More thoughts for the day

'Imagination is more important than knowledge' Albert Einstein

Today feels very still; the rain drips slowly from the gutter and down the pipes into the small road to the quay. The boats are drawn up high in the wake of last week's waves and the setting up of the harbour lights. The sea is a mossy green and the sky snow grey.The sand in the small harbour is swathed in coils of leathery brown weed intertwined with lashings of rope. Last night, the moon appeared through a halo of gauze..slightly out of focus. I came home to find a small live mouse with beady bright brown eyes sitting on my sofa; a small, soft mouse with trembling whiskers. My cat sat in the window unphased by this new arrival; her new friend I assumed. I was touched at this strange pairing as if she had brought in the mouse for company out of the cold and there it sat on the sofa while she sat in the window. I was oddly proud of her for not killing it or playing with it unnecessarily causing it more fear. I scooped up the wee thing in a tee towel and took it out into the hedge where it scuttled into a spiderwebbed hole soft and dry from damp. I live here in Mousehole and here were mouse and cat waiting for me to come home.I love my cat she is always here for me waiting and she is so gentle and aware. She even comes for walks along the harbour and the beach.There was a real sense of strange alliance in that pairing of predator and prey....a moment of being where they shared the space oddly together.

I felt so touched by that sight; it is difficult to explain why, but it was such a small little mouse; so vulnerable yet so alive and brave.I guess I felt it had been enjoying the warm too. I have had a real intense feeling of the importance of hearth and home; warmth, comfort and the fire as a symbol of all that. The goddess Hestia was Greek goddess of hearth and home; home is not just an exterior shell where we keep possessions and which we own; it's a feeling deep inside; a warmth within; a place where we feel we belong in our own skin. It is the soul hoe where the flame of our being is kept alive and nurtured by positive, loving and inspirational moments. It is our sense of groundedness; we need to grow strong roots and light our own inner fire when times are hard and it is cold and forbidding our of doors. I am aware that now with the closing in of the days and the longer nights I keep my fire burning. Lighting that fire is not always easy; the sticks are damp from sea salt, I need to build it gradually not smother it too fast by piling on big logs or large coals. It needs to be slowly and gradually nurtured into life and warmth and is easily quenched. I have to persevere and have patience while the whisps of grey eddy and unfurl into flames. Maybe an hour later I am rewarded for my efforts with a steady glow of flames and then it is just a matter of keeping that fire stocked with coal and logs. I brush the hearth in the morning of cinders and clear the grate, letting in the air again so that tomorrow's fire has a good base from which to grow...simple stuff really, the stuff of every day but how important is that fire at the centre; it has been there from the beginning; it is the flame of inspiration, community, love, healing and light.It is comfort and food; self nurturing warmth. We need to remember the need to keep that flame alive in our hearts and share that hearth with others so that they too can feel its glow.

Prayer to Hestia

Goddess of the hearth, of home life and family, sister of Demeter.
Grant that my household shall always be a home -- a nurturing, safe, and creative environment for me; that my family and friends shall share this domestic part of me; and that the inner flame of life shall burn within my home and my soul.

Allow that my gardens will be nourished and prosperous, and that my endeavours at home be successful and fulfilling.


Hestia was Greek Goddess of the Hearth and the first born of Chronus and Rhea. She was sister of Demeter and was a virgin goddess. In Rome she is known as Vesta and was keeper of the sacred hearth fire in each home and in the temple where she was worshipped by the Vestal virgins.


Blessed Bexxx