Looking Inwards

Altar Candle

Well I don't know about anywhere else but it's more like Autumn than Summer here today! All this water has certainly reflected my need to go with the flow over the last few days - I had lots of Goddess activities planned for this weekend after a really long week which just about left room for daily devotions but what a surprise - all change! First I had a migraine from hell which meant that I needed to take myself off to bed for a couple of hours instead of attending a Holistic Fayre organised by some friends where I was going to be doing some drumming as well as hopefully getting some divine inspiration and then due to circumstances beyond our control we've had to cancel our Maidstone Pagans moot today. 

Well worth a read..

So, what to do with myself instead? Listen to my body for starters - as Michelle my Discovery Course Priestess always told us, you cannot serve from an empty vessel. Cue for plenty of sleep, lots of snuggly cat cuddles and time to catch up on some reading! I spent a fair amount of my weekend reading this - Stolen Images by Peter Knight - a fascinating look at Pagan Symbolism and how it became part of Christian worship...well worth a read.
As my lovely friend Lu pointed out this morning the rain had a curious effect - it was as she said very 'still' this morning - less cars and people about even in our quiet neck of the woods, perfect quality time in an empty house to talk with my Goddess, do some chanting, and indeed maracas waving followed by a fabulous rain inspired meditation - which  led me deeper into my

My Kitchen Window Altar

journey that yet again had a healing theme that darted backwards and forwards through time so vividly it was like watching a film. 
I thought I'd share some photos of my kitchen altar, from day one it felt like the most natural place to have one for me. My kitchen is multi purpose room at the front of my house - the first room you enter, complete with large dining table, comfy rocking chair, plenty of snoozing cats and a dresser to hold additional kitchen and 'Goddess' stuff; books, candles, incense, altar bits - you name it! It has always been the central room in our house, full of smells from the oven; cakes, jam/chutney or wine making, as well as focal point for homework, family and friends

chattering and celebration planning. More recently adorned by headdresses, drums, rattles and sewing bits! Perfect place for me  to celebrate Goddess. Most of the items on my altar have a special significance.  I bought this blue glass star fish in a charity shop after asking Goddess for something watery and have filled it for Litha with pretty pebbles from beaches that we have visited this year.

The candle at the of the page is one myself and my daughter chose, originally to decorate our water themed bathroom, whilst the shell was a present from a much loved cousin's visit to the Bahamas and the jewelled dragonfly (a life long totem of mine) was a 'just because' present from my other best friend Tracie who knows how much I love them - so much so that they were the theme at our wedding. I also have this postcard of the Yorkshire Moors, which was actually sent to me by Friends of the Earth asking me to support a cause they were fighting

- particularly relevant to the warrior/protector energy of Kerah as I feel Her, as well as a gorgeous rose quartz heart given to me by my friend Diana, many years ago, in the very early days of my journey. To me all these items represent love in its many forms and guises, perfect for my altar.

This weekend I've also taken the opportunity to get jam jars and bottles ready for the coming harvest of

Apple Wine ready
 to go....

fruit and veg for jams, chutneys, curds and wines of every variety! I even 'found' 5, yes 5 demi johns of apple wine to bottle to add to the other 60 plus bottles maturing in the corner of the lounge of wines such as nectarine, blackberry, peach and apricot as well as some experimental cucumber wine smells like melon, tastes like gin and  marrow rum which is very sweet and almost chocolatey! I'm pretty sure we'll be adding to that this year too from the allotment and hedgerows, as well as gifts of gluts from elsewhere.

Finally, as I was waiting to pick my daughter up from work tonight, I was mulling over my lack of exciting 'Goddessy' stuff AGAIN this week and wishing, not without a considerable amount of envy, that I was able to get to conference in Glastonbury this coming week or get to a Lammas celebration, when with sudden clarity it occurred to me that my upcoming 'mundane' week of work, pilates, swimming, a night in with the girls, while we plan something special for my daughter's 18th birthday and less mundane highlight of my lovely Dad's birthday meal on Saturday are all in their own right real life celebrations and workings of my Goddess! Safeguarding and protecting at work, nurturing my vessel, planning a rite of passage for my beautiful girl, a very special moon lodge and a fantastic celebration of fruitfulness - a birthday meal at Lammas for a wonderful man with his wife, children and grandchildren as he reaches 73...... With a massive 'Doh!' I realised that I don't need to worry about planning Goddessy things, they happen anyway, She is such a part of my life that in my celebrations I am already honouring Her and that I am 'living it' authentically without having to wave a flag or bang a drum to prove it. Valuable and thought provoking lesson...

                  Wishing Everyone at Conference a Fabulous Week!

           Have a Blessed Week, However you Celebrate Lammas! x x