Mandua Briga Seed Group

21/12/2025

From the this moment of deepest darkness we start to spiral back towards the light. We leave behind another hard year of illness, losses and profound changes and we are hoping that the ground will cease shifting under our feet long enough for us to resume our gatherings and ceremonies to mark the wheel of this coming year. Here is to the growing of the light and once again standing in the warmth of the sun in fellowship. Waes Hael!

31/10/2025

Blessings as we enter the dark half of the year from sunset tonight. We are sorry we have been so quiet - Jenny and Keith have had a close family bereavement recently and Jenny has also sold her house and her completion date is today - 31st October, Samhain! And I have been in hospital for an emergency operation but a now on the mend all being well. After the success of our first moot back in March we really want to have more regular meetings and ceremonies next year and we are looking towards spring as hopefully a time when things are a little more settled and we can pick things up again. But now is a time for resting, sorting, preparing and dreaming.

Please do keep checking in on our website Manduabriga.org as we are still updating it fairly regularly and have lots of articles planned, including part 2 of ‘Darlington’s Forgotten Ancestors’ - https://manduabriga.org/darlingtons-forgotten-ancestors/ - which will be entitled ‘Darlington’s Dangerous Dead’, an article about the Melsonby hoard and an article about the Carnyx, the Iron Age British war horn.

In the meantime here is Jenny’s fantastic interview on the ‘Opening Ceremony’ podcast with Jess May all about Samhain.

HI I'm JessCrazy Diamonds Funeral Queen and founder of Crazy Diamonds Celebrations an host of my podcast OPENING CEREMONY PODCAST with Jess Mayjoin my instag...

29/07/2025

Wonderful news!

10/07/2025

Very excited to announce that my paper on Druidic Online Ritual has been published and is now live in the 10th Anniversary Edition of the Journal for the Study of Religious Experience (p 104-127) -Jenny
Available to read or download here-

01/06/2025

On Wednesday we were invited to a lecture at The Yorkshire Museum on the Melsonby Hoard. The details of the hoard are absolutely stunning and there is going to be another talk in Richmond at the end of October. There is so much to talk about - watch this space!

22/04/2025

Jenny and Keith attended this yesterday on behalf of Mandua Briga to show solidarity with the Quakers.

24/02/2025

The Druid Island Discs Challenge

So you've probably heard of the BBC Radio 4 programme Desert Island Discs. This is where someone is cast away on a desert island and has to choose eight pieces of music, a book and a luxury item (which must be inanimate, of no use in escaping the island and not allow any communication with the outside world). They are also given the complete works of Shakespeare and the Bible or another religious text. What we thought we would do is to put a little twist on this and have 'Druid Island Discs' with similar, but slightly different, rules.

With Druid Island Discs we are asking you to choose eight pieces of music which give the story of your spiritual path so far in your life - what experiences have led you to Druidry or to begin thinking about Druidry as a path you would like to take? Also, if you have been practicing Druidry for a while, what experiences have you had that have confirmed for you that you are on the right path?

We decided to keep the complete works of Shakespeare but to take out the Bible as a book that you would automatically get. Instead, you get to choose two books that you would take with you. One is a fiction book such as a novel which has influenced you on your spiritual path so far, or perhaps to start it in the first place. The other is a non-fiction book about spirituality in some form that has helped you - maybe about tarot cards or trees or a particular god or goddess for example - something that you have found to be really useful on your path so far and which others might too.

For your luxury, this also needs to have a spiritual element to it - it could be something from your altar, or an object or article of clothing or musical instrument that you use in rituals for example. You get the idea.

We thought that this would be a great way that we could talk about ourselves to the rest of the group or people thinking of joining so that we could share experiences and inspiration in our spiritual lives.

Jennifer Susan Uzzell