The Element of Air

This week I have been sitting with the element of air.

Totem: Eagle + Condor.

Air correlates to the Eastern part of creation. It represents the vital breath from the winds that brought the Universe into being, with the breath of life (Om).

 Air is also connected to the mind, wisdom, spirits and the soul.

When we create a prayer ceremony, using fire, breath work or spoken word, our prayers are carried up to creator on the winds.

Air or breath is the life giver to all life on our planet, it breathes in life and exhales it in death.

When we breathe in we are inhaling oxygen that may have travelled around the world and through thousands of other beings.  And when we exhale we pass that breath along. We share this same breath with the trees as we do with the critters, It connects us all together.

If you connect to the breeze you may hear their stories, or feel them as you breathe.

There are many breath work techniques that can help with various things from anxiety to asthma to restful sleep, all help to move stagnant air out and refuel you with a fresh supply of oxygen.

Eagle and Condor, both welcome in the new day soaring on the wind, they bring in new opportunities, growth and inspiration. 

When we open up to them we begin to float on the breeze, becoming one with the air that surrounds us and within us. Then we begin to comprehend this element at a deeper level.

May the winds of our Ancestors blow softly in your ear today.

Mitakuye Oyasin

Namaste

Blessings

MWT ❤

Morning Chorus

What joy to be had before the dawn,

Sweet Skylark song, as I stretch and yawn.

He sings to welcome in the sun,

And joyfully rejoices this day a new.

The promise of the day ahead,

He beckons all to hear his call

Wake Up, Wake Up and see it all.

Come watch how the sun sheds rays of light

As it paints out the dark with coulours so bright.

Come see, rejoice and celebrate,

For we have been granted another day.

Get up, stand tall and sing your song

Join in the chorus, let our voices become one.

Turn your face to father sun

As he appears over the horizon.

Your new day has just begun.

Skylark Song:   https://youtu.be/v4Ocy6gRqLQ

Bounty full Blessings

MWT

Ramsons Ruminations

The sun is shining today after the rain yesterday, so we went on a hike for wild Garlic and Dandelions.

On the way we met a young boy around 8-9yrs old on a small kids sized Quad bike, with his dad running along behind him.  They said hello as they passed, laughing away with each other.  It made my heart swell, we don’t often see family’s playing together in the woods anymore. Its a lost art of communication, laughter.

Sharing deep belly laughs opens up our souls to be seen with invisible eyes, in those moments we are vulnerable and free.  Being able to open up this way with another is the most bonding experience two or more can share other than sex.

Laughter can leave us open to ridicule and judgement by some, even those laughing with us, But, it also lifts our vibration so much, that those who ridicule will soon be removed from your circle one way or another. To make space for other open souls to come join in this joyous rapture. 🙂

The sun brought hikers, dog walkers, cyclists and horse riders out today. All had a smile on their face, which you can’t help but smile back at. 😁

We found some wild garlic, not quite ready so I only took a few leaves to make pesto with for tea tonight and gathered a bag full of dandelions to share with my Rabbit.

On the way back we passed the boy on the Quad and his dad again. The dad looked exhausted but blissed out.

Which made me recall my experiences with my dad. Learning to ride a bike became a bullying lesson, destroyed my self confidence and riddled me with a fear of falling. Funny how I never connected those two dots till now. I’l tap that out shortly!

I started rock climbing all those years ago, to face a fear of heights, only to discover it was of falling, still have the fear of falling, or do I after this recent revelation? 🙂

Saw my first butterfly of the year and numerous Bees, a good sign of warmer weather to come. 😎

Children are our future, maintain their emotional health well and the rest will fall into place naturally.

On that note, my inner child and I are going to go plant the Beetroot out in the garden, then make pesto.

Happy Holidays everyone.
Enjoy your family. 😍

Blessings
MWT. ❤

Spring Equinox Pilgramage

This is one of the views from the top of Lawrencefield in Derbyshire.  You may have heard me talk about this place before in other posts, as it is my ‘Sacred Place’ here in the UK.  It is where I find myself on most of my Shamanic Journeys and have several portals that I go through here.  I try to ‘physically’  visit at least two times a year, so that I may do ceremony to offer my gratitude to the land, the ancestors and all our relations for their assistance, in person. 

I ask all that walk upon this ‘hot spot’,  to ,’Respect and honour it, leave only footsteps and happy memories to mark your presence’

 The Journey

For around 15 years now I have been shown to do a vision quest at Lawrencefield.  However, the UK is not the safest of places for a woman alone to sit on a ledge for possibly  days, on her own.  So 9 years or so ago I went with a friend who was going to camp near by and attach a string with a bell on it in case of emergency.

We had a plan!… However the universe had others, and though we had had back to back sunshine for weeks, that weekend, we had a thunderstorm, torrential rain and high winds, perfect for a vision quest on a cliff edge in blighty…NOT!

 It wasn’t the right time, and that’s ok, all in divine timing.   I had learnt not to stomp my feet and scream at the sky…but why?? any more.  Instead, to accept the guidance, learn from the experience and prepare ‘myself’ as best I can for the next opportunity.

This trip was spur of the moment, so I asked a friend who has a passion for the great outdoors, if they wouldnt mind coming along and spending a few days in the woods on his own with my dog while i sit on a ledge! He is not spiritual at all and even though he thinks im a bit of a weirdo, he agreed.  He had heard me talk about it being a magical place and the silver birch were calling. 🙂

I picked up my friend half an hour early so was well excited that we would get there before all the climbers descended.

The Universe had other plans again!  I came off at the wrong junction, drove for miles in circles because the sat-nav didn’t have a clue either.  Made our way back to the motorway and took the right junction…breathe…then wham, I listened to the sat nav and took the wrong turn from the dual carriageway and got totally lost.  No signal on either mobiles, no sat-nav and no idea how to get back to the dual carriageway. So we drove on hoping to get a signal, when my friend visibly jumped from the recognition, he knew where we were, had visited before!. 

It was where his dad had lived and the pub that I pulled into to ask for directions was where they had his wake.

Now it made sense to me. I told him that ‘the detour was to connect him with is dad and that we will be there in 45 mins with no detours now’, he looked at me with that, yea righto weirdo, look.  I knew that Lawrencefield would work its magic for him, believer or not. 

We nearly did have a detour due to the directions we had been given, but I followed my gut and we got there in 40mins, no detours and even found a free parking place. 🙂

The weather was overcast but surprisingly warm, with no sign of impending rain, which was a pleasant surprise.  The entrance to Lawrencefield is guarded by these two ancient trees that to me represent a vortex, a gateway, a place to leave any expectations and to honour the journey ahead.  Likewise on return a place to give thanks.

.  I was hoping on the walk up from the car, that it would not be very busy as it is a popular climbing spot. I used to climb here many years ago, this is how we got acquainted, hands,  face and feet firmly planted to rock.

I was happy if not a little bewildered as to why there were only two climbers here on a weekend and a little nervous due to an incident (1 of 2) that happened years ago involving a sheep.  Tales for another day.

We had a walk around, my friend kept commenting on how peaceful it was and that it felt like another world. I smiled to myself, the magic is working. 🙂

We visited one of my portals so that he could get in it, but he just messed around and came out.  Maybe you feel something or be drawn into it? as you look at this picture?

We took a hike back to the Pond so that I could connect there and decide which ledge I was going to. 

Whilst contemplating there, I realised that this whole trip was for my friend and the vision quest is for another time. 

I think I was relieved in a way because the last few times I have been it has been a bit of a rush job due to weather constraints and now I could just relax. a while.  So I told him that ‘we would be heading back before sunset’ and asked him to walk me up to the ledge so that I could do a small ceremony, while he went for a walk in the woods with Loui.

 In the quarry all is still, all is quiet, but get to the top of those rocks and the breeze/wind cuts like a knife.  So I decided not to go to my vision quest spot as it is right on the edge and just wide enough for me to sit cross legged on!  Instead I chose a grassy slope that was big enough for me to get a foothold hopefully, if I had to. lol

From here I did a small ritual, burnt some sage giving thanks to the directions, lit a candle and rattled myself into a meditative state, where I connected with all our ancestors to give thanks for this day and for the magical gifts it had brought thus far and for those yet to come. I prayed for humanity, for our mother and all who live within her bosom, I prayed for balance and harmony, for peace within the hearts of all living beings. Then the wind blew through me and seconds later Loui barked.  Prayers accepted, I came back down to ground level.

I had previously said we would not have a fire as it took so long to get there time was of the essence, however, I had forgotten the energies in Lawrencefield, its like being in a time-warp.  On this occasion, time had stood still it seemed and we had about 90mins of day light left, so my friend built a small fire.

Here I did a Munay KI ceremony, releasing all stress from the drive, any unrecognised disappointment etc to be purified by the flames.  My friend looked at me funny when I blew into the stick and pulled smoke into my chakras, but I know  he had received a blessing there too.

Afterwards I took a little walk myself and found some interesting fungi (anyone know what it is?) with one of our allies showing himself in the tree.  I found Turkey tail and a beautiful poly pore too. 🙂

Afterwards we put the fire out and made our way back, saying goodbye and giving thanks at the sacred trees.We made our way back to the car, exhausted but filled with bliss.

The Magic.

Later that night I received a text from my friend saying, ‘that he doesn’t know what just happened but he was in the bath and suddenly memories of his dad came flooding in and he just sat there and cried’.

Never underestimate the power of spirit, though you may feel out of balance, out of your comfort zone or lost in the woods as it were.  Never doubt that spirit is guiding you towards something, follow and you will discover a gem within ready to shine.

My friend faced his hidden greif head on and for me, I am grateful to have been able to provide transport for the journey and to bare witness in my sacred space.

Thank you Lawrencefield, in heart, mind and spirit always. ❤

30 second vid of Lawrencefield:   https://youtu.be/vj1NYOvR0a8

May we all always walk in Beauty

Mitakuye Oyasin

Namaste

Blessings.

MWT. ❤

Frozen Fruit straight from the Garden!

Greetings all my relations, on this frosty day in the UK.

This Winter has been a bit late in coming this year. Inspite of the high winds, rain storms, a day of snow in November and the Boxing day floods, the temperatures have been way above average.

The last couple of weeks though the temperature has started dropping and we have had ground frost and ice for about a week.  This late Autumn/winter, early Spring, has severely messed with the cycles of nature, here in the UK it has been reported in the last few weeks that hedgehogs have been born, which is way, way early.  A deep freeze now will kill them off, along with any other critters early births and the early bloomers in the plant world, which directly affects the early awakened insects and so it spirals on. 

This is how it is, when you change something in the cycle, it affects the whole.

My garden is still  awash with colour, so today, though very cold we had sunshine and no wind at all, I decided to check on the garden, clear some rubbish up that had blown in and prune my vine etc.  To find that My Raspberry and Strawbery plants have produced fruit!

Today January 16th 2016 I picked and ate my first fresh Raspberry of the year and it was frozen lol…it was very refreshing 😉

I remember this happening last year too, though this year we havent had so much of a die off and early resurgance in the plants, in fact the plant in the picture at the top of the page (Fuschia) has not died off at all this year yet and is still producing flowers.

 Most of the plants in my hanging baskets are still in flower, also more concerning are the Crocuses which are usually the first flower of spring, have shot up there leaves, along with the Daffodils that dont generally come up until March/April time, shortly after the crocuses appear.

I usually start potting up seeds in proporgators around February time, so that they are big enough to be transferred into the arden after the last frosts.  However, this last few years I have started a couple of weeks earlier and this year I think that I really should have started in early December, as the seasons are almost 3months out of synch with what we know as the four seasons to date.

I have two plants that are growing in pots, I am not sure what they are yet, though I suspect they may be vegetables, however, they should not be there just yet!

You may be thinking, ‘why is she rambling on again about the weather changes’?  But ask that of the farmer whos crops are not growing or to the homesteader whos life depends on his home grown produce.

What would you do if all the supermarkets closed tommorrow? Do your children know how, when and what to plant?

We should all stop and take a moment to survey our surroundings, look for the signs from nature, become aware of the subtle changes.  Not in a ‘Oh look, theres a pretty flower blooming through all that ice, how lovely’ way, but from a place of inquiry, yes admire its beauty, its tenacity to bloom, but also be aware that something has changed in its enviroment to warrant it to open its petals in anticipation of the pollinators to spread its seed.

Become aware of any subtle changes within yourself, women may find this easier to do as we have natural cycles that change with the moon but men are just as sensitive behind the programmed Machoness.  What do these changes mean to you?, to the eco system? to future generations? and most importantly, what do you need to do to stay within the natural cycle of nature?

We are in transition still and to some this will feel like shaky ground.  Ride the wave, remain balanced, so that your personal transition will smooth out as the seasons settle into their new positions too.

Our species in some ways is very adaptable, we soon learn how to use a computer or mobile phone because it benefits us in some way but on an individual level most fear change and will ignore the signs until they can not deny them any longer.  By changing our viewpoint we can make the transitions much quicker and smoother. Remain open minded, open hearted and open to possibilities.

 

Like the flowers and fruits that have an inate inteligence, we must become aware, adapt and grow if we are to flourish in the new world that is being birthed under our feet, right now.

Mitakuye Oyasin

MWT ❤