Author: Joanna van der Hoeven

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Book Review: Soul Shift by Rachel Macy Stafford

Soul Shift: The Weary Human’s Guide to Getting Unstuck and Reclaiming Your Path to Joy is a wonderful book, filled with wisdom and insight. Through the sharing of personal experience, vulnerability and little victories the author leads us on a journey towards finding our most authentic way of being, and how to show up for our lives. Showing up as our authentic self is not an easy thing in today’s world, however, Soul Shift guides us through the journey in small, easy steps and with inspirational mantras that we can use to return home to ourselves.

What struck me first and foremost was when I read “Just because you made mistakes doesn’t mean you are forever defined by them. Just because you took an unauthentic path doesn’t mean that you must stay the course.” So often we feel guilt and shame over our past mistakes, and we continue to beat ourselves up about them. Through the author’s insight, there is the dawning realisation that mistakes will be made, we will at times be unfaithful to our true self, we will make mistakes and choices that don’t accord with our deep self, but that these are learning points and not shameful events that we must punish ourselves over with again and again. What doesn’t work, the choices that we make that aren’t true to our nature and our own will: these can often tell us so much about how we should be in the world. What doesn’t work can be our greatest teacher.

The “Dreamer Girl”, that authentic part of the self that the author shares with us, resonated deeply with me. I have my own Dreamer Girl, a time before I was inundated with the world’s opinions on how I should be, where I should be, what I should be doing. I have been returning to my Dreamer Girl over these last few years, and a feeling of “coming home to myself” has been strong. Our true selves are always with us. My Dreamer Girl has always been there, and it’s through paying attention to ourselves that we can rediscover that part of our being. Take good care of your “Dreamer Girl”, for it is a part of you that can be your guiding light in the world. I know she is mine.

The author also touches upon a subject regarding how women are often pressured to give and give until there’s nothing left. We must be selfless in order to be worthy. But how she phrased it, by showing us that selfless means “less of self” we can begin to understand how this is not a sustainable way of being. We must learn to take care of ourselves, set clear boundaries that are in accord with our authentic selves, and listen to ourselves. “The practice of True Self-Worth is one of the most transformative practices I’ve cultivated on the journey. It has empowered me to make choices by heart, according to my core values and beliefs, rather than by societal standards or the expectations of others.” She talks about not throwing good energy at bad situations, and how to keep toxic elements out of our lives by protecting ourselves with our own inner guardians.

When we are portraying a false or fake image of ourselves, we are unable to make true, authentic connection. When we are being authentic and true, that’s when the real connection happens and you are able to see it spreading out into the wider world. Your own genuine connections will be stronger for it, for people will be connecting to the true you, not the person you are pretending to be on any given day. Those genuine connections are where love sits deeply and comfortably, both in yourself and with others. “Know these acts of acceptance will lead to more significant surrenders that will bring unexpected joy and peace to your life.” The ability to love and be loved is when we are being our most authentic selves.

Kindness creates peace, as the author so beautifully states. She also mentions how growth and healing are fluid processes, rather than being competitive in nature. “I promised right then and there to reserve ‘best ever’ status to recipes, not humans”. I also took away her words that “Someone else’s opinion is not my truth”. Words to live by.  I was also blown by the realisation that other people’s disappointments in me need not shatter my own peace and my own life. I feel that this may be a very powerful way of moving forward in my own life. She states “There’s no peace worth keeping if it requires me to betray myself and what I hold most dear.”  We have to be okay with other people’s disappointments in us. In fact, should this happen to me again, I will be using the quote “I am okay with your disappointment in me,” rather than betray a part of myself through sublimation.

Every day our stories are being written. Every day we have an opportunity to show up in our life. This book is not a book about how to be perfect, but rather how to be a perfectly imperfect human being filled with grace and peace, leaning from the stepping stones of our past in order to walk awake and aware into our future. This moment, right now, is what matters most; not yesterday, not tomorrow, but this present moment. It’s the only moment we can truly show up for, in all honesty.

We can all learn how to “walk differently in the world”. Taking steps that are right for us. Connecting with our deep sense of self, who we are, what we will and will not tolerate, what brings us peace and joy. We can make soul-deep connections that nurture and sustain us, rather than upset or drain us. By listening to our self, by being true to who we are, by coming into our own authenticity we can move forward as sovereign beings that make a real difference to the world, simply by showing up and being free.

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Is Nature Indifferent to Us?

I love this Calvin and Hobbes cartoon, by Bill Watterson. It speaks to me on so many different levels, not least of all as a Mother of Cats. But it’s mostly the first part that I’ll be pondering over in this blog post today.

Is nature indifferent to us? Well, perhaps on the whole, yes. Nature could be indifferent to everything. The entirety of nature is such a vast concept, to me it’s like pondering deity, for in my own religious and spiritual view, nature is deity.

However, in my own personal practice, I feel that the gods are not indifferent to us, so where does that leave me with regards to the above? I’m just not sure. Could it be a paradox, that the deities care and don’t care at the same time? That would make them truly similar to cats…

It’s hard to come to terms with the darker aspects of nature, the pain and suffering that exists. Just yesterday there as a fox in the garden, and it looked like s/he had been hit by a car. One of their back legs wasn’t working, and there was definitely trauma to the back leg and hip. The fox had worried all the fur off of the back leg, hip and tail. It was taking respite from the wind in our garden, sheltered as it is by hedges. It also had a nice long drink from our pond.

After a while I went out to see just how badly it was injured. It couldn’t hear me above the wind, and I didn’t want to startle it so I called softly out to it. It turned its head and then quickly stood up. I gave it a quiet wave and it ran on its three legs back through the hole in the hedge and was gone.

I put some food out for it later that day, and will be doing so each night. I fear that the chances that this fox will survive are pretty slim, but at least it won’t die on an empty stomach.

I meditated that night on the suffering that goes on all around us, every second of every day. That poor fox was in lot of pain, but there was nothing I could do about it. Even had I called the Suffolk Wildlife Trust, chances are that by the time they got here the fox would be long gone anyway. I wondered at how such a thing could happen, could be “allowed” to happen to a beautiful creature as this fox. Tears flowed as I struggled with the suffering of so many lives right now.

People are in the hospital, wars are going on, wild animals are being hit by cars, the oceans and rivers are full of raw sewage and plastic – I could go on and on. It sure seems like the majority of humans today are indifferent to nature, so why shouldn’t nature be indifferent to us?

But nature hasn’t been indifferent to me. I have had wonderful experiences of true connection. I understand how we are all part of this one, great whole. I just wish that others could understand this, in order to save ourselves from our own self-destruction, and the widespread destruction of nature all around us.

But nature is also indifferent. The wind blows whether we like it or not. We have no say in earthquakes, sunshine or rain. Perhaps this is not indifference, but our own inability to see the bigger picture, the whole. 

I am not offended by the seeming indifference nature has for us. Rather, I see it as an opportunity to show nature how much I really care. I aim to live in this world as best I can, with as much sympathy, empathy and compassion as I am able to give. I seek to be a contributing, functioning member of my own local ecosystem, and thereby a part of the wider world too.

Maybe nature really is like a cat. Sometimes it appears indifferent, and other times we can feel the genuine affection that it has for us, if only we are sensitive enough to feel it and open enough to accept it.

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Whispers of the Moon

I’ve been a fan of Enya for over 30 years. I wrote this song for her, filled with the images of water which her music invokes in me whenever I hear it.
I had a 45 minute window to shoot this video, before I lost the light. It was cold, already at 0-C and falling quickly. The clouds cleared a half hour beforehand, and I was so delighted to see the full moon rising from the receding clouds on the eastern horizon over the North Sea. It was pure magic.
Blessings of the Moon to you all. xoxo
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I have a new course: An Introduction to Freya

I am offering a new course! An Introduction to Freya: Goddess of Life, Sovereignty and Magic.

For more information, please visit my website at joannavanderhoeven.com.

If you are interested, please email me at vanderhoevenjoanna@gmail.com.

‘Freyja and the Necklace’, 1890. Freya. Illustration from “Teutonic Myths and Legends” by Donald A Mackenzie, 1890.
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New Interview!

Last week I was interviewed by Pagan for my new book, the Path of the Hedgewitch. The podcast is now available, so please go on and have a listen, and check out all the other great stuff on there too!

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Looking Back, Looking Ahead

Well, happy new year! 2022 was a very busy year, and things don’t look like they’re slowing down anytime soon. Sadly, we ended the year with the loss of a very dear family member on the Winter Solstice, which was utterly heartbreaking. It really brought into focus the time of year, and how the seeming “death” all around us in the heart of winter here in the UK is not just an abstract concept, but something very real, very visceral and which changes lives forever.

Yet the cycle continues, and even in these dark days I can notice the longer daylight hours, the difference in the birds’ song in the mornings, the buds slumbering on the tree branches and the beginnings of snowdrops. There is always hope, if we just know where to look.

This year will be a year of writing for me. I already have this blog, and I write for my community at Patreon, but I am also starting my new book: a follow-up to The Path of the Hedge Witch, which came out in October 2022. I’m excited about writing again, after over a year of editing, fine tuning, marketing and all the other bits and pieces that come with releasing a book. It’s nice to get stuck into a new project!

I’ve still also got my YouTube channel, however I think I will only be posting about one video a month there, as my time will be devoted first and foremost to my writing this year. It’s been a wonderful experience working with the medium of video, and I thoroughly enjoy it.

My own personal practice continues, both as a Druid and a Hedge Witch. With regards to teaching, we had a great time at the Introduction to Wicca and Witchcraft sessions in Woodbridge, Suffolk last autumn. It was nice to teach in-person again, locally too! The Introduction to Druidry online course is going well, and I also offered an Introduction to the Goddess, Freya on my Patreon community last autumn, which was well received. I may make that course more widely available this year, so keep an eye out for it here and on my website.

This year for me, personally, I am focusing on deepening my relationship even further with the gods, and also my connection to the land where I live. I’ve always felt like my heart has been in two places at once, having grown up in Canada but moved to the UK in the late 90’s. I need to carve out more time from my busy schedule to commune with the land and its inhabitants. I also need to re-establish a daily meditation practice, as that slipped away bit by bit last year. A daily practice of communion with the gods through prayer and meditation is always a good thing. I’ve also made a little space for my house wight next to the hearth, and hope that they like it – I’ll keep you posted!

Our garden still has its regular visitors, day and night. The muntjac deer always come round late afternoon for tea (bird seed and peanuts), the magpies tagging along as well as the ubiquitous pigeons. We also have collared doves, the occasional small group of fallow deer, jackdaws, crows, hedgehogs, pheasants, owls, badgers and various neighbouring cats each day. Yesterday I even spied a falcon, most likely a young kestrel, sitting deep in the branches of a massive ash tree on a neighbouring property behind my hedge. Wonderful!

I spent the winter holiday period with my family in Canada, and it was so good to see and be in the snow again. It’s been five years since I’ve experienced snow like that, and the colours, the sounds, the smells were all just such a joy. I adore snow, but we don’t get much, if any at all, here on the Suffolk coast, and so I was delighted when the plane landed in a blizzard. We had several feet of snow over the holidays, and when I left we were flying through yet another snowstorm. Great for outdoor lovers of winter activities in Quebec!

I hope that this year brings you joy and abundance, peace and lots of good will. May your words be kind, your thoughts be clear and your voice be strong. Blessings to you!