This is a new tradition that I am starting – to watch the absolutely gorgeous and stunning artwork of The Secret of Kells every year at this tide. If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it, not just for the beautiful animation but the story as well. My favourite animation film by far.
Blessings of the season,
Jo. x
So, I’m strapping on my snowshoes, minding my own business, when I feel something beside me and see a brownish blur out of the corner of my eye. I think, “Someone’s dog is around from the car park.” I finish doing up one shoe and reach over for the other one, looking up – right into the face of a white-tailed deer. Astounded, I look the other way and there’s another one. And another one. Four suddenly surrounded us, four stealthy ninja deer who came out of nowhere and figured that they outnumbered us, so it should be okay. I had some sunflower seeds in my pocket for the chickadees, which they soon munched up straight from my hand. An absolutely wonderful, magical moment… as quickly as they arrived, they left, silently melting back into the woods. Did I mention that I had been praying to Elen of the Ways every morning? We had a wonderful two days of snowshoeing after that.
Looking for some guidance today, and came across this lovely post by Snowhawke… x
A thoughtful commenter asked the following in response to my previous post:
“Can we become that which is truly authentic, with grace? In other words, what if it is WE who are in the act of *becoming*? How can that evolutionary journey be understood as something sacred?”
This is a perfectly poignant question that speaks to the crux living a spiritual life. I love the phrasing “become that which is truly authentic, with grace?” Grace in the dynamism of life is a real challenge, but that is certainly the goal. We are human and the process of becoming authentic is one of figuring out who we are on a soul level. Since we always live in the field of time, this always involves dualities. Duality implicitly implies relationship. And relationships (especially human to human) are almost always sticky :>)
That said, from my experience Druidry gives us the tools to…
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Lately I’ve been getting pretty good at flying.
Once a month, or every couple of months, I have a flying dream. Lately they’ve been intentional, as just before I fall asleep, or when I awaken into another sleeping pattern in the middle of the night or early morning, I say to myself “I really fancy another flying dream”. Starting to take control of your dreams is often termed “lucid dreaming”, usually best experienced in lighter stages of sleep than in deep or exhausted sleep. I’ve done this various times, to turn around dreams that have gotten out of hand, situations that are getting ugly, and lately in order to experience true joy and freedom.
My last flying dream a couple of days ago was very interesting. In the previous flying dream, I restricted myself to an abandoned house that my sister was going to buy, so that I could practice flying without anyone knowing. For some reason, it was important to keep this a secret, and not let anyone know of my special power. In the latest dream, I took it outside, and didn’t really care who saw me flying around. It was freedom in every sense.
Feeling a bit homesick, I decided to go and visit my childhood home in flight mode, and then I was flying up my parents’ street, seeing the house and the hills and miles of forest behind. I thought “Wouldn’t it be cool to see my hills and forest from the air? I’ve never seen them from that vantage point. It would be great to see home from a bird’s eye view.” I swooped past the house and rose up high into the air, past the ridge letting the vast expanse opened out before me.
Only it wasn’t home. Or at least, it wasn’t the home of my childhood.
Spreading out before me was the gently rolling hills, fields, hedgerows and landscape of England. I shook my head and went back down for another swoosh up, telling myself that this time I would see home. Again, the same thing happened.
I slowly came out of the dream, exhilarated by all that flying. But I pondered the meaning of my semi-lucid state. I wasn’t able to see what I wanted to see. Or was I?
I have lived in Britain for over 15 years now. This dream has confirmed that this is my home now. While a large part of me will always remain in the hills and valleys, rivers and lakes of my home where I grew up, this is where I do my work, live my life, work with the ancestors and the gods. It was a beautiful affirmation of home, and freedom.
In what I suppose became a semi-lucid state, my sub-conscious helped me to realise and take to heart something that I had only considered in my head. Now I was able to feel it wholly, truly, in my entire being. I feel lucky and blessed.
May you all fly free!
Look who is at Number 1 – AND Number 5! Thank you all so much for your support. There just aren’t any words right now, my heart is so full. Big love to you all. xoxo
This morning I came in to the good news that my latest book, The Awen Alone: Walking the Path of the Solitary Druid is currently rated 3,888th out of over 400,000 UK titles on Kindle in the book’s first 4 days of being released. This is an amazing achievement for me and for my publishing company as it puts the book currently in the top 1% of all Kindle UK sellers, and we are so thankful to you all for your support.
This book would never have happened were it not for this blog, and the lovely supporters whose kind messages have always inspired me to write more, to share my personal experience and awen.
Thank you, thank you, thank you, from the very depths of my heart. Big love to you all.
Jo. x
Note: As of 4.20pm today Amazon have switched back to Pre-Order mode, but don’t worry, it will be back ASAP – must be a glitch in their system that they’re working out!
Just back from a truly beautiful experience – a guided walk around Staverton Thicks (ancient oak woodland in Suffolk, with trees over 1,000 years old) and an improvised concert at Butley Priory based on what we saw during the two hour walk. I wish every Sunday could be like this…
Where I live in Suffolk, there are a couple of big herds of fallow deer that gather at this time of year in numbers sometimes over 70 strong. Here’s a couple of shots that I managed to snap off this morning…
I would like to take this opportunity to extend a very warm welcome to the influx of new followers that I’ve had on this site in the last week or so – hello!
Today’s post I would like to hand it over to you, readers old and new, to hear some of your stories. So, what brought you here, what is your passion and inspiration, what is the story of your path? Please comment below!
Blessings to you all, and may we walk together for however long a time down the forest path.
J.x
Down the Forest Path 