Call of The Wild

A Slightly Camera Shy Lola

Aww bless her, look who I woke up to this morning, Lola sitting on my chest and purring like a furry machine gun. If I could just train her to bring up a cuppa it would be perfect! 
Now is it me, or has anyone else lost the Moon this week?! I know she's up there somewhere, but we've had such cloudy nights that I've yet to have even a glimpse of a slither of moon light. After a year or more of noting down my moods, feelings, artistic waves, meditations and the changes in my body, instinct told me that we were starting the new phase, but no sign as yet of the Ivy Moon as this one is known, according to my lunar diary. The 'artistic' wave was in

A Splash of Colour

full flow when I decided to splash some more colour into our lounge, orange again to compliment the cushions, this time vibrant Chinese lanterns. I wonder if anyone had shopping envy and were inspired like I was the other week! I haven't seen any growing for years - my Nan used to have them in her garden up on the top patio by the crab apples.

This is usually a good time for me to meditate and journey with Goddess but so far I've struggled to concentrate and find the peace and silence that I require to meditate 'properly'. What I have done a lot is dream vividly, spending my nights with all manner of friends, family and total strangers! I once read that if you are awake at night you are in someone else's dream - so apologies for anyone who is suffering with insomnia this week, it's probably my fault! I was also told by someone that I have a lot of respect for, that between the hours of midnight and three-thirty is when we travel astrally, does this explain why I regularly wake up at 3.33 with a jolt - or perhaps I just snore so loudly that I wake myself up! My husband might say the latter....

A Timely Discovery

This week's lack of meaningful meditation has had me questioning my daily practices of centring and calling Goddess in, plenty of time and quiet for that, not rushed or hurried, taking time to walk with and work with Goddess throughout the whole of the day - even managing to sneak my Endless Wave by Gabrielle Roth CD and incense sticks into a relaxation session for one of my groups at work, for the record the group absolutely loved it! However I have been aware of a yearning for total and absolute absence of mechanical, traffic or electronic noise that has been gnawing away at my conciousness for a little while. With that in mind, it was no surprise that this book turned up at the work, Ok maybe not really so very surprising considering that my office is in a library, but you know what I mean! Since then I have been devouring it for 'Wild' places to visit to find this solitude and oneness with nature that so appeals. 
So this afternoon after some careful thought and weighing up just how 'Wild'  I could actually stand, bearing in mind I was in

Rainham Marshes

almost hysterical tears about being stuck on the mountain forever and being left to die when we went down the wrong path on Snowdon just a few years ago and I don't 'do' hills, I thought I'd ease myself in gently. Just a bit off the beaten track, well in plain view of it to start with to be honest. Off we went to Rainham, about 20 miles away to the Riverside Country Park, for a walk on the wild side. Not renowned for it's connection to Ker or any other Corn or Grain Goddess of course but Her land anyway. 
The park is a coastal one

A Grey but Sunny Day

on the Thames estuary and there is a beautiful walk out on a spit of land with marshland either side, teeming with wildlife and birds. The head of the land was once a brick works. Again, not necessarily a promising land of Goddess connections but with the wind blowing there was very little chance of hearing cars, and judging by people miserably jabbing at their mobiles there wasn't a great deal of phone or internet coverage. The views were certainly wild, and once you could look beyond the power station on the very deceptively quaintly named Isle of Grain, grain being the local gravel, the wetlands were redolent of some of the Dickens novel settings (he did live locally) and there was a beauty in the stark surroundings, you could hear the whoosh  and rush of the feathers of the Canadian Geese that flew overhead and the calls and

Rose Hips Amongst the Foliage

squawks of the settling and nesting birds. Lots of families with children and scooters, and dog walkers prevented it from being quiet and lonely. Too busy for any real chance of meditation but an enjoyable hour spent feeling the wind in my hair and allow time to contemplate and enjoy a very different type  of environment to my more familiar fields and woods. So, happy to go on to the next level of wild, with less people but more trees, back to the drawing board it seemed, then guess what I found on the way home! A country park I've driven passed up on the hills but have never visited until today. A quick recce proved fruitful, even boasting castle ruins and the site of an Iron Age Fort... with amazing views, something to look forward to next weekend and I'm guessing the rug will be making an appearance, hopefully along with a spot of peaceful meditation!

             Wishing You All a Peaceful and Meditative Week x x 

        

'Horrid Hill'

Autumnal Berries