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Land and Legend

by Spiral Dance

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1.
The spirits of this place have whispered me a song With the north wind in the she-oak tree when the summer days are long With the greening of the hills when the winter rains have come And I know they’re telling me it’s to this land that I belong Black crow flies on silent wings across an endless blue Magpie carolls and boobook calls beneath the full spring moon Faerie wren and his followers are dancing with the fae And brother Kookaburra calls to the sky people to light the sun each day Goddess of the Southern Land I’m yet to know your name I’ve been travelling the pathways from where my ancestors came But now I long to hear the songlines that are singing in your veins Goddess of the Southern Land I’m yet to know your name Rainbow serpent mother protector of the land In the dreaming time awoke and moved her body across the sand She brought the land to being, making hills and mountains rise Filling water holes and rivers, she brought the earth to life The wild Mount Lofty Ranges have given me my home A place when the earth was young a mighty giant roamed And travelled across the landscape between the rivers and the plain His body formed the mountain range in the place where he was slain Goddess of the Southern Land I’m yet to know your name I’ve been travelling the pathways from where my ancestors came But now I long to hear the songlines that are singing in your veins Goddess of the Southern Land I’m yet to know your name I know Brigid’s walking with me when the wild flowers have come And the Wattle flowers into life the colour of the sun In misty mountain bush land the smell of eucalyptus after rain And bark fall signals that it’s time to celebrate Beltane The magic of your dreamtime and the story of your land There’s so much of your wildness that I’m yet to understand And although I am a newcomer and my journey’s just begun For your ancient voice has told me that the land and I are one
2.
Serpent energy is on the rise From the rainbow pool it flows From the cauldron of the earth From soil and clay the green one grows And the voices of the land Join the songs of ancient trees To awaken us from our winter sleep And feel the serpent energy From deep within her well Flow the sacred streams A gifting from the otherworld Across the plain of dreams Spirits move in water rock and stone Mother Earth’s sweet blood and bone We’ve come to farewell the crone And greet the maiden of the green Strong on cloven hooves Comes the horned one in his prime Standing at the Beltane gate With the sun locked in his tines With the maiden he will dance With the maiden he will sing She’ll take his seed the Goddess’s need And abundance in summer bring God and Goddess bless The new life of the land The gift of flower, fruit and bud Sent from the mother’s hand It’s the greening of rebirth From their dance of ecstasy It’s the life force of the earth The Serpent energy
3.
Remember the time of sickles and scythes Beneath the blue of late summer skies Greet the god of grain mother of corn The welcome brew of John Barleycorn Share the bread taste the ale of field and vine hedge and vale To the gods of old we sing Wassail And gather for the burning of the Wickerman Burn burn Wickerman burn Fire in the night feel the season’s turning The kindred flame of winter’s return Will rise at the burning of the Wicker Man The veil between the worlds is thin Summer ends darkness begins The white owl in the eucalypt waits As the crone opens the Summerland gates From her cauldron all is transformed As the guardians of the past return And from their shadowy realms are drawn And are welcomed by the flames of the Wicker man. Along the pathway the Giants come Walk the heartbeat of the earth to the rhythm of the drum Hobbyhorses with bright ribbons fly Wild green men weaving fire pass by Painted faced mummers with bells on their feet Move with the music as the Morris sticks beat out a rhythm of Bedlam come we shall meet And dance around the flames of the wicker man From the flames a messenger flies A serpent leaps into the dark southern sky We stand with our clan under stars on this night And ask the old gods to witness this rite So to the fire with you flaming torch come The wintering time of the land has begun Now we’ll await the return of the sun For all that’s left are the ashes of the wicker man
4.
There’s a forest that lies by a dark inland sea where great oaks and tall beeches do stand The dark waters it’s said are the tears that were shed by the fae that were banished from the land From the cool sacred springs the Korrigan sings with a haunted and siren like sound And by the lake deep and wide grow two trees side by side with their trunks and their limbs twisted round The trees hold together in a lovers embrace and have stood as the centuries pass Awaiting the time for the rune and the rhyme and the spell to broken at last But from their prison of green never will they be free and to the wheel of the seasons be tied For the magick holds fast many life times to last so in the greenwood forever must bide Memories stir through the branches and limbs and the wind in the hazel does sing Of a time when the world was new underfoot when a queen walked this shore with her king. Of a dark one unseen with cold eyes of green who in a jealous rage did despair and vowed by the phases of the moon wax and wane to banish and vanish the pair On a chill night that was brewed by the wind the moon lay in a cold baleful sky From the worlds in between came a bleak alchemy and on the wind the poison did fly Beneath the black cloak the grim magick was spoke and crept like a mist over stones And from the soil rich and dark came trunk limb and bark where once there was flesh blood and bones.
5.
Let blow the winds my bonnie lads come sail upon my sea Beware you of the angry wave that drives your ship to me Where the ocean boils and the current roils and the salty tides do flow I’ll await you in my chamber cool below, below, below She searches for treasures in the sand Along a ragged wave torn shore line Rusty comb and mirror in her hand Crystals on her lips of salty brine And through the chill twilight the sea-maid sings From the storm see what the cold tide brings She’ll offer you treasures from below But there’s darker things beneath the waves than you could ever know There’s a calling from the siren of the deep Her silver scales and lily white breasts shining The secrets of Atlantis she will keep Veiled behind a smile that’s so beguiling May you catch the fair winds in your sails To steer far from tempest and from gales For that beauty with her face pale as the moon Will call you to the rocks and see you to your doom ‘Tis a soulful song that journeys with the tide From land beneath the waves a cry of yearning Across the sea where wild white horses ride Once cast adrift there can be no returning For the sea-witch now has you in her thrall She’s cast her spell you’ve answered to the call Now watch your life dance before your eyes For below the sea you cannot breath and that’s where your fate now lies
6.
In a time of bards and chieftains when the bright ones walked the land And beauty slipped from silver strings touched by a minstrel’s hand In a time when giants held the hills and stone circles rang with song And the Lia Fail stood in the soil and Tara’s walls stood strong A man of the De Dannan from a noble line was Lir His wife the daughter of Ireland’s king and four children he loved dear But Niamh his wife lost her life in child bed she did pass And left four children filled with grief and Lir a broken heart The King he sent to Lir his second daughter as a bride And though she had a love for Lir no child could she abide For Aoife had a jealous heart and took them far from home To be rid of them for evermore and have the love of Lir alone It was at the Lake of Oaks that it came to pass With the power of her druids wand a mighty spell she cast From now you’ll take the shape of swans and wild birds you will be Nine hundred years will keep you on the lakes and on the sea And over the wild waves flew the children of Lir Down to the land of the ever living This spell was laid upon them for nine hundred years And till then there would be no returning In the first three hundred years you’ll be trapped upon this shore Then northward to the Sea of Moyle for yet three hundred more Then to the stormy Atlantic the waters chill and deep And in the Bay of Eris waves will rock you as you sleep And when a queen from the South goes North to wed a king And when you first reach dry land and you hear a Church bell ring And when you find the lake of birds only then will you be free But until then this mighty curse will keep you far from me Across the winds of time the four swan children flew And for the next nine hundred years only gales and storms they knew Their beds were on the crest of waves and upon the rocky shore And they keened a sad lament for all that had gone before A new age dawned upon the land strangers to the Isle had come Into the Hollow hills and mounds the Faerie folk had gone So to the lake of Birds they flew high on snowy wings To be free of the curse and hear a church bell ring And like wind striping leaves from trees their swan bodies fell away Their sweet singing voices stilled all turned to dust and clay Blessings go with you Children of Lir beyond nine waves now fly And their spirits made a final flight against the fading sky And over the wild waves flew the children of Lir Down to the land of the ever living This spell was laid upon them for nine hundred years And till then there would be no returning
7.
In the great southern land, in the starlight, cold In the sharpening nights when the days grow short We’ll gather to the telling of the tales of old Where the lord of the year in his reign holds court Summer’s riot of warmth has passed us by The evenings are blue and still The bonfires crackle beneath the sky Their embers hold back the chill We’ll hear the tale of the Celtic wheel How it turns within seasons How the Gods of old our hearts shall heal Each for our own special reasons The wheel is turning churning burning The wheel is turning evermore The wheel is turning learning yearning The wheel is turning olden lore The misty glades of autumn hold A relief from summers fierce The seeds of coming sharpness cold When flames the darkness pierce Gather to the drumbeat heed the cry The way between worlds is clear All who are gone, in freedom fly Free from pain and free from fear The wheel is turning churning burning The wheel is turning evermore The wheel is turning learning yearning The wheel is turning olden lore Ruins rise ghostly from misty land Where the Gate of the West stands wide Never ending spaces are at hand Souls call from the other side But the moment of contact is just too fleeting It’s past in a swirl a rush all too soon A brief racing spectral meeting That leaves us alone with the moon
8.
King Orfeo 05:35
There lived a lady in the West Green the wood grows early Her name was Lady Liza Bell
 Where the stag runs yearly The king, he has a hunting gone
 Green the wood grows early left his lady all alone
 Where the stag runs yearly The Elfin knight took out his dart Green the wood grows early Pierced poor Liza to the heart
 Where the stag runs yearly When the king came home at noon
 Green the wood grows early He asked for Lady Liza Bell
 Where the stag runs yearly His nobles unto him they said Green the wood grows early She first was wounded now she's dead Where the stag runs yearly He’s away into the wood Green the wood grows early And there upon a stone he stood Where the stag runs yearly He stood there for seven years
 Green the wood grows early ‘Till a company to him drew near Where the stag runs yearly Some did ride and some did run Green the wood grows early He saw his lady them among
 Where the stag runs yearly The company then made their way
 Green the wood grows early And He took out his pipes to play
 Where the stag runs yearly First he played the notes of Noy
 Green the wood grows early And Then he played the notes of Joy
 Where the stag runs yearly Then he played the Gaber reel
 Green the wood grows early That would make a sick heart heal 
Where the stag runs yearly The Elfin Knight to him did say
 Green the wood grows early What shall I give thee for thy play? Where the stag runs yearly For my play I will thee tell
 Green the wood grows early I'll have my Lady Liza Bell
 Where the stag runs yearly You can take your lady home
 Green the wood grows early And you'll be king of all you own Where the stag runs yearly
9.
The days are short and the nights grow long As tradesmen and ploughboys sing their song A song of hope not one of fear A safe home for the coming year With Holly wreaths and Mistletoe We welcome the darkness the frost and snow The icy winds and the starry sky Tell us Midwinter will soon be nigh Then out of the shadows with a ringing sound In circles they spin round and round With ‘midnight-faces’ behold the sight As the Morris dance into the night In watery sunshine ‘mid bare branched trees We gather firewood so we don’t freeze As the Yule Log burns so fierce and hot We thank the Earth for all we’ve got The deer runs high upon the hill The ancient woodland is quiet and still But a spark of light from a candle’s flame Keeps us safe so that we remain In a heartbeat, in a sound In the air and in the ground Our destinies and where we’re bound Were man needs hope the dance is found Like our elders long before On the heath on the moor On village green or on the shore The dance goes on for evermore We dance in the dark and give thanks once more For the New Year coming and the one that’s o’er We dance again upon the Earth For Life for Death, for Rebirth
10.
Spun from sunlight, woven with mist Elen’s path is honeysuckle kissed Honeysuckle kissed laced with the green And along the old trackway she’s walking I felt her presence sent in a dream of a storm And I know her essence is the wilderness where she born Come run with the wild things I heard her call Spun from sunlight, woven with mist Elen’s path is honeysuckle kissed Honeysuckle kissed and laced with the green And along the old trackway she’s walking Early morn, Red the dawn Why do I feel like the storm is still brewing me Caught between day and the dream Be still in your heart there is no need to flee She waits in the shadows, the lady of antlers Has come to guide me Spun from sunlight, woven with mist Elen’s path is honeysuckle kissed Honeysuckle kissed and laced with the green And along the old trackway she’s walking The woodland is her temple from mountaintop to sacred spring The keeper of the green wisdom, the gift of the wild lore she’ll bring Through rain washed meadows or beneath snow laden boughs You’ll find her there Find the way, track the ley The pathway you seek lies ahead through the trees When she’s near you will hear The green Goddess’s song carried along on the breeze Crowned with the seasons, branches of velvet she wears Spun from sunlight, woven with mist Elen’s path is honeysuckle kissed Honeysuckle kissed and laced with the green And along the old trackway she’s walking A kiss from the past caressed me last night A journey woven with threads of time At one with the land and lands be as one Tracking the deer as the seasons moved on
11.
Seven stars in the sky Seven daughters of the law Seven branches of the tree Every leaf a word of love for me Mallee o mallee o mallee o mallee my mother Mallee my mother my many armed mother tree Mallee o mallee o mallee o mallee my mother Gives me love deep as deep as can be I have lain in your shade I’ve seen the mistletoe child all on your arm I have felt your tides of cosmic splendor Hold me mallee keep me safe from harm Mallee o mallee o mallee o mallee my mother Mallee my mother my many armed mother tree Mallee o mallee o mallee o mallee my mother Gives me wisdom deep as deep as the sea I have been a rock among your roots I have been your leaves all wet with rain You have looked on me with eyes that know me Called me daughter, called me home again mallee o mallee o mallee o mallee my mother mallee my mother my many armed mother tree mallee o mallee o mallee o mallee my mother gives me power, power for you and for me Mallee o mallee o mallee o mallee my mother Mallee my mother my many-armed mother tree mallee o mallee o mallee o mallee my mother gives me love deep as deep as can be Mallee o mallee o mallee o mallee my mother Mallee my mother my many armed mother tree Mallee o mallee o mallee o mallee my mother Gives me wisdom deep as deep as the sea

about

From a dream the seed was planted, it came upon the waking dawn and to my eyes a vision granted all to me that was reborn. With the music of the stones and water and from her belly where the fire sprang, I flew with the wind across her landscape and in my heart the Awen sang...

credits

released May 31, 2020

Spiral Dance are:
Adrienne Piggott - Vocals, mandolin
Nick Carter - Acoustic, electric and 12 string guitars, didgeridoo, mandolin, jews harp, vocals
Paul Gooding - Button accordions, vocals
With Rick Kearsley on drums and Nigel Walters on bass
Recorded and mixed in Adelaide at Red Dog Audio by Nick Carter. Mastered by Neville Clark at Disk Edits.
Our sincere thanks to Pierre, Sal Lavallee, Damh the Bard, Wyvern Ogma Vyvyan, Bron Lloyd, Evelyn Martin, Rob Holliday, Chris Davies, Peter Hyde, Mike Adamson, Andrew Miller, Hot for Joe Border Morris, Courtney Robb, Adrian Cowell, Klair Best & Trish Marren from the Enchanted Rainbow and Neville Clark at Disk Edits.
Cover Photo taken by Pierre Lemonnier of the Megaliths of St Just in Brittany and Merlin’s dog, Harry.
Back Cover Art ‘Nindji Ngudgarn Joogarn’ (Our Mother Serpent) by Indigenous Artist Sal Lavallee of Bogong Moth Art.

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Spiral Dance Adelaide, Australia

With a combination of haunting vocals, intoxicating guitar riffs and groovy accordion lines, underpinned with potent bass and dynamic percussion, Spiral Dance presents an eclectic blend of traditional folk-rock with powerful self-penned songs and tunes. Rousing melodies intertwine with tales of Magick, myth and legend - music that will rock your ancestors! ... more

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