Feeling Autumnal

Sun beginning to set through
the trees 

I hope you've all had a fabulous week, it's seemed a lot calmer and quieter than the previous one, thank the Goddess! 
The sun was low in the sky when I went into Pilates last week and it was dark when I came out. With nights beginning to draw in progressively earlier and some colder nights, the dressing gown is making a timely appearance and I'm starting to feel very autumnal, I could quite easily consider an early hibernation! So much so that the following day, I had cushion envy at a local superstore and went back later with my husband to buy these  jumbo cord burnt orange and chocolate cushions to warm up the lounge,

Eddie trying out the
 New Cushions

Little Eddie seems to like them.... 

I redecorated my kitchen altar for Mabon with fruits and seeds gleaned from walks through the fields, surrounding areas and from our allotment, probably looking suspiciously like a scrumper or a mad woman grabbing conkers, acorns and berries with glee! I was instantly reminded of the church harvest festivals of my childhood, and a little research has suggested that Harvest has been celebrated all over the world since ancient

Mabon Kitchen Altar

times, one of the first festivals being Oschophoria in Ancient Greece, held around the autumn equinox to celebrate  the harvesting of grapes for wine - I like the sound of that one! 
I kept the corn dolly from my Lammas Altar as I discovered that these are traditionally made from the last head of corn or wheat from the harvest to offer thanks and to keep the spirit of the corn safe, warm and  alive during the winter months, before replanting it in the furrows in the spring to promote another years crop and harvest. All this rummaging has led me to The Golden Bough by Sir James George Frazer, which everyone seems to have heard of but me - another book ordered! 

Garden Altar

I also finally found use for an old ivy wood stump that 
I acquired earlier in the year from a bemused client, while my lovely work colleague smiled sweetly and humoured me yet again, and made an altar outside. Again, I set about decorating it with all my gleanings, as well as a flourish of red and golden leaves after I had jumped in and kicked the drifts of them in the car park like a big kid!
I also added bunches of herbs from the allotment: lavender, lemon verbena and cat mint. As I sat and called in Ker, I offered thanks for the harvest of the land, of

the fruitfulness of imagination and creativity,of the richness of my life and all my blessings. 
As I knew this month finances would be awfully tight as Mark's knee although on the mend,is still causing him to be

Herbs from the Allotment.

off work and he will be going on to statutory sick pay, I asked Ker not for money but for inspiration, fruitfulness and abundance to make the money and food stretch. I sat and mediated for  a while, not journeying but just enjoying the stillness of the moment and feeling part of my surroundings and breathing in the sharp smells of lemon, mint and lavender.

Last of the Allotment
 Potato Harvest

I had long planned to go to Avalon this weekend, to attend a Healer Priestess Course taster day, but the car needs work doing to it that might not survive a 3 hour pelt down to the West country and back, and I couldn't find a coach, train or car share for love or a considerably extortionate amount of money, so reluctantly I had to give up my place, stop muttering rude words under my breath and accept that I wasn't going. 
Instead I resigned myself to the thought that it was meant to be, I was needed here, would have had a crash etc generally embracing, sorry clinging to the theory of the butterfly effect and darkly citing quotes from The 5 People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom (amazing book - well worth a read) and embarked on a  cleaning and cupboard rearranging  frenzy and managed to compile a much shorter and reduced shopping list for the month to reflect the belt tightening required, after

The start of the Tip
of the Apple Iceberg

discovering forgotten packets, mixes and tins in the cupboards, only a month or so out of date...Shhhhh!! A near final raid on the allotment produced the last of the potatoes, onions,marrows, shallots and the start of a glut of apples, which sent me on a recipe searching quest, that my war time austerity mother line would have been proud of !
The results included a rather spectacular and delicious Spanish Stuffed Marrow with chorizto sausages and spices topped with cheese, which we sampled expecting to hate but soon woofed the lot down and went back for seconds, as well as the start of a chutney making spree - marrow and shallots which came out perfectly and promises to spice up meals in the long winter months. Why is it always Marrows my Goddess gives me? Not that I'm not grateful! 
Well I'm off to set my alarm for 3 am to get up and see the Super/Blood Harvest Moon, as you do, I'll be regretting that tomorrow night at work! I'll leave you with some Marrow pictures...they seem to be increasingly taking over my life!!

Have  a Blessed Week and Enjoy Your Lunar Watching x x 

  

Mixed Emotions

All Ready for the
Birthday Girl

What an utterly  fabulous weekend! Apologies for the late posting, it has been non stop and we have been recovering from a wonderful long weekend of celebrating birthdays and lives of family and friends. We kicked off on Saturday with our beautiful daughter Sophie's 18th Birthday, how wonderfully perfect for a pre Mabon celebration - to celebrate a coming of age, a harvest of 18 years of love and nurture as our precious girl became a woman, a celebration of fertility and fruitfulness, mine not hers obviously! 

Birthday Bouquet

We had a garden party at my parents which had a Hollywood theme for her, complete with a photo booth that we had put together - perfect for a drama student! All week I had fervently asked Ker for beautiful weather, and plenty of energy and inspiration to make Sophie's birthday party a magical one..... and She didn't let me down! The weather was wonderful, everything went to plan

Much Prettier Than a Jar..

and I found energy and creative inspiration from somewhere! I was originally looking for a pretty jar to store the 'love and happiness' in but was struggling to find one, instead I went with the flow (not easy when time is running out and you know in your heart of hearts that you are a teensy bit of a control freak!) and found this beautiful box looking just perfect for my purpose! Once I had lined it with lilac tissue paper, scented it with a winter orchid and cassis sachet  and filled it with sequinned

Brim Full of love
 and happiness...

 and jewelled messages of love and happiness from all the women who had watched her grow up and had helped her to become the young woman she is, it was ready to go...   She loved it!
One of my best friends made her a cake, with her favourite film star on it, she was actually speechless! 

Awesome Surprise Cake

The whole party felt special as all our friends and family were involved in some way or another, whether it was helping to get ready, making a cake, contributing to her Memory Scrapbook, taking lots of crazy photos with a variety of hats and wigs in the photo booth, the lads - my son and his best friends letting off some amazing fireworks or all the guests simply just by being there, it was truly a wonderful celebration and I am so delighted and grateful!

This week and weekend of celebrating has left little time for anything really 'Goddessy' although in many ways I feel that the whole celebration has been just that - a celebration of the mother line and Goddess and wonderful women that form a circle around us, invisible but strong as my little girl became a woman! 
The following day we celebrated another 18th with lots of bubbly - that of  our friends lovely daughter and then on Monday said a final goodbye and gave thanks for the life to my Dad's Uncle in a simple but moving ceremony, it did feel a bit weird saying 'Amen ' after being so used to 'Blessed Be' but I figured that honouring an old Naval Officer for the last time his way was the right thing to do! 
I did however manage a couple of mediation journeys, if I'm honest, more out of need to de stress than sheer connection with my Goddess, the results unsurprisingly were rather odd! In the first one I was pregnant, huge bellied, ready to pop, I walked through fields caressing my stretched stomach before sitting in a cottage with  a group of old women who brewing something over the fire and rubbing my feet, gleefully grinning and nodding to each other about the impending birth, in the second one I flew above the rain (it was pouring outside our windows that morning) and swooped over the

A Birthday Toast

empty fields with a lonely pang and a melancholy  ache in me, guess which one was before Sophie's birthday and which one was after! 
An emotional week for me, which was reflected in these journeys, but let me leave you on a happy note, with a photo of me and my 'grown up' daughter and happy memories of "wow, what a party!" 


    Have a Wonderful week and  a Blessed Mabon x x 

Seeds for the Future

 Berries In Our Front Garden

This week has been one of those ones where I've wanted to bury myself in my bed, hide under the duvet and ignore the world! The trouble with that is that it doesn't tend to solve anything, so soldiering on was on the cards instead. 
I am sooo not Wonder Woman this week! 
As the last fruits of the harvest are being given up by the earth, the surrounding fields are beginning to look stark as they fall silent and still. The bean field has already been ploughed over and left to settle for the approaching autumn, the long lines of gentle ridges

Freshly Ploughed Bean Field

make it look like a thick and chunky brown duvet snuggling the land down, or perhaps that's just me and my wishful thinking!   As we approach the Autumn Equinox on 23rd, (Equinox being Latin for equal nights) and prepare to celebrate Mabon the Late Harvest Festival on or around the 20th, the only remaining fruits seem to be the seeds and berries that are preparing to venture forth and lie dormant through the autumn and winter under the soil until they burst into life again next spring.                                                                                            I noticed them everywhere when I went to pick

Hawthorn Berries

my daughter up from work, which was a pretty handy last minute gift from Goddess as I was feeling totally harvested of ideas or what to ramble about and had no pictures to illustrate said ramblings with. This resulted in a very spontaneous but undignified photo opportunity, involving me running round the car park where she works, which fortunately is gloriously situated at the entrance to Maidstone's lovely Millennium Park, snapping photos of the hedgerows, (always the hedgerows with me - I love them!) before she came out of work and I embarrassed her in front of her work colleagues. Clever me, I managed to do it

Sycamore Seeds Growing
Their Wings

before she appeared , and I was sat smugly smiling in the car, when she jumped in laughing and asked "Mum, what were you doing? Goddessing?" Busted! The sycamore planes were hanging in clumps and I knew that Ker was telling me that there is always a new harvest and new seeds, new growth and that they would take off when the time was good and ready for them. Particularly pertinent this week as we are preparing to say goodbye to a Great Uncle, have a poorly family member and have a lot going on in general - that's families and friends for you, and as C.S. Lewis said 'grief is the price you pay for love' - so true on so many levels. Upwards and onwards!

Old Man's Beard

I've struggled to feel connected to Ker this week, and I know this is mainly because I have been so busy that I haven't made as much time as I could have done to talk to and spend time with Her, and I've really felt it, or rather felt the lack of it. Reflecting on it now, I've missed the fullness of those conversations, the comfort of the rituals and the silence and stillness of the meditations, to the extent that it felt like it was impacting on my physical and psychological well being. 
That said, I managed to ultimately turn the week around  and fit in the second round of preparation for Sophie's present from all the girls and apart from one more friend, we've completed our labours which meant a lovely and well needed evening in full of laughter and fun with even more of my wonderful friends! I also had the pleasure of celebrating another

Sun and Berries

friend's beautiful daughter's 18th this weekend - so I've managed to rebalance, identify and address what I need.......and breathe! 

This last photo I took this evening sums up the message that Ker has sent me tonight, the sun filtering through the undergrowth and seeds ready to sow new growth and ideas, reminding me how blessed I am, rejuvenating and re inspiring me.

I hope you all Have a Wonderful and Blessed Mabon, 

however you choose to enjoy and mark it. 

We will be celebrating our Beautiful Daughters 18th Birthday this coming weekend with a party with Family and Friends, surrounded by love and laughter - how apt for the last Harvest of Fertility and Fruitfulness.

Blessed Be x x 

Time to celebrate....

Courtesy of www.superherostuff.com

September if definitely shaping up to be my busiest month of the year so far, and I still haven't  spontaneously woken up as Wonder Woman, although  I live in hope and I'm sure Mark does too! I did once have a birthday present wrapped up in wonder woman paper so that's probably as close as I'm going to get! So that just means I'll have to get on with being me for the time being....  All jokes aside, having so much to do has made me realise how much we push ourselves to meet all the demands that we are faced with at home and work or with family and friends as much as we love them. This week I have made a concious effort to stop and reward myself with time for myself or doing something for me, even if it's just for 20 minutes or so, and it seems that Goddess is with me on that one too. 
All morning I have been slaving away on an assignment for the diploma from hell after getting up early to take the kids to work (the countryside is great but the bus timetables not so!) after a mere 6 hours

September Sunshine

asleep. 'Meh' springs to mind, anyway I took myself out to my garden altar for 20 minutes with a  mug of tea to enjoy some of the glorious sunshine we're having and I was rewarded by the unexpected company of my youngest cat, who's very shy and also a complete Daddy's girl. As she sat on my lap after wearing herself out stalking a shiny black beetle, we were both entranced as a huge dragonfly flew into the garden and proceeded to put on a display of aerial acrobatics just for us. 
It really was huge - it's wing span must have been about 5 or 6 inches and it glistened and shimmered as though it had

My very own Dragon Tree..

been rolling in gold dust. I didn't dare to move in case I chased it off so I didn't manage to get  a photo but it was gorgeous! I have loads of dragonfly items round the house - jewellery, photo frames, wind chimes, scarves etc so I was thrilled to have one visit, especially when a bit of research suggested that it's symbolic meanings include reminding you that you need more lightness and joy in your life, wisdom and transformation - pretty apt then! Obviously on the right track adding time to stop and stare, like with this bark on a tree that I walk past everyday that always makes me think of dragon skin, the way it's ridged and folded, and yes, I was one of those children that pestered my Mum with questions like "If there is a word for dragons/unicorns/witches/fairies why don't they exist Mum, why?" 
This harks back to my musings from last week, 

Sunset over the Bridge

when I was reflecting about how I connect with Goddess, seeing Her in little everyday things and stopping to notice, hear or see . On Tuesday night I managed to persuade my lovely colleague to stop the car so that I could take this picture of rich bronze sunset as we crossed the river on our way to work, luckily for me she likes a sunset and moon view too, good job really, bless her!

Crafting Mayhem

Now, I've elicited a promise from my daughter not to secretly read my blog until after her birthday, so I can share a bit of what we've been doing for her with you. It's felt really important to do and make something myself for her (My poor son didn't get this treatment, but he was just as happy with money for plane tickets for his expedition of choice that year and his own body weight in pizzas as a surprise to share with his friends at Explorer scouts.) - I think this may be something that has evolved as part of my spiritual journey and the path that unfolds before me and my fascination with the Motherline all rolled into one! Anyway, apart from compiling a Memory Scrap Book full of anecdotes from all her friends and family,  what I decided to do was gather friends who have known her a long time and create a Jar of Love and Happiness.... What we did was to decorate pretty cream

heart or circular tags with beads, sequins, paper flowers, stickers etc on one side and stick an inspirational quote on the other so that she always has our love and ahem, wisdom around her! The idea is that she pulls one out of a jar or box, probably the latter as we got carried away and did several each either when she needs a hug, needs a bit of bravery or feels she'd like to! 
The first wave of this was Friday, and despite some of my lovely friends quietly wondering if I had lost it, they all gamely got into it and we produced these beauties. In fact even those who were muttering "I'm not very arty", well and truly got

Decorated in her favourite colours

stuck in and thoroughly enjoyed themselves whilst we has a glass or two of wine, talked about making 'stuff' again and generally put the world to rights, the makings of a moon lodge if you ask me! Round 2 this week with some other dear friends. I think she'll love them. So I've got more joy to look forward to and another assignment to write (boo!) this week as well as one of those friends daughter's 18th birthday too, I suppose I'd best think of  something gorgeous to make for her too! 

Have  a Blessed Week x x 

Fruitful Musings

Sun through the Trees

Apologies for the late post dear friends, it's been one of those weeks where there just aren't enough hours in the day or days in the week - well either that or I have overloaded myself.... (Wouldn't be the first time!) Work and life have been extremely busy as well as putting a lot of time and energy into planning my beautiful daughter's 18th birthday party. I will happily share some of it with you after the event in a few weeks times, but I can't yet in case I spoil some of the surprises for her, as despite her protestations of having a 'major hippy' as a Mum, she is fiercely proud and supportive of me and randomly reads my blog! Bless her heart.

Looking slightly more
 interesting?

The appetising marrow mash mixture from last week has 'blossomed' into this luscious yellow  liquid that is busily frothing in my kitchen, bubbling and popping away in it's demijohns. I had a couple more unexpected harvests this week, a client's Mum came into work bearing gifts of rhubarb for me and a computer desk that we were giving away to a friends sister resulted in a bumper crop of rhubarb as a thank you, marvellous! I've always made jams, chutneys and wines, I particularly like the fact that the crops from the harvest are able to be enjoyed the whole year round, presumably why people developed all these techniques before freezers and all year round supplies from abroad were thought of. The thought that I am in some way connecting with my ancestors by preserving fruits and vegetables as they must have done thrills me and connects me more deeply with them.

A Bumper Crop

Thanking Ker for even more unexpected gifts,  I decided that rhubarb and ginger wine was the way forward, much to the delight of my lovely neighbours who 'enjoyed' last years vintage with us and joined us in silly dancing round the lounge as a result! Within no time I had washed and sliced the fragrant stems and chopped up the remainder of the ginger (not one to waste anything if I can help it!) and now we have another bucket of chopped fruit that will soon transform into a delicious drink, real life magic! This year I am thinking that I might use the wine at meals celebrating the Sabbats with family and friends, especially when the wheel is turning full circle, so we can enjoy summer fruit drinks at Imbolc and so on.

Recording Memories

My daughter bought me a special book to write my recipes in for a Mother's Day present several years ago and I also have one for my wine making so that maybe future generations can use the recipes and skills that I have joyfully reclaimed from my ancestors - well hopefully that or marvel at how these odd old fruits weren't extinct in the early 21st century, preferably the former. On reflection, it's also a way in which I particularly connect and honour Goddess, especially Ker throughout the year.

My first Acorn

Earlier in the week one of my lovely circle sisters Rity prompted a discussion about how we connect and honour Goddess as individuals, about how deeply we felt that connection and how at times we have feared that we are less connected or that some others have better and more imaginative connections, meditations or visions etc. ( For the record she is more than happy to be named and acclaimed, I did check!) This really got me thinking about how I connected, honoured and celebrated throughout the wheel of the year with my Goddess, it took me all day to articulate it!
For me it's simple little things, like the  first acorn of the year I saw peeping put from behind the sacred leaves of the oak tree whilst walking to pilates the other week, the smell of the rain as it rejuvenates the land, watching the same rain or dew rise in drifting misty wraiths as the sun dries and warms the land  as well as

A Chilled Purchase

the joy of communing with Her every morning, lighting a candle and incense stick and calling Her in and relishing the peace and stillness of our combined being as I mediate, but it's also there in the bigger, more deliberate or elaborate events, listening to special music to facilitate a meditation, a large Beltane ceremony, a planned pilgrimage to special sacred places, buying 'Goddessy' things or an ornate and painstakingly worked piece of art. It's a beautiful mixture of both, entwining it all into my life, simply living it, so that there seems to be no end or beginning, that She is always there in the extraordinary and the more mundane, that the mundane in it's own way becomes extraordinary. It also made me realise how individual and different we all are in our connections and the way we honour Her, that there is no right or wrong way and that we all do it best in our own unique way.

Have a Blessed and Extraordinary Week x x

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