A Joyful Harvest

Beautiful Sunset Last Week

Autumny greetings to you all! 
Just made that word up, autumny, sounds like it should be a real word to me! It feels like snuggly jumpers, warm scarves, hot soup and orangey-brown leaves falling silently to the ground making a vibrant crunchy carpet. Autumny - love it, so much so that I've just added it to the dictionary on my lap top - such a big kid!

So here we are again, nearly at Mabon or Autumn Equinox; when the light and the darkness are almost in balance, a short moment of perfect timing in their yearly dance through the wheel of the year. As we head towards the darkening veil of autumn and feel the chill as the Crone's dark cloak of long winter nights approaches, we take time to give thanks for the second harvest of the land. All the fields are bare, Mother Earth has yielded her fruit, grain and berries to nourish us through the coming months, in whatever form they are preserved - jam, chutney, frozen or increasingly cold stored, imported and sold at our local supermarkets. 

My morning drive to work is slowly

Early Morning Drive into Work

becoming shrouded in mist again, the pale sun lower and weaker in the sky, the land sluggishly waking up later and later each day, as though longing for it's long rejuvenating sleep of the winter months  - I know how it feels. 
The darker evenings are equally sleepy, illuminated with some glorious sunsets as though the summer is  performing a seasonal finale - a  spectacular swansong of golden orange.  
For me Mabon, the Autumn Equinox will be on Thursday, I love celebrating this sabbat, it's not too early to get up and watch the sunrise, one advantage over the summer ones!

Goodbye to the Summer

For us, the weekend just gone was a chance to celebrate our own precious harvest in a different sense of our Sophie's birthday. All those years full of love, nurturing, patience (especially for Mothers of girls with long hair) and care lavished on our children bears fruit to produce a marvellous harvest of it's own. Suddenly the child is all but gone, apart from a rare unconscious smile, giggle, frown or anxious chew of the lip and in their place is a full grown adult ready to fly the nest. In my case, a double blessing of a caring, kind and beautiful daughter and a wonderful, thoughtful and funny son. A bittersweet moment; a swell of pride and of joy of a job well done, sliced through with the weight of the ache of imminent departure

Celebrations

 as the nest slowly starts emptying, taking comfort in the knowledge that it's all just as it should be, that and there will be less washing up  and laundry abandoned around the house! There was certainly plenty of washing up over the weekend when we had all our family and friends round for a barbecue to celebrate, not letting the rain put us off, before all the 'yoof' as Mum calls them - my children, their partners and friends clattered off into town for a few gallons of celebratory drinks and partying. I made some candle holders out of raffia, string and jam jars that I had lying around, the hearts and butterflies seemed symbolic, love and new beginnings to surround the candles that have been lit to offer up thanks for time immemorial. Especially so as I thanked Goddess for my beautiful harvest.

Autumn Sun

Another bittersweet moment this weekend was a surreally crazy gathering to give my lovely friend Sally a leaving party to remember as she gets ready to leave her comfort zone and head off to Uni as a mature student in the next stage of her journey. A day of games and absolute hilarity ensued, unfortunately not quotable or repeatable, needless to say we had a fabulous time!  
Thank goodness for the internet so I will be able to harass her at some distance whilst she is away and for the planned Pagan invasion of her student flat...... Bon Voyage!
Just thought I'd leave you with this picture I took of Lady Moon last week. 
My poor family are so used to me trotting

Lady Moon

out in my pyjamas to gaze at the moon, they have given up rolling their eyes and now go with the flow and let me know if there is a particularly beautiful moon to see. This one last week was so bright and I was delighted to manage to get such a clear close up that shows the craters and mountains. 
Not bad if I do say so myself!





        Have A Blessed Mabon x x 

Travelling Through The Motherline

A Present From Sophie

Last week I had the pleasure of working for an evening with the lovely Katy, a colleague that I don't see very often these days. In fact we worked out it was well over a year and a half since we'd seen each other, the last time I saw her she had still been pregnant and her daughter is now 19 months old, compared to my 'little girl' being 19 on the 19th next week. The inevitable catch up conversation and sharing of photos ensued before we finally managed to fit some work in. Naturally we got round to how quickly time passes, how quickly our precious babies grow and about getting older in general. 'Don't you wish you were my age again?' she teased good naturedly, which happens to be 26, the age I was when I had Sophie, making me 19 years older than her. In fact she was 19 when I met her too! (Lots of 19 synchronicity here - I'll come to that in a minute!) I surprised myself and answered honestly that no I wouldn't, she laughed and asked not even if knew then what I knew now? Would I like my 26 year old body back again? I shook my head and replied that no I really wouldn't, the impact would be awful, I would be weighed down with worries and concerns that would stop me living and loving my

Me and Sophie 2001

life to the full, it would change where I am now, the woman I have become and even my path maybe, would I still know Goddess? I don't think I knew it until I said it, but I was suddenly and achingly aware of all the archetypes of Goddess Maiden, Lover, Mother, newly added Queen and Crone all rolling into one for the first time in a linear but swirling pattern and said as much aloud. Interestingly the lovely lady we getting ready for bed who is 89, agreed with me, much to Katy's surprise, proudly saying that she was not just a daughter and a mother like us but also a grandmother and great grandmother! 

Thorpe Park (I think) 2003

I've thought about that conversation all week, my mind rummaging through decades of dusty storage, dragging out treasured memories; not the first tooth or first solo bike ride necessarily, but of the picnic where the geese came and pinched our sandwiches, Dan always managing to come back with a wet trainer - wherever we went, Sophie putting herself to bed in latest Disney sparkly princess dress, complete with wand, tiara and wellies! Snapshots in time, good and the not so good, smiling randomly at images and recollections of the children when they were younger, family Christmases and birthdays, days out, my mind taking me further back to my own childhood. Precious memories of Nans and Great Aunties, all born story tellers, sitting listening to stories of their girlhoods and 'during the war', curled up on a floral cushion in my brushed cotton pyjamas and dressing gown, at their feet by a variety of gas bar fires hoping they didn't notice it was way past my bed time as I sipped my mug of cocoa or malted milk. It comforts me to think that they must have done this too when they were girls like Sophie has had the privilege to have 

A Very Rare  Photo of Sophie, Mum and Me!

done with both her Nans. How I wish I could remember all the details to pass those memories on when I am the aged grandmother who was alive in the last century ! How Elizabethan I shall be...
Just as I was musing all this, I came across an interesting article that fired up so many emotions -  The Aging Woman Syndrome (Check me out putting a link in!) which raised so many additional thoughts and questions, including wonder at the very clever image of a young and old woman combined as well as a very angry understanding of the truth. It discusses the notion or un-notion of age in various cultures - including magically mentioning the ages 19, 26 and 45, but it's main point being that

More Recently Celebrating a friend's 50th

Women and to some lesser extent Men's power, self worth and value diminishes with age in recent Western culture, unless they seize the opportunity to reclaim it. Have a read, it's well worth it. As you can imagine, I have no intention of diminishing or fretting about my ever increasing age, In fact I have every intention of doing the exact opposite; celebrating it, relishing the freedom, knowledge, wisdom that becoming older delivers me, seeing my place in the Motherline evolving and growing as a privilege! That and I fully intend to be a crazy cat lady that will be the star of many an entertaining story for my grandchildren to pass on to generations of descendants! Hopefully with a book or two as well.
The number 19 that kept appearing, well a bit of googling - I love that it's now officially a verb, reveals it to be a number of beginnings and endings, spiritual development, inner wisdom and divine life purpose. Sounds like a number pointing to the Motherline to me !

Have  a Blessed Week xx 

Just in case the link doesn't work.....  http://www.intuitivedance.org/single-post/2016/08/08/The-Aging-Woman-Syndrome-or-How-Women-Keep-Away-From-Their-Power

Please feel welcome to join my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/walkingwithmygoddess/?fref=ts

Wanders and Wonders

Beautiful Berries and their Shadows

Greetings from a decidedly autumnal feeling Kent this week!

Last week seemed to be a harvest of wondrous extremes: walks, woods, weddings, wise women and the plain weird and wonderful.

After a simple, low key wedding of an old friend during the day at a local spiritualist church where I sang tunelessly along to some childhood favourites and thought 'Her' Not 'Him', I headed off to Margate to meet friends for a previously arranged paranormal investigation - luckily the bride has known me for over 20 years and was very understanding and actually quite envious! 

Despite grounding at my altar in the morning, on arrival I sat and re-centred

Beautiful Ceiling 

myself again, asking Goddess to walk with me, to guide my instincts and intuition and to protect me throughout the night at the Theatre Royal. I often see or sense things but have yet to make any real sense of it all, it appears to be a gift that I have yet to master and as much as it fascinates me, there are occassions when it terrifies me in equal measure! Luckily my path has recently introduced me to some gifted mediums who I have started to work with  in synchronicity and safety. The decorated domed ceiling reminded me of the wheel of the year and I used it to help me refocus and to draw some strength on a few occasions! It was quite an eventful night - something pinched my bottom, twice for good measure, we all experienced some very odd energies and the group came away with some very odd photographs and I felt I had made a breakthrough in trusting my instincts, sharing similar sensations and thoughts with people more experienced than me. I definitely felt that my gift has started to develop and grow a little. A couple of people commented on the amount of energy coming from me, I think we know where that comes from! 

Elderberries

After a rather long and much needed lie in, investigations always drain me, I decided to completely re-energise and centre by taking myself off for a long leisurely walk in the local fields and woodland. Immersed in the peace and quiet, wandering through the paths I've come to know so well, I realised with a jolt that the seeds and fruits of Mabon are nearly on us again, all the trees proudly bearing their fruit and seeds to continue their progeny. 

Just when it seems that summer is here, the wheel turns again and the land starts yielding its second harvest and starts thinking ahead to its regrowth even if we are still enjoying the sun and some lazy holidays. Strolling through the tranquil woodland pondering some ideas for this

Tranquil Pathways

artwork I am doing for a friend, as well as a dream to have a small exhibition of my own to somehow illustrate my own journey of discovery; I was taken with the different textures, layers and colours of the land - the round shiny bead like berries, the rough cracked patterns of the trees and their bark, as well as the floating translucent leaves that shade and dapple the pathways. I'd been a little frustrated that I couldn't quite get the inspiration I was looking for to depict the world from my particular path, looking at this beautiful canvas of nature with imperfect shapes of leaves, irregularities of the trunks or bark and the variety of shades in the berries, I was reminded by Goddess yet again of the perfection in Her non uniformity and felt She was urging me to celebrate the differences, the

Cow Parsley Seeds

contrasts and the individuality. All reinforcing the lessons I had learned last week about concepts of what art is and the importance being on the creative process..

Soon I was snapping away with my camera, taking pictures of the sky, the trees and the woodland, ideas for collages, 3D and multi dimensional art work fizzing away in my mind, much to the consternation of some woodcutters busy at work coppicing who clearly thought I was either crazy or stalking them! Even the patterns and markings around me seemed inspiring such as the delicate stripes on these cow parsley seeds. Feeling like I'd had an artistic harvest all of my own, my mind loaded with inspiration from the rich pickings of nature,

Circle at the top of the mound

 I found myself heading to the mound in the woods for some quiet reflection. Luckily there were no motor bikes or ramblers at all, so I had the place all to myself to enjoy the special atmosphere it exudes. I still haven't got to the bottom of it's origins, another item on my to do list. The trees have grown a lot since my last visit and it feels more secluded and secret, much to my delight. The path is very defined, clearly lots of people come and visit for whatever reason, a recent fire pit proof of that. 

Cue a spot of spontaneous arm waving and then meditating, if anybody had strolled past they might have had a bit of a shock but I haven't heard any reports of a mad lady in Amsbury Woods on facebook so it really looks like for a short while I had it all to myself! Armed with a cornucopia of ideas (I wrote them down as soon as I got in) I plan to have a very busy and creative week !

Have a Blessed Week x x