The Chakras

I love working with the chakras, it has underpinned my work for many years now and I am always keen to share them with others, be that through yoga, Reiki and/or Ayurveda. I thought it about time that I blogged about them again, in case they should be of interest to you, or you might learn something helpful or interesting by exploring more of your own chakra system.

Basically, the chakras are wheels of energy that form the energy system in the human body. There are seven of them in total (the magic seven!), and they are responsible for overall health, providing a sense of mental, physical, emotional and spiritual well-being. 

The chakras are also junctions of consciousness (mind) and the physical body, nourishing particular organs and controlling various psycho-physiological pathways. They are responsible for transporting neuro-electrical and spiritual energies of the spinal cord and also for conveying stimuli from the higher centres (for example the brain, pituitary gland) to the lower organs.

Furthermore, the chakras correlate with the endocrine system (hormone system) and therefore a chakra imbalance will present as a problem within the endocrine system e.g. thyroid gland or ovaries etc. The endocrine imbalance happens as a result of chakra imbalance, not the other way around, and therefore you are always encouraged to get to the energetic imbalance if you hope to heal the physical manifestation of that imbalance.

An imbalance in a chakra is created by an obstruction in the energy flow. This might be caused by deep buried memories within the subconscious mind from childhood trauma, or from tension build up at the chakras, which can affect posture, metabolism, emotional state and breathing for example. Physical ailments may develop by the chronic repeated obstruction to energy flow. 

When one chakra is blocked, the other chakras begin to compensate and either become overactive or under-active and you might start to notice issues arising here too. That’s the reason it is so important to truly get to the root cause of any physical complaint and consider the energetic imbalance. 

This can be addressed through yoga, Reiki and Ayurveda. In many respects I have found Ayurveda to be the most powerful modality, because it works not only through diet and lifestyle, but incorporates massage, yoga asana and pranayama too, working on physical, mental, emotional, spiritual and energetic levels simultaneously.  Like with any holistic approach to healing, you will need to take responsibility and do the work, no one can do it for you. Plus it can take time!

I think this is often the greatest obstacle to our healing. We have a tendency to want the quick fix approach, forgetting that it may have taken years of living out of balance with our innate wisdom which has led to our loss of wellbeing in the first place.  It will take time and it will demand our attention, if we truly wish to heal, then we must be prepared to look into the shadows and reclaim those fragmented and lost parts of self. We have to be truthful with our selves. 

This is the reason I love working with the chakras though, because the transformation is very real, and deep, you can’t get much deeper than working energetically, because this underpins everything, and connects us through all our lifetimes, so that past life stuff can come up too. It’s all in there! The more you work with the chakras the more life makes sense and the more you can live a life of freedom and genuine sustained contentment. 

The root chakra will follow…

xxx

Power and the deep feminine

That was most definitely a potent full moon and I am only now clearer about what it was ushering in. There was most definitely a play on power, and you might have felt that in your own lives too.

I definitely felt a sense of powerlessness with the way that life is currently unfolding and it is only now I recognise the reason for the kidney and liver pain that has accompanied this. The kidneys because of deep rooted fear of not being able to touch or to use holistic therapies to heal (as these rely so heavily on human touch). I feel as if ancestral and past life wounds were touched, around Wicca and the deep memory of the persecution of healers (the witch hysteria during the mid 1400s ).

There was anger in this too, then, for this Wiccan history, and also for the collateral damage of trying to protect the vulnerable from Covid-19 and yet creating so much more suffering and vulnerability in the process. There is a thin line and I don’t envy anyone having to manage this, but I do feel as if a perspective shift is required. The state has done such a good job in conditioning (and controlling) everyone to (through) fear, that now it has a huge job on its hands to condition everyone that life is again safe to be lived.

There is a fear that for those of us who teach yoga or in some way offer our hand to heal, will not be able to do so, in the flesh, for a long time to come. Yet I know that in every ending is a new beginning and I take comfort in this. I am grateful that yoga and Reiki can be shared distantly, albeit it is not the same as physical touch, but at least there is the option. Plus I know that healing can come in so many ways, and I recognise in my own life how this pause, and this space, has revealed other things to me.

I keep returning to Rebecca Campbell’s marvellous quote about all this, well about letting go really, which is what this is all about, and how the power comes into it too, because I have a feeling that this is where it’s at really, coming to understand the nature of power, beyond labels and this idea of being someone. There has been so much emphasis these last few years for women, especially within yoga, to step into their power, and yet I can’t help thinking that we have been attempting to do so while still ignoring the deep feminine.

“In order for the new to arrive, we must first allow the old to shatter. Sometimes this happens on its own. And sometimes it requires that we do the smashing. To tear apart what we’ve built because things have changed, including you. To admit that while it once was aligned, now it no longer is. This shattering requires both courage and faith. Courage to let go and faith that the pieces will come back together again in a way that was more aligned than it was before” Rebecca Campbell

I’m not sure that the deep feminine, the inner witch, the healer, the carer, the mother, the grandmother, the wisdom keeper, I don’t know that she needed to be any more than what she was. She didn’t need to be on a pedestal, or splashed across social media, nor rushing around the world sharing her wisdom. She was contented to live it and share it with those who sought her, not because she was ‘someone’, but because she was her-self. There was a sacredness to her life and to her offerings too. There was the power, in the sacredness of it all.

I have found the break form social media thus far extremely liberating, empowering. I don’t miss it. It’s refreshing not knowing how others are living, and not concerning myself with it. There is less external noise and more time to be with those who matter the most. It has also freed me in my teaching, to offer what I love and what I have learned over all these years of studying the self, with those who most value it, there is (for me at least and I hope this doesn’t sound arrogant as that is not as it is intended) a deeper sense of the sacred. This too came through with the moon.

There is a re-alignment of power at play and for us women this means that yet more ideas of what this might mean need to drop away. We are entering a new paradigm and the idea of what it means to ‘step into our power’ also needs to change. The joy is that life will create this shift, the universe, the moon, the stars and the planets, they will all play their role to ensure that we have the opportunity to listen.

We might not heed the call, we might not make the space, we might grip on so tightly to how we think it should be, that we don’t hear the whisperings of another way. But the signs will be there anyway, the illness, aches, pains, tensions, the dodgy skin, the irregular period, the people, birds, animals and insects that cross our path, they are all message keepers, if we pay attention.

It’s not easy to pay attention though. Sometimes when working with my teacher, she is asking me to be so attentive that I find it difficult because I have to be very still and very present, and very much inside myself. Yet I know that if I can stay with it, then I will touch something that I cannot touch when life is lived externally, or busy, or noisy. The practice comes in being present and attentive, and this is tricky beyond the yoga mat when there is so much distraction.

Yet I have feeling that this is the power of the deep feminine. It is not about what we might create or produce in the external world (that’s the illusion, the trap), but how life is lived in relation to the self. That’s not so easy to teach, and not so easy to explain, because we all have that wisdom, and it is for us to reveal it to ourselves, given the right conditions.

As I am writing this, and as I searched for the above quote to share with you, I came across this other one, and feel like leaping with joy because while I have read it many times before, I feel as if it is only now I have an embodied sense of it being my truth too. Which means it is possibly yours too. This is where the moon has been taking us. This is the power of the deep feminine and it is not at all what others might have us believe, those making the noise and yet still living from a masculine perspective of results and external adoration.

“The deep Feminine, the mystery of consciousness, She who is life, is longing for our transformation as much as we are. She holds back, allowing us free reign to choose, nudging us occasionally with synchronicities, illness, births and deaths… But when we make space for Her, she rushes into all the gaps, engulfing us with her desire for life and expression. This is what She longs for, this is what we are for: experiencing the Feminine through ourselves. We simply need to slow down, and find where to put our conscious attention. And it is this, this willingness to look again, this willingness to put consciousness onto our places of unconscious, to express what we have always avoided, which starts the process of unblocking, so that She may flow through.” Lucy Pearce

All is well. That we must remember. Power is power is power. Knowing the self is power. Healing the self is power. Retreating into the self is power. Finding courage, that is power. Being still is also power. There are so many ways that we can embrace our power without losing ourselves in the power of it, of trying to be anything other than what we already are, and this, this is the key to true power - and it is found in love, and it is found in surrender, and it is found in vulnerability and it is found in being deeply attentive.

Love Emma x

Noise

We’ve a full moon approaching on Thursday, a Scorpio one too, and the third super moon of this year, so we can expect it to be a little potent, with a sting in her tail!

I’m no expert on these things, and I appreciate that we will all have our truth on this but I feel that we are being asked to look at the noise in our lives and how this prevents us from hearing our own wisdom, and how we might trust in this more than we already do.

Taking a break from social media has been extremely liberating, albeit I am only four days into it. But I have recognised how much noise there is on Facebook especially, and how distracting this can be, allowing us to lose minutes, if not hours of our lives.

But it’s more than that, because for me, I feel as if I have gained more of the magical, more of the mystery, more of that which is kept secret. It is that which cannot be fully known, because to know and to define will limit, and this is limitless. This is the stuff of ancient wisdom which is whispered and spoken, which is heard only when we take the time to listen.

 Life has been so busy for many years. I recognise now in the slower pace of my life, how much my old life was busy for the sake of busy and how much time, and energy, and magic, was lost in the noise of it. There was a fear of what might happen if there was no busyness, as if this would suggest a purposeless life, and this I feared the most. 

Yet now, with less busyness and less noise, of course there is space for the new to come in, the magic that was sat there waiting, but could not move forward because the busyness left no room for it. Magic cannot enter if there is no space for it. It’s a natural lore.

So the death has come to us all. This too is in the field. I have talked about it before. We are all going through our own death and grieving for this, for ways of old, even if they were no longer serving us (as most of them weren’t), we still have to go through a process of letting go, and that’s not easy, or pleasant. 

But there is delight in the uncomfortable of the unknown. Yoga encourages us to sit in the unknown. We’ve been practising for a good old while now. This is time to put the practice into practice and I’m grateful to the practice for holding me as it does, because the letting go process has been a part of this from day one. We already know that nothing in life is certain.

Yet there is so much noise out there trying to bring some certainty to it. Those trying to understand Covid-19 scientifically, those talking about vaccinations as if this alone will ensure a safe future, those in the spiritual fields talking about awakenings and light overcoming the darkness and the separation of fear and everyone trying to make sense of that which is absolutely unknown. No one knows.

Yet we do know, on some deep level we do know. We have wisdom, and we have a truth, and both are magical and unique to each of us, and yet a part of the whole. We are sacred, each of us, and this sacredness connects us deep into the pulse of the universe which is sacred too, and knows only love.

I cannot tell you the reason this is happening for you, or to humanity generally, and it is not my place to tell you because you must feel into it for yourself. This is one of the many gifts of lockdown to me, that it has provided a pause, a gap, an opportunity to notice the noise and to distance myself from it.

This has brought in another gift, in the space that has been created to allow a new path to reveal itself, one that I could never have previously imagined in the noise and the busyness. Yet the greatest gift perhaps, in addition to the re-prioritising of my family and my boys beyond all else, is the gift of the sacred and trusting in that, and thereby letting go of all the old stories that are outdated and limit us.

I have shared this poem a number of times on retreats and it has always brought tears to my eyes, but it is only now that I read it and know it to be true: 

 “Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender, be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly, and listen to others, even the dull and ignorant; they too have their story. Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love – for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is perennial as the grass. Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you from misfortune. But do not distress yourself with imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labours and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.” 
― Max Ehrmann, Desiderata: A Poem for a Way of Life

I hope this full moon illuminates that which needs to be known, and you are able to create the space and the peace that you might need to hear that which is spoken to you alone. I also hope that you might have the strength of spirit to let go of that which now needs to go. Hold that part of you that fears gently, as if you would a new born baby, breath and trust.

With love xx

Happy Beltain!

Beltain is the cross-quarter festival of fertility and fire. It celebrates the potency of the earth at this time of year, where nature abounds with life force – she is at her most potent. 

This is the time to be in touch with our own potent life force too, and its power on the physical, spiritual and mystical levels – we are as much a part of nature as the trees, flowers and plants and the more we can live harmoniously, the better for this planet.

Beltain represents the peak of the Spring and the beginning of Summer.  The Beltain 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 love and sexual untion and the deepest of connections of the heart and soul.

I love Beltain. I love the energy. I love the potential. I love the potency. I love the fertility, that there is this energy of creation and here, now, today, we can tap into it with ease, and begin to grow seeds.

I thought I’d try and watch the sunrise, but it was cloudy when I looked out the window, so I went to the Gran’Mère at St Martin’s church, and adorned her garlands of grass and shells, and gave thanks for all she represents, and prayed for assistance in creative endeavours ahead.

As I made my way home, this just a little after 6am, I noticed the sun light beginning to peak above the clouds, so I stopped and watched the sunrise from the lane near our house. There is nothing quite as potent as a sunrise to set you up for the day ahead, and there was definitely a spring in my step returning home. 

It was a funny day though, I taught a class which was just what I needed as I was able to enjoy the Goddess energy with a group of lovely ladies (you can access it on the Beinspired YouTube channel). This was followed with a session with my friend Jo de Diepold Braham, to help shift some stagnant energy that has come up with all the hip practice this week

Even though I know, because I practice distance Reiki, that energy can travel regardless of time and space, it still blows my mind that energy sessions can be held remotely. That Jo can literally tap into my energy field from another country, and feel into it, and I can feel her holding the space for it. It proves that there really is more to us than we see.

Then a class I was meant to teach remotely couldn’t be held, because the internet dropped out, quite unexpectedly. I didn’t react, I have come to recognise that for whatever reason, and often I will never know what it is, it’s just not meant to be. If there is one thing we learn from Covid-19 is to become increasingly comfortable with the not-knowing and the acceptance.

Then a funny thing happened. I’ve not been wearing any deodorant or essential oils lately, because I’ve been swimming in the sea most mornings and then haven’t bothered showering until the evening because I haven’t been seeing anyone. However I did shower this morning after sea swimming as I was teaching, and because it was Beltain I thought I’d use deodorant and a goddess oil mix.

Fast forward a few hours and I was out for a short ‘head space’ run  and I felt decidedly sick as I smelt the essential oils on my skin. It made me think how sensitive we can become to smell when we live increasingly without. There wasn’t anything wrong with the oils by the way, just they’re no longer resonating with me, goddess, or no goddess!

Traditionally the fire is central to Beltain evening and so we thought we’d celebrate that way too. E and I jumped the fire, which is meant to purify and cleanse (and bring fertility, but we’ll see that more as invoking the creative!) and pledge ourselves to each other! I also used it as an opportunity for more letting go with a burning bowl ceremony of my own.

We visited the water that flows at the lane down the road just as the sun set too – not quite the same as the ancients, who were said to sit all night by sacred wells and healing springs as the water was meant to be most potent at this time. The half-moon shone above us and I don’t know that it was potent, but the experience was calming albeit with the children!

We tied ribbons to the tree in our front garden yesterday. Traditionally ribbons and threads of clothing were tied to hawthorn trees, especially those growing by sacred wells, but this was the best we could do. We cycled down to La Varde dolmen yesterday too, to give thanks to the goddess and fertility energy of this ancient site; it has a special energy. 

There were other things we could have done that we haven’t, like walk the labyrinth and dance a maypole, but these were beyond the realm of my efforts today, and anyhow, we need to save something for next year! I’m certainly feeling energised this evening as I write this, happy beltain and love to you all. 

Switching off and switching in - Facebook and mobile phones

I have been thinking for a long while now, about coming off social media and not using my mobile phone.

I did attempt to leave Facebook last year, but people kept telling me how foolish I was for doing so, because that’s not what you do if you are running a small business. I kept arguing that I’m not running a small business, so what does it matter - I’m lucky as I am able to do what I love and share this with others, and earn a living from it too. To me this isn’t a small business, it’s living my dharma and being of service. 

I have grown increasingly weary over the years of receiving invites to join ‘small business’ groups, ‘conscious collective’ groups, ‘star seed’ groups, ‘entrepreneurial’ groups and the such like on Facebook. I’m not a fan of groups or of labelling, because this just creates greater separation and it also runs the risk of us putting ourselves on pedestals as if we are somehow better than others. It also limits us and I absolutely do not want to be limited or put in a box.

Yet still, despite knowing all this, I stayed on Facebook, partly because I questioned whether I might have gotten it wrong, and so I suppose there was some fear of somehow losing out on what others were telling me I was gaining. It didn’t help that I contacted Hays House, a holistic publishing company, to submit a manuscript, only to be told that they will only accept work from writers who have a certain number of social media and email followers. 

This saddened me - that the publication of manuscripts is dependent on the author having a certain number of followers, not on the merit of the written content itself. It’s as if the author’s ability to social network has now become more important than what they are actually offering or sharing, which seems in contrast to being in service to something greater than ourselves, a channel then, creating in unison with the sacred, at least for holistic manuscripts.

So with a heavy heart I continued using Facebook to keep the option open in terms of book publishing in the future, and I tried to play it’s game; apparently the more you post, the more your posts will appear in newsfeeds, and the more people might know what you are offering and respond with a ‘like’ or a comment. But all the while this made me feel uneasy and inauthentic because I didn’t want to be posting for the sake of posting, plus I didn’t want to be spending my spare time online for the sake of it either. 

Furthermore, I didn’t feel comfortable feeding into a platform that doesn’t necessarily bring out the best in people or support their health and wellbeing. Not only does it provide the possibility for conflict if people don’t agree with you, but you can unconsciously lose hours of your life scrolling through your newsfeed if you’re not careful – it absorbs time and energy! My concerns about this have been proven to a certain extent by Covid-19 and lockdown.

In the earlier days, the fear and anxiety and judgments circulating on Facebook were immense and it took some effort not to get caught up in it. And I did to a certain extent, offering a plethora of free yoga classes through Facebook, as if I alone could somehow ease the negativity and support those who were clearly suffering. However, I was then spending hours on Facebook, and certainly not feeling better for it. 

Fortunately my yoga teacher, Louise, pulled me up on this, not only reminding me not to ‘prostitute’ myself, but to consider any underlying motivations. I genuinely wanted to help people, but I did question whether I somehow needed to be seen to be helping people too. It was this latter point that fascinated me, that reinforced how conniving our ego can be, that even with clear intention, we can still sometimes lose ourselves along the way, and Facebook provides a fantastic platform for this too.

So I have considered that perhaps part of the reason I have stayed on Facebook might be ego. The need to be known, liked, followed. And perhaps this is the reason that I find Facebook increasingly uncomfortable, because I know that it is a trap. It might make us feel that it is essential, that it allows people to find out what it is we are offering the world – for example yoga and Reiki – but I know that people will find us regardless.

Those who contact me for yoga through Facebook rarely make it to a class and those who contact for Reiki, book and then pull out nearer the time. I have noticed common behaviour patterns with it. Furthermore, I haven’t met a single one of my yoga teacher’s on Facebook. Instead I have met them through word of mouth or because we happened to be in the same place at the same time; the divine. 

And yet admittedly, living on Guernsey, in a small community, Facebook can be helpful at raising awareness of events and it can help you to stay in touch with those you don’t see regularly, and share interesting articles etc, so it is not always about being liked or known. This I have considered too and lately this is my motivation for using Facebook, I love to share my blogs, for example and any poignant quotes or new moon readings. But beyond that, I can’t be sure that there is any benefit, I could be wrong however!

There’s more awareness gained recently - lockdown has been a gift for many reasons, but especially because it has enabled me to experience a new way of living, a much slower, nature based and child orientated one, that my soul has craved for some time, and that the moon has been trying to orientate me towards. I have known on a deep level, but I just couldn’t figure it out in my small mind how I might make the changes that needed to be made. The universe has made the changes for me, for all of us collectively. 

It’s not been easy necessarily, there has been a death of sorts; I experienced a significant letting go at the end of the last moon cycle, as the old way of being, that I was holding onto so tightly in my solar plexus, finally let go. I knew it was coming because at the beginning of lockdown I had a very vivid dream of dying, one of my students being the gatekeeper, it was surreal and yet necessary, and all the yoga I have studied with Louise this last month has supported this process with its emphasis on letting go and ‘preparing for a good death’, as she says!

I have a feeling that the world generally is going through a period of death. Some are literally dying and passing onto the other world, two of my friends have lost their mums, for example. And some have been dying while in this world, as parts drop away that are no longer needed, and new lives begin, with different priorities, different intentions, different ambitions and different energies.

I am enjoying all that the ‘new’ has ushered in, the planting of vegetables and the medicinal seeds from Fi, the time spent on Saints Beach, where I was rewarded this morning with my first marble, opportunities for sun rise and sun set, of running in the lanes and noticing the hedgerows, the cliffs in all their beauty and my boys, my beautiful boys, watching them moment to moment, growing and maturing, learning and deepening their interest in the world around them, off the screens and out in nature.

I have also enjoyed Diana Beresford-Kroeger entering my life. Diana is an Irish botanist, medical biochemist and author, who is also the keeper of ancient Celtic wisdom, so she straddles many worlds and weaves them together beautifully. I have learned a lot from Diana these last few weeks in watching her documentary, reading one of her books and her many interviews, and my life has been enriched for it. I am inspired by her ability to speak her truth and live from that place too, with a deep knowing of self. 

She has inspired in me a need to plant and to be in nature, to bathe in the trees, and to speak more of my truth out in the world. She has also given me permission to honour the deep calling, the one that tells me that I don’t want to spend too much of my time on Facebook, and the other one that has questioned whether I want to continue using a mobile telephone, and thus unintentionally supporting the installation of the dreaded 5G.

 The last few weeks I thought I had run out of mobile data so I was no longer able to use my mobile phone outside of the house. As it happens I had just accidentally and unknowingly turned it off – or it was the work of the divine – and yet what a wonderful lesson I learned. It was refreshing not to be distracted by my phone when out with the children, or to feel that I was beholden to anyone messaging or calling. 

Diana has definitely brought with her a call for action; to actually take action, not just talk about it, or think about it. I don’t want to be part of this life lived on the internet, disconnected from nature and distracted from my children and denying my own inner truth and wisdom. I am grateful to the online yoga classes during lockdown, but I shan’t miss it once we are able to connect in person again, for it is not the same, and you cannot put a price on the benefit of real touch. 

The world needs more real touch. Touching the earth, touching trees, touching plants, touching those we love, touching lives in ways that we cannot even imagine when our heads are down staring at screens, blinkered to all that is happening around us, numbing out, distracted and unnecessarily busying ourselves, trying to be someone, living and yet not truly living. It’s that kind of living that makes us sick; that makes this planet sick. 

Lance Schuler, who taught me how to teach yoga, reminded me recently that for those who wish to be taken seriously while protesting against 5G, they must abandon their phones, just as you would not take an animal justice advocate seriously while wearing fur. Valid point. His words written about 5G are shared below*. He also asked us at this time to re-examine everything we have learned and to reject anything that assaults our souls. 

I have been examining what I have learned and I have become increasingly aware of that which assaults my soul. I am aware that the way that the world has been going is not necessarily the way that my soul wants me to go and it is not a world that I want my children growing up in. That sometimes we have to align with a different way, and that while this may take courage, it becomes the only option available to us, because life lived out of alignment, will negatively impact on our health and wellbeing and further deplete mother earth in the process.

It is for this reason that I’m going to give it a try. I’m going to put my money where my mouth is, so to speak, and see what life is like lived off social media and my mobile telephone. Just for a month. So from Beltain, on Friday 1 May, I shall switch off and switch in, and see where I’m at, and what I’ve learned by the beginning of June, and whether I’ll be switching the mobile phone and Facebook on again. Here begins the experiment! 

I’ll continue blogging and teaching and sending newsletters by the way. 

Love Emma x

*As there is increasing awareness that the 5G roll-out is a possible player of our current situation we invite all of you who can, especially in the West, who have mobile phones to consider the opportunity this situation lends to us and ‘lay them down to rest’.
We feel that one of the most immediate threats that comes to life, and loss of our freedoms comes from the use of this device.
5G is an escalating virus taking the radio assault to a new level on our planet; using much higher frequencies, much greater band-width and much greater power levels. This will eventually be escalated from short range to ‘planet wide’ and from an indirect to direct assault on the ionosphere when literally tens of thousands of 5G satellites go into operation over the next few years.
With evidence of these non–native micro waves greatest effects on the worldwide starvation and death of species and the more dangerous effects of the most innocent bystanders our GRANDCHILDREN, where these waves have a much more harmful and devastating effect.
With more than 5 billion people now holding open sources of microwave radiation in their hands, Mother Earth is burning, yet no fire fighters are coming…
For most people considering this proposal may seem like an impossibility, but that is because they do not remember that only 25 years ago almost no one had a mobile phone. 
Were we more human then? Are mobile phones dehumanising our physical and spiritual connections to our existence? 
For those who wish to be taken seriously while protesting against 5G, they must abandon their phones, just as one would not take the animal justice advocates seriously while wearing fur coats.
If we all discontinue their use we can return to a more EVEN playing field for those who choose not to use them, and with that new opportunities and freedoms will return so that we can all function and operate more equally, non-discriminately, and less destructively. (Lance Schuler).

The message in the scarves

Yesterday my basket of scarves caught my eye. I love scarves and have bought a number over the years, and have been gifted some too. I gave some away this year, because I realised that I was no longer using them, especially now I’m not working in an office, but still I have kept a stash, which I have not touched for about a year. Instead I’ve just used the same plain blue one all winter!

I thought to myself how my basket of unused scarves is reflective of what is wrong in this world – us having more than we need! This basket of scarves is just sitting there, gathering dust, being of no real value to anyone, because as lovely as they are, I don’t really need them, not practically. But what to do with them? Well herein the other thing; attachment, and not being able to let them go because of sentimentality and the idea that I may use them in the future.

This got me thinking about how many people bought far more than they needed at the beginning of lockdown, that the fear of not having enough, caused many to panic buy.  I wonder what will happen to all the extra packets of pasta and cans of soup that was bought and whether they will ever get used or sit collecting dust in the cupboards and be wasted. With any luck they’ll make their way to hampers and be given to others to use instead.

I have been giving some thought to Beltain, and how I might celebrate this cross-quarter festival of fertility. Traditionally people jumped the fire to purify, cleanse and to bring fertility, while couples jumped the fire to pledge themselves to each other. This is a time when Mother Earth’s energies are at her most active and all of life is bursting with fertility and the power of its own potential. This definitely needs to be honoured and celebrated.

Amongst other things, I thought that I might make a garland for the La Gran’Mère at St Martin’s church. I wrote about her in my book Dancing with The Moon and how I was drawn to see her the day before Eben was born and the journey that she and the moon took me on. She is absolutely worth celebrating and at this poignant time too, she holds a power, as do many of the ancient sites, that enable us to shift our perceptions outside of time.

I didn’t give too much thought to the garland after I’d made the decision to make one, thinking I’ve got plenty of time (Beltain is 1 May), but then I was walking along the beach collecting litter and a shell with a hole in it revealed itself to me. Ah ha, of course, I shall add shells to the garland! I collected a few other shells but these required me making holes, not ideal, but lo and behold the next day, yet more shells with holes appeared and more the next day!

Then yesterday, someone had very kindly woven together some grasses to create a natural string and this they had discarded on the slip way at Saints just where we were changing for our swim. I couldn’t believe my luck, and was extremely grateful not least to the person who made it, but to the universe for providing that which we need, especially when what we need is for something greater than ourselves, for the ancients, to encourage connection with the ancient energy. 

 I’m receiving strong guidance to connect with these energies at this time, through the elements, which I try and work anyway, but to step it up a gear, as I’m sure others are feeling too, especially those working in the healing arts. There is something about the ancient energy that is needed now,  perhaps the respect that this energy has for Mother Earth - you only have to consider Stonehenge and the Callanish Stones to see the extent that the ancients went to honour the sun and the moon respectively, and here too on Guernsey, some of the dolmens have been aligned with sun rise and there is evidence of stone circles, although the granite industry destroyed many of these years ago now.

I suppose when I consider that we receive that which we need, we might ask, well how about those starving in this world, how come they do not receive what they most need. I don’t have all the answers, but I do have a feeling that they might well receive what they most need if it wasn’t for greed, and for some taking more than they need so that others go without, and the flow of the energy being blocked, so that some suffer and unnecessarily too.

It is greed that has led to climatic change, and the exploitation of Mother Earth’s resources so that we can all have more than we actually need. If there’s one thing I’ve learned during lockdown (and there have been many things), is the fact we can live with much less than we think we want and need. We can live very simply, and even though I already thought I was living simply, I see now that there is an even simpler way to live.

I’m becoming increasingly aware that the simpler we live, the less we want and the more abundant and full our lives become as a result. We do receive that which we need, not always in the way we might expect it, and not always when we think we need it (only today for example did I truly notice a book about the healing properties of herbs on my book shelf, the exact book I actually now need and there it was all this time, waiting, a gift from a few years ago), but it comes in all the same, we just have to recognise it.

I’m off to make my garland and to ponder what I might do with the scarves. Maybe I’ll need them in the future, or maybe it’s time to let them go to someone in greater need, let’s see, sometimes we just have to settle into the unknown until it becomes clear, at least it’s made me reflect! All I do know, is that I am grateful to Mother Earth for all she gives, for the abundance, for the joy of the sun rises and the celebrations of the new moon energy, the growth of my medicinal plants and finding the gifts that she has left on the beach. Magic. It’s everywhere. Truly. 

The sun, the bee and the moon!

Today I have mainly been trying to stay aligned to soul. 

This meant taking the whole family with me for a brief cliff walk to watch the sunrise, which was just amazing. This was soon followed by a high tide swim, albeit only E and I swam, the boys played titanic on the beach, but the combination set us all up high vibration for the day ahead.

Then, aside from the online learning, washing, cleaning, cooking and shopping, I mainly spent the rest of the day re-potting my medicinal herbs (I’m so excited, as all but two of the 15 herbs I planted have come through and I have so many marigolds, marshmallow, hyssop and woad that I don’t know what on earth I’ll do with them all!) and practising the brahmari breath! 

The brahmari breath, the bumble bee breath, is just wonderful for calming the mind, soothing the nervous system and keeping the energy high – you can literally feel the vibration within your body. The bee knows best, without the bee life would be a bit tricky, so best we bring as much of the bee as we can into life – the queen bee at that, we should all be practising the brahmari regularly! All you need to do is take a breath in through your nose and then hum as you exhale, for as long as you can. Repeat, repeat, repeat! 

I was also reflecting on how easy it is to fall asleep again while awake, and yet how necessary this is for the process of moving from a state of contraction to expansion. To expand, we have to first contract, then we expand and then we contract, as the moon moves through this cycle so do we, from one stage of being to another, and in tune with her too – her energy encourages it if we are tapped in. It’s beautiful really. 

Mind you it’s been a beautiful day all around and I am grateful to the ancient wisdom, which always knows best - to father sun for his high energy, to the bee for its vibration and to the moon, for her energy of contraction and expansion and letting go and beginning anew, and to spring-time Mother Earth for her potency. I’m excited about this next moon cycle and just help I can stay in tune!  

A different day!

I decided yesterday that I wanted today to be different; I wanted it be calmer and to have a higher vibration to it, that’s the reason I visited the fairy cave yesterday, to shift the energy. 

 So I awoke early and went out for a walk on the cliffs to watch the sun rise. I was treated to the most amazing skies and the most beautiful bird song, all on my own too. There is something rather comforting and reassuring about seeing the sun rise, it’s the certainty I suppose, the fact that the sun will rise each day in the east, and set each day in the west, always has and always will, it’s the natural lore. It raises my energy too, to see the sun rise from the horizon. 

It’s comforting to know that we have the new moon tomorrow too, as this means that in a few days’ time, as long as it is clear, we should be able to see the sliver of the new moon in the night sky. I always find this really comforting and calming too, there’s something about the promise and the hope that the sliver brings that always makes me feel very alive on the inside. I miss the moon in this dark phase, so it was lovely to celebrate the sun instead!

I managed a quick high tide swim at Saints this early morning too, with the boys on the bike, and we had the whole beach to ourselves, which is always a treat. As I have written about before, there is something incredibly grounding, calming and uplifting about sea swimming – I’ve never once regretted a swim, nor E. It definitely gets you tingling and clears negativity. 

Back home and my ‘working’ day began with a children’s yoga class on Zoom. The majority of the children were genuine home-schoolers; I suspect their parents are the calmest of all parents on Guernsey at the moment! It’s lovely being able to share yoga this way, and to see some familiar faces, well done all you children. 

I then had a Vedic chant session with my teacher in the UK. Together we chanted a variety of mantra including the Gayatri mantra, one of the most ancient mantras known to man, said to purify the listener as well as the singer, and here in reverence to the light of the sun and to ask for clarity and strength. There is a reason that the ancients celebrated, prayed to, and honoured the sun and this mantra is sublime as those of you who chant it with me on retreat will know (with Deva Premal!). 

We chanted the Sava śānta too. This translates as “All is peace” and is a beautiful mantra, that we should probably all be chanting:

“May there be peace

Everywhere, at all levels of

Existence. In the sky, the wind, 

The moon, the stars, among

Animals and humans, in the 

Divine and amongst those who

Have attained Brahma.

Those who recite this mantra

Ask that peace within be

Strengthened so that it may be 

offered to the world”.

Then it was online learning, which was humorous more than anything, now that I’ve let it go together with that outdated ‘out of control’ pattern. As if to test me though, while we were able to use an iPad to Facetime my Dad, we couldn’t then use an additional device to access the online site, because the internet was super slow. This meant that my poor Dad had to use the phone on which he was speaking to us through Facetime, to show us the screen of his computer so we could watch the online content that way. Where there’s a will there’s a way and I didn’t get at all upset about it, just accepted it.

However, I’m not sure Elijah would have been too bothered if he hadn’t been able to access the online content. Even without the distraction of Eben and E, It took quite some time to engage him today, he wasn’t really interested in numberbonds and just wanted to look at a book with my Dad, which is what ultimately ended up happening, after an attempt at phonics and writing. At least we had something to upload to Class dojo, even though I wasn’t able to do that until all other devices were turned off!

The boys eating lunch gave me the opportunity to get on my mat and breath and move and just settle into myself. I don’t know if it’s just me, but I felt a shift in the energy today, and I’m hopeful that others have felt it too. There’s this awareness that we are all in it together, and that so many of us feel the same, and we will find a way - there is great comfort in the solidarity and I have received a number of supportive messages this last 24 hours, so thank you, it’s always reassuring to know you’re not alone!

Then we used what exercise time we had left to cycle to the beach for a walk and a swim. And here more allowing of the children to be children to run around naked, laughing and joking and playing. This really is what life should be more about, in the allowing, not in the pushing and pulling and trying to mould our children to be something that they are not. 

I suppose for me, this has been the greatest shift today. Of letting go of the expectations, educational of otherwise. It’s not that I don’t care, it’s more so that there isn’t only one way, and the way that I’m being encouraged by powers that be, isn’t the way that I want to take. I don’t want to go anywhere really, that’s the thing, I want to go inside myself, and enjoy the simplicity of life, with my boys and their innocence and support them at this very tricky time by showering them with love, kindness, nature and attention. I certainly don’t want to be stressing at them.

Thus it was a joy to make it to sunset and to bed time without any tears, or drama, or overwhelm or frustration, mine or theirs! I was reminded that what we put out will get mirrored back at us, and we were all much calmer today! I thank the ancients really, I’m always drawn to them when I need to be drawn back into soul and heart. It’s not that I – or you – realise that we have disconnected from that place, until we find our way back to it and recognise that we got lost again, that we got affected by lower energies.

 So I shall be doing all I can to keep the vibration high, to not be drawn down by the system, or by situations that are beyond my control and set my ego wild! It’s all part of the process though, one from a place of contraction to expansion and I’ve a feeling that’s playing out in the wider world. 

By way of validation, I picked by chance (or not!) the Tourmaline crystal card again today, which I think I picked for everybody really, and therefore share with you now:

“Tourmaline helps you to release stress from your body and mind. It reminds you to try to remain positive – no matter what the circumstances are in your life, there is always a silver lining to each cloud.

Compassion and tolerance for yourself and others is needed at this time. Open yourself up to giving and receiving love equally. Surround yourself with positive people that help to keep your energy uplifted”.

Happy Earth day all of you!

Love Emma xx