Imbolc Blessings

I celebrated Imbolc with a number of walks by streams and to nearby wishing wells. It was lovely to enjoy the clear blue skies and crystal light of the sun as it lit the newly budding branches. I was struck by birdsong and water flowing.By green shoots and ice on frozen puddles. By muddy paths and the freshness of the air. This time of year always holds special meaning for me. I love the chrisp air and the sense of the earth awakening after a long winter sleep. This year I am also appreciating the return of my sight. I have had a reoccurence of a chronic eye condition which has left me feeling very scared and vulnerable....I prayed to Brigid for healing and lit candles in her memory as well as asking for healing at the wells. Luckily my prayers were answered lst Friday the day after Imbolc when the grey over my right eye started to clear again. I do not know when this greyness will strike and as I am reliant on my right eye having lost my left eye central vision to PIC a rare eye condition I am thankful for the sight I have. Seeing clearly is a most precious gift and one I cannot take for granted...this is a time for rest and healing.

This time of year is a time to wake up and start to appreciate the outdoors again...to hear the faint music of spring awakening in the land and experience the final frosts and sharp cold of winter. There is hope in the darkness as the evenings gradually grow longer and the sun grows in strength. We welcome Brigid to our home and hearth to bring in healing, inspiration, warmth and fresh ideas. We sow the seeds now for the year to come and decide what dreams of winter we would like to awaken and nurture into life.

I am aware of the need for healing on this earth and the need to use my healing gifts more consciously in my daily life. As space is cleared in my home ....spring cleaning....I am open to new fresh ideas and to welcoming Brigid's gifts of healing and inspiration into my home.

Blessed Be xxx

The Red Shoes

Talking of Time and 'The Red Shoes'

I want to take time....time to pause and reflect, time to write and dream and create......there isn't enough time...I need time off.... I need time out....haven't the time......

It seems that I am often craving time to stretch my spiritual and creative self and to live more in tune with my energies rather than be thrust on the conveyor belt that insists I go to work...not that I do not like my work...I am fortunate to have a job whereby I feel I can make a difference and support others to on their personal path. It involves helping to heal the wounds caused by abuse: physical, emotional, mental and financial...the wounds caused by cycles of control, fear, obligation, guilt which go back through generations.The job could be just a job, but for me it is more of a vocational choice and an area that has involved much healing work and personal development in my own life in order that I can feel rooted enough and strong enough to be present for others.

Nevertheless I am at a crossroads in terms of time....time to nurture myself, to see friends, to fulfil creative dreams and personal projects.I wonder how this can be achieved and I often believe that it can be a luxury to even have time when there is so much suffering in the world. I know that much of the work is being done in an every day sense of being in the moment, fully present and aware, of dealing with one thing at a time, of finding 'slow time' as Gill Edwards puts it in 'Life is a Gift'.I also find Reiki healing a salve, as self healing and channeling Reiki energy to heal others seems to slow time and allow me to focus on the present moment as it is in my body. I feel more attuned to energy around me and to my own sense of balance and wholeness. Sending light and healing to where the body knows it is needed seems so simple now as I now trust my body to know what it needs and listen to its voice. This process of trusting the body has for me been a long healing process as given my own history I was body shy for a long time and had not been raised in a family where touch was readily and affectionately given. It was through doing Reiki 1 that I learnt this trust in the healing power of touch and started to discover just how much I could heal in myself just by gong through the key hand positions on the chakras or energy centres.The discovery of how peaceful and grounded Reiki made me feel led me to continue on the Reiki path to Reiki 2 ...healing others...and now to Reiki 3 or Reiki Master/teacher Level.

My process over the past six years since discovering Reiki has led to my discovering Spiritual Healing which I studied with NFSH..the BNational Federation of Spiritual Healers. This involves working in the auric field away from the body and experiencing more subtle energies and powerful ones! This is very useful when touch is unwanted or invasive.It is another way of channeling light energy.

I work with women in women's self development groups in this way ...slowing down the present moment with its anxieties and preoccupations and using meditation and relaxation to focus attention upon the here and now; letting go of the stress and strain held within the body.I also use poetry, games, art, role play and discussion about self esteem and confidence to allow the body the opportunity and time to express what is held within on an unconscious level.I extend the work from indoors to outdoors and use nature and the landscape of Cornwall as a source of energy and healing.This enables me to blend my own interests with my work so that I feel more fulfiiled and happy.

So back to time....it seems I am still here at this crossroads. In my work I have been bringing different skills into practise and realising the potential of healing my own wounds to be able to be there for others. It is an on going process and challenges always arise forcing you back to source...back to centre.

If we do not take time out of our busy schedules and hectic lives to pause and reflect, we carry on in ever decreasing circles like the girl in the story of 'The Red Shoes' by Hans Christian Anderson,unable to stop herself dancing so the dancing becomes all there is and her own soul is abandoned to the obsessive rhythm of the dance.Eventually, she begs for the shoes to be cut off along with her feet as this is the only answer for her dance to stop{although the shoes continue dancing off into the hoirzon looking for another soul/sole to steal}.This is what can happen to us if we don't listen to the wisdom of our bodies and slow down....I see nervous exhaustion and pain every day; caused by situations where someone or thing else has held control and women have been forced to just survive in a situation where there was no opportunity to stop the dance until the basic instinct to escape and live kicked in.

The story of 'The Red Shoes' can be read on a number of levels: red being the colour of passion,lust and the fact the story in its original form by Hans Christian Anderson has a very moral framework with the girl's soul being stolen by the devil and her being 'taught a lesson' as it were for her desire for the shoes which were a symbol of her free will and pride. This story can also be applied to all sorts of obsessive compulsions and addictions..the need for a sharp and painful intervention in order for the mad dance to end...the girl is left with wooden stumps and feet carved by an 'executioner'... the one who cut off her shoes in an act of pity.She returns to the fold of the church.....typical of a Chriatian morality...she is now meek and humble....saved by God's mercy.

In many ways this is a story about possession the mad, obsessive energy that accompanies it so that the will of the human is subjugated to the energy of the thing itself whether it be a drug, a drink, religion, work....whatever....it does not matter what the compulsive activity is it is just that the body suffers to the point of exhaustion and potential breakdown if it carries on unchecked by maybe an inner consciousness or awareness of the dangers it holds.

This time of the year is a time to draw inward, reflect and to let go of what is no longer needed, as well as dream into being the next part of the journey.The need to be able to stop the dizzy dance of external demands and come back to source energy, to centre is vital to nourish the soul and heal the body of any unwanted energies. Taking time out is not easy when there are mouths to feed, jobs to be done, deadlines to be met....but as the evenings draw ever closer inward and the stars appear in the indigo sky or as the dawn light wakes us, try to pause..try to take 'slow time'.....

Blessed Be x

Figgy Dowdy's Well

On the slopes of Carn Marth on the ouskirts of Redruth towards Lanner lies Figgy Dowdy's Well. The well is reached via the lane past Wheal Amelia mine to Carn Marth quarry and can be accessed through a gap in the hedge and small flight of granite steps.This was originally a spring which was the main supply of drinking water for the surrounding area but was later enclosed by a well structure. It is also known as Margery Daw's well.Margery Daw is thought to be an early Cornish saint and Figgy Dowdy may hark back to an early fertility goddess.Today the well is unfortunately locked in with a barred gate so it is difficult to sample the water but it is obviously still in use as clouties adorn the surrounding tree and the bars. This is a very hidden and peaceful well with obvious links to a female deity. Girls still baptize their dolls here on a Good Friday so there is an association with healing too.

The views from Carn Marth are particularly impressive with a 360 degree panorama from the summit towards the lunar landscape of China Clay and St Agnes Beacon. Carrick Roads and Falmouth are to the south with the imposing sister carn of Carn Brea to the North west. The quarry pool is extremely serene and exudes a special quality of light and magic on a clear, still day with the sunshine glittering on the surface. It's a great spot for reflection and the walker can enjoy a range of paths from the top towards the mining villages of St Day and Carharrack, as well as Gwennap Pit.

It is a very peaceful and healing place where one can get a sense of perspective and wonder with Cornwall spread out before you on all sides. it was from this spot that I enjoyed the Eclipse as the view is so stunning. As you can see on my particular walk there were just a few ponies munching grass enjoying some Autumnal afternoon sun.

Hazel Moon

The Hazel - August 5 -Sept 1st

'Wakening from the dreaming forest there, the hazel-sprig
sang under my tongue, its drifting fragrance
climbed up through my conscious mind
as if suddenly the roots I had left behind
cried out to me, the land I had lost with my childhood -
and I stopped, wounded by the wandering scent.'
- Pablo Neruda

The air surrounding hazel trees is said to be magically charged
with the quicksilver energy of exhilaration and inspiration.


'August 5 - September 1: The Hazel Moon was known to the Celts as Coll, which translates to "the life force inside you". This is the time of year when Hazelnuts are appearing on the trees, and are an early part of the harvest. Hazelnuts are also associated with wisdom and protection. Hazel is often associated in Celtic lore with sacred wells and magical springs containing the salmon of knowledge. This is a good month to do workings related to wisdom and knowledge, dowsing and divination, and dream journeys. If you're a creative type, such as an artist, writer, or musician, this is a good month to get your muse back, and find inspiration for your talents. Even if you normally don't do so, write a poem or song this month.'
•Magical History & Associations: The bird associated with this month is the crane, the color is brown, and the gemstone is band-red agate. The Hazel, a masculine herb, is associated with the element of air, the planet of Mercury, the day of Wednesday, and is sacred to Mercury, Thor, Artemis, Fionn, Diana and Lazdona (the Lithuanian Hazelnut Tree Goddess).


Hazel wood is one of the nine traditional firewoods that is part of the Belfire that the Druid’s burned at Beltane – it was added to the fire to gain wisdom. In fact, in ancient times the Hazel was known as The Tree of Wisdom. It is often associated with sacred springs and wells and salmon. Celtic legend tell of a grove of Hazel trees below which was a well, a pool, where salmon swam. These trees contained all knowledge, and their fruit contained that knowledge and wisdom in a nutshell. As the hazelnuts ripened, they would fall into the well where they were eaten by the salmon. With each nut eaten, the salmon would gain another spot. In order to gain the wisdom of the Hazel, the Druids caught and prepared the salmon. But Fionn, the young man stirring the pot in which the salmon were cooking, accidentally burned his thumb with the boiling stew. By reflex, he put his thumb into his mouth and thus ingested the essence of the sacred feast; he instantly gained the wisdom of the universe

.•Magickal usage: The Hazel has applications in magick done for manifestation, spirit contact, protection, prosperity, wisdom, divination-dowsing, dreams, wisdom-knowledge, marriage, reconciliation, fertility., intelligence, inspiration, and wrath. Hazel is a good herb to use to do magick associated with asking for wisdom and poetic inspiration since the Hazel is known as the Tree of Immortal Wisdom. In England, all the knowledge of the arts and sciences was thought to be bound to the eating of Hazel nuts. Hazel also has protective uses as anti-lightning charms. A sprig of Hazel or a talisman of two Hazel twigs tied together with red or gold thread to make a solar cross can be carried as a protective good luck charm. The mistletoe that grows on hazel protects against bewitching. A cap of Hazel leaves and twigs ensures good luck and safety at sea, and protects against shipwrecks. In England, the Hazelnut is a symbol of fertility – a bag of nuts bestowed upon a bride will ensure a fruitful marriage. The Hazel is a tree that is sacred to the fey Folk. A wand of hazel can be used to call the Fey. If you sleep under a Hazel bush you will have vivid dreams. Hazel can be used for all types of divination and dowsing. Until the seventeenth century, a forked Hazel stick was used to divine the guilt of persons in cases of murder and theft. Druids often made wands from Hazel wood, and used the wands for finding ley lines. Hazel twigs or a forked branch can be used to divine for water or to find buried treasure. The wood of the Hazel can help to divine the pure source of poetry and wisdom.

Hazelnuts can be used for love divination. Assign the name of your passion to a nut and throw it in the fire while saying:
”A Hazelnut I throw in the flame,
to this nut I give my sweetheart’s name,
If blazes the nut, so may thy passion grow,
For twas my nut that did so brightly glow.”

If the nut burns brightly you then will know that your love will burn equally as brightly. Hazels are often found at the border between the worlds where magickal things happen, and therefore Hazel wood is excellent to use to make all-purpose wands. Any Hazel twigs, wood or nuts should be gathered after sundown on Samhain since it will be at the peak of its magickal energy. Hazel must not be cut with a knife, but with a flint.

withttp://dutchie.org/h

THE CELTIC TREE ORACLE

As well as poetic skill, this Ogham card represents intuition, the power of divination leading straight to the source. Hazel twigs have traditionally always been used for divining because of their pliancy and affinity with water.

So the Hazel embodies many talents: Poetry, divination and the powers of mediation. Through the guidance of this card, these talents can also be a channel for creative energies, especially that which allows you to inspire or increase these capacities among others, through your work, interests and pursuits. The Hazel, in fact, allows you to be a catalyst of transformer, working though the promptings of intuition to bring ideas to the surface.
by Liz and Colin Murray


LESSON OF Hazel
from The Wisdom of Trees by Jane Gifford

The Hazel encourages us to seek out information and inspiration in all things and emphasizes the value of the enquiring mind and of learning of all kinds. Just as the hazel concentrates all its goodness and its continued existence in the kernel of its fruit, so we attain wisdom by reducing knowledge down to its purest form and passing it on down the ages. Through meditating on the essence of wisdom, we gain creative inspiration. Like the limbs of the hazel, we must remain pliant in our approach to learning. Concentrated thought in an open mind can, like the hazel, become a connection with the divine source of all things. The hazel teaches us the noble arts of learning, teaching, communication, and healing.


'Ihonor the energy of hazel, the tree of wisdom.

I will heed my own inner intuitions, and will be wise and informed in my choices.'

So mote it be.thegoddesstree.com

Landscape and Memory

It has been three months since I last posted on the blog and Lammas season is upon us with its mellow fruitfulness. This is the time to celebrate the harvest of the first fruits and to give thanks for the blessings we have harvested personally since Summer Solstice. Now is a mellower time of year...the evenings are already starting to draw in, but we can still enjoy the summer while it is with us and make the most of the light for gathering with others outdoors or simply appreciating the blessings Mother Earth has given us.

Over the past two weekends I have enjoyed some lovely walks and really been aware of the abundance of purple and golden colour in the Cornish landscape from heather and blackberry to gorse and 'whispering jacks'. The sky when not full of cloud or rain has a brittle blue hue.Last weekend I enjoyed blackberrying on the cliffs between Chapel Porth and Porthtowan,as well as walking along the shoreline at lowtide and revisiting a pool from childhood where I had learnt to swim which nestles in the wake of a yawning cave on Porthtowan beach.
For me a walk is an opportunity to enter slow time:to be transported by landscape and elements into a space rich in inspiration and imaginative potential.I enjoy walking alone as for me the senses are heightened and it is possible to be more in the moment.The stretch of cliff from St Agnes to Porthtowan and beyond is stunning at this time of year; a patchwork quilt of purple. yellow and orange. The bracken is starting to turn copper and one is lulled into contentment by the lazy buzz of bees and song of larks. The landscape on these cliffs is a scarred honeycomb of mine workings, shafts and proud haunting engine houses staring out on an undulating terraine of iron oxide, quartz and copper stone.Heather covers the ugliness of Nineteeth century industrialism with its canopy and the cliffs slope steeply into the ocean beckoning in duck egg blue beyond. These North cliffs are expansive and invite the mind to stretch beyond mundane worries and concerns to a wider perspective. For me this landscape touches me with its vastness..the cliffs paw the shoreline clumsily and adits and caves lurk ominously around every bend. The sand is swept daily by tides and it is easy to get cut off. Nevertheless here is liminal space, my footprints shadow those of gulls on the shoreline and the odd shell and scraggy scalp of brown shiny thong weed mark the places where the tide nudges higher.
Being born and raised in this part of Cornwall means that every walk in this area is a walk into my childhood and teenage years and that I can trace my own shadows lurking here along this tide line. It is as if as I follow the golden thread of silted sand I am also picking my way back into my own past and sniffing out a memory lying beneath the cliffs.
The memory for me on Saturday was jolted into being by the corner of a second world war cement wall and the echoing of laughter and a hollow splash ...I followed the trail of awoken sense and clambered up barnacled rocks to look down into a pool of shady petrol blue half hidden in the cliffs. Here was the swimming pool of my early childhood: my minds eye flashed bathing caps and black full piece swim suits, a child's blue duck rubber ring, my grandpa in his wet shiny trunks holding me up in
strong tanned arms so I could float and learn to swim...barnacles sizzled, salt water stung, my skin tingled with sunshine and heat and was immersed in cool, lapping water
Here was that moment Wordsworth calls a 'flash upon the inward eye'.....slow time....the wonder that comes upon us when we are transported in a moment to another moment and another.......so we can hold infinity in an hour.

Lamma blessings xx

Beltane, Holy Wells and Bluebells

Well,well well....... it's that wonderful time of year again when the hedgerows are a feast of greenery and the woods and meadows shimmer with a sea of hazy mauve. The last few weeks leading up to Beltane have been really hot and sunny ironically the minute Beltane was upon us all that changed and we were blessed with wind and rain. My vegetables are flourishing as a result in my back patio which I have had fenced for shelter and I am growing as much as I can in pots and green recyclable potatoe bags which cost £1 each and are a gift, as not only are they much lighter than pots but they are really more versatile and hold a lot of soil.i have potaotes, runner beans, lettuce, rocket, tomatoe plants, strawberries,chard and herbs all starting to really shoot away.

I have been fortunate to have some much needed time off work to relax and unwind and have spent my time quite happily walking the parts of the Cornish coast I haven't visited for a while and reaquainting myself with some magicl sites like the Holy Well at St Just in Roseland church. This time of year is definitely my favourite as it heralds a flourish of growth and activity with the evenings drawing out and a sense of long summer days waiting on that orange red horizon. Sacred sites seem particularly potent and lush with flowers adding a faery quality and otherworldliness that transports one from one's daily grind to the timeless tranquility and restorative power of another plane.

I was partcularly stuck by this at the little creek near St Just in Rosleand church with its stillness and secluded peace. It maybe the most attractive and visited churchyard in Cornwall due to its tranquil and slightly exotic air. It is situated opposite Mylor and the Carrick Roads and the church is right at the bottom of a steep valley hill nestled in trees beside the gently lapping waves of the creek. The Holy Well is situated just outside the churchyard, through the lych gate and along a little path which leads into a mossy, ferny dell. The well water is clear and the spot safely shaded from view so that one is touched deeply by the sound of water and the faery magic of the place.The Goddess defintely dwells here in this moist and fertile shade

It seems to me that Holy Wells have a liminal quality where the worlds of nature and spirit touch and unite. One looks into the mirroring depths of the well water and is reflected. One dips one's fingers and cups one's palms in an act of healing and baptism. Wells are a place of purification and a way of touching an age old magic and ritual. They are places of healing and pre-date any surrounding buildings. Water is our source of life, vitality and renewel.

It seems fitting to me that this well was the beginning of a long 7 mile walk and that I visited two churches that of St Just and St Mawes, as well as St Mawes Castle,isolated beaches, tide carved creeks and flourishing paths full of campion, wild garlic, Herb Robert, cow parsely and of course the bowing heads of bluebells. The woodland at Bosworgas was a faery dell with the stream running through to the creek full of dappled shade and what looked like ancient earth works. This was a forgotten part of the estuary and I walked peacefully without seeing a soul apart from rabbits playing and a fox who whisked behind me and romped joyfully through the depths. The walk finally took me back inland and out to the National Trust field path that lends stunning almost ariel view of the Carrick Roads.The sun shone brightly and the skies were a china blue with the sails of yachts scudding down river to open sea.

I finished back at the church where the rooks continued cawing and nestbuilding making black fans in the skies to refect those of the sails at sea.

This place definitely speaks to the heart and soul. It is a wonderful feeling to take a day's pilgrimage out of the toxic noise of everyday. The King Harry Ferry will do just this..transport you to another time and space....give you time to pause in slow time. I couldn't believe it when I realised that this is only half an hour from my front door and that I had gone a distance of only 30 miles as a round trip taking in Portscatho Harbour and village too.

Beltane is definitely a time to celebrate Nature's fertility and the life force filling every shoot and tree.The Goddess is dancing and laughing rejoicing in all this beauty and growth. We can find her in the meadows and the fields, the woods and streams. The Holy Wells resonate with that same sap that life energy and it for us to drink in the beauty and celebrate it with song, dance, pilgrimage and healing. 'Sumer is icumen in' the obby oss dances and the Maypole reminds us of that regenerative, potent magical wand of fertility and echoes the blossoming trees. The Goddess Flora is abroad and everywhere there is a reason to celebrate the joy of being. At this potent time in the Wheel contemplate what areas in your life have grown from the seeds of hope you planted and consider whether these are still the areas you wish to grow in. If they are then continue to nurture and water these; if not then there is still time to sow new seeds or weed out anything unwanted. take a walk into Nature, make a fire for Beltane and celebrate the strenghtening light, enjoy the fertility that will come to a climax in 8 weeks at Midsummer Solstice.

Blessed Be xxxxx