Celebrating Women

So there I am, stood in the kitchen cooking tea, sorting through piles of washing, and still in my overalls.....after painting two rooms. That was just this afternoon!!! This morning was a 5.30 start, meditation and absent healing, then yoga, getting breakfast into my youngest, and then a dog walk....all before mantra.
This is how it is. This is how it always been, not just for me, but many women.
We spend a lot of time juggling many different things that need to be checked off the daily, monthly, and yearly checklists. 

So this got me thinking about women, about how well we are at coping and dealing with anything that comes our way, about how adept we are at turning our hands to almost anything at the drop of a hat, and about how special we are!!!

Women are strong, but it's a different strength to men's....it's a inner strength, a vulnerable feminine power that boasts tenacity, harmony, peace and love, these are attributes that are resolute within women's spirits.  These characteristics have seen women through many of the hardships and persecutions laid upon us over the centuries, and has seen us triumph at many challenges set before us. 

From the ease we have of building communities, within peoples, so we can share responsibilities, help one another and give support to each other and our men.  To the magic of giving birth to new life, and through doing so, we to are born into the role of motherhood. 

We are warriors, priestesses, counsellors, nurses, wise women, activists and campaigners, seductresses, home makers, gurus, pioneers, muses, scientists and most important of all....loving, caring, and nurturing souls.

So next time you're having doubts about your ability to achieve something, draw on your feminine strength, and remember that you are part of a long chain of strong women. 

I dedicate this blog to my mum and all my female ancestors and also to all my female friends, I love you all X


Moon - Waning Gibbous 85%

Yoga - Tadasana, Marjaryasana, Moondance Sequence with Goddess pose, Setu Bandhasana, Prayer Twist

Card Message - The Lovers
At every moment you have a choice.  Love is at the heart of all life.  All creation is born out of love.

9th January - Apollo/St Apollonia
Feast day of Apollo, deity of the sun,  It celebrates the increasing light of the new year after the darkness of midwinter.

Gratitude - Love

External Spring Clean

External Spring Clean

Seeing as I'm in the mood for Spring cleaning, and of course it's the season and the the Sabbat of Imbolc, I've decided to do some external spring cleaning too.

Just as I've been feeling recently that my energy has been sluggish and stagnant, before I did a bout of internal spring cleaning, so does my house too.  It looks tired and tatty, so I've stripped everything of mine off the walls and out of the rooms....it's really odd but I can see that most, if not all of the accessories and art is mine - and now the house looks bare!!
It just goes to show that that even though all these things are just stuff, material objects that I shouldn't get attached to,  and I don't.  They are also an extension of me, a reflection of who I am, the walls and house included, and that like all people, we like to create spaces of comfort and happiness, places and rooms that affect and reflect who we are.  So

So now everything is down, it's time to clean and paint, to declutter and space clear, and show some love to the beautiful spaces and rooms that I've chosen as home for now.  I'm quite eager to revisit a little of the Feng Shui that I used to follow, when putting everything back in, so I can maximise the positive energies and get them to flow freely through this space....
......I looking forward to creating this sanctuary, inside and out.   X

Moon - Waxing Gibbous 66%

Yoga -  Tadasana, Marjaryasana, Trikonasana, Goddess, Malasana, Stir the Pot, Adho Mukha Svanasana (with leg raises), Pashimottanasana.

Card Message - The World
Dancing, I am life.  Whole, I am One.

2nd February - Juno Februa/ Candlemas/ Wives' Feast Day/ Groundhog Day
Festival of Juno Februa, the presiding goddess of the month, and Candlemas, the purification of the Virgin.  The weather on this day is said to mark the progress of winter;

If Candlemas Day be fair and bright,
Winter will have another flight;
If on Candlemas Day be shower and rain,
Winter is gone, and will not come again.

An old northern English name of Candlemas is the Wives' Feast Day.

Gratitude - Friends

Internal Spring Clean

Space clearing, inside and out

Life has been quite challenging for me just of late, and it's not the usual running around with so much to do......it's been quite the opposite!!

I've been out of work for the last 8 weeks and I've found it really difficult at times.  There has been the stress you'd expect, such as no money, bills to pay, forever job-hunting and no jobs to be had, plus the worry and concern from my partner over the financial aspect, with no end in sight.  There has also been the loneliness, and the demoralisation from the rebuff of job applications.  What I didn't expect was that given this period of time, I ended up peeling back my layers, layers of emotions and states of mind, it was a bit like an internal spring clean......and because there is no time constraint, I dived straight into the abyss of me.....the good, the bad, and the ugly.

I found a complex and critical person, a deeply sensitive and emotional person, a childlike and vunerable person, a strong willed and tenacious person, a giving and loving person, all underneath the mantle of what people usually perceive as a 'confident' and 'self assured' person.  Everytime I am given these opportunities to have time to look within I usually encounter another aspect, that I never knew existed up until that point.  These period can be difficult, painful, and tiring on all levels.  Sometimes I seem to get stuck at some points, unable to move forward, unable to let go, unable to forgive myself and unable to love myself.  I'm thankful that usually when I'm getting to this point, my guardian angel sends me a 'knight in shining armour', in the form of a friend or close family member, to help me through the last bit.  To help me remember to let go of things I don't need, and to be gentle, loving and forgiving of myself.

It's been a hard task to get through, and it always feels that I'm at breaking point, before I can push through it all and move on.....it's a test of strength and faith, but I'm there.

So now I've spring cleaned myself, and cleared out a lot of the mind clutter, I now have room for new and exciting things ahead.......X



Moon - Waxing Gibbous 59%

Yoga - Surya Namaskara

Card Message - The Hermit
Turn away from the distractions of the outer world, and seek guidence.  In silence and solitude discover new depths, and refresh your soul at the source of all life.

1st February - Cross-quarter day: Imbolc, Oimelc, Brigantia/Kalends of February/St Bridget/Candlemas Eve
Imbolc is the fire festival between Yule and the vernal equinox.  The day of Imbolc is also that of her saintly aspect, St Bridhe or Brigid of Ireland.