Welcome to the first edition of Vesta Hearth And Home Magazine.

During this article I’m going to share a little more about what we intend to bring to this little space of the internet.  Despite being called a magazine, right now, we are online only. This enables us to share our message far and wide and run on a budget of exactly zero.  There’s no funding here.  Just passion.

Number one we are a community. This isn’t simply about me and my voice, its about all of us.  Its about how we can feel inspired and who are the inspirational people, businesses, artists, buildings, spaces. Whilst I, Bryony will edit, this is a community space, and I am actively looking for contributors. Writers, poets, story tellers, musicians, artists, hope holders, faith keepers.. Ones that keep love in their heart as their compass.

 I refuse to talk about recycling.

We will talk about sustainability and environmental issues, but I refuse to talk about recycling. This is a space of optimism and radical change. Extreme hope holding and faith keeping.  This place is for people who are sick of the systems and patriarchal space where thriving is almost an impossibility.

This is a space that honours the person and the land and nature and children and creativity and bold new ideas or returning to an old way. It’s for the pagans, the spiritualists, the wild folk, the freedom fighters, the wisdom keepers. The dancers, the makers. The doers. The Lovers.  Those who don’t fit, those who crafted spaces where they do fit. Its for you.

Vesta The Roman Goddess of Hearth and Home

Vesta is our name sake and has become the roman goddess by which I move, the muse of all my endeavours.

Vesta is the fire in my belly, she is the fire in all our belly’s. Vesta is the spark and the creativity. She is the fierce and loving protector of our homes and our hearths.

 When I chose Vesta as our name sake, I ran my finger along a list of goddesses, until I selected one that sounded right, goddess of hearth and home. Perfect for our sister company Vesta Sustainable living which sells and makes reusable wipes and other sustainable homeware products.

 Overtime I came to discover that she’s so much more than the Vestal virgin who keeps house. The term virgin for one needs to be debunked. Virgin used to mean that a woman was not attached to a man.  There is also theory that the word virgin came from latin Vir (man) and gyne (woman), suggesting some androgenous edge, man/woman.  History (not herstory) has interpreted virgin to take on a purity ideology which became prevalent once religion arrived. The truth is that Vesta and her vestal virgins had privilege, power and status.  They were priestesses. They were independent of men, husbands and motherhood. I like to think of them as the original party girls. They held the power, they took care of the flame that lit the entire city.. from which every other flame came from.  They were powerful. There was nothing without the fire and the light. No money to be made, no battle to be won, no food to be cooked.

 They did not have to share their energy, time, or power with a man.  I like to imagine them roaming the city. Veiled and anonymous, secretive, and protected. I like to imagine them eating beautiful food that would have been bestowed upon them by the bakers. Dressed in the finest silks and linen.

 Vesta seems to cultivate the awe of both home and the spark of life. Home may be where the hearth lies. I have associated her role to protect the home as the protection of our planet too. 

 Its recognising our internal flame, with the flame of the fireplace and the flame that exists within all life. The lick of the sun that sustains us.  The fire is then hope the catalyst for something new. Sometimes the raging inferno that burns old systems to the ground.  A fire is hope and faith. A flame is the difference between life and death.

 What if Vesta and the Vestal Virgins were not just keeping a physical fire alive, but the stories, the hopes and dreams of the future too.  There are cultures all over the world that have people devoted to keeping hope alive.  During lock down I became aware of a key role within native American tribes of faith holding. It came naturally to me the ability to hold the line. To become entirely focussed on positive outcomes. To drown out the sound of negativity. To hold the fear off. To operate from hope and faith.

 I believe the way to achieve what we want and what this earth needs to deliriously and delusionaly go after what we want. Tell ourselves a story of what could be. Then create it. Then share it.

When I was setting up Vesta Sustainable Living I was spurred on by the people who had walked impressively before me. The likes of Iris Hantverk, Luminary bakery, Choose love. Surfers Against Sewage.  I know great things can be achieved.  I know that we can have what we want, the lifestyles we want and we can be of service to the world too. That our causes can be more than just capitalism.  Once we get off the fear train and step into faith.

 I started to meet people who wanted different things too and were doing something great and I wanted to share them to the wider world in the hopes that the wider audience would find both inspiration and hope.

So here we are… here is Vesta Hearth and Home. Educator. Inspiration. Faith keeper. Keeper of the flame. Hope holder. Changer of culture..

© Bryony Redgrave