Southampton - with new eyes

Southampton - with new eyes

I love planning mini adventures, spontaneous ones.....just getting a feeling that today/tomorrow you're just going to do something different!!

What was I going to do....well money is tight, time is tight, so go local!  I've lived in the district of Southampton for 5 years now, and have visited it lots; usually for shopping.  I'm aware that it has a past, as all places do,  and I thought it was well over due to find out about Southampton. 

First stop was Southampton's Art Gallery, I've been here before a few years ago, but I love it.  There is a real mixture of classic and modern art on show, and usually an exhibition or two.  I have my favourites here......there is a William Holman Hunt - a founder member of the brotherhood of the Pre-Raphaelites - this painting is called,  'The Afterglow in Egypt'.

This painting is beautiful, it is so real......it's exquisite.  When I stand before this painting, I am mesmerised, as I was when I was a child stood before his other famous painting that hangs in St Paul's Cathedral, 'The Light of the World'. 
The other favourite is a whole room dedicated to Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, with his 'Perseus' series of paintings.  Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones was another Pre-Raphaelite painter, but he came in later, within the movement - it is one of the most amazing times of painting for me.  Taking religious subjects, mythological stories and symbolism, all wrapped up in the minutest of paint brushstrokes and a rainbow of colours.

Atlas turned to Stone

From the Art Gallery I then took a slow walk through Southampton's parks.  They are beautiful places, packed full of amazing peaceful trees, plants and monuments.  At the same time the parks are a buzzing place of human life, thoroughfares of busy people, with places to go.

I then began to follow the City's old walls, which were the city's defence in the medieval ages; protecting Southampton from outsiders.  There are about half of the original walls left, and many of the towers too, it's what is left after the blitz and the modernisation of the city took place.  These walls are interwoven between properties of all ages, Georgian, Victorian and Modern - when you look across Southampton it is like a patchwork quilt of architecture....modern and old, side by side.

The Tudor House Museum was a nice little find too, tracing the city's history with shipping and defence.  All manner of objects to look at, from ones you'd expect to see; such as figureheads from ships, and 16th century shipping graffitti, to a stuffed King Charles Spaniel, and Roman perfume bottles.

16th century shipping graffitti

It was lovely to soak it all up, to feel and touch history, to look at the world through another's eyes and be inspired, to share green spaces, to be apart of it all, and to marvel at the madness of the world and people that pass it all by. X

Moon - Waxing Crescent 26%

Yoga - Tadasana, Surya Namaskara, Earth Gratitude Sequence, Gate Sequence (standing & floor)

Card Message - The Lady (major arcana - soul)
Open yourself to the fertile nuturing power of the Goddess. This power will fill you with passion and the ability to be creative and to enjoy a life of abundance and sensual delight.

26th January - Australia Day
Australia Day - On January 26, 1788, Captain Arthur Phillip guides a fleet of 11 British ships carrying convicts to the colony of New South Wales, effectively founding Australia. After overcoming a period of hardship, the fledgling colony began to celebrate the anniversary of this date with great fanfare.

1950 : India Formally becomes a republic no longer under British rule. The new President, Dr Rajendra Prasad, takes the oath of office. Dr Prasad was a key campaigner in the nationalist movement of Mahatma Gandhi, along with India's interim Prime Minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru.

Gratitude - Inspiration

                       

Gong Bath Meditation - My Journey

Having never been to a Gong Bath meditation I had no preconceived ideas about what I was going to experience or even what it was about. The idea is that the sound from the gongs can aid the meditation, either as you concentrate on the sound or the sound breaks up the line of thoughts that continually flow through your head, which often make it difficult to meditate. The meditation was to last between 1 -1  1/2 hours and would use the sound of various sized singing bowls and gongs that the sound therapist would play.  We all had mats to lie on, cushions and blankets to keep us warm and comfortable for the duration of the session.  A short awareness relaxation was given, to help us settle and then the session commenced. 

My Journey - as the various sounds filtered through the air and me, I became aware that I was stood in snow watching Aurora Borealis, the colours and movement flowed with the sound I was sensing.  As the sound grew louder I realised I was now in an underground cavern looking upwards to a large hole in the roof, through which I could see the night sky, the sound was reverberating around the cavern.  As the vibrations died down I found myself stood by a fire watching the flames dance about as the noise grew again, the flames danced higher and higher.  As the sound intensified I became aware the the flames had now changed into a wall of water rising up and up before crashing down again.  As the sound mellowed I found myself floating then in the cosmos amid stars, colours and energy, I gazed at all that was around me and within me.  Looking back now, I can see that through all these images, I had experienced all the elements, air, earth, fire, water and spirit/ether.

What came next was blast of images containing subjects that I've recently been researching, The Pyramids, Atlanta, River Styx - to The Underworld, Aliens and Channeling.  It was all pretty random, with no real pattern. 

The next image was crows over battlefields - war & bloodshed - to me this makes me think of Morrigan.

After that I seem to remember associating each sound, pitch and tone with the vibrations of various things, so I would perceive a sound and I would see a tree, next sound might be water, then the next a stone and so on and so on.  This carried on until we had reached the end on the meditation and silence enveloped the room.  Of course everybody's experience will be different - this was just mine!

We were given as much time as we needed to come back and ground ourselves.  Drinks and biscuits were available to aid us in this and there was the opportunity to swap and share our experiences and ask any questions.  Talking with people afterwards, I found that some did have intentions that they wanted to focus on whilst meditating, such as journeying and healing.  The sound, the space and the time, give them the opportunity to really focus and intensify their experience.

I found it an absolutely amazing experience and one that I would certainly partake of again and encourage others to try. 
The Gong Bath I went to was organised by a local group in the Southampton area, called Active Arts.  They organise many other activites too, for those interested, here is the link to their web page

http://www.activeartists.org.uk/index.html

Moon - Waxing Crescent 6%

Yoga - Sun Salutation

Card Message - Queen of Cups
May signify you, your mother, a therapist, or a woman that inspires love in you and stirs the depths of your emotional nature.  Loving, maternal and intuitive, possibly working in a field of relationship counselling and healing