MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Well what a wonderful Christmas this has been. First an early morning telephone conversation with my brother Ross in Australia where they have been enduring a heat wave, quite a contrast to our recent cold weather.

Then strangely, for the first time in years and due to the fact it has been a hard few months my parents surprised me with presents from Father Christmas, go figure, lucky me.

My parents went off to Victor Hugo's for breakfast leaving me to do my morning Yoga practice in peace, lovely, although of course there was the usual interruption by Alfie the cat who likes to lie on my mat halfway through my practice so I have to move around him, not ideal!

After my practice Charles skyped me from Thailand, lucky thing, another lovely conversation with someone spending Christmas Day in the sunshine - thanks sweetheart, some of the best presents in life are free.

Then Dad came down to Vazon with me as I went for a swim in the sea, a very quick swim in the sea, like really quick, just enough to dive in, get my hair wet, do a couple of token strokes and then straight out...it was cold...only bonus was I got to go straight in the hot tub back at home with a cup of tea, which was wonderful - there is nothing quite like lying there in hot water staring at the clouds moving overhead and birds flying past, and what incredible clouds today, we have been blessed.

Lunch was fabulous, courtesy of my Mum, and we were lucky to see an incredible rainbow from the table, Christmas wishes, there are so many, but I did make one.



Present time, I was spoilt again, this is what happens when your brother lives over the other side of the world and does not partake in the present giving. I am finally moving into a house rental next week so I got lots of lovely things to make the place cosy and serene. Thankfully Mum and Dad liked their gifts too.

Sami called from Canada (lovely to speak) and then we managed a walk around the block and down to the coast, great to get some fresh air and what wonderful sunset, lovely orange and pink tinged skies, again lucky us, pleased to be living on Guernsey on days like this.

We popped into Clairebear to exchange presents, so funny looking at old photos of us as children together, nothing changes, we now have matching slippers, think that is rather cool in a fairy like way.

So now just to catch up with friends this evening in person and by email and indulge in a spot of Gavin and Stacey, great stuff, what a wonderful day, blessed, happy and easy going, lucky me, thank you, gracious, Namaste!!

Merry Christmas to everyone, I hope you are all having a great day.

A LITTLE BIT OF EVERYTHING - LAKSHMI SHINING

At the end of a Yoga class a few days ago I wished everyone a Merry Christmas and one of the students asked if I am a Buddihst and thus would I be celebrating Christmas. It made me stop and think about how easily we are put into boxes, our whole life from the minute we are born, how we like to classfy people, each other, and even now, practisicing and teaching Yoga, trying to move beyond boundaries, here we are, boxed by others - not necessarily in an intentional or judging way, just that we like to classify people, try to make sense of them somehow.

Of course many Yoga practitioners follow a Buddhist philosophy to life while others adopt Hinduism and others adopt nothing at all. I am a little bit of everything, my whole life I have been a little bit of everything, neither this nor that, difficult to box, in fact I have spent my whole life trying to live outside the box and that can be challenging, especially living in Guernsey where conforming is the norm.

That is the reason it was so nice to meet up with my one of my best friend's, Hayley, and her friend Caroline on Christmas Eve for a living outside the box kind of afternoon/evening, great chatter, lovely laughter so that we were all shining brightly together. With that in mind and embracing my Nepali-influenced-Hindu side, may Lakshmi continue to shine brightly on both of you - thank you for being such wonderful friends. xxx

For those who don't already know, Goddess Lakshmi is the household Goddess of most Hindu families and a favourite of women. Goddess Lakshmi means Good Luck to Hindus. The word 'Lakshmi' is derived from the Sanskrit word "Laksya", meaning 'aim' or 'goal', and she is the goddess of wealth and prosperity, both material and spiritual.

Worship of a mother goddess has been a part of Indian tradition since its earliest times. Lakshmi is one of the mother goddesses and is addressed as "mata" (mother) instead of just "devi" (goddess).

As a female counterpart of Lord Vishnu, Mata Lakshmi is also called 'Shri', the female energy of the Supreme Being. She is the goddess of prosperity, wealth, purity, generosity, and the embodiment of beauty, grace and charm.

The importance attached to the presence of Lakshmi in every household makes her an essentially domestic deity. Householders worship Lakshmi for the well being and prosperity of the family. Businessmen and women also regard her equally and offer her daily prayers.

To demonstrate the 'little bit of everything' approach, here is some wisdom from HIS HOLINESS THE DALAI LAMA, the spiritual leader of Tibet:-

The Purpose of Life

"Whether we are rich or poor, educated or uneducated, whatever our nationality, colour, social status or ideology may be, the purpose of our lives is to he happy".

Teach by example

"Before teaching others, before changing others, we ourselves must change. We must be honest, sincere, kind hearted"

The commonality of religion

"Every religion of the world has similar ideals of love, the same goal of benefiting humanity through spiritual practice, and the same effect of making its followers into better human beings...Each, in its own way, teaches a path leading to a spiritual state that is peaceful, disciplined, ethical and wise".

May Goddess Lakshmi shine on everyone with beauty, abundance, grace and wealth.

Namaste

xx

WINTER SOLSTICE 2009

I am very excited as it is the winter solstice today marking the shortest day and longest night of the year, hoorah, which means we will now start to gain light (albeit perhaps only a minute or 2 each day) up until the summer solstice on 21 June, even more hoorah.

The winter solstice – also called the Celtic Festival of Yule – is one of the most evocative and significant festivals for us Pagans and Wiccans. On this day Wiccans and Pagans traditionally choose what to take with them into the New Year and what to leave behind.

An ancient belief is that the wheel of the year stops briefly at this time – it was a taboo to turn a wheel or even a butter churn on the shortest day. This time of stillness was a precious opportunity to consider the year gone by from a point of stillness and, equally calmly, a chance to look forward to the increasingly active months to come.

Traditionally Pagans and Wiccans spend the days leading up to, and following on from, the winter solstice in grateful reflection on life, enjoying plenty and laughter with friends and family, as far removed as possible from the strains and stresses of everyday life – sounds good huh!

The ancient Celtic term for this day is Alban Arthuan and it was recognised as the festival of peace to celebrate the coming of light. As Christmas honours the birth of Christ, the winter solstice celebrates the rebirth of the Sun God, son of the Goddess. In ancient times, people were more intimately connected with the cycles of nature – the worship of the sun is understandable in view of our reliance on its warmth for food and life itself.

Mistletoe used to be a part of the winter solstice celebrations – sacred to the Druids it would be cut using a golden sickle in a ceremony shortly after the winter solstice and divided up and dispersed to the people who would hang it over their doors for protection – mistletoe is associated with peace and goodwill.

The tradition of the Yule log also began with the Druids – the log was lit to banish evil spirits, defeat darkness and bring good luck for the coming year. Yule logs would smoulder for 12 days before another ceremony to put them out – a part of the log would be kept to be strapped to the plough the next spring to bless the land, and another piece would be taken to light the next year’s Yule log.

Sprigs of holly and ivy were traditionally brought into the home to celebrate the winter solstice – they are both evergreen plants, symbolising the eternal nature of the sun, which never dies, but merely sleeps during the winter months.

Needless to say I made a visit to the fairy ring at Pleinmont today to give thanks to the sun, enjoy quiet reflection and make a wish (of course) for the coming months ahead. All rather exciting when you think about it, that the light has returned, an opportunity for rebirth, and now a few days of further reflection before Hayley, Caroline and I partake in our annual burning bowl ceremony to let go of those aspects of life we no longer want to carry around with us into the New Year, and to encourage the new instead.

So happy winter solstice to everyone, enjoy. And if you look closely at the photo below you can see something etheral going on - although my cousin would argue it is just a lense thing on the camera!

xx

JUST STOP

It has been an interesting weekend, the Christmas spirit is certainly upon us and thoughts turn towards the new year, big changes in the horoscopes too, lots of endings and new beginnings creating uncertainty and restlessness. Still a perfect time to let go of the old and embrace the new, however much we struggle with the concept of change, I guess it is part of being human after all.

I found this lovely poem by Baba Afdal Kashani, which sums it up nicely.

"Don't regret the past;
release your worries
about the future.

Don't think about yourself -
and stop trying not to!

Now's the time
to leave the shore -
the Ocean of Unity
is calling...

don't listen...
don't see...

don't say...
don't think...

don't be...

JUST STOP."

So here goes to stopping...

xx

RAINBOW-TASTIC

Well it has not been the most pleasant of days weather wise, cold, rain, heavy clouds, the usual British winter thing, but I am so pleased I made the effort to get out of the house and go down to the beach as I was fortunate to see an incredible rainbow brightening the otherwise dark skies.

Rainbows are simply incredible, I will never forget driving back to Byron Bay in Australia with my friend Hayley and my brother's step-daughter Adena after we had visited the monthly Channon market back in May and being treated to the most incredible rainbow we have all ever seen, it literally lit up the sky so that we were "oohing and aahing" in awe at this spectacular light show of nature, which just appeared to the side of us - it was an effort to keep my eyes on the road!

And then again when Charles was driving the two of us to London from my caravan in Devon back in July and we saw a total of 3 rainbows on that one journey, adding to the general spontaneity and magic of that day, and then again when I was staying with him while doing the David Swenson course so that we now believe there must be some connection between us and rainbows...or it could just be complete coincidence, if there is indeed such a thing.

Regardless of life circumstances, I can't help but smile when I see a rainbow, they are just so bright and colourful, the full range of the light spectrum and indeed the chakras up there on display, like we need more of a message to demonstrate the power of balanced chakras so that we too can shine the colours of a rainbow. My Dad thinks I am mad of course, spending too much time living in a fairy world, but I say bring it on, for something to be so bright, colourful, natural, free and beautiful has to be nothing short of one of the greatest gifts of the universe...that and creation of course.

And actually this reminds me of something, strangely the night my Gran passed away. Although she taught me many lessons in her life, my Gran, Doreen, taught me her greatest lesson in her passing. A couple of hours before she took her final breath I checked her chakras with my crystal pendulum and I was amazed to find that they were all completely balanced. This is not something I come across very often when I work with people on an energetic level and I was strangely surprised.

Of course now it makes perfect sense to me and I took great comfort in the fact that in her moment of passing my Gran had managed to establish complete balance throughout her energetic body, which surely meant that she was balanced in all other bodies too. Peace perhaps. And I suspect that if I had been able to see her aura at that time, it would have been glowing the bright colours of the chakras, like a rainbow too - the sign of an angel perhaps.

So enjoy the rainbows, may they bring as much peace, comfort and joy into your life as they do to mine.