Surrounded by Trees

The Crone

What's been on my mind this week? 
Not surprisingly perhaps - death, what happens afterwards, trees that look like brains and Goddess in her Crone aspect, not at all as grim as it sounds - I promise you! I thought I'd also share some art with you this week, this is an old oil crayon sketch I did earlier this year of Ceridwen the Crone weaving her magic huddled round her cauldron, in some other world under Glastonbury Tor, not a bear which it looks a bit like according to my son! When I did a meditation journey to meet Goddess as Crone a vision of Her flashed into my head immediately, it took a while for me to track the image down but eventually I realised it was a sketch my beautiful cousin Rachel had shown me of her A level art a couple of years ago, bless her, she has very kindly sent me  a photo of the finished work...
 

By Kind Permission of Rachel Weeden

  

It is is even more amazing than I remember, I know you will all agree, what a very talented young lady she is! In this sketch of a very old woman I can see so many emotions telling her story: humour, fear, hope, grief, love, warmth, pain, knowledge and joy. There is beauty in her wrinkled and lined skin and her work worn hands. I can still remember filing and painting my Nan's nails for her and being fascinated by the strength  and the stories in those tiny wrinkled arthritic hands, whilst listening to tales of her parents, grandparents, her childhood and her life. I also remember getting told off for remarking that she looked like a nice old witch to my Mum! I meant it in 

Tree Roots at Avebury Circle

the nicest possible way, she was beautiful and wise. In the mediation Goddess was sitting waiting for me on some raised gnarled tree routes not unlike these at Avebury Circle. Predictably just as I drew nearer I was brought back to the present by one of the cats! I'll need to revisit that meditation path again, I am still calling Goddess in as Ker, no Crone name has come to me yet, having learnt the hard way earlier in the year that other people's interpretations don't always work for others, I'm in no rush!
The phrase 'tree of life' kept floating through my mind and feels

Tree of Life
Pendant

 as though it's important for me or has an important lesson for me to learn. It also connects with me for family trees and the mother line which is still nagging away at me to research some more. Whilst looking for fresh tea lights in my Goddess drawer, I found a pretty silver pendant I bought last year and have yet to buy a chain  for it and wear it - of course it's the tree of life symbol - what else would it be? I beginning to think I'm getting obsessed with trees reflecting us or us reflecting them, even simply looking at them. I really will be hugging them next!

As the land is dying down, for winter, like a little death in itself, which interestingly translates in French as La Petite Morte and can also mean an orgasm, a final ecstasy perhaps - all sorts of connotations of seeds being planted there, but sorry I digress! I've been musing how life and nature reflect each other; that both have life cycles that have been played out for time immeasurable and have found myself watching trees as they shed their leaves literally in front of me, some at the end of their lives, clinging on until the bitter end, brown, dry and wrinkled they float away from the branches, whilst others spiral and dance away

Mistletoe Balls

in the wind - vivid wings of red, orange and gold even green, energetic to the last.  The rapidly disappearing leaves leaves have made the clumps of mistletoe visible, ironically it poisons the tree, despite being evergreen and associated with Christmas kisses, it's pretty noxious stuff! No wonder it was and still is so revered by Druids alongside the Oak tree. 
It's possible that these ancient oaks at the base of the Tor
were once part of a druid grove, this one known as Magog is between 1000 and 1500 years old "She" named after a legendary giantess, is still alive unlike her brother Gog, strange I've just today remembered having a dream as a child, where there were tiny devils under the bed called Gog and

The Ancient Magog

Magog, it terrified me at the time! Nearly as much as the afternoon walk round the bottom of the Tor a couple of years ago where I took this photo of Magog, up hill and down dale as my Discovery Sisters can probably well recall!  All these bare branches put me in mind of blood veins, arteries and capillaries that service our bodies and brains with the oxygen vital to our existence, which are also reflected in the trees root systems.... as above so below. Trees covered with foliage always look like brains to me too, perhaps I need to get out less! Walking this path with Goddess has made me stop and look at the world around me in a different way.

 I'll do my best to stay away from trees for a while, but don't hold your breath!

Have A Blessed Week x x x