Resting With The Maiden

Window Altar

So, not for the first time, the plans I'd made for my week off seemed to differ with what Goddess had in store for me. I'd thought I might visit a few new places, explore some new ground - you get the idea, but no a hacking cough, rotten cold and feeling like the proverbial pile of pooh put paid to that! Plans were initially adapted or postponed. My first reaction was one of intense irritation, 'it's not fair!' an old whine of mine from childhood and a tantrum felt like it was brewing up, I could have literally stamped my feet. After taking to my bed wrapped in a sleeping bag and duvet, followed by a morning sulking on the sofa and watching trash tv for an hour or two, I gave myself a stern talking to and to my delight my inner child cast a speculative and bored eye around to see what I could do instead and how else I could amuse myself. Oh the possibilities. Reading, Writing, Drawing, Painting, Sleeping...
Despite not feeling up to venturing out as

Healing Salt Crystal
Candle Holder

planned to nearby Canterbury with my wonderful Circle Sister Tina and her daughter from Somerset who were stopping over for a couple of nights to attend Uni Interviews, we still managed to sit up late and discuss all manner of theories and practices, priestess training, healing and even Yoni Steaming (Yoni - Sanskrit word for Womb), bouncing all kinds of ideas off each other, laughing giggling and confiding like a pair of school girls! I think we would have caused mayhem if we had known each other as teenagers!
I felt better the next day, not quite well enough to take my parents out for the whole day somewhere a bit further afield  and treat them as planned, but well enough to be treated to a ride out with Mum and Dad to the coast for a couple of hours in the afternoon, sitting in the back of the car, feeling child like with their dog dozing on my lap, enjoying the chance to watch the view for once as Dad drove pointing things out along the way - 'Ooh look Llamas!' or 'sheep with really long necks?' - Alpacas then and Mum making sure I had my hat and gloves on when we got to Hastings, tutting loudly that I didn't have a scarf and pulling my coat zip right up. I'm not sure who was more disappointed myself or Mum, when 'your wafty shop' as she has renamed

A Ritual Cleansing

it was closed due to the owner being poorly, but not for long as she discovered a new one had opened just along the street that sold all manner of Pagan/Witchy crystals, incense, jewelry, tarot cards etc Dragging me in, Mum enjoying the wares as much as me, picking things up and asking me what they were for, when they would be used before our eyes alighted on a lovely Salt Crystal tea light holder that 'we' decided I'd like! We had a late lunch in a beautiful 17th Century pub where I relished in being fussed over by these very special and wonderful people, losing the battle to pay for the meal and quietly put my purse away as duly instructed, Mum reading out the leaflet that came with my new acquisition informing me that it had healing properties. 
The next day, inspired by the healing information that kept presenting itself to me, I decided that it was a sign that I was neglecting myself a little and although I was

Rosemary and Sage Cleansing Steam

feeling better I would use this time to cleanse the house of my lurgy as well as myself. So after cleansing the house with some special incense, wandering from room to room, ridding it of all the stale energy and refreshing it, calling in the energy and intentions of the Maiden, I turned my thoughts to myself and started with a good old menthol steaming for my cold, spluttering and sneezing like a wild thing, red eyed and streaming I decided something more gentle was in order next. Now this next bit may not be for all of you, you have been warned! Inspired by late night conversations and some research I decided that I would try a Yoni Steam - More on Yoni Steaming . Now this basically involves sitting over a bowl of steaming water, the idea being to cleanse your womb. I chose to use some rosemary and sage that I had, I have to say as odd as it may seem it really did feel invigorating, even if I did feel like a bit of a wally wrapped up in and old kaftan and a load of towels and squatting like a precarious Buddha! If you are interested read the link above as there as some times when you shouldn't do it - when you are pregnant for example.

Not Bad For A First Attempt

I managed to finish my week spending some quality time with some dear friends - a spot of pay day retail therapy and lunch with one of my best friends, which included us encouraging each other to try something new in out favourite craft shop - Tracie came away with some wool with pom poms on to knit goodness knows what and I managed to find something that I never knew I always wanted - a wood burning tool! That adventurous maiden energy was running a bit riot! Himself asked what I was going to burn with it, 'wood?' was my helpful reply! I had a little tinker with it tonight with a bit of my old christmas tree - I think I'll drill a hole in it and use this as an incense stick holder!
To finish off my week I had my beautiful friend Cher and her dog over for a girlie sleepover, everyone was out so we sat in our pj's wrapped in snuggly fleeces, laughing and giggling until our faces hurt, had the odd (ahem -several) drinks and munched out on lots of yummy food like a pair of teenage girls!
Not quite the week I had planned, but obviously the one that I needed and the one I was supposed to have. A spot of research before writing tonight has informed me that Bridie/Brigit/Brigit/Brighid the Maiden Goddess who is especially connected to Imbolc and Candlemas is particularly known for her associations with poetry, healing, smithcraft and midwifery - well that explains a lot!

Have  A Blessed Week x x 

Retracing The Maiden's Journey

Ker - Goddess of Grain

This week I have been like a child waiting for the school holidays to come, waiting impatiently for a blessed week off work. Days have seemed so long - I'm pretty sure there were more hours in the day last Friday than normal! To add to that, I feel like I have driven all over the entire length and breadth of Kent over the previous week, but hurrah it finally arrived and it looks like spring is definitely here too! Everywhere I look, new life is starting to bud and peep out of the hedgerows at me and so many facebook posts of beautiful daffodils and snowdrops have delighted me and kept me sane through the week. You'll be pleased to know that I have 'finished' my painting I showed you last week, I was going to do some more to it, but the arm chair art critics here have decreed it gorgeous as it is and it has taken pride of place in the kitchen, for now at least. Still full of lively and adventurous maiden energy, I have treated myself to some further supplies and am feeling inspired enough to work with structure gel, metallic paint and a stab at modelling, not on the catwalk - no one panic! I'm sure these masterpieces will appear on here in the next couple of weeks.

Full of childish snowdrop photo envy,  I decided

Catkins In The Sun

to take myself off on a walk this morning to find some, choosing to retrace some old childhood routes that we used to walk along on lazy Sunday lunchtimes and afternoons with our parents and often a couple of friends in tow, long before the shops were trading all day and Sundays were truly quiet. Funny how these walks often coincided with Sunday open times of the many pubs enroute - just time for a lemonade and a packet of crisps, nice one Dad! 
Off I rambled, my mind casting itself back through the decades, allowing my inner child head space to ponder on the questions of utmost importance - the origins of road names, Where is the Folly in North Folly Road? Who were the Foremans and why do they have a road named after them and their barn? You know the sort of thing! All the questions I would have terrorised my parents with - Why is the sky blue? Do horse chestnuts come from horses? - another one Catkins? Why are they called that? Apparently it's because they look like cat's tails? More like Lambs tails - which they are also known as! Useful link for a great site for tree lore and meanings: Tree Lore and Wisdom 

A Home Fit For A Faerie Queen

Laughing to myself I walked on, stopping to visit my favourite site - the mystery mound, contemplating all the hoof, paw and foot prints along with the cycle tracks pressed into the soft ground, wondering about all the people that had ever visited there, if they felt a connection to it as I did? I sat for a while on a fallen tree trunk listening to the sounds of the woods, the wind whispering through the lofty bows of the old Yew and the rustle of the dead leaves that still cling on like tired bunting flapping in the breeze. A bird sang high above me, out of sight and I was undisturbed - allowed to enjoy the voices of the woods and it's inhabitants.
On my way back out through the woods, I stopped at this perfect fairy house in an old coppiced tree stump, imagining the tales I would have made up about about the wee folk that lived in it as a child, perfectly fitting for the mystery mound! I really must get to the Library and research that a bit more. One of my elderly ladies on my Monday run, is married to a Woodsman who though well into retirement still works these woods, he invited me to join him for an hour - an offer I'm planning on

The Snake

taking him up on and walking out to find him at his workshop at some point this week, like the maiden I will be full of awe and wonder, but with the Crone's shadow ever present in my adult consciousness, I will take more notice and listen more deeply to what he has to say than I ever would have done as a child.
Walking along the road to the next familiar footpath I found a forgotten pathway, slightly overgrown, but decided to follow it with a knowledge long forgotten from childhood that it would lead to where I was headed. I found this amazing log that resembled a massive beautiful snake. So gorgeous, I even contemplated phoning himself to come and pick me and it up there and then! I'm sure it would look fantastic in our garden....

Site Of  The Best Snow Day Ever!

Pressing on I rambled with my childhood self, recalling memories of picnics and camps made with friends in the orchards, Mum and Dad resting, sitting happily on a log while we played in a world of make believe for what seemed like forever, probably enjoying the peace until me and my brother started fighting and bickering! Crossing the old rickety bridge over the deep cut lane I marvelled at the memory of us sliding down it in the snow on an old tea tray that Dad had walked home to get as it was only a ten minute walk from their house. He went first, tearing excitedly down the hill on a metal tea tray and ended up in a snow drift, how we laughed and clamoured to be next! Mum wearing a home knitted dusky pink hat and a brown anorak - I can see her so clearly, laughing and cheering us on from the bridge and Dad shuffling from one foot to the other in the cold, standing guard at the bottom of the hill, 'just in case' a tractor came up the hill, it would have been the only thing that could possibly have attempted it, let alone made it! It was nearly dark by the

Snowdrops!

time they dragged us home! We - my younger brother Paul and myself as per usual, had our shared beloved best friend Vicci with us that day, still a dear friend decades later, I took some photos to share with her on good old facebook, she knew the place in an instant and said it was the best snow day she had ever had, so strong the memory for us all to this day!
I arrived at my intended destination, Linton Church and there they were - a riot of Snowdrops bobbing joyously in the breeze to greet me after my walk and ramble through time of about 3 and half miles and probably revisiting 4 decades of memories. In true family style, I investigated the pub

A Beautiful Memorial To Edith

opposite, a quick half and a packet of crisps in the deserted beer garden, these days a beautiful wooden decked platform, a fantastic viewpoint overlooking the shallow valley I drive through to go to work everyday, before flopping gratefully into himselfs awaiting car. 
Just a pretty something to leave you with, it took my fancy from a distance  in the church yard, the writing is very difficult to decipher, it looks like a baby girl called Edith, who died at a matter of weeks in the very early 1800's, bless her heart. I loved the symbol on the top, I'm guessing it represents the holy trinity, but it sure looks a bit Goddess shaped to me. Some of the legible writing mentions Wester Hill, which is the farm land I walked through, it seems fitting that she should be remembered too.

Have a Beautiful and Blessed Week x x

Full Moon Artistry

Lunar Halo

Snow Moon Greetings to you all! 
Well according to my almanac it could also be Ice or Storm Moon - they all seem pretty appropriate this week. Lady Moon seemed to be hiding form me last when she was at her fullest but I certainly felt the pulse and flow of her energy and power as she waxed throughout the week. Did anyone else see the spectacular Lunar Halo on Tuesday? 
Not the best of photos to the left but you can still make out the dark ring surrounding the moon. 
Also known as a 22 degree halo, they are due to the moonlight refracted through the ice crystals in the earths atmosphere, bending the rays of light at 22 degrees (hence the boring scientific name!) which produces a circle we call a halo. When they also have colours to them they are known as Moonbows. They usually predict a storm or ice and snow - bang on with latter as we woke up Saturday to surprise layer of snow - a wintery veil that went as quickly as it came. Looks like that myth about the Callieach had some truth to it, the 1st was wet but the 2nd dried up and became quite bright! Perhaps she was walking the land collecting firewood after all...
As always the waxing moon is the best time for

Cosmic Womb

me  to meditate, always allowing me the opportunity for  the deepest and most powerful travels. This week was no exception. Usually I meditate with just a candle and incense, and of course a warm purring cat - one always grabs the opportunity of a settled lap! I've always shied away from electronic meditations, personally it feels weird for it to be so 'plugged in' for want of a better word, which didn't sit right for me to let my mind roam free! However on Saturday there was drilling and banging from some sort of DIY next door, so having had several friends rave about a meditation app and a friend installing it for me, I plugged in my headphones and meditated my way into the 21st century. Well, I have to admit it was great! Must be the Maiden encouraging me with all this newfangled stuff! Not a drill or hammer was heard and in fact I enjoyed it so much that I tried 3 different short guided journeys. I chose ones themed around letting go, inner wisdom and renewal as they felt like they 'fitted' with the energy of Imbolc and the Maiden. So off I travelled, letting go of good old fashioned fear and pain, coming

Feeling Artistic ..

through the other side of that to hear some inner wisdom from my spirit guides who were telling me to be 'brave', 'to get on with it' and that I could do it - thanks Ladies! 
The last one was a powerful shamanic style phoenix rising from the ashes renewal themed meditation where I had to breathe in and out really fast, the cats who were comfortably in situ as live hot water bottles jumped off at this point so I must have terrified them with my huffing and puffing! All these journeys conjured up images of a warm fetal womb like place, a safe familiar place, whilst simultaneously racing through the cosmos. 
The Maiden energy had me digging out all my art stuff for  a sudden artistic splurge which produced Cosmic Womb above!  Quite often when I'm creating something I feel the 'what if it goes wrong?', 'what if it looks rubbish?' fears nagging at me, which can even stop me before I start. This time however I let the spontaneous carefree confidence of youth brought by the Maiden to allow me to just go with flow and create whatever evolved. The joy and fun of doing something creative just because you can is a wonderfully freeing experience. I even went out and bought myself some proper canvases to adorn, well they were on offer! Usually I make

A Goddess In Progress...

little things or draw small pictures, something my Avalon Circle Sisters picked up several years ago, not easy when I don't have the smallest of hands. I have also noticed a penchant for watercolours and pencil in my artist ventures, which can be less dramatic and passionate. Out came the acrylics that I bought in a moment of bravery and have sat taunting me unused ever since. In my excitement I grabbed a medium size canvas (lets not go too mad just yet) and just went for it!  How exhilarating to be bold! I drew the outline of Goddess in masking fluid, that's the blue line you can see round and the spiral in the white figure and then made a statement with the black paint. No going back. So when that's dried I'm going to add some more detail, haven't decided how or what yet but it will definitely be bright bold colours, and when it's done it's going up on the wall, even if it is the downstairs loo. 

Funked Up Water Jar

I can't tell you how good it felt to make a bold splash on the canvas - Give it a

go! I'll show you my progress next week. Buzzing with maiden energy I even decided that my jam jar I was using for water pot needed jazzing up and decorated it with some stickers I found lurking in my collection of art stuff. I was giggling to myself as I did it, just like a big kid!

So I'm heading off into the week bouncing with childlike energy, lets hope I don't whip my crayons out in the middle of one of my many meetings....might liven them up though!


    Have a Blessed and Creative Week x x

Imbolc - The Maiden Returns

Post Imbolc Sunrise

    Imbolc Blessings To You All!

The wheel turns, the Crone has finally retreated to her bleak cave to sleep the long sleep and the Maiden has awoken, slowly bringing spring with her, full of fire and energy, new life follows in gleeful wake. The light returns and the land warms at her touch!

The origins and exact date of Imbolc are much debated as it's pronunciation! Some people pronounce the b, others silence it  and say Im-Olc and others say it with a g at the end where the c is ... Im-olg ! Likewise some people celebrate on 1st February, some on 2nd and some paths don't mark it at all.

However you say it and whenever you celebrate- I hope you had a good one! It is often also called Candlemas or Brigid's Day (usually pronounced as Breed - not that any of us were around to know!) The Goddess have given birth to the spring, the maiden or the God depending on your individual path. It is known as a Sabbat of purification where we open up to the light, leaving the dark vestiges of winter behind us, not unlike the practice of lying in before the birth and being 'churched' afterwards to purify the mother - a common event from about the 6th Century until the late 1800's - not too likely for the average woman I'll guess! Perhaps it is a remnant of pre Christian beliefs where a new mother would have been feted Goddess Like, birth seen as sacred and women allowed to rest and spend some precious time with her newborn? Again, only likely for those in the upper echelons of society.

Candlemas

Whatever it's origins, it is a festival of fire. February 1st also happens to be my first born's birthday, so naturally this takes precedence, I still can't believe that gorgeous cuddly little baby boy is 22! We celebrated in true family form - everyone round the table for a bit of a feast, plenty of candles, plenty of laughter and chatter. I did what I usually do and take some time on 2nd to reflect and carry out a simple ceremony or ritual on my own. I had planned a ritual fire in the garden, burning my Yule log to symbolise the death of winter and the Crone, but I took one look at the weather and thought better of it as an early morning activity! Instead I thought I would work with the idea of purification and have a long bath by candlelight. Mercifully there are no photos of this! I lit a couple of scented candles by the side of the bath, and immersed myself in the water, grounding myself and calling in my Goddess. naked like a new born. I envisaged all the negative feelings, fears or thoughts that had crept in through the reflection of the long dark winter months to be washed away, leaving room for my mind and body to embrace the dawn of the Maiden. By candlelight I watched the steam drift and rise, before it escaped, snaking through the open window. I watched the sky lighten and listened to the bird song as they too greeted the new Imbolc morning, tweeting and chattering their way into the light. Yes I was cold and wrinkly, but wow was I clean! 

Imbolc Altar

Later that evening I redressed my altar, this old green vase was one of my Nan's so it felt right to let the Crone energy linger a little to honour my ancestors, who formed part of the line that brought me into the world and also hopefully to leave me with a little wisdom. I intend to add to it from my wanders in the countryside, I have no doubt that I will find things to delight me and to adorn it. I love that picture of the Maiden awakening from her underground slumber, stretching before venturing forth. The weather still wasn't really conducive to a good fire, so instead I rounded up every single votive or altar candle I still had lurking on my dresser, in the drawers or the bathroom and made an indoor fire on my kitchen table. I manged to capture a few quiet minutes for myself and some quiet contemplation without singeing my eyebrows, though I fear my arms may be less hirsute than they were in the morning!

Daffodils Buds Bloomed For Imbolc

This weekend I had a good old spring clean and then headed off to spend some time with some dear friends in the Folkestone Pagan Circle. We met at the stone circle on the beach and watched by a shy Lady Moon peeping through the clouds at us we lit a fire and held a simple lovely ceremony with the waves crashing behind us. I took my Yule long and some branches of my old Christmas tree, dried out for this purpose, an old tradition amongst some beliefs to cast the winter behind us and welcome in the light of Spring. After calling in the elements, spirits, Ancestors, God and Goddess - not my own practise but this is a multi path circle, we talked of what Imbolc meant to us on our diverse paths, sang a little and asked for healing for loved ones around a fire that spoke to us of Pine Woods, poems were read and enjoyed, simple time honoured rituals that bind us all throughout time and throughout the world.

The talk of cleansing and the rituals attached to it lingered with me as I drove home, and this morning I awoke wondering if the traditional spring clean had it's roots in ancient customs. A bit of research has suggested that it dates back to the Jewish customs of the passover, where leavened bread crumbs must be swept form the house in order not to insult God and also Chinese customs where the celebration of the New Year, which falls in late January or early February includes cleaning the house to rid the family of bad luck or misfortunes that they had attracted during the previous year. Funny how all paths and religions seem to have very similar customs! I suspect it dates back even further than that, making way for the coming of spring and the birth of the Maiden, banishing the darkness and the Crone.

Have a Blessed Week and Remember Your Spring Clean! BBxx