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?