• gatherings close to home

    Because not everything is meant to be open to everyone.

  • Some things can only happen on a land we know well. This is where those gatherings live — the ones still that remain local for a reason.

    I am a West Country girl, born and raised, and Cornwall has been my heart home since I was eight years old. Yet sharing her in a way that remains honourable and in devotion felt like no simple task. At first, we met quietly in small groups — not advertised, but gradually growing. That is how our Gwenen weekend was born. Then we hiked to sacred sites, danced in stone circles, and I listened for the next steps. Song circles begin in February 2027.

  • SONG CIRCLES

    where your voice & the voice of the season meet.

    Singing has always been a part of my life. As someone who was a professional singer for fifteen years, I am not sure what my life would look like without music. This is why it is such a joy to be offering song circles locally. I believe music is a portal, and using our voices is a key part of communing with the land and with spirit. What's more, something happens when we co-create with like-minded souls.

    We gather on the third Sunday of each month, moving with the turning of the wheel with a guardian.

    Book the full turn, and you will receive the kindling guidebook — the season's rituals and prompts will be sent out to accompany you through the season.

    Join me on the coastal path in circles of seasonal story and song.

    Cornwall Song Circle - Downderry

    TURN ONE - THE BRAID

    Imbolc → Beltane 21st Feb - 21st Mar-18 Apr

    Three gatherings, one turning.

    We braid our voices together — and call the land in to join the plait. Sound offered into the room, and out past it, to see what answers.

    Come once. Come three times. Either way, something gets woven that wasn't there before.

    BOOKING WILL OPEN IN THE NEW YEAR - BUT SAVE THE DATE NOW!

    Cornwall Song Circle - Downderry

    TURN TWO - THE FLOWERING

    Beltane → Lughnasadh 16th May-20th June-18th July

    The braid holds. Now it grows.

    Three more gatherings, moving with the land as it opens toward its fullest voice — and ours with it. The thread's found. This turn is about what happens when you let it climb.

    Bring your voice and a willingness to be heard by more than the room.

  • singing together

    TESTIMONIALS FROM SONG CIRCLES

    “The way you spoke about music today- well, I haven't realised how important it is in my story until now, so thank you - and then the journey at the end! Best I have done in a long time! ”

    — Emma L

    I had the privilege of being part of charlie's song circle at St Margaret’s Chapel in Glastonbury. It was such a beautiful experience to share our voices. There was something deeply moving about allowing ourselves to be heard, to gently awaken parts of ourselves that may have been quiet for far too long.

    Charlie, thank you for creating and holding such a loving and safe space for this journey.

    Thank you for helping me reconnect with my voice, trust it more deeply, and remember that it

    deserves to be heard. That gift means more than I can put into words.

    — Anja

    Charlie has a beautiful playfulness about her which ‘encourages’ your voice to naturally 'wake up'. Before you know it, you are singing like a songbird unfettered, which is especially powerful in unison with others. Charlie orchestrates her circles so tenderly."

    — Lynda B

    “The activation with Charlie was incredible. The way she channelled energy and song into her talk was truly better than I had expected. I loved her realness and humour. It was worth the travel”

    — Sofia P

  • FAQs

    Your Questions, Answered

  • gwenen

    A gathering of the hive. Community ceremony on the living land.

    Gwenen is the Cornish word for a group of honey bees — and that is exactly what this is. A purposeful gathering. A collective hum around something sweet and ancient.

    This is an annual event on the land — in ceremony, in listening, in shared devotion to the earth beneath our feet. We come together not to be taught but to remember together. To hold space for each other and for the living world around us. Rooted in Kernow. Every Beltane. Open to all who feel the buzz!

  • HOW IT STARTED

    THE WORD BEFORE THE MEANING

    There is a separate mailing list. Small and localised in magick for invitations to be sent.

    The word Gwenen came to me in meditation on the moors — between the wind and the call of the yellowhammer. I heard it before I understood it. I slipped it between the pages of my journal and carried it there until its meaning found me. Gwenen. The Cornish word for a group of honey bees.

    Telling the Bees is one of the oldest and most tender customs in British and European folk tradition. The bees of a household were considered far more than insects; they were held as family, as witnesses, as messengers moving between the human world and something older and less nameable. When someone died, was born, or married, the keeper of the hive would go to the bees and tell them. Quietly. Formally. As you would tell anyone who mattered. If the bees were not told, it was said they would leave — or worse, fall silent. They were understood to be intimately woven into the life of the land and the people who tended it. Oracles. Guardians. Carriers of souls between worlds. In Celtic tradition, the bee was a messenger from the Otherworld — a creature that moved between the seen and the unseen with ease, gathering what was needed and bringing it back transformed.

    We do talk to the bees, but we also talk to each other and to the land herself. Sometimes we choose to walk in silence, only listening to what the ground beneath us is carrying. Other times, we follow a song line or a thread of story through the landscape. Circles are often held with a preplanned intention, weaving a ceremony into the natural contours of the place. In smaller gatherings, we each contribute to the ritual — tales, song, and the kind of listening that only happens outside.

    Gwenen gatherings move through listening, shared devotion, and seasonal ceremony. We follow each group's wheel of the year. We let the land set the tone. We come not to be filled with wisdom or to take from the land. We venture out to remember what we already carry within

    Together, in the open air, rooted in the living world of Kernow, held by the Cornish granite and those wild moors. When we meet on the land, we are not just choosing a 'nice' location. We are choosing a different quality of listening. The earth beneath our feet is not a backdrop; it is a participant. The wind, the light, the season, the particular patch of ground we stand on — all of it is present, all of it is teaching, all of it holds the ceremony as much as we do.

    THE ANNUAL GATHERING MAY 1ST-2ND

    A quiet gathering at Beltane. For those within a short distance.

    Once a year we come back to this — women on the land, another turn of the wheel marked between us. The pattern rarely changes, and that's the point. We gather as friends. We hold ceremony. We close the day around the fire. Morning brings breakfast, and whatever adventure the land offers next.

    Invitation only. Few words needed — you'll know if this is yours.

    Come as you are.

  • Wyld Hal Lore Retreat - Cornwall

    wyld hal lore - weekend workshop -

    Cornwall Retreat

    This work began more than five years ago, and we are so excited to announce that our first deliciously long weekend will be held in my heart home of Cornwall. Come be a part of this story with us at the threshold of Cornwall.

    SEPTEMEBER 9TH-12TH