Summer Moon Lodge

Summer Moon Lodge

Last Sunday's Summer Moon Lodge was beautiful, and so different in feel to the spring one.  It is held in the roundhouse at the Minstead Study Centre, and ran by a good friend, Heidi. 

She opens the circle......a fire is lit inside and we are all sat around it, a circle of women, being led through a beautiful guided visualisation. 

Afterwards we learn about the 'mother' aspect of the goddess, and of the goddesses Isis and Mother Mary and their roles as mothers and nurturers, and we all had a chance to talk about how this aspect effects us...our thoughts and sometimes emotions.  It is always interesting to find that although we are all different, there are a lot of common understandings and feelings between us...linking us.  The fact that all women have the ability to mother whether we can have children or not, for mothering can mean a great many things...like caring for those in a community, nurturing the earth, loving animals etc.  Also that it is important to look after ourselves....to give to others, means we must also give to ourselves! Certainly made me think!

A joined healing session followed, as we stood in a circle holding hands, we sent out love and healing to all.  The feeling inside the roundhouse was amazing, there was an intensity, a generating of power. Afterwards was just as powerful...we were asked to hug a person standing next to us, and see if we were better at giving or receiving.  It was quite an emotional exercise, and most people said that they felt that, 'when you give, you receive also'.....it certainly felt the case for me.

We moved outside for a beautiful chanting session under the slowly setting sun, followed by a hypnotic and rhythmic drumming session. We were taught a Senegalese drumming song and the story behind it.  Each different type drum and drummer had a different beat to play, and when put all together, it was mesmerising.  I could feel my body pulsing with the beats, I just wanted to abandon the drum, and get up and dance, and afterwards I found I wasn't the only one!!!

We broke then for herbal teas and home made biscuits (orange crunch full moons & chewy date and honey flapjacks - made by me).

I did a bit then, on foraging, and what is available now, to eat for free.

Last, but not least was story telling, and we were transported off to the world of myth and magic.  Delighting in the tale of an old midwife, whose good deeds and kindness given to all, were repaid in full and then some, and she was able to out her last years in in comfort.

Before the close of the circle we were treating to some lovely and haunting flute playing, and also some fantastic hang playing too.

The end of the evening came all too quickly and the circle was drawn to a close. 

It was an amazing evening and an interesting journey.  There were lots of laughs and hugs, love and happiness.....and gratitude....gratitude to all who to part, to make the evening what it was, and gratitude to Heidi for making it all happen.

Exx

So looking forward to the next one, in Autumn.

I want to know more....

I eager to know more....

Today I'm filled with a desire to plan myself some goals for next year...there is so much I want to explore!

I would like to try dowsing, I have dabbled with it before, but I think I would like to explore it further.....definitely into the Earth energy side of things.  Living in The New Forest there is an absolute wealth of places to dowse in, and it would be very interesting in what it might turn up.

I would like to train with druid order, there are many courses out there that run as a correspondence course, and this seems just perfect.  I feel very close to the earth...always have done, and would like to understand the lessons that have been taught for millenia about the worlds around us.

I would like to read and become more familiar with the work of Dr Masuru Emoto.
http://www.masaru-emoto.net/english/e_ome_home.html


I have already set in place, training with "The Healing Trust", so I will be able to heal all....people, animals, plants and land.

Yoga is definitely one route which I will be delving into on deeper levels, I have already been practising yoga for 18 months now, but only recently have I been practising everyday, and feeling so much better for it.  I would like to take this further in the next year, as there are many aspects of yoga which I can explore.

So far this seems enough, as it takes time to understand and practise many of the above activities and skills, so I don't want to overload myself.... and I'm sure as always other things will present themselves....as they often do.  X



Moon - Waxing Crescent 22%

Yoga - Surya Namaskara, Gate Sequence, Sarvangasana, Matsyendrasana

Card Message - Queen of Wands
A calling to voluntary or charitable work, or to working with the powers of the land - particularly those related to 'the fire in the earth' of dragon or ley lines.

28th December - Bairns' Day/ Holy Innocents' Day/ Runic half - month of Eoh commences.
Holy Innocents' Day or Bairns' Day, commemorates Herod's slaughter of infant boys under the age of two.  Folk tradition considers Bairns' Day by far the unluckiest day of the year, when no work should be started.  This is the month of rune Eoh, representing the dead, and the yew tree, sacred to winter shamanism.
(from "The Pagan Book of Days")

Gratitude - creativity

Animal Healing - The Plan

It really does seem a bit surreal going to do a Animal Healing workshop, straight after our guinea pig has died.....but it is the way of things!  Sadness and happiness all mixed up!!

So why animal healing?

Let me start from the beginning ...........
I've always loved animals, right from when I was very small.  My rabbits, guinea pigs and gerbils were very dear to me as I was growing up, I loved even my Granny's cats! One of them was pretty moody and didn't like children, but she would always tolorate me.  As I grew up I wished to be a Vet and even did my work experience at a local practise, but soon after that I dropped out of education and went to live on the road.  As a traveller I had never lived that close to nature and it was one of the aspects of that lifestyle that stirred something deep within my soul.  We all had dogs too, many of us had more than one, they ran like a pack and they were some of the best behaved dogs I have ever come to meet - even to this present day!

When I left the travelling life and moved into a house,  I bought with me, my dogs and also the need to be outside with nature.  I settled down and gave a home to not just the dogs, but rescued rabbits too.  These pets have now sadly passed away, but always after a period of time I have acquired more.  My house will never seem like home without an animal or two.

So now we jump forward to this year.....
So they say that life begins at 40, well it certainly does seem to be looking that way or maybe I'm just conscious of that fact and am engineering things to happen - who knows??
After I injured my leg whilst training for a half marathon, I spent a lot of time with not much physical activity and I was struggling to cope with it. Then one day the penny dropped, with the help of Mother Nature,  that I should stop focusing on physical challenges to appease my ego, but now look at at more subtle ways that I could achieve good things, for all.  I started thinking about healing, after all I had recently trained in Reiki, but I was still thinking about animals, as I had recently had a couple of very close meetings with wild animals and birds - I had felt very privilged when a young blackbird hopped up my back and sat on my head, for some time. Animal healing, it felt intuitively right.
So I did a book search on Amazon, the first book that came up was by a woman called Margrit Coates, so I googled her and found that she lives in the New Forest - what are the chances of that??  I looked up her webpage and found that she was doing a talk on animal healing the following month, before she was off round the world.  So I jumped at the chance, as it was almost being given to me on a plate. 
The talk was very interesting, and I had by then also read one of her books by then,  so when I talked to her afterwards, I was fairly well prepared.  She was very happy to meet a fellow animal lover and also a New Forester.  We talked a lot and she invited me to come back and do a animal healing workshop, that she was running.  After I returned home, I had a call from my mum - who had also been to the talk also, she proposed that I should do the workshop (she would as well) and she and my dad would pay.  I was flabbergasted and very grateful.  Since then I have found out how Margrit has trained and have looked into following the same path.  The base of the training is done with the National Fedaration of Spiritual Healers, and to my amazement the person who teaches the whole of the south/south east region lives just outside Southampton - another coincedence????  Maybe, maybe not!

So there you have it - the whole story to the eve of the workshop I'm about to attend.

Where do I hope to go with this?
I will see where it takes me, but I would love to be in a position to give healing to all animals, to help with all manner of issues regarding their well being..........because they give us so much.......so much love....so much friendship and they are great teachers too!!!

So I hope to be able to come back to this topic in the future and add more details and more information, as this journey progresses. May I say a big thank you to all those who are supporting me in this venture.
 - wish me luck.

Moon - First Quarter 53%

Yoga - Earth Gratitude, Moondance

Card Message - Death
The old and unesscessary wants to die.  What passion! The new prepares to open like a rosebud at the dawn of a new day.
Clearing away the old to make way for the new.  Precursor to transformation. Intense passion. Initiation.

On This Day - 3rd December  - Roman festival of Bona Dea the Good Goddess

Blessed Guardians of the Forests

I have long been a fan of trees and the Oak has always had  a special place in my heart.  They grow fantastically big, their form takes on all sorts of weird and wonderful shapes.  They are home to many, many species and because of their size and longevity they play an important role in the forest ecosystem.  Their wood has been used for millenia for building timber framed houses, ships, furniture and wine casks.  Many of the oldest Oaks are pollarded trees, this was carried out to encourage large branches to grow for timber. There are over 400 species of Oak worldwide, though only 25 are native to Europe, they are mature trees at 75, but can live to 1000.  In short they are fantastic trees!!

Man has long recognised the importance of the Oak and has formed a certain relationship and reverance towards it. Oaks are known for there secondary spurt of new growth which happens in August, this growth is called 'Lammas growth', as it falls within the Celtic sabbat of Lammas.  It has featured in myths and legends, worshipped, had gods associated with it and been used as a source of power and magic.  The Druids associated it with the sky and thunder gods, and the goddesses of fire and fertility.  The Oak spirits and dryads are often seen as wisened old characters.

The Druids of old created a system to encode their wisdom - The Tree Ogham.  The Oak is the 7th tree in the ogham and its attributed with powers of inner strength, stamina, tenacity and is also seen as a doorway to inner spirituality.  It provides the strength to push through old layers of self belief and forward to new understandings and provides the support to keep going, even when its hard going.  Oak has long been used for healing too,  bruised Oak leaves can be applied to unbroken skin to ease inflammation, Oak bark, leaves and acorns make a  very good astringent tonic and a decoction of ground Oak bark or leaves makes an excellent foot bath for weary feet, it also helps them to find the right pathway in life.  If you sit with an Oak, place your hands on its trunk or stand barefoot on its roots you can tap into it's strength and healing power - I know I've tried.

There are many notable old Oaks around our countryside, many of which have become landmarks.
I met with an old Oak today in fact, it had the thickest trunk that I've ever seen, at least 5ft in diameter.  It was dead in some places and growing strong in others.  Strangely I had walked that way many times, but had not seen it before, even though it was not far from the path.  It was like meeting a sage, there was an air of knowledge and inner power all around.  Its not too difficult to grasp that concept when you think of the part they play within our world.


Blessed Guardians of the Forests

Moon - Waning Gibbous 81%

Yoga - Mountain, Cossack, Lunge, Cat, Tree, Extended Side Stretch, Forward Bend

Card Message - Insights, Strategy and Research