time spent in the garden...and waffling on about the shower..

while in the shower this morning, I had one of the most profound thoughts/enlightenments that i have had for ages (why is it that those thoughts come while under the shower, I really must get myself a journal for the bathroom )... I was thinking of my spiritual journey (as I do tend to always, consumed by it I am).. a thought wafted through my mind - the magick is within me (actually truth be told.. many have told me the magick is within me.. I just didn't see it or believe it..) I have been going around looking for it in 'things'.... I understood while in the shower that don't need to look outside of me.. it is all within (maybe everyone else already knew this.. I am always the last to realize things like this).. which makes alot of sense really.. I do 'hear' alot of wisdom when I am sitting alone in my sacred space.. in a meditative state or when I am in the garden or even mindlessly washing up - now I have to learn to trust those thoughts & visions.. .. I think that is my inner wisdom, my higher self who is talking to me...
oh yes, all those gorgeous puttery things I do to create magick in my life, those things that I talk about here... setting the scene, creating ancestral altars, lighting candles, burning incense, having little moon ceremonies.. creating magickal things like brooms, wreaths and wands.. they are all part of it... that IS the magick within, manifesting in the physical....

I spent quite a few hours in my garden today - the day was brilliant.. sunny but chilly.. I donned my old flannelette shirt, work boots and warm pants and proceeded to work in the back yard.. finally getting my strawberry runners in so that they can settle in for springtime & then hopefully to go on to produce summer fruits

Joe dug the bed a few weeks ago and my runners arrived from Diggers club last week.. so the bed has been waiting for me to finish it off with compost & straw.. we use bricks around our garden beds.. and surprisingly Laura did the same in her garden many years ago..
cleaning up the pond and getting it ready for the frogs in spring ( I do hope they make my pond their home & maybe a few dragonflies too!)... pruning the clematis, picking lemons

lemons freshly picked ready to take to Mum on Tuesday... perfect for this cold winter weather
I thinned the carrots and harvested the last of my comfrey leaves to make a comfrey tea for my springtime vegetables....I had a grand old time in the garden...

my lachenalias are flowering now... I can remember my grandma had hers in a similar pot... she called them 'soldiers'... I guess they do look like soldiers standing at attention!
don't forget Full Moon is coming up this week.. the Full Moon Earth healing.. the clay discs are on their way and will be there in time for August Full Moon.. if you would like to join in, please email me and I will put you on the email list!

Oll an gwella
Cornish for
'all of my best wishes'

ancestral connections & a walk in my garden this 1st of July...

I am here my lovely readers, but I am struggling right now... my ancestral connections seems to be getting stronger and stronger in my soul... and it is making me weep.. the ache in my heart to know them is awful and I don't know why this is happening.. it is not of my making...I feel like I am disconnected from here in the present and I could weep with wanting to live back then. It is like some of my soul pieces are still back there with my ancestral connections & I want to return to where they lived in Cornwall, to see what they did, how they lived, what they ate, did they garden, were they witches.. what kind of houses did they live in and on and on it goes... there must be an answer out there somewhere for this to be so strong in my soul, it is like they are calling me. .. from beyond.

I have phoned Rookwood Cemetery, here in Sydney, where Laura is buried... have found her grave and am planning on taking myself there, to sit with her and somehow connect with her... sad thing is she died only 8 years before I was born... maybe she was at my birth in spirit...

one of my wise women friends from the Wild Woman group that I go to on Tuesdays.. emailed me this morning in support of my struggle:~
It is easy to romanticize the past and another place as being better than our own but I am sure that there were some really crappy things that our ancestors had to put up with as well. If you truly are your ancestor then they are living on through you now and are lucky enough to experience the good bits of your life....like the freedom to play in your gypsy caravan.......to create your beautiful garden......to have a partner that provides security and a home that you love.
the most important thing is to live the life you think your ancestors would have loved to live given the chance........live your life.......break free..........cast off the responsibility to mother for a while and nurture your own soul. If that means going to Cornwall then bloody well do it......Living in a physical body is a precious gift but it is the mental attitude that often stops us from doing what we want. STOP....REST and honour yourself enough to put yourself first.
I would suggest do not fight this urge to know your ancestors, I would say research.
I would also say to write about what you think about them. I would also say paint or draw or sketch or whatever you need to do.......don't suppress it.

wise words from a wise woman... I am on edge.. not settling.. so I took myself out into the garden this July morning, always a grounding thing for me....

the garden is a place of solace for me..

bales of lucerne waiting to be spread on the garden as mulch, old tyres waiting to be painted & compost to be turned... chores to be done this weekend.

the oranges are ripening.. I usually wait for the first frost before i start picking them.. the frost sweetens them!

my daphnes are in bloom once again.. my garden at the moment is a perfumed delight.. I could drown in it.

the Gypsy Caravan and other magickal things

this afternoon, dutch husband and myself are off to the Gypsy caravan for a long weekend. Once again, I cannot wait.. I am like a child looking forward to Christmas... I want to sit beside the water with dutch husband, enjoying early morning breakfast. I want to snuggle while watching movies and eating popcorn... and this time I plan on taking a long walk along the beach, gathering flotsam and jetsom. I want to make myself a pentagram from my gatherings, to hang on the door of the beach house (otherwise boringly known as the annexe) connected to the van. I want to weave vines, driftwood and shells whispering a magickal chant as I weave.. weaving blessings and love into that wreath.. adding my energies as I chant......I also want to paint some cement pots to put in the little brick courtyard (otherwise boringly known as 'paved area outside door')... in these cement pots, I will plant bright geraniums...

because you see, on the New Moon I discovered that Geranium is my totem flower or one of my plant allies.. as I sat in my garden, the geranium spoke to me... not in human voice but in my soul. When I touched it, my hands tingled, I felt an exchange of energy.. and it was then I realised that my great grandmother Laura from Cornwall.. had guided me to that plant. I think come this Full Moon, when I do the Earth Healing ritual, I will also make a flower essence from the geranium.. because: The faeries and elves of this flower awaken a sense of happiness and stir the heart chakra. In most geranium beds will be found an elf who oversees the entire area. The faeries of this flower strengthen and vitalize the aura. They can also show you where you may be missing opportunities for happiness.

new moon in Cancer

the altar in my bedroom.. for New Moon I added my two Cornish stones to honour my ancestors and a Winter Rose to nourish my soul..
I love my Moon Diary.. not only is it specific for us down here in Australia but it also gives a whole page of suggestions what one can do at New & Full Moon.. this Cancer New Moon it is suggested that these questions are pondered: how can I connect with my ancestors and reach a deep understanding of what it means to belong to my family & how can I nourish my soul and those I love.. there are others, but these two will do me for this month.

I think I may have mentioned once or twice, that i have traced my roots back to 14thC Cornwall and I know I have other branches of my family tree in Scotland.. My great grandfather William Truscott came to Australia on active duty with the Royal Navy.. he loved this land so much and could see it was a wonderful place to bring up his family that he sent for his wife, Laura to come here to live.. so she left her England and family and sailed to Australia with her children... not long after that William died on active duty from pneumonia, I believe.. leaving Laura a widow in a strange land with their children. How did she cope? did she love Australia so much that she stayed here to bring her family up? I don't know, you see, these kind of stories have not been handed down.. my family were not story tellers... I could ask my mother but much as I love her, I know if she didn't know the story, then she would make it up.. and I want facts. I want to know if Laura missed Cornwall, I want to know if they were witches.. I want to know if they grew herbs and made their own poultices, tisanes and other herbal remedies, like I do.. I have an inner knowing of herbal lore.. never studied it in my life.. I know she loved her garden, I know she said their were faeries down at the bottom of her garden - like I do. She had geraniums in front of a photo of her deceased husband.. why? was that some kind of Cornish folklore? this yearning to know is getting stronger as I get older and sometimes I could just weep with the strong desire to know more of my roots.
In fourteen hundred and ninety two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue. - This was about the time 'my' first recorded Tregilgas was living in the area of St. Ewe - John Tregilgas a tinner from the Stannary of Blackmore....I must get to Cornwall..

Last night I sat in meditation...and I felt her presence as well as my Pa's.. I realized that he was a typical Cornishman.. quite short & very olive skin..same as me..I felt so connected..I also connected very strongly with my higher self..like a knowing came over me, that my higher self has all my answers and they are available to me always.. I just have to follow my intuition and as a confirmation that I am on the right path, the cards I pulled were both strongly connected to ancestral connections, knowledge and wisdom..

I know that Laura is guiding me.. if I sit at this New Moon, maybe she will lead me to answers or knowings...today, I hope to sit under my pine tree .. breathing with the new moon, celebrating that I am here.. then I will dig up my quartz crystal and begin again.. starting over, flowing with the rhythm of Mother Earth... and tonight, I will have a lovely long lavender bath...surrounded by my moonstones.

the next Full Moon is 14days away... and our band of Earth Healers will gather together across the globe to send healing to Mother Earth.. as we heal Her, She will heal us.. we are one with her, not separate... as Sr.K says to me often: "Gaia and I, Gaia and you, Gaia and the human race are one" ....
if you would like to be part of the monthly Full Moon Earth healing ritual.. please email me and I will add you to the email list... (email on my profile) ~ have a blessed New Moon & a lovely lavender bath !

a peaceful & magickal Winter Solstice

I woke this morning to a perfect Winter Solstice... raining, misty and eerily still... a feeling of magick and contentment surrounded me.. I could feel it so well. Beside my computer sat a tiny baby spider, a pale beige colour, just hatched out of the egg.... a totem sign perhaps? it stayed with me all morning.

I went for a walk in Katoomba.. and saw the Green Man in a tree.. .. I am surrounded by signs as if I am being encouraged that I am on the right path. I feel good.

I cleaned my back verandah and hung a sprig of holly at the back door to encourage constant good fortune throughout the year.. my red candle will burn through out the night to welcome the Sun's return & along with the wreath I made last week at my Wise Womans gathering, it makes for a very festive home... these small acts that I perform in my temple are things that my ancestors and most probably myself in a past life, did..... it may be like play acting, but it brings me close to my ancestors, whose blood flows in my veins and if my heart is at peace doing this, then it is a good thing..

at 3.30 this afternoon, I prepared to make my way to my Sacred Space under the pine tree but just as I did, the rain pelted down and I had to change plans.. grabbing a cushion, the shawl that SweetPea gave me, some solstice incense, a candle and music.. I set up on my front verandah, to sit in silence at the exact & true moment of Winter Solstice - 3.45pm, then I closed my eyes & visualized Earth being surrounded in pure white light.. I saw my Earth Healing sisters all over the globe preparing for their time...I saw ribbons connecting us all, I saw myself on top of a high mountain and everywhere I looked the Earth was green and sparkling, waterfalls cascaded down like pure crystal energy. I connected to Earth down through my crown chakra to the Earth, sending healing energy..giving energy as She has done for me this life and in past times.. connecting with Her as my soul absolutely desires to.. the desire of connection being satisfied by this simple act. this was my Earth Healing ritual..

the Earth Healing circle is now manifest! starting here in Australia.. I received an email from a fellow wise woman: my dogs & I enjoyed a wonderful Earth Healing ­­­­at around mid day today. ...
and it continues like a wave across the globe... and each Full Moon we will come together to do what we must.

thankyou to each and everyone of you who have taken part in this Solstice ritual.. believing that in this small token and love for our Mother, we each can do our part.. that is all that is asked of us..

to celebrate the Winter Solstice, I plan on roasting an organic chicken along with root vegetables & a small glass of celtic wine for dinner. Then sitting by the fire with Dutch husband.. surrounded by the twinkling light of candle light & winter solstice incense ... a meditation to finish of the day... then tucked up into bed, knowing the the Sun will be there tomorrow... as it always has been.