I once had a family, I once had standing, I once had a mother, I once had a community, I once had a career, I once had a dream, I once had financial security, I once had ambition, I once believed in humanity.
What I see now is, mistrust, multiple stab wounds in my back, betrayal, dishonesty, fake community, poverty, lies, false idols and misguided loyalties.
Yet I still hold the faith, Shine my light and live in hope that my kind heart and drive to help others, the Animal Kingdom and humanity, will one day be rewarded and my plight to remain pure in an insane world will not have been in vain.
May all beings return to wholeness, to heal from their wounds and stand in the grace once again.
We will be leaving Cyprus on the 24th February after almost 5 years of highs and lows, mainly lows. The journey back is going to be a bit of a nightmare and things back in the UK are not panning out as planned. We will be moving into a camper van, a converted VW LT46 that I bought from a friend. It needs some welding doing to it and a few internal changes that he was going to do before I got back, but unfortunately he cant do it in time with his workload. No biggie really, just means that I will have to put up with less space in the van for a while, the welding I can get done elsewhere. The other issue is getting it over from Doncaster to Barnsley because it has to be insured and I will have to put him on as named driver which is around an extra £70.
So, I have made a youtube, fb page, tiktok and instagram pages solely for the camper van journey. I have been trying to learn how to edit vids for a year now and failed badly…but a friend recommended an app which i tried out last night and it seems fairly simple, I decided to trial run it by making a photo montage of my time in Cyprus, to remember the good times.
If you would like to follow our journey as we join the vanlife community, then please feel free to subscribe to my channel.
Feel the beat, breathe the rhythm. Know within that all is forgiven. Release the tension, dance and sing, fill the air with dynamic flare. Bathe in the energy of tone and tempo, as vibes of joy begin to flow. Transport your mind along the wave as it washes through you with every bass. Draw upon the spirit of the drum, and soon you will be joined by the ancient ones. 💖
It’s been several months now since I last posted anything here within my blog… Those who have followed me throughout the years, know I often take short breaks… We need those breaks to reconnect within ourselves as we gather inner peace and listen to our inner wisdom, that the outer world of noise often closes in, which can detach us from that inner peace.
That outer chatter can drain the empathic soul of energy, as their sensitivity feels the energies of others who are experiencing troubling times. So, we need to recharge, revaluate, and reconnect back within our purpose, as we reconnect back to our inner guidance of why we are here.
Are we in service to self? Or service to others?
So while my spirit was willing to return some time ago, I guess the Universe had other ideas of how short or how long that break would be. …
24 hours of Adventures, Mayhem, Magic and Meditation. 🙂
Now that the gates of partial freedom have opened over here in Cyprus, Summer Solstice brought the perfect opportunity to go camping out in nature. Original plans got quashed last minute, but, the wilds of nature called to my soul and the Apu (mountain) was calling me home, so on to Troodos we ventured.
On the way we stopped at Kouris Dam after spying another entrance that seemed more accessible, so we took it….Adventure no 1!……Bare in mind here that I cannot see over the bonnet of my car…<Short Ass even with a cushion!
So we set off down the lane which was tarmac part the way, where the tarmac ended though was a drop, I couldn’t see that, it looked like it was a little lip but no…the car went clump as the undercarriage met concrete edge! Right around here I had a choice, whack it in reverse and have to back into oncoming traffic on a busy highway, or, fulfill my mission and pray the chassis doesn’t crack by crawling over this drop. If you know me at all, you will no that I don’t back down easily from a challenge. OK, I’m just a stubborn old witch 😉 lol
We made down in one piece and noticed there were people fishing, I didn’t want to disturb them with my over friendly Lab x Storm, and saw a little track going uphill leading I presumed around the other side of the cove. Started to make my way up this single car lane only to realise that it was overgrown with thorn bushes, and the only way out was backwards…GULP! Now if it was a straight path without overhanging thorny bushes on either side, well I reckon it wouldn’t have been an issue. However, it was on a slight bend, with a drop to the left and the embankment to the right, where most of the overhanging thorny trees were…..to cut a long story short, it took me ten mins of reversing, going forward etc to get down it, and now my car is suitably branded to mark the occasion!
Feeling relieved that we didn’t have to be rescued from an upturned car at the bottom of the drop, we parked up and compromised by putting storm on a lead, until we got to a quieter area where they can both run free and splash around. Of course the quiet area was a mud bog lol 🙂
After getting suitably caked in mud, we headed back to the car where I tried in vain to get the dogs, wheels and myself clean with wet wipes and water…who needs to go to expensive spa’s for mud baths…just go to kouris Dam 🙂
Driving up towards the mountain, I was thinking on what just happened, my car was just in the garage this week to get the gearbox checked, luckily my friend lent me her mom’s old car for 3 days, (second time I have borrowed it) So I was super grateful for that, but she is away on holiday now and if my car broke again then I would be stuffed.
What was the lesson here? Am I not being Grateful enough? Do I need to be more careful? Or more Independent? Where am I hitting blocked pathways, rocks/blocks in the road? And where am I going around in circles? As you can see, my car was a big theme throughout this whole trip, how it is still driving I have no idea!!
Adventure 2: On the drive up I decided to try the campsite but it was closed again. A very handsome young man was walking up the driveway and I asked if he knew if it was open and he said he was wondering the same and directed me to another one that was open not far from where we were. Then I noticed a dog and asked if it was his? He said no it probably belongs the restaurant and he carried on his way. After trying to get it to come to me for a few minutes I went and asked at the restaurant if she was their dog, they said no its a stray 😦 So I put some food and water out for her and tried to get closer so as to rescue her, but she was too nervous and ran off every time I moved. I hope she survives the summer out there poor little thing. Another reminder of how I struggle with the inhumain society I find myself living in.
She was not there the next morning.
With a heavy heart we drove down to the next site but it was choca block with holiday homes, nowhere for a tent apart from in between two caravans….for someone wanting silence, this was a nightmare scenario. So we headed to find the spot we camped at last year, in the wilds.
Adventure 3: My oh my how the wilderness changes in a year, things were not entirely how I remembered them, and the huge fire pit which was my central point of direction, had been dismantled. It was around 1.30pm now, we had been on the road since 9am, and I for one was starving. So we drove around for about 40 mins trying to find a suitable spot away from prying forest ranger eyes, as technically there is no camping allowed there…I know, ever the rebel right! There were a few hairy moments, at one bit something heavy had gone down the trail and made massive tractor wheel sized tracks. I tried driving over the raised bit but due to aforementioned lack of visibility, meant we were in them, and I was literally stuck in a Rut!. Luckily with a bit of jiggery pockery I got us out, phew! Then after lots more Thorny bush art, several Pine branches including Cones smashing into the windscreen and several possible location stops, we came across our secret hideaway, just like Magic!
After setting up the tent and getting organised it was time to get the kettle on and relax a bit before making food.
While waiting for dinner to cook, I spent some time just appreciating this special place and pondering on what I could do to honour the Solstice. After some quiet meditation and inner healing work, I was guided to build a Medicine wheel in honour of the Earth and in gratitude for the rising of the sun each day, without which there would not be much life left on the surface of the planet. So after searching for the right rocks, a feather and other items, I set about building the Medicine wheel in prayer for the planet and all her children. I did try to film part of the Ceremony, However, Drama no 4 ensued when my phone tripod collapsed lol….after 3 tries to film it with my phone balanced on the chair and it falling off every time, I figured the universe wanted it to be between us both only. I respect that. ❤
Building it slowly
Start of Ceremony
Cleansing the Wheel
After the Ceremony I read a little as the sun began to set, and we watched the sunset from the tent.
I did not get much sleep, what I thought was a nice flat bit, actually was on a slight slope and was the most hilarious thing trying not to roll onto the dogs every time my body started to relax Also, I could hear muffled voices, now call me paranoid, illegally camping in a national park near an army base on my own, well it was a bit concerning. I eventually got into a position where if I rolled I would do less squishing of said furry babies, and started to drift off. Just at that point, Storm who is used to sleeping under the covers with me in our queen sized bed, tried getting into bed with me, knocking my water everywhere. Which was not a problem other than I was already shivering with the cold before the ice cold shower. I soon warmed up after adding my bath towel to my blanket and drifted off again, only to be woken by Storm insisting 4 more times that he should squeeze onto the single sun~lounger cushion I brought to sleep on. So all in all I got a good 3 hours rest 🙂
By 5am we were all up to catch the sunrise and what an amazing picture I got, the only picture I took as I wanted to enjoy it and be in mindful connection. So when I looked at my pictures when I got home it was a bit like WOW, thank you!! ❤
We were going to stay another night but something was saying go home. So after breakfast I packed the tent away in case said Warden appeared, and we went for a hike. A little further down from our camp spot we came across a few cars and could hear the voices getting louder. I sneaked a peak and it was a couple of families also illegally camping. 🙂
After our walk the dogs were pooped so I had a 5 min rest I worked a bit more with medicine wheel, while doing some Whim Hoff breath work. When I opened my eyes the first two things I saw were what looked like a Figure in the hillside and a Lions face in the shadow on a tree. Do you see them?
Being to the right of the tree
Lion, Dog?
Adventure 5: Then we headed back only to find we were going round and round in circles. Eventually, on the 3rd round I stopped and went to ask the other campers if they knew how to get out. I was greeted by a very happy Jack Russell who brought me a Rock to throw for him. The people were lovely and directed me out, it was literally 2 mins to the entry/exit point from where we camped and it took me nearly an hour to find it coming in!! I was SO Grateful that they were camping there too and knew how to get out! What a blessing and proof that we are always being taken care of by unseen guiding hands.
Five minutes down the road is the top part of the famous Caledonia Falls, I love it there but we cant go now due to Louis wheelchair. In fact the last time we did the trail and visited the falls was on the day my Loui had his operation to fix his spine, and I went with my daughter and her now wife. However, we can get to this bit of the stream relatively easy.
Took this little video of the sound of the stream, seemed a fitting way to leave the magic of the mountain. ❤
On the way down the mountain I was flagging, it was around 10am by now and already nearly 30c, so before hitting the motorway I stopped to grab a coffee and snack to boost my sugar levels and keep me awake. While grabbing coffee I thought about finding the old road to go back on, which would run along the coastline, and maybe we would find somewhere to go for a dip. Well, that didn’t go as planned either but always a lesson 🙂 Enter adventure no 6.
Coffee and Kouba in hand feeling excited at taking the coast road back to Larnaca, I got back in the car to two excited pups and promptly threw my coffee all over the passenger seat with my shawl, towel, phone and back pack it. Luckily there were two mouthfuls left, so I got a little caffeine fix after all 🙂
We got on the old road which traveled along the sea front for 30 seconds before taking us further out from it, eventually it came to an end and you had to get onto the motorway. There was a cafe stop there with a tourist bus, so I asked the driver if he knew how to get on it and why. He did not know and suggested getting on the motorway…then this guy, a customer, said that there was an entrance to the beach a few yards along. So we headed down there, wish I had thought to get pics because it was quite beautiful, driving between huge reeds, with little pathways coming off the sides that one day I would love to explore. So I come off one of the exits and there is a 4×4 blocking the entrance to the beach, so I wait and see his unloading his 4 dogs. My two went ballistic, so I decided to spin it round and go to the next exit, but, my wheel was stuck in the shaley sand. Stuck in a rut, head in the sand? Anyway, I managed to rock it out and tried reversing out but the guy had not moved his truck, so I basically had to move it back and forth an inch at a time so as not to rip out my back end on his bull bar! The guy never came to help me get unstuck or move his truck. Here I was trying to be considerate and not start a dog war and we ended up at a part that had huge rocks leading to the sea. Storm had no problem getting to the sea but Loui is paralyzed and I am not steady on my feet at the best of the times. So we teamed up to get across, I would hold Louis back legs up while he moved forward, put them down and i would step forward and move Loui on etc till we made it. I didn’t take my phone with me for obvious reasons but we sat at the edge being splashed by the waves for a few minutes then made our way back across the rocks again. Then we had to climb back up the sandy embankment and as we reached the top I dropped Loui on his Butt. Luckily he was only inches from the top and was not hurt.
After all that the idea of finding the coast road had well gone and all I wanted to do was get home and sleep, so we got onto the Motorway. On the way back I realised how to get back onto the old road, come off the motorway at Moroni, I know now for next times adventures. 🙂
Lesson 7: This trip has been all about shadow and light. So many opportunities for me to slip into fear, get major stressed out or anxious, to loose my cool and step into anger, or be defeated and simply gave up. Instead I remained calm, and focused on the beauty, was grateful every time we escaped a potential disaster and stayed connected with source. The light and shadows projected by the sun were very noticeable also on this trip, a reminder that all of us carry light and shade within us, yet we are still recognizable as US, it does not dim our light, only emphasizes it, and one cannot fully appreciate the shadow self without witnessing our light. The goal is not to become a fully integrated being of light, but to become fully integrated with self.
Shadow and light ~ the sun reflecting through a leaf on to a stone.
I finally got home around 3.30pm. Luckily I followed my gut and came home a day earlier, because my poor cats food that was in one of those feeding dispenser thingy, was infested with Ants, a full bag of cat biscuits gone to the ants 🙂 Had I stayed another day he would have been starving. Light and shadow, wanted to stay, gut said no, listened to my gut not my head, that would have rationalized and overwrote my gut. In doing so I saved my kitty from starving for two and a half days. 🙂
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! ❤
Full Super Strawberry Moon on Thursday too….get ready for it 🙂
Maria Wind Talker 