The Hermitess Emerges......

Back To Work Sunset

Happy New Year! 

Just when you thought it would be safe to assume I'd wandered off on yet another solitary ramble, fallen down a soft mossy rabbit hole or stumbled unwittingly into the velvety blackness of the underworld and lost for good.......well here I am again! Thank you for waiting for me!

So what have I been doing?

Woodland Festooned
For Yule

Well just hermitting really - whiling away the months reading, walking, rambling, swimming, researching, doodling, scribbling, planning, dreaming and generally being the hermit that I always tease my lovely friend Lu of May Day dancing fame about. She'll love that - Oh the irony! This year I really felt the Crone energy drawing me into the delicious and unavoidable peaceful rest and slumber of the land, obviously exactly what I needed.
I took comfort in the still darkness, watching the land drift into hibernation beneath the hard ground, watching the dark endless skies, marvelling as my breath floated up cloudlike to the crisp constellations and allowed my busy, tired soul to rest. 

Ker's Candle

You'll be pleased to know I have emerged refreshed and rejuvenated from my hermitting to sally forth into the world of people and to celebrate Solstice and Yule with my customary vigour! What a lovely time we had too, plenty of feasting with all our family and friends, celebrating our kinship and the light beginning to return, a few minutes a day. 
One of my favourite gifts among the many I was blessed with pestle and mortar, clothes, books, perfume, you name it , I was totally and thoroughly spoilt, this gorgeous and funky glass candle holder for my altar from my son Dan and his partner David, a purchase from their recent trip to Vienna. When I remarked that it held all the colours of Ker (for me at least) - yellow, orange, ochre, brown, Dan laughed and said 'Yes, I know - that's why we chose it, it also has your circle of the year on it Mum...' 
So it does! Blessed by everyone's thoughtfulness...

I was always going to write my thoughts, musings

Dragonflies -
Just My Cup of Tea

and meditations again after my seasonal hermitage. I didn't know it was going to be New Year thing, I'm not one for making New Year resolutions. The dawning that the time was ripe to harass you all again was approaching, led me into a bit of research into why we celebrate New Year when we do, given the multitude of faiths past and present and why we make resolutions particularly at this time of year.
We have Pope Gregory XIII to thank for this when he standardised our calendars once and for all in 1582, previously many faiths and cultures had celebrated the end of the year by marking the winter solstice, some heralded the perihelion in January - when the earth is nearest to the sun as the turning point, although many other faiths and cultures celebrate

Decorative Reminders
 of Change..

according to the lunar calendar. The custom of making resolutions dates back to 150-50 BCE approx and the Romans - January named after the double faced Roman God Janus (why not a Goddess Jane?) who looked forward and backwards hence the looking back reflectively  and looking forward to changes... So now you know! 
Super poignant then that my two best friends Lu and Tracie independently both bought me dragonfly related gifts - a beautiful dragonfly mandala mug to sooth and nourish me with hot tea whilst I ponder it's circles and it's legendary meaning of a spiritual journey and beautiful dragonfly bunting to decorate and remind me of change and higher spiritual evolvement. The origin of the word bunting (Old English) being that of sifting cloth, to separate the wood from the chough perhaps? 
Wow, just wow....especially when a google on dragonflies as totems revealed :

"The dragonfly, in almost every part of the world symbolizes change and change in the perspective of self realization; and the kind of change that has its source in mental and emotional maturity and the understanding of the deeper meaning of life." http://www.dragonfly-site.com

So that's my karmic kick up the bum to get going

Mars, Venus, Mars Conjunction
Last Night

 again, as well as the rather gorgeous alignment of the Moon, Venus and Mars in the sky last night, spotted my myself and my son using my new app on my phone - Lady Moon centre, Venus beneath her to the right and above her to the left a tiny red dot is Mars. Somehow by hanging out of the bathroom window I manged to catch them all lighting up the evening sky. Astrology traditionally isn't over keen on this conjunction, however it also talks about spiritual growth......here we go again!

Thanks for the nagging Lu and Emma.... 

I'll take that as you are both journeying with me?

Have a Blessed Week x x