#26 Grass Roots Folk; Daisy Rickman and Singing with the Land

Of all the crazy ways to know Daisy Rickman, she used to be my cleaner back in Brighton circa 2014. This ethereal being became this year’s folk sensation after Daisy was picked up and promoted by the Guardian newspaper at the start of the year, being tipped for the top. Since then she’s spent the year caught up in a whirlwind of success, learning to build her confidence in playing publicly, and developing tools for navigating her way through what really matters and what are the snares of outer world distractions.

From the devil on her shoulder to her sources of inspiration, Daisy shares with me her creative processes and the different ways in which she nurtures and takes care of her relationship to the inner world part of herself and her capacity to embrace the unknown  . If you want to follow Daisy’s music then head over to www.daisyrickman.com where you can also see and purchase her gorgeous artwork. 

The music and artwork is by @moxmoxmoxiemox

Nonsense in the Chaos is available on all podcast platforms or you can listen to it here… https://nonsenseinthechaos.buzzsprout.com

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Transcript

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The mountains and the caves. Wicked witches. Crusting the unknown. Transcript by Rev. com Page 1 of 10 Happy Yuletide blessings, Wicked Witches. It is Christmas time! It's Christmas Eve here in my reality now and then when this goes out it will be I think the day after Boxing Day and you'll all be full and satiated and lying around having that lovely lazy in between liminal time between Christmas and New Year. And I love this time of year. It's birthday's on New Year's Eve. And it's just such a disruptive, crazy time of year. And, like, there's nothing else like it, you know. I'm very bar humbug towards the bar humbuggers. Because when else do we do this? When else do we do this? Stop and spend time with our family, you know, years could go by easily where you wouldn't do that. You know, you'd always be intending to, but you'd never get around to it. And just having this time of year that makes us stop and appreciate each other. And, you know, you could, so I'm telling you, there would be so many more people in the world being sad and full of regrets from having not seen their family, you know, before people passed away and I know it does also make it hard when people have passed away and I know this time of year is really difficult for people for lots of different reasons for, you know, because people do die at this time of year and people are sick and all of these things make it really difficult and I totally appreciate that. But there would be a lot more people feeling sad if, and it would be any time of the year, if we didn't have this time annually where we stopped and connected with each other. Because. People, you know what it's like, you can suddenly go, Oh my God, it's been four or five years since I've seen that person. And there's someone that you feel like is currently in your life and that you care about, but you just realized you haven't seen them for five years. Well, just imagine how easy it would be for that to be your family. And actually, I think probably family would be lower priority than a lot of friends and, You know, your life's always full of people and you're always busy doing things and family, I think, can easily be forgotten and left by the wayside. And so Christmas is an opportunity for you to stop and connect with those people and then not regret the fact you haven't seen them for 5, years because time's gone by and you haven't, you haven't connected. I'm sure people still, you know, obviously people still do that. But I think there's less opportunity for that to happen when there is this annual feast and celebration of family and community and connection. So I'm a huge fan of it. I love it. And it is a big part of who I am as a person. And yeah, I am a Yule child. I'm born in this week of Saturnalia, which explains everything. I am a party girl. I am a feast of life, celebratory, community, human beings. Yum, yum, yum. Give it to me. I love it. I am Bacchus. I am part of that whole. So I'm born of it and yeah, it runs through my veins. So I love this time of year and I have such a treat for you. I have a beautiful interview with my dear friend Daisy Rickman. Um, we talk about how we know each other. In the chat. I also talked about it a bit last week. It is funny. She was my cleaner. It's insane. Honestly, she's so magical. And it just seems crazy that that's how we know each other. Um, but she's had such a brilliant success this year with the Guardian at the beginning of the year, picking her up as being one of the top, top tips for the year. And so that's just flung her into, uh, a fame that she, I think she found quite surprising. I think we all have been like, whoa, wow, I didn't see that coming. She's, she's so amazing and talented, but it's really left field what she's doing. It's extremely folky. And so I'm so excited for her cause she's made mumming and folk and, and just being connected to your roots. Cool. You know, in a younger generation and it's, um, It's just really good to see those things are the zeitgeist and are popular at the moment because they're all the things I care about and love and, and I love them because I think they're so important for our survival for the future for us to appreciate and love Mother Earth and connect with each other and support each other and look after each other. I feel like that's where resilience lies. And so, and also it's just always fun when there's something that you've been into your whole life and suddenly it's become cool and you're like, Oh yeah, I was just waiting like, you know, four years for this to happen, but finally it's come around. But it is, it's, it's this thing that seemed so uncool for noughties. But as people are. Kind of getting a bit more apocalyptic minded. Like how do we, you know, do you know how to light a fire? Do you know how to skin and eat an animal? Do you know how to, you know, butcher an animal? Do you know how to grow crops? All of these things, you know, I think, especially in the pandemic, people really Looked into a lot of these things, you know, okay, hang on, actually, I don't know what I'm doing and the stockpiling and all that kind of thing suddenly didn't seem quite as crazy as it did before. I don't mean that I think we should all be building bunkers and stockpiling, but I do think that in a way, it's like, is that kind of hedging your bets? It's not a bad thing at all to know how to butcher an animal or light a fire or make a shelter and, you know, basic things like that. It doesn't hurt for you to know how to do those things and The way in which one would find out how to do those things are always really fun. So it is doing things like a Tudor reenactment or, um, a workshop, you know, going and doing a, like a foraging wildlife, um, uh, what's it called when they rewilding, like a rewilding weekend where you learn primal basic skills that Our ancestors would've all just known how to do easily and it would've just been like the back of their hand. And, and it's why I love doing the Tud reenactment and why Cantwell means so much to me. We all said it a couple of years ago, we all like they just started the Glassblower station and it was brilliant. And we, I mean, we'd done it before years ago, but he was doing it again. Tom Cook, who's in one of my previous, um, podcasts, and we were just all like aware of how there was an element of being smug at the fact that we. We all knew what we were doing. It was just like, uh, we definitely picked the winning side here. This was, for all of the mockery and, you know, effort and, um, it takes a lot of effort to make costumes and get the props and bits and bobs together and do the research to make sure that we're being authentic and correct, to bring these Tudor reenactments together. Like we are, they stopped calling us reenactors recently and started calling us historians, which is what we are. You know, we're doing huge amounts of research and making sure that what we're doing is accurate and then presenting it to the public, but we're learning how to do all these skills. And we did get mocked. I mean, you know, it was not a cool thing for me to doing when I was, to be doing when I was at school. It definitely is now a very cool thing to know how to do and, and it's now become cool. And Daisy's right at the forefront of that wave of cool folk and yeah, just people getting into earth loving, nature connected, like grass roots creativity. And yeah, I'm so excited for her. So without further ado, I'd like you to be introduced to my dear friend, Daisy Rickman. Welcome. Daisy Rickman. It's an absolute pleasure to have you on the show. Thank you for joining me and thank you for agreeing to do this. Nice to be here. So we met, what year do you reckon it was when we met? Might have been like 2014? Yeah, that's what I was just thinking. I can't remember when I used to do my cleaning. Because you were my cleaner, which is hilarious. when Scarlet met you on the pilgrimage, and you came and played for us at the end of our pilgrimage, she went, that ethereal being was your cleaner. Oh, that's really funny. And we didn't know each other, did we? I don't know how, you saw the advert somewhere, is that right? Yeah, I used to work just for a cleaning agency in Brighton where you'd go to random houses Yeah, I think through that. So funny And then We kept in contact and where you live down in the West country, near Penzance, your kind of roots, isn't it? And do you feel very connected to the land down there? Yeah. Yeah, I think that when you grow up in a place, there's definitely points in life where you want to move away and live in different but now I feel real, Strong, full to be back down here. And I think that one of the main reasons for that is the connection I feel to the land. Both, spiritually and creatively, being amongst that presence is a huge part of those processes. Absolutely. I feel like it's really clear in the work that you create, which is beautiful artwork, which I've loved all the way along and have been buying your art as you've been going along. And then this year I was so proud and gobsmacked and I was so happy that I saw you in the Guardian as the thing to watch this year with your music it was so cool to see. how has it been? What's this year been like? It must've been pretty crazy. Yeah, no, it's been amazing. I think the first album I made, I recorded the album before I performed. my own music live so it felt, and yeah, I think it's taken me a couple years to get used to, just, yeah, getting used to performing live and, sharing my music with people in that realm, because musically I feel much more at home in the, solitary recording, land, so it's been really amazing to, like, I don't know, I never thought that I'd be able to. Singing in front of people for so many years feels really nice now when you have something, creatively that you want to do, or not just creatively, but anything in your life that's like, I guess, nice when you, go over those, hurdles. Yeah, it's been, yeah, really amazing year still. I'm really grateful that people are listening to my music, it, they're responding in such a, yeah, nice way, yeah, I feel really grateful. I'm just loving seeing the, folky mummery ness coming out it's become cool at last! It is! It's quite mad, like parts of it there's some parts of it where you see it kind of becoming trendy in some ways and then like I don't know how to put it there's so many amazing people doing such incredible work in the folk realm now. like you said, it's mad I think before maybe like 10 years ago, it was like all of these, the whole folk world felt like. I don't know, there wasn't that many people that were really interested in, in it, it's really nice that a lot of young people are, turning to, learn more about, their history within, where they're from, I guess, and, and, and, It is a deepening understanding of the land, and that gives me hope because it's so easy to feel like we're screwed and then something like this is happening where people are getting more interested in our folk traditions and our community gatherings and, and it's all connected to the lands and the seasons and the natural world and that just feels really exciting that people are caring about something like that. I think since the lockdown, a lot of people were, yeah, I guess, I don't know, there was, maybe people were, suddenly in this place a bit more where, you know, you were, because of how, our perception of time changed, and the pace of life, slowed down for me, one of the good things that came out of the lockdown was just like, tuning into that rhythm, of life, which I guess, and yeah, feels like since then a lot more people are listening to that. Part of our existence. Yeah, big time. It's one of the things that's come up quite a lot in the podcast, is people talking about how much we don't want to go back to how things were and that, rest is revolutionary, rest is important, and that we need to slow down because obviously the slower you are, the less you're consuming as well, and it's actually just really important to change the tempo because it wasn't a healthy way of being. Yeah. Do you miss Brighton? Yeah. I do. I really miss. I still have a lot of friends that live there though, so I visit there a lot and, do shows there, and same with London and Berlin, and I think yeah, that's why I quite like being in Cornwall, because the general pace of life down here is a lot slower, so it feels a lot easier to be in that slower pace. you were living right on the energy lines that I walked and that was the last time I saw you at the pilgrimage, which was so magical, we were at Ken Labole, where the lines go into the sea not far from, Penzance and around your area. there was a seal who had her pup so we had to be really quiet. we did a really quiet performance of the Mama's play whilst you played the cello and there was your friends with the drum and then we had the fire spinning and fire torches lighting it it was so lovely doing a really quiet performance so that we didn't disturb the seal. Yeah, it was really good. That was magic. Yeah, that part of that part of the ghost and Mama's play, but especially that part I think was It's one of my favourite parts of the coast, or the land. Do you know much about the energy lines, the Michael and Mary lines? I know, a bit. I was sad I couldn't do the walk. We're doing it again next year, by the way. we'll be starting in September from Ken Labole and we'll be walking towards Norfolk coast. So if you wanted to join for some of it, you can come and do a little bit. Yeah, that would be great. I'd like to learn more about the light and I have some friends who've done similar. kind of pilgrimages from St. Michael's Mount up through, the lines. and then there's all dragon lines that, run through the whole thing. still kind of delve deeper into it. And what's been the biggest thing that's changed since, things have taken off? Do you feel, because it's one of those things that, and this was one of the things I wanted to talk to you about holding a ceremony and doing something to celebrate where you're at and what you've achieved. how does it feel? Do you feel like you've got somewhere or do you feel like you haven't? how do you feel about what's happened? yeah, I definitely feel, I think I wasn't really expecting, I guess when I made the first album I didn't really think many people would listen to it because I was just, releasing it independently, I was really surprised that, it managed to reach people outside of my sphere of friends I think I feel like, I'm still learning how to balance, because I do the painting as well, I think I'm still learning how to balance those two big parts of my soul they kind of feel like two fires that you're trying to keep alight and keep burning yeah, I've been putting a lot more energy into the music. this felt really good. and also a bit overwhelming because I'm not naturally, a performer, trying to figure out how to still share my music with people live, but if you're quite a shy person and don't like being on stage much, but It's been good because you try and, I guess trying to, kind of learn and practice how to hold yourself within that space and still, try and, kind of channel and express what you want within the music you're sharing with people live. I don't know if that makes sense. I've trained in fooling all my life well, since I was 20 the Fool is the most direct lineage, from the Shaman. it's the least well known of the art forms, but it's probably the first ever art form. my theory about. All creativity is that we would have safe spaces, these caves where we would paint on the walls and the paintings were like the first ever, earliest paintings we've ever found people blowing ochre over their hands. And so they are literally leaving their handprint you can put your hand on their hand. Touch hands with someone from 200, 000 years ago, you know, it's crazy that you're crossing time like that. it's a way of immortalizing yourself, but then also within these safe spaces, they had really good acoustics I believe we would hold the space and people who'd survived death, we wanted to know how they'd done it. we didn't really have much language, it was, early days. And so there wasn't many words in existence, but what we would do is the person who'd survived death would try and express it and we would even find that as a healing thing. So it was like, tell us how you survived death, but also just by witnessing you try and express it, we're somehow getting a healing from that as well. But then also when you're being observed, like there's this scientific experiment where you observe, particles being shot through these slits. When they're not being observed, they behave differently to when they're being observed. They change from shooting directly into becoming waves. So they showed that particles behave differently when they're being observed, basically And there's something about a human where as soon as you know that you're being watched, like actually properly, you know, people watch it all the time, just in the street, they'll see us, but there's difference between being seen and being watched. And that when you're in the audience. Place where there's an audience watching you, every atom in your body suddenly vibrates like crazy and it's the adrenaline and it feels crazy. I think we created these safe spaces to witness each other and hold that space so we could learn to deal with that. So that when we were out in a fight or flight situation, fighting a saber toothed tiger or, in some kind of dangerous situation, we were able to slow down I found from doing the fooling all these years, like I was in a car once when the driver lost control and all the girls in the car with me started screaming making the driver get even more out of control. And because I was used to dealing with adrenaline, I calmed the driver down and I was able to stay calm. I feel like it was almost like a martial art for the inner world, that we created art as a way of doing. just kind of feels really, good to put yourself in those situations where you do feel out of your comfort zone and out of your depth. And you really have to go with it. I think with music as well, it's like trying to, I think it depends what kind of music you're making and performing, I think trying to still access that place is it feels like, say if you're at home and you're playing or recording and you reach these real states of like you're Connecting with something other than yourself or, the divine, source, I think, trying to access that, you can still access that live, but I'm still trying to figure out how to do that because, like you said, when you're in front of people, it's a completely different environment, It's a skill that takes years of practice and sometimes you manage it and sometimes you don't. as a theater performer. my friend, Jonathan Kaye, the guy who taught me fooling. He's like, if you're going to demonstrate, which is the word he calls for when you're not connected to what, what I would call, the archetypes. So when you're channeling the archetypal realm, that divine thing, it's magic and does happen on the stage, but it's about working. That takes work. It takes time. And it's a lot to do with giving up your inner criticism. Um, But he's always like, if you're going to demonstrate, which is doing it without, then just do it really well. If you're going to be demonstrating, demonstrate well. that's where you've got the practice and you're going for it. there will be moments, a point where. You will just suddenly be doing it on the stage it's a bit like collective yoga and collective ceremony. I love doing it on my own. I'm a bit of a recluse as well. I'm definitely a louder person than you, but I still prefer doing things on my own. But when you do something in a big group. When it hits the spot, it's amazing and it is way more powerful. having that moment where you do channel the divine and the archetype with other people there, that's going to be amazing. That's a mind blowing moment, especially because your music is very rich in archetypes. So it, it will just feel like, I don't know, yeah, spiritual experience, I think. Yeah, it feels like, and when you, when you reach those, places musically with other people, that's one of the most beautiful and powerful experiences you can experience or that I feel I've experienced, in life. and that's why I love playing with my band. it's been really amazing playing with the band a lot more this year because doing that is such a different, Experience live to when I perform on my own solo, And your dad's been playing with you as well, eh? I've been seeing your dad's in there. Minac, which is, yeah. That looked amazing. How was that gig? Wow. The Minac of all places. I bet that was special. Yeah, that was really incredible. I think it's definitely One of the most powerful places I've ever played. I think just generally as, a performer, it's an incredible place to be and to perform, but especially, that part of the coast, has had such a huge impact on my music and my life and creativity. So then being able to, a lot of the songs that we performed were written about that coastline or The sea there, so it felt really incredible to share it in that space something we've started doing now, is a way of helping to overcome, feeling really nervous or trying to step into your power when you are in those places where you feel, out of your depth. I wanted to start the set, perform, like, doing a, I guess like an invocation, in music to, yeah, welcoming that energy and that, those, that place that grounds the music, and ourselves in a, yeah, I guess, I don't know, Sorry, I'm not explaining it to you. No, that makes total sense. We do that in Fooling. within the structure of Fooling, the archetypal realm is the back of the stage. in Greek theatre, that's where the people spoke as the gods. And, archetypal place, you move much slower and, and you connect into this deep source it's a really deep place. And so what I hear from what you're saying is You made sure you started from an archetypal space, so that you were fully connected when you then started to perform the other place is like front of the stage, chatty, putting people at ease, being all chatty. But you were coming from the back and it was like, no, I'm coming with the presence and the depth and the weight. Which makes total sense for you to do that because you are very archetypal. that feels like the right way for you Yeah. I mean that's like a huge, like the speaking in between playing. I think for a long time I felt under pressure, like I had to, I'm not naturally very good at that, because I changed tuning so much, that was always something playing on my own, where, I guess I feel like you have to, for a while I felt like, oh, why can't I just speak to people, be myself, but then, I realised I don't have to, you don't have to, Do that and you don't have to, if you don't naturally feel like, I don't know. audiences can see everything. they can see what kind of person you are and they're drawn to you. if they're at the gig, they're drawn to who you are. I feel like less is more the world has changed. It used to be that you would have been able to just make music and sell albums and that that would have been enough, but that's not the way the music industry works anymore. to make money, you've got to tour and you've got to perform. But loads of musicians. You know, 20 years ago didn't like touring and never went on tour. So you might have been forced to do this thing because that's the way it now works. I do think it is good in terms of what you're saying, crossing these hurdles and challenging yourself. Like, I think it's a good thing to do, but I don't think you have to, when you're out there doing it, force yourself to do anything you don't want to do or don't feel comfortable with because people already can see that you're, a more shy and quieter person. So it feels in keeping if you're just saying the odd little thing, everyone just wants to see you and hear you sing you can be yourself. one of the stories that we did. I feel really grateful that people like my music. I loved seeing that you did the willow song because that was my, wedding march song. Really? Yeah. my friend Grace played it live and I came in with that to the wedding. It was lovely. I don't know what I'm doing with my life. Right, we're going to do the cards then and we'll see what the universe wants us to talk about. Yeah. Interested to see, and I love this because it's just letting the universe lead, see what the universe wants us to talk about. So, you tell me when to stop, I'm going to go this way, you say stop. Stop. So this is the Ace of Disks. If you look at that, it's a beautiful, beautiful symbol. And the Ace of Disks is about, It's like the epitome, I always think it's kind of the right word, of, the suit, the sign. And so, this is Disks, which is Earth. So I suppose like what I would say in that is what does Earth mean to you? The land, I mean, we've talked about it a bit, but what is the land and how does it inspire you? how's your connection to that? you were saying that these songs have been inspired by the land. How does that feel like that relationship happens? Yeah, I mean, yeah, the land has a huge impact on my work, one of the reasons I moved back to Cornwall is because I really wanted to, I guess as well when you're, away touring a lot and traveling in that kind of more, extroverted rhythm of being, I really wanted to come back here and just ground myself within the land I'm working on a new, album and some series of paintings focused around that, of like grounding yourself within, or myself within the land, here in Penwith, and definitely, yeah, within that as well, just both doing the, that work creatively, but as well. physically within the land, you know, going to the land doing ceremonies walking and being present within that, realm. I feel a lot more, grounded within that. in Penwith, it's right at the end of the land, so it's like such a powerful place here, and like a really, potent place as well in terms of the energy Have you heard of Yoiks? Do you know Yoiks? the Sami people who are the shamans up in the north of Europe. Yeah, I know about the Sami, but not, what are the So Yoiks is their songs, so they sing kind of with the land. And if you were to hear them do like a fox Yoik, you know what I mean? You'd kind of be able to tell, like, you can often guess what it is, like, the wind or something like that. and then each person as well, when the baby's gestating, a yoik will come to the mother and they'll sing it all the way through pregnancy. And then while they're giving birth, everyone will sing it. whilst the baby's being born. if you're away, on tour, they'll be like, Oh, I miss Daisy. And everyone will sing the Daisy oik while you're away and they'll be kind of missing you and stuff. but your music does remind me of that. It feels like you're kind of got, you're like a Cornish oik and that you're singing the lands and that you've got these songs that feel connected. Do you feel like, how do they come to you? Do you feel like they are coming through from a channeling way? yeah, I think, some more than others, I definitely feel that when I'm recording at home on my own, sometimes a song will come from the ether and it will form in that way, but I think a lot of my music does come from, I guess, trying to be in the, be in a place where I feel connected to that force and energy, And then, I think within, if I'm recording as well, there'll be some pieces where if I listen back to it, I can really, hear that kind of, communication with that, force, if that makes sense. it's hard to put into words. So I think that's why I like recording. At home a lot, because, I feel I'm able to, commune with that. Yeah. Like you're capturing something, like you listen back and you're like, oh yeah, I did, I captured it. Yeah. Yeah, I guess. and yeah, I don't know, yeah, it's definitely, like I find writing songs, I'm, I'm, I'm I think using words isn't my, like, strong, or it's something creatively that I'm still, I still don't feel very confident in. Whereas, yeah, musically, I guess it's, yeah, when those moments do happen, it's really magic, because you feel like, yeah, you know, able to capture some kind of, or being able to capture something that feels very hard to describe or put into words. Which is what art's all about, you know, it's the metaphysical, it's this thing that isn't, I mean, if you were going to use words, it would be poetry or, something more beautiful than just conversation, something other than that. And I wanted to ask you about the folk, like the kind of mama's stuff. Like you, you're involved in some of the parades and things around your way, aren't you? Seems like you're always out with them. What's your connection to that? Yeah, we do a lot, for the Winter Solstice, there's the Montauk Festival that happens here on the Solstice, where, people dance around the town, we're not an official guild, I think we try and keep it. More under the You're an underground girl. Underground mummers. Yeah. But that's, yeah, it's one of the most incredible, or one of my favourite nights of the year. Just, being with other people and celebrating the, the solstice, and the sun. Yeah, last year did. yeah, got a lot more, musicians together. yeah, the solstice and then at belting there's, the hors, which is not as big as the Mont Festival, again, where people, a bit like Jack in the Green or some of the other belting festival together. And it feels like Penzance has a really strong community of people keeping those traditions alive I think it's really important for the younger generation especially in smaller places to keep these traditions going It brings people out, doesn't it? It brings people out and they share in something together. it connects you to the seasons and makes you pay attention to the outside world, it brings people together in ways that you just wouldn't ever do otherwise. So I feel like they're really special, important things to do. I'm excited. last year they were worried that it wasn't going to be able to happen again, because of funding But, they did a big, fundraiser and managed to keep it going. That's really good. See, that's the sort of thing that the Arts Council should be funding right, rather than the Royal Opera House. They should be funding, the People's Theatre, you know. If you enjoy this podcast, please consider supporting me at patreon. com forward slash Jolie Rose. I have some exciting things coming up that I would love to Share with you. I'm taking a break from the podcast over January and February to honor my need for downtime and submerge myself in a yummy creative process, but you're welcome to come and join me in the darkness. We'll embrace the depths of winter by delving into our creativity with Creation Hibernation, a unique writing series designed to align with the lunar cycles and inspire your imagination. So Monday night, starting with the Capricorn Dark Moon on Monday the 30th December, we'll be doing alternating writing sessions. So if you join me on the 30th for the Dark Moon, we will set our intentions and, using that amazing Capricorn, climbing a mountain goat energy and, very serious, gonna get this done, Capricorn energy. We will set our intentions for what we want to write and begin a creative process for two weeks. So the next Monday we'll meet up and we'll just sit in silence and write together, in a focused, supportive space. And then the week after that will be the full moon. And so then we'll check in and we'll talk about what we've done and, you know, Kind of where we're at and what our ideas are, how our ideas are brewing and bubbling. And then we will write again the next week together in a silent space. And then the week after will be a dark mean again. And so we'll do that. It will be eight weeks in total, and we'll be doing that over January and February. So I'd love it if you're up for joining me, uh, the recordings of the workshops will be available. So if you're ever not able to make it for the Monday, that doesn't matter. the workshops are free to anyone who's on the little bit extra tier on Patreon. And that means that the sessions work out as being 2. 25 per session. So that might be something that you all think about doing is signing up for the Patreon. if you sign up for the top tier, 9 a month and you could just do it for these two months and it means that you get the sessions for 2. 25. But if you were to continue being a supporter beyond the January, February writing period, then you also get the videos. of the podcasts. so you get to see the people that I'm talking to and interviewing and the ones I do on my own, you'll see me chatting away, quite often in a onesie, but I sometimes make an effort. I've made an effort today and, uh, yeah, so, and there's other little bits and extra things that go on there that I'll, share with, you know, the little bit extra supporters. If you're, just wanting to do the writing session and you don't want to sign up for Patreon, then it's 25 for the full eight sessions Or 5 per session for drop in. So if you do the 25 for the eight sessions, it works out a bit cheaper than if you're just doing drop ins. But obviously, if you can only, if you think you can only do one or two of them, then you know, you might want to do it as a drop in. If you want to sign up, then please email me at Nonsenseinthechaos at gmail. com and I'll send you the registration form. So yeah, let the energy of the moon guide your creativity this winter, whether you're exploring a new idea or nurturing a work in progress, offers a chance to connect with yourself, your craft and your creative immersive potential in the deep winter months. So reserve your place now and begin the new year feeling refreshed and inspired. Oh, my cat came to say hello. Hello Solstice. Oh, perfectly timed. It's my all black cat Solstice saying I can smell the turkey cooking and it smells delicious, which it does. Now on with the show. So let's do another one. you tell me when to stop. Do you want this end one? yeah, yeah, I think that was a good one. Yeah. So that is, A really beautiful, this is so beautiful. So it's the queen of cups and she's staring into this inner world. And this is the archetypal world from the spirit world. your music does feel extremely spiritual, or has spirit in it in some way, this archetypal energy. what does that mean to you? what's your connection with that? How do you feel about all of that? do you mean with the spirit? Yeah, like what is it to you? What is this inner world to you? Yeah, I guess, it feels like one of the most, precious things we have as creators is like our connection to, that realm, both with inside ourselves and, externally in the spiritual world. Yeah. at the moment I'm really trying to, nurture that place inside myself and creatively because I think you can very easily get, I don't know, you have to exist in the modern, I don't know, Nonsense. Nonsense. it's always trying to return to that, and sometimes I find it quite difficult really trying to, keep a strong, yeah, just staying present within that place inside of yourself creatively that allows you to connect to other realms and spiritually, I think everyone has, a different way of doing that, it's such a powerful and inspiring thing to witness when you, yeah, I don't know, see or hear, someone's, that, that inner world that they have, been able to translate into a piece of art or music it's such a sacred thing that you have to nurture and take care of, because you can easily feel like you lose touch with that part of yourself, sometimes, not just creatively, but through, yeah, practicing your, yeah, your craft and keeping that. Keeping communication, as a practice. like, in, other forms of, spirituality or, things like yoga and meditation, is Something like that, but I need to I'm trying to keep nurturing. I heard something once, which I thought was really powerful was that, genius is, in ancient Greece, they used to see genius as spirit, as a spirit. It was a divine thing that chose to use you or they used to describe it like a horse, like it would come and ride you. But, Your job, therefore, wasn't about being a genius. Your job was to turn up every day and do the work. So that would be practicing the instrument, practicing your voice, practicing your writing, whatever it is. And if genius chooses to come and ride you, then, You're ready and you're present. Whereas if you are just lost in drinking and doing a job that you hate and not paying any attention, then it might come and ride you and you wouldn't even notice. you might get a bit of a poem in your head, but you don't bother writing it down and then get distracted looking at TikTok and then it's gone. so it's doing that thing where you're at least priming yourself and making yourself available and ready for genius to come and land. it takes the pressure off because if you never do get ridden and it never, turns into anything you did your bit of the bargain. It's not your fault if they didn't choose to come and ride you. interesting because Especially with painting sometimes you just, you're playing and it does feel like something does come, come down from the ether or you draw, I don't know, you might spend a week trying to paint something and then in the end of that week you still hate it or you, you know, it's not working and then you might draw something in like ten minutes and it just works That's what's beautiful about creating, art. there's always this extra component where it doesn't turn out how you imagine So there's always this excitement of, oh, it turned out like this. It's not at all what I imagined. Yeah. Yeah. Brilliant. I don't know what I'm doing with my life. so we'll do another card. You tell me when to stop. I don't know if I'm getting the one that you want, but we'll trust it. Okay. This one's exciting. this is the devil. the devil is about, where you are limiting yourself in the physical world. the devil is the master of the material world, like greed and debauchery but it stops you from, reaching this place. it's about what blocks you, like, what's your devil on your shoulder that stops you from being free and accessing the. the place that you want to get to. what do you feel about that? how's the outer world a bit of a bugger for you? Yes. everyone has their own relationship. with things like, drinking with the music world. when you're doing gigs you're technically working, but, a lot of the time you're in a venue or a pub and if you like drinking then it's kind of very hard to, not get, not lose yourself like in, in that side of, the music world, Are you someone who needs to drink before you go on stage or do you prefer to be sober? I like it sometimes, but I don't like drinking too much because there's a fine line between it being good and then you can slip over. getting high or smoking hash when I'm recording sometimes. but then doing that live as well, I've had, yeah. Now I try and think, I guess with alcohol, it kind of calms you. now I usually only have one or two if I'm gonna drink. more so if I'm doing it with the band because it's fun. Less pressure. it is a worry, about people, getting more success, and especially if you are a more, introverted person, that sometimes people can, use alcohol as a crutch that's one of The drawbacks to success people can lose themselves in, in exactly what you're saying, like the out, being out late at night, drinking, clubbing, culture. I work in a pub and live on this island and there's nothing to do. drink is just what everyone does. I'd say it is the devil more than anything else. yeah, especially in smaller. Yeah, you must have it down there as well. Like it's just so prevalent, isn't it? It's a big part. My relationship with all of that is kind of okay. as long as you know when you need to have a break. If I can feel like it's starting to affect my work, then yeah. I know you need to have a break from it, but it's harder in the music realm because you're around it constantly. But you don't feel like it's that strong a crutch. It's just something you can take or leave. I'm trying to do November sober, which is going fine, but I like drinking and I enjoy being out with people and stuff, so I guess it's just keeping a balance. yeah, I'm trying to think of what else. I haven't pulled the devil in a long time. Yeah. I think when you're drinking a lot as well, I feel like my, I don't know if ambition is the right word, but, I don't know. It's good to have a break from it, because I feel a lot more focused. and less distracted by going out and seeing lots of people, which means I'll focus more on, recording or doing work. It is a balance though, isn't it? Because ambition's almost a devil as well, you could be just doing that and forget to see your friends and forget about the people you care about, so it is a balance. what did you say the card, represents? it's because he's the master of the sensual world, really. sensual's a good thing as well, but the distractions. So it would be spending all day scrolling or anything that distracts you from your higher purpose? you could be sitting there writing music meditating reading a book or walking in nature and connecting to something deeper. And he's the one that's there going, Oh, watch that Netflix series. Let's just scroll this thing. Let's get drunk. That's, you know, distractions basically. I guess for everyone, the phone is one of the biggest distractions and that's actually why I quite like, in my new house at the moment, that we don't have Wi Fi there yet. Yeah, I thought that maybe that was on purpose, But lastly, I've been, trying to, I need to, you know, find a good view, I'm actually quite like not having, yeah, you know, Wi Fi and a phone. I would like to, just like, go have a month where I don't have my phone for, or at least like, Yeah, deleting things like Instagram or just all of the social media stuff and not be on that. I do that every January normally till Easter I manage it now but I call it, a digital detox. in January I delete Instagram and Facebook from my phone and only use it on the computer and it's because of, you know, a marketing reason or whatever. And I just stop and I just stop myself from all of the. I'll still have messenger and things so people can get in touch with me, but I just, it gets rid of all of the doom scrolling I feel like it's changed our brain so much. it feels exhausting. I don't know how anyone's going to learn instruments in the next generation. I'm just going to watch TikTok videos of people from the older generation I feel like I was lucky. In my generation, we kind of still had a period of childhood where there was no social media. things like Bebo and Myspace were the first so it must have been like, 13 or something, it's crazy now seeing, the effects it has on my brain, or an adult's brain, and then thinking that, yeah, it's gonna be. Yeah, seeing, within the art, or creative realm, how younger people's brains are gonna develop in such a different way. And even with things like reading, so many books that I'm, wanting to read, or I'm reading at the moment, I sit down to read, and I'm like, yeah, I can't read. I did English literature at university and I had to read six books a week and I can't read a book now. I listened to it on audible while I'm doing something else, but I can't sit and read a book. Maybe one page before I go to bed every few days, if I'm not looking at my phone. So yeah, it's crazy. It has had such a massive effect and I would swap it out if you, I mean, I know it's impossible now really, cause everything's so tangled together, but I think. quite a lot of people, if you were given the choice and it could never have been invented, I think there's quite a large amount of people who would go, yep, let's press the rewind button on that one. next year I'm going to do that. it's really good. my mental health benefits from it hugely. I find it mentally exhausting. The whole social media thing kills me, but it's important for, artists, especially artists living in the middle of nowhere, you kind of need to be, actively doing stuff and showing what you're doing. And so it is a really useful platform. for the podcast and all these things, I kind of need to be promoting it and pushing what I'm doing. it is brilliant for that, but it's accessing it without then scrolling and getting lost in it. the next thing you find two hours later, you're still there looking at it. And that's the thing when you're using it for work. Like with things like Instagram and stuff. it's a really good tool, to connect with people and share what you're doing. Yeah, and especially if you live in, more of a rural place, but then, because it's that realm mixed with, you know, all of the other aspects of social media and, you know, it's a tricky one to figure out how to use healthfully, you know, it can be hard to separate them both without them, because then you just instantly get sucked into all of the other. Yeah, I guess just trying to figure out how to, I guess it's like a tool that we're all trying to figure out how to use. Yeah. Or like most technology. Yeah. Yeah. Totally. All of it. It just feels like we are all kind of going, Oh, hang on. Sorry. It's all got a bit out of control. so the last thing I wanted to ask you then is the chaos crusade. is there something that you would recommend people to do that would help? connect them a bit deeper and kind of distract them from the devil of alcohol and internet. Yeah, I'm trying to think of something that I like doing, as an artist, I've always liked doing it, but I'm trying to do it more regularly now, is trying to draw a picture with. your opposite hand, or just practice using my other hand for things I would usually use my right hand for, I think especially with drawing, I really love the way you use your other hand. interesting things come out from doing that. It's something I love being less precious about things, I had a friend who was an artist and he would get us to come and do events with him. he'd always, tape paintbrushes to the end of walking sticks and make us paint from a really far distance away. it just stops you from, Trying to do it well, and you'd sort of slap it on and just go for it. that was really freeing. So yeah, I could imagine that drawing with your left hand suddenly just frees things up because you're not going to get it perfect, so it lets something else happen instead. Yeah. And it feels like a good practice for your brain. Like the neuroplasticity. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And also drawing with your eyes closed, I really love doing that as well, it feels very meditative, like some form of meditation, kind of like automatic drawing. I've been trying to do that more. I even tried, brushing my teeth with my left hand, and you just notice How much more? This is really good because that's the point of this podcast for there to be hope and possibility for the future. We need to start embracing the unknown So just not have fear about the unknown. that's why the chaos crusade, because it's like, how can we challenge ourselves to do stuff that isn't comfortable and that isn't normal so that we get comfortable with things that are mysterious and unknown to us, because we are required for us to survive, to completely change how we are and how we're living. And, it feels like. We could have done a gentler journey into that if we'd started a lot earlier with changing the way that we're doing things. because we are continuously leaving it to the last minute, it's going to be quite a big set of breaks that we put on. and so, you've got to be prepared the more we can just relax with Oh yeah, I'll be fine. I can do this. I can try that. I'm used to being in fearful spaces or challenging myself we're incredibly resilient and capable of so much, but part of it is to not just be blindly comfortably devil run, just like bumbling along without thinking about what we're doing the whole time, Fluff us up and flip the script and just change things. It means that we're a bit more ready for whatever comes because we've got no idea what that's going to look like. And so what have you got next? What's happening for you? are you getting a bit of time out now? yeah, I mean, I've still got some gigs till the end of the year. but I'm mostly just back home now. and just trying to focus on painting for the next couple of months. Yeah, painting and some recording. looking forward to High Dimension. Winter. Stopping. Being more of a, I think, slowing down. being more present within that rhythm of winter. I love it now. I used to hate it, but I love it now so much. It's such an important part of the year. you can't wait till autumn comes. I was totally saying that a few months ago. I was like, God, I can't wait. Just make it stop. Oh, thank you so much. This has been amazing. thank you for doing this. I really appreciate it. That was brilliant and good luck with everything you're doing. Thank That's alright. Lots of love my darling. Lots of love. I don't know what I'm doing with my life. that was the gorgeous Daisy Rickman. What an absolute joy it was to talk to her. She's such a kind, gentle spirit. She has, like my partner Dizzle, she has a touch of fae about her. And, Yeah, it feels like when a butterfly lands next to you and, or a bird, and it doesn't flutter away immediately, and you sort of feel like you have to hold your breath and hold yourself still so as not to startle them and and that it feels like an honor and a privilege to be in that presence for a little while and Yeah, she has that energy about her I really enjoy spending time with Daisy. She's really fun. She's a very kind, lovely being and her music's stunning. So I will be sharing a link, obviously, to her music so that you can listen to her. Her artwork is stunning as well. So definitely visit her website, daisyrickman. com and the albums when she does the vinyl release are, I would say, collector's items. She's, you know, it's only been one year. of Guardian, the Guardian recommending her, and Yeah, her records are selling out fast. So get on it. I really wanted to get a record for my brother for Christmas and I wasn't able to because they sold out so quickly. Just yeah, get on a newsletter, mailing list and and get these records because you know in 10 20 years time I think they're going to be collectors items. So well done Daisy. Very proud of you. You're an amazing, inspiring, beautiful lady. And I'm so chuffed that everything's gone as wonderfully for you as it has done this year. And may it continue. So 2025, we have one more podcast left. I did say that there were only two left. I was lying. You've got a surprise extra sneaky magical one, which is my birthday podcast. So I'll be making a podcast next week and really delving into. 2025 and what that means and just supporting you with all with the supporting you all with setting your intentions and stepping into this next year with aplomb. Because there's a lot going on astrologically and politically and And I think spiritually, and it is all to play for. So let's play big. So thank you ever so much for having been with me on this journey. I've really enjoyed making this podcast. And this is just season one. I'll be returning with season two and I've got some exciting people lined up who I can't wait to talk to and share their worlds and insights with you. So stay tuned, keep following, it will only be two months and then it will go before you know it and then I'll be back at the beginning of March. thank you for supporting me, huge love and I shall see thee anon. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Cheers. Have a nice day. I don't know.