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| Divine Colouring... |
Wow it's been a really windy week, and I'm not just talking about the brussel sprouts and the butter nut squash and lentil casserole! Hurricane Frank has been whirling around loudly and violently, with disastrous effects in some places, for us here in Kent it has thankfully just meant some wild and hair raising winds (literally). For the first half of the last week I enjoyed taking advantage of my week off work and enjoying the 'bracing' air in the back garden when I have my first cuppa of the morning much to the surprise of next door's cat who has stared at me beadily every morning from the safety of the fence. We have one of those melodic wind chimes - sounds of mercury or something, that are supposed to be actual notes and I've even noticed the different tunes the varying force and direction of the wind has produced on different days! To feel the wind lifting my hair and the sound it makes as it whooshes through the trees and rattles the branches has helped me feel more connected to the earth again, well that's before the rain came back again! This week I've made a conscious effort to find some time to relax, enjoying my remaining days off after
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| My Zen Garden |
a wonderful but hectic week with all the family from near and far, I have to say I really enjoyed my adult colouring book - a stocking filler from my husband - obviously the first one I did was of Goddess! It was just one of the many presents that I was so thoughtfully given by friends and family that don't necessarily follow or understand my path, but went the extra mile to find a lovely gift that can become part of my journey such as mead, candles, handmade jewellery, and this beautiful Zen Garden that one of my best friends bought me (she of the candle holder at solstice fame) even though she really doesn't agree with my views and often ponders about my sanity! What a tolerant and loving world we could live in......
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| Moonlit Woods |
Despite personally coming to the understanding and conclusion that the new year varies wildly depending on your personal beliefs, Winter Solstice seems a fabulous end and starting for me, I have no problems at all with joining in with the Gregorian calendar New Year with friends and family, so we braved the slightly soggy walk along to the next village, relishing the chance to see in the new year and celebrate with old and good friends, who equally think I'm a bit eccentric, but love me anyway! Once at their party, I was almost instantly rewarded with a lovely lady whom I had met just once before, approaching me and saying - "ah you're the blog lady!" Cue a few weird looks and a fantastic hour long chat on blogs, Goddess, crystals, allotments, art and creativity, future art projects, spirits, witches, finding yourself, trees, stones and nature....you name it! On the way back we walked via the woods, and were accompanied by the waning but luminous
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| Looks Like Someone Was With Us.... |
moon and a plethora of stars, as we walked down our lane we stopped to stare at Orion and The Bear (*note to self -add 'spend more time star gazing and learn more constellations' to your to do list!) I was attempting to take a photo of the moon - for some reason the zoom wouldn't work so after taking a few and realising it looks the size of a marble, I gave up as we were nearly home, I had a bit of a shock when I went through my camera the following day especially as there is no sign of this mist in the frame before or after..... I thought it was my laptop screen to start with!
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| Muddy Field Portal |
I've been itching to get out on the land this week, partly to feel connected with it and also to build some kind of outside altar to Goddess, but we've had so much rain I've not managed to. Earlier today, clock ticking down ominously on my time off - back to work tomorrow, I was having a huff and puff about the rain, and checking the weather I realised if I waited for some sun so that I could go for a walk through the fields I'd have to wait until Wednesday. With a wry smile it occurred to me that I hadn't seen the fields in the rain, all wet and muddy, blessed by the downpours that nourish the land and make it so green. I needed a bath and hair wash anyway (not that I was going for a naked ramble you understand!) so donning my old coat and wellie boots I set out huddling into my hood, wishing I had windscreen wipers on my glasses and splashed my way down the lane - jumping in all the puddles like a big kid, much to the amusement of an elderly rambler who passed the time of day, waved his walking poles at me before suddenly disappearing from view along the path.....
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| Boot and Paw Prints |
Not that this was going to stop me, although the mud underfoot nearly did for me on a couple of occasions - a very uncomfortable cuddle with a hedge to avoid the electric fence - I wasn't chancing it in the rain and didn't fancy the barbed wire much either ! I stood on the track in the middle of the corn/bean field and watched the boot and paw prints in the mud fill up with rain listening to the sound of the rain patter down on my hood, saw the wind chasing dark clouds across the sky and quite frankly wondered why I'd never walked out in the rain before....
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| Lichen and Moss Adorning The Stile |
On the walk back I saw this beautiful lichen on the stile along with the moss, a sure reminder that spring will soon be here, green will start returning to the land, hopefully the first signs of life will survive any cold, bitter weather or snow we may still get - although I think this lichen will make it whatever weather comes our way. Arriving back home soggy, muddy and inspired, a variety of thoughts and contemplations surfacing and new ideas for projects fighting for room in my head, I warmed myself back up in a hot bath with a solitary candle watching the sky darken through the window, realising that I hadn't grounded or spoken to Goddess, I took the opportunity to do it there and then as the light faded and birds chattered as they settled in their nests in the eaves, the water seemed fitting for my day.
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| The Foals Have Grown... |
I emerged nearly an hour later refreshed and soothed, plans forming for the forthcoming months for the allotment, art and writing..... roughly plotted and charted around the more mundane, realising how little I've walked along my path, how much more there is to discover and aspire to, it's a bit like moving on from reception class, thinking that 'Big School' is the be all and end all only to find that you've only seen a fragment of the beauty and read a sentence of the knowledge there is to explore in the book of my life!
It's going to be a Busy Year! Have a Blessed Week x x
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