A monthly journal of my spiritual journey walking with the Goddess.
As Imbolc Lingers
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Belated Blessings of Imbolc to You All!
I hope all of you who celebrate had a beautiful day, with rituals or ceremonies that inspired you, it already seems a long time ago now! I wasn't
actually going to write about Imbolc; Dolls Houses and Brighid were my planned musings for this month but after I ventured out today I changed my mind. I think Goddess may have had a hand in it, to be more specific The Cailleach. And there is no 'may' about it.
As most of you know, I'm a firm believer in the folklore
about the Cailleach collecting her
winter logs - a dry Imbolc predicting more days of winter ahead, and along with Punxsutawney Phil The Ground Hog at good Old Gobblers Knob, in Pennsylvania (who saw his shadow and legged it this year for the record) the Cailleach was definitely abroad!
My February the first wasn't necessarily bright
but it was definitely dry and then of course, less than a week later, like most of the UK, we've had more than a sprinkling of snow. So today I went out for
lovely walk - some of you may have seen my little video I posted earlier on my WWMG Facebook page - which you can see here - Woodpecker Woods Live - I took you on a little jaunt through the woods with me, but at the time I concluded that the woodpeckers had migrated, but guess what I heard as I walked back? Yep Woodpeckers! I looked it up and some don't migrate, they sit winter out in their nests!
So I've
included this little clip too! Dodgy cinematography I know, but it was the sound I wanted to capture!
I had a blissful, if freezing wander, I stood in the frozen wasteland of the old corn field, arms outstretched to ground myself and felt the reluctance of the Cailleach to give up her realm, felt her icy fingers in the wind pull at my hair and remind me that the maiden does not hold full sway yet. So I bade her come and join me. She didn't disappoint. As I walked back through the woods, The frozen snow on one of the trees and stopped in my tracks. For a minute it looked like an old woman, an icy Crone huddled against the tree as she gathered Her fire wood.... (and of course the old face in the tree?)
My Own Personal Cailleach!
Or perhaps I'd just been out there too long! Either way it made me smile and wonder - not for the first time, what message She had for me. My own personal winter is going on a little longer than normal, I'd love to be gadding about like a spring lamb - well when we can of course, but this year, winter is going on for a little longer for me, as I'm having a operation next week, much to my initial irritation - "like I have time for this!" lol, it's no big deal but it's going to slow me down... which I suspect is the plan! It was after I saw Her, that I heard the woodpecker and when I looked their meaning up, once I had defrosted, their spiritual meaning and symbolism? Wisdom, strength, opportunity, resilience and determination - don't mind if I do, please and thank you!
Grinning to myself at another lesson about to be learnt, I headed for home, and immediately had a more gentle reminder than Brighid hasn't completely abandoned us.
New life peeking through the snow..... She's biding her time.
Brighid's Reminder...
So that's me for now, I shall await the return of Brighid and ponder more on my Dolls House thoughts, allowing them to grow and take a deeper form, until they are ready to spring forth and entertain you all! Until then...
Bean Field If you could describe a week as a patch work quilt, this would be that week! Bits of this and bits of that, up and downs, celebration mixed with mundane. If you could sew it all together it would definitely resemble patchwork, just like the fields around me - green, orange, yellow, brown, rough, smooth, bursting with crops or silent and stripped. Just about sums up life really now I think of it, those empty fields will fill many fridges or larders and will regrow next year as part of the cycle, just like my empty nest I've had this week - our son has been away on holiday and our daughter house sitting with her boyfriend so it's been suddenly very quiet for a change - on the up side though at least Mark and myself have had some peace and quiet and some time for just us - particularly well timed as it was our wedding anniversary yesterday. Out came the 'special' bubbly glasses, a wedding A little treat! present from friends and our treat was cava and
Autumn Sunset on Orkney What is it? Mabon or Second Harvest or Autumn Equinox... When is it? 21st? 22nd? 23rd For some people it's a 'one sabbat fits all' kind of affair which is completely cool, for others there is a more strict observance of a particular date or an event. This year the 'true' equinox here in the UK was at 2.54 am this morning 23rd September - a huge round of applause for anyone who got up to mark that exact point when the sun crosses the imaginary line of the equator on it's journey from North to South, I for one was sound asleep and probably snoring like a hibernating bear. That said, today is the day that I particularly mark, taking extra time to reflect on the year, to celebrate what I have and to let go of things that no longer serve me. Some extra time communing with my Goddess, preparing a lovely dinner for me and himself to enjoy this evening and we have special drinking ware that we use for Sabbats. Tonight's Libat
Nestled just a road or two off the main bustling thoroughfare in Southwark, close to the world famous Borough Market is Cross Bones Graveyard a place that had escaped my radar until a few years ago when I was shocked to discover it's haunting story and existence so close to the razzmatazz and wealth of the city. In The Shadow Of The Shard Forgotten and neglected, it was a sad and forlorn final resting place for the brothel workers and the unloved destitute of London's post medieval slums until the mid 19th century when it was built over. Ironically the prostitutes who were known as The Winchester Geese, as they were licensed by the Bishop Of Winchester to work the surrounding area which was known as The Liberty of The Clink; full of bear pits, taverns and brothels or 'stews' as they were called, but they were typically and hypocritically abandoned, unloved in unconsecrated and unmarked graves along with the unborn or stillborn proof of their sin. Histo
Beautiful but I do wish you would warn me about the Knobblers Gob.
ReplyDeleteGobblers Knob Jen!!!
DeleteWish the Maiden would hurry up! Nice to hear woodpeckers though.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean! It was so wonderful to hear the woodpeckers just after I had spoken about them! I assumed they had migrated for winter x
Delete