Looking Inwards

Altar Candle

Well I don't know about anywhere else but it's more like Autumn than Summer here today! All this water has certainly reflected my need to go with the flow over the last few days - I had lots of Goddess activities planned for this weekend after a really long week which just about left room for daily devotions but what a surprise - all change! First I had a migraine from hell which meant that I needed to take myself off to bed for a couple of hours instead of attending a Holistic Fayre organised by some friends where I was going to be doing some drumming as well as hopefully getting some divine inspiration and then due to circumstances beyond our control we've had to cancel our Maidstone Pagans moot today. 

Well worth a read..

So, what to do with myself instead? Listen to my body for starters - as Michelle my Discovery Course Priestess always told us, you cannot serve from an empty vessel. Cue for plenty of sleep, lots of snuggly cat cuddles and time to catch up on some reading! I spent a fair amount of my weekend reading this - Stolen Images by Peter Knight - a fascinating look at Pagan Symbolism and how it became part of Christian worship...well worth a read.
As my lovely friend Lu pointed out this morning the rain had a curious effect - it was as she said very 'still' this morning - less cars and people about even in our quiet neck of the woods, perfect quality time in an empty house to talk with my Goddess, do some chanting, and indeed maracas waving followed by a fabulous rain inspired meditation - which  led me deeper into my

My Kitchen Window Altar

journey that yet again had a healing theme that darted backwards and forwards through time so vividly it was like watching a film. 
I thought I'd share some photos of my kitchen altar, from day one it felt like the most natural place to have one for me. My kitchen is multi purpose room at the front of my house - the first room you enter, complete with large dining table, comfy rocking chair, plenty of snoozing cats and a dresser to hold additional kitchen and 'Goddess' stuff; books, candles, incense, altar bits - you name it! It has always been the central room in our house, full of smells from the oven; cakes, jam/chutney or wine making, as well as focal point for homework, family and friends

chattering and celebration planning. More recently adorned by headdresses, drums, rattles and sewing bits! Perfect place for me  to celebrate Goddess. Most of the items on my altar have a special significance.  I bought this blue glass star fish in a charity shop after asking Goddess for something watery and have filled it for Litha with pretty pebbles from beaches that we have visited this year.

The candle at the of the page is one myself and my daughter chose, originally to decorate our water themed bathroom, whilst the shell was a present from a much loved cousin's visit to the Bahamas and the jewelled dragonfly (a life long totem of mine) was a 'just because' present from my other best friend Tracie who knows how much I love them - so much so that they were the theme at our wedding. I also have this postcard of the Yorkshire Moors, which was actually sent to me by Friends of the Earth asking me to support a cause they were fighting

- particularly relevant to the warrior/protector energy of Kerah as I feel Her, as well as a gorgeous rose quartz heart given to me by my friend Diana, many years ago, in the very early days of my journey. To me all these items represent love in its many forms and guises, perfect for my altar.

This weekend I've also taken the opportunity to get jam jars and bottles ready for the coming harvest of

Apple Wine ready
 to go....

fruit and veg for jams, chutneys, curds and wines of every variety! I even 'found' 5, yes 5 demi johns of apple wine to bottle to add to the other 60 plus bottles maturing in the corner of the lounge of wines such as nectarine, blackberry, peach and apricot as well as some experimental cucumber wine smells like melon, tastes like gin and  marrow rum which is very sweet and almost chocolatey! I'm pretty sure we'll be adding to that this year too from the allotment and hedgerows, as well as gifts of gluts from elsewhere.

Finally, as I was waiting to pick my daughter up from work tonight, I was mulling over my lack of exciting 'Goddessy' stuff AGAIN this week and wishing, not without a considerable amount of envy, that I was able to get to conference in Glastonbury this coming week or get to a Lammas celebration, when with sudden clarity it occurred to me that my upcoming 'mundane' week of work, pilates, swimming, a night in with the girls, while we plan something special for my daughter's 18th birthday and less mundane highlight of my lovely Dad's birthday meal on Saturday are all in their own right real life celebrations and workings of my Goddess! Safeguarding and protecting at work, nurturing my vessel, planning a rite of passage for my beautiful girl, a very special moon lodge and a fantastic celebration of fruitfulness - a birthday meal at Lammas for a wonderful man with his wife, children and grandchildren as he reaches 73...... With a massive 'Doh!' I realised that I don't need to worry about planning Goddessy things, they happen anyway, She is such a part of my life that in my celebrations I am already honouring Her and that I am 'living it' authentically without having to wave a flag or bang a drum to prove it. Valuable and thought provoking lesson...

                  Wishing Everyone at Conference a Fabulous Week!

           Have a Blessed Week, However you Celebrate Lammas! x x

Realising the Mother Line

It seemed such normal
drive to work...

After a busy but mundane week, nothing out of the ordinary, I was beginning to wonder what I would find to write about in my blog. I have however learnt by now that if nothing else I should expect the unexpected, I asked Ker for inspiration and imagination in my daily conversations with Her, trusting and content in the knowledge that something would inspire me! Still it was a surprise when I had a rather odd thing happen to me on Friday morning. I  was coming along the main road when I could see a couple in a dark blue Jaguar waiting to pull out of Oatfield Drive, where I wanted to turn into. As I was slowing down I flashed my lights and waved them out. The lady who was the passenger, smiled, waved back and turned to who I thought was probably her husband, when he didn't  pull out I flashed my lights again and waited patiently, again the lady smiled, waved and turned to the man, yet he still didn't move. I decided to move forward and turn as there were cars starting to queue behind me. As I came past the car I looked to grin at the lady, roll my eyes in an "honestly, men" way but  to my surprise she had gone and the chap was sitting alone in the car! After a double take I finally managed to convince myself that she really was no longer  there. It's not the first time I've seen spirits but never in a car before.... When I got to work, I told to my lovely friend Liz (who is an absolute font of knowledge about all things weird, wonderful and spiritual) about it  and was interested to hear her view that it was lovely to think that a spirit was staying close to someone and looking out for them compared to my "well that was weird" point of view. I hadn't thought of it like that before. It made me wonder who is with me at times, unseen and unheard.

I'm sure Mark is growing his
own Cider Orchard!

On Saturday we went the allotment and were shocked at how much everything had grown over the week, particularly the wretched weeds. As luck would have it according to the lunar calender, this weekend was particularly auspicious for weeding, tidying and maintenance!  With a bit of help from our neighbour's petrol strimmer and plenty of elbow grease we soon had it looking better. The apples are growing quickly now, the early potatoes are ready to dig, some of the peas were ready to pick and the dwarf beans are looking a bit more lively. The three sisters planting is looking great, the bean plants are flowering in white and purple and the corn appears to like having such close companions, I decide against buying  

Sun through the Pear trees

and putting squashes and courgettes in yet as I thought I'd make sure the corn and beans had a chance to take off first, so they will hopefully go in next weekend as well as some more peas in a nearby plot. Whilst we were there I lit a candle and an incense stick and asked for simple blessings of sun and rain on the land as I have before. I was hoping to meditate but it was starting to get busier, it wasn't the people that put me off it was the increasing noise and some very active crickets that pervaded my thoughts and made me laugh. It was beautiful to just sit and listen to the busy insects and allotmenteers alike.

Honouring my Motherline

After that, we spent a lovely chilled afternoon with my Mum and Dad, after lunch Mum and I ended up looking through loads of old family photographs and chatting about family history. Now this in itself is far from uncommon, Mum has traced the family history many generations back in all the branches of the family tree that she could since I can remember and before the wealth of internet information became available, I accompanied her on many a grave finding mission or parish register search throughout Kent, where my ancestors have lived for centuries. On Saturday I was telling Mum how when I had seen my Uncle last week he had told me that I reminded him of their Mum and he could see a resemblance  and mannerisms, which no one has ever told me before! All of that side of the family were/are short and petite with dark hair and eyes - (think Pictish!) whereas I have always been tall, fair skinned blue eyed and well, sturdy - far more Anglo-Saxon! This led to us looking at photos with fresh eyes, Mum telling me more about my Nan's life and agreeing with my Uncle that there are likenesses. I always felt I was far more like my Dad's family. I was still struggling to accept that this was what I was learning this week from Ker, all the 'it's too early for the Mother archetype' arguments and 'save that for Lammas' etc. 

However, you know when you know....?! 

Last night had me researching the Mother Line theories and thoughts and I tried, I really did, to understand mitochondrial DNA ie what is passed down through the Mother Line, and if I've got this right we all in theory inherit from all four grandparents but proportionally more from our maternal grandmothers as that

Aylesford -home to a century
of my Mother Line 

can only come through the female line and not so much is received from our paternal grandmothers as it is not passed on in it's entire complexity through the male line. Anyone who knows more - please feel free to correct me! It inspired me to start writing poetry last night, something that I have always done in secret, which I will share maybe next week when I have 'completed' it as much as you ever do, this again made me look at my lovely Nan again, who was quite a prolific writer in her own way, despite her being a quiet private lady, we have a huge amount of letters that she wrote throughout her life, particularly during the second world war to her many brothers and my Granddad. Nan passed away when I was expecting her eldest great grandchild, my son Dan - who is more like her than anyone else!

Today I took flowers over to the family graves in the church you can see above in the picturesque village of Aylesford that was home to a century of women in my Mother Line and there are 4 generations at rest in the churchyard and whilst I didn't feel it was totally appropriate to do anything 'Goddessy' there, I placed flowers - pink, white and purple  carnations on all their 

Village Sign Depicting the
Local Ancient Stones at
Kits Coty

graves, remembered them and their names, thanked all these mothers in turn for their unknown blessings and gifts to me. The cottage Nan and her parents lived in is also in the above photo right by the famous and much photographed Aylesford Bridge. The village sign also depicts the local Standing Stones - Kits Coty that mean so much to me. 

So, I have books ordered to learn more about the Mother Line and ponder on it's importance to me, I have a poem to complete to share with you next week and I am beginning to understand the energies  flow, shift and alter, they don't always just begin and stop, whether that be Goddess or Sabbat energy or the flow of a bloodline or Motherline, I'm sure that Ker has plenty to share with me as I walk with Her as she did with all my Mothers that went before me and worked the land. I am writing this listening to Loreena McKennitt - and a particularly mournful but beautiful tune that sounded (if you will excuse my stereotype) very Jewish has just played - I just checked and it was called 'Sacred Shabbat' and is indeed Jewish in origin, interestingly a religion that measures the degree of a person's historic Judaism through the Mother's blood line and it's not lost on me that last week I visited a shrine dedicated to Mary, Mother of Jesus whilst we were on holiday.... I have much to learn!

Whilst I name and remember my Mother Line that I know of, that goes back to 1780 and is now Sophie, Claire, Margaret, Doris, Lily, Jane, Eliza and Mary...

                             I wish you all a Blessed Week x x 

Travelling Further Afield

Beach Altar - First Attempt

We've just come back from a beautiful couple of days in Norfolk, right by the beach just above Caister, in the unromantic sounding village of Scratby to be precise. Fortunately it was a lot nicer than it sounds- a beautiful unspoilt sandy beach, with the bare essentials of facilities and plenty of space. Apparently it's a Norse name- Skrauti meaning someone given to display* and 'by' meaning settlement - so now we know! (Sorry, I've always liked to know the wheres and whys!)
It was the first time I've been away for any length of time since I started my journey, so I had been wondering what to do about my altar - pack it up and take it with me or make a new one up there?

Stacking stones from
my second Altar

 
I decided to do the latter. So I dragged my long suffering husband  off and chose a quiet spot on the beach just as the sun was starting to set and we made a stack of flattish pebbles and simply surrounded it with two rings, one of white pebbles and one of blue. I did try with tea lights but it was a bit too windy, undeterred I grounded myself with the local elements and called Ker in as Kerah, adjusting my usual invocations for fruitful land and crops, to a fertile fish and sea life population and also a good catch or harvest for local fishermen.
I particularly liked this beach as there were dunes and sea grass and plants which looked gorgeous and helped me to feel I could tie it in with Ker as opposed to it solely being the preserve of watery or sea Goddesses.

Second Altar Selfie

Later in the week, on our last evening I went back to the same beach on my own and made a second altar this time a bit more ambitious - a spiral this time in the blue stone that was so readily available. A few people looked curiously as they walked past, but it was their dogs who came closer for a proper look, although once  I left, I looked down from the cliff and saw a few people wandering over to see what I had made and much to my delight took a photo before leaving it as it was.
Whilst  I was sitting there mulling over all the things

Beach Art

that She had shown to me and shared with me that week,  I realised that I was drawing on a black stone with a bit of flint and whilst I'm not expecting any awards or an exhibition at the Tate any time soon, I had managed to carve/mark a symbol of Goddess on it. Originally I was going to leave it there but after a bit more contemplating and meditation, I asked Goddess for Her blessing to take it, a lovely piece of quartz and a few pretty pebbles I had found whilst searching for my spiral stones home with me to adorn my altars at home in my kitchen and in the garden. I bathed them in the sea one more time and thanked Her for Her gift.

Wild Flowers by
 a Wheat Field

Whilst driving about in Norfolk there were plenty of signs for windmills but unfortunately we were never really close enough to one for me to get a photo or it was absolutely bucketing down and the shot was too blurred which was a bit disappointing. However Ker's presence was all around me all the time, first on our trip up to Blakeney Point to go on a boat trip to see the seals, as we drove through field after field of barley, oats, corn and wheat and then again as we drove on to Walsingham as we headed to the shrine there. 
We were just pulling out of a junction, amidst a blanket of fields when Mark pointed out this mural below, to me painted on the roadside of an empty looking house that was up for sale. Of course, I made him pull over so that I could have a look at it! I'm not entirely sure where we were - possibly between

between Holt and Brinton and I'm equally unsure what it's of exactly but it certainly caught my eye! It looks like Stonehenge in the back ground but  I'm not sure if it's a man or a woman - opinion is mixed here.What is the importance of the dragon, black wolves and a horned headdress, the snow, a staff with a sheep or goat skull(and jesters symbol?) as well as the musical instruments - a horn and a lyre? Not to mention the glowing necklace! As you may have gathered it has totally enthralled me, if anyone has any clue at all I'd love to hear it! I'll try not to be disappointed when it turns out to be an art student's flight of fancy!

Holy Well in the Shrine

After that excitement we headed to Walsingham to see the shrine and the holy well, both of which were beautiful. I wanted to visit as I was interested to see how old the original well was, as I suspected that this had been there long before any Christian shrine and possibly had pagan, maybe even Goddess roots. Unfortunately it was raining so much that we didn't brave the Abbey Grounds so I only managed to see the 'newer' well at the actual shrine which according to the visitor centre, dates back about a thousand years ago.

Shrine of Our Lady

The original shrine was built after a local wealthy widow, Lady Richeldis de Faverches had 3 visions of the Virgin Mary telling her to reconstruct the stable where Christ was said to be born, before being lost in the reformation and finally restored last century. The atmosphere in the shrine was amazing, I was lucky enough to have it to myself for a while and distinctly felt that the there was a very strong energy mingling with the incense and the smell of the candles. With no wish to offend any Catholics or Anglicans who may be reading this, I couldn't help concluding that our travels in mediation journeys and signs we receive from Goddess now and such visions that women like Richeldis had were really one

A Little piece of
Glastonbury in Norfolk!

and the same thing, only seen through differently conditioned hearts and minds, ours having been reopened in latter years by Goddess. 

It's a beautiful place to visit and I'm very glad that Richeldis was brave enough to push forward with her plans in such a male dominated era and build it, whoever she felt it was for. As I came out of the Shrine Chapel my eyes were pulled to a small plaque on the wall that said 'Glastonbury' - of course all the Abbeys that were at any point connected the shrine where there, but it was the one I saw first!

On the final  part of our journey home we stopped in Essex at Manningtree to have some lunch and then drove through Mistley as well. I had a headache when we getting close that didn't lift until we had left. We sat by the river as we had our lunch and I couldn't help but think of all the women

Once Places of Dread

who had lost their lives in the campaign of terror - the Witch Trials of Essex, Suffolk and as far as Norfolk in the mid 17th century, led by Matthew Hopkins. I was angry and sad for these women, who were in the main innocent of any crime other than being old, having cats or being healers or midwives, anyone following our paths would have been instantly guilty. I said a silent prayer for them as we sat overlooking the River Stour, a tidal estuary of boats forlornly marooned on mudflats and wondered if some of the local women managed to row or swim their way to safety before being captured. I hope so. It feels like there is a story in there somewhere!

So, back to Kent and back to work, and I'm sure there's plenty to do on the allotment this week, just to keep me busy.

                                       Have a Blessed Week x x

The Stour Estuary
at Manningtree   

Mistley Towers

* Reference: http://www.rosieandglenn.co.uk/TheLibrary/Places/Ormesby.htm

Making Sense

Greetings from a beautiful sunny Kent! 

I was fortunate enough to spend a couple of days this week hands on as staff as opposed to being stuck in my office as the boss, which meant I got to spend time with some of the amazing 'service users' (- I don't like that term, personally I prefer to say clients - as we work for them, but that's not the PC buzz word!) and to share a chilled picnic with them under this tree whilst watching a fountain spray from the middle of the pond at Goudhurst, just a couple of miles from where we work. It never fails to ground me and remind me why I do my job. 

I also attended a seminar on Safeguarding and the new Care Act this week, which had me wondering mid power point, how I had managed to overlook the fact that most of my work is based around protection and looking out for people's rights when I was struggling to interpret the energy of warrior and protector I have been feeling from my daily practice and conversations with  Kerah - no wonder I felt that energy so strongly! Talk about the truth being right under my nose. Finally, after another hectic week, tying up loose ends, I am now off for a whole glorious week...

I read a post on Facebook this week by a lady who is part of our ever growing Discovery circle whom I have yet to meet, but her chance 

post about feeling strangely connected to particular areas and places some due to  her family history  and others apparently randomly resonated strongly within me and made me reconsider my own favourite places and question what makes them so important to me - thank you 'S'. Since I was a little girl  I have always wanted to live in a windmill- not really surprising for a daughter of a Corn Goddess! I even wrote a piece of creative writing about the museum of my life (which was the theme of that particular class - not my ego!) called Windmill Cottage.  Also my own personal journey with Goddess and in particular with Ker has gained momentum over the last few years - not surprising when I see this road sign every morning as I arrive at work and drive past fields full of the fruits of the Goddess nearly everyday of my life .

Tintagel Castle in Cornwall, where my husband took this photo of me on our honeymoon has to be one of my favourite places ever. We were there for hours, and I mean hours - good job he loves me! I have no known connection at all but felt as though I knew it with all my heart and didn't want to leave. Apart form the obvious sounding name Cornwall or Kernow as it is known locally which apparently has no recorded connection with Ker or any Grain/Corn/Wheat/Oat even harvest Goddess that I have been able to find as yet. However the original tribes of Cornwall according to Roman historians were called (by them at least) the Cornovii - it's Latin translation being 'the people of the horn' which could relate to a peninsula - which it is, a cornucopia - quite possibly Goddess like or relating to Cerunnous the Horned God - so I haven't given up researching yet!

Cornwall 2011

I have been calling Kerah in nearly every morning, lighting my candles and incense (currently I am using white sage which curiously somehow reminds me of the smell of the sea!) on my kitchen window altar complete with shells and a fabulous starfish shaped blue glass dish I found in a local charity shop, all to represent the bounty and harvest of the sea to celebrate Litha as I work through the Goddess Wheel of the year. Afternoon devotions still have a different feel to them for me, more vivid maybe. We're off to the Norfolk coast tomorrow for a few days and instead of taking my altar things with me,I am going to make a small altar based on what I find at the beach or out and about, as well as making a few offerings.

This morning when I woke up and the rain was pouring, after a split second of irritation, my thought was 'YES!' the allotment would have the water it so badly needs - there's hope for me being a farmer yet! I decided to try to mediate with the sound of the rain instead of the rays of the sun or the moonlight which have proved so effective previously. I reasoned that as I had asked Ker to bless my  land with Sun and Rain, it  must also apply to me  too - a 'Goddessing Blessing' as we have come to know it in our house!  To my amazement I was quickly in a deep meditation journey and was once again in the cottage with a fire raging, pot or cauldron steaming whilst 'we' made pots and bottles from clay and ground plants in a pestle and mortar. Comfrey and lavender came to mind from nowhere as well as a 'wort' of some kind - bladder? rag? - I couldn't catch the full name. Again, I had the curious feeling of watching myself whilst people came and went bringing a basket of apples and a bottle of something- possibly mead, then 'we' worked up a poultice for an infected leg wound before I felt myself leaving it all beneath me as I drifted up and opened my eyes to find my  faithful old George at my side, purring and watching me intently. Any  ideas on herbs and poultices anyone? 

I did Google these plants - Lavender has antiseptic powers and Comfrey was used to fight infections..... Ragwort can be poisonous but has been used for wounds as has Bladderwort - not that I recommend this concoction to anyone for anything! Logic tells me that I could have easily read about any of these plants and poultices in the many historical novels I have read over the years, but it was pretty specific. It looks like yet again, I'm being pointed in the direction of herbs and healing, even if just to learn a little more.

So, I'm off to Norfolk in the morning with the family, it will be interesting to see what Goddess has for me to discover there!

                                       Have a Blessed Week x x 

Time to Travel

I hope everyone has found a little time to enjoy the sunshine and festivals this week. 
I managed to spend most of this morning on our allotment, it feels like the weeds are enjoying the mix of sun and rain nearly as much as the crops, but at least the peas are flourishing and looking yummy, bringing back memories of shelling the peas from Dad's veg plot with Mum and eating more raw ones than we put in the saucepan! 
Although the original beans I planted have been

rather munched, the ones the I planted in my 'three sisters' bed seem to be faring a bit better and they are starting to find their way to the corn plant now for support. Once they grow a little more, I'm going to plant a variety of squashes as well as marrows and courgettes underneath them both from a local nursery called Bumbles (what a lovely name!) where I bought the corn plants for just a pound and we'll see what grows best and what appears to be most resistant to insects, birds and rabbits. In my herb section my garden mint mint has grown enough for me to take a handful to flavour some new potatoes for tea and I'm keeping a close eye on the lavender as I want to pick it at it's best to dry to use to make some goodies from my lovely book that was a birthday present.

It's been a week of travelling -  in more ways than one! Work has taken me all over my county by the the most unexpected paths. Instead of going on the main roads, I decided to trust my intuition, grab my trusty map and relied on road signs and signposts get me from A to B (although I must admit the sat nav was lurking in the glove box, just in case...) I was rewarded with a glorious journey through fields and woodland, I felt like a tourist, or a child even - viewing things for the first time. It felt as though Ker was calling to me as I drove through fields of wheat, barley and  past orchards - the fertile belly of Her land. It was a good job there wasn't much traffic as I kept slowing down to take it all in and a couple of times made cheeky pit stops to take a few photos. It put me in mind of a beautiful and apt poem, one of my favourites, 
'Leisure' by William Henry Davies:

What is this life, if full of care        
We have no time to stand and stare.
No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.

No time to see, when woods we pass
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.
No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.

No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.
No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.

A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.




Despite living on London's doorstep so to speak, we rarely venture into the capital, rather we go round it via a multitude of tarmac. On Friday I was lucky enough to go to Hyde Park to watch The Who, Paul Weller and lots of other
artists performing in concert. As we walked through the park, I was struck by this curious installation. Taking my cue from the poem, I stopped  to investigate and discovered that it's a memorial to the those who lost their lives in the July 7th bombings in London nearly 10 years ago. Initially I thought it was rather an odd

choice for a memorial, but after I walked through them, it felt like a forest of memories planted for them all in a beautiful woodland setting, made of tough concrete to symbolise strength and longevity.  After all we mark graves with stones and there are plenty of standing stones and menhirs erected millennia ago to mark and commemorate all sorts of things. just as I had finished musing and still felt I would need something more natural if it was my choice, I turned and found Goddess watching me in the trees, literally, reminding me that as always She is in everything in and on her land. The concert was amazing - accompanied by the most amazing sunset.

The fullness of the moon over the last week has, as I expected meant some deep meditation journeys for me. I've spent most evenings this week in the garden watching the moon with candles lit on my outdoor altar. 

Twice whilst meditating I visited a cottage where there was a spinning wheel in the corner, a roaring hearth with either a cauldron or cooking pot over it. 'We' were collecting dried herbs from the rafters and mixing them together to make a potion or poultice of some kind, we were expecting a visitor and the curtain at the door opened to a young woman. I also felt a sense of being old, really old and had the oddest feeling that I was looking at myself. I also felt an odd rushing and could see a much older but more modern day (future?) version of myself talking to a younger woman in a uniform, possibly a nurse or carer. Interesting! 

Yesterday morning  I was laying in the sun with

George, my oldest cat, he nearly always finds me and curls up next me when I meditate, this time I went to the cottage again, but it very high up, almost on a high cliff face and was somehow attached to a cave which went back a long way. There was writing on the walls of the cave. Someone coming up the track to the cottage and this time 'we' were frantically hiding the dried herbs and mixtures so that they couldn't see or find them. Definitely still a bit of a puzzle for me, though the key themes of healing, herb lore, potions and witches keep coming through. To top it off I had a surprise complimentary issue of a magazine delivered yesterday afternoon that is mainly concerned with healing - both people and the world. Is Someone trying to tell me something?!

I'll leave you with my photo of the glorious sunset over Hyde Park on Friday night....

 Have a blessed and a carefree as possible week x  

A Simple Solstice

My Corner Of Our Garden

Summer Solstice and Litha blessings to you all!

I hope you  all managed to welcome the sun this morning in your own particular way. I had been hoping to do something different to celebrate this year, something unusual to write about, you know something a bit well, snazzy! You'd think I'd have started to learn how this works by now wouldn't you? Well it's been a really hectic couple of weeks at work, so time, energy and inspiration have all been having a bit of a battering, coupled with a poorly and expensive car and trying to save some money for our holiday in a couple of weeks as well as today being Father's Day meant that there really wasn't much chance of doing something all

Stonehenge - Solstice 2013

singing and dancing (ok well maybe not too much of that) to celebrate the sunrise this morning. I'd hoped to get to Folkstone to watch the sunrise with the lovely Pagan circle there by the sea, but an hours journey each way and the additional petrol weren't really conducive to either my bank balance or my family commitments for the day. I went to Stonehenge for the Solstice a couple of years ago with my Mark,one of my best friends and her partner - Oh and 21,000 other people. It was crazy. To be honest it was more like a massive rave, we were stepping over drugged and drunk people and it was absolutely heaving. Not much spirituality to be seen, it must have been hiding with the sun behind the heavy clouds. I hear it was a fantastic sunrise last year and this year!

Goddess Chakra Prayer Bunting

So, having determined to make the best of the situation, I decided to simply celebrate the Summer Solstice in my own back garden in my special corner that I have been slowly putting together. As I mentioned last week I have been interested in and working with my Chakras lately, particularly the Celtic system. Inspired by Buddhist prayer flags that seemed to have popped up a lot recently too, I decided to fashion my own 'Goddess Chakra Prayer Bunting' to adorn my "Goddess Corner" and celebrate Summer Solstice 2015! Sewing machine and pinking shears at the ready, after a few quiet moments of contemplation and prayers asking Ker for some inspiration, I sat down and

Each contains a hidden prayer

created my lovely bunting. One flag for each chakra colour and in the hem where it attaches to the tape I have hidden and sewn in a prayer to Goddess on a tiny  piece of paper. Each one relates to the chakra colour and also to Goddess, so for example on one of the blue throat pennants I  wrote " I pray to always know my truth and share it" and on one of the purple crown pennants I wrote "I pray to be at one with myself, with Goddess and with Nature" - you get the idea! Eventually as the elements work with the paper and the fabric it will all become one and the pennants will fray and tatter like offerings on a cloutie tree.

Solitary Solstice Selfie!

So 4.15 this morning after being woken by my alarm clock from a deep sleep, crawling out of bed and questioning my sanity and getting myself a cuppa, I made myself comfy on a blanket in my Goddess corner, complete with altar under a cloudy sky, alone apart from the occasional tweet from an optimistic bird. 
It was bliss! A stillness of sound, sight and motion that is only possible at that time of the morning, before the world wakes up, I knew the clouds wouldn't clear and there was very little chance I would see any sunrise at all but it didn't matter - I was out there enjoying that very moment. Candles and incense lit, I awaited the sunrise, still hopefully

All ready for Sunrise....

planning a mediation journey in the first rays of the Solstice Sun.......             
I knew when the sunrise was due 4.42 and i would have missed it had an amazing thing not happened, not as I might have wished that the clouds suddenly vanished and the sun burst through with it's warming rays - the birds went nuts, and I mean NUTS! From the occasional cheap and tweet they went full blast into an amazing dawn chorus heralding the wonder that I couldn't seem but was happening anyway, like it does every morning. 
Needless to say my planned mediation journey wasn't happening any time soon, I did try - I started by grounding myself and 'tried' to mediate and journey to Goddess, but mercifully I soon got lost in the bird song and just being. I was alone with Goddess and nature. It wasn't until I started feeling a little chilled and checked the time I realised that I had been sitting out there just listening and breathing for nearly half an hour - one small prayer had already been granted.

Not the World's Brightest Cat

Dear old Spock (yes, he's named after the Star Trek character) who really isn't the sharpest tool in the box wanted to help with this afternoons Fathers Day BBQ, luckily we shooed him out before sparking the coals into life! After  my lack of available sunrise photography this morning I thought I could get a picture of the sunset tonight for the blog, usually we get a really good view to the west. As it happened, at sunset I was just driving back from dropping my Father in Law and Brother in Law home after a few ciders and wines and didn't have my camera with me. Of course, it was utterly spectacular!!  A sky of swirling feather like clouds illuminated pink, red and almost violet - what a blog finale that would have been! I knew it would be gone before I got home - it doesn't matter though, I saw it and I saw Her beauty as must have done many other people. A timely reminder  that it's not what we say we do or see or hear, it's what we feel, how we live and what we practice that fills our hearts and minds.

Have  a Blessed and Amazing Week x x x

My Litha Altar -  Decorated with
Shells and Blue Glass Pebbles

Solstice Present - a  Candle Holder from my
 Lovely Friend Tracie who thinks I'm Nuts
but Loves me Anyway!

Rhythms and Circles

I hope you've all had a good week?
I thought I'd start by sharing this beautiful photo of the rose we planted in our front garden in memory of my lovely Mum in Law that has bloomed so spectacularly this week. It's a rose bush called Darcey Bussell - and it is the same as we have in her final resting place over looking the Deer Park - she would have loved reading this blog, enjoyed hearing about my journey and frequent trips to Avalon too. Next lifetime maybe Wendy x x 
It's been a hectic week work wise and apart from my daily practise of calling Goddess in, I've struggled to find time to do anything particularly Goddess inspired. A nagging voice has been telling me that I haven't been dancing as She had asked me to do when She took my hands in a meditation journey. Not really my thing, that gene is one my Mum passed straight to my Performing Acts Student Daughter and my Discovery Circle Sisters will know that it has reduced me to tears in the past! So I really was hoping that in Her infinite wisdom, She had let me off or forgotten - Like that was going to happen, especially when I'm working with a Lover and Warrior energy. 
Last week, on 3 separate occasions 5 Rhythms by Gabrielle Roth was mentioned to me. I'd never heard of her or her work before and I would like to think that I know a divine subtle hint when I see or hear one, so duly ordered a copy to have a listen to.... and it arrived within 24 hours, what are the odds of that without paying a premium rate?

Endless Wave Volume 1

So I did what any normal person would do, listened to it in my car a few times and put it back in the case. I was planning to get down to the allotment and take lots of pictures Saturday but wasn't feeling too great, so had to give it a miss, funnily enough I didn't feel too much like dancing either! I was laying in bed this morning, thinking about this weeks blog, rhythms and circles running round my head, plans of resorting to talking about my clowder (3 or more - I qualify with 4) of cats if necessary! 
Knowing that everyone else would be out or asleep I steeled myself for a quiet spot of awkward wooden dancing action in secret with the blinds down. Foolish me! 
Within minutes of being up, I had a wonderful surprise phone call from my lovely friend Tracey, who I first met as a babysitter for my children 20 years ago, who then became a wonderful friend before moving to Leicester to get married, had a family of her own and to top it all we discovered early this year that we are distant cousins through both our Mother lines! So a long tea infused morning followed with the added joy of her 2 of her 4 beautiful children - the other 2 at home with Daddy, Emily  who took a shine to one of my crystals (that's my girl!!) and for the first time baby Lucy, even our son  Dan who's 20 and the original babysittee got up for a cuddle! So after a long chat about  what I was up to in Glastonbury and in blog world, I was left reconsidering rhythms, circles and cycles, my children looking after and playing with hers, family connections and if our great, great ,great grandfather's wives who would have been sisters in law could have any idea that the family would still be so close over 120 years later - by choice!
Well after that kind of joy, I simply had to banish my son from downstairs on pain of never,ever having a lift anywhere, ever again (Mark and Sophie were already out) to do my thing in the kitchen and after exacting a promise that he wouldn't come down and laugh, I  belligerently pressed play on the CD player and surrendered myself to Gabrielle's CD .... Body Parts, Flowing, Staccato, Chaos (it was truly that alright) Lyrical and Stillness. 
After subconsciously listening for Dan to sneak down the stairs, video me and bribe me for all eternity, (which of course he didn't) I actually let go and just went with the music, dancing all through the downstairs, a bit breathless but happily enjoying myself, slightly alarming Lola, one of my cats as I careered into the lounge doing my best tribal inspired spine and knee manoeuvres, but she just yawned and covered her eyes before going back to sleep, so blase.... What a journey! Now I really know what  a circle sister meant when she said it was a danced meditational prayer - every emotion and feeling was there: fear, anger, love, sensuality, happiness, concern, exhilaration, relaxation, satisfaction, fulfilment, peace  - you name it! I can honestly say it was amazing and I will be doing it again, so be warned!

Elen Sentier's  Celtic Chakra from her book
 of the same name copied from
http://www.giftsfromthepath.com

So, 5 Rhythms taught me a few lessons... I can believe or not, Twerk - (yes really!!), my knees and hips click - A LOT, but mainly I learnt that when you let go of fear, and believe me I made myself dance with my eyes open in front of the mirror in the lounge and felt fear! Yes I saw an overweight sweaty 44 year old woman less than gracefully bumping around, but I also saw someone laughing and having fun, enjoying and surprised at what their body can do! 
I decided to treat myself to a well deserved good long soak with full lotion and potion after session. After alarming and disgruntling another cat George, (this house is full of them) with unusual naked leg and bending postures to rub in lots of moisturiser I decided to thank my body for all that it did and that it all still works by working through my Chakras using the Celtic method as described by Elen Sentier in her book The Celtic Chakras. This involves working round them anticlockwise or widdershins from the Heart to the solar plexus, back up to the throat and so on, ending up at the Brow, where I gave thanks for all that I am, all that I have been and all that I will yet be. George obviously enjoyed this and felt the same, as he decided to vigorously have a groom for a full 30 seconds  before turning his back on me and snoring. Mercifully there are no photos of any of this!


However I do have plenty of photos to share with you,as this evening whilst dinner was cooking, I did manage to drag Mark out after his mini scooter run this morning (he has a Vespa) and walk the land around us, taking this beautiful picture of some wild grass that looks remarkably corn like to me in the horse field just down the road. 

The horses had moved fields and first I thought 
they had gone altogether, but we found this lovely family group, the foal on the left is the one I showed you last month and the one on the left is a new addition. I loved that fact that they both felt happy enough in our presence to nuzzle their Mums for a feed, the older Mares in the field were a bit concerned but soon realised that we were just passing through and harmless.

I had never noticed the blossom on a blackberry bush before, just the the fruit and the brambles. These ones pictured to the left were open but there were hundreds of bobbled buds where the fruit will come in a couple of months, reminding me that nature needs all aspects of the wheel just like we do with Goddess to encompass every stage, emotion and fear, will it bloom, will it be pollinated, will it bear fruit?  A life cycle in a year. No fear on the pollination front, the air was busy with the busy drone of bees flitting from flower to flower, especially important after my visit to the bee hives of Avalon last week.

I couldn't get a decent picture of them on the blossom but in what was the corn field - which is now we realised full of broad bean plants, I managed to take this close up of a hard working bee. Seriously that's a huge field, if you buy broad beans this year and they are from Kent, I'll bet they are form my Lane!

I'll leave you with a couple of pictures of the fields where we walk and here's hoping you enjoy the views as much as we do...


         Have a Truly Blessed Week and dance like only your cats are watching!

Just like the bark on this one!

Tree tops with the late sun coming through the leaves

A distant husband lurking through the keyhole......