The Ancient Magpie

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The Ancient Magpie

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Bringing you home to your wild, ancient, authentic self 🌀
Sacred Talismans • Spirit Dolls • Earthy Adornments • Ritual Art
Handmade by Hannah 🪶
~ Currently buiding my FB presence - follow to keep up to date! ~

30/07/2026

The Yoxman… a 26-foot, eight-tonne bronze sculpture in Yoxford, Suffolk. Nala in first pic for size reference. Also perhaps the most magnificent sunset I’ve ever laid eyes on back at the cottage I was staying in.

The being’s sculptor Laurence Edwards refers to him as “a Green Man for our age”, intended to reconnect humanity to the surrounding land and bring forth the ancient reverberations of the Suffolk landscape.

It was evocative to approach this beast of a statue. I felt almost like I was encroaching on its own contemplative moment, intruding upon some process larger than I. His stance was strong but gentle, imposing but not threatening.

That weekend back in June marked a turning point in my inner world, and this bizarre, benevolent bronze figure now feels integral to that internal threshold. Who he is I am unsure, but that extends to me, too. Thank you, Yoxman, for being a timestamp in my own necessary erosion of identity amidst the fields and trees.

29/07/2026

With life in flux, objects act as anchors to my soul. Satiating return to womb and bone and soil in ancient reverence while life cuts cords and breaks patterns and thrusts into new realms.

When grief climbs new mountainous heights and plunges you into cavernous valleys, you mourn old ways while new stories are woven. Multifaceted grief and anticipation. New environments, new relational waters, new routines. Thresholds and intentions and beating hearts and shed antlers.

The loss of becoming.

I want to create and hibernate and express and hide all at once. Lean into my nature as I lean into nature, rest for Earth beneath my feet and perform for Moon above. Rebirth and return and repeat.

Scream and whisper in the same breath. Retreat into cocoon and tend my soul while baring all amidst it all. Connection to self and connection to thee through warm embrace of intimacy. Rediscover hidden parts and carve new sigils. To share, to not, to be, to yearn, to learn.

Objects bring me back to self, a return to ritual awaits me. I am both on my way and already here. 🌀

27/06/2026

I’ve been busy climbing trees and watching quiet red sunsets with the dead in overgrown churchyards and tuning inwards and loving outwards and discovering new sides of myself and embracing those around me. I’ve been able to immerse in poetry again as of late. And lean into the depths of human emotion far enough to reach new heights from the lows.

I sometimes try to curate The Ancient Magpie into something I am not and thus lose parts of myself, as it is part of me, after all. A chunk of my soul I’m supposed to market professionally on this platform, summoning the algo’ gods. But it always feels forced, always foreign. I’m not built for it. I’m built for creating art, not editing posts. But we are here and I am to share in glimpses, so hello to you, dear reader.

Here’s a little glimpse into me for now. ❤️‍🔥

I will try to share upcoming adventures where possible. 🌛

🗓️ Saturday 4th July - The NightFair CIC 📍 Braintree
🗓️ Sunday 5th July - Not Your Average Market! 📍 Letchworth GC

Sending you joy and love and enveloping glory. 🌞

24/06/2026

Does the solstice bolster your connection to Earth like it does for me? Does Litha lather your life-force cauldron with love and lust? Does Sol stimulate your senses with tingling sensations of your sense of self? Does summer’s ray reawaken the potency of your reality, the unmistakable, remarkable essence of rebirth? Or are you too warm? 🌞 🌱

07/04/2026

Achievement ticked off my list: trade with at ✅ 😎 🥳

I graduated from in this very hall back in 2019, and on Saturday I had a stall alongside some incredible creatives in the same spot I sat back then. I visit good ol’ Nozza occasionally but returning to this space as this fuller, wiser, more authentic version of myself, ready to share my creations, felt kinda huge for me.

Parking my car (I passed my test several years after graduating!), walking past my old uni building and heading into St Andrew’s Hall by myself with all my witchy wares was an unexpectedly profound moment.

I was a panic-ridden, self-conscious, chronic masking, undiagnosed AuDHD girl back at uni, tumbling through unknown autistic burnout cycles and holding on for dear life through a dysregulated nervous system and identity crises. Returning to the same cobbled street I’ve walked many times but with a deeper understanding of myself and some helpful perspective-altering life experiences under my belt was spooky and rather lovely. I don’t relate anymore to the woman I was back then but I’m proud of her for persevering and allowing me to bloom into this version of Han.

I’ve attended several of ’s brilliant NightFair Market events over the years as an eager browser and I remember way back at one of the firsts saying to my besties .jpeg and “I’m gonna do this one day”. That was years before I launched The Ancient Magpie and it dawned on me on Saturday that I have now, in fact, done it.

Just rather unashamedly proud of myself so this is a bog-standard self-indulgent post for ya 🤓 🥰 and thank you so so much to Selina for organising these amazing markets and to everybody who stopped by to say hi, have a natter, take a business card or take a creation home with you! You all make me do happy dances and I’m immensely grateful. And to the fab for capturing my cheesy grin and concentration faces!! 📸

Swipe for hall view comparison and pic of me with blonde hair and makeup.. 🎓

Alright you can scroll on now, many thanks, ta ra! 😚 🪶 🌀

10/03/2026

Spring is upon us and I’ve bagged a spot at these incredible events hosted by fabulous folk full of whimsy and magick! These markets are each close to my heart for different individual reasons and I can’t wait to bump into you there and share my latest creations with you. 🤓

Am I coming to your area?

🖤
🗓️ Saturday 28th March 📍 Camden
Come along to the gorgeous Cecil Sharp House (nestled a short walk from Camden station but away from the frantic centre enough to be a breath of fresh air)! The WhimsyGoth market is honestly an absolute delight each and every time with loads of talented traders. Cannae wait mate! 💜

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🗓️ Sunday 29th March 📍 Letchworth
Pop over to my neck of the woods (that’s a weird saying right?) for a springtime Sunday stroll around the quirky Cloisters building for NYAM’s second ever event. The first one was an absolute dream and I met so many wonderful local people, so please do pop by, say hi and get your hands on some weird and wonderful alternative goodies.

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🗓️ Saturday 4th April 📍 Norwich
Norwich will always have a place in my heart (big up ) and I’m so excited to be part of Selina’s market at St Andrew’s Hall - this was the first ever NightFair venue I visited and I fell in love with it, and now I get to trade there eek! Hope to see you there for the most diverse range of gothic bits and bobs.

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🗓️ Saturday 30th May 📍 Ipswich
I’ll be back in East Anglia in May for the next Earth Spirit event! Each event is more of a day out than simply just a market - you get talks, workshops, drumming, ritual and a bloody good crowd of earthy hippies and witchy folk, what more could you want?! 🤓 🌳 ☮️ Come and join us at this new venue (which has had a lovely change-of-hands makeover!), I’d love to see you.

Really grateful to have this selection of markets on my springtime itinerary, which ones are you eyeing up? 👀 I’ll post another summertime roundup later down the line, keep your eyes peeled (another weird saying)!! Ta ra and see you soon 🙏🏼🌲🖤

05/01/2026

“Deepen” has quietly emerged as my new word for 2026.

Deepen my relationship with myself
Deepen trust - in myself, my body, the way, life’s embrace
Deepen understanding
Deepen connections
Deepen my craft
Deepen my joy for life
Deepen rest

I have been experiencing a deep ache, a longing to slow down and turn inwards. Rest, recovery, balance, self-compassion. Recognising when my body is at its limit. Striving for relief.

I tend to oscillate between craving routine, deep rest and slowness, and cultivating unbridled aliveness with immense momentum. I love to plan, and sometimes choose planning and future-thinking as my restful activity. Other times I cannot think beyond this evening.

Despite being in the depths of midwinter, a time of hibernation and rest, I do still enjoy the turning of the Gregorian calendar and the opportunity it provides for reflection. Reflecting on what has become and what has not, what we’d like to take forward and what we’d like to leave behind.

2025 gave me so much perspective, so much change, so much grief, joy, understanding, self-reliance and change of pace. I am still processing many things. Still recovering from loss of various kinds and embracing gains of unexpected heights.

So I welcomed the new year and its vibrant skies with hesitance mixed with grace, reluctance mixed with gratitude. I’m excited for what may be over the horizon and I’m also filled with intent to slow the heck down and rest as priority.

Dismantling perfectionism, redirecting worry, embracing burnout recovery. Deepening rest. Deepening the hugs I give myself. Did I mention rest yet?

I have things I want to do and I have opportunities to pursue, and I also have a neurodivergent mind to take care of and a loyal body to cradle as she diligently pushes through.

I suppose I’m succumbing to the discovery of being autistic, and to the reality of being in the depths of autistic burnout. I am learning to truly listen to my body’s cues and hear what she really needs. ‘Tis hard indeed. But peacefully exciting.

I look forward to deepening my understanding of myself and further attuning to my needs. Right now, I think that might be rest. 🖤 🌅

Address

St. Andrews & Blackfriars Hall
Norwich
NR3 1

Website

https://linktr.ee/theancientmagpie

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