Magic in the Woods - Yule Gathering

BalanceTime are hosting Magic in the Woods, a Yule gathering at Padworth YMCA on Friday 18 December. It runs from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm, with doors opening at 6:45 pm, so you've got a few minutes to settle in before things get started.

The evening is built around Yule, the Celtic celebration of winter and the returning sun. BalanceTime frame it as a time for deep rest and internal 'wintering', and they draw on a few different pre-Christian northern European traditions to do it: the Anglo-Saxon hearth celebration Giuli, the Norse Jól, the Irish Newgrange passage tomb that lights up with the winter solstice sun, and the Scottish figure of the Cailleach. The night moves between a cabin and the outdoors, with storytelling, shamanic journeying, a drumming and fire ceremony, and reflections on release. There's cake, treats and hot drinks too, so it's as much about the social side as the meditative one.

Under-18s can come along as long as they're with a parent or legal guardian, and the venue is disability-friendly with free parking. Tickets are £20 for the Early Bird, and £28 for an adult and one child under 18. It's at Padworth YMCA, Rag Hill, Padworth, Reading RG7.