Do you sacrifice to the Divine in thanks and gratitude.

Do you make offerings daily to your Deity.

There is much in the modern sphere upon how magic can heal, transform, empower. There is much upon finding strength, harnessing skills, gatherings of study and learning, all in the face of Goddess. But, does there need to be more actual devotion to our Goddess and Gods? More prayer, gratitude, devotion, offering, more worship to the actual deities in which we speak of?

All ancient practices, ceremonies, dances, and song were in show of deep worship, in prayer, in offering, in sacrifice to their Goddess and Gods. Dance was embodied, song too. True, as religious workshop evolved through antiquity and earlier societies, much of it was becoming dissolved in the portrayal for the public, the masses too came to bear witness to these festivities. But the true essence ran risk of being forgotten, and with this, came Patriarchy and the dissolution of the truer nature of workshop and the divine. It became intrinsically linked to power and politics. The same risk runs true in modern societies bringing the same sequence to arrive.

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The key practice to all who follow Goddess should be just this. To follow Her. Where are her displays of worship? Her prayers? Just for Her, without addition to our desires in which are sought. Without seeking gratification, or any other purpose. Without photos of ourselves in ceremony and ritual, without the false narrative of ‘seeming to be’ rather than actually just ‘be-ing’

To sacrifice to the divine in thanks, love and gratitude.

To make offering daily to your Deity, through ritual, food, drink, song, prayer, gift.

To show respect, care, love for the earth, the nature, plants and animals close to us. To offer in worship to the landscape.

But what of how she appears in the face of her goddess?

In the face of her divine?

Remember the worship, the practice of honour, of prayer?

Those intimate moments between only you and Her?

Remember those times when you are in solace, in lament, in vow, in love, in grief, in passion, in ….

…..devotion. The silent moment between you and Her. The actions you show Her that you are faithful to Her. That you are in actual fact a Priestess to the Goddess, a Priestess to her light. The light you follow. Not the lamp that guides.

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This is the true light in your moment to Her. This is the sacredness and the truth.

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Where you once listened to the rain as it fell upon the land.

And caught it with your hand.

Saw it form a river, and dissolve into the sand?

As it trickled through the earth,

Nourishing the ancestors before their rebirth.

Seeping through the cracks

As you sit above the earthly black?

Have you ever laid to rest

In the forest, the tree you like best?

Feeling the strength and support of the ground

The stable core, the honourable mound.

The mossy floor, and dew drops that wash you,

The lichen rocks and the bark that sees.

The woods, the trees, that hold memories.

Have you ever danced so free,

That only goddess and god could see?

And as you swirled and span around,

You spoke her word and uttered her sound.

Through the veils of silk, of cord and milk.

Dancing creation, birth and bliss

The enrapture of arms in sacred kiss?

And have you ever walked along

Singing the words of your favoured song?

Loving yourself the way you should do,

Being with truth in all you are too?

Walk back to the cave, the forests, be brave.

Your dance is waiting to be spun off w

Along the path that has already begun.’

Words-my own.

Art - wolf moon goddess by Carol Cavalaris

In the land of Avalon, the wheel honours the element of water as Litha approaches. Here I share some messages from Mother of waters, as her Priestess of many life times. Her the words of Domnu, ancient queen who resideth before the lands where formed.

Close your eyes and let the words swim in you and float endlessly upon the rhythmic waters of her world.

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And search my soul.

I will meet with the fae folk

Upon my stroll.

I will sit and share

Speak of my despair

Speak of my dreams and visions and care.

The leaves will blow and the trees will rustle,

And the fae will whisper and they gather and hustle

Around my feet.

I will lay amongst the fungi and breathe in their earthy scent.

I will press my ear to the earth

And listen to her descent.

For I will walk with the earth today,

Listening to her gifts along my way

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A poem speaks to me:

Oh to see a maid so fair

Oh what joy, beyond compare.

Scattering her white flowers through the myst

Transforming doubt, with the lovers kiss.

You are she, and blessed so

Owlen parts the veil and so I go,

Guiding my heart, to walk the track through

All doubts and fears, which were never true.

Carry my vision as you fly and glow

Golden wheel sweet love and kiss,

Fertility of the land, flower path twists

Your seat at the hawthorn

Our sacred bliss.

Poem and images my own.🌸

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Notes: When we explore into the ancient stories and legends of hawthorn, we also learn about the ancient Welsh Goddess Olwen (pronounced O-loon), the Flower and Sun Goddess. Her name means ‘Golden Wheel’ and she emerges at May Day and was known as the ‘Lady of the White Tracks’ because she left a trail of white flowers within each footstep, bringing the flowers and new growth of Spring.

In the myth and legend, Culwch ac Olwen, Olwen’s father, the Chief Giant Yspaddaden Penkawr( Giant Hawthorn Tree) set a series of 39 obstacles for her love, Culwch, to complete in order to marry her because he did not want to relinquish his power knowing her marriage would bring his death. Culwch did successfully complete all of the tasks, with the help of his cousin, King Arthur, in time to marry Olwen on May Day.

Olwen embodies and awakens the motivating force within us to heal the wounds of violence, aggression and rivalry. With her awakened within us, we stitch and weave a new, more loving world. We call upon Olwen to support us in overcoming obstacles in our lives, to walk with us in through the threshold of one way of being to another and have the courage within to move forward in a new way.

A great link to Hawthorn lore: http://www.ecoenchantments.co.uk/myogham_hawthornpage.h

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#beltane #hawthorn #trees #olwen #elenoftheways #beltaneritual #beltaneblessings #mayqueen #mayday #nature #naturelovers #goddess #magicpath

I honour my life

As I bathe before you

In silvery light.

The mists of water

Wrap around

And all I hear is white beauty abound.

I am priestess of goddess

A priestess of life.

I honour my life

My priestess life.

I’m the water night

The moon in the sea

Wrapped in the earths moist mist, mystery.

I watch you glow

And I sway too and fro.

I am thank-full, lunar full

Filled with life.

I breathe in your gift

I am wrapped in your mist.

I dance free in your garden

Held in your bliss.

And as I dance by lunar light

Priestess before me and ancestral sight

We share the star dust in our bones.

She of the silvery light and blue

Reigning in the sea of sky

She who knows mystery true,

In hidden soul of my eye.

Sailing your moon boat

Guiding my foot

You who are the portal of boundaries

Selas of the dark and hidden

Selas of the silvery light

Light of the eye, night goddess of the sky.

You who watch us in the dark

Guiding us,  ethereal chariot Selene.

You, all knowing, all seeing

Guide my path,

Through darkness and light

Know I am your priestess

I am your guiding light.

( note: The name "Selene" is derived from the Greek noun selas (σέλας), meaning "light, brightness, gleam". In the Doric and Aeolic dialects, her name was also spelled Σελάνα (Selána) and Σελάννα (Selánna) respectively.)

Festival of fertility, festival of expectation and feast of life. (Bel-‘bright, white, beneficent and goodly’. Taine-in feminine form means ‘solar fire’. (Jones, 2001))

The celebration of fertility and rampant potency of the life-force. All of nature is growing and manifesting now in the wild whirl of creative energy. This is the time to celebrate unions of all kinds, fertility and manifestations on many different levels, love, sexuality and fruitfulness. It is a time to be in touch with the instinctive wild forces within and without, to be aware of the potency of the life force and its power on the physical, spiritual and mystical levels.

In the Celtic pagan past, it was the night of the ‘greenwood marriage’ where the union between the Horned God and the fertile Goddess was re-enacted by the men and the women to ensure fertility of the land. It was a night to spend in the woods, to make love under the trees, stay up all night, watch the sunrise and bathe in the early morning dew. On this night, people walker the mazes and labyrinths and sat all night by the sacred wells and healing springs whose waters were said to be especially potent at this time. This was the ‘merry month’ when people dressed in green in honour of the Earth’s new spring colours and the faerie folk, elementals and nature spirits who are easier to meet at this time.

May Day celebrations include dancing around the maypole, symbolizing the interweaving of the male and female energies. This creates a web of energy in a living matrix of power

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There are particular Goddesses of British mythology who particularly express the qualities of the Goddess as lover at the the Beltane fires.

Rhiannon-

The Goddess who rides her white mare across the sky, and through the veils of this world and the land of the fae is Rhiannon. A free and powerful spirit of womanhood. She knows the power of love and the power of her own sexuality. She too is transformed by the union, becoming grain mother, carrying the fruit of their union.

She is also known as Rigantona the Great Queen and as Epona the White Mare.

The goddess of love, the springtime blossoms, the sexual awakening and flowering of nature. She opens herself to life so the sap rises in the plants and trees. Her colour is red, the red of life blood, menstruation, fertility and sexuality.

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Rider between the worlds- Goddess of the tri-via, the intersection between the worlds. She guides us through gateways, transforming us, inviting us to evolve, change and heal. Think about how Rhiannon could help be a guide for you and how she may help you to heal and transform.  Gateways are the places where the veils are thinner, proving opportunity for connection and transformation, insight and wisdom through journeying.

Stories in folklore that surround Rhiannon are those of love between the Goddess and human beings.  Underlying these stories is an ancient initiation in to the Mysteries of Goddess through love, through falling in love with and surrendering to the Goddess in the form of a beloved woman. Like the wild mare, she is powerful, instinctual and untamable, responding only to love.

How do you express love to others and yourself?  How do you see love in nature? How do you see Goddess in nature at this time of year?

Where might we find gateways, opportunities, openings and how may they help you?

Blodeuwedd the flower Goddess-

Created and formed from nine blossoms-flower face.

In myth-the welsh Mabinogion- she was conjured up by the magician Gwydion as a partner for Llew Llaw Gyffes who falls in love the moment he sees her. In short, she falls in love with someone else and plots to kill Llew in order to escape. The remainder of the story involves seeking revenge, and transformation. Gwydion transforms Blodeuwedd in to an owl, believing this to be punishment.

By sifting through the fragments of story of Blodeuwedd we can unlock insights of the true underlying meanings of shirt, changing of the cycles of life, love, death and rebirth. The story also demonstrates how patriarchy retells these stories and tries to eliminate feminine power. (The story can be found in Robert graves’ The white Goddess)

At Beltane, Blodeuwedd encourages us to love her in her flowering beauty and at Samhain she enjoins us to honour her Owl’s wisdom.

Can you see the polarities at this time of year? Can you see the gateway for love can also be the gateway to release and let go?

Can you think of stories, myths and folktales and consider how they may have been retold?

Olwen of the white tracks-

Her name means ‘golden wheel’- the opposite is Arianrhod of the Silver wheel.

The goddess of love. She if free and untamable. Leaving a white trail of trefoil blossom where she walks. Her trails are also reflected in the stars in the heavens. She is the may queen.

She offers help when completing difficult tasks, for transformation when the seeds you have nurtured in the dark are ripe for quickening, for the courage to move forward in a new way.

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Elen of the ways-

The protector of all travelers. She is who guides us on the paths of change.  Moving through the darkness to find the dawn. She embodies the cycles of change and flow.

She is elusive, shimmering, changeable.

This about the cycle of the seasons and where we are on this cycle at Beltane. What can we do now to enrich our lives for the rest of the season to bring about a beautiful and bountiful harvest at Mabon?

Symbols of goddess at Beltane: White mare, small birds, flowers, owl, blossom, mirrors-reflections, labyrinths, hawthorn tree.

Energies of Beltane: merriment, love, passion, fertility, doorways, opportunities.

Is to be with you

To sit with the tree

To sit in time and feel all that is.

And all that has ever been, run through my fingers, weave through the winds and scatter within the stars.

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The be one with nature is to

Lay with you.

Feel the grass cloak me and the sun and moon alight my skin.

The dew from the magics of the night

Lay bare my emotion in each drop upon a branch

And let crystals fall from my fingertips into your earth.

To be one in nature

Is to know i am one with you.

Linked to all that is, has been or will be.

To breathe

The beat of my heart,

The pulse of my rhythm,

The elixir of my word,

The hold of my gaze.

For we each are in union, sacred of love

In devotion & connection to you.

To all. To one.

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The MOON

“Look at her wings

As She reaches out to you

And you to Her

The call, the fate, the destiny

Dreams weave, rainbows shimmer

And the halo of heavens shall appear.

As she rocks the shore, she rocks you too

In a lullaby of magic

The white illumined path

Stepping forth upon the waters

Ascending her silken stairway

Into the realm of mystery

She holds you and embraces you

Transfixed, mesmerized, in love

Devotion

Magic

Bliss and eternal beauty

We share the path way walked by ancient feet

Over ancient lands

In love

Diana, queen of the heavens and guided of my heart.

Notes of Insight into the path less trodden.

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There is a place in memory, mind, stone and grit.

There are paths which tell of the stories and lore,

Of magic

Or practicum of the Arte.

A poetic description was given by Andrew D. Chumbley from the same Old Craft tradition, who said: 'The Traditional Craft is the nameless Way of the Arte Magical. It is the Path of Wytcha, the hearts calling of avocation to Cunning Man and Wise Woman; it is the Hidden Circle of Initiates constituting the Living Body of the Elder Faith. Its Ritual is the Sabbat of Dream-made flesh, below the feet of those who tread the crooked track of Elphame [the realm of Faerie].

So what of the Faerie? Some may chuckle at the thought of ‘Peter Pan’ at Childs play, at fiction?

Or is this patriarchal noise once again, pulling through veils of religious superstition and fear of the strength and potency the connection to the Faerie offers.

Faerie represents Power, magical power, incomprehensible to humans, and hence, inimical. It must always be remembered that though the world of Faeire is to a large extent dependent on humans, faeries are alien creatures with values and ethics far removed from mankind; they do not think, and most notably they do not feel, the way that humans do. The energies and Fae must be respected and treated with such regards. For they are potent forces of their energetic realm of element.

“Energies of the fae

Guiding the path of May

Love, passion, dance and song

Spinning magic all the days long.

For which the time of day doth spin

Fae of the woodland let me in.

Let me fly where the sun tints haze

The skies are silver and the grasses blaze…

With golden lights and sparkling presence

The dance of the fae

The magic of the May

Queen of the May.      She is coming…”

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The origin of witchcraft

Insight by Uncovering the fae- old traditions-

By leering into the way we worked with the fae and how do we can reconnect and deepen our practices through old ways and traditions, we can gain insight into the old ways. Over the posts here I hope to share a little of this with you. So walk with me a while, upon the tracks of white into the woodland glens. The mossy tunnels, and hidden pathways. Let’s alight your pathway in to a little mystery….

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Magic words to offer in your practice, devotion and work- may She her abundance and love, always fill your cup, and you Hers.

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The hill had no name, though the sheep knew it and the owls kept its secrets. On the night when the silver wheel rose fat, patient and eternal over the hedgerows, we climbed it in silence, pockets full of nothing, hands open to the cold.

Mist lay in the hollows like forgotten breath. Above us the Moon—no distant coin, but a watching face—tilted her light across the frost-stiff grass. We marked the circle not with chalk or blade, but with memory: the place where grief had been buried, the place where laughter had broken, unions made, the place where we had once stood and wished to be remade.

“Come down,” we whispered, though it was not command but invitation.

“Come down into bone and blood, into salt and story.”

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The air grew thick as milk. Every sound—an owl’s wing, the far bark of a fox, the small click of a beetle in the dark—seemed to ring inside the ribs. Someone began to hum, low and wavering, a thread for the light to follow.

And she did…

Not as a woman robed in pearl, not as any shape the eye could hold, but as a pressure of brightness behind the sternum, a tide pulling inward. The frost on the grass became a field of tiny mirrors. Our shadows pooled together and vanished. Breath left us in clouds that shone.

We were no longer asking.

We were vessels.

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The Moon poured through the crown of the skull like cool water through a cracked cup. She filled the hollows where fear had nested. She silvered the scars we carried like maps. In that brightness we saw our smallness and our vastness braided together: marrow and meteor, pulse and orbit.

One of us wept. One of us laughed. One of us stood utterly still, eyes reflecting a sky that had no end. There eternity is felt. Here the mysteries of She and all that is gifted in a kiss of vapour from her radiance. She illumines mind, body, soul…

Time loosened. The hill turned slowly beneath us, or perhaps we turned within it, roots growing from our feet into the dark soil, drinking the same light that fed the tides and the sap and the sleep of seeds.

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“Stay,” someone breathed.

But the Moon does not stay. She descends and withdraws, a guest who leaves gifts you cannot see until morning: a steadier heartbeat, a courage like a hidden coin, the memory of being more than singular, a bewitched spark in ones eye, and the glimmer of silvery glow imbued in the skin- the container of the waters she guides within.

The brightness thinned. The frost returned to frost. The owl’s wing was only a wing again.

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We stood in the circle of our own footprints, ordinary as stones, yet not. Each of us carried a small, secret glow behind the ribs, a tide-mark left by silver water.

And when we walked down the nameless hill, the hedgerows seemed to bow, and every puddle held a fragment of sky, as if the Moon—having once been welcomed into our bodies—had learned the paths we take home.

I sat outside once more before i go to my dream world.

I sit and I watch.

The black pools mirroring the milky eternal before me.

The forest sits and I with Her.

Lo’ the moon grants my vision, heralding Her magic.

And I weave the tapestry before me

Imbuing her silvery thread.

As she lulls me in her guidance

I see the pathway alight.

And the spirits dance

And the wheel spins

And the black pool swirls

As do I, in moon dance.’

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A little ancient history about the expression and creation of jewellery, make up and art upon the body.

Jewellery seems to have played a significant role in ornamentation of prehistoric bodies. The diversity of the ornamentation is enough to make your head spin. Archaeologists have found rows of shells to be worn on various parts of the body, rings, mammoth-ivory bracelets and even possibly earrings. At least this is what is suggested by a split bear tooth discovered near the ear of a skeleton excavated at Baousso da Torre II. The Barma Grande excavated rows of prehistoric beads, found around the neck, and the Lady of Cavillon, buried 24,000 year ago was found wearing an anklet of shells around her calf. Pigments were also added to the shells, and beads creating diverse ranges of ornamentation and jewellery.

Magnificent pendants were also created. Craftspeople engraved geometric patterns on stone disks, and they also sculpted three dimensional elements-in an almost cubist style.

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Prehistoric people would also beautify their skin, applying ochre pigments, ranging from crimson red to sunshine yellow. ‘The oldest traces of ochre use in Africa date back 300,000 years. But in the upper Palaeolithic, this use seems to be once more complex. It achieves several kinds of objective…Used on cave walls, Ochre is an element in artistic creativity, but it also plays a role in the daily lives of individuals.’

Used on the Venus sculptures of Renancourt, Ochre also protects the skin against the sun and insect bites. Very specific use of ochre was found in Porc-Epic cave in Ethiopia. They found sticks with several facets produced using different grindstones. Some of them yielded just a few milligrams of powder. So prehistoric people produced small quantities of ochre, compatible with symbolic use, such as drawing lines on the face. This finding demonstrates the great lengths and effort entire groups would go to to acquire this for such purpose. In the upper Palaeolithic, the selection of rocks to make pigments was very exact, chosen for their specific and particular size suited for crushing, would mean people would sometimes need to travel 50 kilometres from their home in order to find them- more than a days walk away, showing the importance of such acquisition.

Groups sent out on such expeditions to stock up on supplies, established long distance trading networks with other tribes and groups for exotic materials.

Decades of trial and error and the transmission of knowledge was necessary in order to master the composition of pigments too. Indeed it was not enough to crush haematite rich rocks to obtain the material to paint your body or create works of art. Pigment-making is a technical feat that demand knowledge of how to mix several minerals. Different varieties of colour are also going to have meaning. The body is transformed into a symbol, just as in the case of personal ornaments. The use of different type of ochre might relate to a particular status or rite of passage (from childhood to adulthood, spiritual leader, a funeral rite, herbalist etc.) the skin is a blank canvas that ancient artists and our creativity and artistry today uses to beautify and demonstrate our forms of expression.

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The ancient Egyptians regarded beauty as a sign of holiness. Everything they used had a spiritual aspect to it, including cosmetics. Both men and women wore makeup. Traders traded makeup often, especially in the upper classes. In tombs, Cosmetic palettes were found buried in gold with the deceased as grave goods, which further emphasized the idea that cosmetics were not only used for aesthetic purposes but rather magical and religious purposes.

Our bodies are our temples, and our expressions of our magic and our soul in which we connect through the use of earths apothecary and nature.

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(Source: Lady Sapiens. Breaking stereotypes about prehistoric women, 2021)

Images: Himba women mixing ochres- https://www.imago-images.de/fotos-bilder/himba-women

Image- upper Palaeolithic necklace.)

To be Aphrodite

Is to embody the presence of love

It’s to replicate the orgasmic nature of her

And share this with all

To be the orgasm

To be the love

To be her bliss

To create the foamy waters of love

To temple her bliss to others

The matriarch brings the foam to the inner orgasm

The orgasm to her nature within

She is contented and loving

The maiden express does the sexual nature to all

The cycle of the orgasm

The build, the peak

The ebb, the flow

The rise and fall

Like my ocean.

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Aphrodite has two distinct, ancestral pedigrees well, both accounts make clear that the ancient Greeks associated Aphrodite with the realms of the sky and sea. In one early accounts, Aphrodite is shown to be born directly from the maimed body of Ouranos, the primordial Greek, God of the sky, and the most basic personification of the heavens. When his Severed genitals are thrown into the sea Aphrodite, arises out of the foamy waters into the bright air that by linking the aquatic and celestial domains.

In the theogony 188-206 by Hesiod, written in the eighth or seventh century BCE, ‘the genitalia themselves freshly cooked with Flint were thrown clear on the mainland into the restless white cat. Say they floated a long time, a white foam from the Godflesh collected around them, and in the foam, a maiden developed in grew search protest approach. The land was near, holy Cassera, and from there, she floated on the island of cuprous Cypress that she came ashore, an awesome, divine divinity, beautiful, tender grass around it up under her slender seat. She was ‘Leukos aphros’ the white foam.

Aphrodite is her name in speech human undivine, since it was in the foam she was nourished. But she is also called Kytheria since she reached Kythera and kyprogenes because she was born on the surf line of kypros.

Eros became a companion and ravishing desire, waited on her at her birth, and when she made her debut among the immortals

From that moment on, among both gods in humans, she has fulfilled the honoured function that includes sweet talk, Lovers’ smiles and the deceit, and all of the gentle pleasures of sex and love.’

Aphrodite is the glorious mystress of all she touches, casting her powerful divine influence of refinement, beauty, and harmony, over a wide array of settings from the smoothing of the seas to the generation of supple grass beneath her feet to the whispered flirtations of sweet, lies told by lovers everywhere.

Her name is ‘Aphros’ or sea foam.

The perpetual foam- journeys to her temple.

The temples of Aphrodite

Priestesses would pleasure one another

Some Priestesses would remain in eternal organismic energy

To perpetuate the state of love and pleasure

The sexual energy whilst pleasuring would provide ways to channel Aphrodite

She would speak through the pleasure and organismic state

The juices would be used for magics,

Priestesses of Aphrodite believed pleasure, and love , desire and lust where keys to her worship.

Creating the perpetual foam through orgasm

Orgasmic waters/fluids very potent and charged.  Can carry channelled energy of goddess.

Ripples of waters, reflect in the yoni, vulva, shell and divine mother form. Religious piety and votive offerings are often depicted in the shape of the vulva, the watery portal to the womb, the inner realms of pleasure and divine magic through union and connection to this sacred space. Of course religion in patriarchy altered this to the divine Virgin Mary, yet continued to contain the same powerful form -this could never be taken away, and so still offered some potency through all depictions of Her.

RECIPE FOR ANOINTED OIL FROM THE TEMPLE OF APHRODITE:

In the lyric poetry of Sappho we see the ceremonial use of frankincense, cinnamon and Myrrh. She further makes many reference to the use of rose too and it’s honouring to Aphrodite and to love. This gives us insight in to archaic and Classical Greek ceremonial practices.

I have created an oil blend using these four oils. I wear them for certain ritual and remember ancient lines.

The blend is strong and not the most ‘pretty’. It uses spices and herds available at the time. I would advise playing around yourself with the ratio of each oil to fulfil and blend which aligns to your senses.

Use in oil burners to fill the sacred space you are working, or create a massage oil and work this in with intention as you bathe one’s skin in the sacredness of her oil. And here again we see the connection to water-oil and air-scent- scent-uality. :-)

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Patrica was retired at this point from ‘active’ work in coven, but nonetheless she was the elder and High priestess over seeing our coven stead. I would visit regularly, share a tea, learn and share in the arts of magic. She was very fond of astrology and tarot and we would share readings. I remember the first time she asked me to read the cards for her. I was nervous and worried if Iwouldn’’t be any good. Despite the fact I have had a long life affair with the tarot. Picking up my father’s tarot deck at the age of 3 and laying them all out before me. Much to his lack of enthusiasm for this, he allowed me, and so began my intrigue, love for the symbolism, colours and portals that they offered. Needless to say, Pat seemed content in my reading, and together we discussed the suits, the cards and the magics within further.

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Patricia really valued the importance of astrology and the blueprint goddess gifted us through into this world. We discussed the Zodiac Experience- book she had written, at length. I typed up the book for her into a larger font to facilitate her making this in to the online YouTube spoken version, available still today.

As a Priestess of the craft, we work in devotion and reverence in order to serve Her- The Great Goddess. Service and respect offer much in life and this was something I felt both from my own work, but Patricia’s in particular. She was always so willing to spend time, sharing gifting experience, teaching, education, writing, sharing- a service and sharing of the baton, the lamp carrying the flame of Goddess.

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Patricia was a beacon of light herself, and her legacy lives on. As High priestess of my Coven, I take tradition and lineage seriously. I seek to know in order always to serve Her- The Great Goddess. May the light of Goddess radiate forth in all ways, permeate the darkness of forgotten times. May our work be a beacon and a bridge. Pulling through the old truths, the undistorted dogma and offer gnostic insight and illumination into being.

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This is where the research leads me to begin my search. Rather than searching goddess embodiment, I search spirit possession. Here I find the language used, even in academic papers, to be negative and fanciful. Using terms ‘so called possession in pre-Christian Greece’, words such as ‘frenzy’, ‘menacing’, ‘terrifying disease’, ‘epilepsy’. All connotations aligned to fear and falsehood. But in order to delve deeper, one must look through and beyond these words, and see the practices that were active throughout history. In itself, one must change the term his-story, to ‘her story’ and there I begin my search.

It is still difficult to find literary and archaeological evidence of embodiment practice in Europe. It’s as though someone wanted to rid all evidence of this empowering, healing and transformative practice…I look to stories, legends, so called myths and scry myself for visions and insights in to ancient practice of oracle and embodiment.

My search takes me to the practices of Afro-Brazilian traditions. I am reminded that in so much historical lineage, we do just that-follow a line of practice and story. One tradition and practice is often linked through travel, time and space to other traditions, names and practices. And so I consider what evidence I have and consider that some of these practices may have been carried through generation, travel, and culture, providing clues to what may have been in other cultures, where history has been lost and silenced…

When we look to ancient history of feminine goddess practice and worship. We observe the connection to the elements, to the land and earth and the female body.

Embodying is also about remembering. Linking and connecting truth. Connecting to the land, our bodies, and the body of goddess.

We can find Celtic insight through treasures of story of prophecy and oracle, seership and embodiment through the stories told. The Mabinogion and the magical tribe of Tuatha Dé Danann.

The Celtic Morrigan triple named, Mighty Queen, Babd, and Macha. The Three Fates, The Greek Moirai, Clotho (Spinner), Lachesis (Allotter), and Atropos (Inflexible), The Roman Parcae, The Norse Norns- All Sisters, spinners, weavers of prophecy, destiny and fate. The three sisters, through time and space who determine the stories woven, to weave and to be.

Their associations to the wheel, the thread, the crow, shape shifting, transformative and magical properties of prophecy and knowledge. It directs me to observe the prophetic and gifted aspect of embodiment in all Goddess aspect and nature. It shows me, one can embody Goddess and work with her through her many facets and qualities, to which we can offer through embodiment practice.

These ancient stories, gift us insight into the practices of shapeshifting, embodiment and oracling.

I look to the Goddesses of prophecy, destiny and seership. I consider their associations and symbols. These are clues to the practices and methods aligned to their practice and connection to this work.

The Morrigan-Destiny, . Theia-goddess of sight and the shining ether of the bright, blue sky. Queen Maeve, Queen Medb-She who intoxicates-Mead woman. Brigit, Bridhig-The High One. Breo-Saighit-The Fiery Arrow. Ikhnaie-tracing and tracking. Hathor-Mother. Nehmetawy-she who embraces those in need. Tiamat-The glistening one. Sophia-Wisdom and sound judgement. Athena-Prophecy, Aphrodite-Ishtar-InAnna -Queen of Heaven and the morning star, visions through love. Sumerian Nina-Prophetess of deities, wisdom and healing. The list goes on and on…. Through these Goddesses I find common alignments to the elements, and in particular to waters and fire. I see into these associations and consider ancient practice of oracling and embodying. I scry for insight and here are my words:

From an oracle of Greece:

“The walls are cool against the intense heat upon its outer surface.

I press myself against the stone. Run my fingers down her.

I look through the small window and see the olive tree in the courtyard, flanked by mountains in the distance.

Somewhere I hear a crow cry as she flies.

I see the ripple of heat upon the golden dusty floor.

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My dark curly hair a fountain upon my back.

In my mind i focus upon the olive crown

I uphold the line in the family.

Yet I feel very alone in my power.

I must walk with my water to the cave.

Past the olive tree and dipped down into the mountain side.

I will sit upon the floor

The black wall behind me, whispering her wisdom from the ancient sounds which make her.

I will gaze in to my waters.

I will see what I am to tell.

I am the vessel

Words and vision will pour from me

In to the hands of my elder ones.

There is such expectation upon this day.

I snake a snake coil, and wither away……

I see the waters black and white ripple.

The visions come and i start to shrivel..

My eyes are sore, i am searching beyond the image.

Diving deep in the ocean of this bowl before me.

An echo in the chamber

Sun ray over me.

My fingers touch to sandy floor, dirt embeds my nails.

I scratch the ground

It makes a sound and i echo this.

The chamber of the cave, she speaks.”

Ancient embodiment

They would come to me for a vision

“I, who sat before the fire

Waters rolling stories down my face,

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Learning to see…

When I was little, I didn’t have many friends, and during summer holidays, when everyone seemed to jet off somewhere to sunnier and warmer climates, my summers were spent often alone with the garden space we had. We lived in a small block of flats, which led out to green lawns with plant and flower borders, and trees encircling the parameter of the boundary of the premises. This became my friend. I would lay on my stomach, the soil and grass holding me. My chin upon the floor and my eyes so close to the tips of the grassy peaked strands. I would look into the world in a whole new way. Daffodils and daisy’s became giant structures from down here. The clump of iris stems were skyscrapers. I watched the little ladybird crawl upwards towards the top in what seemed like a long road to their destination of choice. I tried to think like the big. Where am I going? I could feel my feet as theirs a little bristly and tingly as I moved them onwards, up on the iris stem. Think like the bug- became a natural way to communicate and I enjoyed being and aligning to other energies and beings. It filled me with deeper resonance, but also deep compassion and reverence for all living things.  I laid with my cheeks and eye balls so close to the grassy tufts, I became a piece. Narrow and joined. I felt so stable in my community as our foot was stretched over the entirety of the lawn. Yet I felt frustration as I wanted to grow taller and stand out. Though I realised I wasn’t just one strand, I was the entirely of the grassy carpet.

I would lay and look to the sky, and I’d lift my eyes to look up along the grass too, as the world flipped on its head. Sometimes the grass because a flying carpet and we drifted miles in the realm of imagination, yet stayed in one place.

That first discernment is like being the midwife to the awakening

With words at your disposal, you can see more clearly. Finding the words is another step in learning to see. Permeate through the veil of what we first see, then uncovering a world within worlds, within worlds -looking through a lens, a microscope, night vision, dream, path working. Opening up to the language of senses - hearing images, tasting a thought, feeling a sound, seeing a smell. The expansion and eye opening g moment when we realize we have a much deeper and greater ability to use our senses in much more profound and expletive ways, is a joy and a gift. Suddenly the grey sky, becomes awash with layers of swirling pools of silver threads leading to places. The fabric tapestry converting the forest floor that at first appears as moss of leafy decay, becomes a tangible world of a busy micro world at our feet. If only we slow down. Take moments. Sit, peer in, get down to the level of the leafy carpet. Pull out your macro lens or a magnifying glass and look into the world. At first it may just seem to be awash with green or brown. Then, a shape forms, a bug appears, other unknowns become shapes and forms in front of our eyes, as we learn to adapt and bear witness to them. Soon, the carpets floor of the forest is seem for the bustling world of life it is. Eyes stare back at you from beneath the tiniest of stones.

The world opened up to the world within worlds. Always there, yet only to those who are open to seeing, trusting, accepting…..

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To walk through the woods and truly ‘see’, truly ‘feel’, ‘smell’ and walk with a sense of magic, opens our inter eyes, and guides us in to liminal space and being quite naturally. It may take practice if one if unaccustomed to this. But over time, walking between the worlds becomes second….nature. ;-) Of course it goes without saying, one needs to be cautious, walk with discernment, integrity and keep ones energy space guarded. That’s a different post and one for a different time.

Tuning in…

Whether you prefer to explore the land of nature in the day, light by the sun or silvery clouds, or whether you like a moonlit stroll… tuning into the elemental forces of the fae is always a magic experience. Sit upon the floor, or walk off the beaten track. Let your sense of fun and adventure guide you. Loosen the shackles of the manmade pathways and create your own. Look at the bark upon the tree trunks and search for shapes, an eye perhaps, and then a face!consier the shape the trees branches grow. As they twist and dance up towards the light, how do their arms move? Look to the base of the trunk and the roots… what do you see? Are they as feet? Or perhaps fingers digging into the earth? As one tunes in to one tree, our inner mind may opens to glimpse something more. Or perhaps, you may great the tree with a new found deepening to the being that is the tree. It may be that as you peer in and take time to ‘see’ a little deeper beyond the surface layer, that the forest floor is like a skin, and the tree a little further on draws attention to you and so your gaze moves here. Then the process begins again… Look, see, study- as an active meditation almost becomes more passive…as one slips a little deeper and tunes in to seeing more than just ‘tree’. We begin to see the deeper symbiosis, the alchemical relationships, life, and a world within worlds…

“When I wake

I see the silvery light of the moon calling me

Inviting me to join her

I walk in to the light

In the darkest of night

The trees are decorated with silver

Glistening….

She who becons to dance with the fae the night, in merriment.

Dancing together in the moonlight

veil.

I hear her

She dances.  in her silence.

         In her serenity

                      In her magic.”

A way to walk a little deeper is to tune in to the realm through creativity. .

Take your pencils and a pad out and try the process of tuning in again. This time, witness the shades and shadows that dance upon the paper and begin to sketch a line of two as they appear learning to just ‘see’ and ‘trust’ and go with the ‘natural’ flow. This process, although looks a tad chaotic and without discipline of ‘formal art technique’ is exactly what I’m going for. Moving away from what you feel is ‘expected’ to go on to the paper. Allowing your inner mind to be guided by the roots of you as you connect in symbiosis to the elements you are surround in. Let them guide you. Again, this make take practice, or it may be that something appears quite quickly. The main purpose is to walk the amongst the tracks of fae, and allow them to pull through and connect through a creative channel of magic. And when it does…….! The magic that dances and shapes and shifts upon the page, and you excitedly sketch their presence is a joy and gift beyond anything! The paper becomes a conduit, the bridge marker between the worlds, and the pencil becomes the ferry in which we travel upon.

May you find magic and guidance in these words and a brief description of such practise. May you be guided to deepen your connection to the natural forces that reside and are abundance in everything. And may you go to the woods next with an added twinkle in your eye and a magic spring in your step.

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Yesterday we held a beautiful open ceremony at my covenstead for Imbolc. We made olde traditional recipes for food offerings after, wove a special incense blend, recited poetry and gave deep gratitude to Brighid. The spark of inspiration illuminating our hearts and minds, the welcome of returning light, and the gift of love and healing She bestows. It was beautiful and my heart is full of deep gratitude and love.

I love the ancient feast days that once celebrated the turn of the seasons.  Take the old Celtic spring “feis” (feast or festival) known as Imbolc, Imbolg, or Brigid’s Feast of Fire. It inaugurated the light half of the year, personified as the goddess Brigid, who released the land and waters from winter’s icy grip.

We used the frozen snow kept safe in my freezer, collected fortunate from the last full moon- the wolf moon, at the beginning of January. The melting of the snow in the ceremony, which had been cast with illuminated moon light and held in a container, to be released and blessed in ceremony, held an extra deepening to our magic. Not only is Brighid a triple goddess, but she is also the Lady of the four elements, Fire, Air, Earth and Water. In her aspect of water, Brighid is the Lady of the healing spring. Lady of compassion and healing. She turns no one away who is in need and ready to accept her grace. A beautiful lesson for humanity here too I think…

As lady of Air, she is the inspiration of poetry. As the patroness and muse of poets and writers, teachers and musicians, She blesses us with inspiration, imagination, words, melodies and memory. She midwifes the birth of Consciousness and Awareness and. in Her honour, ancient bards carried a golden branch of tinkling bells and they, along with the bards of today, sing praise poems to Her. 'Bria-thra Brighid' is the incantation by which the poet's mind is rendered prophetic. For the season and the tide of Lustration, brings a time for inner thought, contemplation, rest, and inspiration. We dream up ideas, and choose if we wish to plant these to be a manifestation upon the earth and in our lives. For thoughts- become-things. Brighid, who is midwife of the soul, the quickener and the one who brings thoughts, hopes and dreams therefore into fruition. So when we honour and gift gratitude for the seeds and returning life in the land; we too and gifting the same within our minds and aspirations.

“She who stands at the dawning of creation.

The incarnater

The spark of the star

The quickener of life.

Born through the darkness

Mothering us through the within

Healer, birther, guider of my light.

She who attends to me in my dreams

Speaks the stars in the night

Shares the life within the earth

And the stars are birthed in her light.

The stars are scattered upon the earth, the bells stir, the flowers rise.

She who drapes her mantle o’er the sleepy hills

And stirs us from our sleep.

Arise my love. Arise!

Dawning of the tides.”

As a Lady of Earth, Brighid is a very real woman of flesh and blood and bone, gifted in the arts of brewing ale, the baking of bread, the keeping of the henhouse and dairy house, farming and homemaking, spinning, weaving, the gathering of herbs and crafting of remedies, and the healing of physical ailments. As a woman of Earth, Brighid exemplifies the sacredness of the mundane, reminding us that the activities of the hearth and home are the core, the heart of life. Whatever is nourished in the home is taken out into the word, impacting culture and ecology. If selfishness, disrespect, violence, and other negativities are practised in the home, these are the energies that will flow out into the world. If love and peace, generosity, respect, and other positive energies are nourished, then that home will be a sacred sanc-tuary, creating more sacred space; and the energies that flow from it shall bea blessing to the world. Any and all of us can take the power to create harmony in our dwelling places, thereby contributing to the Greater Harmony.

Our ceremony brought together food offerings inspired by the folklore of “Bright” or “Exalted” one and her Feasting Tables.  Imbued with the power of the sun, butter, cream, and herbs-lavender, lemon and rosemary in particular. These foods ensured Brigid’s blessing of fertility, health, and abundance for the land, water, animals, and the people. We brought in seeds in abundance, the offerings of promise and fertility to our lives, to the land, to the future. We promised to nurture, love and sustain this gifts, knowing these too become part of the feast and a part of what ful-fills us, our lives, our altar-the body and our world-others, the animals and the community. All the while Brighid’s sunlight rays lengthen as the wheel spins toward summer, and the light of her rays, warms ,nourishes and sustains these seeds, growth and spirit.

We also created a special incense just for the ceremony as an offering to. Dedicating herbs and leaves harvested from the last wheels harvest where possible. I will share the recipe here as it was so beautiful. A sweet smell carries with this blend, and the act of creating and making holds deep devotion and we dream our intentions in as we rub, stir and blend.

Incense for blessed Brighid:

Dandelion leafs and flower heads, blackberry leaves, agrimony, meadowsweet, a dash of mugwort, Marigold flowers and leaf,, chamomile, and rubbed in honey from Avalons Apple orchard bees, dragons blood resin, copal resin, orange essence, lavender flowers.

As the Sacred Flame that gives us light and warmth, Brighid dwells in candlelight, hearthlight, and the Sun that rises every day. As a daughter of the Tuatha de Danaan, Brighid is a fairy woman, perceived in sunbeams and moonbeams, starlight, candlelight, and hearthlight, Lady of the Healing Springs. She carries a white birch wand, the Tree of New Beginnings, bestowing renewal and grace wherever She walks.

Whenever it rains and her cloak gets wet, She hangs it on a sunbeam, causing a rainbow in the sky.

She is the Rainbow Bridge between cultures, ages, religions, and states of consciousness. She is adaptable and flexible, changing with the times so that she can always remain with the people.

Brighid and the celebration of Imbolc are a feast for the wholeness and completeness of all. Of life, spirit, joy and potential. Heavily dominated in the elements of AIR, FIRE AND WATER. It is through these we have the ability to bring these wisdoms, passions and seeds of inspiration into the EARTH realm, and make manifest through our intentions and nurturing of the gifts we have in abundance through all that She offers. And this to me is a great understanding and bliss of the season of Imbolc and the feast of Brighid!

I want to wish you all a blessed imbolc!

I love the ancient feast days that once celebrated the turn of the seasons.  Take the old Celtic spring “feis” (feast or festival) known as Imbolc, Imbolg, or Brigid’s Feast of Fire. It inaugurated the light half of the year, personified as the goddess Brigid, who released the land and waters from winter’s icy grip.

We used the frozen snow kept safe in my freezer, collected fortunate from the last full moon- the wolf moon, at the beginning of January. The melting of the snow in the ceremony, which had been cast with illuminated moon light and held in a container, to be released and blessed in ceremony, held an extra deepening to our magic. Not only is Brighid a triple goddess, but she is also the Lady of the four elements, Fire, Air, Earth and Water. In her aspect of water, Brighid is the Lady of the healing spring. Lady of compassion and healing. She turns no one away who is in need and ready to accept her grace. A beautiful lesson fro humanity her too I think…

As lady of Air, she is the inspiration of poetry. As the patroness and muse of poets and writers, teachers and musicians, She blesses us with inspiration, imagination, words, melodies and memory. She midwifes the birth of Consciousness and Awareness and. in Her honour, ancient bards carried a golden branch of tinkling bells and they, along with the bards of today, sing praise poems to Her. 'Bria-thra Brighid' is the incantation by which the poet's mind is rendered prophetic. For the season and the tide of Lustration, brings a time for inner thought, contemplation, rest, and inspiration. We dream up ideas, and choose if we wish to plant these to be a manifestation upon the earth and in our lives. For thoughts- become-things. Brighid, who is midwife of the soul, the quickener and the one who brings thoughts, hopes and dreams therefore into fruition. So when we honour and gift gratitude for the seeds and returning life in the land; we too and gifting the same within our minds and aspirations.

“She who stands at the dawning of creation.

The incarnater

The spark of the star

The quickener of life.

Born through the darkness

Mothering us through the within

Healer, birther, guider of my light.

She who attends to me in my dreams

Speaks the stars in the night

Shares the life within the earth

And the stars are birthed in her light.

The stars are scattered upon the earth, the bells stir, the flowers rise.

She who drapes her mantle o’er the sleepy hills

And stirs us from our sleep.

Arise my love. Arise!

Dawning of the tides.”

As a Lady of Earth, Brighid is a very real woman of flesh and blood and bone, gifted in the arts of brewing ale, the baking of bread, the keeping of the henhouse and dairy house, farming and homemaking, spinning, weaving, the gathering of herbs and crafting of remedies, and the healing of physical ailments. As a woman of Earth, Brighid exemplifies the sacredness of the mundane, reminding us that the activities of the hearth and home are the core, the heart of life. Whatever is nourished in the home is taken out into the word, impacting culture and ecology. If selfishness, disrespect, violence, and other negativities are practised in the home, these are the energies that will flow out into the world. If love and peace, generosity, respect, and other positive energies are nourished, then that home will be a sacred sanc-tuary, creating more sacred space; and the energies that flow from it shall bea blessing to the world. Any and all of us can take the power to create harmony in our dwelling places, thereby contributing to the Greater Harmony.

Our ceremony brought together food offerings inspired by the folklore of “Bright” or “Exalted” one and her Feasting Tables.  Imbued with the power of the sun, butter, cream, and herbs-lavender, lemon and rosemary in particular. These foods ensured Brigid’s blessing of fertility, health, and abundance for the land, water, animals, and the people. We brought in seeds in abundance, the offerings of promise and fertility to our lives, to the land, to the future. We promised to nurture, love and sustain this gifts, knowing these too become part of the feast and a part of what ful-fills us, our lives, our altar-the body and our world-others, the animals and the community. All the while Brighid’s sunlight rays lengthen as the wheel spins toward summer, and the light of her rays, warms ,nourishes and sustains these seeds, growth and spirit.

We also created a special incense just for the ceremony as an offering to. Dedicating herbs and leaves harvested from the last wheels harvest where possible. I will share the recipe here as it was so beautiful. A sweet smell carries with this blend, and the act of creating and making holds deep devotion and we dream our intentions in as we rub, stir and blend.

Incense for blessed Brighid:

Dandelion leafs and flower heads, blackberry leaves, agrimony, meadowsweet, a dash of mugwort, Marigold flowers and leaf,, chamomile, and rubbed in honey from Avalons Apple orchard bees, dragons blood resin, copal resin, orange essence, lavender flowers.

As the Sacred Flame that gives us light and warmth, Brighid dwells in candlelight, hearthlight, and the Sun that rises every day. As a daughter of the Tuatha de Danaan, Brighid is a fairy woman, perceived in sunbeams and moonbeams, starlight, candlelight, and hearthlight, Lady of the Healing Springs. She carries a white birch wand, the Tree of New Beginnings, bestowing renewal and grace wherever She walks.

Whenever it rains and her cloak gets wet, She hangs it on a sunbeam, causing a rainbow in the sky.

She is the Rainbow Bridge between cultures, ages, religions, and states of consciousness. She is adaptable and flexible, changing with the times so that she can always remain with the people.

Brighid and the celebration of Imbolc are a feast for the wholeness and completeness of all. Of life, spirit, joy and potential. Heavily dominated in the elements of AIR, FIRE AND WATER. It is through these we have the ability to bring these wisdoms, passions and seeds of inspiration into the EARTH realm, and make manifest through our intentions and nurturing of the gifts we have in abundance through all that She offers. And this to me is a great understanding and bliss of the season of Imbolc and the feast of Brighid!

I want to wish you all a blessed imbolc!

As a magic practitioner of craft for the past 25 years, It would seem about time that I shared some of my musings and magics with you all in one place. I often share on other platforms, amongst in the midst of writing some into a book, which will soon be made manifest.

For those who don’t know me, let me introduce myself in brief…I have been Wiccan High Priestess of the Sheffield line for 20 years now. Patricia Crowther was a dear friend and Priestess Elder to our coven. I have now run my own coven for many years, and love the weaving of magic under the light of the silver moon.

My hope here is that you will find inspiration, uncover wisdom, or just walk with me a while, crossing the bridge into the realm of magic. May the journey take you deep into wooded realms yet to be uncovered, or a stir within your ancient soul.

Let us share in the magic rooted in ancient wisdom. Let’s uncover words long forgotten and let’s find inspiration from the deep wells of mystery. As i share my words and poetry with you, know these are often sprung from the incantations of some other place, and some other time. It is for you to take these words, and apply them to your path, your psyche, and uncover how these words of magic may gift you, lift you and where they may lead you. (I would always love to hear from you to, on how their journeys take you.)

My best friends are the trees, and nature and I draw upon my deep and intimate connection to them in my work and creative expression. I am a goddess artist, poet & animist, and I love to connect to the faerie realm . I am an avid student of ancient history and mysticism-these are all my constants and loves in life. I craft with the wisdom of my elders, draw upon pools of knowledge through my craft and weave in spells for inspiration, love and creativity. I teach sacred and shamanic dance, embodiment and esoteric practice. It is my life and passion and I wish to share the bridge between the worlds with others. In hope to inspire, heal and educate the magic which lives all around us.

I look forward to sharing the magic with you.

Blessings xx

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