Sunlight in the Domain Conservatory

Have you noticed how the days seem to be passing more quickly, with more to do than you have time for?

There is a good deal of comment amongst spiritual workers at present concerning this accelerated rate of light and energy now operating. Even those who are not aware of operating intuitionaly notice how their pace of activity has increased. These observations have a basis in actuality. Our world really is changing.

For many of us this activity brings an emotional roller coaster too. Spikes of pain in relationship are just one manifestation of our increasing receptivity. We seem to be swept from one issue to the next and perceive ourselves as too pressured to stop and process the sweeping changes. Life seems full of dramas.

The activity seems to centre around relationships because the energy which powers it all is Light. Consider the words Love, Light and Energy as synonyms. Love is the energetic force that lies back of All That Is. What is called love in modern parlance is a sentiment- an emotional activity which veils this potent fiery force.

This increased rates is causing distress to some of us because it is bringing to our conscious awareness all that limits, all that hinders growth.

While this is going on in our personal lives it is also happening to lives of every kind. The planet Herself is healing and growing in great cathartic waves, bringing dramatic natural events such as earthquakes and great storms. These events have always occurred, but their increased prevalence is now notes and remarked on by the scientific community.

There is in fact plenty of time. There is plenty of all we require, but the rate is now such that the laws which order our universe operate swiftly and far more efficiently than was the case for previous generations.

It is possible to adjust rather than let ourselves be swept along by this shift. It is also possible to harness this Love-Wisdom to effect positive growth in our lives.

The first step to managing this change is to stop, be still for a moment and recognise that it is not Personal. This activity that seems to undermine our home ground is a process. It is universal and general. It triggers group activity and group pain, even though it feels like the most personal thing in the world.

From that place of stillness ask yourself: What is this activity pointing to? What is it showing me I could usefully release from my life? Look for synchronicity – coincidences are often clues. Observe yourself and your activity as dispassionately as you can. Is there a pattern emerging?

Recognise that personality is colouring our perceptions. Not only is it not personal, we are really reacting to a shifting astral field which is essentially illusory. By watching to see when pain is pushing us to create drama we can nip it in the bud. Humour works best. It sounds trite but looking for the funny side in your situation really does help. It will be there, because that is our essential soul nature – light, loving and joyous.

Energy follows thought and there lies the opportunity to make the most of this increased rate. If we focus on what we want to see more of in our life, with gratitude for the signs of it already present, we can attract more that energetic substance we desire. This works as well with a quality as it does with a form. So, focusing on our competence, for example, attracts to us more of the same.

This awareness can be used in a general way too. By deliberately placing our attention on what is right in our world we grow more good things, rather than the trouble which is its polar opposite. In relationships then, we can notice what is working, what is loving between us rather than the “issues” as we perceive them to be.

Go Lightly friend. In this moment where you are All is Well.

Observing a Light Show

fireworks with thanks to Ethan scienceblogs.com

It was Guy Fawke’s Night last night. This is the night when New Zealander’s light fireworks. The historical significance for this former British colony is seldom known or remarked upon. In fact the occasion fits nicely with the fire and light symbolism of Diwali and Beltane. This year the fire risk was greatly reduced by nature putting on a light show of her own. We had a spectacular electrical storm. The bursts of lightening and rolling thunder definitely outclassed the coloured showers of sky rockets.

These things are both expressions of energy contained and then released to spectacular effect. All life we see around us, including ourselves, are expressions of light and energy playing out to some effect. The particular qualities of vibratory rate or colour give us our unique characteristics.

These are soul qualities expressing through that interplay of spirit with matter as a conscious human being.

You may not have thought of yourself this way before. Consider this hypothesis: You are not your body, or your mind, or your emotions. You are in fact that mediating awareness between the spirit of life and the form you occupy. You are the Observer, the Soul.

It is a tricky word that one. Soul is a religious concept for many and a fallacy or unproven theory for many more.

If you take up this hypothesis it must certainly be followed by the assertion that all life has a soul of some sort. It is there in a flower’s response to the sun’s rays, in an animal carrying out its instinctual activity to hunt prey or cooperate with its group. It is there in the human aware of himself as an actor among the stage cast of his community. We may even notice the human soul is dual in nature, being part instinctual and part aspirational – divine even. It is this aspect of being self conscious as well as group conscious which sets the human soul apart from the others.

How do we go about detecting the soul’s presence?

The first step in testing the hypothetical soul presence is to deliberately choose to observe ourselves. Placing out attention on what we are saying, doing and feeling does more than make us self aware. It allows us to discern the Quality of our activity response. Very quickly we can learn to identify what is instinctual response and what is beyond instinct. Some of our activity will be shown to be coloured by discernment according to an inner ethical code. Could this be a clue to soul presence?

The second step is to attempt to still the mind by such techniques as meditation. With proficiency we become aware of the Observer, of a conscious existence outside of our thoughts and responses. By controlling thought in this way a calming effect is felt in daily life, from which the discerning aspect or soul qualities become more evident.

The third step is to use our sense perceptions to observe the energetic quality of those around us. We are testing for evidence of soul quality, for tell -tale signs of discerning navigation through life’s choices. We can use our physical senses to achieve this. Pay attention to what is said and how, watch behaviour and body language, sense a quality to touch. We can also use the intuitional senses available to us by observing the information coming to us from our inner perception. This “knowing” often registers in the body. We get a “feeling” which is difficult to express in language. When we sense another’s presence or distress without the assistance of physical clues we are intuiting their energy expression.

Having perceived this energetic activity in others we can turn the gaze of the Observer back to ourselves to perceive the soul presence more clearly. Now we can notice how our awareness of a Presence is changing our lives. Our attention has lit the fuse which will blow apart the restrictive container of form habits. We notice some things we are involved with are now distasteful too us. We hear how our patterns of speech have changed. It may be that we speak negatively less often for example.

At this point we recognise a quality of expression which is higher and finer than any we were aware of before. It literally changes the colour of our days. This change may come gently like the slow burning of an incandescent sparkler or it may break the surface with all the force of a lightning bolt. However it occurs the observation of soul presence changes our life profoundly. We become conscious of our Selves.

Blessed Beltane

Summer at Alberon

Last night the Wheel turned to Beltane. I dreamed long and slept late.
Now yesterday's rain has drifted away. Clear light-reflecting droplets sparkle off the trees here - tiny fire in the growing green.
This morning I am cutting into fluid silk of emerald green - the Lady's colour. Some time today it will become a dress for this new summer season.

I love this time of wholeness and heat. Now the Lord of Light joins with his Lady in the Great Rite.
This radiance of light and magnetism of love are all around us now.

Beltane is the traditional time to honour the creative process within ourselves and in the connected world without. The season calls us to love life freely and to embrace it passionately.

Energetically it lights the fire at the solar plexus, demanding we translate our dreams into action with passion and confidence. It lights the fire of the heart, demanding we connect and reconnect in trust and surrender to the force of love. It lights the fires in the head calling forth our unique creative expression.

Essentially Beltane demands we follow our calling - to love, to make and to Be.

May you find your Light in this Season

Thrice filled may you be:

Embraced by your lover

Enriched by all Life

Enlightened by one Spirit

Thrice Blessed this Beltane

The Great Rite

Through wild wood he came

teal eyed lover of mine

to stand shore-wise waiting

Clear of mind, open hearted

he called

anam carraigh come to me

Through sea-blue swell I came

oiled grey silk gleaming

to stand shore-wise breathing

Still of mind, open hearted

I called

anam carraigh love with me

Through days of ages

fields of being

we stand heart held singing

One of Mind, open hearted

We unite

anam carraigh we are Home

Death and Rebirth

Sitting in a cafe with my sister last Monday I overheard someone say at the next table "Oh I don't believe in reincarnation and all that. You just die and that's it."
Interesting coffee chat but it saddened me.

The cycle of life is all around us. It is the clue to the essential purpose of our being. How difficult it must be to find meaning in our existence without this essential knowledge.

All life manifests in cycles from conception to decay, including human lives.
This is the Universal Law of Periodicity which is still only marginally accepted in the Western cultures.

Life enters a form and is imbued with consciousness. We call this appearance birth. Incarnation and manifestation are other, more precise, terms for the even.

The purpose of this activity is to grow to self realisation, which the soul does by means of experience garnered during each appearance.

Release from the form comes when the Principle of Liberation becomes active. The physical bodies are then released in what we refer to as Death.

For many cycles of lives groups of souls incarnate. This operates by means of the pull of the material forms they are attracted to. Reincarnation operates primarily by desire, in other words.

Eventually the souls reach the developmental stage where the pull of desire wanes. The soul then knows itself and is aware of itself once more.

As I was preparing to write today I asked one of my own soul group members how a manifestation is experienced by those out of form, who are guiding the life in form. By way of an answer he gave me a poem to share with you. It illustrates his experience of what he describes as the Wonder of the Path of Return.

Fluid she came to me

Swallow dipping

Sky blue silk

Free wheeling she came

A-fire she came to me

Lit in russet linen

Rustling autumn tone

Burning free she came

Burgeoning she came to me

Rose shoot green

Cotton crisp

Ground steady she came

Swimming she came to me

Teal blue sea satin

Undulating love waves

Swinging in she came

Love lighted she came to me

Silver shot chiffon

Etheric mist

One with me she came once more

Getting Personal

Auckland Domain, image thanks to Rose

Things have been racing along this past week. There have been wonderful people in and out of the house, bringing their activity, thoughts and aspirations with them. It has been such a pleasure but the fresh solitude today is welcome.

This Mercurial moon activity highlights that pendulum swing between polar opposites. It really is a good day for me to be on my own because it has brought to light a real limitation which I would do well to work through without delay.

The Lunar activity, disseminating now, presents a hefty challenge this time: to be aware of what is authentic expression of the Higher Self and what is best left to drop away. I am not the only one confronting this issue I am sure

So here is the challenge: Be particularly aware of how our assumptions lead us to modify our behaviour to fit what we believe others' comfort zone to be. In other words: Be aware of cultural and family models which operate unquestioned in the background of our lives and stymie our efforts to be authentic.

Essentially this is a tussle between the Form, expressing inherited characteristics via the personality, and the Soul driving through a desired shift to allow firmer control. Much of the resistance is under the threshold of awareness - subconscious in other words - and we walk straight into it in the dark.

Add to this mix an intuitive awareness of other's feeling response and you have the potential to "spike" or act out a drama to express the inner conflict. Unless we are very careful indeed the fear-filled Personality will deflect attention from the real issue by hooking into relationship anxieties.

Sound familiar? We can all relate to this experience because it is at the heart of being human.

There is a useful three step way to manage the process:

Observe
If we can detach from the emotional pull, even for a moment or two, and watch the activity dispassionately, we can avoid acting out on a wave of group pain.
In esoteric terms this is staying out of astral response by activating the detachment of higher mind.
As the watcher we are free to disengage from identifying our Self with our fear. From the watching position we can ride out the wave, give mutual space and respect to others, and begin to acknowledge where changes could be made to best effect.


Ask for Help
All of us are part of an unseen community as well as active in the physical world. No one is ever alone, no matter how isolated they may perceive themselves to be. Try it out and feel the immediate response to your request to "lift me out of this please team". Your own guides are walking every step with you, eager to help you move through old patterns which keep you circling round instead of spiralling on and upward. Only they may not act without your request or interfere with your free will in any way. Do ask because only then will you receive the help to manage better.

Actively Choose
If we can stand to one side and observe, can take a breath and ask for help, we are on the verge of breaking through to Soul control. Only one further step is necessary. That step is to use our will to choose the Harmless way in any situation. A peaceful approach undertaken from the detached position of the Observer completely defuses personality reaction.
The harmless way includes such things as guarding our speech and remembering that, despite the emotional response, there is nothing personal in the activity around us. Harmlessness includes refraining from judging others - or ourselves.
Above all we are choosing to do our best in the situation, which means we intend the best possible outcome for all concerned. Such a caring intention also serves to lift us out of form reaction into the finer awareness of our Higher Self.

Making Jam

Vermilion bramble born

blood berry

bind this hex this day

Let every hide-bound blemish

dissolve in your sweet heat

convert to vaporous mist

and fly away.

Energy Matters

Alberon Reserve, Parnell, Auckland - where I went to recharge yesterday

We have been talking about passion lately and how to support our personal vision with positive activity. A friend mentioned today: that's all very well but where does the energy come from to be so engaged with life?
Remember Cerunnos? The energy she is talking about is life force and the vehicle for it is the etheric body.

What does that term mean- the etheric or vital body?
The physical body you see when you look in the mirror is actually composed of seven layers. The lowest three layers are solid matter. The atoms comprising these layers make up the solids, liquids and gases that compose what we generally refer to as "my body". The upper four layers are ethers which create a template for the dense body you see.
Science refers to the etheric as the bioplasmic or bioenergetic body. It is identifiable and measurable. In Hindu terms it is prana. The Greeks referred to it as pnuema. For the Chinese it is Qi. In my own Celtic tradition it is the Great Chalice.

Most of us are unaware of this force body which consists of instinct or natural body intelligence.Usually people respond to their body emotionally and through their physical senses. It can, however, be perceived intuitively and taken into conscious consideration as we are endeavouring to do in the Homestead Project.
When you take account of your etheric body and work consciously with life force it is possible to support your health in very tangible ways. You get more energy that way. Energy follows thought remember, so it pays to give prana your close attention.

Our basic vitality is hereditary. Like our features, the fundamental strengths and weaknesses of our form are inherited.

Another source of etheric energy is from the food we eat. In other words the life quality of what we eat either supports or diminishes life force. This is the reason for our goal at Homestead to grow or manufacture at home as much of our food as possible. There is a very close link between humans and the plant kingdom. They provide us with our best and closest source of life force. Eating fresh, uncontaminated fruit, grains and vegetables really does support your health.

By listening to our body intuitively we contact instinct and are naturally drawn to the food that best supports us. When that food is a pure as we can acquire we extract the greatest benefit - the greatest life force- from it.
Occultly speaking different foods support the body in different ways:
Bitter foods drain and dry the body and stabilise emotion.
Pungent foods disperse energy
Sweet foods harmonise the body via the spleen
Sour foods have astringent qualities via the liver
Salty foods purify and detoxify via the blood stream
Bland foods leach damp heaviness in the body via the bladder.

Etheric energy also comes to us from the air we breathe and from sunlight.

When life force is flowing in a balanced way we enjoy good health. We have plenty of energy and are full of enthusiasm and passion for life. Whether the flow is balanced or not depends on our mental and emotional condition too. The happy habit counts because everything is interrelated.

It helps to think of you etheric body as an invisible template for the physical form you see. Imagine it is an interlacing network with energy running in and out. Activity is conditioned by centres located around the seven major endocrine glands of your body.

So we really are what we eat - and how we feel and how we think and the environment we live in. All life is interconnected.
Try putting your attention on your etheric body and practise listening to what your body is saying to you.
Watch your energy levels rise.

Eyes on the Target

Hazel Mason in her Egyptian costume. (c 1910-1920)

Today is a research day at Homestead. I am researching colonial dress for an article. The every day aspects of our ancestor’s lives are fascinating aren't they?

Essentially I am intuiting creative ways to let my passion for history and my ideals fire me in my work. Once again it is the Lunar calendar which has set the pace here.

If this new moon cycle is about being intuitively inspired – and it is- we need to harness that growing creative energy.  It culminates with an eclipse on the Full Moon. The potential here is for clear seeing and foresight. This month has the momentum to push more of our vision out into form in our daily lives.

The Homestead ideal is there in the vision picture- living lovingly, intuitively connected to all life, manifesting the abundance and beauty such connectedness brings. Our challenge is to use our talents and skills to best effect in support of that vision. It is time for Action.

Positive outgoing activity comes naturally from two opposite poles:

-          Acting to remove limitation

-          Tapping into our passion with creative activity to move ideas into form.

Well – some limitations are easy to spot. We have made some lifestyle choices under this heading already. It is our goal to be breathing freely by the end of this month.

Other limitations are less obvious.

Now is the time to let go of habits of speech which are self effacing rather than self supporting.

Speech is sound and sound creates by setting up vibratory patterns, so speaking positively to ourselves and others is vitally important.

Old memory stories are symptomatic of old ways of thinking, ways of reliving old pain, or some historical success.  Letting our mind rest constantly on past experience keeps us stuck there.

Who we were has no relevance here in the present, where we are Now.

This is the best time to be alert for the way those old stories creep into our thoughts and conversation. They are best starved out by letting them go, refusing to speak about them and deliberately bringing our thoughts into the here and now.

Thinking about our vision is hugely valuable but at some point we must Act to make it happen.

Scattered activity won’t get us very far either. This is the step that is best supported by planning.

The base ground for a plan is the purposeful pursuit of the vision. Holding that picture shows us it is our passion, used creatively, which provides the steps to success.

At Homestead we plan intuitively too. This means listening, within and without, and watching for flow.

Today the message is clear: when you are engaged with what inspires you, your activity matches life’s purpose. Throw your heart into it.

Colour Your World

There is glorious sunshine at Homestead today. It is one of those picture perfect spring days which lift everyone up. Anything is possible on a day like this.

The Moon is in its Balsamic phase too. This is time to draw all the loose ends together. Things are looking forward to new possibilities coming in on the new moon in a few days time.

The Homestead Project requires a present awareness but also a definite “future” orientation to our activity. That sounds a contradiction doesn’t it?

We are taking steps to realise a dream, to materialise an aspiration.

This ability to foresee a brighter future and plan for it is something everybody can learn. It is the key to manifesting a life that meets our ideals.

The bulk of most people’s experience up to adulthood leads them to play safe in a state which accepts the status quo. The educational environment generally values conformity. This is the mind- set that keeps us colouring inside the lines of someone else’s drawing.

It is quite a shift when we can stop and ask ourselves: is there a better way to be? What do I need to get myself to there?

In order to make this shift we need to remember our childlike curiosity and playfulness. What if we could make our own drawing? What then?

Having a picture- a personal vision – gives meaning to activity. It gives a positive basis for change and growth. We know we are working to our own original recipe. We are Doing Something even in the most mundane activities.

We begin to live our Dream, knowing it already exists in thought.

The most fundamental Universal Law applies here: energy follows thought.

So if we can stay present, holding the picture of our ideal life steady in the front of our minds, new activity and beliefs can form that make the personal vision a daily reality.

What sort of picture are you colouring right now? Would you like to create a different life?

Here is a simple worksheet activity to get you started:

Close your eyes and imagine your life is exactly as you have dreamed it could be.

Note carefully where you are living and who you are with. What are you wearing? What work do you do? Look at what is your home like and the forms have you surrounded yourself with. What does your home say of your interests and lifestyle? What is the purpose of this life you are living? Look for clues.

Now open your eyes and make some notes. You may like to record your ideals under headings. This is the time to get specific, even if what you write down seems unrealistic compared to the life you have now. 

Some useful headings are:

Relationships – what people are you associated with? What characteristics do they have and what values do they demonstrate? What is the basis of your relationship with them? How is your life enhanced by their presence? How do you enhance theirs?

                                What animals and plants are you associated with? Ask the same questions about their presence in your ideal life.

                                What landscapes and places are you in relationship with? Again, ask the same questions about your interactions with the land.

Purpose- what legacy would your ideal life leave behind you? What is the essential idea behind the picture you are drawing? This can be a difficult question to answer. Look for clues by exploring the image from every angle. You might usefully ask:

                                What is my ideal work? We express something about ourselves in our chosen field of endeavour. What expertise and skills do you demonstrate at work? What motivates you?

                                What is my field of service?

 This may be the same venue as employment or it may not. How do you give back to the world? What contribution is meaningful and satisfying to you?

                                What is fun for me?

The activities and interests we are really passionate about are often the best clues to our life purpose. So what pushes your buttons? What activity recharges you?

Spirituality-What is my belief system based on? This may take any form from community worship, personal values, faith to fatalism. Try to get at what lies behind the form. In your ideal life you are witnessing to your way.

Forms- What tangible, material things do you have in your life? Abundance and prosperity is part of a healthy life. What lifestyle and income supports you? What shape is your body in? Here you are asking yourself to describe your own image of perfect health. Try to do this without colouring from any outside agency. You are the one living this life. Give yourself permission to see yourself healthy and happy on your own material terms. What does that look like? Try to describe the sight and sense of your healthy form life as best you can.

Now you have a clear vision of life that is personal to you, let it colour your days by holding it in mind. Love that image. Breathe Life into the picture. It is who you really are.

Welcome Cerunnos

Image from Celtic Tarot XV Cerunnos

It may seem extreme to say that the Homestead Project is based on Passion but it is.

We are passionate about living an intuitive life. Beauty fires the passion of the heart’s desire. Intuition fires a passionate connection with all life. Love fires the relationship between ourselves and our environment, both indoors and out.

In this context words such as Passion and Desire are rather challenging aren’t they? We are used to these concepts in a primal context of sexual relationship. 

What happens when we open the gate to allow those forces free reign in every context? 

We leave room for Cerunnos.

That Great Life enlivens all forms, protects, grows and culls too. Sometimes referred to as The Mighty Hern, the Horned One, Son of the Mother, he is present in all that lives and breathes.

Cerunnos swings in with tremendous energy at the moment we learn to love Life. 

He brings challenges in his wake of course. We have no choice but to change the status quo when his influence is felt. 

All that is unlike Life, all that inhibits free expression, is doomed to be swept away. 

We have to change. We have to learn to throw our hearts over the fence, to free-fall into who knows where.

In Western society most of us are unaccustomed to this way of living. Entrepreneurs, however, are one identifiable group who have a healthy relationship with Cerunnos. Sportspeople know him too, as do high achievers in any field. We see them as exceptional and wonder where they get the energy to do what they do. 

The energy is Cerunnos’ gift of love – life loving itself.

So what fires you? What is your passion? What would your life look like if you chose to use it as a creative force for change? Let Cerunnos marry your passion with his energy and see where it takes you – all the way to a fulfilling life.

Lighten Up for Spring

Now that the Spring Equinox has passed the natural world swings into a new gear. Here is an opportunity for us all to lift with it. 

We have just returned from a long weekend in Northland where the new season is well underway. It is a place of astonishing natural beauty. It is not hard to appreciate the good things when your lover shares them with you- the warm sunshine, good food and magnificent scenery. I wish everyone could experience such light, such love. 

Universal law operates on every plane of existence. Nothing in life is static – everything moves, shifts or vibrates if you like. Like is attracted to like, under the same law.

So if you desire better experiences, a higher rate of being or a greater connection to spirit you must raise your rate.

By choosing to focus on the good you attract more good things into your life. 

Love what you have, in the place where you are and more good can come to you then.

Spring is the perfect time to make this shift. You will be in harmony with the planetary life in which you live and move and have your being.

The tendency of nature is to positive activity, so you are really choosing to work with your intrinsic nature rather than against it.

Positive thoughts vibrate faster than negative ones. Everything in life works this way.

As a musical note raises in pitch the string vibrates at a faster rate. Colour changes in the same way. So you can control your thoughts and experiences as a musician controls a musical instrument.

 Do you see? By choosing to see the good around you and to consciously think in a positive way you lift your vibrational rate. At the same time you positively affect those around you.

Being conscious of your energetic alignment and choosing to lighten up helps you to lift up out of the swinging pendulum between opposites which is so characteristic of the duality of life.

When you are unaware of your ability to lighten your life then the slow energy of negative people and environments will find you. Like attracts like.

In unhealthy company it is easy to be “dragged down” to sluggish physical energy and depressed emotions. This brings unhappy experience along with it, affirming a negative outlook on life.

What kind of life would you prefer? 

On Birth and Re-Birth

It is the full September moon. The southern hemisphere season of Ostara begins, culminating in the equinox at 20.44GMT on Sunday 22^nd.

Combined with the other astrological conditions prevailing, this lunar month has already been one of unusual power and wide ranging effects.

If you feel a bit slow today don’t be surprised. If your health has seemed unstable lately, you are not alone.

A swinging energy level is characteristic of this time too. You may feel driven to a frenetic pace one day, but lethargic and slow the next. So what is happening?

The first day of the Full Moon is one to take slowly. Relax and new realisations will surface without any conscious action on our part.

This process cannot be forced any more than the birthing process of any other form life.

Wait now. What you have been going through in the past few weeks has purpose.

Within the context of other stellar and solar activity, the Bright Lady is working to enlighten form life. Lifting the rate now, the push is to richer partnerships and stronger life expression.

If you can be patient today you will see how your experience fits into context, how it is moving you in a guided direction.

Time enough for action on the Equinox when a surge of energy will seem to propel us all into directed activity.

The word Easter has its origin in the Pagan term Ostara – meaning the time when domesticated stock come into milk in Spring.

It is a season when the outgoing creative energy of the cosmos is demonstrated all around us with new life and new growth. 

This growth occurs, within and without, whether we are aware of it or not. Much better then to be alert to the wave and riding it, rather than being dragged about in the undertow.

All that needs to be done today is to form and hold an image of ourselves living fully and freely, sharing our skills and talents, empowered within. 

That is the bud we are waiting to see open- a fulfilling life.

Now you are aware of the momentum of the turning Wheel you can use it actively to facilitate your plans for change. That way you will be in the flow- allowing life to support your efforts, lifting you up and on to better things. 

Happy Birthing Day

New Dance Steps

Auckland has broken out a beautiful day to day. 

This morning the sunshine is pulling my attention out into the garden. 

There is a contest on though because there is my desk saying: discipline girl. We have work to do. Such a taskmaster.

We all run into this conundrum at some point. Notice how our society is structured in such a way that we naturally think in terms of either/or; win/lose;right/wrong. 

Only that group perception is false.

At every place of choice between two options there is always a third, creative option.

I had to remind myself of that this morning.

Life is not asking us to defer pleasure, to suffer pain or put duty before enjoyment.

 It is saying: Look here is a Dance. Can you make up some steps to this new rhythm?

So these daily choices give us opportunity to lighten up if we let them.

Now I have set up a chair in the sunshine where I can enjoy the garden while I work. Strange how writing longhand brings a different quality to the page, it sets a freer tone.

 I often listen to Beethoven or Vivaldi while I work. I love them both, but maybe this could be the day for jazz. What do you think? John Coltrane anyone? 

On a Classical note

Auckland Museum Atrium

There has been a heavy northeasterly running today bringing a deluge of spring rain with it.

I have been inside doing seasonal things too – spring cleaning this morning.

As I work I have been practising keeping my mind still.

Max Bruch’s No 1 G minor violin concerto helps. His rich melodic line encapsulates all that we hope to express through the Homestead project: a passionate and intuitive engagement with life.

While I was cleaning I found a coin lying forgotten in a box of mementos. It dates from the time of Vespasian. 

That coin was the second item from the Classical world to come across my line of vision this morning. 

The first was a couple of lines from the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, written on a card some time ago and left inside another book:

“...bear in mind that every man lives only this present time, which is an indivisible point, and that all the rest of his life is either past or it is uncertain.”

Well that was definitely on theme don’t you think?

Just before I saw those words I had been listening to my breath. It is an effective way to still the mind, by giving it something tangible and rhythmic to focus on.

After hunting out our copy of the Meditations I found a second piece of advice from that great Stoic leader:

“No longer let thy breathing only act in concert with the air which surrounds thee, but let thy intelligence also now be in harmony with the intelligence which embraces all things.”

Isn’t it amazing how life so totally supports even our smallest effort to connect with it?

There is no question this is so. Nor is there any question that the life expressions that were Max Bruch and Marcus Aurelius live on beyond form, space and time. 

Their advice still speaks to us, the music still moves us lovingly into relationship and they steer us still, unerringly, toward the Path of Wisdom. My thanks to them both.

Spring at Highwic, Auckland

Hearth and Home

The Kitchen at Alberton House, Auckland, NZ

The Kitchen is the engine room of Homestead. We have set out with the intention to provide as much as possible from within the home. 

We do this for several reasons:

-On a practical level making our own supplies at home means we know what is in our food. We also know where our ingredients have come from.

-We are able to control quantity and quality of supplies ourselves. We have little waste, as what we do not use returns to the compost cycle for reuse by other lives. Any surplus we can process for a later season or share with family, friends and neighbours. 

Shared natural abundance builds communities.

-On a spiritual level we are able to be present for the whole process. This enables us to appreciate the lives who help to sustain us – such as the grains, cereals, fruits and vegetables. We also add our light and life force to what we are about to eat, completing a creative partnership loop with the natural world.

Intuitively sourcing food means that supplies come into the house in their season, and from various sources.

Right now we are at the tail end of citrus season in our part of the world. The cellar is bristling with several different flavours of marmalade.

Over the last few days I have turned my attention to cordials, so that we have cool drinks ready to hand in the hot summer months ahead.

My sister gave me this cordial recipe which I share here with you. You will notice we are not recreating any pastiche of the past at Homestead- my food processor is a very good friend of mine.

 The amount of sugar in this recipe seems alarming, but you are making a concentrate here. Dilute about a Tablespoon of the cordial with water in a tall glass. If you are lucky enough to have plenty of liquid honey you may like to try substituting that for the processed white sugar listed here. It makes the cordial a different colour but the flavour is rich and delicious.

Old Fashioned Lemon Cordial

Makes 3 litres of concentrate

To make the cordial you will need the following equipment:

A Food Processor with cutting blade attached

Vegetable peeler

Lemon squeezer

Large preserving pan or saucepan of about 5 litre capacity.

Sufficient sealable bottles to contain 3 litres of cordial.

Oven to sterilise bottles

Ingredients:

1.5 kg bag sugar

 6 large lemons

 1 Tbspn citric acid

Method:

Place the bottles in the oven. Set the temperature to 110C.

Peel rind of 2 lemons, being careful not to get any white pith. Set this to one side.

Extract the juice from all of the lemons

 Place the peel & 2 cups from the 1.5kg bag of sugar into the food processor. Run at high speed until the rind is really ground up and the sugar is yellow/oily looking.

Measure the juice and place it into the preserving pan with sufficient boiling water to make 3 litres. Add the rind and sugar mix from the processor to this liquid. Over a moderate heat stir continuously to dissolve the sugar, adding the rest of the 1.5kg sugar and 25- 50g citric acid as you go. Once all the sugar is dissolved turn off the heat. Remove the bottles from the oven to stand on a wire rack or wooden board. Fill each with cordial and seal immediately. Cool and label each bottle.

Once opened the cordial should be stored in the refrigerator

Use as cordial concentrate, diluted with cold water and garnish with lemon slices or mint leaves.

This method is also successful using oranges, limes or mandarins.

Lemon and Barley cordial can be made by substituting some of the boiling water with water in which pearl barley has been cooked. Barley water darkens the appearance of the cordial, but it adds a deeper flavour and nutritional benefits to your summer drinks.

Enjoy!

Counting Blessings

Ocean Beach, Whangarei Heads, Northland, New Zealand

We have been up North again looking for a block of land to create a retreat centre. Thanks to Greg and his beautiful cottage at Parua Bay we had a tranquil place to return to at the end of the day.

There is some beautiful country around the Whangarei Heads. Climbing up the cliffs at Ocean Beach on a clear day we were treated to something awe inspiring. A deep swell was rolling in against the rough hewn black rocks. From our feet to the horizon lay a tone poem – at least seven shades of blue on green, while heat clouds massed behind us, banking blue-grey across the bush covered hills.

Sometimes in our daily routine it is hard to find a moment to stop and appreciate how rich life really is. It takes a shift in our point of view to see the good things all around us. Yet those momentsof gratitude support our life. By placing our attention on what we appreciate we attract more good things to us. This is a Universal Law at work and is found expressed in all religions world wide. He who expresses gratitude for what he has, be it money, love, health or whatever, he will attract to himself more of it. What you put your attention on grows in other words. So if we ignore our good, complain often about lack of time, or money, we will certainly attract more of that too.

Sitting up on the cliff surrounded by such incredible beauty I was reminded to count my blessings.

What do you appreciate in your life right now?

Realising the Theme

Poppies in Cornwall Park

August is a month of promise in the Southern Hemisphere. We are at the end of winter and on the count down to Ostara, the Spring Equinox in September. Things are stirring outside.

Walking in Cornwall Park this morning I watched twin lambs being born. I stood to one side as soft-spoken stockmen moved cows and calves with practised calm. This year the climate has been kind to new lives.  On my return later, the lambs were out of their orange birth-coats and on their legs. Dappled grey and white baby fleece dries quickly in the morning sun.

The Homestead Project is gathering pace too. We have been sowing seeds of food crops and flowering plants- kale, chard and carrots. Peas are just emerging, along with ambitious plans for big plantings of tomato and basil. We negotiated with the aged house cat Violet. She had first option on the sunniest garden spot. By way of compromise the raised bed has room for a blue/grey lady to warm herself in the morning. We benefit twice really – there is no better bird deterrent system than a feline one.

Inside there is just as much evidence of the Wheel turning. It is the Full Moon time when the vision and enthusiasm to start this Project is beginning to be realised. We are all feeling the benefits of a new approach. In our relationships and in our spiritual lives a new richness is emerging. Every decision is a group one. Every conscious action is a community action. Sometimes the results are hilarious and others achingly poignant. Unseen hands are lightening our life and we are grateful for their presence and assistance.

It takes practice at first, to shift from a mind set of separateness to one of inclusion but the results are outstandingly positive. It takes only a moment to stop and ask: Where is the flow here? What do I sense as I move through this space? Will this action support our project or diminish it? - and these techniques can be applied to all of life - it is all interconnected anyway.

Settling In

The Spirit Lamp for our new House

Once we understand that humanity is not the only intelligent life on the planet it is easier to intuit  the life in other forms around us. All forms have life and all manifest an Idea - a thought form - which lies at the back of their material structure.
Gardeners are used to relating to plants in this way. They see a tree living its life through the wheel of the year from a dormant winter frame to a form resplendent with fruit in late summer. They also see that same tree supporting other life while it lives - birds, insects, animals and people.  A house is very much like a tree. It too has a life, supports life, and so adds its particular quality to the activity carried on within and around it.

This week I am settling in to my new home and establishing a framework for the activity of the household. While sorting out belongings and getting to know the space better is an important part of the process, there are other things going on. I am establishing a relationship with the place.

This house, and the land it sits on, is new to me. Like any new acquaintance, it will reveal its personality to me if I pay attention. In order to understand I am required to listen as I explore the possibilities here. By merging my own life with this house, in an attitude of respect and commitment, I am asking to establish an intimate connection with the spirit of the place. Together with other occupants, seen and unseen, I am creating a Home in which all who cross the threshold will feel they Belong.

This opportunity is open to everyone and all of us instinctively seek that sense of belonging we call Home. The problem for many is the way our lifestyle and upbringing has served to disconnect us from the very means of finding that sense of place.
If we rush our attention is scattered and we cannot relate to any one. So the first step is to Slow Down.

Our second step on the Path Home is to take the opportunity to be in a park, or to notice street trees and urban birds - the creatures who live around us. Seek out these other lives and appreciate their presence. If we have no access to growing things, no place for a potted plant even, we lose our connection to the cycles of the seasons, to the source of the life force which sustains our bodies. We also disconnect ourselves from the spirit of Life itself.

The third step Home is to establish a rhythmic pattern to our day. When our world is filled with light and sound, both day and night, we miss the opportunity to pace our lives in tune with the rest of Life. We are unsettled then, and rootless.
No two people have the same requirements, so this too requires us to stop and to listen within. What meal times and waking hours support your life best?
What foods and activities enhance a sense of health and pleasure in life? What balance of work, play and rest meets your needs best?

The fourth and final step is to keep the mind as quiet as possible. Constant inner dialogue and noise drowns out the inner voice and closes down intuition.
No relationship can survive without clear communication. To develop a sound relationship with your Self, with the Soul and with all life we must learn to be still and to listen. In that stillness we get our sense of Home.
There a lantern shines at the window and we feel the warmth of the Hearth.
From the place of that peace we relate easily and effortlessly, knowing we are alive - that we Belong.

Exploring new localities

I have been out walking. My new neighbourhood is small residential oasis in a light industrial area.
The district is not so very new to me. As a child I went to intermediate school here. I have even lived here before - a long time ago when my eldest daughter was an infant- only the place was different then. I see the changes made here as a very healthy sign.
Like my neighbourhood, we all grow with change.  We see things differently. Just like any part of town does, we have our quirks and our issues. Getting on with doing the best we can with what we have is the flavour of most adult days, as it is with most districts.
Only things change fast sometimes and we feel differently about ourselves. That is just as well. Those unsettled feelings that float to the surface and drive change are keeping us healthy and on track.
A major part of our life purpose is to come to know ourselves well. A second major part of our  purpose is to connect with others meaningfully.
All we really have to do is take the risk of engaging with life around us - right where we are - at home, at uni', at work. Also, I discovered its OK to be  your Self while you do it.
Both neighbourhoods and the people in them are more interesting when they show their character.

Here's some of what I saw on my walk:

The Homestead Project

Today is Monday and the day of New Moon- the start of a new lunar cycle, a new week.
It's the perfect time to learn some fresh moves in the dance of our days.

Life has wrought some phenomenal changes over the last six months. Now I find I have fetched up in a wondrous place of light, love and warmth. From this place I express my gratitude to all lives who have contributed to its creation. From this place too, a new project and way of life begins.

Several years ago I began to look into the history of a district. By means of conventional research and channelling I began to uncover a story concerning a property there which I refer to as Homestead. Employing the old ways, I connected directly with the personalities involved in the events which took place during the 1870’s. Through them I unearthed their connection with my own life.

With the assistance of other guides and teachers I was introduced to the healing potential of collaboration across the boundary of form life. The goal of this combined effort is to create a new co-operative centre where a different process for living can be explored. By combining old ways with new, practical skills with intuitive ones, the Homestead Project will establish another centre to demonstrate the interconnectedness of all.

Commitment to this project has produced some significant upheavals for me, and a raft of astonishing new experiences. The most noticeable are the external changes: a profound love connection; a shift to more authentic, creative work and a reorganisation of my living arrangements. None of these changes could be lightly undertaken. All of them affected my closest relationships with family and friends, whose continued support and acceptance has encouraged me to carry on. Their love has provided the medium of exchange, allowing the dissolution of established, known ways of operating and the coagulation of new experiences into a recognisable pattern for my days. That loving support is still the greatest blessing in life and one for which I am ever grateful.

At its most fundamental level the Homestead Project is about treating all life as loving, close family and friends. This attitude acknowledges the scientific and occult truth: All Life is interconnected Energy.

Try the approach in your own life and see how it feels to you- and Please do comment or email me about your experiences.

Love mwb

What is a Shaman anyway?

Today I received mail in which my correspondent asked a question: What does it mean to be a Shaman?
Good question. I will do my best to answer it here.
In so far as the word "shaman" has associations with ancient traditions of spirituality it is a useful term to describe a modern day healer who walks between worlds.

One sphere of activity is the world seen by everyone. Here the shaman is witness to a way of life which honours the spirit of all things, and the interconnectedness of all things, as expressions of the One Life.
The other sphere of activity is a world which is sensed intuitively and approached by trained use of the higher mind. This is the world of Spirit. In this world the shaman travels to assist in the maintenance of health and balance, and to engage with aspects of the collective spirit.

The well springs of shamanistic practises are as many and varied as the cultural origins of humanity. In my case western Paganism forms the basis for activity. Others practise in the ways traditional to their areas of origin, be it the Americas, the Pacific or the Australian outback. All share a common understanding of the interconnectedness of all life, whether seen or unseen.

I take this opportunity to honour with thanks all my teachers and mentors who provided me with the understanding and training which allows me to serve in this way. There is one in particular who has always been with me, encouraging tenacity and perseverance, and guiding me lovingly around hazards. Bless you Gudryn.

Song of Gudryn

White waves and bracken

Blue woad and heather

Scree and kree of wave and wind

North Man

Grey hound, blue feather

Round house and granite

Seal and peel of air dried skin

Isle Man

Green paste, white mortar

Smoke, ember’s flare

Grease and grind of new-set limb

Heal Man

Violet eye and totem

Star, whorl on land

Guide and sage in my life time

Spirit Man