2024 | Earth Pathways Showcase

Moon Astrology: The Daily Moving Moon

The Moon passes through all the signs of the zodiac in just under 28 days, spending two and a half days in each sign.

Moon in Aries ♈︎ – ︎Fire. There is energy for bursts of activity activated by a need to initiate change and start projects. You have courage to set things in motion and resistance results in impatient behaviour or selfishness. Nevertheless you could benefit from self-assertiveness.

Moon in Taurus ♉︎ – Earth. This is energy that connects to the senses and seems stubborn but it can settle into calm stability, leaving you feeling careful and seeming unhurried. If a concern with material security becomes stuck this can be transformed through sensuous and grounded activity.

Moon in Gemini ♊︎ – Air. This is a lively and stimulating time for communication and ideas, for reading and speaking in every form. There is often more than one activity happening at once or simply restlessness and scattered emotions. Be ready to take notes that can be reviewed.

Moon in Cancer ♋︎ - Water. The Moon rules this sign and so we can see heightened emotionalism but these emotions are clearly expressed. Domestic concerns are highlighted so make time for nurturing your chosen or given family, your friends and your home. Nourishment matters and eating together is a particularly happy time.

Moon in Leo ♌︎ – Fire. Leo is a vital sign that concerns the feeling of self. Reflect on asking for feedback and giving others input that they need about their performance. The negative ego which seems grandstanding and is very demanding can relax into the personally generous, romantic and creative you.

Moon in Virgo ♍︎ – Earth. There is a desire for the practical aspects of the mind, for meticulous detail, for discriminating and categorising material things. Health becomes a concern: it could be in service to others, or restoring health to the Earth, or gathering herbs.

Moon in Libra ♎︎ – Air. The mind wants to be expressed among others; family, friends and lovers of every kind thrive in shared spaces further helped by beauty, candles and colour. Good teamwork happens when people cooperate and develop joint goals through sociability, for everything from diplomacy to romance.

Moon in Scorpio ♏︎ – Water. Though they give a great energy for doing accounting, taxes and deep cleaning, these intensely felt days are not always easy to cope with. We all face the dark, shadowy side of our fears at times so express this, make space for your inner self to rage if that is needed.

Moon in Sagittarius ♐︎ – Fire. Yes! Throw off responsibility and do physical activity and note the tendency to make grand gestures and be rushed and adventurous. This optimism can be let loose to burn the bridges or we can use this energy to hurry through difficult parts of the adventure of life.

Moon in Capricorn ♑︎ – Earth. Now is a good time for organised work and progressing long-term activities so lean into the practical concerns around these. However, when ambitions are large and progress is short this might lead to pessimism. The inner goat is the pragmatist who makes jokes and summons Earth magic.

Moon in Aquarius ♒︎ – Air. New groups or radical undertakings are progressed and the ideas must be tested. Some insights seem to be especially personal and individual. However not all that you think about is eternally true and you should be especially curious about your intuition.

Moon in Pisces ♓︎ – Water. This is a dreamy time for watery activities and magical possibilities. Firmly held points of view can loosen up, so make good use of your deep intuition, celebrate the irrational and spirit paths. Walk the boundaries so that they become known. And, as always, make art.

Planting by the Phases of the Moon

Every person on the Earth sees the same Moon at night. She waxes from New Moon to Full Moon and back again in just under 28 days. During this time the Moon also travels through all the signs of the zodiac. Understanding the Phases of the Moon for planting makes for strengthening the above-ground processes in the waxing phase and below-ground in the early waning phase. The later waning phase is barren and has special gifts.

The Phases of the Moon are marked in the diary and on the calendar. Below is a guide for working with those phases.

Full Moon - On the day of the Full Moon trim all plants that need it for an improved harvest. In the cold months prune trees and vines and in the warmer season snap off excess growth on plants such as tomatoes.

Until the Last Quarter Moon for one week - The Waning Moon encourages growth below-ground. Establish or transplant plants that need strong roots such as below-ground crops, root vegetables and bulbs as well as perennials and trees.

Until the New Moon for a week - and pull up weeds and competing plants. Scattered seeds are less likely to germinate and set seed. Improve the soil by mulching and adding composting.

New Moon - On the day of the Dark Moon you should not plant anything.

Waxing Moon, growing Moon - From the New Moon’s first sliver until the Moon is nearly full. As the sap is drawn up, focus on leafy greens, grains and vegetables that fruit above the ground. Sow seeds and propagate, take cuttings and transplant.

Working with the Void of Course Moon

As the Moon orbits the Earth once every 28 days we see her phases - her changing face - and we also see the Moon move through all the signs of the zodiac in that time, making her the fastest moving astrological heavenly light. The Moon makes connections with the other planets too and these aspects are when matters happen or come to fruition. While in a particular sign there is a period of time, after the last significant aspect and before she moves into a new sign, when the Moon is said to be Void of Course. The Void of Course period of time differs each time and these times can be seen in the diary. When astrologers help people choose dates and times for events that need to be successful, they will avoid the Void of Course Moon. This period of time is free floating and unpredictable and nothing that you plan will happen as you expect. In real life people often do have events during such times and if you attend such an event I advise that you are light-hearted about the outcomes. What is it good for? The period of time of the Void of Course Moon is perfect for continuing with previously agreed tasks, doing routine jobs. Furthermore it is ideal for reflecting, pondering, assimilating, brainstorming and imagining.

Retrograde Inner Planets

In 2024 Mercury is retrograde three times, Venus is direct all year and Mars is retrograde once.

Mercury Retrograde ~ Mercury rules communication, short journeys, medicine and hands. By extension this includes our communications devices and information technologies such as books, letters, and the information on our phones and computers. Mercury retrograde does not break things, however it will show up any weakness. So Review. Edit. Rehearse. Research. This is a great time to review contracts but not to make new commitments. Reflect on communications; Reconfirm appointments and travel plans; Resolve misunderstandings; Repair.

Mars Retrograde ~ Mars rules action and therefore it also rules frustration and fighting, goals, motivation and the work that we do. Mars is associated with iron, red and the oxygenation levels of your blood. The issues that arise during Mars retrograde are best addressed by doing and experimenting and re-doing. Work on peace-making and re-channel aggressive frustration. Tackle the difficult parts of projects. Breathe outdoors. Breathe deeply and improve the oxygen levels in your blood.

Astrological Insights for 2024 © Lucille Valentine 2022

Gently close your eyes and take three slow deep breaths.
Open to being quiet, soaking up the silence.
This moment is a gift,
Where you are held by the earth and sky.
Let go of the need to know or do.
Honour yourself with these moments of joy and lightness.
As with hand on heart, in stillness, you tune into the wholeness of your being.

Being © Kate Parker 2022

On my walk home Hare appears
like the moon in an afternoon sky
I feel her before I look up
and see her
uncanny in profile
her all-knowing amber eyes, kohl-lined
her haunches like a woman’s.
Like a pop up shop she will be gone
before I get used to her.
She doesn’t have time for despair.
She has a bigger heart chamber than other creatures
and in folklore is protector of all wild animals.
She belongs to the old stories that stoke the fire
and bless the hearth.
On a bigger arc than our lives will witness
beyond faith, deep space, the witch’s broom nebula
(where wise ones have always gone for a brew,
always will) is the Unchanging
where nothing can stop the final word being
Love.

Hare © Debra Hall 2020

Fabric can last for centuries. I have a mountain of it, in the form of clothes that no longer fit me. They feel like a precious resource that cannot be disposed of lightly, although none of the items have great monetary value. I used to tell myself they might fit me again one day. But I’m not sure that’s the real reason I’ve kept them. Am I holding onto my former selves? Some are from when I was younger. They hold good memories. A few were my mum’s, which I’ve never worn as they’ve never fitted me. Recently, my perspective changed. I no longer see them as old clothes, but as useful fabrics. I might make them into something else. Black linen trousers and dark green jeans become fabric for embroidery. This has shifted the energy of the situation. I moved on and created something new, beautiful and unique. It’s a particularly satisfying kind of recycling. No one can scoff at my hoarding anymore. It has real purpose, and I hold the evidence in my hands. Suddenly these clothes have much greater value and meaning. It feels like movement, a shift from stagnation. I start to have ideas about things I could make. This is no longer old stuff I can’t let go of. It’s something new in potential.

Fabric of Life © Janey Colbourne 2022

Ritual means simply to mark a moment. It is a set of actions made to give meaning, to honour a threshold, to hold something of significance. Humans hold ritual, and yet in many ways ritual holds us - it can act as a container for the human heart, as a time designated to honour whatever happened.

Ritual works best when it is a living thing - a living, breathing, enlivening process that a whole community can take part in. That we can literally step into and move through; a thing that will literally change our position and perspective.

It is no chance that all of these words are movement metaphors - ritual changes things, moves them on. Ritual can be super simple: a shower after work, or as complex as a community multi-day profound prayer to honour loved ones lost.

These times have a relentless tempo - they keep on moving and grooving through. May we pause for moments of remembering and reckoning from time to time.

Ritual © Tess Howell 2022

The Essence of Imbolc ~ The hearth fire seemed dimmed and fragile in the cold stone, but now, warmth seeps from a spark kindled in the darkest of winter nights, bringing with it the promise of thawing landscapes, rebirth, and new life. Frost may rime the hummocks and winter fog may haze the dawn, yet underneath the hard, unyielding blanket of winter, life begins to stir.

Rituals ~ Burn incense, light candles! Sow seeds and keep them nestled indoors until spring. Write your intentions for the year ahead. Feel the bright, fiery energy in your solar plexus unfurl its tendrils and spread healing warmth throughout your body. Walk through woods adorned with snowdrops. Decorate your altar with flowers, foliage and candles. Celebrate the coming of the light!

Reflect ~ You have explored the darker realms of winter, now is the time to bring all that you have learned out of the darkness. Tread the spiral path into the light, reclaiming your energy, your warmth, your vibrance; shed those protective layers that obscure your colour from the world. Unfurl your joyous radiance, and begin to spread your tendrils of hope, love, and compassion. What dreams do you wish to bring forth? What will you share with the Earth this year? What seeds does Imbolc call for you to sow and nurture for the year ahead? Allow the potential of your intentions to gently rise. Your kindled fire will encourage the world to throw off its frosted cloak and bask in the returning Sun.

Imbolc © George Parker 2021

Wild whispers on the wind from ancient Grandmother stones, calling me home to these heathered moors. Here, I am known. Known the way we all long to be known by our Beloved – in my fullness – silent shadows, feral flesh and All. By every fern, crag and oak, berry, bone and river, I am known.

Those who feel my devotion, who hear my loving prayer and call me in closer, covering my skin in soft peat, my hair in twists of lichen, to touch, smell, fondle and play amongst them in joyful innocence as I re-member what makes me ‘me’.

I see my reflection in every valley and tor. Speak in the same tongue as buzzard and crow. Move through the moors as a wild horse, following the scent of heather and gorse, bowing my head to the ground as I taste the nectar of all who blossom here.

This sweet nectar spills over, frothing at my lips as I touch my Beloved - my majesty and muse. The One who embraces me as I dream of shimmering threads weaving the worlds together. The One who cradles my weary bones, crafting new limbs for me to dance again with all that I love and long for, with all that stirs in my belly and wakes me from sleep.
Here, I am known.
Here, I am Home.

I Am Known © Isla Macleod 2022

This sacred body is our temple. There is a tree inside. Bones, heartwood, branches and veins, limbs reaching to the sky.

This sacred body is our temple. There is breath inside. The wind speaks to and through us, carrying our stories as it flies.

This sacred body is our temple. There is life inside. The deep red blood, the deep red heart, drumbeats, earthquakes cry.

This sacred body is our temple. It is enough to go inside. Dwell and listen, breathe and glisten, hear the voices of the wise.

This Sacred Body © Giulietta M. Spudich 2022

What is there when we pay attention?
Not to the Big
But to the Small
The Underfoot
The Quiet
Our face kissing the grass and the mud.
Can we quieten enough to hear the murmur that responds?
Can we take ourselves away from the Human Made?
Back to where we belong
To this Song of the Land.
Fallen leaves want to sing secrets into us
Like a sweet lullaby dripped into our gentleness
Does it matter which ear we listen with?
Our breaths only have to meet in the merest show of “Tell Me”
Then the Winds will carry the rhythms to our waiting bodies.
And suddenly we know
Just as the Birds know
The Birds have always known
We are one big story
Perfectly Aligned

The Song of the Land © Elizabeth Jane Lovely 2020

I love to sit, back to the woodstore,
at the edge of the wood
with the falling of the light
, listening to the drum of Woodpecker,
high above in the ancient lime
and the authoritative click of Wrens
foraging amongst the brash.
I love to hear the Buzzard mewing
and imagine a silent flexing of Tawny’s wings.
The greenwood soaks into me,
a subtle elixir of Life
and I, sitting still, invisible as possible,
am transformed by the dusk.

I Love To… © Maddy Harland 2022

All magical practices and traditions develop in response to the surrounding flora, fauna and physical environment. This means that it is possible to re-create and re-paint a picture of ancient rituals through working with and being inspired by our local plants. We can then flavour this with contemporary knowledge and the current circumstances and situations in which we live. The essence of each plant holds the experiences of those people and places that have gone before in its energetic body - a resonance of the past.

Connecting with the plants and trees in our home habitats can help deepen the understanding of what is needed for ourselves, our community and the local environment. They can create insights and instigate profound experiences. Much has been lost with lack of ritual in our modern society. Ritual that enables connection beyond the self, to realise that as part of community, we thrive together. Ritual takes you beyond an individualist nature and can be created in community with the help of plants that can bring us together and alter the everyday conscious pattern that we most often exist in.

This can be as simple as a seed collection from surrounding wild flowers, made into a seed bomb with some neighbours and family. With conscious care and intent to support nature, we can work wonderful magic together.

Magical Plant Practices © Seed SistAs 2022

How I misjudge these smallest things –
dull and dry as peppercorns,
when in my palm I hold
a potency waiting to be sown.

Dull and dry as peppercorns
and yet in dormancy they breathe,
potency waiting to unfold,
sensing fertile sun and soil.

And yet in dormancy they breathe
and slowly awaken –
sensing fertile sun and soil –
to rise with levity and purpose.

Slowly I awaken
to these living beings I hold;
seeking levity and purpose
they whisper, electric with potential.

Pantoum on Planting Seeds © Helen Moore 2012

The Essence of Ostara – Spring Equinox ~ Spring is here! The goddess unfurls her lithe limbs, stretching into the light and warmth of the Sun! At this point in the wheel, dark and light hang for a moment in perfect balance, and then, under the pounding drumbeat of the hare’s leaping feet, the balance is tipped and the land explodes in a flurry of colour and vibrance!

Ritual ~ Bright green bursting foliage! Wild riots of violet and daffodil and crocus and primrose! Celebrate the thrumming expansive energy of Ostara by placing these joyous tidings on your altar. Bake bread and hot cross buns – the Celtic cross in their centre; place wishes of hope into eggs and decorate their shells with loving intent to offer to the Goddess. Run through lush meadows and valleys and hurl yourself into the wind, float in the sharp wisdom of the spring river, gather Ostara’s bright blessings all around you. Breathe in her glaring wisdom and slip into the bold lunar magic of the hare. For a second, draw your attention to your own dancing energy. Note how it bursts with readiness to embrace the sunlit earth. Let your wildness flow! Dance!

Reflect ~ Life, rebirth, death, immortality. The circle of life and the cycle of the year is immensely clear and powerful now. Meditate on how this festival contains all aspects of life, and how there is a stillness in spring where the energy hovers, ready to burst forth once the balance of light and dark shifts. Are you ready?

Ostara - Spring Equinox © George Parker 2021

may my prayer extend
like roots, like branches
like hyphae, connecting
to the whole
may it be heard by the earth
and may I find rest and healing there

may my prayer be felt where my
feet touch the soil
and where my breath
feeds the chloroplasts
we breathe each other

may my prayer run with the
rivers, like the
blood beneath my skin
and may I feel its echo in my heart
in the primrose
in the spaces between

Prayer © Helen Smith 2021

Ever since my earliest rememberings I had a feeling that I did not belong. I tried in vain to fit in, to find my place. When I was eight we moved, which just reasserted my feelings of being an outsider and simply not belonging, anywhere. Things were tough for a long time.

One day I crossed a stream while hiking and had an immediate urge to immerse my fingers in the soft wild water. Without thinking I raised them to my face and bathed myself in the cool mountain freshness. In that moment it was as if someone had sprinkled me with fairy dust. I was energised, revitalised, revived. I had arrived, I belonged, I was alive.

For the longest time I looked for anything that would return me to those feelings. Eventually, I got there. Walking barefoot on the land. Communing with the more-than-human. Digging my fingers into loose, humus-rich soil. Laying on the Earth and letting myself be held by the land. Gathering and eating wild and local foods. Learning from the medicines of this land and working closely with them. This is to be true human animal, to rewild from my domesticated version. To live as an equal amongst all my relations, human and otherwise. This is to belong.

A Sense of Belonging © Rachel Corby 2022

All Life is responding to its own essential energy and whatever is brought to this essential energy grows, multiplies and manifests. The more I consciously strengthen my realisation of this, the more I seek to strengthen my connection to the positive threads of my thinking, and the more I acknowledge the living interconnected web of the Life Force. Everything multiplies and everything changes with every connection I make, whether it is through my thoughts, my words or my actions. Whatever I give my attention to will grow.

We are the quintessential Unity of the Life Force. We are the Oneness. We are of the essential energy of Life. There is no separation at the level of energy. Our core energy simultaneously extends inwards as well as outwards, and we influence how we interact with the world around ourselves and therefore what comes back to us. As we strengthen the changes in ourselves, the world changes with us. We are all responsible for what happens next.

Whatever We Give Our Attention To Will Grow. Extract: Between the Worlds © Glennie Kindred 2022

Plants, flowers, trees. What do you think of when I say these words? Beautiful scenery? Parks and gardens? Fluffy, pretty, decorative, and pretty much background? I'll tell you what I think of: wild and fierce windy moorland, heather and gorse scratching my legs. The force of a tap root plunging deep into cold earth. The power of a seed, surviving for years without food or water. The tangle of ivy tendrils wrapping around whatever she can grasp. Potent medicines that can heal or kill. Unstoppable dandelions pushing up through cracks. Tree roots buckling tarmac. Grass that never, ever stops growing no matter how much we hack and trim. I think of tenacious goose grass gripping and sticking to passers-by, sharp thistles, the hot sting of nettle, the mighty fat stem of blistering hogweed towering above us, tiny ivy-leaved toadflax and spindly herb robert flourishing in the sparse crumbs of soil that gather in the corners of yards and old walls. I see ancient trees dwarfing houses. How quickly a ruin is reclaimed by a living green carpet and pioneer saplings. I think of how plants transform the sun's fire into matter and movement, bringing this gift of fire to the other living beings on Earth. Everywhere I see the relentless, tenacious power and life force of our green cousins expanding in all directions.

Not Just A Pretty Face © Janey Colbourne 2018

We wound through the avenue of drummers and the soft beat of the drum. Down, down we went, gaining glimpses of the stone circle towards the bottom of the hill. An arch of swan wings awaited us to walk beneath, and the air was thick with sage smoke. The hum of the gong drew us in. Standing side-by-side in community, one hundred and fifty of us sang our selkie song. Soft voices, sweat, tears of grief as we said goodbye to past troubles drawing on the cleansing energy of water. Then, stepping out beneath flaming swords, we made our way back up to the warmth of the campfire. We were full of restored hope and clutched a birch stave in our hand. Speaking out our intentions around the Beltane fire, we cast our staves into the flames and spoke out our dreams for the coming months. Then, with our heartfelt joy, calling on the element of fire, we danced and drummed in summer herself.

This was our first time together after two years of lockdowns during the pandemic. With the controls lifted, we came together once again to celebrate Beltane in the Cumbrian bluebell woods. Many of us closed the door that night on past challenges and stepped forward into a new world, supporting each other as we looked ahead to the future.

Beltane Transitions © Nicola Smalley 2022

The Essence of Beltane ~ Beltane heralds the height of spring, and the burgeoning of summer. The goddess is full of sensuality, the Earth bursting with energy and life. It is a celebration of the marriage of the Goddess and God, and as such, this is a festival of sexuality, passion and fire! Decorate your hearth and swathe yourself with bright beautiful colours in honour of the Great Wedding!

Ritual ~ Dance the Maypole, tread the path into the wild woods and walk under moonlit skies. Make love. Feel how the air is thick with potent magic. Kindle a Beltane fire and jump its flames to purify, bless, and cleanse. Ask that this bright fire nurture and nourish. Feed the fire within, see what passions the flames have stirred. Gather your intentions and funnel Beltane energy into them. With a gentle focusing of your inner magic, you can imbue your intentions into flowers, copper, talismans, ribbons and sprigs of greenery and lay them on your altar or offer them back to the wilds. Honour the Earth that is bursting with abundance around you!

Reflect ~ Beltane brings a peak of fiery energy that surges through the Earth. If you tap into it, you may find that dreams, wishes and intentions manifest. Sit quietly and notice how easily Beltane lets you conjure your own fierce magic. Allow it to unfurl and roar through your spirit. Envisage your root chakra as a circle of pure red magic around you, within which is the power of protection, strength and creation.

Beltane © George Parker 2021

Soft haze descends upon the evening meadow, here there is peace, deep and rich as earth. Pasture spun with clover, edged by dark thorn and a thousand days of blessed birdsong flowing through the ether.

It is here the brown hare settles in her form surrounded by buttercups and folklore as old as the first heartbeat.

It is where the barn owl partakes of the smooth evening air with thoughts of nimble mouse under a hunter’s moon.

Here the shadows are long, and the magic of the land old.

It is where the ripples gather in the swelling ditches framed by honeysuckle and briar rose, nourished by sweet summer showers that fall upon parched, cracked soil when the day called for rain.

It is here the fox makes an evening path through the long grass that shapes to his deep red coat, while above, the tawny owl blends within the folds of the oak mantle.

Where the cuckoo pipes his woody notes heralding the chorus of summer and the bees hum, dizzy with pollen and memories of the may queen.

It is here the meadow is rich with markings, tide and season. Toil and rest, rapture and dreaming.

A thousand verses of joy in every leaf, petal and stem.

Landmarks © Laura Bos 2022

Ancient, steadfast, serene, generous. I feel safe and still as I hunker down in one fold of the buttress-like roots. My breath steadying and slowing as I sink (or is it root?) into the ground. This tree, standing broader and taller than all the others, is sentinel, wisdom-keeper, grandfather.

Grandfather is a story-holder, having witnessed more orbits of the sun than any human will ever do, many more than even several generations of human. And still he stands strong, as much a part of the landscape as the sandstone and wild waters he stands among, as the soil itself. Grandfather is complete, not wanting or needing to be anyone else, or more than he already is. Grandfather provides shelter, a place for community to grow and thrive. I feel held and nourished in his presence.

Don't be in such a rush younger sister, grandfather says. Take your time. Be deliberate, meticulous and sure. Don't jump to the next thing, even in mind, before you have completed the previous, not just completed but absolutely, fastidiously completed. This is a matter of respect for self, for other human and indeed all life. Be strong and true. Be kind, generous and compassionate, do not waiver. Be more Oak.

The Wisdom Of Grandfather Oak © Rachel Corby 2021

The whispers from the old ones are held in the forests. Whispers that can only be heard when darkness falls and the wind moves through the bare branches. The trees speak, but not in words or even sounds: they voice their secrets through a way far older than the common tongue.

The knowledge from the old ones is held in the waters. Not the rivers, lakes and seas that are seen through the eyes. But in the deep waters that run through the earth. These waters have moved through the rock for thousands of years. The places where this water passes hold strong messages that can be felt but not seen.

The wisdom from the old ones is held within the body. This cannot be learnt through words written in books. These secrets are hidden in a place so deep that they can never be lost forever. They are hidden within us, in our bones. Here they lie until a time when they are ready to be awakened.

Awakening © Nicola Smalley 2021

There is always doubt when I do something like making a flower essence - will I pick the right tree/right flower? Will I hear the messages I need to? I do it anyway but am kind to myself. This time I make a Hawthorn flower essence for the heart. I choose a tree I love though don’t visit often enough. It has the pink tinged blossom which is so beautiful. I ask permission and snip some flowers and add them to spring water and place in the sun. I settle a little way off. There are other trees in this glade, and it feels like a calm and rooted place, a cat’s cradle of healing, sanctuary for the heartsore. As I sit, Hawthorn opens me to loving kindness and the other trees seem keen to join in - Silver Birch offers support for adventures and the pioneering spirit, Alder much needed balance, Sycamore communication, spreading seeds far and wide. After a while I feel the essence is complete. With gratitude I give some back to the Hawthorn and its flowers and I bottle the rest. I thank the other trees, leaving the glade lighter, calmer, happier. Later I share the essence with friends, it feels so nurturing and gentle, Hawthorn’s kind and generous open-hearted gift.

Making Hawthorn Flower Essence © Ali Walters 2022

I came to the precipice of all I could endure
I lay down by the cove and watched people swim
I thought about conditioning of the heart
I thought about the loss of the mystical
And from a distant form of thought
A woman came out of the sea
And what she said to me
What she said
Was that all lives are measured
And not one of us are the same
All lives are equal
To the moon and to the sun
And that there is no hope in lying down
The heart that loves
Stands up.

Revelation of the Heart © Isabelle Baigent 2016

Sweet wild sister. Your fragrance like sherbet, champagne and high summer, all mixed in a glorious fusion. You dress in light pastel shades from white through pinks and peaches, yellows and lilacs. But I don’t take you lightly, as you also stand strong and bold in vermilion and scarlet, deep rich velvety tones. As you twist and tower, climb and grasp, you are protected by hard snags and thorns. No one would mess with you.

And yet your protection is for the kind of soothing that a mother’s love brings to a pained brow. You also offer gifts for lovers struggling with fertility and for the grieving soul. You take away the rough and ragged edges that my hormones sometimes draw in me. Whilst when you touch my belly, my digestion gently eases. As a companion I love you most in dream-time, where you bring magic and prophesy.

Most of all you raise me up. You fill me with joy as soon as I catch a glimpse of you. And that, my love, is true medicine.

The Deep Sweet Medicine of Rose © Rachel Corby 2022

The Essence of Litha - Summer Solstice ~ Midsummer brings us the longest day of the year, where the Sun seems to hang in the sky, weightless and languidly powerful. The Summer Solstice – from the Latin solstitium which translates as “Sun stands still” – is a time to honour the space between Earth and the heavens, and to celebrate the zenith of the Sun God, the fertile Earth, crop-filled fields now bursting with life and the brightness and warmth with which the land is blessed.

Ritual ~ Sing loud and dance wild for this is the peak of the Sun God’s power! Light bonfires on hilltops, bid goodnight to the setting Sun and stay up through the night with fire and stargazing, before welcoming the Sun’s rise at dawn. Cover your altar with the colours of the Sun! This festival brings strength to any love magic, including handfasting. Some traditions celebrated this festival by rolling a large flaming wheel downhill into a body of water, perhaps representing how within the peak of the Sun’s strength is also its impending waning. Wild swimming and bonfires offer a beautiful echo of these traditions.

Reflect ~ Within the climax of the Sun God’s power is the knowledge that, with this peak reached, we are now facing shortening days and are beginning to walk the path once more into the dark of the year. The Oak King hands his reign to the Holly King, and we begin our descent. Create a moment of quiet and meditate on the light and darkness in your own life.

Litha - Summer Solstice © George Parker 2021

I’m here in the stillness of this solstice morning. Standing still. Allowing myself to be; to stand outside my front door with my back to all the jobs that will always be there. But dawn is breaking, and I shift now to better see the glowing patch of sky where the horizon will soon birth the Sun. We have this hour, the sky and I. An hour full of quiet — save for the birds who have started to herald the day with their chirpy, chatty songs.

My imagination skips to this close future, fast-forwards to conjure up the oranges and pinks and yellows that the sky might begin to turn. Or will clouds drift, changing the picture; smothering the colours like tipping smudgy paintbrush water all over your unfinished work? I can’t know (who ever knows?) the mysteries that lie ahead. I stand still and watch the sky for whatever colours the new dawn might paint today.

Solstice Dawn © Mo Kendall

A tangle of campion, pale pink among the cream,
A wild verge that softens the edges of industry.
For want of a moment, a bee may hum,
His journey over streets with meadow names,
Where once the cornflowers deepest blue
Filled the song of days with such radiance,
And speckled butterflies courted among the sweetness before the iron cut deep,
Taking memories and poems to cover in concrete progress,
But the edges still sing,
The rogue thorn still blossoms in May,
The ivy covers the now fading sign,
And the world may be busy with the works of industry,
But nature still whispers at the edge of every town.

Edge Land © Laura Bos 2022

Letting go
Can be
As easy as a breath of wind
Catching a leaf

Sigh © ChaNan Bonser 2021

If you like to touch soft summer grass beneath bare feet
Pause - and you will feel our earth's comforting heat.
If the beauty of a flower is so great it makes you cry.
If you like the feel of raindrops from a cloudy summer sky.
If you love the taste of water from a gushing mountain stream.
If you can smell salt water in the air even when you dream.
If you hesitate and close your eyes when the soft breeze strokes your face.
If you’d rather be outside than any other place.
If feeling sunlight on your skin always makes you smile.
If when a quiet wind blows you can hear her gently sigh.
If the beauty of an ancient tree moves you to shed some tears.
If you can be calm inside even through your fears.
If in a quiet autumn evening you can feel the seasons turn
but look only forward and for summer’s passing do not yearn.
If you love to feel soft grains of sand between your toes.
If you appreciate the loveliness of the winter snows.
If your heart is open to all these things and more
then you are a nature spirit and all wild things adore.

Nature Spirit © Julie Croad 2012

Wishing to be included in this beautiful community I drew a card from an enchanted forest tarot. The huntsman appeared, ready to embody nature’s justice. This is how strongly I have always felt about protecting nature.

In small ways I move a slug or beetle, rather than kill it. In larger ways I join a protest where my heart and gut pull me to take action. It is within the community of artists, activists and earth lovers of all kinds that I gain support and hope for this earth. We can all take small steps and honour life in its anger, passion and beauty, embracing all emotions within the safety of a non-judgemental mother earth. I live with open skies and nearby sea to balance my concerns.

We can find a small spot in nature to re-connect. A dandelion in a pavement crack, spreading its seeds; a blackbird singing each day, no matter what food there is; a child laughing in a concrete playground under a sunny sky.

There are so many ways to appreciate this myriad variety of life. Looking for the beautiful surprises is a heart-lifting daily exercise and can work in each moment. Then we have strength to continue to seek and protect that which is vulnerable, by living truthfully in our hearts, with love.

Enchanted Lands © Fuggo King 2022

The Essence of Lughnasadh - Lammas ~ Earth Mother is ripe and full, carrying within her the seed of the new year's Sun and next year’s harvest. At this time in the Wheel of the Year, we acknowledge harvest, death and rebirth together; active growth is slowing and the darker days of winter and reflection are beckoning... We have begun to tread the spiral path inward. Every fruit reaped contains the seed of new life. Every death holds the potential for new life.

Rituals ~ Bask in late afternoon sunshine and dance in warm summer nights. Adorn your altar with harvest blessings! Forage fruit from the hedgerows, and bake, stew and preserve, capturing the heady richness of summer in jars and bottles and bellies. Take a walk through the dying light of evening and soar through the summer sky on wings of crow, swift and kestrel. Bake seeded Lammas bread. Feast with those you love. Create a ritual to give thanks for the first harvest – gather those first fruits, berries, grains and stories and share them around a fire or sunset.

Reflect ~ Lughnasadh heralds the beginning of the harvest season! Sit and ponder how the seeds you planted at the beginning of the year have bloomed; how have your intentions grown? Give thanks for the abundance of blessings which you have manifested. Soon, there will be a quietening of energy. The Wheel begins to turn toward the silent lands. Celebrate all that is sunlight and fire, and know deeply within your bones that we stand in this midst of life and death.

Lughnasadh - Lammas © George Parker 2021

Connection to wild Nature is a subversive act of personal reclaiming and empowerment and helps us to reset and begin new life-affirming cycles. Spending time outside in any natural environment changes us. Being with trees, or by flowing water, or climbing high to look out over far-reaching views, shifts our thinking. We breathe more deeply, we slow down and let go of the busy edges that fuel so much of our adult lives. Being in wild nature resets us if we allow it in. Filtering through our intuitive senses, it sparks them into life, awakens our heart’s intelligence.

When we still our busy overstimulated minds and drop into our heart space, we expand into relationship. Once there, what might we receive? What might we understand at the deep heart-level of interconnectivity? Here lies the edge, the bridge, waiting to be crossed, the beginning of the journey between the worlds of the known, and the vast interconnected unity of the possible.

Subverting Our Conditioning © Glennie Kindred 2022

Wild writing is a practice that requires us to carve out regular space for deepening our connection with Nature, getting out into wildish spaces, away from daily demands. We bring low-tech writing tools and our intention to open to what Life wants to show us today. Perhaps we ask that question as we set off?

To begin this co-creative practice, we may choose to cross a threshold (a stile into a field, the entrance to a park, a gate into a forest) to enter consciously into sacred time for nurturing and expressing Soul – our own and the ensouled world we inhabit.

We begin by walking, letting mental chatter subside, softening our bodies so that we notice the breeze on our skin; scents in our nostrils; the taste of the air; sounds in our ears; colours, shapes before our eyes. And we own what may be at the edges of our consciousness, allowing any uncomfortable emotions to surface, breathing with them, honouring, and releasing them as we feel ready.

We also honour our five ways of knowing – sensing, feeling, imagining, intuiting, thinking. Through these we can open to wild voices and natural sign languages, acknowledging the mirror that Nature holds up to our ‘humanimal’ nature, and remembering our interbeing with the Web of Life. Now our wild words can rain onto the page.

A Wild Writing Practice © Helen Moore 2022

Be a human tree.
Push your roots down
to ancestral ground.
Know you have always been elemental;
a soil being of infinite potential;
willed to grow, evolve. Become.
Push down to the beating, breathing earth;
to the rapture of the mycelium horde,
connected beyond count
with a trillion times threads.
You are not just enough;
you are a marvel beyond reckoning,
renewing yourself on the compost of leaves
teeming with life that re-turns
and re-turns.
Stretch out your abundant arms!
Know how magnificent you are!

Be a Human Tree © Ali Davenport 2022

The children were kept from the forest, as the people forgot what they’d known. The forest is dirty or scary or dead, they’d always been told or been shown. But it didn’t take long to remember, when we took the forest to them. Their stalk and their sneak, their listening hands, their wonder and laughter and song.

They walked like fox and buzzed like bees and listened more rapt than owl. They touched the bark and smelled the trunks and sent out minds to follow the roots. Sculpting like the nest-makers with moss and mud and feathers. They shared what they’d heard from the birds with their mums and picked wild leaves for their teachers.

Protecting worms from careless feet; asking seeds when they wished to be planted. Making sure that all wild beings were safe in the places they tended. The adults had forgotten to look after the land and ask what it was that it needed. But the children sang to the trees that they loved and wondered if fungi had feelings.

That year of young re-enchantment unfolded like buds amidst birdsong. Only one turn of the earth round the sun before knowledge took root and grew strong. No walls or fences exist anymore, between the forest and village. The children are grown, with some of their own, and their love of the trees carries on.

Children of the Forest © Charlotte Dean 2022

Walk your journey,
Tread your path,
Trust in Divine Grace.
Peace and Joy aren't at the end of a rainbow,
But within your Heart.
Your Inner Realm.
Safe in the knowledge of what 'Is',
Your body is not who you are,
It's just your Form,
Simply a vehicle to see you through the storm
And the Dance of Life.
Your Essence,
Your Buddha Nature,
This is the Truth.
Entwined;
Rooted within Nature,
We are One.

Your Inner Realm © Sarah Charters 2021

Yesterday my sweet friend
rescued a swallowtail butterfly
from a pool
Her gentle hand supported
the yellow and black striped wings
to recover and dry above the water
Then, gently put her to rest
in shady grasses like a nest
Meanwhile we spoke of love,
of change, of loss
of beauty and the lives we strive to live
unbound by strange discordant times
Until we felt to see if our butterfly had flown…
And in that moment she spread her wings
and danced towards the sky
reminding us why
if we touch the wings of death
we learn to fly.

Transformation © Cathy Lotus Whitefield 2022

The Essence of Mabon – Autumn Equinox ~ Once more, on the cusp of change, we hang suspended, this time ready to begin the descent into the darker realms. As the Earth cloaks herself with autumnal fire, we too must embrace a final flare of colour before the land becomes quieter, colder.

Ritual ~ I left things draped like ornaments on fingers of gorse and soul-fire heather – in return, I gathered courage… It is time to prepare ourselves to follow the land into the quieter portion of the year – and, like the land with her audacious flare of colour, gather the abundance of the harvest to our hearths and tables and celebrate! Cornucopias! Feasts! Raise your face to the waning Sun and give thanks for all its warmth. Then close your eyes, feel the wind’s touch, bright with cold, bringing clarity and sharp wisdom. This autumn wind reminds you of the hidden path. This Mabon wind invites you to discard the unnecessary. Carve away excess. Allow yourself to prepare for the peaceful introspection of winter ahead.

Reflect ~ At Mabon, we reflect how the seeds we sowed at Ostara, Mabon’s counterpoint, have grown, and bring those we can to completion before autumn’s rest. We are preparing for a reflective period – a hibernation. This is the second harvest, so reap, gather and celebrate! Once you have swept the ash and debris from your hearth, consider what dormant seed it is that you will cherish quietly through the winter months, in readiness for spring planting.

Mabon - Autumn Equinox © George Parker 2021

Foraging is a treasure hunt that never grows old, seeking through the woods and in the hedges for a blackberry gemstone or a jewelled mushroom. The lure of free food, the connection with nature and the unbridled joy of a pantry bursting with dried fungi, herbs and sloe gin. Discovering a fairy ring of beautiful fly agarics and knowing that the mycelium lives and breathes beneath us - and will likely outlast us all - brings an awesome sense of perspective.

Something ancestral stirs deep in me each time I harvest a bolete or discover a new and incredible plant to photograph. The joy in the eyes of the children who make these discoveries with me is reflected in my own excitement and the sense of satisfaction that comes with a good haul. This is a feeling that shopping online and plugging into a console can’t compete with and I wonder, not for the first time, whether the world would be a happier, less troubled place if more people in our money-driven society were to re-discover the pure fulfilment that comes from finding ingredients in nature. Perhaps we can heal the world through slow cooked garlic mushrooms and bilberry crumble…

Foraging © Claire Arnold

The stories of the victorious are remembered. But, what about the stories of those who have been forgotten: the stories of our ancestors? Why does it matter that these are hidden away?

There was a time, not that long ago, when our ancestors didn’t need to rely on others for food or work and their lives moved with the ebb and flow of the seasons. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, this changed with mass migration from the countryside to the towns and cities.

The Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions are glorified as great achievements. Yet this was a dark time for millions who suffered significant trauma. Severed from their land and communities, they were forced to move into the slums of industrial Britain to live a life of extreme poverty.

Epigenetics has proven that any unresolved trauma our ancestors experienced can be passed down to future generations through DNA. As descendants of these people, many of us are living with this inherited trauma. These unhelpful patterns are holding us back from living the lives our soul is calling us to live.

Now is the time to heal these wounds for the good of everyone: past, present and future. Now is the time to reclaim the lost freedoms of our ancestors and step forward to achieve our hopes and dreams.

The Path to Forgotten Freedom © Nicola Smalley 2022

Watch
blades of grass
tick
beside seeds
taking flight
across life’s pathways

Breathe in the moment

What if the wind hears me, what if I can speak to the clouds, the currents that run through the skies, the breeze that swooshes through the trees? I am not separate from the air, I breathe the same breath. What if I’m influencing the Earth’s atmosphere?

Every morning now, with my breath and my voice, I send love to the weather patterns of Earth. I apologise for the careless dumping of smoke, fumes and gases, for the turmoil, anger and unresolved emotions that are circling up from the surface of our planet.

I think this is a good first step. Everyone appreciates someone saying sorry with sincerity and acknowledging their wrongdoings. Maybe the wind does too.

What if the crazy weather patterns are calling for our attention to what we put into the atmosphere? I want to contribute love and goodwill. Maybe if the wind hears more heartfelt voices, receives more benevolent breaths, maybe then, together, we will raise the winds of change!

We live in a land where there is a thirst for ancestral wisdom from unbroken lineages. This is no surprise on an island where the holders of tradition and ritual were systematically exterminated by invaders two thousand years ago, an island where any remaining knowledge and practice of the old ways was burned at the stake tens of generations beyond living memory. And so we searched out beauty and stillness in the practices of the East, deep rich medicine in the West and rhythmic wild ways in the South.

These adopted ceremonies, rituals and ways of being helped us forge bonds with spirit and the living Earth. But there is only so long that you can borrow for. It is time for us to fling off our shoes in this land. To feel the sweet warm earth between our toes and sing songs to our hills, our wells. To honour our henges, standing stones and long barrows with prayer. To open our hearts to the medicine plants we stand among. To invite each of them to teach us the old ways, but for new times.

We must rise up in strength, resilience and resourcefulness to regenerate the medicine of these lands, for these times. She is calling us home. It is time to listen.

The Essence of Samhain ~ Gather colours from the ground and trees and sky – soon there will be none, so lost will the world be in monochromes and frozen silhouettes. Tuck those colours in, fill your belly with sunlight. The harvests are complete. Samhain invites us to greet the dying of the light with acceptance and celebration. As we tread the spiral path further into the depths of our inner selves, we must be curious, open to what we find there, and resist shying away.

Samhain Rituals ~ Usher in the darker, quieter realms of the Wheel. Welcome the thinning of the veil. Connect with the spirit realm through meditation and oracle readings. Trust your night eyes, walk the woods at night. Dance around a bonfire, feast, honour ancestors. Draw your awareness inward and reflect on the stillness and peace found in the enveloping night. Rejoice in the darkness, pregnant itself with the promise of light.

Reflect ~ Shed summer skins. As autumn strips the trees bare, their branches left unburdened by fruit or leaves, so you must remove that which no longer serves you. Skin yourself to vulnerability, and from there see the true essence of yourself. Are you resisting this coming time, afraid of what you’ll find? If you lean gently into these hidden aspects of self, do you discover something different to what you expected? Cloak yourself in rich hues of magic and darkness. Sink your awareness into the quiet core of Crone energy and breathe into acceptance, wisdom, and the potential of dormant, buried seeds.

Once upon a time there was a wise old woman who lived in the forest. She knew every tree, plant, root and its use in healing and earth magic. Her friends were the great Oak, the dancing Birch and the Mother Beech; the wolf, the fox, the owl and the deer. She told the time by the path of the sun, the cycle of the moon and the turning of the wheel of the year and always gave thanks to the Elements and the Great Mother. She saw and knew things others did not. Her craft was handed down through the generations, from grandmother to granddaughter. Healer and midwife, bringing in new life and blessing the passing of departing souls.

Times change. The words witch, hag and crone, meaning wise, holy, crowned, became words of fear and hate, used to denigrate and destroy her reputation and the respect her community held her in. Women were killed in their thousands because of the power of their voices and their knowledge. Generations on, the Wise Woman lives on in us and will once again have a voice. The Wise Woman is rising. Reclaiming her title and her place. Leading from her heart with a fierce love to bring balance back to our beautiful world.

Sometimes we can see when we are crossing a threshold; there is a clear line in our lives as we move from one part of our lives to the next. There may be ceremony, circumstance, a moment marking it; deliberation, delineation, a new destination…

At other times we cannot see it - change comes incrementally, step by step, a sort of slide into a new world, a new way.

Sometimes it is like we suddenly turn around and wake up in a different landscape, not knowing how we got there. Some days we inadvertently start something big with a simple little conversation, or with a yes or a no. We cannot see the ripples that our actions will leave. A threshold was crossed - yet likely not knowingly; change came for us - more than us choosing to charm it into our lives.

Either way we get to follow our own feet forwards, to find our own personal kind of North star that we can navigate by. There are great guides and many maps made - and yet inevitably the truest pathway through this wild ride called life is one that we must figure out our own way through. This is a process of coming to trust our own navigation skills, of being particular as to which path to take; of noticing when we cross a threshold and choosing to do so consciously…

moon dancing
on water
moon floating
high in the sky
calls for reflection
questions reality
lover of dreams
anything’s possible
honours the feminine
cyclical flows
various phases
various faces
powerfully
emotive
imaginatively
mythical
mysteriously
beautiful

I find my hermit’s hut out on the moss, amongst the yellow grasses, larch trees and the old sycamore that hugs the pile of stones of an old homestead. Some days I can call the moor my own, with nobody else choosing to share it with me.

I find my hermit’s hut in the woods, amongst the tangled branches, green bracken and mossy limestone outcropping through the soil. Yew, hazel and oak all frame my imagination as I listen for the song of the robin, blackbird and thrush.

I find my hermit’s hut within me: a place I can take around with me wherever I go. There are no walls or roof, yet it is comfortable and dry. There is no fireplace, yet a warm fire is always burning. Here I am without company, and yet I am never alone. This hut has always been here and always will be, and the door is always open.

I am the dancing wagtail, the soaring crow,
the wild rose blooming beneath the Elder’s shadow.
I’m the untamed moors and the hidden gorge,
the thunderous falls that winding rivers forge.
I’m Earth’s rich, dark soil, the Moon’s silver light,
the liminal spaces you might enter at night.
I am standing stones and womb-like cave,
the raging storm and the gentle wave.
I am all these things and more, and they are me,
for All is One,
and blessed are we.

I sit on the edge of the fire circle on Midwinter’s eve. Surrounded by my community; families, friends and strangers. Celebrating this time of year together. A time for gratitude, reflection, shared stories, shared food, warmth and light amongst the darkest turn of the wheel. We light many candles, string up fairy lights, cut ribbons for the Wishing Tree, set trails of glow lamps for children to follow. Upon a large tree stump sits a spiral of candles, each ready to be lit whilst families set intentions for the year ahead. The mandolin plays folk melodies while we sit watching the dancing flames, bright and hot from the birch logs. We drink hot spiced apple juice, share popcorn, roasted chestnuts and warming hazelnuts. Empty nut shells are cast over our shoulders to fall behind us.

A friend and archaeologist shares an insight that creates such a profound moment for me. He tells us of ancient settlements rediscovered, where a similar scene has been unearthed by careful trowels. Evidence of a gathering, a campfire and charred hazelnut shells discarded close by. This circle of people; sharing, eating, keeping warm by the fire, thousands of years past, doing exactly as we are, perhaps even at the same time of year! This magical moment sends shivers down my spine. I feel so very connected to my ancestors, as if they are standing right behind me, generations past, all a part of me and the result of so much love.

The Essence of Yule - Winter Solstice ~ Midwinter. We have settled into the depth of the dark. At the Winter Solstice we now find ourselves hanging at the nadir of the year, waiting for life to unfurl once more. Yule brings us the longest night, and the darkness can feel impenetrable, endless, overpowering. But just as we begin to wonder if the light will ever return, the Sun halts its descent in the sky. Slowly, gently so that our eyes and our hearts may adjust, the Sun begins to rise and reclaim the sky.

Rituals ~ We have reached the peak of the darkest months and welcome the return of the Sun! Light candles and strew your home with the bright colours of holly berry and evergreen! Hang boughs of evergreen by windows and doors. In the darker months, ivy, holly, yew and mistletoe remind us of rebirth and resurrection, and protect hearth and home. Echoes of Saturnalia can be found in homes across the globe, with pines and firs brought into homes as a symbol of rebirth in the depths of winter. Warm the wood spirits and hang them offerings on a Yule Tree. Rejoice, share, celebrate!

Reflect ~ The Sun seems to hover, hung low in the sky as though it might never push back the darkness. We’re in the depths of the dark winter realms, waiting for the return of the light. Explore the dark. Trust your night eyes, and walk through the land of night knowing yourself, and knowing that the light is coming back.

Consider, cultivate, conjure, call forth, call in…

Sometimes we can feel change coming for us; like there is some sort of secret fairy godmother waiting around the corner, ready to douse us in delight. It’s not even a thing we could say how we know - there just seems to be some immense intuition loitering out/in there somewhere.

Sometimes when we really sink (synch?) into our own stillness it is almost like we are conjuring up a spell. We make space for some future self to call us forth; for some good instruction to be given, for some clear knowing to happen.

Stillness and settling helps these strange knowings come in closer; that being less caffeinated, adrenalised, overstimulated lets us hear the whispers on the wind more; that this place of well-being is one that we can drop into, more than being a place we have to go running all over to seek… It is like the arrow being drawn back in quiet aim, before it is flung out into our future. Maybe it is not even future - maybe it is a sense of the preciousness and precariousness of this moment and in not trying to get anywhere; in ceasing to prod and poke at the world there is some great grace that helps all the stuck things flow free again…

We come from the deep Mystery
that births stars into being.
We come from the heart of Love
that flows through life as does sacred water.
We come from the fathomless well-spring of knowing
whose longing calls energy into matter.
We come from the perpetual Cosmic Dance
whose motion reverberates across time and space,
its steps resonating through our bodies
and calling us into its arms
again and again!
Yes, we come from the deep Mystery,
and within us we carry
the precious seeds it has gifted,
seeds that are ours to plant, and
when we choose to do so
with intention, with blessing, with love
in a reverent act of co-creation,
how those seeds grow, flourish and blossom!
We come from the deep Mystery
and from it Magick unfolds.

Standing at the threshold of
deeply interconnected life
Opening to my own wise self
and my co-operative longing
I am reaching out and reaching in
Inviting communion
Expanding beyond this surface reality
to embrace a deeper kinship
Alive with belonging
Alive with connectivity and receptivity
Alive with the call of
the seen and the unseen…
Between the worlds I expand
into joyful relationship
There is no separation
All is connected
I am awake.

What if all we need to do
is to forget what we have been taught
and remember what we know?
What if we can stop resisting
and fighting and shaping nature…
and allow her to change us?
What if we trusted ourselves to the flow?
What if it was easier than we believed?
What if it is the most natural
thing in the world to us?
What if we heeded the call?
What if?

First
through
the waking wood
breaks
the webs
and
unlocks
the day

Let me show you the shimmer of light
That hovers above the slow opening of a daisy flower
Or in amongst the swarm of busy tadpoles
Let me wake you up to
The lightness, the darkness
Standing side by side
In togetherness
Let me show you the tide’s in breath and out,
Let me stay with you a while,
Until all our wrinkly eye-dry screen time
Is forgotten.
And wake, renewed into remembered splendour.
To breathe deeply, knowing we have remembered;
The daisy, the light, the swarm, the night
The buzz, the wet, the warmth, the tides -
In breath and out.
Turn technology off and tune out,
Watch a feather play with a shadow.
Watch the shimmer of dust
Falling against a window from within.
If you can sit in a garden, go there
And remember
The tide’s in breath and out.

what if this is my altar ?
no need to go inside
and light candles in a cold room
better to sit in the lengthening summer grasses
while birds and insects do the talking
follow flickering flight of damselflies
as they dance between grasses
and make short stops on leaves
near the water’s edge
honey bees move choosily from buttercup to buttercup
among daisies dock and sorrel
elderflowers flavour the air where
brambles reach out
their first flowers open
with the promise of berries
let this litany be my prayer
as herb robert droops a flower-tipped frond
onto my page
and an iridescent green-backed fly
lands like a blessing

Thank you o’ bushes, thank you o’ trees,
I will remember to always say please
And thank you for giving me your roots, fruits and leaves,
Thank you o’ flowers and thank you o’ bees.

I twirl, swirl,
barefoot on bare floor,
the wood, the tree, the forest
in the rhythms of movement.
I dance with owl
with ghost
with spirit
with breath.
Once I danced
with heavy dreams in my arms,
dear dreams, broken dreams,
I've dropped those now.
When we break
the sky enters us.
This is what my
feet pound out.
This is the lightness
as the music
becomes
the wind
that moves me.

I am not quiet like my sister, Spring.

I do not creep up on you, there are no little pockets of colour.

Instead I shout, telling you of my arrival.

I invite the trees to take out their paint brushes, and the gentle, riot of colours explode into their leaves.

To spread these changing colours, my winds tease the leaves from their branches and invite them to dance.

"Let's colour the woods, fields and pavements with my seasonal exuberance," I shout. Let everyone notice and take note.

The whispers from the old ones are held in the forests. Whispers that can only be heard when darkness falls and the wind moves through the bare branches. The trees speak, but not in words or even sounds: they voice their secrets through a way far older than the common tongue.

The knowledge from the old ones is held in the waters. Not the rivers, lakes and seas that are seen through the eyes. But in the deep waters that run through the earth. These waters have moved through the rock for thousands of years. The places where this water passes hold strong messages that can be felt but not seen.

The wisdom from the old ones is held within the body. This cannot be learnt through words written in books. These secrets are hidden in a place so deep that they can never be lost forever. They are hidden within us, in our bones. Here they lie until a time when they are ready to be awakened.

My daughter sits by the fire,
contented, leisurely
weaving light green wool into
snug pockets for treasures.

My mother taught me to sew,
to darn, to fix a tear,
to hold it all together.
In every stitch she’s there.

Laughter fills the library, bright
yarns in comforting heaps,
women gathered round to craft,
making some rowdy peace.

Hope presents herself
Through winter’s depths.
Ice underfoot,
Mist overhead.
Yet with a lowered gaze,
An open heart,
Behold, budding hope.
Bare winding stems,
Elegantly topped
With potent life.

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