The turning of the wheel, from 2017 to 2018...
As we approach the end of 2017 I have been reflecting on the year and all that's been done. It's certainly been a year of doing.
My intention for 2017 was to be in service, just I didn't know when to stop, so I've worked a lot. I've written a manuscript and edited another one. I've attuned 24 students to Reiki Level One and 21 students to Reiki Level Two. I've run two yoga & wellbeing retreats in Herm, one in Glastonbury and another in Goa. I travelled to Glastonbury an additional three times on pilgrimage, the White Spring and Chalice Wells calling me!
We've been to Brighton a few times where I've nourished my soul with yoga training at the Brighton Buddhist centre and in those delightful crystals shops. We went to London twice once to finally attend a training course with the inspiring Uma Dinsmore-Tuli and another to catch up with Uni friends for the first time together in 14 years!.
We managed Sark twice, once with friends and another for the Sark Folk Festival where I taught a few classes and celebrated my birthday with some fab music and wine. We went to Herm too many times to remember (but one can never go there too many times either!) and of course India, we saw the Taj Mahal and boldly (or madly) took the children on the train. We also managed two trips to France on holiday though!
I set myself up as a self-employed company secretary so I work solely for myself now, something I've wanted to do since 2016 but it took a while for all the stars to align. I also got myself involved in writing scripts for a new start-up visualisation App in the US so I can help to spread the benefits of visualisation far and wide. Oh I started learning Vedic chanting and I've recorded quite a few free yoga classes too. All this while starting the year with a 3 year old and a 2.5 month year old.
Was I mad?
What was I thinking?
It's perhaps no surprise that I've struggled through depletion for much of the year, a combination of post-natal depletion, breast-feeding depletion, sleep-deprivation depletion and also the depletion that accompanies doing too much, never knowing when to stop, and burning the candle at both ends.
That's not to say that it hasn't been joyous. There have been moments full of joy and light and love, and I thoroughly enjoyed all that I've done. But there have also been moments of despair, of being too tired and exhausted and knowing that I wasn't being the best version of myself.
I justify it by saying that I'm driven, but I know that that is just the ego talking. The ego wanting to do and achieve more. Fully aligned with the higher self, there is greater flow, less effort involved and I've become increasingly curious to live more like this.
When I went deaf in my right ear for five whole weeks following our return from India, I knew that now, finally, I needed to listen!
It's time to slow down. I'm loathed to use the phrase "doing less and being more", because its such a cliche and because there have been many moments of being within the doing. But I wonder if there's some sense in this - do less, be more, allow greater space for grace and the light to enter in.
I know I'm not alone. Many of us are waking up to recognise, finally, that we are trying to do too much. The signs are there. The moon is shining a light on things. We need to get out of our own way. Develop greater trust. See there's the lesson, for there's always a lesson and this is the lesson I've been learning during 2017. Trust.
So I'm taking that lesson learned (I hope, well to a degree anyway!) with me into 2018 and shall have the intention of greater stillness and harmony, balance then, and of wellness, true wellness and of family and the home.
I'm sure it won't be easy, it never is when one's committed to spiritual growth and being in service, but a necessity. It's easy to do and give, not so easy to be and to receive. Often the samskaras (the conditioning) run deep!
Still I'm grateful for my spiritual practice, which has kept me in good stead and enabled me in many respects to keep going as I have, through the dark night's of the soul and into those states of utter blissfulness where all is certainly well. It's given me an enormous amount of energy and get up and go, and inspiration and creativity and love.
I'm also grateful for the love and support of my family, of Ewan, Elijah and Eben for all the joy they bring and for following Mummy to yet another stone circle or whatever it may be, and to my Mum, Dad and brother who support all I do unwaveringly (and for setting up our Despres stone circle) and to all my lovely friends and students and to Steph for all her help, patience and amazingness, and to this beautiful Island of Guernsey.
So a very happy new year to each and every one of you and I hope that the current turning of the wheel brings you much joy and lightness of heart and being, and an inspired and loving season ahead.
x
Happy Winter Solstice!
Happy winter solstice!
Next year I'd love to be at Newgrange in the Boyne Valley, Ireland, where there's the 5,000 year old neolithic tomb famous for its winter solstice illuminations, which lights up the passage and chambers at sunrise for 17 minutes. This year I did glimpse sunrise from the air, while returning from a cheeky solstice-eve trip to Glastonbury - enjoy the return of the light my friends. x
Winter Solstice - Poem by Anonymous
When you startle awake in the dark morning
heart pounding breathing fast
sitting bolt upright staring into
dark whirlpool black hole
feeling its suction
Get out of bed
knock at the door of your nearest friend
ask to lie down ask to be held
Listen while whispered words
turn the hole into deep night sky
stars close together
winter moon rising over white fields
nearby wren rustling dry leaves
distant owl echoing
two people walking up the road laughing
Let your soul laugh
let your heart sigh out
that long held breath so hollow in your stomach
so swollen in your throat
Already light is returning pairs of wings
lift softly off your eyelids one by one
each feathered edge clearer between you
and the pearl veil of day
You have nothing to do but live
Happy Summer Solstice!
I know I'm biased but that was an AMAZING solstice!
It started early as I joined my soul friend Chris at 5am for a swim at Fermain Bay and out to the ledge at the corner of the bay to be able to see the sun rising above Herm. Here on the ledge Chris and I practised some sun salutations in honour of the sun, what bliss, especially as it was big and red rising in front of us!
We swam across the Bay to the cliff and a waterfall with fledging seagulls and their mothers getting super excited so that we swam back to shore. We sat in the morning sunlight at the corner of the beach on our own enjoying the sun rise and sharing quotes. What a way to begin the morning!
That evening we joined together for a fabulous yoga class in my parents' garden surrounded by nature and with the sun dropping behind us. We were encouraged to offer our practice as a way of saying thank you for all that we are and have achieved during the light part of the year. and all we have yet to achieve.
It was hot, like high twenties, which is hot for Guernsey and I was certainly feeling it, positioned as I was facing the sun. Still it was a magical class and lovely to share yoga like this on such stunning day,
Following the class the majority of students stayed on to join us around the stone circle, which my sister in law, Star, and I had consecrated the night before,
Here on the Solstice we joined around the fire and I handed out rosemary, which we all threw on the fire as a symbolic way of letting go of those things we no longer want in our lives - "oh my gosh, is there enough rosemary" one lady commented!
After this, we each lit candles to represent the light and all we wished to bring into our lives over the next six months. I then invited everyone to blindly choose a crystal from the crystal bag, the solstice choice of quartz, Citrine or Rose quartz,
Together we enjoyed Shamanic drumming courtesy of Stu Ogier and some crudités and home-made humus courtesy of my Mum. We also got to`enjoy Natasha's handmade head garland, seasonal in her homeland of Russia, thank you!
We shared angel cards too and there were cuddles for Eben and dancing for Star and I.
Thank you to everyone who made this such a special and memorable solstice, may this be the first of many ahead and let's get into that stone circle more often please
Love xxx
Love xx
Happy Beltane!
Happy Beltane! Beltane honours Life. It represents the peak of the Spring and the beginning of Summer. Earth energies are at their strongest and most active and all of life is bursting with potent fertility. Thus the Beltane energy is one of reverence for all of life, celebrating and honouring the fertility that grows from the union of opposites. It is about the sacredness and power of unbridled love and sexual pleasure, and deep connections of the heart.
It’s a time of union, of being in touch with the instinctive wild forces within and without, and to be aware of the potency of the life force and its power on the physical, spiritual and mystical levels. From now to the Summer solstice is the peak of sunlight and the conscious outward expression of ourselves. During this heightened energy time, we need to be aware of where we are and what we want and need. We should create the most fertile and positive environment for our seeds to grow.
Here at Beltane it is all about union, which will release a strong life force energy that releases the alchemy of manifestation. All of nature is growing and manifesting in a wild whirl of creative energy so we are invited to tap into this and create in our own world too.
In the past May Day celebrations included dancing around the maypole, symbolising the interweaving and joining of the male and female energies. As Glennie Kindred writes, “this creates a web of energy in a living matrix of power. Another custom of this time is the typing of ribbons and shreds of clothing to a Hawthorn tree, specially when they grow by sacred wells. Dipped in the water, they are hung in the trees with prayers for healing, and as gifts to the fair or faerie folk and the guardian spirits of the well or spring”.
Beltane was also recognised as the Fire Festival. Traditionally bonfires were lit to honour the Sun and encourage support of the Sun’s light and power to nurture the emerging future harvest and protect the community. Traditionally all fires in the community were put out and a special fire was kindled for Beltane.
This is a fabulous time to make a wish box…take a look here https://www.goddessandgreenman.co.uk/beltane
Happy Ostara - the Spring Equinox
The word equinox comes from the Latin word meaning ‘equal night’; and means that day and night are of equal length all over the world. For us in the northern hemisphere, the days will get longer and warmer and the nights will get shorter. This is therefore the festival of balance, the balance of the masculine and feminine, light and dark, expansion and contraction, conscious and unconscious, the inner world and the outer world, the joining of the unconscious and the unconscious.
Officially acknowledged as the first day of Spring, this is a very powerful time in nature as there is a major energetic shift from winter and if we are aware of it we can harness the new, fresh energy that this season offers. This is a fabulous time for new beginnings and for sowing new seeds, both physically and symbolically. The plants that grow from these seeds will represent that for which you are working. When the plant bears fruit at harvest so too should your intention manifest in physical form.
In the Pagan tradition this day also celebrates the union of the beautiful spring maiden with the young ardent male. As Glennie Kindred writes, “Their union makes all of nature fertile. Here we can make contact with their archetypal energy within ourselves, no matter what age or gender. Many women are now seeking to balance their male and female sides within themselves and are looking for the same balance in men. The ardent young man, who is non-aggressive, in touch with his instincts and can show his feelings, is a precious image to hold. The Greeks gave us Pan with horns and hooves, part man, part animal. The Celts gave us Cernunnos or Herne, also with horns, in touch with his animal instincts, wise, magical, the master of the three levels of existence, playful, sexual, sensuous, spiritual. He was outlawed by the church who changed him into the devil, the root of evil, thereby denying men an essential part of themselves. We need to reclaim him. Men need to connect to his life-giving instinctive nature. Women need to find him in the men they know. Here lies the spark, the power in their joining and their joint potential that will change the future”.
This is therefore the ideal time to balance these energies within ourselves regardless of gender. So this means balancing the masculine and the feminine, of joining together the rational conscious mind with the intuition and inner wisdom, to create a new way of being that is more aligned with our higher selves and more in balance, not least within ourselves but in the world around us too.
It’s all about listening. Dropping within and learning to listen to that inner voice that already knows everything. And then learn to trust in this voice and act on its wisdom and create new beginnings that help to bring your light into the manifest world. In so doing, we can create a more harmonious and balanced way of living, that creates a more harmonious, love-filled and balanced world in the process. Amen!