The door to 2012 is ajar...

The door to 2012 is ajar...

So the door to 2012 is ajar and we are all waiting to go through, I have a feeling that it is going to be fantastic year on many levels.  Lots people seem to agree that 2011 has been quite a tough one, may be it's just the way of the universe preparing us for the positive changes to come.

I have spent a fair amount of time this winter reflecting over the last year, written a few blogs on my musings too.  Overall the main theme for my last year was ridding myself of old and sometimes damaging patterns, thought processes and habits......this has meant facing the facts that have a negative side and egotistic values, this has been quite upsetting and scary at times, but acknowledging this has given me the chance to break the negative cycle.  I am happy to know that I'm not scared to open my pandora's box now, to soul search and know the truth within...it allows me the strength to face further questioning of myself.

I'm glad to say that not all of 2011 has been difficult though, for this was a year of personal challenges of not just the metal and spiritual kind, but physical too. 
At the beginning of the year I learnt to fly birds of prey, and found a great admiration for the relationship between bird and falconer. 
I took part in a 68 mile charity ride for 'Help for Heroes' and with the help and support of wonderful friends and family, raised £600. 
I've been to many, many gigs and seen some amazing bands and a hilarious comedian...a fantastic festival too, which I took my youngest to, for his first live music experience - he loved it! 
I've been to both the 'Mind, Body and Spirit Show' and the 'Yoga Show', both were enlightening experiences, in which I learnt as much about me, as I did about what was on offer. 
I trained in Reiki level 1, also I took part in workshops for Animal First Aid and Animal Healing.  I had my first taster at setting up a craft stall and selling my handcrafted bags, jewellery and cards. 
I was given my first allotment and spent many a long hour, sowing, weeding, pruning, harvesting, sharing, preserving, and of course, eating the produce.
I've had the opportunity to take part in a lot of different types of meditations, in which I've had a lot of various different experiences.
I've taken part in a street collection for a fantastic charity - Greyhound Rescue West of England, met some amazing and very dedicated people and some really beautiful dogs.
I have also met with some dear friends that I've not seen in a long time, and spent a wonderful catching up. 
I have spent many hours with friends discussing various theories & spiritual understandings, cooking, lots of dancing and lots of laughing.
I have also made many, many new friends along all the paths I've travelled this year, and I look forward to seeing more of them again in the new year.
I've had wonderful days out at beautiful locations with my family, quality time at some amazing locations.
Lastly, I have started this....a daily blog.  An opportunity for me to catalogue my feelings, experiences, challenges, understandings and anything else that comes to mind.

It has most definitely been a year of mixed blessings......a year of much gratitude......a year of much hurt, but also much love.....a year of new experiences.....and a year of building foundations, for the future.  I believe I'm ready now,  to walk through to doorway to 2012.

Moon - Waxing Crescent 43%

Yoga - Surya Namaskara

Card Message - Four of Swords
You may have been through a period of conflict or intense work, and now you are seeking solace and respite.  Time to focus on spiritual practises that revitalise the soul.  You may need to reassess where you stand, and organise your future plans.  Rest or convalescence.  The value of meditation.

31st December - New Year's Eve/Hogmanay/Yule Twelth Night
New Year's Eve/Hogmanay commemorates the solar divinity Hogmagog.  Traditional festivities include dressing in hides and horns of animals - 'guising' - burning smoking sticks (Hogmanays) to ward off evil sprites, and eating special cakes.  At the moment of the New Year, doors are opened and utensils rattled to drive off the last psychic vestiges of the old year and welcome the new:

Get up, good wife, and shake your feathers,
And dinna think that we are beggers;
For we are bairns come out to play,
Get up and gie' us our Hogmanay.

Twelth Night of Yule -This culminates the traditional twelve days of Yule. Each day of which is a month of the preceding year in miniature. Reflect on the past year. Take stock and lay a course for the future. Make New Years resolutions in the old way by swearing your oath on Freyas boar or on your Hammer.        

Gratitude - All the lessons I've learnt in 2011

In the thick of it.......to sleepwalking.....or present?

Often its when I'm out cycling that I will get an odd thought or profound quote that will pop in my head and I always try to remember them!

I was mulling over the fact that there had been quite a lot of dramatic changes happen around me, in just one week, and I was seemingly coping with them, but I hadn't really taken it all in!!!  As I was thinking about what had actually just happened, it dawned on me that a lot of the time we really only seem to be 'half awake', in a sort of semi-slumber mode.

Life has a habit of  'its all going well and then everything can change in an instant', as I've blogged before, there are always challenges, its just that some can be pretty dramatic or life changing.  During these times we really feel in touch with our emotions whether they be elated or grief stricken, or somewhere in between.  All of our senses are emerged into the one experience and it can be all consuming, overwhelming and you just wish you could have a break from it all...........and then what? 

Just plodding along through life.....as I like to call it.  Not really taking part, just going about your day on auto pilot. 
Not remembering what you've just done, or saying something to someone and not really paying attention to what you're saying or what they're saying - sleepwalking!!!  We can stay in this mode for quite some time.....daydreaming, not really being 'present' in life, cut off from our own senses. 

We can seem to swing wildly from one extreme to the other, and in neither space are we fully present to all things......in both instances our minds are elsewhere.  We are not fully engaging our senses with the world, we are not reaching the full experience of life and we should for that is why we are here, to partcipate, to open our mind, body and spirits to the present of all that is.


To stay present in everyday life, it helps to be deeply rooted within yourself; otherwise, the mind, which has incredible momentum, will drag you along like a wild river.

ECKHART TOLLE, The Power of Now

Moon - Waxing Gibbous 67%

Yoga - Sun Salutation

Card Message - (This one I did for Evie)   Ten of Cups (water, feeling, emotion & heart)

Happiness, love and fulfillment.  A promise fulfilled, dreams come true, you can be blessed with good fortune, success and a warm loving family.  Rainbows appear after the rain, the storm is over and the indications are that the positive situatio will endure.  Loving and permanant relationships, happiness, spiritual and emotional blessings.

On This Day - Eve of St Nicholas/Nones of December

In former times on the Eve of St Nicholas, children put out carrots, hay and straw, supposedly for his horse, to be exchanged for presents in the night.

(The Pagan Book of Days - Nigel Pennick)

One Whole Month.......Here's to many More

Well one month of daily blogging has passed already!!!
So much has happened, so many thoughts, ideas, ponderings, experiences and poems.
I've made a commitment, that I hope to continue!

I am enjoying this immensely, it is really giving me the chance to find out more about myself.  We all tend to muse over things, but to then write them down allows me to keep a record.  I suppose many of the posts so far mirrors my inner most thoughts, so they tend to have a serious and more spiritual side to them. 

This doesn't always come across in real life - I think???  I love nothing more than a laugh and joke, usually at something surreal and downright silly!  I'm guessing that this is how I balance myself out?

Anyway I've lots more to look into, research, watch, review, try, and make sense of.......so there will be plenty more blogs to come.  As I explore through the cosmos I will always try to capture the moments, much the same as I do with my photography. 

I'm hoping to introduce a new section that will be based on the day of the year - so anything that is associated with that day will also feature, along with whichever subject that has been picked.

 

Moon - Waxing Crescent 33%

Yoga - Sun Salutation

Card Message - Prince of Swords (Air, Thinking, Intellect & Mind)

Intelligent, Articulate, Impetuous

A radical change in your lifestyle or your routine:  new friends may appear, or a whole new life may open up for you - impending air travel.

The Curveball

Life has a habit of throwing curveballs and we're never ready for them!!  Everything seems fine and dandy and then out of the blue you're suddenly faced with an issue or challenge, that's needs dealing with.  I know the curveball pattern now, its usually when I am too complacent, with a feeling 'that all is well in my world'! 
On its sudden arrival we can feel so ill equipped and prepared to handle it, that it can be quite a shock!

So at this point I will share something I've just read in Deepak Chopra's - 'The Book Of Secrets'

My deeper self created this situation.
Whatever happens, there is a reason.
I am surprised, but this doesn't affect who I am.
My life is unfolding according to what is best and most evolutionary for me.
I can't lose what is real.  The externals will fall into place as they need to.
Whatever happens, I can't be hurt.

With this in mind now, everything has a slightly different perspective and doesn't seem so scary - for it is through overcoming our challenges that we grow and strengthen our souls.

Moon - Waxing Crescent 12%

Yoga -

Card Message - The Magician
Realising your dreams, time for action, use your willpower and your focus to take the first steps towards achieving your purpose.  Stay focused and open to inspiration.  Doubt and preoccupation with self inhibits flow of energy.  Trust and let go of worries about your life to allow creative energy to flow