According to this book, the fox dance is still performed on the night of the Hunter’s Moon in a secretive and mysterious way. The identities of the dancers are also a secret and only known within the dance troupe.

An informative, entertaining and beautifully illustrated graphic novel.

Sue Vincent  Buy: Amazon UK – and:Amazon US – Blog: S.C. Vincent – Goodreads:Sue Vincent  – Twitter:@SCVincent

Thank you for dropping in today and Sue would love your feedback.. thanks Sally.