The Start of a New Decade
February 2, 2010
A PARTIAL LUNAR ECLIPSE HERALDS THE START OF A NEW , DECADE
And what an auspicious beginning, the 13th full moon of the year arose for the last time in 2009 to a partial lunar eclipse. How amazing is all this, a real time of change where major shifts take place both personally and globally.
This Moon, second one in the month of December is actually called a Blue moon, it happens approx once every three years, hence the saying some say “once in a blue moon”. On her journey through the cosmos she passes through the constellation of Cancer and the Sun will be moving opposite the Moon through the constellation of Capricorn. As you know, we tend to be more emotionally expressive during a Full Moon. This emotional and sometimes rather shaky environment occurs because there is change in the electromagnetic energy that affects us mentally and neurologically.
As the moon begins to grow rich and full, tension begins to build until it reaches a crescendo and literally eclipses the sun. Immediately there is a release, a real sense of freedom, blockages begin to crumble as we let go of everything that no longer serves us in our lives.
I see this time as a real era of change, like a huge heavy door opening up before us, allowing us to take flight into the unknown. A starting point of our epic journey to who we are becoming. We all have the opportunity now to dream a new world into being, allowing ourselves to open up to the bigger picture and start co-create something really new for this beautiful world of ours.
Last weekend saw the first new moon of the decade, it was huge with a warm golden glow, its proximity to Mars and its reflection gave it this beautiful colour. The full moon was in Leo with Venus and Mars astride. A Full Moon is light (the Sun) fully illuminating what is hidden or unconscious (the Moon) – so that should be viewed as something that the Universe decrees as having arrived at a time when it needs to be exposed and so brought closer to being resolved. It prompts us to take a good look at how courageous we are.
Do we have what it takes to see things through? Are we brave enough to confront what is necessary to make the long-lasting changes? The Sun in Aquarius reminds us to be progressive and creative and learn to take a step back and view things from a more balanced perspective.
This coming year feels so good, there is definitely a huge shift in the way I view my world now, knowing that mother earth is there supporting my every step keeps me grounded, connected and able to move forward with certainty
Demeter and Persephone
December 12, 2009
The changing of the seasons, from darkness to the light, from death to life.
The ancients believed that there was a time when the earth enjoyed an unending season of temperate weather. Because trees were always green and flowers always bloomed, the world was filled with life and beauty. Crops also grew in abundance and humans were blissfully happy in this earthly paradise.
The goddess responsible for the earth’s bounty was Demeter (DEM-eh-ter), the Goddess of grain and the harvest. Tall, statuesque and bountiful, it is said her breasts are always full of milk and the river of stars from the Milky Way flows through her. Demeter is the mother of both the present and the future; she holds dominion over the earth and everything upon it and under it, just as in our prayer to Pachamamma,
“Mother Earth.
We’ve gathered for the healing of all your children.
The Stone People, the Plant People. The four-legged, the two-legged, the creepy crawlers.
The finned, the furred, and the winged ones.
All our relations.
Therefore she is almost always pregnant, the children she delivers are many and beautiful, she is rich in her potential for future endeavours and holds the gift of nurturing of what is yet to become, what is in the process of becoming a something out of a nothing
Her beautiful daughter Persephone (Per-SEH-fo-nee) Queen of the Underworld, Goddess of spring gladdened Demeter’s heart; Demeter’s unbreakable bond and love for her daughter kept the earth forever in bloom.
Demeter and Persephone were seldom far from each other, but occasionally Persephone would wander out of her mother’s sight. One day as Hades, Lord of the Underworld, watched the lovely maiden picking flowers in a meadow, he immediately fell in love with her and determined that she must marry him and become queen of the Underworld.
As Persephone bent to gather more flowers, the ground beside her opened wide. Out from the gaping hole in the ground came Hades in a chariot drawn by a team of mighty black horses. He seized the terrified girl , dragged her into his chariot, and took her off to the Underworld.
Demeter is distraught. Beside herself with grief she becomes infertile, unable to respond, she lost all emotion, power, passion, no nurturance of self and with no sense of her future self she became barren, dry and withered. Every growing thing wilted and died; the once green earth turned brown. All over the world people starved as the crops failed. Demeter was inconsolable, not only was she barren and unable to give birth anymore but she was barren because she was separated from what her daughter represents, the side of human nature that is invested with potential.
Persephone personifies that first creative spark, she comes out of the void and begins to create and differentiate matter, symbolic of the idea and manifestation of that idea. When she is in the world all seems possible, when below and in the dark this is cut off.
Concerned that the mortals would all die out, the other gods begged Zeus to talk to Demeter and recall her to her duties. But his efforts were unavailing. Demeter roamed far and wide in search for her daughter and vowed until she was returned to her, the earth would never bloom again, it would remain infertile and dark.
Finally word was sent to demand that Hades return Persephone to her mother. Hades as you can imagine did not want to relinquish his bride even though she would not make love, eat, drink or dance, However under great pressure from Zeus Hades agreed that he would bring her back but if he could make her eat then she would stay. On her ascent in the carriage riding to the world, Hades tricked her, he pushed a cut pomegranate to her lips and the bright red juice ran down her lips and down onto her white breasts, she swallowed and did indeed ingest six seeds in the process, resulting in Hades keeping her with him for six months of every year.
So each year, in the spring, Persephone returns. It is said that as she steps forth onto the land, lush verdant greenness spreads far and wide with each step. As for Demeter as she runs to greet her, every footprint leaves behind a flower and scatters seeds far and wide. The creativity begins, flowers spring forth, trees burst into bud and fruit, animals procreate, ideas percolating over the incubation period manifest and life forges headlong into abundance. Persephone is free to play in the fields, sing and enjoy the richness she and her mother provide for us all.
As the green turns into brown, and life begins to retract we know that Demeter is grieving, she cannot live without her daughter and the cycle of dark and light continues.
This dark period is now upon us all, however we don’t literally have to “grieve” but it is a time of quiet contemplation, a time for rest, it gives us the opportunity to wander into that dark place and find out what no longer is serving us and let it go. It’s also an incubation period where many ideas percolate and can spring forth as Persephone bestows upon us her inspiring gifts in the coming weeks.
With the Solstice upon us heralding the coming of spring, in a few weeks we will start to see the union of mother and daughter again, for me this fills me with great excitement, gratitude and a deep love of the world, my family and friends and my chosen path.
Horse Boy
November 25, 2009
At last I watched this documentary. Last night I sat tranfixed as I watched this small boy riding across the Mongolian Step with his father. What an amazing story. The power of shamanism is such a powerful force, this is living testimony. the following is just a short clip
Prayer to Persephone
November 18, 2009
Prayer to Persephone
Be to her, Persephone,
All the things I might not be:
Take her head upon your knee.
She that was so proud and wild,
Flippant, arrogant and free,
She that had no need of me,
Is a little lonely child
Lost in Hell,—Persephone,
Take her head upon your knee:
Say to her, “My dear, my dear,
It is not so dreadful here.”
Edna St. Vincent Millay
If you go down in the woods today………….. dream
November 14, 2009
the deep dark woods of our soul, do you go there, do you dare to go there? are you afraid to enter into the menacing darkness that old folklore tells us not to enter for fear of death and destruction. Little red riding hood met her wolf, Hansel and Gretel the wicked witch, Vasalis met Baba Yaga, but in those times of fear and death, wonderful seedlings grow, intuition to see the way back home to self to allow the dream of our becoming to emerge.
Mighty oaks from little acorns grow, so when you go for a walk in this deep dark woods of the soul, listen………… underfoot things are stirring.
“The greatest achievement was at first, and for a time a dream. The oak sleeps in the acorn, the bird waits in the egg, and in the highest vision of the soul a waking angel stirs. Dreams are the seedlings of realities”
James Allen (statesman)
I took creative inspiration from the quote and created this image. Its layered from photographs I have taken in nature, ferns unfurling, grasses swaying, teasels drying in the hot sun and sketches that I drew from my own souls journey . see more images click here http://www.carolgearing.com and http://www.flickr.com/photos/8853574@N03/
Despacho Ceremony at Tiperon, Peru
November 9, 2009
A Despacho being made at a temple of water workship, TIPERON near Cusco, Peru. The man speaking is Juan Nunez del Prado who is one of Peur’s formesost contemporary shamans.
Intuition, its a magnificent gift
November 3, 2009
As we begin to journey with the feminine energies, we begin to connect with our true selves, learn to distinguish which voice is speaking, the chatter in the head or the voice from your heart, your soul voice, the wisdom of your intuition. There is a wonderful story, an old eastern european fairy tale about Vasalisa and her little doll, how she is sent on a journey to meet the Old Crone, the Dark feminine,Baba Yaga. Its all about INTUITION and DISCRIMINATION, gifts beyond measure. I recommend you read this story, a beautiful version can be found in WOMEN WHO RUN WITH WOLVES by Clarissa Pinkola Estes. Click here to purchase
” The way to maintain one’s connection to the wild is to ask yourself what it is that you want. This is the sorting of the seed from the dirt. One of the most important discriminations we can make in this matter is the difference between things that beckon to us and things that call from our souls.
Nowhere can this be seen more clearly than in the choice of mates and lovers. A lover cannot be chosen a la smorgasbord. A lover has to be chosen from soul-craving. To choose just because something mouthwatering stands before ou will never satisfy the hunger of the soul-self. And that is what the intuition is for; it is the direct messenger of the soul.”
Clarissa Pinkola Estes (Women Who Run with the Wolves)
The light and the Dark
November 3, 2009
“There are as many nights as days, and the one is just as long as the other in the year’s course.
Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word ‘happy’ would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness.”
Carl Jung
Working with the Dark feminine
November 3, 2009
Working with the dark feminine ultimately brings us to a place of rebirth, but before that we need to take her guidance to let die that which no longer serves us in our lives. Lets take a look at her, this life, death, life mother the epitome of the dark night of the soul.
Mother Sister Jaguar, Ortorongo, Isis, Hekate, Kali, Baba Yaga, they all represent the three stages of the cycle of Life (creation), Death (Destruction) and Rebirth (transformation). They are powerful, ferocious, seductive, sensual, just, protective and tender.
At our most recent workshop we worked with Kali, often referred to as “Black Mother Time” or “Goddess of Transformation” the uncompromising mother of death. It is very hard to understand the spiritual significance of such a goddess without doing some research. Kali’s name means, “time”. After learning more about Kali I have found new meaning in the saying, “time heals all wounds.” Kali reminds us that good really can come of difficult situations and stands at the ready to dance courage into our lives at our request.
Kali’s bloodthirsty reputation reminds us of how life is full of a constant succession of endings. Death and rebirth. Even now, seeing summer turn into winter, we are reminded of that. It always feels good too when we get into the rebirthing time of the year, spring when pachamama stirs and works her magic.
Kali also reminds us that our lives will never change until we release (kill off) the outdated, unproductive beliefs we have. These beliefs can be anything from how we view ourselves to how we view religious dogma. We all carry around our own fears, some of us call them our “demons”.
In many of us there is dark element, a situation suppressed deep in our subconscious, we have a slight sense of its existence sometimes, but just cannot put our finger on it, we can feel it in “certain” situations, sometimes dreams allude to it…………. We feel uneasy when certain subjects are raised; we make decisions based on subconscious fears that don’t serve us. “Something” lurking from our past that we just cannot find or understand. By working with the energy of the dark feminine, the dark goddess, she can provide us with a great gift, a golden key that will unlock the door and bring light into the dark
Lets have a look of some of these fears, some of these outmoded beliefs. For many of us, as in the one of the nine rites of the Vasalisa story, it’s the voice of the Too Good Mother.
For some the voice of us the mother is LOUD, she can encroach on our growth and inhibit our natural WILDNESS, stop our natural vividness to shine powerfully in this world. Her voice will ring in our heads, “Oh, don’t do that”, “Your dress is too low, too short, too seductive”, “ Good girls don’t do that”, “boys don’t cry “ It’s a scary world out there”, “ You should do what your told”, “Be quiet don’t make a show of yourself”
For some parenting skills were abusive, both physical and/or sexual, resulting in emotions and feelings to be suppressed and pushed down, split off, self-esteem at it’s lowest. For others a trauma of some kind, accident, rape, a death of a parent when young caused the same splitting off, deadening of the emotions. All these incidences have conditioned us to live through a very distorted view of ourselves and belief systems that do not serve us.
So many beliefs’ that we hold in all areas of our lives, as mothers and fathers, wives, sisters, husbands, lovers, brothers, workers, both culturally and individually, they suppress our natural instincts until we are a fraction of who we can be. Our true wildness that was with us at birth gets buried, year by year more layers of “ I cant do this”, “Can’t to do that”, “That’s not for me”, “my body is ugly”, “ I am useless”, “I am inadequate””, “I can’t do that because my family will think I am strange”, “I can’t write a book because I don’t have a university degree”, “I am stupid”, “I am not a good mother”, “Nobody will love me, I am unlovable”, “I am not good enough”, “I am too fat, too thin”, it goes on and on. Each “untruth” falls like a leaf to the ground, decays leaving another layer of mulch for mother earth, but in turn, our “real” juicy, magical moistness”, our “wildness” is getting buried deeper and deeper.
The usual emotion that stops us from stepping off this well trodden path of conformity is FEAR. What does fear look like? Take a moment to reflect, recite to yourself a well-trodden statement, that little voice in your head that nags at you… where are you feeling it? See it, what colour is it? What shape, what texture is it, can you smell it, what senses does is conjure up………… It doesn’t sound too good does it, fear is taking up a lot psychic space, we haul this around all the time, its no wonder we get to the stage of not being able to carry the burden any longer.
To enable us to make space for our natural wildness to blossom, we need to “let go” bring death to our belief systems, this is the time to call in the energies of the Dark Feminine, she who knows the cycle of life / death / life
We all may have felt her at times, I know, I have embodied her many, many times myself. Some of you may recognise her too?
“Some days I wield my sword with might, without apology. Some days I anoint the messiest of wounds with the tenderest touch. The power is in the courage to do what needs to be done for right action, for healing, for ultimate harmony”
A dark image, a ferocious woman, dismembered heads and limbs, dark, blood red. White skulls, serpents, weapons. Naked voluptuous body, free flowing hair, red lips, looking quite seductive, a far cry from MOTHER you might think………….
However she is not to be feared, this triple Goddess of Creation, preservation and destruction. When journeying she told me that her naked dance was one of freedom, her stance held her power and her rattling saber held all the anger she felt towards those who had tried to suppress her. Behind the anger was pain. Behind the pain flowed the strength, understanding and the wisdom of our full feminine nature. When I stepped back from her and looked again she was beautiful. All of the fear I had placed on her had disappeared and I knew that she had much to teach me and that I had much to learn.
One way to get in touch with this powerful feminine energy is to dance, put on some really emotive music that stimulates movement, where loose clothing, feel the strong energies rise as you call her in. See her wild hair, her naked voluptuous body, her red mouth, her saber of destruction, the blood, heads ripped from bodies and her necklace of white skulls, she is there in her all her ferocity, face her, this is your fear. Then turn up the volume and confront her, let her frenzied nature embrace you, shout, scream, dance and stamp around, let all go that which no longer serves you. Then as those old “fear” energies subside, let her comfort you, feel her embrace, her tenderness, feel her skin next to yours, let her attend to your wounds, she knows, understand what it has taken to get to this point. Give thanks to her in helping you to find the courage to face up to her and release your fear and unlock the door to your own wildness, your own intuitive magical nature……………………….. Run free………………….
Close your eyes if you want to, let your body move, let if flow and speak its own language, let your belly speak
New workshop dates
November 1, 2009
NEXT WORKSHOP – JOURNEY TO THE HERO’S HEART - 19-21st March 2010 – Malta
This will focus on the direction North and the fabulous, mythic journey of the hero, where we will map out and journey to our highest destiny.
Everyone is welcome to attend, regardless of whether you have already accompanied us on our workshops to South and West.
So please invite friends or anyone you feel would be interested, there will be other opportunities to catch up with the essence of these journeys at some point in the future.
We are delighted to be returning to Malta in the spring and have made a great start in preparing the content, which is very exciting. The date will be 19-21st March.
Shadows let them be your gifts
August 6, 2009
The Guest House
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
~ Rumi ~
At the start of my shamanic journey this ancient poem was sent to me by one of my teachers. At the time of reading it I was struggling big time and didn’t grasp its meaning or relevance fully. However, today I heard the poem again being read out on a shamanic audio podcast, only this time I heard the poem with very different ears. Its message crystal clear. Learning to embrace the dark side, our shadows, ”the visitors to the guest house” is what sets us free. These “guests” come bearing gifts, if we can unwrap them and learn from them, we can begin to connect to our true self. Allow our light to shine clear and bright and transform the quality of our energetic vibrations to a much higher level
I want to talk about the shadow, the dark side, the part of us we keep well hidden, the part we don’t want anyone to know about, the part we internalized long ago when as a child we were humiliated, chastised or shamed. We became detached, we split off, and lost our connection with our true self.
For some people the shadow pieces can remain all their lives, its too painful to “go there” and they are in total denial that there is any problem at all. For others there becomes a time when they start to see the pieces and embrace them, these are two different ends of the spectrum, but reaching the latter releases us from everything that holds us back and stops us from reaching our souls purpose in this life.
The shadow in denial never stays dormant forever, some way, somehow the shadows will surface in ways that can be totally self destructive. It can be the beautifully mannered person always polite and sweet who ends up violently attacking their partner, the pillar of the community ends up stealing the community fund, the priest who took his vows of celibacy is caught having sex with a parishioner. The pleasant well mannered bank clerk defrauds the bank of a lot of money and is sent to prison etc, etc. In addition the shadow causes blocks in our energy bodies, resulting in physical manifestations, joint pains and headaches to auto immune diseases, back problems and more serious terminal illnesses and so on. (Read Louise Hay’s HEAL YOUR BODY http://www.amazon.co.uk/Heal-Your-Body-Louise-Hay/dp/0937611352)
First we have to recognize the shadows, some we can readily identify, some are well hidden. A sure way of finding out some pieces to work with is to think of someone in your life who seems to “push all your buttons”, then write a list of all things that really annoy you about them. This will probably be very easy……….. once listed read them out to yourself and know that each item you wrote is in fact one of YOUR shadows
As hard as it might be to accept these are all the pieces that you have been trying to hold down unseen all your life. It helps to see them as gifts to unwrap, see how a particular quality may have helped you in your life. Another way of finding shadow pieces is to list the qualities that you would most like to remembered for, then write down the opposite quality, find a word that really resonates, this latter one is your shadow. For a better understanding of shadow work I thouroughly recommend THE DARD SIDE OF THE LIGHT CHASERS by Debiie Ford http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dark-Side-Light-Chasers-Reclaiming/dp/0340819057/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1249540887&sr=1-1
Serpent Archetype
July 11, 2009
THE SERPENT is our connection to Sexuality and Knowledge
Helps us to see the world exactly as it is
Helps us to shed our skins completely and cleanly
the Serpent archetype is our connection to Mother Earth, Pachamama and the energy of serpent, kundalini is connected to our blood red root / base chakra
SERPENT – the binding principal
The binding principal, the stories we have been taught to live by and are bound to the lives we live. Through these beliefs we are bound up tight, Serpent unbinds us from these stories allowing us to shed them as she sheds her skin, cleanly and all in one piece.
The language of serpent is at the level of the physical and the body… everything is as it is – no wrapping stories round it, no judgment, and no criticisms just the bare facts. Serpent sees things precisely as they are with no embellishment. We translate this in terms of scientific, chemical and biological terms – we talk of body parts, molecules, and chemistry.
From Serpent we learn to see things without judgment, no labels, no stories, just bare facts.
Learning to know how Serpents works with you:
- Serpent accepts everything at face value, it doesn’t build stories around things – just sees the bare facts – not how you feel about the facts.
- Practice non-attachment by letting things be just as they are, rather than how they ‘should be’. If there is a ‘should’ thought in you there is attachment! Practice beginners mind – everything is new.
- Practice non suffering… there is always going to be pain – dwelling on how you feel that pain and how it affects… that is suffering, it is what you wrap around your pain, the stories you give it.
- Practice walking the beauty way – touch everyone with beauty (when you do this everything that is NOT beauty seems to rise up before you, until you learn that EVERYTHING is beautiful!)
- Practice non-judgment – of self of others. Learn to BE with acceptance. (That’s just how it is, how they are, how I am at this moment in time).
- Morning breath work at meeting with the archetypes feeds these within you and helps them grow.
- Grow your relationship to Serpent and indeed all the archetypes with Fire Ceremony. The fire ceremonies for getting to know your archetypes are personal so you do them alone. Fire ceremonies are done at new moon and full moon. Once you have created a relationship with each archetype with you first personal fire for each you can then do it with others to great effect
Homage to Mother Earth
July 11, 2009
Every day, since the beginning of time, the earth, the wondrous mother earth has supported us. Under our feet every moment of our lives, she provides for us in every way.
The moist magical blood of the mother, the feminine energies that swell and give birth to abundance on this planet. Wonderful Pachamama.
The Divine mother comes in many guises, in Greece for example, DEMETER, mother of Persephone, tall in stature, full hipped, wide shouldered, swollen breasts always full of milk, the stars of the milky way is said to flow through her ………. as she walks the earth flowers spring from the footprints she leaves behind, she is the bringer of the seasons and the mother of Persephone.
In Egypt, ISIS, she who gives birth to the heaven and earth, the Queen of the heavens, Mother of the gods, the light giver of heavens and she who knows how to make right use of the heart.
In Roman history she was known as CERES. in the Andean communities she is knows as PACHAMAMA,
This detail is from a much larger painting I completed recently in homage to her vibrant presence under our feet.
You can see more of my work here
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8853574@N03/collections/72157612065321714/
Wake up
May 29, 2009
That divine spark is within each individual but it needs to be drawn out and fanned into a flame in so many souls. It has to be recognised before anything can be done about it. Wake up from your slumbers and recognise the divinity within you and nurture it and allow it to grow and flourish. A seed has to be planted in the soil before it can grow. It has within it all its potentials, but those potentials remain dormant until they are given the right conditions in which to grow and develop. There are many souls in this life who will not wake up to their divine potential and they are like seeds stored away in packets. You must want to break your bonds to be free. As soon as the desire is there you will receive help in every way possible, but the desire in you must be there.
Words from Eileen Caddy
Feminine Wisdom
May 18, 2009
The 6th day: Feminine Wisdom in the Light of the New Era
