… 'The harsh rule of Sun has blistered the land and burnt many lives. Packs of wild dogs hunt without mercy through the long claws of night. Many have been forced to flee and now it is time for us to make our escape along the waterways, searching for safety, longing for a new place to call home.

As the longest night and darkest hour draw near Beaver sets off on a threatening voyage and finds himself in a land governed by the primitive mind of the Cold Moon.

A tale of hope, belief, instinct and recognition’ ...

Dedicated to Awet, Ali and Tahmina

If you want to hear any of the January-August stories live, meet Michael and participate in creative workshops - run by Michael and other artists - on the splendour of Clevedon Pier in North Somerset (including a bar), you can find more information below.

https://clevedonpier.co.uk

01275 878846

Credits

Written and performed by Michael Loader

Music written and performed by Mark Smulian

Produced by Pommy Harmar

Links

Mind Harp World

Naturally Bristol

Watching the light draining from the November forest of last year drew me into the question of when do I cease differentiating colour and ultimately seeing colour, so I thought having an artist as the protagonist would be appropriate.

Researching the life and work of poet and artist William Blake has inspired a further deepening of experience.

… “And you feel warmed in the swell of orange gleaming light; lifted by the blue dome of cloud-streaked sky painted by the wings of angels.

And you feel wrapped in the burnished bronze of autumnal hues; bewitched by the transfiguring flames of sunset.

And you feel spellbound by the reflection of Heaven in the depths of a pool; enticed by the smouldering scent of drifting smoke” ...

Dedicated to an artist I know very well, Gail Mason

www.gailmason.co.uk

Credits

Written and performed by Michael Loader

Music: created and performed by Martin Solomon and Holly Jenkinson

Poetry: William Blake

Photo: Michael Loader

Produced: Pommy Harmar

Links

www.martinsolomon.com

https://soundcloud.com/hollyjenkinson

www.naturalbristol.wordpress.com

This month’s story takes its inspiration from last year’s sleep out, a recent autumnal walk along the Wye Valley, the observation of ravens close to my home and the potent symbolism of birds from other cultures.

Credits

Thanks go to Ted Hughes for his poetry

Story and music written and performed by Michael Loader

Produced by Pommy Harmar

Links

www.naturalbristol.wordpress.com

"The sum of our labours is borne,

Reaping the sowing through the knowing of timely planting and nurtured growing

Now’s the season to pick and savour, relish the flavour, replenish and store,

Bung in the freezer before the real winter freezer appears"

Dedicated to Shaun and friendship

Thanks to 

Dominic Hall-Thomas for his drifting, somnolent music which compliments the sense of autumn's slow descent, so perfectly, and

Pommy Harmar for her production expertise.

Credits

Written and performed by Michael Loader

Music written and performed by Dominic Hall-Thomas

Produced by Pommy Harmar

Links

www.naturalbristol.wordpress.com

On August 22 the night of a Blue Moon Michael drove just beyond Porlock in West Somerset before walking to The Valley of Rocks near Lynton North Devon.

With references to Coleridge and Wordsworth; thinking of and meeting friends along the way sharing personal moments and life stories, this episode features music by Amy Summers and ends with a poem written by Michael of the Grey Lady rock that haunts the valley, inspired by Kubla Khan.

Credits

Written and performed by Michael Loader

Music written and performed by Amy Summers - Intermezzo for Piano and Solo Strings

Produced by Pommy Harmar

Links

Instagram: amy.composer

soundcloud.com/amy-summers

www.naturalbristol.wordpress.com

Inspired by the tale and its location, the tragedy that it stirred and the experiences encountered on a brooding moonless night set the scene for July’s episode of ‘Sleeping with the Moon’ alongside the music of Julian Leeks, the poetry of Samuel Taylor Coleridge and the musicianship of double bass player Lizzie Tucker.

Credits

Written and performed by Michael Loader

Music performed live by musician and artist Lizzie Tucker on her double base

Julian Leeks The Pains of Sleep. To hear Julian’s latest release please go to: https://apple.co/3ALsNBF or  https://amzn.to/3yICI9A or search for “Entwined by Sound World and the Bristol Ensemble” at any good download/streaming site.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Pains of Sleep

Produced by Pommy Harmar

Links

• www.lamosaics.co.uk
• www.naturalbristol.wordpress.com

Meeting, eating, planning and a pint put us in the mood to trek. Here is the result with the help of many moon serenading poets, atmospheric music and for the first time a story that took off into the realms of the imagination, whilst remaining firmly footed in our overnight experience. Thanks for the challenge Mark.

Thanks to...

Alfred Noyes, John Milton, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Wordsworth and Tamany Baker for their poetry

Mark Smalley my nightjar lark companion

Credits

Written and performed by Michael Loader

Music written and performed by Martin Solomon. Himalayan Foothills

Produced by Pommy Harmar

Last May I climbed in the evening's dying light onto Cadbury Iron Age hillfort in North Somerset on the eve of our daughter’s birth 22 years ago to the day. 

The moon rose Jaffa-ripe in the east as the sun sank below the western horizon towards the sea’s high tide range.

Springtime gestation to early summer awakening blossoms ready to unfurl

Late spring beginning to full waxing blooming the lunar dance blisters and burns

28 nine’s growing towards flower child’s becoming the full moon rises and falls

Late summer conception to late May reception the flower child nears its call

Thanks go to Lindsey Rose Inman for her song, ’Sing the Pain Away’, which conveys so much vulnerability alongside late spring potency and the fully-fledged power of early summer

Credits

Words written and performed by Michael Loader

Music written and performed by Lindsey Rose Inman

Produced by Pommy Harmar

Links

https://soundcloud.com/lindsey-rose-inman

www.naturalbristol.wordpress.com

… “Since becoming a selenophile, a lover of the moon named after Selene the ancient Greek moon goddess, I am looking forward to my first conscious bout of moon delusion tonight when the moon will look even bigger when it appears on the horizon. This eagerly anticipated moment will be accompanied by, I hope, its pinkish hue, due to atmospheric distortion or air pollution; or something more poetic like the awakening energy of spring?” … 

Credits

Written and performed by Michael Loader

Music written and performed by Amy Summers

Asclepius

Night

Instagram: amy.composer

Produced by Pommy Harmar

pommyharmar@yahoo.co.uk

www.naturalbristol.wordpress.com

Native American Indians called the March Moon the Worm Moon for this was the time when worm casts first appeared after winter’s frozen grip.

Last year in the twilight of late March I walked to nearby woods to meet a friend under clear skies, to ponder and wonder about the riches that the underworld provides, including the mycelium networks and of course the ever present worm.

"I’ve now been asleep for a total of 20,805 nights, which sounds a lot and I feel the time has come to wake up in the dark and explore what lies in my shadows; to be awake at night and experience the flip side of the ‘day faced coin’. And so I set out on the cusp of betwixt and between in the dusky day-night ...To stand horizontally asleep, and lie vertically awake”

Credits

Written and performed by Michael Loader

Music composed and performed by Holly Jenkinson

Produced by Pommy Harmar

Dedicated to Alan my dear ‘wormy friend' 

Links

https://hollyjenkinson.bandcamp.com/

https://soundcloud.com/hollyjenkinson

www.naturalbristol.wordpress.com

'The Hunger Moon, a name derived from Native Americans appears at the end of winter when game was scarce and edible plants were few for animals and humans. 

The moon was also known as Little Famine Moon when the threat of famine after long winters was real.

People in pre-industrial times were acutely aware of the abundance and scarcity of food. Most of us, on the other hand, have lost our connection to those cycles' - Dorian Winslow

In the second of Michael’s moon sleepovers we walk into Goblin Combe to satisfy our thirst for connection with Nature.

Credits

Written and performed by Michael Loader

Music composed and performed by Mark Smulian

Produced by Pommy Harmar

Links

• marksmulian.com
• https://mindharp.world
• https://naturalbristol.wordpress.com

So, who’s in control and who owns who? Where is the wild and where is the free? Who has been tamed and who owes who? And who will be free howling when the Full Wolf Moon is rising?

In this first episode Michael tells the full moon story inspired by his sleepover with the Wolf moon of January 2021.

Credits

Written and performed by Michael Loader

Music composed and performed by Martin Solomon. Wind Chimes, Song of Solomon

Produced by Pommy Harmar

Links

• www.martinsolomon.com
• www.naturalbristol.wordpress.com