The Earth Pathways Diary and Wall Calendar celebrate the work of contributors and writers who share a deep love for the land and a desire to live with appreciation of and responsibility for this beautiful planet. More than just a diary and calendar, they are a networking resource and inspiration for the growing community of people who are willing to actively create positive change in their lives for the benefit of the Earth.
The 2022 Earth Pathways Diary includes UK sunrise and sunset times, moonrise and moonset times, moon phases and signs and some astrological information. It journeys through the seasonal cycle of the year, with a focus on each of the Earth Festivals. There are week-at-a-view pages, month-at-a-view planners, a year planner and notes pages.
The 2022 Earth Pathways Calendar is a full colour, month-at-a-view wall calendar. It includes the phases of the Moon, a Sun-sign forecast for 2021 and the eight Earth Festival dates, both calendar and lunar.
The Diary is A5 in size and spiral bound, with 146 full-colour pages. View sample pages here.
The Calendar is A4 in size, with 32 full-colour pages. View sample pages here.
They are both available to buy here through our secure web shop.
The showcase gallery for contributors to the 2022 Earth Pathways Diary and Calendar is below.
Click on any piece of work (image or text) to open the creator's individual contributor showcase page where you can view more of their work.
Images from the Diary and Calendar are displayed at the top, writing is displayed below the images.
Sunlit Dream © Debbie Crooks
The Fountain Of Love © Kate Bedell
Portal in the Bluebell Woods,
Sancreed, West Penwith
© Sarah Vivian
Mellow Yellow © Natalie Parr
Winter Colours © Ali Walters
Above the Clouds © Marie Paurin
Galactic Rays © Ushka Davies
The Bringer of Spring
© Kiara Dixey
Eternal Flame © Kate Bedell
Belonging © Dorrie Joy
Castlerigg - Midnight © Jason Smalley
Seaweeds © Marie Paurin
I Am The Whale © Marie Roberts
Winter, Depths of the Soul © Kate
Bedell
Imbolc © Isla Macleod
River Spirit © Philip Tonkyn
Gathering of Owls
© Christine Camp
The White-leaved Oak
(Malvern) © Dickie Smith
Crow Wood © Jason Smalley
Mystic Valley © Julie Fowkes
Ostara © Isla Macleod
Hazel Banner
© Yannick Dubois
Exotic Ash Flowers © Lindy Brook Tweed
Soul Soil © Tracy Metcalfe
Hands of Compassion (Earth Day) © Marc Treanor and Rachel Shiamh
Spring Shadows © Sioned Kowalczuk
Beltane © Isla Macleod
Reverie © Rebecca Bush
Green Energy
© Victoria Parsons
For the Love of the Wild
Rose © Becky Mackeonis
Goddess Tree Glastonbury Abbey © Philip Tonkyn
Homage to the Earth
© Rosa Davis
Dance of the May Queen
© Rebecca Bush
Movement
© Magda Vaughan
Litha © Isla Macleod
Serene Sunset, Sennen Harbour, West Penwith
© Sarah Vivian
The Apparition © Sarah Jameson
Tree Sister © Rosalie Kohler
The Rising Of The
Phoenix © Linda Hill
Bed of Moss © Rosalie Kohler
Lammas © Isla Macleod
Cauldron and Wand © Yannick Dubois
Summer Rain © Ela Rogers
Dazzling Daisies
© Moza Ackroyd
Magical Walks © Rebecca Bush
Lichen Forest © Misha Homayoun-Fekri
Autumn Impressions © Ali Walters
Mabon © Isla Macleod
What Lies Beneath
© Lynne Sawyer
On the Right Path © Klara
Duir © Susan Latchford
Weaving © Meraylah Allwood
Samhain © Isla Macleod
Samhain © Kate Bedell
Veil of Protection © Dorrie Joy
Dreaming Into Stillness © Anne Thomas
Autumn © Aia Leu
Buzzard Fly Me Home
© Debbie Crooks
The Magic of Moonlight © Cherry Ferris
Gaia © Marie Roberts
Yule © Isla Macleod
Copper Grove
© Sam Lauren Smith
January © Susan Latchford
February © Susan Latchford
March © Susan Latchford
April © Susan Latchford
May © Susan Latchford
June © Susan Latchford
July © Susan Latchford
August © Susan Latchford
September © Susan Latchford
October © Susan Latchford
November © Susan Latchford
December © Susan Latchford
Fox © Emma Parkins
Whatstandwell Beech
© Jacqui de Rose Art
Jewel Fish © Dannie
Z Alexander
Riding the Goose © Klara
Autumn Leaves © Helena Zabko
Dragonfly in Amber © Lynne Sawyer
Buttercup Meadow © Helena Zabko 2020
Welcome (Grandmothers Trilogy)
© Meraylah Allwood
The Moonlit Path © Kate Bedell
Waterfall Spirit © Philip Tonkyn
Bluebells at Golitha Falls,
Bodmin Moor, Cornwall © Sarah Vivian
First Flight of Summer © Cherry Ferris
Wild Roses © Anne Thomas
The Colours of Summer © Nicola Gibbs
New Worlds are Possible © Marc Treanor
Apple © Yannick
Dubois
Autumn Treetops © Helena Zabko
Lunaria © Sioned
Kowalczuk
Early Bird © Sue Wookey
The Sanctuary © Sarah Jameson
Birdboat and Whale
© Kelly Cracknell
Summer mandala © Ali Walters
♈︎ Moon in Aries says seize the moment, take the initiative. There’s a spark of inspiration which energises us, gets us moving. It’s time to take action and to embrace the new. We live in the moment, responding with immediacy and impatience, keen to lead the way into a new future.
♉︎ Moon in Taurus asks us to sink deep into connection with our own bodies and the world around us. We root into nature so that we can blossom, knowing that we are nature. We can enjoy our instincts and our senses, savouring pleasure and accepting each moment as a gift.
♊︎ Moon in Gemini brings curiosity, a need to know and to connect, to share our ideas. We are individual nodes in the great web of connections which forms the universe and we learn from all the beings around us. We are flexible and adaptable in an ever changing world.
♋︎ Moon in Cancer tunes us in to our inner tides, to the ebb and flow of feelings and imagination, to what we need. Our emotions are strong and they drive our actions. It’s time to nourish ourselves body and soul, to nurture our growth and our connections with loved ones.
♌︎ Moon in Leo brings creative energy and a drive to express ourselves, to open our hearts and share our vital energy. We are spontaneous and impulsive, connected with our divine inner child. We tune into our inner glow and allow our radiance to illuminate the world around us.
♍︎ Moon in Virgo is calm, clear and focused. We connect with the wisdom of the body, bringing together body, mind and soul to remind us that we are holistic beings, whole unto ourselves. We refine and purify, integrating the ideal with the reality and accepting ourselves as perfectly imperfect.
♎︎ Moon in Libra brings us into balance, with the subtle adjustments we need to keep our equilibrium. We are deeply aware of others, forming and strengthening close relationships. This peaceful and harmonious moon also reminds us that life can be unfair, awakening our inner activist and seeker of social justice.
♏︎ Moon in Scorpio goes deep, carrying us out of our conscious awareness and into our feeling selves. Our awareness is heightened, showing us the undercurrents of energy which swirl around us and shape our actions. We are taken into the darkness to seek its gifts and powers of rebirth.
♐︎ Moon in Sagittarius calls us to explore, to break away from the familiar and widen our perspective. We look up, look out, look beyond, hungry for life, for experience, for freedom. Enthusiasm and optimism inspire us and we trust in the universe, in the spark of inner truth.
♑︎ Moon in Capricorn holds us steady, roots us in our current reality. We strengthen and sustain, creating structures which hold us and the world together. We may be taken back to bare bones, reminded what is real and solid beneath us. We climb the mountain sure-footed as the goat.
♒︎ Moon in Aquarius awakens us to what needs to change, in ourselves and in the world. The light of consciousness shows us where we can play our part in shifting collective energies, pulling on the web of life to strengthen freedom and justice. We find clarity and a sense of perspective.
♓︎ Moon in Pisces is sensitive and soulful, dissolving our boundaries and allowing us to merge back into universal consciousness. We tune in to the mysteries of life, going with our inner flow and trusting it to carry us. Our dreams and visions call us to connect with spirit.
The New Moon is hidden by the sun and we sow our seeds in the darkness. We make space, allowing our intuition to guide us. In this sacred pause we speak our intentions to the universe, trusting in our own inner powers and the powers around us to come together and bring our dreams into being.
At the Crescent Moon, energy is gathering. Tiny shoots begin to grow and momentum builds as we begin to understand the choices we are making and the thinking behind them. Each action fuels the next as we align ourselves with energies of growth and change.
Willpower is strong as we reach the First Quarter Moon. We are dynamic and determined in our pursuit of growth, ready to overcome whatever may stand in our way. Our commitment may be tested and we turn potential obstacles to our own advantage.
The Gibbous Moon brings the impulse to refine, review and revise, seeking meaning and context. This is a time for purification and cleansing as our power increases.
At the Full Moon, all is illuminated. There is revelation and fulfilment, perhaps a goal achieved as we reach the peak of the cycle. We become aware of ourselves in connection and in relationship with the world around us. The Full Moon is a turning point, bringing conscious awareness and objectivity.
With the Disseminating Moon, our energy is turned outwards into the world. A process of release is underway as we move into the waning cycle, assessing who we’ve become and what we’ve achieved.
The Last Quarter Moon brings a new current of dynamic energy, perhaps obstacles which need to be overcome. Our impulse to act is tempered with reflection and contemplation, a need to transform and change.
The Balsamic Moon asks us what we will carry forward into the new cycle and what we need to release. We banish or sacrifice old ways of being, clearing inner space and enjoying the peace and quiet which remains. Quiet reflection and inner stillness connect us with our deepest wisdom.
As the moon gets ready to transition between signs every two to three days, she is said to be Void of Course, no longer connecting with the other planetary bodies. The Void of Course moon is a liminal time, a time of transition. There may be confusion or a lack of focus, a kind of lack of resources which means that we lose our focus or sense of direction. Every few days, the Void of Course moon reminds us of the need to let go of our plans and our doing, to centre ourselves and sit with uncertainty a little. During Void of Course moon transitions, we can hear our inner voice more clearly as we slow down and clear space.
☿ Mercury has three periods of retrograde motion in 2022, mainly in the earth signs with some forays back into the air signs (14 January – 4 February in Capricorn, 10 May to 2 June in Gemini and Taurus, 10 September to 1 October in Libra and Virgo). During these times, we may be questioning the structures we have built for ourselves, reflecting on our work in the world and the sense of worth it brings us. Mercury retrograde is always a time for contemplation rather than action or decisions and the retrograde periods this year ask us to review our resources, both inner and outer, and the way that we use them. We are called to consider what we are creating and bringing into tangible reality, the results of our efforts. Mercury retrograde in the earth signs calls us to question where we feel rooted and how we are able to bloom.
♀︎ Venus is retrograde in Capricorn at the beginning of the year (19 December 2021 to 28 January 2022). We might be feeling more introverted than usual, reflecting on our relationship dynamics and what we value (including ourselves). Venus retrograde goes deep and may not be fully conscious, so that we only become aware of our changing desires when the retrograde period is complete.
♂︎ Mars spends the final months of the year retrograde in Gemini (30 October 2022 to 12 January 2023). We respond or react to the world around us rather than acting dynamically and taking the initiative may call for more effort than usual. Introspection is more powerful than action and this is a time to review and revise all that we know, or think we know.
Astrology for 2022 © Lys 2021
This is the place where I begin
This time, this here, this now
I Call to Honour the Spirits of place
As the Wind carries my prayers
To the hearts and souls in the land beyond
To heal the Ancestral layers
I send down roots below my feet
And sing my song to Earth
The worms and bones they dance a tune
That speaks to me of birth
This is the place where I begin
This time, this here, this now
This is the place where I become
Alive to breath as One...
Extract: Where I Become © Lisa Bridge
Sat in a circle of stones,
Eyes closed shut.
Back against our thrones.
Dreaming of tomorrow
Yet grounded in the past
I am the web the spider weaves,
The rain dripping from the tree.
I am the sun shining on my face,
The earth, standing proud and strong.
I am the ache inside my heart.
The tear in my eye of green.
I am the day, awakening so brightly.
I am the night, of darkness and silence.
I am one mind,
One body,
One soul.
Circles © Aimee Blease-Bourne 2017
Since remembering the
Birthing power
I have within
An incredible strength
Has risen in my chest
Part anger at the state of the world
Part courage and fierce determination
To play my small part in
HEALING
A great well of compassion
Rises from the depths of my soul
And in this well there is a jewel
Buried deep in the water
A bright shining light
In the darkness
A primal energy
To protect and serve
To birth a new way
Of living, of being
With ourselves and each other
And our Mother Earth
Birthing Power © Orla Beaton 2019
We all love stories of regeneration; of fish and dolphins returning to quiet Venetian canals, goats foraging in the streets of Llandudno, and the regreening of unshod paths. We relish in the clear blue skies and the clean air in cities usually choked with fumes. Has Covid-19 been a pause in the relentless quest of the industrial growth model, the potential for a mass questioning of values, a reframing of the shallowness of wealth and consumerism, and a visceral appreciation of life’s preciousness? What really connects us is friends, family, being outside, clean air, clean water, enough food, gardening and gainful work. Perhaps enough of us will have tasted the purity of the morning air, savoured the absence of frenzy, the new shoots of garden greens, and will decide there is no going back. Could the agency of Corona be our longed-for opportunity for systemic change?
Our Longing for Systemic Change © Maddy Harland
Outside in the quiet fields
on a moon-mazed night
all has dissolved in shadow.
Does this feel like sleep?
Everything is slowly awakening,
opening hidden eyes like stars.
Something is blossoming, stretching,
breathing a long breath as soft as moths.
Unhurried, it unfurls its dreams
from a dark bud of endless light.
Do not tremble.
You cannot see with your day-dazzled eyes
but all around you
the seeds of everything are falling
into a world of open hearts.
Does This Feel Like Sleep? © Sue Wookey 2017
With the change in bird song and the first spring flowers blooming, nature is slowly emerging from the depths of winter. New shoots are pushing through, and the snowdrops are showing their faces through the darkness of the soil. We are reminded that the light is returning once again. Yet below the frozen ground, there is much work being undertaken as life once again stirs into being.
Imbolc is the festival of awakening and marks the first day of spring. It’s time to take early steps towards your upcoming plans, breathe some life into them and bring them into being. Remember though, there is no rush. Go with nature’s pace and take your time to emerge. Allow the stirrings of excitement as you think of what seeds you want to plant. What projects can you breathe life into as the sun continues to march across the sky?
~ As the birds and animals are building their nests, look towards laying a good foundation from which to launch yourself into spring. It is time to start planning.
~ Gather nature finds that symbolise new growth. Create a mandala from these and place a white candle in the centre to welcome new beginnings into your world and hope for the coming months.
Imbolc © Nicola Smalley
The tattered ribbons, colours faded by the elements,
dull beside the beacon berries of the rowan tree
which they are tied to –
the tattered ribbons tell me that I have found
the place I am looking for. A lull
in the breeze, and the wood is silent
briefly, long enough for me to hear
the whisper of the water. I can’t see it yet, but down
in the hollow it’s green and mossy,
the air still and cool. I part
the ferns and there it is, escaping exuberantly from the dark earth, sparkling
over the rocky bed, gathering in the pool before
emerging as a tiny, new-born brook.
I cup my hand in the water, and sip – liquid light that tastes of
earth and roots. Downstream
it will give life to fields and beasts;
here it emerges bright and new, birthed by the land. I tie
a new, bright ribbon to the branches
of the rowan tree.
Holy Well © Lisa Tulfer 2020
A subtle moment between winter and spring,
Imbolc, perched on a blade of frost,
teases a cold thaw
from a sharp freeze;
days have inched longer day by day,
fibre-optically instilling new light
in feathers’ rekindling from survival
to flamboyance;
post-traumatic debris:
whipwired grasses,
loomed on splintered twigs
mossmould to cups for new eggs;
birdtalk and flowerstalk conspire,
whispering between the buds,
and the longer light leans now
toward a distant dawning colour rush of equinox;
the brooding winter shroud slips,
twitches with brooding spring secrets:
alike, but different,
the puberty of the year.
Imbolc © Brian Boothby 2020
300 years from now
How will you be, my beloved
Baby steps, gentle steps
Value each one
Your ripples of kind intention
Infuse the Earth
They deserve your appreciation
And patience
Never doubt the power
Of walking a conscious life
Of planting seeds of compassion
Growing roots of care
Adopt the pace of an
Oak tree
Allow your heart to
Blossom softly
Over years, decades
Lifetimes
300 Years © Orla Beaton 2019
The wind loosens all chains of resistance
to what’s good for me.
It moves around me and moves me.
It lifts the rust and debris from the war;
a thousand projections, a million demands, a billion resentments
fall away and I soar with it, free,
remembering, calling myself back to my core,
back to my heart, back to my original self,
how I came into this world of a thousand things.
It moves clouds across the sky
unveiling a script I once could read
something the birds Know, that I thought I’d forgotten
but my blood remembers, my bone remembers
my spirit remembers.
I am called and I respond from the depths of myself
to the tips of this shallow breathing
I take a gulp and drink... Here I am, one of many,
fluid and bright, restored to myself.
Breathe the Wild © Summer Hall 2020
I am seeking out those off the beaten track places where I can feel myself open and form a bond with the spirits of the place, with trees, rocks, springs and clearings. I welcome this sense of ‘presence’ that changes me when I am there. The Genius Loci of the land has always been there. It is us who lost our way, and it is us, by dropping the old confines of separation that have set us apart, who are re-finding our bond with the land once again. What if our every thought either opens or closes the flow of energy we receive? What if each time we let our heart open to something, we expand, and are able to enter into the complex, interconnected web of life, alive with multi-dimensional possibilities? Do we increase communication with life by being open to that increase?
I feel my heart reaching for sacred partnership with the land. I stand at the threshold, with a smile in my heart, and an ever-deepening sense of belonging; sensing the integration that is possible, and the huge and infinite relationship and resolution that begins now with each and every one of us, who dares to step into the flow of integrated life.
A Bond With the Land © Glennie Kindred 2020
Here at the Equinox, we are at a point of balance: from this moment onwards everything is going to ramp up. Spring is already well underway, with the daffodils proudly trumpeting their arrival and the first chicks having already hatched into the world.
It is time to start creating. Throw yourself into your carefully nurtured plans. What do you want to hatch this spring? What is the egg of your potential? You have three months until the height of summer and another three months until harvest is complete: six glorious months of longer days and creative energy to draw on. It’s time to tip the balance and move from planning into action. Begin to sow those seeds and seize the day, making the most of the growing hours of warmth and light.
~ Connect to your inner potential by meditating or journeying whilst holding an egg in your hands. Within this egg, there is everything that is needed for life, just as within you there is everything you need to achieve your goals. Ask for help in achieving them.
~ Observe the alchemy of nature by going on regular walks, following the same route, and observe the subtle changes day by day. Record this by taking pictures and journaling your experience.
Spring Equinox © Nicola Smalley
The quiet mind brings us into connection with liminal creativity: the flow that comes from the space in between. The space between dreamtime and waking, night and day, winter and spring, the edge between people, and between people and the more-than-human world, the openings between the past, present and future, the gap between the pragmatic and imaginative, the space between our vision and action. The space between the womb and birth, the seed and the sprout. The mysterious, universal source of creativity, that arrives in whispers or loud lightning bolts. The creative source that goes under many names and is unnameable and unknowable. The spark of inspiration, the bolt of creativity, the lightning strike of ideas, the glimmer of possibility. The quiet mind gives us all a channel of communication with our own creativity, gifts and vision. We connect with the source of emergence. It activates visionary, creative leadership as a state of being for all of us.
Liminal © Looby Macnamara
Cut off for now from my physical relationships,
I take a solitary walk across the Downs.
I’m isolated but my lifeline is the wind, sun and trees.
My spirit reaches for the sky.
Cached within the circle of trees I gaze at their trunks
covered with signs of struggle for growth .....for life.
My offering to Ash is a raft to connect with the rest of the world.
I know it will take me to where the black buds
are quietly making exotic flowers
and we’ll sail on to the promise of the keys.
One key will open the door to a world where all humans value all life,
From the tiniest of tree seeds to the smallest exotic tree flower.
We will stop in awe and reverence.
My spirit will reach for the sky.
Ash, Rocky Clump, Stanmer © Lindy Brook Tweed 2020
Soil is amazing! It’s literally teeming with life and is a living biome in its own right; a living organ of the earth.
One teaspoon of healthy soil contains billions of micro-organisms all living, reproducing and dying, eating and excreting. This complex soil food web begins with organic matter (ie plants), which is food for algae, bacteria and fungi, who in turn are food for protozoa and nematodes and finally the earthworms, the engineers of the soil.
Just as our own physical and mental health relies on a diverse gut biome, so too the health of all plants (and ultimately us), relies on a healthy and diverse soil biome. These soil micro-organisms have a symbiotic relationship with plant roots, pre-digesting nutrients so that plants can more easily assimilate them. They also protect plants against pathogens and other environmental threats, offering ‘invasion’ resistance and resilience. The soil is essentially the plant’s stomach.
So, what can you do to nurture and protect this multitude of life in your garden soil? Be an organic or biodynamic gardener and use only natural methods for growing your plants. Make and apply good quality compost, never use mineral feeds and fertilisers, make compost teas, grow green manures, avoid leaving bare soil and try to grow lots of different sorts of plants with different root depths. Never forget that the soil is alive!
The Living Soil © Claire Hattersley
I know what this soul wants ~
to sit in the completeness of itself,
to move in the soft and unpredictable manner
of a passing cloud;
a sky-clad dance continuously becoming something else,
something other than what it thought it was,
and then, nothing at all.
This soul will find completion only
by letting go of what keeps her ‘safe’.
By leaning into the wind,
breath carrying the wings of the corvid’s dream,
my voice, the voice of every wild beast
reaching its own soul outward,
searching for brethren and belonging ~
a primal and innate sound that knows
the only clue we were given
was to learn to trust.
I will do more than just survive;
I will find the ‘yes’ in my bones,
the fire in my belly,
the earth in my blood.
The ‘Yes’ in my Bones © Rebecca Card 2012
To bloom is to give in to chaos, to let go of the tightly ordered casing that held us back and held us in safety. Release and relief at being open to the sun. Exuberance. Ready to release invisible perfume. Welcoming each new stage of the season is welcoming chaos.
Spring rises like a green wave that engulfs the landscape. Weeds run wild, making new paths over the old land. The air is heavy with scent. Lushness. Wetness. Warmth.
The earth pulls me down towards her like a lover. She pulls me close to her pulsing green skin. Nestles me into the curves of her body. She beckons me to fall in love with her and with myself. She calls me to dance with bare feet on her green furred skin, each footstep a kiss.
Giving Into Chaos © Jess Stein 2020
Having arrived here at the festival of fertility, nature is going full pelt. The birds are singing their loudest, and many of the trees have shown their leaves. The hawthorn has blossomed, an aroma of bluebell perfume fills the woods, and the ferns are beginning to unfurl. In just a few weeks a green canopy will cloak the landscape.
Right now, the earth energies are at their strongest and most active. Nature has erupted, and it is time to create, to throw yourself into all that you need to do to achieve your goals. Don’t hold back. Instead, go for it and ride the wave of the spring energies through to the Summer Solstice and beyond. It is a perfect time of year to bring ideas, hope and dreams into action.
~ Rise before dawn, wrap up warm and go hunt down a bluebell wood, taking a cushion and blanket to lie on. Listen to the dawn chorus through the morning as you stare up at the emerging tree canopy.
~ Write in your journal what your creative venture is, what completion looks like and what it feels like. Ask for support from your spirit guides and the universe to help you bring this to fruition over the coming six months to Samhain.
Beltane © Nicola Smalley
There is no doubt
that if I stood here any longer,
in the dappled warmth
of a trillion trembling greens,
my toes would crawl into this earth.
Following trails
of nourishing abundance
that know nothing
of the bounds of
glass bottles labelled c, e or d.
These arms would lift.
Take flight.
Fingers
weaving toward sunlight.
Dancing to endless generations of birdsong.
Journeying © Priya Logan 2018
I dream of love
pouring, like honey, from
broken hearts that have remembered what it means to be alive.
I see us rise
on wings of grace
and alchemise our fear into fierce generosity.
A lunatic dance
to chance upon a space
for sweetness, cradled at the heart of each precious comb.
Bee Dreaming © Keli Tomlin
She beckons to me with unfurled wings.
Lacey green fronds draw me deep
into the mystery of unfolding.
Seductive wet earth, strong and sweet,
her touch is a whisper of love.
Gentle dancing rustles her skirts
as she folds me in feathery embrace
and shares her wisdom - of ancient pathways
Moving inward to the soul.
Forest Angel © Susan Latchford 2019
Sometimes, constellations land into our veins, illuminating their branching networks with ancient starfire. Stop long enough for a ray of golden light to slant through trees and trick you out of your skin. Stay long enough for this love to catch you up. When it finally does, turn your face to beauty and surrender to your own weeping.
When that happens, the human skin slides off as a luminescence lights up cascades of scales, fur, claws, beating wings, soaring flight, slithering belly. All that’s needed is a slant of sunlight through trees, a subtle change in the trickling of stream-flow, to trick a human out of her familiarity, to land even momentarily into an entirely different realm.
When that happens, nothing is ever the same again.
Starfire © Catherine Pawson
Silently she sat on the
green mossed log
her daily perch
for morning study.
Her subject today
Grandmother spider’s
golden web
that gathers summer sun
as her teacher gathers herbs.
The web of silk, air and light
a mirror of her own mind.
Morning Study © Vishwam 2020
Can you imagine how different the world would be if we were all shining and using our gifts to the fullest? I imagine the world would be a happier, more peaceful place. We would be less competitive and more co- operative. There would be more innovation and joy, more connection and inventions, less arguments and more fulfilment, less despair and more empowerment.
Discovering our own gifts will bring forth the collective genius of humanity. Finding ways to encourage the surfacing of gifts in people will enable the creation of a culture of collective wisdom.
Gifts are not just about careers, although we may be able to use our gifts within our livelihoods. Our gifts can also be qualities, how our presence is in the world and how we interact with people. We all have many transferable skills that we have developed over our lives. Our skills at parenting, admin, cleaning and other day-to- day tasks, can all be used in other nourishing and empowering ways to create regenerative cultures.
Our gifts are larger than we know or can know, they continually expand – it is an ongoing treasure hunt with limitless wonders to find. They can become part of our soul path. Finding and sharing your gifts is part of saying YES to your life, and YES to the collective evolution of humanity.
Surfacing Gifts © Looby Macnamara
She danced.
Around her the energy flowed as she became one with the sound.
The sound of the beating drum.
The beat became her, she became the beat.
The music enveloped her soul.
It seeped into her every aspect
Her tensions of old perspiring from every pore.
And light shone, where once sorrow lay.
She breathed for life.
She danced for life.
The space around her, electric: tantalised by her grace.
Lost within another world.
A space in-between.
Where energy flows spiralling,
Picking up the emotions,
And transforming them.
Ecstatic © Aimee Blease-Bourne 2018
The literal translation of the Latin word solstice is ‘sun stands still’. This festival marks the point when the sun is at its highest point in the sky. The days are long, and the earth energies high. Nature is at its fullest: all the leaves on the trees are fully grown, and the animals are busy feeding their young. It is a powerful time.
As the sun rests on the horizon, make the most of the long days, soak up the sun and take time out to play. Empower yourself, recognise your strength, and draw courage from the high energies of this festival to pursue your goals.
~ Meditate or go on a shamanic journey to an animal that has great strength, such as a carnivore that sits at the top of the food chain. Feel its power within you and draw on this energy to move you forward in the coming weeks with courage and assurance.
~ Gather your friends and family around a Solstice fire or visit a sacred site such as a stone circle together. Celebrate life. Spend time drumming and singing. Consider staying up all night to welcome in the sun as the wheel turns once again towards the dark nights.
Summer Solstice © Nicola Smalley
My soul sings for beauty.
For the aching perfection of a flower.
For the wild blaze of sunset and the glowing potential of sunrise.
It sings for the magnetic opal moon and for the indigo stillness of a sky full of stars.
My soul sings for the earth,
For the land, the sea and the sky.
And returning to joy through simplicity, stillness and connection.
My soul sings.
It sings for life.
It sings for love.
I sing.
Extract: My Soul Sings © Stella Tomlinson 2019
To sit and truly be still in nature –
This is my way in,
My connection into the oneness within us all,
Within my centre,
The essence, the core of who I am,
Til there is no longer an I, a separateness,
And time becomes an illusion.
The Way © Jules Burrell
The land is warm with the echoes of voices,
The voices of the midwives, the healers, the wise.
The women who lived their connection to the landscape,
Shared it as a gift and passed their knowledge down.
The voices of their neighbours, who thanked them for their service,
Who brought them gifts of food and sought protection there.
The same voices denounced them, when fear was stirred against them,
The burnings and the hangings and the drownings came then.
The land cries out for healers, for the hands of the wise women,
And we must heed our ancestors and learn their craft again.
We must embrace our passion and look beyond our fears,
Our burning time is over but the world is burning now.
Take the water no-one carried to quench the flames that licked us,
And soothe the world and heal it; we will rise again.
Bring back the wild dancing, hear the moonlight singing,
Build the bridge to wildness and let our voices ring.
Voices © Claire Arnold 2020
The world is wild. So much needs our attention right now and these times are tense. Much seems broken around us; we may feel powerless to fix it. At times it can all seem a lot to stay still with; and just “feeling the feels” seems like a mighty big ask of ourselves... Our ability to be here, really here, fully present and be with all that is moving in our lives is so determined by our ability to feel resourced enough to do so. We may need to choose to breathe in beauty, to see what is good here. To pause to praise the world around us. We can consciously choose to re-orientate ourselves towards what is inspiring and uplifting. Stopping and looking and listening isn’t just good sense for crossing the road! It is an excellent exercise in stilling the mind, steadying the body and moving safely through the roaring and racing thoughts that may be streaming past us. By pausing to come into the body here and now and receiving what is uplifting to us in our immediate environment we can consciously cultivate our connection to the sense of our own personal power; we can find our own agency, our ability to be with what is and our inner- strength. Supporting ourselves to live with radical resilience...
Radical Resourcing © Tess Howell
For a time I lived in a small caravan on a rural site by the canal, in constant close proximity with wild animals and plants.
One morning as I was walking, a rabbit ran across the lane, a little in front of me, and disappeared into the undergrowth. A moment later, a weasel followed. I crept along quietly, hoping to catch another glimpse. The rabbit ran back across the lane further up, followed, again, by the weasel. At the top of the lane, the weasel ran across first, shortly followed by the rabbit. I thought to myself, either the rabbit is very clever, staying behind the weasel, or the weasel has tricked the rabbit. I saw nothing more, so I have no idea who won the battle of wits.
This was just one of many encounters. Living so close to nature, I began to feel that I was living in a magical reality, in a world filled with my relatives. I was honoured and blessed to be among them. I saw that nature was vibrant, alive and conscious. Each animal and plant was, and still is, a fellow being with a story to tell...
Living with Relatives © Janey Colbourne 2018
Summer has now reached its peak, with the days at their hottest and the land often parched and dry. The first berries are ready to pick, the corn is ripening ready for harvest, and many of the flowers have been and gone leaving behind seed heads and fruit. There is a smell of autumn in the air and subtle changes in the light as the evenings draw in.
This is the festival of the first harvest and a time to take stock of where you are up to with your goals. Can you begin to see the results of your planting and cultivating? How are you progressing against the dreams you set yourself this year, and what is left to do? Celebrate your first fruits now, and then map out what you are going to do over the next three months.
~ Follow the ancient tradition of going on a pilgrimage at this time of year to a special place: either a local power spot, river, tree, wood or high point, or travel further afield to visit a stone circle or sacred well. Take time out to enjoy the experience and soak up the energies there.
~ Reflect on what you are grateful for that has happened this year and what you are proud of achieving so far, taking time to celebrate this.
Lammas (Lughnasadh) © Nicola Smalley
This golden moment
just happens to be
the best moment
of my entire life.
Not because I asked it to be
and not because I sought it out.
This begging bowl heart is already made
of all the different shades of gold -
it is not asking or waiting
but already full
of an emptiness
as ripe and juicy as
the blackberries and hawthorns;
shining, receiving and, therefore,
being received.
All the Different Shades of Gold © Rebecca Card 2008
You leave no written word, I say,
You leave no written word,
( .... while the falling of the rain
leads us dripping to the cairn ....)
This is how we write, you say,
This is how we write.
( ..... in the shelter of the stones
there are echoes of the echoes of echoes, echoing .....)
But how do we know your mind, I ask,
How do we know your mind?
( .... and the rhythm of a rhyming
rings remembrance in the rain .... )
It’s written on the land, you say,
It is written on the land.
Chanted Conversation with Nether Largie South Cairn, Kilmartin © Brian Boothby 2020
The incredible light
of this bright morning.
Everything is alight.
The sun catches the damp grass, making it shine.
The stream flows endlessly, droplets glowing
as it jumps and dances
over the silent grey rocks.
Up above, the huge bowl of the bright blue sky
is illuminated with the feeling
of wide hope and joy
that grows in my heart.
I am pulled forward into the future,
into the promise of
this fresh day.
This Bright Morning © Bryony Rogers
My partner and I walk quietly and with concentration in the woods, noting each tree, watching the changes and the gentle flow through each season, how the weather and natural succession alters the landscape, and the intervention of humans in the woods. I had not thought of our regular woodland walking as making songlines. Though we have made up stories about individual trees, even identified a special place where we imagine the fairies would to like to dwell and go there to tell these stories, we have not made songs of them yet. But now I understand that, in our own way, we have indeed created songlines, as humans walking our woodland paths and sharing these sounds, songs and stories.
The woodland is alive with intelligences, with rhythms and timescales we can only guess at, and with a language all of its own, the language of Nature. We listen to the whispers of its deep wisdom.
Imagine then that songlines exist beyond our outer walking, that by an act of imagination we can create them within the inner landscape. Our love of Mother Earth and our passion for the natural world can span out, creating paths of loving, vibrant energy across whole landscapes, regions, watersheds ... There are lines of healing, Earth meridians, ever-flowing outwards on the planet, gathering in great wheels in some places, snaking out and curving like the flight of birds across the land in others.
Extract: Weaving Songlines © Maddy Harland
That morning a great wave of grief had thrown me up on the shore and I lay there sodden with sorrow. Recent loss of a beloved one; the pain of knowing our damage to Nature, and the loss of treasured friends were all in the mix. I decided to give myself time out in a beautiful park, rather than distracting myself with tasks. As I sat on a hard stone bench by the woodland pool, a robin hopped near, his bright beady eye inspecting for crumbs. I noticed my awareness gradually drifting outwards, expanding... Looking up, I gasped with wonder as I noticed the majesty of the ancestral oak giants ringing the dark pool. Late summer sun burst though the clouds, lighting the water with golden sparkles and illuminating the whirring dragonflies... Moorhens called to each other as they swam and a soft breeze stroked my face. Now breathing more slowly and deeply I made a conscious effort to let in the beauty and tranquility of this place while also holding the pain of the losses. I could feel my cramped heart and mind expand and stretch. I reflected on how in life, sadness and joy chase each other just like the dance of the sun and the clouds...
How healing I found it to take time outside sitting with Mother Nature. If I just listen she so often reminds me of great but simple truths and all our human emotions are encompassed by her great web of interconnectedness.
Nature’s Healing Power © Rosemary Blenkinsop
This wind has come to sweep the tremblings of mountains,
the shudder of far-distant stars into my heart,
to bear the longings of peat and woodsmoke and valley air into my lungs.
This wind comes with the richness of the blood of the setting sun
as it sets fire to hidden pastures.
This wind has come to scatter the notes of a willow’s song into my hair,
to leave ocean spray clung to my skin, to blow the cracks in a cloud-
fettered sky into the caves of my eyes.
This wind has come with the roar of the desert,
to smooth my bones with the roughness of its tongue,
keeping them strong and honed and ready.
This wind has come to kindle fire in my heart,
salt the blood in my veins,
lace the tread of my step with the power of ancient ways
that are spun and bundled around the land and back into my body.
This wind has come
in the name of rewilding.
This Rewilding Wind © Amara George Parker 2020
Once again, the day and night are of equal length and preparations for surviving the cold winter months are underway. The trees are starting to draw in, fledglings are fully grown and fending for themselves, and the swallows have left our shores. The berries are ripe, and fruit is in abundance. Nuts are falling to the floor. The harvest is being gathered.
The Equinox is a time of balance, reflection and preparation. At this moment, we sit poised ready to tip towards the long nights. It is an opportunity to take stock and celebrate what has already been achieved, with awareness that there is still much to do before the long nights draw in. This is a good time to address balance in your life, to clear out the old, reassert your boundaries and consider what actions you need to take in the coming weeks. What steps can you take to create more space for the things you value in life? What tasks do you need to complete before winter?
~ Hold a harvest party and celebrate the abundance in nature and in your life with friends: share what you are proud of achieving this year.
~ Take a walk in a woodland to see what wisdom the trees have to share about preparing for winter.
Autumn Equinox © Nicola Smalley
I sit here now between seasons,
summer whispers ‘’goodbye’’ through the breeze
the warmth of her sunlight now embedded in my heart
transitions can be hard, but it’s time for a new season to start
but I got used to bare feet on the ground
and to the stream of light that my eyes woke and found
tears pour from me
as I sit in the last spot of light
and mourn the warm days that I’m losing
but the world doesn’t stop turning
mother nature won’t wait until we give her permission to move on
it’s the ability to adapt that I’m still learning
and through my tears I did not see
that summer had let go of me
with a final kiss of warmth she passes me over
into the nurturing hands of autumn
and as I melt into her familiar embrace
I remember just how sweet change can taste.
Letting Go © Claire Stackhouse
I escape from the grey concrete cityscape to the woods, to reconnect. There, the Wild curls her roots around my feet as she wraps me in blue and green. She anchors me as I sit beneath a great oak, dreaming of holloways and star flowers and the wide open sky. “Trust, sister,” she sings, like a lullaby on the breeze. “I have not abandoned you.” She gifts me an acorn, smooth and shiny, that I hold in my hand like a charm.
Later, as I walk home through the streets, I see her waving at me from window boxes and mossy roof tiles, from ivy clad walls and cracks in the pavement where tiny fearless green plants spring up. I see her in the urban fox slinking by on silent paws and the crows flapping overhead.
I plant the acorn in a pot and stand it on the windowsill. It will remind me that the Wild is always and everywhere.
The Wild © Izzy Robertson 2020
My pockets are always full of seeds. Today it is hazelnuts and acorns collected in our garden. I love knowing what they can become, how amazing the potential is in such a small thing. Then there is the nourishment and food for so many creatures. I started doing this when visiting gardens and forests. It is always the tree seeds I am drawn to and our first garden hosted many pots of young trees. They became an edible hedge.
Now we live in Scotland and moved here to plant trees! A field became a two acre forest garden and the trees spread the seed with the help of wind and birds and small mammals.
So now my pocket seeds are for distributing wherever I go. Damson, wild gean cherry, hawthorn, ash, oak and hazel all spread in patches of gorse, abandoned ground in the towns and villages. You can do this too in the knowledge that some will germinate or maybe feed the mice. I also still grow the seed, nurtured in pots until homes are found. Most small gardens can host a tree and it will still thrive if you trim it occasionally, having spoken kindly to it first. Then breathe in deeply and thank the trees.
Guerrilla Tree Planting © Fuggo King 2020
I sense the witch inside me. I count back the generations, two, three , four and I think I see her. Nameless, she squats low to the earth, at home in firelight and song. Tangle-haired and wild-eyed. She is beautiful in her wildness but not clean. Dirty feet and fingernails unashamedly earth- coloured. She smells deliciously of herself. She is a virgin in the old sense of the word, before chastity came into it. She owes no obedience to anyone.
Her magic is made up of the beat of her blood and the ebb and flow of her breath. She tells secrets that make the air shimmer and shudder. Her silence sings to the moon. There is no shame in her wanting. The space around her is fleshy with her desire. Her wishes meet the air with a hiss of steam and return to her as flickers of intuition that guide her life like a glistening cord. Doubt is an unfamiliar stranger to her. She walks tall and meets all comers with a direct gaze. She knows well the mist of despair and the unsettling rumble of change and yet she laughs easily and lightly. She carries her own warmth, knowing that she can light a fire wherever she goes.
I mourn her although I never knew her. She haunts and blesses my life. In times of need I feel her fierceness and her certainty inhabiting my limbs, nudging me towards courage I could not otherwise know.
Extract: The Witch © Jess Stein 2020
Samhain is translated from old Irish as ‘summer’s end’ and is the festival that marks the transition from summer to winter, the end of one year and the beginning of the next. As the trees are shedding their leaves and the last of the harvest has been brought in, this is a time of death and rebirth and clearing and cleansing to make way for the new. It is a time to choose those seeds that you are going to take through into the darkness to gestate.
In this transitional space, the veil between the worlds is thin, and the connection with the Otherworld is at its strongest. It’s the time to connect with and honour our ancestors to thank them for the gifts they have given us and acknowledge the positive attributes that have been passed down the family line.
~ Work with the energy of endings and beginnings. Reflect on the past year and all you have achieved. Decide on what your goals are going to be for the coming year.
~ Create an altar for your ancestors, decorated with yew sprigs, the tree of death and rebirth, and items that belonged to your ancestors. Light a candle in their memory and express your thanks.
Samhain © Nicola Smalley
Being in courage relates to our inner state of being, to how we experience the flow of courage within ourselves. The word courage can be traced back to the Latin cor, also meaning ‘heart’. It is an invitation to be in connection with our heart, with our emotions, to be strong, focused and brave.
Being in courage also allows space for our vulnerability. Vulnerability is not to be suppressed or denied, but acknowledged and embraced as an expression of emotions, openness and the stretching of edges. Vulnerability is the ability to be vulnerable; an ability to be honest, sensitive and open. It is a capacity that not everyone has, so let’s honour it as a strength in itself. Courage can show up in many different forms. Maybe what we label as nervous energy is actually our courage coming to the surface.
Courage is called for to face our fears, speak our truth, step into the unknown. Being in a bubble of courage creates a force field around us, encouraging others. When we truly embody our courage it gives us the motivation, vitality, enthusiasm and conviction to design the present and future we want.
Be In Courage © Looby Macnamara
Wild winds awake the
Wild woman in me
Running woman
of streams and seas
Woman of stones
of earth and trees
blood and bone
and distant dreams
Woman who knows
all is not what it seems
as the season turns
in a patchwork of leaves
Her eyes to the stars
her belly to breath
her feet in the ash
in the body of Earth
As Autumn falls
in darkness descending
wild woman weeps
in a shuddering world
her hope like the moon
while her heart is bleeding
for what we have done
to this dancing blue Earth
Wild Winds © Cathy Lotus 2020
In the darkness after Samhain, when we descend into dreaming before the conception of the seed of the new year, hibernate, don’t do anything. Take a break. Console yourself with time in Nature. Recharge. Switch off. Heal. Hold the capacity to not know anything, anymore. Have no answers or bright schemes. It’s where we need to go. Then the centre will hold and the power will slowly slip back through the warm, dark space of utter unknowing.
The Power of Not Having Answers © Maddy Harland
You’d forgotten
the crisp chilled air
that sweeps over your skin
and rattles the leaves in the path through
the woods,
the oath you’d sworn
the autumn before
to be wild
and windswept and free.
The clear tread of light
that cuts from the horizon
sharpens your senses –
so dulled by summer’s hot breath –
brings that autumn wind which
whispers, Be wild,
be windswept,
be free.
You feel the tremors of the earth ask,
Can I take a little more
of that weight
for you?
That flesh looks mighty
heavy on your bones.
Autumnal Reclamation © Amara George Parker 2019
Dark night’s cloak envelops me, not as a shroud, but as a blanket; my sanctuary, my hermitage. A time when hibernation is acceptable. A time of contrasts: frozen fingers clasp steaming hot mug; firesides and fairy lights all the more comforting in the deep velvet nights. I sense the mystery and magic of the dark days, and wonder at the slumber of trees; do they dream? Do they stir in their sleep, when the winter storms whip their branches, expanding ice tendrils lacerating their bark, while they shelter the tiny mammals hibernating peacefully in their roots’ embrace? While others fear the long, cold sleep of winter, I relish the keen freshness of the air, the glint of frost casting winter’s magic over the bare earth. More than anything, I crave the clean autumnal days, of glorious palette, before the true cold sets in. Gone is the cloying perfume of tree blossom, summer’s fertility cramming the air with pollen, and hot dry days of swirling dust. I welcome the damp days, the crisp days, the cool wind; catching my breath with its sharp slap in my face, bracing and enlivening me. I inhale deeply, savouring the changing scents, the altered humidity, that first hint at the season’s turning. I am welcoming winter.
Welcoming Winter © Janey Colbourne
Using our power as ethical consumers is a political act and an act of creative change and influence. When we stop supporting the industries that are causing environmental problems and use our money to support those who are not, we become part of the change we wish to see happen. We become part of the solution.
From our everyday lifestyle choices, from the food we eat, to the things we buy for our homes, to our choice of transport and our awareness of air-miles, we create a new future that protects the Earth and her eco- systems. We have to ask ourselves: Who are we supporting with our money? What are we supporting with our money? Do we support those who have no care for the Earth, or do we support those who do, who are farming ethically and trading fairly, supporting their workers and protecting the environment? One by one, each of us adds our weight as an ethical consumer, to collectively influence what happens next, and create new beneficial cycles of change.
Shopping locally will create an increase and greater diversity of local resources and availability, and support people in your local community. Shopping ethically will keep our money out of the hands of big corporations. The more people who choose to take this route, the faster the beneficial changes will grow and the Earth will begin to recover.
As Ethical Consumers © Glennie Kindred 2020
Mother Nature
Loving Gaia
Mother Earth
She nurtures us
We nurture Her
We take care of Her
She takes care of us
Then there is
No separation
And we live in
Wholeness, in
-inner and outer-
Harmony, then
We live in Unity
Because
We are all One
With Her
Mother Nature
Loving Gaia
Mother Earth
Mother Nature © Sonia Mars Rose 2018
Today the sun rests on the horizon for three days until it begins the journey back across the sky. Nature has well and truly hunkered down: the ground can be frozen, the trees are bare, and there is a stillness that spreads across the land.
This is a gentle time of rest, so make the most of this pause and find your peace here in the stillness of nature. As soon as the days get longer once again, it will be time to focus your energy once more on what you want to bring through into your life. But right now, drop into the darkness of the earth and the wisdom that is held there, creating space for the inner work to unfold its magic.
~ Turn to holly as the tree that defines winter. It’s in its full glory right now. Decorate your home with bright red and green holly sprigs and draw on this tree’s inner qualities of sanctuary and resilience during the long nights.
~ Find a spot to go and watch the Winter Solstice sunrise. As the sun first appears on the horizon, speak out something which you wish for with the return of the new growth cycle. What is your dream for the coming year now the light returns?
Winter Solstice © Nicola Smalley
Remember
to keep creating a vision of the life you DO want!
Dance with it, call to it, send it flowers,
write it poems of exquisite yearning,
make a space, a living altar, however small to start,
where it can begin to feel welcome in your current life.
Pretend it’s already happening, caper wildly like a sacred fool,
screaming: This is amazing! Oooooo I LOVE it! Thank you!!!
It’s ok if it feels silly at first... Keep playing.
Play loosens the weave of tight knit realities
so that freshly created ones can shimmy in more easily.
Gratitude lifts you to the vibration of magnificent manifestation.
Reach up and open with heart and soul and widespread arms to match
the energy of this wonderful vision your wonderful self is preparing for.
Repeat daily. Expect miracles.
Magnificent Manifestation © Nell Aurelia, 2020
As the day begins in the dark and the seed in
the soil the year begins in winter
honouring the north, the night, the earth.
The freshly-washed sky greets us between leafless branches
which bicker for the sun's attention
for a seam of warmth and the chance to throw shadows.
Long-tailed tits chatter in the brambles.
Truly one season carries the germ of the next,
buds have already formed on the chestnut and hazel
and some catkins brave the chilled air.
Soon the winter heliotrope with its blackcurrant scent,
impossibly summery, will lap against the path.
In this mild climate winter doesn't gnash its teeth.
But we mark it, we mark it within
with a bow to the ancestors,
a blessing for those who will greet the winter after us
and their descendants stretching forward into time and grace.
Welcoming the Winter © Eleanor Westwood 2020
Come my friends, let us emerge
To hear the fern gracefully unfolding,
The smell of a river singing whilst flowing,
The taste of the flight of a Red Kite soaring,
Walking the songlines between the worlds.
And flexing our wings over aeons of time,
To arise renewed, filled with ancient wisdom.
Let Us Emerge © Maddy Harland
As morning breaks
and you arrive, a guest,
into the new day,
offer a gift at her threshold.
Catch the night-bright dreaming
that still flits behind your vision.
Anchor it softly with breath
into the waking day.
Irrigate your thirsting soul,
pouring song into the waters,
whether of river or rain
or tears.
Let robin dawn song pierce your heart,
shining arrow,
cleaving a clear path once more
for joy
As the soft amber of sunrise
cloaks the swaying tree tops
bare your head to the blessing of rain.
Morning Prayer © Catherine Pawson
In the woods where rock and moss meet,
Ferns unfurl and Wren sings his sweet joy –
This Sacred Earth
Beckons you Home.
To make your bed upon the soft greens
And lay your head down to dream.
To remember your wild edges
And feral feet;
The memory of your bones
And the stories that speak from the stones.
Waking from the Buzzard’s call,
Your body entwined with roots of Oak,
There is nowhere else to go.
Here is the answer to your Longing.
There is nothing else to know.
This Sacred Earth © Isla Macleod 2020
Feet upon the earth, time short, a lifetime is a fleeting glimpse of what this planet has seen. Yet we, forever doing, not human being, take no time to be still and see.
Being, be in this moment, here now, what does your heart say? Your heart is the window to your soul, not your mind, blind eye we can turn to the truth is, we yearn for a simpler way.
To go outside, among the trees, dirt on our knees, be wild and free, with the smile of a child and play. It's time dear ones to re wild.
Re Wild © Juliette Horner
The simple beauty and exquisite scent of wild Roses are the crowning glory of a Midsummer’s day; delighting the senses and gladdening the soul. Heart-shaped petals scatter like confetti along hedge-lined paths, falling from trailing stems armed with perfectly fierce thorns, teaching us caution as we reach to pluck the delicate blossoms. It’s well worth a little bloodshed to receive the blessing of Rose medicine, though, which is truly a wonder in the world of healing teacher plants. Cooling, calming, clearing, harmonising, Rose offers relief for inflammatory conditions, is restorative, rejuvenating, supports immunity and is a tonic for heart and mind.
The archetype of Sacred Mother is embodied by Rose: Within her fragrant healing blooms, softly sensuous, symbolic of Love, beauty and perfection; Within her sharp thorns, that are the sword of the Warrioress, the strength to withstand attack; protecting the vulnerable and piercing complacency.
Celebrating the Wild Roses of the British Isles © Anne Thomas
It is time to shine my light.
There is truly nothing to fear,
Nothing to doubt.
I am here – where I am meant to be.
I am part of the whole.
I am part of the healing.
I am part of the solution.
I am here to be me. Magical, unique - me.
Here To Be Me © Kate Parker 2019
We are the dance,
the Spiral Dance
On and up forever
Hand in hand,
strings of beads
We jewel our one Mother
Beads of light
We light our
own way home
For we are the way
And as we left
So shall we return.
The Dance © Louise Amelia Phelps 1999
Poised at this moment of perfect balance,
Time stops as I close my eyes.
Behind me the brightness of summer is fading,
Before me, the darkness of winter beckons me on.
The joy of summer enlivened my soul
And I yearn to stay with its magic and life.
Yet something inside me calls me to settle
To rest and surrender, to slow down and trust.
So I lie on the earth and its strength holds my body
I feel safe and protected and ready to dream,
I step over the threshold into autumn’s releasing
With a heart filled with faith at the transformation to come.
Autumnal Threshold © Stella Tomlinson 2020
Echoes of autumns long past stir
the burnt umber secrets concealed within your bones and flesh.
Damp forest leaves under foot
release the scents of summer brewed,
of lingering light –
a magic you’ll keep wrapped inside
as autumn’s extravagance
spreads its wings
and envelops the land
in sacred
blazing
splendour.
The Reds and Golds of Earth Mother’s Cloak © Amara George Parker
Ancestors we honour you.
We embrace the dark,
welcome its coming
with a Mother Song.
Beat a drum in time
to a rhythm so ancient
it dwells in our bones,
in the marrow of our being.
A song of returning.
A song of becoming.
A song of rebirthing.
A song of leaving.
A song of the light.
A song of the dark.
A song of coming home.
Samhain © Denise Bristow 2020
It is a great day
that has dawned, and the light
is pouring forth
and on and into
our deepest places.
See yourself.
Let the light pour into your heart,
making all things possible.
Let the light pour forth from your heart
into this beautiful world.
Giving thanks, giving thanks.
Thank you, for all you are, for all you do.
See the beauty around
and inside you,
always. Let that beauty
carry you, bless you,
bring you deep
joy.
The Light is Pouring Forth © Bryony Rogers
As the old ways and systems continue to collapse and crumble, it is important that we all hold the vision of the earth we would love to live upon. A beautiful alignment of Jupiter and Neptune in Pisces promises us that our hope of a new earth is not beyond possibility, and that if we keep our focus on compassion and generosity for all beings this could be a year in which things really begin to take shape in a most beautiful and optimistic way.
Uranus’ journey through Taurus continues to shake up the old monetary systems and the outdated and unethical ways of farming and living on the land. We can expect new technologies to replace these old methods but we mustn’t forget that technology needs to be balanced with reverence for the natural cycles of both humans and nature. At best, we can expect to see a more enlightened and forward-thinking approach to how we live on the planet, whilst Pluto’s final full year through Capricorn suggests that the old systems have finally had their day and a new era is beginning to emerge.
Aries: This is a year of new beginnings for you as Jupiter enters your sign during the summer and autumn months. This will be the time to create something new, push out of your comfort zone and see how far you can go, and possibly even, to begin a new chapter of life. Either way, 2022 is the year to dream big and take bold action.
Taurus: There comes a point in life where change becomes not just desirable but essential. This could be that year as Uranus - planet of change and experimentation - makes big progress through your sign. Now is the time to try something different, to follow a hunch, or to break with the status quo. And if life throws you a curve ball, embrace it because it’s all part of your higher plan.
Gemini: 2022 is the year when your life path begins to take a new direction. This could range from career successes or the fulfilment of your goals and ambitions, to a completely new direction beginning to unfold. This is a year when fate will be active, so get ready to walk through any door that could lead to a brighter destiny.
Cancer: Adventure is your key theme for 2022, and to make the most of what the year has in store, you need to be willing to push out of your comfort zone and go in search of new horizons. This is a year rich with possibilities and potential success, so whether you want to make a difference in the world or fulfil a long-held dream, this is the year to make it happen.
Leo: Your relationships and personal life take centre stage as Saturn journeys through your zone of others. This is the year to get serious about someone, or to either improve or end any relationship that has been suffering from neglect. It may also be the time when you need to address issues of freedom and commitment and strive to strike a healthy balance between the two.
Virgo:︎ Your main areas of focus this year are likely to be health, work and relationships, but whilst your personal life will, to a large extent, take care of itself and maybe even bring opportunities for new love, your day to day life will require some effort. Firming up your everyday life and implementing healthy routines will go a long way to ensuring your wellbeing.
Libra: Life looks set to become a whole lot more inspiring in 2022 and this is the year when you will be glad to leap out of bed in the morning. Your relationships look set to sparkle too, especially between May and October, when Jupiter invites you to open your heart. A big love could be on the horizon; the question is, will you say yes?
Scorpio:︎ Whilst your home and family situation may require some effort, whether that’s because of changes to your home or issues with family members, Jupiter will be bringing much light relief in the form of fun, creativity, pleasure and recreation. This is the year to take up a new hobby or embrace a more romantic way of living.
Sagittarius:︎ Your home and family are where the joy is to be found for much of the year. If you are prepared to let go of any rigid ideas of how life should be - especially where work is concerned - and perhaps enjoy a more freewheeling way of living, this year could be a source of deep spiritual and domestic bliss.
Capricorn:︎ If we are what we think and attitude determines altitude, then 2022 should be a better year than most, as your thinking is likely to move towards greater optimism and confidence. This is the year to keep telling yourself you can, if you think you can, and with that in mind you should be able to move mountains and achieve far more than normal.
Aquarius:︎ This is the year to continue building and restructuring your life, which will require a fair bit of effort but the rewards will be worth it. Don’t be afraid to make a big change - especially where your home and domestic situation is concerned - because life is calling you towards a new chapter, whilst Jupiter and Neptune will bring opportunities to make money doing what you love.
Pisces:︎ This is likely to be a big year for you as Jupiter and Neptune align in your sign. This should, in essence, feel like you’re coming home to yourself and there is perhaps little that you need to focus on other than your own personal happiness and spiritual growth. Financially too, this looks set to be a year when you’ll be taken care of, and all in all, 2022 should feel rather abundant.
Astrology Forecast for 2022 © Donna Taylor