Friday 23rd January 2026 – gather 6.45 to commence on the stroke of 7pm
Redcross Way, The Borough, Southwark, London SE1
The 260th Cross Bones Vigil to honour the Outcast, dead and alive; to renew the shrine; and to reclaim the Secret History as revealed by The Goose to John Crow. At 7pm on the 23rd of every single month since 23rd June 2004, friends have gathered at the gates of Cross Bones Graveyard. On Thursday 23rd January, Mistress Jin Jen will be doing the honours.
The Vigils are also held “on the Astral” with friends joining in from around the world. The online Vigil is hosted by Mistress Bee in the Zoom studio, bringing us in to play our parts. If you can’t be there in the flesh at the gates in Redcross Way, you can join the Zoom Meeting here: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85624178240
Meeting ID: 856 2417 8240 Passcode: 377295
Meeting ID: 856 2417 8240 Passcode: 377295
To help us all to fully participate, and commune on The Astral, at the gates or on Zoom, here’s the ‘Order of Service’ for the Vigil
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1. Opening (on the stroke of 7pm)
Light a candle, incense. Ring seven chimes. Say:
Light a candle, incense. Ring seven chimes. Say:
‘Spirits of The Dead, Spirits of the Living, Kindred. Welcome!’
As you say these words, be aware that you are connected with all Spirits, incarnate and disincarnate, and with the transforming agency of The Goose, in an act of mutual healing taking place within a single, undivided consciousness. Breathe deep, relax and connect…
Remember the Secret History and Vision… Crossbones is a pauper’s graveyard and the final resting place for the Winchester Geese, sex workers who worked in brothels owned and licensed by the Bishop of Winchester in Southwark’s ‘Liberty of the Clink’. Many skeletons were dug up here during work on the Jubilee Line Extension (1992-96).
On 23rd November 1996 John Constable had a vision in which The Goose led John Crow to the site of the Crossbones Graveyard. Here she revealed The Southwark Mysteries, which in turn gave rise to The Halloween of Cross Bones and to these Vigils, held on the 23rd of every month since 23rd June 2004. Thanks to our collective magical and activist works over the past 23 years, this once despised, desolate site has become a holy place for pilgrims from all over the world – a shrine and a garden of remembrance ‘for the Outcast, dead and alive’.
2. Hold the candle for one minute’s silence, as you imagine lighting the open pathways for all beings to make their individual journeys in Time and Eternity. Remember the Outcast Dead of Crossbones Graveyard, and all who are shut out, along with your own ancestors and loved ones.
For this act of remembrance, it helps to cultivate a state of “shining emptiness”, in which all sounds, sights and other sense impressions can arise and vanish, with nothing for anything to attach to.
3. “Binding and loosing”. Imagine tying a ribbon to Crossbones Gates. Invest the ribbon with all that you would wish for yourself, and as you tie it, release that blessing for others, saying five times:
“Here lay your hearts, your flowers,
Your Book of Hours,
Your fingers, your thumbs,
Your “Miss You Mums”.
Here hang your hopes, your dreams,
Your Might Have Beens,
Your locks, your keys,
Your Mysteries.”
When we’re together in the Vigils, one speaks and all echo the words in our own time. We do this on the livestream, our whispering voices evoking our collective emanation.
4. Bardic offerings.
The January Vigil marks the Portal to Imbolc, when we collectively perform the triadic poem for Bridie (or Brigid) from ‘Spark In The Dark’ (John Constable) – each line repeated (call and response):
The January Vigil marks the Portal to Imbolc, when we collectively perform the triadic poem for Bridie (or Brigid) from ‘Spark In The Dark’ (John Constable) – each line repeated (call and response):
“… Bridie I am here
with my goose-feather quill
To trace the lucent songs of the Ancients.
with my goose-feather quill
To trace the lucent songs of the Ancients.
Bridie I am here
with the chalice and snake
To receive and transmit your healing benediction.
with the chalice and snake
To receive and transmit your healing benediction.
Bridie I am here
with the bellows and tongs
To tend your sacred fire of transformation.”
with the bellows and tongs
To tend your sacred fire of transformation.”
If you wish, you can perform a poem or song from ‘The Southwark Mysteries’, or present your own Imbolc offering to The Goose and her Outcast Dead.
Since 2016, at this Vigil we elevate David Bowie as our Angel of the Outcast. One of the attendees may like to sing a Bowie song in tribute, or even to lead a rousing rendition of ‘Starman’!
5. Closing.
Close the ceremony with a libation of gin. Say (call and response, each line repeated, each stanza then repeated):
Close the ceremony with a libation of gin. Say (call and response, each line repeated, each stanza then repeated):
“Life!
Health!
Happiness!
Open Pathways!
Health!
Happiness!
Open Pathways!
Health in the Body.
Peace In the Spirit.
Love In The Heart.
Peace In the Spirit.
Love In The Heart.
It is this that we wish,
for ourselves,
for our friends and family,
for all our Brothers and Sisters,
for The Goose and The Crow,
and for all Humanity.”
for ourselves,
for our friends and family,
for all our Brothers and Sisters,
for The Goose and The Crow,
and for all Humanity.”
then:
“Goose may you never be hungry!
Goose may you never be thirsty!
Goose may your Spirit fly free!’
Goose may you never be thirsty!
Goose may your Spirit fly free!’
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