Remembering Love

Storm Clouds Brewing

It wasn't a great week last week was it? I woke up early on Tuesday still feeling like utter poop, it had been brewing over the weekend but it had arrived and settled in with a vengeance. Groaning and reaching for my phone to ring my manager to say I wouldn't be in again (a pretty much an unheard of situation) I caught the early morning headlines and read with horror the events of the previous night in Manchester. As the awfulness of it began to filter through, emotions of anger and despair rushing through me for lives lost to hatred, tears in my eyes and heart in my throat, I suddenly thought of my little cousin who studies at Manchester Met, she was highly unlikely to be at the concert but you never know quite where life takes people. I checked my messenger contacts and with relief saw she was active on line and replied to my message immediately, wondering what I was talking about.

A Perfect Place for
Walking and Talking....

Heartfelt relief and gratitude for us, sadly not the case for everyone. Sounds a bit dramatic maybe, but the fear was real and touched a nerve even though it was just brief and fleeting, it hit home more than ever before. 

I don't usually comment on what is happening in the world on here, sure I read about it, think about it, worry for the future and do what I can in my own small way in my little bit of the world. I'm no politician or stateswoman but I do know that this is not about religion and faith, it's about hatred, fear, division and all that is dark in our world. What I also know, is that the love, compassion, selflessness, the desire to help others and kindness of the majority shone through, breathing a little much needed light into a very dark day - Muslim (and a whole variety of other faith) taxi drivers giving free lifts all night to get people home, Rabbi's delivering coffee to frazzled Police officers, pubs and hotels offering shelter to those who were stranded and those two homeless guys who have nothing at all, but ran towards the chaos to offer any comfort they could to those who needed it, a lady who sadly died in their arms. That's what human nature is ultimately about, that's who we are, mirrored in all those beautiful souls, those who put others first when they have needed them most and didn't allow gender, faith, religion or race to divide us; that's what we need to keep alight and alive in our hearts and souls, even when it seems no one else is, because they are - they may just need another light to shine with them. 

Beautiful Bewl Water

More practice walks for the nearly here Marathon walk took me out and about again this week, tackling the circular 13 mile route around a nearby reservoir Bewl Water, I knew about that the next day I can tell you! As I started the walk, the clouds grew menacingly dark and before long I could hear the rumbles of thunder and see the distant flashes lightning - counting the distant between the two to measure the distance like I did as a child, just what I wanted to hear as I walked through the woodland! Laughing to myself and thanking Goddess for the cleansing storm and praying that the lightning didn't hit me as strode with purpose, I think we can qualify it as a coddiwomple to be honest, I had a vague map, hadn't a clue where I was heading but knew it would end up back where I started at some point. 

Which

Traditional Kentish Oasts

thankfully I did just over 4 hours and a wide variety of dog walkers, ramblers, joggers, runners and cyclists later. Everyone was cheery, waving walking sticks, exchanging hellos - even the sweaty puffed out joggers and runners who caught me unawares  a streak of neon pink or green as I communed with nature, huffed and puffed to my Goddess about my sanity and my clicking hip in between revelling in the beauty around me and probably looking a little disturbed as I practised a short talk I am giving in a few weeks about some local neolithic stones -  bumbling along, choosing the right words and delivering choice pithy sentences to trees and bushes as I went. They appreciated it I'm sure, just like the cyclists who after silently sneaking up on me, patiently waited for me as I extolled the migratory habits of 4000 BCE mammoths and reindeer to my invisible audience of Dryads and wood nymphs, nodding politely when I realised and explained I was practicing a talk for a summer solstice camp, even asking what it was about. I explained, they didn't run and 

Sweet Smelling Honeysuckle

they even said they'd pay the stones a visit next time they were that way.... 

Rewarding myself with an ice cream as I got back to the visitors centre, flopped into the car and pulled my walking boots off, I found a text from a beloved friend who turned out to be a distant cousin a few years ago, well she always was but we just didn't know. Originally from the same village as me, after being an uber babysitter for several years, she met her husband, moved to Leicester, settled down and now has 4 gorgeous children of her own. 

A last minute Bank Holiday caravan trip to the Kentish coast for them meant a chance for us to catch up, and a couple of hours later after I had soaked away my aches and pains in the bath we tracked

St Mary's Bay

them down at a beach about an hour away. They hadn't told the children that we were coming, and to watch them realise who their parents were talking to, to see such amazing little people discard buckets, spades, sandcastle, forts and moats with delight and run up the beach to envelop me in glorious wet and sandy hugs was a beautiful and wondrous thing. Exactly the sort of thing that makes your soul sing again. Helping dig a moat, build castles, collect shells, look for hag stones, stopping punch ups and swimming in the sea (yes really !) were the main components of the next few

precious hours. I came away with some glorious booty, a shell each from the boys Tyler and Ashton, a beautiful heart shaped stone from my Emily who has a wild heart very like my own and sand from Lucy the baby of the family - all in my shoes, thanks Bubba! 

All given, knowing it would go on my dresser with my other 'special stuff' and that's exactly where it is. 

Treasured and loved. 

Have a Blessed Week and Remember Love x x 

Gathering Roots

How Very British!

Greetings Campers!
Can you guess what I've been up to this weekend? Yep, I've been braving the deepest wilds of Kent, well ok a local camp called The Roots Gathering - a blend of workshops and talks with like minded folk. Originally I had made arrangements to go with a friend but as it turned out on the day, I headed off alone. Having a deep breathing session and after giving myself a talking to as I drove and like a child asking Goddess for her help, I won't lie it was still with some not inconsiderate level of trepidation that I pulled up and to pitch my tent. Just goes to show how much anxiety can be hidden behind a smiling face...  As I put my tent up I was scouring passing faces for a familiar one, busying myself arranging the contents of my tent and my equipment, before retreating inside for a little calming exercise and a quick reassuring chat with himself and the kids on our family group chat. Carpe diem'ing the living daylights out of the situation, I pulled my invisible

Beautiful Mandala

cloak of non anxiety tightly round myself and armed with my steaming mug of tea I went in search of the communal fire, what a good place to start!
As the fire lighting ceremony got underway a few familiar faces appeared amongst the smoke, and whilst some long lost friend didn't suddenly and miraculously appear there were enough people I recognised and enough friendly smiling faces to make me feel a bit better and head off to the main tent to enjoy the evening's entertainment, including watching work start on this amazing mandala and some fantastic acoustic singers (one of them a camper who felt brave) the desire to run back to my tent, pack up my stuff and run away slowly diminishing!
The following morning after a remarkably

Rise and Shine!

good sleep - my brand new pump up mattress doing it's job admirably, despite a cold coming on, I sat watching the beauty of the morning as the sun rose higher in the sky over tents of sleepy campers. 

Clutching my yoga mat - which had the best airing it's seen for a long time this weekend, I heading off for the first of the morning workshops, choosing the fabulously named didjeridoo sound scape meditation. I had no clue what to expect and wasn't disappointed, 3 didji's playing, drums, wooden flute, crystal singing bowls and rain makers providing an evocative and dreamy backdrop to our own personal meditation journeys of well .. just being! Rivers and spirals of colours just washing around me somehow connected, sifting through the previous week, tumbling it through my consciousness, leaving what was needed to carry on the journey safely within my reach and discarding all the detritus that no longer served me. I could have been in an ancient cave in the deepest outback, instead of in a slightly damp ex army tent in a field on the Kent/Sussex border - Awesome!

Story Telling Round the Camp Fire

Feeling decidedly braver as the day progressed, chatting to familiar faces and striking up conversation with random people such as the lovely ladies Yvette and the Kashas camped right in front of me, I learned about Forest kindergartens, heard the harp played by the Bard Chris, watched him encourage a shy child to have a go, talked to the lovely Faye about the strange link of connections and how they take you places and people you never dreamt of. 
I attended a fascinating talks on the local to me Coldrum Stones, Bone Singers which all resonated deeply a talk on Shamanism and poetry from the land before working on a collaborative group piece called Voice of the Land where we all roamed round the grounds for a while then came back and offered our line/s in a circle to make an eclectic fast moving bit of work! My lines where something akin to this: 'Wind brushed Beech, solitary marker to secret warrens, guarded by thistles and brambles'  purely noticed because I tripped in one, clearly the land talking to me about looking where I am going! 

More wonderful music, drumming and a crazy banjo player followed by some fabulous story telling round the camp fire, complete with the strains of a 'Viking Disco' coming from the main tent- which added the perfect back drop. If I closed my eyes I could have been listening to a weary traveller recalling tales and legends in return for supper whilst sounds of the feasting and music drifted in from the Great Hall, fanciful but wonderful. I really feel this something we are missing, the stories, the spoken word, that rooted connection.

Another morning, a bit more head coldy, but

An Appropriate Purchase...

undeterred, another mediation journey, this time accompanied by a Gong Bath, the blended sounds of about 7 or 8 gongs, a beautiful and harmonious soothing sound that I can only describe as well shimmery! A fascinating meditation journey of walking through forests until I came to the edge of a deep canyon, which I decided to leap into, plunging down until suddenly I became an Eagle, soaring and swooping up and down along the river running through the bottom of the canyon, before alighting at a cave full of the spirits of the ancestors, sitting with them and then painting my hand with ochre and marking the wall with my hand print, which somehow said I was there, connected with them, one of them. Browsing through the stalls I came across the most wonderful smell, it was this incense being burned by the lovely Coldrum Stones Speaker, that he makes himself...Kentish Roots, with a name like that I had to treat myself!

I Made This!

By now my head was pounding, with both the cold, headspace clearing as some people suggested the powerful symbolism and possible brain cell over load of all the talks I had attended, so I decided to try my hand at simple basket weaving. 
Look at what I made! From grass, roots and raffia. It's not the tidiest but wow I am ridiculously proud. Sitting in the sun, chattering about the different workshops and talks we had attended we wove a rich tapestry story of our festival experience as we twisted and threaded our little baskets together in a companionable atmosphere. With the chink of the metal at the smithy stall, flutes and drums playing melodiously out of sight,the smell of woodsmoke and outdoor cooking along the sounds of children playing it was as though we'd travelled back in time again. 
A very familiar sensation, it must be so deep rooted in our souls and in our genetic make up, even if we appear to have forgotten it most of the time, so busy in our modern world. I decided to admit defeat and leave early, knowing that my head was getting worse and I needed

My Lovely New Necklace

sleep. So I packed up and left, sad to have missed the talks on divining the landscape, wells and closing ceremony. It was the right thing to do though - I got home and slept for 3 hours! Before I left I passed a stall and a necklace caught my eye, my heart, my soul and everything else. One hand shot out to touch the stone whilst the other rummaged in my bag for my purse. Very unlike me, I'm not usually so taken with material yearnings for things. I'd never seen one like it before and hadn't got a clue what it was. Chatting to the stall holder the lovely Mandy who I have met before at Folkstone Circle and lives 5 minutes from where I work as I paid, she informed me that it was Lodolite, the Shaman's Stone. I love it! A bit of research on when I got home revealed it's connection to the spiritual plane, visionary experiences and past life energies. I so know this is the start of another journey ...
So now I'm going to try and stay up for the local online Moot and then let this cold or clearing whatever it is do it's thing.

Have A  Blessed Week x x

Full Moon Findings

May Full Flower Moon

What a beautiful full moon this week!
I hope you managed a glimpse?
Lady Moon was rather resplendent in her glowing entirety, dazzling and imposing in the black velvety sky. According to various folklore and legends the May Moon
is the Full Flower Moon, Blessings Moon and Corn Planting Moon which heralds all aspects of love, for each other, for the land and looking after yourself! 
All week I have had some weird and wonderful dreams, when I was managing to sleep that it is - It's been a week of waking up and looking at the clock to see 3.33 in red square digits

3.30 AM
Feathers courtesy of gallery.yopriceville.com   

taunting me! 
A colleague suggested that it means that the Ascended Masters are with me, the spiritually enlightened who were human in a previous incarnation, great spiritual teachers that are here to let me know I have their love, help and companionship or according to others Angels are present who have a connection with amongst other things communication, psychic abilities, growth and creativity. beliefs that combine the two talk about 333 meaning that my prayers are being answered and they are here to help me understand my life purpose and help me to achieve my soul's mission. Ok.... I wasn't aware that I had prayed for advice with my life's purpose, though I have to admit I had been taking an interest in specialising in a particular area of my field, which is health and social care and have been investigating further training to that end... hmm, in angelic terms 

View From Bidborough Ridge

the number 333 invites you to:

'Use your natural communicative and lightworking skills to aid, assist and serve others in positive and uplifting ways.'  http://sacredscribesangelnumbers.blogspot.co.uk   

Not for the first time I think I'll consider myself told! 

Wee small hour insomnia and purported visitations aside, I've been out and about exploring pastures new in preparation for my upcoming Big Hike. This week as well as more local haunts, I have enjoyed the country delights of Penshurst, Haysden and Bidborough Ridge - they weren't joking about that ridge either! It looks quite deceiving in this picture but judging by the puffing, panting and burning aches in my muscles - it wasn't! Fabulous views over Weald at Tonbridge and Sevenoaks though. There were a few silent mutterings in my head as I laboured up that hill, if I'm honest,

Glorious Wild Garlic

questioning the sanity of undertaking a challenging 26 point something miles marathon walk next month. This time however, I had company - Liz and Becky who may well have been wondering the same thing! 
We were rewarded though, with breathtaking scenery, flora and fauna, which we all acknowledged we wouldn't have appreciated even 10 years ago, our more mature hormones enjoying a joint refocus on well being and keeping healthy - bikinis and fashion a quest of former years, consigned to the 'stuff it, there's just more of me to love' recycling bin of Room 101 of Womanhood!
What I did notice is that knew what most of the plants were now, old names coming back to the walks of my youth and of course 'good old' google of pink/white/blue hedgerow flowers until I locate the correct one after many of my rambles. The glorious smells that accompanied our walk - fragrant late bluebells, heady notes of wisteria at our 'ahem' pub pitstop and the exotic rich scent of the wild garlic down near the river. We literally stood in amongst it and inhaled it's intoxicating aroma - or stench , depending on how you feel about it! I read a post on a page on facebook last week about foraging and cooking with wild garlic. If I could have carried

Scented Jasmine

it for a further 6 miles, I may have respectfully gleaned some! A bit of research on this and the perfect recipe was unearthed - this simple and gloriously rustic gem - Wild Garlic Pesto.
I might have gone for a wander and a forage today for some and been creative but after a late night paranormal investigation, which I'll tell you about another time, that had me sliding into bed just before 3 and mercifully not seeing 3.33 in, being woken at 9 by indignant and ravenous cats. Any foolhardy thoughts of walking were hastily averted by a spontaneous invite to lunch with my lovely son Dan and his equally lovely partner David at their new apartment - a veritable feast of all things yummy, which left me full and in a mood to rest my legs in the sun in our garden, revelling in the glorious smell of the Jasmine that has burst into life. It seems this week has been an abundant feast of simple sensory delights.

Have A Glorious Week x x 

Reference : http://sacredscribesangelnumbers.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/angel-number-333.html
Link : https://themoonlightshop.com/blogs/news/18987524-the-flower-moon-in-may

Walking With My Ancestors

My Beltain Altar

Well this week has rushed past at some speed! You know those weeks where you could do with an extra couple of hours in the day or even an extra day in the week? Art work for a friend, studying for a course at work, let alone just normal work or having a life! So on Saturday, heeding the words of a very wise woman I know whose favourite saying is 'you cannot pour from an empty vessel'- I treated myself to a massive lie in and spent the afternoon lounging in my PJ's on the sofa cuddling cats - there are 12 to choose from at the moment, snoozing, drinking tea and attempting to read my way through my mahoosive 'to read' pile that has grown to alarmingly toppling

Well Worth a Read...

risk proportions. The book of delight this Saturday was this little gem... full of amazing facts you never knew you didn't know, based on decades of very sage observations, such as leaves growing bigger in the north side of a tree - who knew how soon that would be useful?
So to today, super lie in complete followed by an early night, I got up ready and raring for a 9 mile training hike for the MacMillan Big Hike I am doing in June, I'm still not quite sure why I signed up for this! 26 miles is bad enough but over the very beautiful but extremely hilly South Downs. Actually that's a lie, I do know why I signed up - 3 times in the last 3 years some of my most precious people have had to fight this disease, so this is a very personal challenge. 
Armed with an old map, plenty of water and food (- who knew how long I would be?) sporting appropriate attire, I set off strolling down the hill to the station, not expecting any amazing Goddessy moments, stopping to admire and photograph the delights of the hedgerow along the way.

Feathers Led the Way

After my initial confident visit to the church yard to pay my respects to at least 3 generations of ancestors, it wasn't long before my intrepid pioneer mindset faltered a little and I realised that following a path from my map and the online route on my phone wasn't quite as easy as it looked. For anyone interested, this is sort of the route I took -Aylesford Ancient Sites. Luckily as the blurb on the website promised, you are never on your own on this walk - plenty of dog walkers, other ramblers and spirits from the past on these ancient track ways I read at one point of mild confusion along the way...Spirits, ancient track ways? Hello? Just when I was thinking is this the right route? Am I lost? I saw a feather gaily bobbing at me from the cow parsley as if to say follow me, a message from my ancestors - then a friendly real life and very much alive dog walker confirmed that I was indeed on the right path. Wandering along I could help but feel that my footfall was echoing ancient paths that my ancestors must have taken, byways that they knew like the back of their hands and frequented regularly, passing a fenced off water filled quarry pit, I knew I was passing where my great grandfather had once worked. Peering

An Ancient Track Way Long Before The
Pilgrimages Connected to Thomas A Becket

through the railings I saw the quarry as it once was in my minds eye, memories of old family photos of suited gents posing stiffly for the camera before turning back to the quarry. Plodding on up hill, very aware that any ancestors joining me must have found my huffing and puffing hilarious and hopefully endearing at the same time, I reached a mid point and saw this sign reminding me of the wren call I heard earlier in the year.. These paths are ancient trackways that date back to the stone age, backed up with archaeological finds. More dog walkers, cyclists and ramblers were met and chatted with, paths and routes discussed. After much travail and huffing and puffing, I reached higher than I had anticipated, I flopped on the mossy grass and marvelled at the views and mentally congratulated the ancestors for choosing such beautiful sites to inhabit

Lunch With Ancient Ancestors

and lay their honoured ancestors to rest. Almost breaking into a delighted trot, I made my way down the North Downs Way a lot quicker than I'd struggled up it! Just checking for a moment with another dog walker that I was on the right track in the woodland, imparting my Big leaves to the North knowledge on, I headed south successfully, to be fair it was downhill so not that tricky! Ancient pathways taking me to Kits Coty House the remains of a long ploughed up Long Barrow, where I stopped to eat my lunch and spend some time with some very ancient ancestors. I was joined by some lovely cyclists who were from Oxford - I seriously hope they hadn't cycled that far today, who were keen to talk about Waylands Smithy and The White Horse of Uffington that I was researching to visit on Friday night and I was able to share with them my knowledge of our local stones. How serendipitous.....  Thank you Goddess! The conversation then turned to the various stones of Orkney where this chap and his wife had just come back from - which is exactly where me and himself are headed September this year ... Timing or what? Happy but with slight aches in my legs I headed back to the village of Aylesford, past another Great Grandfather's old Forge, realising I was going to have to seriously run to catch the hourly train at 1.50, I sensibly decided that a slow amble, opportunity to take a few

An Old Ancestral View?

photos and a cheeky pint was a much better alternative. Deep breath needed to walk in the pub as a woman on their own, but hey what's the worst that can happen? Even just 15 years ago when I worked in pubs, it was a bit awkward, women might have illogically and harshly been thought of as 'up for it' - pfff someone try and suggest that to me, they'd have copped the full fury of a tired and thirsty peri-menopausal woman! No such drama - The Chequers was a lovely friendly pub and the sunday roast looked and smelt amazing! Posting a photo of my pint and view on facebook prompted a very quick message from my Mum informing me that if I really was in the Chequers, which I was, then this was where my Great Grandfather used to go for a pint. Wow. A timely reminder that my line of fore fathers is as tightly bound in me as that of my beloved motherline. Following a bit of a break, I caught the train back and managed the mile and a half up hill walk home... language ensued that is unrepeatable! That's a serious hill, but I did it. Let's hope I can drive in the morning!!

If you would like to sponsor me on my 26 mile hike on June 10th and help me rasie funds for Macmillan I'd be very grateful - the link is: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/clairescoastalchallenge?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=fundraisingpage&utm_content=clairescoastalchallenge&utm_campaign=pfp-share   Thank You.

Have Blessed Week x x x 

Blessed Beltain

Traditional Maypole Dancing

Blessed Beltain - Blessings of love, fire, fertility and passion to you all! 
Beltain or Beltane is celebrated on 30th April - May Eve, often when bonfires are lit and/or 1st May. Traditionally Beltain celebrated the union of the Goddess and the God, their glorious fertility over the coming months seen in the green leafy finery budding and delicate flowers blossoming across the land. A time for animals to mate and for us to revel in our sexuality - the traditional custom of dancing round the Maypole a cheekily phallic symbol of the male form adorned with flowery and leafy garlands representing the female form, the entwining of ribbons around it by 'maidens' revelling in the act! Reflecting the changes in the land around us, this was a time for courtship, with couples sloping off into the woods at the Beltain fires and a flurry of hand fastings or marriages a few months later when the signs of ensuing fertility had come to light! 
It's been suggested that Beltain is named for the Celtic God Bel and the fires 

Glorious Hampshire - Our Setting for
Beltain Celebrations

were a way of marking and celebrating the coming months of sun and the prospect of a good harvest - like so many of the traditional sabbats reflecting the needs and hopes of the farming calendar throughout the year, no doubt these flourished and grew as we became early farmers at the mercy of the elements, Mother Nature and the Goddesses and Gods of the land. Cattle were driven between the fires to protect them from harm and boughs of Rowan were hung over the fire to protect the home and hearth from any form of enchantment and the 'evil eye.'
The Maiden has grown into a young woman, ready to leave childhood behind, full of sensuous longing, yearning for the fulfillment of love, ripe to explore and enjoy her sexuality. What a glorious time!
This time of year has long been a special time

The Wicker Man

for me and one of my oldest friends, my beloved Lu, a very brave women who apart from my first week in the maternity unit, has literally known me and been my friend for the whole of my life! As older adults, we've always marked Beltain somehow, usually by getting up ridiculously early to visit the local stones at Kits Coty, wash our faces in the May Day dew to retain our youthful looks (you'd never know we were 76 and 81 now would you?!) and to prance about with local Morris Dancing groups! Not totally sure why this sabbat is so specifically ours, the only explanation I can think of is that we grew up together, our children have grown up together, 5 generations of our families have been happily entwined over half a century and we are blessed to have each other as a constant reminder of home, childhood and love.

My Request to The Goddess To Be
Taken Up In The Flames

This year I asked if she was game for a Beltain adventure, as long as it doesn't involve climbing hills was the reply! No hill climbing policy in situ, we headed off to Butser Ancient Farm in Hampshire, a drive of about an hour and a half from us. Alerted to this by some lovely drumming friends from the fabulous Pentacle Drummers, we found reconstructed Stone Age, Iron Age, Saxon and Roman Buildings and farms, displays of crafts, workshops, reenactments and a wicker man over 30 feet high, that took a month to construct that would later be burnt as an offering to the Gods and Goddesses for fertility and a fruitful harvest. 
After taking part several times in an awesome shamanic drumming circle  in a 'stone age' round house  (we were well away with that!) maypole dancing and experiencing food samples that would have been around at the time, learning that you can get fresh water mussels (and then I found one today!) we headed over to the amazing construction pictured above, added and tied our individual requests and prayers to the wicker man to be sent to the Goddess and God through the flames later that evening. A after quick sampling of the local cider - a mere mouthful

Goddess of Grain - Of Course!

for me as driver, we explored the 'Iron Age' buildings and  both felt at home with their structure, decorations inside and the basic spinning wheels, the actual use of metal becoming vividly apparent and obvious, so much more than we could have possibly learned from a text book or in a class room, seriously take your children there!
Interestingly neither of us felt at home at all in the Saxon House, but enjoyed the Roman Villa, these are based on actual local findings, I found this beautiful painted mural there, of course it's a depiction of a Goddess of Corn/Wheat/Grain! Just goes to reinforce that She is ever present in all cultures, all beliefs and all things. 
More drumming, singing, dancing and eating  - all sorts, including vegetarian, vegan and gluten free and drinking ensued, before as dusk approached we all

Fiery Finale..

headed over to the site of the wicker man for the finale of the day. Amidst more earthy and resonating drumming, which you could feel stir the crowd, the torch processed to the wicker man. A lucky raffle winner lit the man shaped bonfire and we all whooped and cheered as the fire took hold, decorating the night sky with flames and sparks in such a primal way. We could see cars lights slowing and stopping in the distance to witness the spectacle. The wind roared and there were showers of sparks that glowed as they flew over the field. What a sight! I can completely understand why our ancestors would have been in awe, captivated by the spectacle - just as we were with our 21st century understanding of the world. We found ourselves worrying about whether or not the direction of the wind would mean that our requests would not go up in the fire, a mild superstition or fantasy compared to the total belief and hope in the way it burned that may have been felt 2000 plus years ago, primal as it sounds it mattered! A completely amazing day and experience.

Have a Blessed Beltain BB x x

A Marvellous Medley

A Surprise Thank You!

Well another week has flown past, another week when a delicious medley of seemingly unconnected threads have magically woven themselves together in the end to make a rich tapestry as the backdrop along my path. 
A beautiful surprise winged it's way to me this week, I came home from work to find this wonderful card and present as a thank you from my lovely circle sister Tina who came to stay with her daughter a few weeks ago and gave my baby kitten some much needed healing reiki. Fabulous CD with songs and chants bringing the essence of Goddess from all around the world and all cultures, a timely message that many paths entwine and blend to make each journey.... Thank you Tina! 
Another beautiful surprise was the gift of these beautiful crystals from my not so 'little' brother Paul and his girlfriend Nikki. Must really be my week for blessings. They said it was a belated birthday present despite sending me a gorgeous flower basket on the day, he said he just saw them and thought of me - the best sort of present! 

Beautiful Crystals

They are all three amethysts  -  the meaning of amethysts varies but usually they are connected with healing properties, meditation, psychic abilities, calm and balance. These have been preloved so I will want to cleanse and energise them before I use them. To do this I will wash them them in water that I have smudged over with sage and then leave them to dry over night on a window sill in the full moon, you could also do this in sunlight if you wanted to. They can then be used for healing, for meditating on or even as a necklace if I get to feeling that arty! I've recently seen them as adornments on staves or  wands too.

Sun and Moon in The Garden

It was great to see a couple of new faces at our Maidstone Pagans Pub Moot who brought some fascinating conversation and presented new possibilities to us, eagerly taken up by myself and my beautiful friend Maria, who calls us onion friends as we have so many layers that we are learning about each other, either that or she means we are Shrek and Donkey in which case we will be having words! No surprise to find that the same things keep presenting themselves to me, especially when I keep ignoring them elsewhere - an opportunity to try past life regression, healing, story telling and treelore... Who was I to refuse such exciting and serendipitously insistent offers that were sent to me?
So on Thursday myself and my lovely onion friend headed off to another local moot the wonderfully aptly named Pagan Pathways run by another friend who just happens to be an expert in crystals, yet another very useful synchronicity! I knew several of

My Budding Herb Garden

the group from the summer solstice camp I attended last year (and have not only been invited back, but asked to do a talk at this year's one on the history of the local standing stones...eeeek!) - I was greeted with hugs as I might have been with old friends, always a good start! We had a fascinating talk on sacred celtic tree lore, complete with healing properties and magical uses, just the perfect subject matter for someone who has been cultivating a little herb garden in my little 'Goddessy' area in our garden, complete with a little Goddess statue. We then had a talk and a mini workshop on story telling, which had us jazzing up the story of the 3 little pigs until we cried with laughter, I'm pretty sure there were some funky steam punk pigs going on in one tale! Yet again timely messages and reminders that weave through my path, re-inspiring me, re-firing my imagination and

Blue Bells Courtesy of the
Lovely Claire Hayward

reaffirming my belief in my slightly mad at times journey!! 
Literally just as I have written this, as if to completely reinforce what I have just typed, my lovely friend Claire has messaged me with a memory of us walking through bluebells last year and sent this gorgeous picture of some bluebells she saw today and thought of me! How fabulous a blessing is that? Not merely the photograph, but to be remembered  and associated with fondness by such beauty..... Thank you!
Following a wonderful workshop yesterday on Traditional Witchcraft that I need time to digest and do justice to fully, so will have to leave until next week, I dragged himself off for a drive to the

Beautiful Beach at Whitstable Harbour

coast for some proper seaside fish and chips. We strolled along the pebbly beach at Tankerton watching a group of people readying themselves for a BBQ party on the beach, watching some children blowing and chasing bubbles and dogs bravely running in and out of the water as it lapped against the wooden breaks. We sat admiring the sun play out a dramatic game of hide and seek with the clouds and then drove along to Whitstable to walk through the Harbour, watched the sunset - a fiery red sun melting, seeping into the land and glowing in windows across the bay. We ate our chips on a picnic bench on the beach, a perfect table for two with a view. Such a beautiful view, such a blessing.

Have a Blessed Week x x x

April Blessings

Tiny

Sunny April Greetings to you all! 
Been a bit busy round here, I've been too busy dealing with life and then living it to the full to sit down and write much about it! My family has seen too much of hospitals the last two weeks but we're all home and in one piece, so all is good. Makes you count your blessings though.
One of our blessings is that Tiny Tim the little runt of Sylvie's litter is finally putting on weight after a very dicey start and much bottle feeding, here he is pictured receiving some Reiki treatment from my lovely circle sister Tina, the weight started going on the next

Tiny Bottle

day, so never say never.. I have to say it has been like having a baby in some ways, feeds during the night and wandering round with a small snuffling thing clinging on to my top and getting milk in my hair! 
His bottle was as big as he was, I have left it on my altar next to a tealight to show you the scale. Reiki and a place on my Goddess Altar appear to be providing strength and his birth weight finally doubled. Although the others are already treble his size and much stronger, he's finally getting there - thankfully!

Sunset Seagull

Both myself and Mark had our birthdays last week so took ourselves off out for the day to Brighton, such a glorious and beautiful sunny day, a real treat in April. A walk round the Brighton Pavilion, a fantastic ostentatious folly, through the famous back streets of shops - The Lanes and along the seafront and iconic piers -old and new. Sitting with a number of other photographers we waited for the sun set to catch the perfect shot.... This sea gull decided to photobomb my sunset shot of the old pier, no doubt improving it - what a great picture. 
You can see all the detail in the feathers as it is silhouetted against the sun. 
Earlier when looking for somewhere to have lunch out, we came accross a lovely old pub called the Druid's Head, so named as apparently it was built in the site of an old stone ring, allegedly placed there by Druids.
Hmm, not sure how many Druids in ancient times hot-footed their way to

A Druidic Abundance...

Brighton or built stone circles,but seeing as I was that child who argued that dragons must have existed as there was a word for them, it was good enough for me. Amazing Veggie Fish (Halloumi) and Chips, and more Green Men and/or Druids than I could shake a stick at, should I have wanted to.

They seem to be everywhere I am at the moment, I seem to be finding them without even looking, there is obviously a message in them for me - reflecting the fertility of the season and the promised abundance no doubt. I wonder what my Goddess will have to say about that? Why are there practically no green women? Interestingly in Churches, a surprising but very common home for them, Green Men are often partnered with Sheela-Na-Gigs - carvings of naked women showing their exaggeratedly large vulvas....

A Not So Pink, Full Moon

Meanings and representations include fertility, abundance and renewal of life and land.
Finally to top of this display of fertility and fullness I snapped this glorious photo of the full moon, long associated with fertility and a constant reminder of the cycles though flow in and around us. This April full moon is most commonly known as the Pink Full Moon, looked far more blue from where I was hanging out of a window! A bit of an odd mixture this week maybe, I'm sure they are all connected, they flowed in my mind at least - and the Moon in the Tarot does come with confusion and illusion...

Have A Blessed Week x x