Hail and well met.....

I've had  such a fantastic  and busy week, it's difficult to know where to start, perhaps with an advance apology about the random selection of photos I'll be using as some of them are quite old. I've met a lot of new people in my journey this week, so whipping my camera out every 5 minutes didn't feel appropriate and also I probably wouldn't have been invited back!



A Face in the Countless Stones?

I'm very proud to say that I attended the inaugural meeting of Maidstone Pagans at Fortify a gorgeous vegan cafe in Maidstone. We had a small but lovely eclectic mixture of local people, our interests ranging from those of us journeying with the Goddess, Witches (as opposed to Wiccans - I learned how different their paths can be) a Lady interested in Crystals and some people who were just curious to discover more.
Very quickly we discovered that despite our differing paths we all had common ground in the form of our love of nature and a respect for our world around us, and after chatting about our respective beliefs, it soon became clear that a visit to the collection of ancient stone structures, known as The Medway Megaliths was going to be our first group event. Whilst looking at my photos from last week, I'd discarded the one above as I'd been trying to capture the pink tone of the rock, but looking again I found this half worn away face instead - an early example of photo bombing perhaps?!


Entrance to the Long Barrow,
Coldrum Stones

We're planning our field trip for June/July so hopefully there will be some more images to share then. To the left is photo from Summer Solstice 5 years ago showing the Coldrum Long Barrow at Trottiscliffe (Pronounced locally as Trosley if you should feel inclined to go looking for them!) which we also hope to visit along with another site that is on public property apparently the very elderly owner who has lived there for most of her life offers to lend you divining rods when you arrive as par for the course, should be an interesting visit!

Later in the week, my friend Naomi and myself drove to Folkestone to join some of the members of the Folkestone Pagan Circle who we first met at Beltane, for an evening of learning more about the Goddesses on the Wheel of the Year as well as chanting to each Goddess in each aspect of the wheel  and connecting with Her in Her many different forms and archetypes. How could we refuse such an interesting offer? I really didn't know what to expect, but after arriving in a sudden hail storm, we really were hale and well met.

Sulis Minerva at Bath

We started off by each 'randomly' picking a different Goddess name for each new aspect of the wheel, not a whisper of a corn or grain Goddess came my way, instead I was 'given' Artemis, Sulis and Hekate amongst others, then one by one started to chant, sing or in my case caterwaul Her name and sometimes Her attributes until we were all chanting and singing in some sense of unison or harmony - think Cell Block Tango in Chicago..... and do you know what? It worked, it really did - it felt powerful and amazing! The atmosphere and the energy were completely tangible. In between each aspect whilst picking our next Goddess name we learned about the plethora of different Goddesses and their attributes from all around the world.
Give it a go with some friends if you get the chance and see what happens. Thank you Laura for creating such a powerful and special space for a chanting circle.

The fact that I wasn't working with my 'usual' Goddess as we were chanting meant that I had the opportunity to look at other aspects and names of Her. Last week I shared with you all that I was quite surprised that Kerah whom I had intuited in my meditations felt like a warrior energy and it had really thrown me as I was expecting a more gentle or  a raunchier or sensual energy. It struck me whilst at the chanting circle that a lot of the attributes of Goddesses connected with the Lover such as Freyja and Ishtar are contradictory in the sense that they represent Love and War, so this was a bit of an Aha! moment.
Reflecting on it over the weekend, I have come to the conclusion that to be prepared to fight or battle for someone, something or somewhere you must have to love them or it with a huge degree of passion in the first instance, people describe themelves as passionate about a cause, a charity or saving a building, so for me at least it's all connecting up a bit more.
I've been continuing my usual daily practice, grounding and calling Kerah in whilst lighting candles and incense on my altar, and have really felt the energy around me start to change and grow. My interest in charity, conservation or social injustice awareness and campaigns has always been there but over the last month I've noticed they've made me more angry and upset, making me feel that I need to do more to try to promote and support what's important for humanity, animals, the environment and fight social injustice. I can't change the world, but I can make a difference - that's it,rant over - back off my soap box!

This week I'm hoping that as the moon reaches her final quarter that my meditation journeys will be more fruitful, I'm aware of a cave in the distance when I meditate, the time will come to see what's in there, which is hopefully as moon becomes full, even if I do need to do it in the early hours as I seem to be bidden. Also joy of joys, I am travelling back to Avalon this coming weekend for a day with my circle sisters old and new, excited is an understatement! 

                                          Have a Blessed Week x x



Shadow over the Copse

Sunset over the Orchard