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Archive for the ‘Earth Healing’ Category

Milestone

Posted in Earth Healing, tagged on October 2, 2022| 1 Comment »

Stori Fer/Short Story

This short story was an entry in the Llanwrtyd Eisteddfod 2022, meeting the topic ‘Milestone’. The people and places are historically accurate. The snippets about the milestone were imagined, to fit the given topic. The people mentioned are my forebears.

“In 1837 Thomas and Mary Lewis had moved from Aberaeron to Llanbadarn Fawr, near Aberystwyth, when they married, requiring them to travel away from family and friends. They decided this was the best move as Thomas had secured a new job as a lead miner which had a secure income, far better than the variable pay of a farm-hand or being involved in fishing in the rapidly developing port of Aberaeron. However, several years later they had another big decision to make. The lead mine where Thomas worked was changing hands, yet again, and there were rumours that the lead seam was running low. Now, with little Evan growing fast, the future did not look so safe anymore. They eventually decided this time, to move to South Wales so Thomas, could get work in the coal mines.


They began their big journey on a familiar road, towards Llanrhystud, where the road divided, going south west to Aberaeron or south to Lampeter, Llandovery and onto the valleys. They rested a while at the junction. Emotions were running very high. There was a feeling of sadness on leaving the Mid Wales landscape and the sea, mixed with the thrill and fears for the new life ahead. Sitting at the Aberystwyth to Talsarn milestone, Thomas was overwhelmed with grief for what they were losing. He took out his knife and prised a sliver off the milestone. He knapped the sharp edges, so it sat comfortably in his hand. With tears in his eyes, he told Mary that ‘this bit of stone will bring us back home one day’. She tore off a short length of her petticoat and wrapped it around the stone, saying she would sew a pocket for it later.


Their arrival in the valleys was a shock, there were so many people and so much industry belching out unclean air. Thomas had no problem finding work down the mines near Bedwellty. His long experience in the lead mines was useful, but learning to be so deep underground would take a bit of getting used to. In the years that followed he and Mary vowed that Evan would not follow him into the mines. Evan was a bright lad with a good head for figures, so they found him an apprenticeship that later gave him work as a blacksmith linked to the industries in Port Tennant.

Evan married a local girl, Jane, from nearby Swansea in 1869 and they set up home near the factory. Baby Edith was born within the year, followed quickly by Thomas. Evan advanced quickly in his work and was offered promotion and a job in Swindon with the Great Western Railway as an engine-smith. Evan’s father was thrilled to see this important opportunity open for Evan. Before Evan and the family left for Swindon, Thomas gave him a newly stitched pouch containing that sliver of milestone from Llanrhystud, saying “It will bring you home one day”.

Life was good in Swindon.  Evan and Janes’s family grew rapidly. Young Edith and Thomas were soon joined by more children, John Brynygog becoming the youngest of eight!

In 1895 Edith married William Griffin. The Griffins were a well-established family in the area, also with close links to the railway. Shortly after their marriage, Edith and William were transferred by the railway to Ryde on the Isle of Wight. Following the family tradition, Evan gave his daughter the pouch and stone, with a note inside of what it was and the words that his father Thomas had used when he moved from Mid Wales. Her moving to the Isle of Wight was unexpected, but the rail system on the island was being extended and William’s experience was needed.

Whilst living in Ryde Edith and William had two boys (Norman and Reginald). Shortly after the birth of Reginald, Edith and William were moved yet again, but this time back to Portsmouth, on the mainland. Edith and William went onto to have two daughters, Marjorie and Ena.

After the war ended, Edith remembered about Thomas Lewis’ pouch and stone. She decided that she was not going to pass it, with the family photos and papers, to either of the boys. Both were too fond of beer, having a good time. Of the girls, even Marjorie was very flighty and forgetful. Edith renewed the pouch and the note inside, and gave it to Ena for her to pass onto her children.

In the years that followed, Ena had no children to pass the pouch onto. This weighed heavily on Ena. On one of her infrequent visits to Reginald’s family that coincided with Marjorie’s 50th birthday in 1959, she met Reg’s granddaughter. The little girl had brought a box full of stones and shells to show everyone, regaling them with where they had come from or who had given them to her. This was the solution, thought Ena! The next time Ena visited, she brought the pouch with her, and gave it to Reg’s granddaughter, carefully pointing out the scrap of paper inside, telling her where the stone was from. So began what turned out to be a life-long interest in stones.

Time moved on with Ena and her siblings passing, as did Ena’s nieces and nephews. The links to the railway fell away as the next generations stumbled into a very different world and society. Within the next generation, Reg’s grandchildren and great grandchildren all stayed in the locality of South Hampshire. However, in 2014 Reg’s granddaughter moved to Mid Wales. Remembering the pouch and stone from Aunty Ena she set about finding out whether any of the story was true. Using Ancestry Online she quickly found John Brynygog, Evan’s son (unusual name) and his descendants. Following the family backwards she found Thomas Evans, the lead miner from Llanbadarn Fawr!

At the first opportunity she visited the milestone near Llanrhystud. (Yes, it was real!). Plans to stick the rounded sliver back on were scuppered as the milestone had been painted white! She decided then, to push the sliver of stone into the soil, behind the milestone.

‘Well, great-great-great grandpa, it did indeed bring the family back home to the land you loved so dearly. However, it took this piece of milestone over one hundred and sixty years and quite a few miles to do it!”

y ddraig enfys

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Celtic Wisdom in 2019

Posted in Current Events, Dark Goddess, Earth Healing, Spiritual Growth, Women, tagged , , , , , on July 28, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Over the past three years we have been studying some of the myths and stories of the Celtic Lands.

The first work we did was on the Mabinogi……….the well-known collection of stories from Wales. The Mabinogi are a series of teaching tales aimed at aristocratic young men. The tales guide them through life lessons on how to deal with women, honour and above all, relationship with Nature, the Otherworld, its inhabitants and lore. A subject of many a blog from me has been aspects of Sovereignty, and the Mabinogi is packed with challenges where the young nobleman learns how to deal with living on the sacred Land.

We followed that course with one on Taliesin, the master magician, and more recently a course called Celtic Source, looking at the myth and stories of the Celtic Lands and from whence they arose.

Interestingly, as part of a discussion on the Celtic Source course …… we touched on something that has always fascinated me. From a detached viewpoint it was noticed in the modern-day spiritual scene there seemed to be two camps. One camp looks to refining personal energy as a means to move forward in spiritual growth. Seeking that which is beyond as a means of redemption, echoing many religions.

The other camp finding that gaining greater contact with the planet and nature aids spiritual growth. The latter, having a self-labelled, broadly pagan approach, the former looking to attention on the subtle energies of the body and to the subtle layers of being beyond the body.

So, where did the ‘it has to be better somewhere else’ come from? It brought memories of reading ‘Be Here, Now’ by Ram Dass in the 1970s and not totally ‘getting it’ then, but totally on it now.

The ‘better somewhere else’ simply looks outside or beyond what is in the Now.

The counterpoint indicates we have all we need ‘Now’, but we just don’t realise it. There is no ‘somewhere else’ better. Pining for ‘elsewhere’ just gets you further from ‘being here, now’.

Looking back to the roots of myths and stories of the Celtic lands, they were told to those who were not the workers but the next layers up. The workers knew how to have a good relationship with the Land, the cycles of Nature and the input of the liminal energies around them. They could not function in their daily lives without this innate knowledge.

The more gentrified had lost that link and the stories were for them. True, storytellers would have regaled both worker and overlords with the stories, but the land workers knew what the storyteller was on about. The workers did not have to be reminded, but probably smugly listened to the antics of the young warriors in the stories, messing up and being punished for it.

Where did these land workers get their innate knowledge from? One thought emerged that in the very distant past, the liminal energies of the Land taught them, much like it is believed that plants taught people (actually plants still do teach) how to use them for healing. The Land energies still do teach too, if you are open to listen.

However, as is apparent from these old myths and stories, if the Land is ignored and contact with it is lost, trouble follows fast. The past shows what needs to be heeded. Ignore it and the suffering will be repeated.

In 2019 our leaders who have no idea what ‘living in the real world’ is like. They know nothing of being poor, homeless, having to work 24/7 and still not having enough to keep food on the plate and a roof over the head. So not much different from the noble young men in the Mabinogi and other tales……..

Our leaders are ungrounded with their heads full of ideas that are not practical and in fact damaging to the wider populace.

Without being grounded, respectful of the Land and Nature…. those who lead are going to always fuck it up………. and here we are today…. Those with little or no connection with the Land and Nature are in charge and are destroying the planet.

Without being grounded, people will not be in touch with who they really are.

Without being grounded, people will not be able to learn from the Land and Nature. They might think they are, but will be unable to put what they have learned into practice.

Without being grounded, people will experience high levels of stress on every level (physical, emotional, mental and spiritual) and be less able to adapt to changes in environment.

We have no bards or poets today whose job it was to train the young noblemen and to cunningly persuade their Lords to ‘do the right thing’. The media (modern equivalent of bards and poets?) have sold out to the leadership and use their influence to coerce the minions about the achievements of their leaders. A complete 180 degrees turnaround on the ancient role.

The latest batch of leaders have even consigned the wisdom of and respect for the womenfolk to pointless gossip or to tasks as handmaids.

The phrase “we want our sovereignty back” rings hollow, when real sovereignty is about having a good relationship and working hand-in-hand with the Land and Nature.

Real sovereignty is recognising what women have to offer, having a good relationship and working hand-in-hand with women.

When the ‘peasants’ revolt against the craziness of today they risk being labelled as terrorists.

These ‘terrorists’ are simply being ‘here, now’, mindful of Nature ……………

They want to be financially wealthy and secure, and are destroying Nature (e.g fracking) for short term financial gain.

They pay lip-service to caring for the environment and put pressure and responsibility onto the ‘peasants’ do their bit. In reality, those in leadership could demand scrubbers on cement factory chimneys, which would cut down carbon emissions hugely in one simple move.

Which begs the question of why are the leaders doing what they are doing?

I also sense that those in charge are afraid….they are scared…… scared of the things they are consigning swathes of the population to……. lack of money, loss of status…… they are scared of things they cannot control………they are scared of the power of Nature.

The planet with a quick shiver could kill us all, ants that we are, on her surface.

River2Mind you, we are doing a pretty good job of destroying ourselves……

 

 

 

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Adventures with Preseli Bluestone

Posted in Preseli Bluestone, Spiritual Growth, Uncategorized, Visualisation, tagged , , , on May 18, 2018| Leave a Comment »

Someone on a Facebook group page asked today for ‘stories’ about working with Preseli Bluestone………. so here goes…….

My first experience “travelling” with Preseli was in 2004. We had been asked to investigate its healing properties by Liz and Colin. we were getting ready to ‘try it out’ on some students, so I thought I had better first, see for myself.

“Late in evening I laid down and instinctively put a small piece of Preseli on my upper forehead, at the little Soma chakra.
I just relaxed. Nothing happened for a while and then I found myself on a hillside, at night looking downhill towards a small village. I was dressed in a long, grey cloak and held a small coronet in my right hand.
As I looked down on the village, I thought ‘why am I here?’. There was great reluctance to put the coronet on, though I knew it belonged to me. I asked what healing was needed. I was drawn to absorb my ‘today self’ with the me I was aware of from the vision. I also had a good look around me, especially at the landscape.”

Nevern

The next year, we went to visit the Mynydd Preseli. We stayed in Felindre, just on the edge of the hills themselves. We dutifully climbed up towards Carn Menyn and collected water from a stream running off the hills to make essences. We also did other ‘touristy stuff’ – we climbed up to Foel Drygarn, visited Pentre Ifan and the Little Folk in the woods nearby. We ate lunch in Newport (Trefdraeth ), near the beach and visited the bleeding yews of St Nevern’s Church. We also went onto the headland beyond Nevern…….. Ah…..the land of my vision with Preseli bluestone…….. I knew this place and it knew me!

 

Another experience with travelling with Preseli happened several years later when an old back injury returned. This was probably brought on by a mixture of loss of hormones that keep tendons and muscles flexible (menopause) and lifting lots of cut wood for the fire. My back muscles went into spasm and again, a vertebrae went out of alignment. (This had also happened when I was seventeen following a session on a trampoline.)

The trouble is, 50 or so years on, the body is less forgiving. It took a couple of weeks of various sorts of painkillers, one month of four-times weekly osteopathy then a further two months of twice-weekly osteopathy to get me back on my feet.
Being so immobile and in pain gives you a lot of time to think. One thought was, ‘I wonder if this is an old injury?’ So I decided to use Preseli to find out.
Getting comfortable and then placing a small piece of Preseli on the Soma chakra, I started my journey.

Working with Preseli in this way is pretty consistent. Nothing happens for a while and then suddenly, like a quick film or tv replay, the memory comes.

“There I was, an old man, a former warrior, left in a village to protect the women and children whilst the men went off to fight. The enemy came. They rushed in and I picked up my shield to protect two small children to my right. The enemy sliced me through, shoulder to groin on my left. Needless to say, I started to die, but the children were safe. Then I realised the child nearest to me was a close relative. The emotions were overwhelming. Then I remembered that feeling. Nine years ago, I stayed at my daughter’s over the time she gave birth to her second son. Whilst driving home I started to cry. I had left him again. There was a deep bond there, but not one, this lifetime, of parent, but nevertheless I recognised it as very old. Whilst some consciousness was still in my vision if the old man, I talked to him and told him all was well. The child is well and living again within the family. It all got very peaceful and I found myself quickly back in the Now.

I am still very protective of those I consider I have been given care of, whether it is people, animals, the Land. I know I have paid the price for that in the past and that continues to this day. It is part of who or what I am. Part of who or what I am, is still the reluctance to ‘wear the coronet’. I still prefer to work behind the scenes, creating stability, good lines of communication, though I can be ‘at the front’ if needed………… So I guess the gestalt from Nevern is still working its way through.

PresliFlatsBig

The book ‘Preseli Bluestone’ Healing Stone of the Ancestors’ by Simon & Sue Lilly is available.

Published by Tree Seer ISBN 978 1905454082, £9.95 + P&P

Click Here

 

 

 

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Yet another dragon……….

Posted in Dragons, Earth Healing, Spiritual Growth, Uncategorized, Women, tagged , , , , on December 13, 2017| Leave a Comment »

It has been a long while since I blogged as a lot has gone on, with deep shifts of energy and identification of patterns that have taken a while to surface and understand.

I have never been an ‘Earth Mother’ type as I am blessed with an independent, rebellious streak. Nevertheless, from time to time I have taken younger women under my wing to support them through times of transition and transformation, with eventual success.

This was until a year ago.

There came a time, at the point of transformation, the person chose to stay as they were. After they had put so much effort into working on themselves this came as a shock to me and caused me a lot of soul-searching, re-assessment and self-examination.

Had I failed?

Eventually the realisation came that it had been my job to create the opportunity for them to change and whether they did or not was nothing to do with me. I had done my job and kept my side of any karmic bargain.

It was compounded by other issues dear to my heart. The liminal beings of the Land were involved as were the energy flows within the Land.

I was guided by the energies of the Land, to help them make some delicate adjustments to how energy flowed in several places. This I did with a few trusted friends, but I was still emotionally troubled. I always support people in their freedom to make their own choices, but never had I come across someone wanting to stop growing.

Then I realised I had that same choice when I was in my early 30s. Stay where I was, conform, be safe or choose to break out of the apparently cosy place that my life had become. To me that was no choice, being the rebel so I chose to break free. The cost was considerable at the time, but I would do the same again. However, I can really appreciate that this would not be for everyone.

Events last year forced me to step back and let go…and then let go some more.

This I did and got stuck back into my work with the Land. I got to know this area where I now live, quite intimately, in a geographical sense, over a period of three months. Gradually this brought a deeper connection within myself too.

In meditation one evening, a new dragon companion presented itself. it seemed I had passed some sort of test……. but a skeleton dragon! WTF!!!
I had to let go of any preconceived thoughts about how it flies and just chuckle at the absurdity of the whole thing. Terry Pratchett would have had a field-day.

skeldrag

It was also made clear to me as a local cauldron-holder, that I needed to hold energies at every level…….for the Land, its liminal occupants, but also for the human occupants.

I had done a few things to try to help gather the disparate human energies of the valley in the last three years. Recently, an opportunity presented itself to do some very practical, mundane work for the local community. I threw ‘my hat into the ring’ without any idea if I was the type of person with skills that was being looked for. I told myself I was too old, for a start. Well, upshot was I found myself ‘walking my talk’, and doing a ‘real job’ for the first time in thirty years.

Of course, it is the ultimate “bringing spiritual practice into the material world” – so what more could I ask?

ogyenmenlasmall.jpg

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Full Moon musings

Posted in Astrology, Blue Moon, Current Events, Dragons, Earth Healing, Full Moon, Spiritual Growth, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on May 22, 2016| Leave a Comment »

During a ritual many, many moons ago I was invited by the Gentle Folk to hold a cauldron. This cauldron held the area that they lived in, keeping it the animals and the humans living there safe.

That imagery has followed me since then, occasionally coming to mind when working with the energies of the Land.

The last few weeks saw a return visit to Carn Menyn, one of the outcrops on the Mynydd Preseli and a reinforcement of my connections with that magical place. In my dreams following that visit I watched the dragons dancing in the night skies above Wales.

carnmenyn

I was also made aware of the energy line connection between the stone at Callanish (Callanais) on the Isle of Lewis and the area of Wales that I now live in. This energy line runs parallel to the ‘Spine of Albion’ mentioned in the book of that name by Gary Biltcliffe and Caroline Hoare.

This line cuts through:

West of Lyme Regis
Taunton
Barry
West of Brecon
Anglesey
Isle of Man
West of Stranraer
Arran
Mull
Skye
Callanais (Lewis)

……. all places I have visited.

I have yet to discover more information about this energy line.

Uklines

Whilst being shown this line I was also reminded about the cauldron. The space that holds energy. The space that keeps energy safe.  The space in which new things can be gestated and born. The space where opposites blend to create union.

Looking at maps, the place I now live is due north of where we used to live in Devon. In Devon we were near the Michael line and on the big lunation triangle of Stonehenge. That was indeed a powerful have to hold a cauldron, but what of here?

If I think of the Vedic and Tibetan imagery of the spine and the energies alongside the spine, then the line I now live on could be one of those?

Then the penny drops………. If that was the case, then there would be another line to the east of and equidistant from the Spine of Albion.

Wow, I have lived on that line too…………………………..

Experience of disparate/opposite energies to balance………………………

As I reach out in meditation I perceive that the cauldron here is bigger, possibly as there are less people living in this part of Britain, certainly this is one of the least populated areas of Wales. The energies of the Unseen are stronger here and there are more of them. The Land is old, but still geologically active.

I am reminded of visits to the stones at Callanais, how the complex patterns are still not completely understood. Research has only scratched the surface of what our ancestors created there, let alone to really understand why they created the many stone circles. As an astrologer I was fascinated and had thought of each circle being linked to a visible planet, so the whole area being one huge astrological and astronomical calendar. Without living there and watching the passage of the planets from the site, that cannot be proved. It is thought that the circles were constructed at a time when crops could easily be grown that far north. Climate change? Is climate change cyclical too? The climate change we are seeing now, has it happened before? Was that when Callanais was created?

callanais

What opposites need to be in the cauldron now? What needs to be brought to balance now?

At a time when British Society has become very polarised, politics have gone crazy and grounded, humanitarian logic seems to have disappeared from our so-called leaders……….. what is being created in the greater scheme of things? Who or what is holding that cauldron?

 

Mmmm…………………………

 

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Solstice & New Moon December 2014

Posted in Astrology, Earth Healing, Solstice, Spiritual Growth, tagged , , , , , , , , , on December 19, 2014| Leave a Comment »

The solstice this December heralds the new moon at 0 degrees Capricorn on the 22nd at 0136 GMT/UT.
New Moon Dec2014
Most planets in this chart are below the horizon confirming the ongoing, unseen shifts in the collective unconscious. Anchored by no less than five planets in Capricorn (Sun, Moon, Mercury, Pluto and Venus) maybe this marks the true beginning of people starting to speak out against institutions that seek to control and inhibit. There is still shyness and reticence there but Pluto continues to lurk near the Sun-placements of many countries (1st January constitutions at 11 degrees Capricorn) suggesting its work continues to up-end and transform those who refuse, deny or are slow to transform.

Saturn at the anaretic degree(29) in Scorpio hints at continuing worry and dithering which new foundations should be put in place and which truths should be quashed or smothered from the view of the majority.

Mars in Aquarius hold out for freedom and truth for all but also reflects the need to fight to get it.

Neptune and Chiron in Pisces continue their dance of ‘smoke and mirrors’ and the need to see past what our attention is deliberately being drawn away from.
Jupiter – the only planet above the horizon, is in Leo, so shows that leadership is there but it might show how things should not be done rather that give a blazingly good example for all to follow.

Finally the Ascendant in Libra, Descendant in Aries conjunct Uranus, the esoteric ruler of Libra. Here comes the revolution! Libra cannot help but upset the status quo to help a new balance to emerge. Uranus in Aries will provide the energy and drive without the fear of what needs to be destroyed to protect the inner sense of cosmic order that Libra represents! You have been warned……….

“’We stand between the candle and the star, between the darkness and the light.’ You say the words, but your hearts are empty, your ears closed to the truth. You stand for nothing but your own petty interests. ‘Problems of others are not our concern.’ I do not blame you for standing silent in your shame. You, who knew what was coming, but refused to take up the burden of this war. If the warrior caste will not fight, then the rest of us will!” Delenn, Babylon 5

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Reflections on the Full Moon June 13th 2014 0413 GMT

Posted in Astrology, Earth Healing, Spiritual Growth, Transits, tagged on June 12, 2014| Leave a Comment »

There have been two underlying astrological patterns for the past year that have dominated collective ways of thinking and behaving.

The first to operate was a grand water trine (planets is each of the 3 water signs of the zodiac within the same 6-8 degrees of each sign). This pattern started in July 2013 with Jupiter at 1 degree Cancer, Saturn at 4 degrees Scorpio and Neptune at 5 degrees Pisces. Grand Trines indicate fast or easy-moving energy between the planets and signs involved. Although trines are usually seen as benevolent aspects, this is not always a ‘good’ thing. Energy that flows very easily has little to check or balance it.

GrandTrine

This Grand Trine is also in water signs, adding to the easy flow and proving difficult to manage or control. Thus it has been in issues such as the child abuse scandals that have surface in the UK. The speed of unfoldment has made the situations difficult to manage and gain true perspective. The depth of the issue that had remained hidden for decades is reflected in Saturn’s placement in Scorpio and the inevitable need for justice to be seen to be done, if not actually done. Neptune in Pisces adds to the ‘smoke and mirrors’ effect where famous people managed to bypass systems that would have normally brought behaviour to the fore. Jupiter in Cancer indicating the expansion of awareness of caring and responsibility that had been taken for granted in the past. Throughout the world this Grand Trine has brought damaging and out-dated environmental, ecological and cultural behaviours and beliefs into the spotlight.
This Grand Trine finally dissolves just before the New Moon on the 27th June 2014.

Joining this Grand Water Trine in mid-December 2013 was a Grand Cardinal Cross. This pattern was created by four planets in signs with the same mode of function – in this case the cardinal signs Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn. Uranus was in Aries, Jupiter in Cancer, Mars in Libra and Pluto in Capricorn.

GrandCross

This pattern dissolved at the end of May 2014. Grand Crosses reflect inner tensions that trigger activities brought about to relieve or release the stress. This is especially so with the cardinal signs as they are initiators of activity or projects. Shared by the Grand water Trine, Jupiter in Cancer kick-started a new 12-year of growth, the last one of this type having started in 2001.

Uranus is Aries was always going to be a fascinating coupling to watch from an astrological viewpoint – the magician/disrupter meets the impatient, speed and danger-junkie! Wow …has this not disappointed! We have had events turning on a knife-edge, lives being torn-down and recreated and unexpected events shocking large numbers of people. In its esoteric function Uranus disrupts when the accepted balance or harmony is actually out-dated or a false conception. We can rest assured that the eventual outcome of its sometimes uncomfortable journey through Aries will leave us with more clarity and security.

Mars in Libra highlights Libra in its most warrior-like facet. Fighting for justice and truth but also picking the aggressive pathway as the quickest way to some sort of peace. This is not comfortable nor is it pleasant. Events in the world have been reflected in this placement – Ukraine and Iraq.

Pluto in Capricorn will be with us for some time yet, having heralded the financial downturn and banking crises when it entered Capricorn in 2008. It does not leave Capricorn until 2023/4. This placement represents the underlying energies. This is a fundamental need to change accepted structures, outdated consensuses – anything that creates a false base for behaviour, thinking and action.

This Grand Cardinal Cross had been operating on every level – personal through to collective. So as we come to the end of this orchestration of solar system patterns we need to take stock of where we are. Have we changed? Have we resisted change? Have we let go of out-dated and worn out feelings and ideas?

The Full Moon on the 13th June 2014 is our last chance to shed light on corners of our lives that have remained in the shadows. The New Moon on the 27th June 0810 GMT is the new start and that cannot be done with too much rubbish from the past in tow.

If you have been fearful of the changes on offer, maybe it is time to take a step into the unknown, into the void………………………………

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Notes from a New Moon Dragon Rider

Posted in Astrology, Dragons, Earth Healing, Goddess, Spiritual Growth, Transits, Visualisation, Women, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on January 1, 2014| 1 Comment »

“Stand to face the light of the atomic blast of Pluto through the New Moon in Capricorn on New Year’s Day 2014.

To the ‘mud peoples’ and those who came from the stars as protectors of this planet…… now the time has come to shield each other and protect the Earth from those whose blind greed and callous disregard would seek to subjugate and destroy.

Know who you are…. Know each other. Create lines of communication and energy between you like a web of light and dark to balance and hold both personal and collective energies.

Remember that idealism without a dose of realism is an empty dream.

Seek out where you can make a difference without becoming a victim or a rescuer as these two both require someone to blame………remember too that people are just people, being human!

Time your actions carefully to make the maximum use of the energy and resources available.

Fix your own back yard. It is always easier to see the faults in someone else’s, judge what the resolution would be and fret when nothing appears to be done.

Above all, don’t sit idly by when your neighbourhood and its people are under threat or being manipulated. Even a tiny step, a wise world or a small, but appropriate action, can be the start of something big!”

GreyDragon

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Ekajati – Dark Goddess and Protector

Posted in Dark Goddess, Goddess, Spiritual Growth, Visualisation, tagged , , , , , on May 7, 2013| Leave a Comment »

ekajati2

Ekajati, whose name means ‘one single birth’, or ‘one braid of hair’ is probably one of the fiercest and most powerful of the ‘dark’ goddesses, mamos8 or dakinis9. She is found in both Buddhist and Hindu traditions.

She has a special place in the Tibetan traditions of  Bön1 and Dzogchen2 teachings as she is regarded as one of the three protectors3 or guardians the teachings. According to legends her right eye was damaged by Padmasambhava 4 so that she could help him deal with Tibetan demons.

In her Tibetan manifestation she is seen as having a chignon or bun of hair and only one eye – the latter being a nod to the legend that Padmasambhava pierced the other – but also indicative of non-dual vision, the lack of separation between the universe/creator and the self. Her single tooth shows that she destroys or eats through obstacles and the single breast feeds those who correctly follow the teachings and traditions that she protects.

Like many images of the ‘dark’ goddesses, she is depicted naked or sometimes wearing a skin (in softer imagery a tiger skin, but in more wrathful imagery – a human skin!) and dancing on the corpse of the ego. Her headdress if often composed of skulls as is her necklace. What she hold in her hands can vary – skull cup5, grigug6, khatvanga7 or  in some designs a  corpse of a perverter of the teachings as her sceptre in one hand and the heart of an enemy or betrayer in the other.

As one of the ‘21 Taras’ her energies are also seen as Mahachinatara (Dark Blue, Wrathful or Ugra Tara) and in Blue Tara (where she depicted with the head of a wolf). She is regarded as a liberator, with the power to remove fear and barriers on the path to enlightenment.

Mantras and practices linked to Ekajati are kept secret or only released after an initiation process as many teachers accept that working with her energy can be destructive if a practitioner does not have the capacity to handle the effects. Disrespect, carelessness and laziness will be dealt with by her destroying egos and pushing a practitioner onwards to ultimate realization. This may sound like something one would aspire to, but the effect, without appropriate guidance and support would likely be fatal!

Notes:

1Bon: is the native, ancient Tibetan practice that has its roots in shamanic and animist traditions and now runs parallel with later Buddhist practices.

2Dzogchen: translated from Tibetan as ‘The Great Perfection’, sometimes also called ‘Atiyoga’

3Protectors: Ekajati is generally considered one of the three principal protectors of the Dzogchen and Nyingma lineages. The others are Rahula and Dorje Legpa.

4Padmasambhava; also known as the ‘Second Buddha’ and Guru Rinpoche. He introduced Tantric Buddhism to Tibet.

5Skull Cup: Implement used in ritual to remind the practitioner of the impermanence of life.

6Grigug: Implement used in ritual to represent a knife used to remove skin from a corpse

7Khatvanga: a long staff with depictions of 3 skulls and ribbons of the 5 colours of the elements

8Mamos: Wrathful goddesses, usually pictured as furious, ugly women. They can be dakinis acting as protectors. Ekajati is their queen. If reacted to negatively, mamos appear to be aggressive, destructive and wreak chaos.

9Dakini or Khandro: Energy beings often but not exclusively in female form, messengers, bringers of wisdom .

ekajati

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The Goddesses who Spin and Weave

Posted in Dark Goddess, Earth Healing, Goddess, Spiritual Growth, Visualisation, tagged , , , , , on May 7, 2013| Leave a Comment »

 The Goddesses who Spin and Weave

The weaver and spinner goddesses come from many cultures and traditions. ‘Weavers and Spinners’ are those energies that activate and guide events in our lives that help us develop our own individuality and disentangle us from becoming blind followers of what is considered ‘normal’- no sheep or lemmings here! This process of individualisation is often accompanied by change, transformation and challenge that are seldom comfortable. The processes help us to understand the relationship we must have with life itself and the balance we need to have within ourselves to move forward.

 These archetypes themselves and the effects of working with them, bears a close relationship with the facets of the dark goddess from Tibetan Buddhism and Hindu philosophy. Contacting these goddess energies directly can be a terrifying experience unless well-prepared. Touching the underworld of our souls is not for the faint-hearted!

In Greece the ‘Fates’ – Clotho (spinner), Lachesis (allotter) and Atropos (unturnable) were the three crones who controlled the destiny of an individual by spinning their life with a spindle and distaff. Athena was also linked to spinning and condemned the arrogant Arachne to life as a spider. Ariadne, from Crete, helped Theseus escape the labyrinth with thread she had woven after he had killed the Minotaur.

Neith was the goddess of weaving in Egypt prior to the dynasties we are all familiar with. She was renowned for her wisdom but is most widely identified as a goddess of war and protector of women.

Ragnell comes to us from a 15th century English poem as she who seriously challenged Gawain (one of King Arthur’s knights) with the classic question …..‘what is it that women desire?’.

(The answer to this question is subject of the song mentioned in a previous blogpost on March 13th 2013 ‘King Henry’ by Steeleye Span). Ha!

 The tales of the Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm – ‘The Three Spinning Women’, Rumpelstiltskin (Mr Gold in TV’s ‘Once Upon a Time’) and the poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson – ‘The Lady of Shalott’ all remind us of the pitfalls of spinning and weaving.

 Pulling the whole imagery of the weavers and spinners together, brings into question how much freewill we have or think we have – and how much of our lives are at the whims of ‘fate’.

 When we know we are ‘stuck’, repeating the same patterns, with the same responses and recreating the same problems – what do we do? The ‘dark’ aspects of the Goddess might be a way forward….. but make sure you have a good guide! Few of us are as innocent and honourable as Gawain!

weaversmallred

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