Category Archives: Ritual

Grace, Nature, New Year, Reflection, Ritual, Storytelling

2025 – a year of Magic

In the depths of my soul, a wild spirit beats in rhythm with the earth. My heart pulses to the primal drum of nature, creating a symphony that balances strength and sensitivity. It’s a dance of the divine masculine and sacred feminine within me, reminding me that raw beauty lies in our imperfections. As I wander through life, I embrace both courage and vulnerability, guided by intuition and a commitment to conscious love. Each step I take is painted with the wild hues of authenticity, reminding me that growth flows as naturally as the changing seasons.

2024 was my year of Rewilding—a journey illuminated by the wisdom of trees. Each tree became a mentor, offering unique insights that guided my path. The enigmatic Pomegranate led me into the depths of my unconscious, encouraging me to interpret dreams and unearth hidden truths. The Horse Chestnut taught me the importance of weighing my decisions, balancing wisdom with caution. The Olive tree whispered of peace and harmony, while the Sugi tree called me to honor the sacredness of nature. The Scots Pine nudged me to step beyond my comfort zones, paving the way for a healthier, more fulfilling life. The mighty Oak instilled strength and self-belief, while the Ginkgo tree kept me anchored in the eternal present. The Ash tree guided me in mastering my relationships, and the Hazel tree imparted the crucial art of setting boundaries. Finally, the Yew tree, a symbol of regeneration, encouraged me to nurture new growth and practice self-care in moments of stillness.

And now, as we step into 2025, Magic becomes my guiding star. It’s a wondrous concept, weaving an enchanting tapestry of mystery and mysticism that invites me to connect with the magical beings that inhabit our world. I’m drawn toward mystical landscapes, yearning for the ancient wisdom of fairies, witches, and druids.

Learning to embrace new labels – a WayFinder and a Lightworker, I celebrate the power of authenticity. This journey into Magic encourages us to stay present, cherishing our unique paths and revelling in our wildness. The playful spirits of fairies remind us of the joy and creativity that flourish in nature-connected experiences.

Magic transcends mere transformation; it’s a sacred art of healing. Witches reveal the secrets of herbal remedies and natural spells, teaching us to tap into the Earth’s energies to restore balance and wellness. This healing magic mirrors the untamed beauty of the wilderness, inviting us to reconnect with our wild spirits. As we delve deeper into this magical realm, we are guided by the druids, who remind us of our intricate bond with nature and the human experience. They teach that we are part of a larger tapestry, woven with vibrant threads of life, energy, and enchantment.

This year’s Celtic Compass reading – from a delightful angels and ancestors oracle deck – has illuminated my path and deepened my connection to ancestral wisdom. Each direction shines a light on my personal growth and spiritual alignment. The Eagle, reigning from the center, encourages me to rise above limitations and embrace new possibilities with love and healing energy. In the North, the Winter Wolf fosters resilience and inner strength, grounding me amid winter’s energy of introspection. The East, represented by the Snake, invites renewal, urging me to shed old skins and reveal my true potential. The South, with the Mirror Guardian, calls for self-reflection, reminding me of my inherent beauty and strengths. In the West, the Traveller signifies new journeys—both external and internal—encouraging emotional growth and ancestral support. The Northeast, guided by the Witch, emphasises choosing light and positivity amid challenges. In the Southeast, the Seer invites me to envision a brighter future, harnessing my intentions to shape my destiny. The Southwest, with the Water Guardian, encourages me to dive deep into my emotions, recognizing them as soulful messages. Finally, the Northwest brings the Peacekeeper, a reminder of harmony and the power of choosing peace over conflict. This reading is a magical journey of self-discovery, healing, and transformative power.

Words can barely capture the mind-blowing signs and synchronicities that unfold as I align with this wild path. My Celtic Compass reading this morning left me with goosebumps and brought tears to my eyes. Just last year, I embarked on the journey of having my birth chart done for the first time. This deep dive into my soul’s story, alongside incredible energy healing sessions, has been restorative. I’m healing childhood wounds, breaking ancestral patterns, and learning to be fully present in the magic of each moment. I’m manifesting my dream life while leaving space for wonderment, spontaneity, and, of course, a whole lot of Magic.

If you look a little closer at my journey of the past few years since coming across this whole concept of a Word for the Year, you can’t help but notice a connection, a tapestry as my story evolves weaving all these spectacular threads together…. and more especially still as I learn surrender and letting go of all the no longer serves…… Magic, I tell you…

Reclaiming Wild
Light
15 Years Later

P.S. #odysseyofmywildheart – I have been teasing this on my social media in the latter part of last year…. an explanation coming soon!

Beginnings, Creativity, Dreaming, Grace, Gratitude, Reflection, Ritual, Storytelling

2024 – My Year of Wild

‘Maybe the journey isn’t so much about becoming anything. Maybe it is about un-becoming everything that isn’t really you.’

Paul Coehlo

It started a couple of years ago and a deal made with the benevolent Universe that I would learn to Trust my intuition. It would be a journey to recognising and reconnecting with that calm, clear voice of authentic Me as separate from ego. But what a journey it has been! My Year of Trust in 2022 brought me dreams come true and an indelible lesson in how to balance what I can make happen and what I invite to let happen.

2023 has been My Year of Light and Love, the next steps on my growth journey. To find balance in how I love, but also to embrace the ‘who I am inside’ and finally allow her to be loved just as she is – Sunshine Reflected. Another incredible year of synergy and alignment and abundance, living my Dream Life. Choosing the way of love over fear always.

In this Love Lightly space, I found a muse with grace and wisdom beyond his years. He has a mind and heart wide open, paying close attention to each one of my details knowing how to take me to my very limits. He has actual depth and insight, resilient, and with a bite that keeps the world in check. So I have finally started writing the book I somehow knew was always in me. I am being pushed creatively and that is showing up in my art too.

At this time of reflection and setting intention for the coming year, some words are showing up in my journalling repeatedly….

If you have read any of my other writing, you will know that I have a firm belief in the energy that connects All that is. I have found that tapping into this energy at a cosmic level is what drives intuition and instinct. Overwhelmingly this energy is good and benevolent, in my experience. So part of my reflection time involves looking for guidance and wisdom from Nature and Universe:

The tree wisdom card I pulled from my oracle deck as I thought about my word for 2024 was the energy of Regeneration from Yew.

I used the wonderful energy of the recent full moon in Cancer on 26 December as a focus for this end of year reflection. The last full moon of 2023 brought an invitation to come back to our hearts as we prioritise nurturing ourselves to become the safe space we long for.

Venus is in Sagittarius at the moment until 23 January, with a clear energetic shift that inspires a celebratory approach to life, love and relationships, moving closer to authentic self. Sagittarius inspires us to recover our connection to our authentic, undomesticated self, to Natural Laws, and to our intuition, being drawn to freedom, authenticity and honesty. During the upcoming days, chances to recognise how freedom and connection aren’t mutually exclusive, discovering how to nurture both the need for intimacy and the desire for independent exploration of life.

A few months ago, I wrote about Reclaiming Wild, all about taking back the concepts of  Wild, Wildness and Wilderness as part of my Soul’s vocabulary – a way of expressing true nature-connectedness, a pattern of my Soul, my Soul Maker and the season I now find myself in living my Dream Life.

What a lovely concoction of Cosmic and Nature energy to feed mind and heart and set intention!

So, on the foundation of two previous words for the year, a journey back to authentic Me has begun. A reclaiming of Wild and Untamed Me, a fully reconnected back to Nature version of Me. Embracing my Wild Heart. Empowering a balanced sacred-feminine, divine-masculine essence of Me. So I am better able to live wholeheartedly and fulfill my Great Purpose.

Me empowered, rewilded, reclaiming my Wildness means pure space is open for empowering Other, empowering Wilderness. I hope by reclaiming my internal Wild, I will be more in tune with Nature. This spiritual rewilding enabling me to better serve the Conservation Collective I am part of. This Collective is all about the job of physical rewilding as a Nature-based Solution for the environmental and social ills of our time.

Rewilding. It is messy and real and imperfect. A bit like Nature really – wild, messy and full of imperfection but Nature knows how to embrace her magic. Understanding more deeply what it means to be human, to be beautifully imperfect, to be wonderfully lost at times. I am excited about embracing my magic and my happy wanderer ways in 2024 – My Year of Wild 🖤

Africa, Blessings, Creativity, Dreaming, Grace, Gratitude, Joy, Mindfulness, New Year, Reflection, Ritual

Light

My Word for the Year is Light

Me

Last year my Word for Year was Trust. As I reflect back on the year just gone, I am grateful to my dear friend, Erin, for introducing me to this concept of a Word for the Year. It was like carrying a talisman in my pocket all year long reminding me of the intentions I had set at the start of the year and to remain courageous on the journey. And what a year it turned out to be…

Now it is time for a new word, to set fresh intentions and continue to dream big.

This is not the first time Light has resonated with me as a significant word. Quite a while back now while grieving the loss of broken dreams and at a very low point in my life, in a moment of stillness in my grief, I had a vision of sorts that part of my life’s purpose was to Be Light, to Be Sunshine. Sounds odd, I know, which is why I dismissed it as a crazy thought in the midst of my brokenness. Now, I am beginning to see this vision of sorts playing out in my life anyway.

Last year the incredible Shan came into my life. The concept of Light came back to me in a big way then as I wrote her story. Especially in the context of the Viktor E. Frankl quote:

What is to give light must first endure burning.

Viktor E. Frankl

The healing journey of my heart has been a long one and there was much to relearn. I say relearn because I believe our hearts and souls understand a lot of the world as children but somehow growing to adulthood means we lose that intuitive knowledge. I had to relearn to Trust my connection to the Universe. I had to relearn how to Dream big again. I had to relearn that Hope floats.

I had to understand that for every Big Dream there is also the bitter and the shadow. That is the trick of life’s journey. To live Wholeheartedly you have to embrace the sadness, the loss, the pain as well as the joy, the abundance and the freedom. Life brings both. To learn to sit with shadow without it swallowing you whole is the key. To learn the infinite Joy that comes from Gratitude….. this is the Light that shines the way when you are in shadow, guiding you as you navigate life’s journey.

So now I need to be Light. I need to be Sunshine. I need to be Light for all mine, for all who cross my path…. this is my purpose….. a guiding Light, working with the Universe, shining light into dark corners even if just to bring a moment of comfort.

To continue to find those Pure Spaces and hold them open for my heart to find rest and all those who are with me, those I carry close in my heart.

So my Word for the Year is Light.

Me

Light is sunshine, starlight, moonlight…. all that connects me to the Cosmos.

Light is connected to fire, connected with cleansing, honing and purifying that happens with burning…. somehow I find comfort in this idea.

Light is about colour. The rainbow of colours through the prism. This year is about living life in full colour just like the colours of my art…. the creative process that sparks pure joy for me.

Light is also the absence of heavy. This year is about embracing all that is light and bright, spontaneous moments of joy…. truly living wild-hearted.

Light is connected to Love. I will love wholeheartedly but lightly…. a free-spirited love that is about holding unconditional love space loosely. Ready to hold it tightly when needed. Ready to let it go if or when its season has ended.

Light is connected to Being, to spirit and soul. This year is about being in the moment, about being fully present to shine all the more brightly.

Light is about the positive energy of a bright aura…. the energy of hope, love and gratitude…..

Wishing you all Love and Light

✨
Advent, Christmas, Current Events, Gratitude, Holidays, Quiet, Reflection, Ritual

Happy Holidays?

Normally by now I am full of Christmas spirit, immersed in our family holiday traditions as another year draws to a close.

But not this year. I am struggling. I feel the weight of the uncertainty 2020 has brought for me and everyone I know.

With all I have learned about Emotional Agility this year I know it is okay to feel this way. In fact, I think we should all acknowledge that Christmas will feel different this year.

In my search to find growth in my present discomfort, I have found the following helpful…

I found this article from The Conversation an interesting read – Christmas will be different this year.

I found this post from Action for Happiness a comfort.

I found Susan David PhD’s Instagram posts like this one insightful.

I found reading up about Kwanzaa inspiring and uplifting.

We are all grieving some sort of loss this year. My wish for us all is to find some Peace as this year ends and some Hope as the next one dawns.

So I will wish you happy holidays wherever you are and whatever your circumstance. Have Courage and Be Kind. 💙

Advent, Dreaming, Grace, Mindfulness, Reflection, Ritual, Traditions, Values

Kindness

I have been learning a lot about kindness recently. I like to think I am kind. However, what I am beginning to realise is that I am kind usually when its easy or convenient. I find it easy to be kind to Nature as this is my strongest Value. I am mostly kind to those I know and love. Although I do think there are times when I am not as kind to those closest to me as I should be. Also, I feel like I can show kindness to individuals easier than to groups of people.

At present I’m in the middle of huge project, a steep learning curve. This is a chance to reinvent myself and truly change my career direction. If I get this right, a dream from my dream tin will come true. The personal stakes are high. Kindness towards myself has been essential.  But it turns out this is where I really fall apart in the kindness department.

My inner voice has been so critical, so judgemental. I wouldn’t talk to anyone like I’ve been talking to myself.

So I have had to stop and take a pause. Then get really introspective. I needed something visual to help me put kindness in some sort of perspective. This is what I came up with:

My take on kindness – a set of concentric circles with Me at the centre

It seems to me that kindness to myself establishes a strong core. If this kindness is sincere then kindness outward to kin, community, humanity and nature will be more authentic. Well, it is worth a try… but it certainly is a journey.

Getting prepared for Advent has been an appropriate time to spend on this sort of reflection. And funnily enough coincides with the arrival of #DoGoodDecember and a Kindness Calendar for the month of December from Action for Happiness.

I know I have mentioned this before, but I really have found the resources from Action for Happiness invaluable this year!

So we wind down this strange year and I set time aside from my project to focus on my Christmas rituals and traditions. One of my rituals is reflecting on the year just been and dreaming of the one to come.

I want to encourage anyone reading this of just how fallible we are when it comes to it. Fallible, and that is okay. Kindness, just like any other growth path, is something we have to choose anew every day. Thankfully, it is a grace-full universe.

The words of John O’Donohue continue to be a great comfort to me. This blessing in particular.

This is what kindness to myself looks like at the moment.

Whatever your beliefs or circumstances, I wish you space to reflect with gratitude and dream with hope. Happy Advent 🕯