(A story read at the White Eagle Family Service 4.11.18)

It was the time of the annual lantern festival and all the children and adults were busy creating wonderful lanterns for the procession that evening. Some were very simple – jam jars decorated with coloured tissue paper to allow the pretty light of the candle to glow through the paper. Some were made from paper or card with lovely patterns and shapes cut out for the light to shine through. And some were amazingly constructed out of carefully bent strips of willow stuck together and covered in delicate tissue paper.

Yes, everyone was busy – everyone that is – except Rosa. Somehow she was never quite happy with how her lantern turned out and it now made her a bit reluctant to even try to make one. Instead she went outside to where the bonfire was already lit and sat and gazed into its glowing heart. She was mesmerised by the ever-changing light and glow from the embers and the flames. Time seemed to stand still as her thoughts quietened, focussed only on the light and colours of the fire.

Read more: Rosa's Lantern

Story read at the White Eagle Family Service 8.10.18. Quotes from the medieval book ‘Little Flowers of St. Francis’ ascribed to Brother Ugolino, with story and adaptation by Anikira de Solstice.

Once upon a time in the town of Gubbio in Italy lived a little girl called Maria and her brother Paulo. They had a family pet dog called Lorenzo who was good and obedient and liked nothing more than to be thrown a ball to catch and be pampered every now and then. One night they could see the full moon from their window. ‘What a lovely moon’, they told each other. However there was a strange noise coming from outside. Suddenly they could hear their chickens in the garden squawking and clucking and the fluttering sound of wings. This made the children somewhat scared of what might be out there. They quickly told their Mum and Dad and saw that Lorenzo the dog was, for some strange reason howling. They listened again and heard howling coming from outside also. Dad decided to get a closer look. ‘It sounds like a wolf’ he said. ‘'Be careful', said Mum.

Read more: The Man who Talked to the Animals

(Written by Jenny Bateman using White Eagle’s teaching and information from Joan Hodgson’s book ‘Wisdom in the Stars’.
Read and enacted at the Family Service in the Temple August 2018)

This story doesn’t have a title because it’s not about any one person, either real or fictional. This is the story of every one of us sitting here today. It’s the wonderful story of our lives, in which we each star as the hero or heroine. This story is like a play in which we take part and was written for each of us individually. If you’ve read Shakespeare’s ‘As You Like it’ you’ll remember the famous line ‘All the World’s a stage and men and women merely players’. Whether we believe it or not, we also had a hand in writing this play of our lives because, long before we came into this incarnation, we decided with the help of our guides, just what we wanted to achieve in this lifetime. These achievements don’t mean a flashy car, a big house, loads of money or fame as an actor or football star: these achievements are far more important and last for ever. We came here to work on ourselves and to gain experiences which would help us to be wiser and to be more conscious of the real nature of things. And, as we grow in love and wisdom, through our experiences, we will eventually gain complete mastery over ourselves and over physical matter and become fully conscious that we are one with our Father/Mother God – a state, which White Eagle tells us, is complete and utter happiness.

Read more: Stars and Planets

(Adapted by Jenny Bateman from a story written by Marilyn Jones, and read at the Family Service 1.7.18)

Once upon a time The Wise One decided that he needed some special helpers to organise the raindrops, and so he called upon the King of the Elves to help him. He needed to find seven very particular sprites, and so he sent out a message to Elf-land asking for anyone interested to come for a chat with him.

There was much excitement among the Elf community as the earth was very young at this time; they knew that this was their chance to be in at the beginning of creation, and had no experience as yet of what the planet contained. The King of the Elves hand-picked Ruby, Yasmina, Omar, Gareth, Billy, Izzy and Verity.

When all the excited elves had arrived they looked up in awe and wonder at the Wise One, who smiled kindly upon them and promised them a trip to inspect the planet. “What I am looking for,” he said, “ is a group of elves who really get on well together. This job needs a great deal of team-work… so let’s see how we all get on today. Just stand close to my robe and we will all travel together. Listen out for my instructions.”

Well, what the Wise One didn’t tell them was just how spectacular this trip was going to be! He enfolded them in the cloak of his aura for safety, but each elf experienced the journey as though he was doing it by himself.

Read more: The Rainbow Elves

(Written by Kathryn Bingham and read at the Family Service on Sunday 3rd June, 2018)

Sarah’s family had lived in the same town for generations and all had attended the same schools. In fact Sarah’s great, great grandmother had been at her primary school when it first opened, way back in Victorian times. The story was told in the family about how her great, great grandmother helped to plant the little oak sapling that had grown into the magnificent oak tree in the playground. There had been a special ceremony to bless the tree as they planted it in the ground and all the children sang a song:

Our blessings we give to this beautiful tree As we plant her in the ground
And bless its roots, shoots, trunk and leaves And send great love all around
And send great love all around

All the children had been asked to imagine the tree living very happily throughout the years ahead and to imagine all the children who would play under it and all the creatures who would enjoy living on it. The great tree angels and nature spirits heard their wish and had protected and given their special love to the tree ever since.

Read more: The Oak Tree

A story read at the White Eagle Family Service on March 4th 2018, written by Jenny Bateman

It was early morning when Kit awoke. He knew it was early because he couldn’t hear any noise except the birds, all singing different songs with great enthusiasm. Kit smiled in contentment. You didn’t hear them like that in the winter, it was when the spring came that they sounded so joyful. Kit was happy too now he had the whole of spring and summer to look forward to. It was just light and, as Kit pulled back the curtains, the golden disc of the sun was already climbing up the sky. He was excited as he had arranged to go walking with his friend, Mark, up on the moors, his absolutely favourite place to go. He washed and dressed quickly, putting on his thick walking boots, and then went downstairs to help himself to some breakfast just as his mother appeared.

Read more: Streams of Light

(A story by Jenny Bateman read at the White Eagle Family Service 4.3.18.)

‘Oh, bother!’ said Katy as she drew back her bedroom curtains. ‘It’s raining – again!’

Although it was still dark outside, the light was on in the kitchen beneath her bedroom and she could see the rain splashing into the puddles on the patio.

‘Why does it always have to rain at weekends?’ she thought. Katy loved being outside more than anything, going for long cycle rides with her friends, playing in the fields around their house and riding the ponies from the riding school nearby. You couldn’t do any of that in the rain without getting horribly wet and uncomfortable and Katy had sometimes come in with even her underwear soaked.

When she went down for breakfast, she could see that her Mum had been baking.

‘Oh Katy’, she said ‘could you just pop round to Mrs. Matthews on your bike after breakfast and take some scones that I’ve baked? As you know she slipped on the ice last month and broke her ankle so I’m sure it would cheer her up’.

‘Mum – it’s raining!’ protested Katy. ‘I’ll get really wet – do I have to?’

Read more of the story The Month of Promises!

(A story read at the Family Service on 5th November 2017)

It was dusk. A cornflower blue sky deepened around the brother and sister as they snuggled in their sleeping bags by their small campfire. He was six and she was ten. Each was feeling warm and sleepy after a day of walking high in the mountains with their parents.

‘Tell me a story’ the boy said to his sister for the second time, his eyes now closing. ‘No, your turn’ she whispered, too drowsy to think.

And together they fell silent, the only sound in the air was the crackle of the fire and the gentle clinking as their parents, just out of sight, washed the pots and pans from dinner.

Read more: Fire Fairies and the Night of the Inner Light

by A.N. Tolstoy adapted by Kathryn Bingham, and used in the Family Service on 1st October 2017

Grandpa liked turnips. So in the spring he planted his turnip seeds and asked the angels of the elements to help them grow. He asked the angels of the earth to bless the soil and the angels of the sun to bring warmth and light, the angels of the water to bring rain and the angels of the air to bring fresh winds to keep his garden full of life. All through the summer he carefully looked after his crop, thanking the angels, the fairies and gnomes for all their help. He always stood at the same spot in his garden to say thank you and he began to notice that the plant nearest to where he stood was growing bigger and stronger than all the others!

Read more: The Enormous Turnip!

Written by Jenny Bateman and read at the Family Service on 23rd July 2017

This story is about a boy called Tom who was nine years old. He lived with his parents and sister, Ellie, and every year in the summer, they went to the seaside for two weeks on holiday. Tom loved the beach, exploring the rock pools, seeing the little shrimps and crabs which scuttled away when he got too close. He liked to pop the seaweed which grew on the rocks and marvelled at how the tide went in and out, making everything look so different. But Tom would never go in the water because he had a great fear of it. Ellie, who was younger than Tom, used to tease him about it because she could swim well and liked nothing more than splashing about in the waves.

Tom’s parents tried to persuade him to have swimming lessons but he was much too frightened even to try. So he would just stand at the edge of the sea, dipping his toes into the water and feeling very silly when he watched all the other children having such fun. He got quite upset inside because sometimes the other children used to call him names and were quite unkind. Tom pretended he didn’t care and used to just go off on his own exploring, looking for beautiful shells and driftwood which had been fashioned by the sea into strange shapes. He sometimes watched the boats sailing out of the nearby harbour across the bay but somehow that made him feel uncomfortable but he just didn’t know why.

Read more: Sea Story

(A poem created and read by Jenny Bateman, and set to actions in the Family Service 4th June 2017)

I crept from the house early morning
The garden was misty and still
The sun was a beautiful yellow
As it silently rose o’er the hill
I knew everyone else was still sleeping
And thought that I was on my own
When, all at once in the garden,
I knew that I wasn’t alone.

Read more: A Magical Morning

(A story read at the Family Service on 7th May 2017)

This is a true and inspiring story about how the one of the most beautiful and magical gardens in the country was lost and then found again. Like many stories it has both sad and happy bits and it has people with great ideas who want to create something beautiful and work with the earth.

Read more: The Story of the Lost Gardens of Heligan

A story by Anna Hayward read at the Family Service on April 2nd 2017

‘Sliding down the red is so exciting!’

‘Oh no, I like the happy yellow...it’s brilliant!’

What do you think the elves are talking about?

Why yes, these are the rainbow elves and one of the good things about being a rainbow elf is that you get to play on the rainbows, just like you would on a slide.

If you look up into the sky and see a rainbow, you might just catch them whizzing down the colours, laughing and dropping off the end into the blue/grey sky. Another joy they have when they reach the end is to race the raindrops to the ground. They never win, but they keep on trying. Usually they end up diving into puddles. That’s another thing you might see some time, rainbow elves falling into big puddles along with the raindrops.

Read more: The Rainbow Game

(A story by Marilyn Jones, read at the Family Service 5.2.17)

Once upon a time

There lived a little snow bear.

He and his mother

Lived in a den built in the snow.

He had been born in the den in the warm and dark

Snuggling up to his mother for milk, and for sleep.

They slept for the whole of the deep winter.

Very early in the spring they became hungry.

Read more: The Beautiful Snowflakes and the Snow Bear

(Adapted from the opera ‘Amahl and the Night Visitors’ by Gian Carlo Menotti and read at the Family Service by Marilyn Jones.)

Do you know anyone who tells stories, pretending that something is so when it isn’t at all? And some people tell stories to make everyone laugh just so they will be liked too.

Well, Amahl, loved to tell jokes and make up stories, especially since he had had an accident and become lame, needing a crutch to help him walk about. He felt a bit special when people laughed, but then of course they didn’t believe him when he told the truth. So of course when he told his mother he had seen a giant star in the sky, she thought he was making it all up, and just ruffled his hair affectionately. ‘You and your tales,’ she would say.

Read more: The Night Visitors

(A story by Marilyn Jones read at the November 2016 Family Day Service)

Once upon a time a baby was born in a house with a beautiful garden, full of flowers. And there, right in front of the window where the baby slept was a beautiful young silver birch tree.

Whenever baby Silvie was fretful her mother would take her to the window or sit with her under the tree and sing her this song:

Whisper tree lovingly soothe my baby to sleep.

Whisper tree lovingly soothe my baby to sleep.

She will love the song you sing more than angel bells that ring

Whisper tree lovingly soothe my baby tonight.

Read more: The Silver Birch Tree

(A story by Anna Hayward, read at the Family Day service October 16.)

Debbie was so excited. This week the Harvest Fair was in town again. All the wonderful rides to go on, and her chance to win again. Debbie was good at running and every year she ran in the race at the fair and every year she won her race...no one could beat her!

Every year, all the money from the racing went to people who were poor...who didn’t have much food, or had nowhere to live, but Debbie didn’t think about that...she just liked to win. She didn’t even need to practise running like some people did.

Read more: What a lot to be thankful for!

A story written by Helen Rowe and read at the White Eagle Family Service in August 2016.

Once upon a time a little girl was peeping out of her window at her garden. She saw something move among the dried up stalks where the sunflowers had been in the summer. Was it a bird?

Read more: The Story of a Sunflower

(A story written by Marilyn Jones for the White Eagle Family Service 3rd July 2016)

Emily loved going out with her Grandpa – he would always take her to the park and playground, and when they had finished their fun on the swings and climbers they would buy an ice cream in the summer, and lie on the grass looking at the very blue sky through the shady leaves of a tree. When the sun shone down through the green leaves with the blue peeping through it was so peaceful. The warm South wind would blow the leaves gently to make such lovely patterns.

Read more: The Wonderful Sky!

(A story read at the White Eagle Family Service in June and written by Anna Hayward)

The roses had the softest, golden petals which shone in the sunlight, and the perfume was like a little bit of heaven fallen to Earth. The rose fairy was very proud of this…she was up very early in the morning to check every petal, to encourage the little black flies to go somewhere else by fanning them away with her wings, and she sat in the rose bush breathing in the scent in the afternoon feeling drowsy and happy.

Read more: Roses of Kindness and Love

A story read at our May 16 White Eagle Family Service on the theme of ‘Green Leaves’.

What a special day it was! The first cuckoo had just been heard, the sky larks were singing overhead and the trees were suddenly all covered in beautiful green leaves, even the majestic old oaks and the graceful ash trees who were always the last trees to wake up out of their winter sleep had brought forth their fresh green leaves!

Father Sun's warm rays were shining down upon Mother Earth, and it seemed as if all nature was sighing with contentment as the warm rays touched the hearts of all.

On such a day a tiny, tiny caterpillar hatched out of his egg with a wriggle and a pop! The sunlight seemed awfully bright but right in front of him were some wonderfully juicy green leaves. Mmmm… he thought…… I’m hungry, and he began munching the leaves. He found how delicious they were, and found he just couldn’t stop munching. So many green leaves and each one just so SO tasty! He ate and he ate and he ate and soon he grew to be quite plump.

Read more: The Spring Caterpillar

A story read at our April 16 White Eagle Family Service on the theme of ‘Healing Colours’.

Once upon a time, there lived a couple who for many, many years had longed to have a child of their own. Imagine their joy when they found out that they were expecting a baby! As the months went by before the baby was due, only one thing slightly dampened their spirits, and that was the weather! It seemed as though it had rained and rained for months on end. Everywhere was waterlogged and sodden and people were feeling very gloomy.

Just as the baby was about to be born, a clearing finally appeared in the clouds and for the first time in months the sun shone through the rain and lit up the room with golden light. Everyone looked out of the window and their hearts leapt as they saw the most beautiful rainbow appearing in the sky...

Read more: The Rainbow Child

A story read at our March 16 White Eagle Family Service on the theme of ‘A Mother’s Love’, written by Kathryn Bingham.

Up in Heaven’s Garden two children were playing with their friends and family amongst the beautiful grass and trees and flowers. The Garden was shining with warm sunlight and such happiness filled their hearts. There were many angels amongst them watching them play and the two children felt so loved and protected.

Although they were very happy, one day the children felt the time had come to have another adventure living down on earth. They remembered being there many times before and although they knew it was sometimes hard, very special things happened there too...

Read more: A Mother's Love

A story written by Jenny Bateman and read at the Family Service on Sunday 7th February.

Stephie stared out of the window at the huge dark grey clouds massed overhead. ‘It’s like having a lid on the world’ she thought and then, to her delight, a few flakes of snow drifted by. ‘It’s starting to snow! Oh goodie!’ she thought, ‘I must go and tell Linda!’

Then she suddenly remembered, very vividly, a February day almost a year ago when it had started to snow. Things had been so very different then...

Read more: A New Beginning

A story written for a White Eagle Family Service for Advent 2015 by Kathryn Bingham

It began with a strange feeling in his heart.
He’d never experienced anything quite like this before. It was as if his heart was growing bigger and bigger. There were strange flutterings deep inside... and then a feeling of space - it was as if his body couldn’t hold the powerful force that was suddenly inside him.

Read more: Journey to the Light

For Family Day November 2015
One blustery autumn day, when the wind was causing the leaves to swirl across the garden, Finn ventured outside to see if there were any more apples left on the tree. Yes, the last remaining ones were ripe and ready! So he picked them and took them to his mother in the house. ‘Thank you,‘ she said, delighted. ‘We’ll cook these for our supper while they are fresh and full of Mother Earth’s and Father Sun’s goodness.
Job done, Finn ran outside into the fresh air to play.

Read more: Finn and the Underground Cavern

A story written for our October 2015
White Eagle Family Service on the theme of ‘Earth Blessing’ by Kathryn Bingham

It was soon after the autumn equinox and already the days were getting shorter and the nights longer. At the end of a busy day, mum was in the kitchen making the evening meal.

‘Oh I meant to make an apple crumble this evening’ she said to Isabel ‘Be a love and go and fetch me some of the windfall apples from the bottom of the garden. You may have to take the torch to search for some under the shrubs as its already going a bit dark’....

Read more: Magnificent Worms!

It was coming up to the September International Day of Peace when all people around the globe were asked to hold the vision of a peaceful world. Mrs Walker, the teacher of Class 6, was explaining to the children about how our thoughts are very powerful – and that if we think peaceful thoughts and imagine everyone in the world living happily together, then it will really help to make that happen...

Read more: The Peace Dove

(adapted from a story from China)
Once upon a time there lived a king who ruled over a large kingdom. The king was becoming old, and wished to find a husband for his daughter, princess Sakimba...

Read more: A Puppet Show for Young Children

(based on an idea by Milena Harrison)
Once upon a time, in the great prairies of America, there lived two Native American tribes, side by side. Sadly, these tribes had forgotten how to live in peace, and were at war with each other, each wanting the other’s land to camp on, each claiming they had a greater right to that land. From time to time, one tribe raided the other one and caused great damage and destruction.
And this is how our story starts, in the middle of one of these raids...

Read more: The Two Tribes and the Talking Stick

Once upon a time there was a rather spoilt princess. Dora was rude to everyone, but only because she didn’t understand how to be friendly. People would do exactly what she wanted just because she was a princess, and she had a very bad temper. She stayed in her palace surrounded by servants doing what she pleased....

Read more: Dora and the Golden Ship

We’ve talked before about the wonderful place where we rest between our physical lives on earth and which we call Heavens garden. Oh it’s such an amazing place…. where all sorts of different experiences can be enjoyed that are just not possible while we are in our rather heavy physical bodies on earth.

Can you imagine what it would be like to think yourself into all sorts of different experiences – what it may be like to be a tree, or an elephant or a whale! To go to a desert, or the bottom of the sea! ...

Read more: Earth Mission

There was once an Emperor from China who had no children and who wanted to choose someone wise to rule after him. So he invited hundreds of children from across the kingdom to come to the palace where they were surprised to hear the Emperor declare that he was going to choose one of them to be his heir.

He gave them all a seed and said they were to go home to their villages, plant the seed in a pot and tend it for a year. When they returned, the Emperor would judge their efforts and choose his successor...

Read more: The Emperor and the Flower seed

Every afternoon, as they were coming home from school, the children used to go and play in the Hampshire Giant's garden.

     It was such a lovely garden, with soft green grass. Here and there over the grass stood beautiful flowers like stars, and there were peach and pear and apple trees that in the spring-time broke out into delicate blossoms of pink and pearl, and in the autumn bore rich fruit. The birds sat on the trees and sang so sweetly that the children used to stop their games in order to listen to them. 'How happy we are here!' they cried to each other.

     One day the Hampshire Giant came back...

Read more: The Hampshire Giant

It was just an ordinary day with the Saleem family – just an ordinary day.

Grandma was sitting quietly by the fire- her filmy eyes gazing at the flames which she carefully tended. Her movements were painful and slow but she sat patiently, lost in her dreams and memories.

Her own daughter, Sarah, was now mother to three children of her own and she busied herself with her work. Times were really hard and even though she worked from morning till night washing, sewing and making clothes, there never seemed enough money to feed the family as she would like. At times she would sigh – this wasn’t how she had dreamed her life would be. All she’d wanted was to have a precious family of her own that she could love and be proud of – but now life just seemed to be one problem after another.

Read more: Not such an ordinary day

(Intro: from first story)
This is the third in the series of stories about Max and Ollie where in episode one they were looking after a tree in primary school. Max was a bit of a laugh, always finding something funny, especially at the back of his class in school. He was always in trouble for making everyone giggle, and so people were a little surprised when he made friends with Ollie, who was much quieter – a little dreamy, and not good at paying attention to the teacher. I suppose Ollie and Max were friends because they were both in trouble a lot, even thought it was for different reasons. And when he was paying attention Ollie did have a good sense of humour…the teacher gave them part of her allotment as they were so interested in the tree.

When Ollie and Max went up to the first year of secondary school, they still looked after the allotment. Max would come and help with the heavy digging as he was growing taller than Ollie and played a lot of football so he was very fit. Ollie liked to plan everything and do the planting with the help of their allotment neighbour Old Mary and her many cups of tea!

Read more: The Garden City Boys - Max and Ollie 3: Butterfly Dancing!