Tide rising, tide going out. Times of power and times of rest. More and more I'm thinking about the rhythm of my life - how to tie that in with the phases of the moon and with the wheel of the year. Sometimes our desire to bring new growth, new stuff and new adventures into our lives is very strong. Other times, it feels more important to get rid of some things. Negativity, pain, anger . . . you know. There are all kinds of techniques, spells, charms, or whatever you choose to call them, which can allow us to let go of things which aren't helping us. Have you ever thought about how the waning moon energy might help with that?

Dotted around the British Isles you can find trees, usually next to holy wells, called "clootie trees". In Scots a clootie is literally a cloth, whether a rag or an item of clothing. There is an old saying, "Ne'er cast a cloot 'til May is oot," meaning don't discard any items of winter clothing until the end of May, while a "clootie dumpling" is a pudding steamed in a tea towel or a piece of muslin. On these clootie trees you will see strips of cloth and ribbon, and even entire pieces of clothing at some locations, hung on the trees. These might be offerings of worship to some saint or deity, but at many trees the tradition is one of requesting the removal of illness or some other trouble. The idea is that as the cloth decays, so the problem will fade away.

I live in a very dry place where the chances of finding water at all, let alone a natural spring, are slim. However, I do have some beautiful cottonwood trees on my farm which have gotten their roots into enough water to grow very large. The energy around them is special to me, and without giving it much thought I spontaneously began tying the occasional clootie to them. Some are acts of worship, and others are requests to take things away.

While I know that it is traditional to work with the full moon, it is worth considering that it is actually only truly full for a moment, so I am trying something new, working with the waning gibbous moon. This time in the moon's phase is still bright and power-filled, but because it is also waning, I feel that the power of removal and decay is particularly present. If you have something that you want removed from your life, what better time to ask?

I like to write things on my strips of cloth. That might be the name of a deity - in which case I prefer to use something beautiful or precious like a favourite piece of ribbon, or it may be a word representing something I want to get rid of, in which case a strip torn from any old rag will do. Luckily, I'm in good health and I have not had to use this for illness, so I can't say what this kind of healing feels like for a physical ailment. In the case of other negative things I know that many of them are in my life because I resist letting go of them. This is particularly true with negative emotions and attitudes. What I seem to feel happening here is a kind of insistent reminder to work on the resistance itself, and perhaps a bit more resolve and strength to do that than I had before. If my clooties are aiding that process, then I think they are a great help.

You don't need me to walk you through this process step by step. If you like the idea, take it and make it your own. Do the things that will make it meaningful for you. Do what feels right. And may the waning moon assist you!

If you enjoyed this post, you might also like The New Moon another exploration of the possibilities of working with the moon.

"Seals on the Rocks Farallon Islands" Albert Bierstadt (1830 - 1902)

Around the coast of Ireland and Britain there are countless stories of seal people. Often called selkies, they are usually said to be able to cast off their skins on land to take the appearance of humans. In many versions of these stories, a human falls in love with one of these beings, and although the feelings are returned, the human never quite plays fair. In order to keep their new love on land, they take the seal skin and hide it away, so that their lover is also their prisoner. These stories have an inevitable ending which I'm sure you can guess. Yes, one day the skin is found, and the selkie returns to the sea.

Other selkie tales may concern seals who help humans who are in some kind of trouble (perhaps the human has spared a selkie's life in the past) or they may be about selkies who approach humans for help. One of my favourite of these stories tells of the adventure of a seal fisherman among the selkies, and is told by Tom Muir in this video.

I spent  many years among "horse whisperers". The things I learned certainly deepened my thinking, and not just about horses. Bridging the horse/human divide - mentally, emotionally or spiritually is an immense challenge, and it's interesting how attracted we humans are to that challenge - whether it's horses or house pets, or even selkies. The man who many people consider to be the father of the natural horsemanship movement, was a fellow called Tom Dorrance. In one sense, you might call him a wise old cowboy, but his Zen-like approach to horses went a long way beyond spit and sawdust. It was an approach that he was known for extending to his human associates and students, too. Stories of how he simply set people up to see a lesson in something, then left them to figure it out, are legendary. I'll let you get a feel for Tom with a couple of quotes.

Tom's words are not easy to fathom. That's probably why he didn't write books. Most of the people who learned from Tom did it by watching, by doing, and most of all by some mysterious art of feeling what Tom was about. It was really only when some of these people, with a little more charisma, with more interest in words, began to take the message to the masses that the study of natural horsemanship became something people intentionally undertook.

The horse's need for self-preservation is deeply basic. It is fear of predators (and humans are innately predators, like it or not) which causes them to do all those inconvenient things like run away with their riders, shy in traffic or buck people off. Tom Dorrance, however, peeled away a layer that is still ignored by too many - the horse's need for mental self preservation and for spiritual self preservation, and that being herd animals, if we are to work with them under those terms, this includes a need to be together with us. Many people in the natural horsemanship movement believe that this brand of thinking could save humanity, and I'm not sure that they are overstating their case.

What the lesson of the selkie and the horse whisperer both teach us is the need for feeling togetherness, and that togetherness needs to be perceived as fair by both parties. Ultimately, it's not enough for me to say "I hid your seal skin because we loved each other" or "I trained you by a consistent set of rules, which were fair rules". If the other party doesn't feel fairness, it wasn't really togetherness. Anytime we are trying to initiate a relationship we need to meet the other party a lot more than halfway. We need to go most of the way. If that doesn't make sense, maybe the following little exercise I learned from a student of Tom's will.

Most people are looking to feel comfortable. Perceived common ground is what gives them comfort. Especially common ground of spirit, and of energy. Go somewhere where you can shake hands with a bunch of people. Some of them will crush your rings into useless scrap metal, some will have a touch like a wet paper towel, others will hold onto your hand just a bit too long for decency. Don't meet them halfway. Meet them all the way, if you can. Feel your way into what they are offering, and return it, and they will feel that you are together for that moment. You will be much more likely to have their trust, their interest, whatever.

Of course, you may recognise this exercise from an Aikido class or a workshop on sales techniques - it gets around. It may spark your interest, or it may spark in you a feeling that you would be giving up your authenticity if you shook hands in any way but your way, but consider this: if you can feel together with another being for a moment, you will be enriched. That, in itself, should be reason enough to do it, but there's more, because by feeling together you also create the opportunity to lead them to a better place -- perhaps toward that middle ground where you will feel safer, too. Just be aware - they may have places they want to take you, too.

I sometimes do readings for people about their relationships with their animal friends, and it's interesting that they always seem to end up being about meeting the animal on it's own ground, where true togetherness is gained. Next time you are trying to create some rapport with another being, why not give this approach a try?

If you enjoyed this post, you might also like Wild Child, another piece I wrote linking horses and water from a different angle.

After the ice age, forests slowly covered much of Europe. This took millennia, but eventually Britain and much of Europe was covered in forest, probably much of it closed canopied and dense. This would have made overland travel difficult and dangerous, and is one reason for concentrated coastal settlements in early Europe. People positioned themselves for the best of both worlds - abundant fishing and abundant firewood and game. They also lived near the best source of travel and trading - the sea. It was only when they made the gradual shift from hunter-gatherers to herders that their relationship to the forest changed.

This changed the forest, too, gradually widening the open areas into pastures, and gradually taking more wood products out as lifestyles changed and populations increased. This new way of living was carried further and further inland. As natural clearings were enlarged for settlements, and growing crops became more important, people began to have a new relationship with the forest. Paths through it connected hamlets and villages and people had more business in the woods. It still remained a place of mystery and possible danger, yet slowly became a place much loved and depended upon, as well.

As Europe moved into the middle ages, the age of kings, things changed again. Laws of the forest were enacted from Russia to England which decreed that the chief products of the forest - wood and game - were the property of the kings. This, too, was a gradual process arising from feudalism, which reached its height in Britain and France under the Norman kings. Yet, unfair as it was to the native peoples of the land, it slowed the clearing process.

Out of these various times, different heroes, monsters and lore of the woods developed, and while moorland and coastline can also be wild and mysterious places, the forest retained a hold on the imagination in a unique way. That might be partly because so much remains hidden from view there, but I suspect a kind of ancestral or collective memory also plays a part. Even though our earliest European ancestors may have been loathe to venture into the woods without good reason, we ultimately look back to a time when the all encompassing forest was the norm. As each era sees more felling and clearing, each generation looks back, often with longing, to a time of more trees, of deeper woods. In this way, the forest becomes our past, holding our ancestors under its canopy, decaying and being reabsorbed under its leaf litter and moss.

Trees are a kind of sister race to mankind. We live amongst them, journeying through our lives side by side, yet at such a differing pace. So many of the trees we meet were old when we were born, will live on after we die. We are relative mayflies and gadflies - with our short lives and great mobility, compared to the static, stable and stoic trees. Yet the spirit of the woods is more than the sum of its parts. There is a peace there. It contains the sum of abundant life and abundant passing and decay in an endless circle. A microcosm of our lives, our spiritual yearnings, our fears, our connection to nature and to the past.

I know that many of you are filled with these longings, and the desire for these connections. Go to the woods if you can. Go deep enough that you don't see out into that other normal and mundane world. Sit. Listen. Meditate. Dream. Walk.

Further reading:
British ancient forests were patchy by Sara Coelho - results of a scientific survey, which gives an easy-to-read overview of the long history of British woodland.
Into the Woods: On British Forests, Myth and Now by Ruth Padel - a really wonderful read, looking at the many roles played by woodland and nature in the British psyche, and beyond. Highly recommended!

If you enjoyed this post, you might also like The Blackface Sheep Speaks

The Meadowsweet card, with it's mention of courtship and marriage, sounds like a card of romantic relationships, and so it may be, or it may be a metaphor. The flower of this plant smells very sweet, indeed, while the leaves are different and more pungent. There is an old adage comparing this to courtship and marriage. This could also apply to beginnings and middles, generally. We often begin things with rosy enthusiasm until we get to the part where we are required to step up and grow. It is part of maturing as individuals to attempt to meet these challenges if we can, and if we consider them worth meeting.

The other aspect of this card is the free gift with no strings, no "payback". The drug we call aspirin is a synthetic version of a chemical found in several plants - willow bark, birch bark and Meadowsweet flowers. People used to take willow bark tea for aches and pains, but just like aspirin, it can make your stomach hurt or even give you ulcers. However, Meadowsweet flowers contain the same pain killer, plus another compound which protects the stomach lining. So while other comforts may have a sting, this one truly doesn't! I think that this aspect of the card can be relevant for those who are afraid to try to remedy their problems for fear of making things worse.

In times past, people used many different plants to strew the floors of their dwellings. Some were chosen for their sweet smell, others for their texture, still others helped to repel fleas and other insects. There was also lore attached to many strewing herbs regarding moods they could create or protection that they might bring, and so on. Meadowsweet was used for strewing. No doubt its aroma had a lot to do with this, but it was also believed to have the power to bring a peaceful atmosphere to bear in a home. Peace is such a healing thing, in the home, in relationships and within ourselves. It is a great vantage point from which to make plans, talk things over, and a great environment in which to work or rest. Challenges are always easier to meet when we feel calm, whether this is the challenge of getting a project or relationship back on track, or even ending one with grace and humanity, so much less damage is done in a peaceful atmosphere.

Further reading: Filipendula ulmaria - Meadowsweet from "Growing Hermione's Garden

If you enjoyed this post, you might also like I am dead yet I live, a post about the elder tree.

I look at the words above, which form the definition of the card Well in the Go Deeper oracle, and I wonder what more there is to say. Water is such a wonder to me, in any form. To have it welling up out of the ground, unbidden, is surely a kind of miracle. I actually believe that all water is sacred - the dirty river, the stuff in a plastic bottle - even in all the places we fail to see the sacred, water is there. We are mostly water. The earth is mostly water. We may ignore, defile, dirty and desecrate the sacred, we may buy it and sell it and even imprison it, but it remains sacred.

Water is a divine connection. You only have to look at the myth of the well at the centre of the world, where the salmon of knowledge swim, where the hazel trees drop their purple nuts for the salmon to eat, to know that this is both a great metaphor and a truth that we understand instinctively as water beings. Every well is a tributary of the great well, and so it is natural for sacred energy, or sacred beings, to gravitate to these places, just as it's natural for humans and animals to do so. We are thirsty - but not just for H2O. Our souls are thirsty, too, as is our energetic body.

I'm sure you know that wells are associated with knowledge and wisdom, with healing, with divination and with the granting of requests. They are a place of power. Water that has been purified by the earth carries many important minerals. However, it must also have a special energy.  Just how powerful the energetic memory of water might be is getting more interest these days among scientists. The following documentary is long, and I would be the first to suspect that it contains a fair dose of pseudo science. However, I believe that nevertheless, these scientists are following what Einstein said is most important - their intuition. There is immense food for thought here, and I really recommend taking the time to watch this, even if you consider one part or another of the whole to be questionable.

Just in case you didn't watch the video right away, it features a number of scientists who are doing research into the memory of water. Into how the molecular structure of water changes when it is influenced by all kinds of different things. Everything from human emotions to music to modern forms of water transportation and treatment are considered, and a few religious scholars and philosophers add in their thoughts along the way. The video constantly reminds us that not only is our existence defined by water, but that we have an influence over it. Perhaps that's why positive thinking works -- or prayer, or holy water and holy wells.

We know enough about how our world works to understand that water circulates. It evaporates and falls as rain, it works its way into the ground and comes up somewhere else as a spring, it flows down the sides of mountains to end up in the sea, where the process is repeated in an ancient cycle. To some extent, the scientists in the film tell us, water cleanses itself of the negative memories it acquires through things like freezing and evaporation. It wipes the slate clean. However, this also made me think that when we visit a holy well, when we bless food or drink (even the food contains water) when we bless the earth and when we bless ourselves and each other - we have the opportunity to connect with the divine in a way that is similar to that physical circulation of water. If the water heals us, perhaps this is also because we help to heal the water. If we lavish love and care on the earth and on her well-shrines, and other waters, we become part of a circulation of healing, of wisdom and knowledge, of love and gratitude.

Of all the Pagan practices that have survived many centuries of Christianity in Europe, the veneration and recourse to sacred wells is high on the list. The Roman church found it easiest to create new, saintly stories around these places, and let the traditions continue in slightly modified forms, but even in Scotland, with its long history of protestant Calvinism and accompanying concerns about "idolitry", sacred wells survived, and are visited to this day. What we perhaps lost, to some extent, was the worship and veneration, the gratitude for sacred energy that completes the circle of divine connection. In the past few centuries, the cultural climate might have been willing to allow a visit to a well to ask a favour or to say a prayer, but to be seen to be actively worshiping there was not always safe. In this way, as we moved into modern times, I think our culture perhaps lost a little of the best these places have to offer. The awe, the reverence, the holiness of these places was slowly replaced by a sense of a transaction. A place to tie a clootie, throw a coin, leave a bent pin. I am not making light of any of these traditions per se, so much as saying that there is potential, without worship, love and gratitude, without a sense of the two way working of the divine connection, to lose our place in all this.

Further reading:
Sacred Waters - Holy Wells by Mara Freeman
Holy Wells in Ireland by Mary Ellen Sweeney

I have been thinking a great deal, recently, about what it means to follow the gods of the Gaels and other Celts, and yet to be far removed from those lands. It has certainly been a hard journey for me, but I am trying to learn not to wallow in homesickness. To what extent can you divide the gods from the land? Have migrating peoples really carried their gods with them, or have they, like Europeans coming to the new world, merely appropriated old names for new things? We may call a red-breasted bird "robin" but it won't fill the same place in our heart, any more than it fills the same place in its eco-system, just because we have named it so. In a foreign place, have we any right to expect the land, itself, to feel, think or behave in the same way as the familiar old land? Do gods of green fire and silver branch even wish to visit places of red sand and merciless sun?

As you can see, I have a lot of questions. The answers I'm getting, from my habitually gnostic viewpoint, are not necessarily the ones that I'd like to hear. However, this poem should be taken as a sign of hope as well as a sign of acceptance. Back in the 1980s, when I first went to live in Edinburgh, I remember a straight-talking older woman I met in a folk club, saying something that made a lot of sense to my gnostic self. We were talking about me being a Yank and why I felt so at home in Scotland. "Well, hen," she said, "just because you were born in a stable, disnae make ye a horse." And so it is with the soul.

The juxtaposition of words and pictures seems to be very important to me, these days. However, since I know the words will be hard for some to see on this, I've repeated the poem, below. You can also click to enlarge.

There are several varieties of nettle. This card refers to the common stinging nettle - Urtica dioica. People who aren't into herbal medicine are often surprised to hear that Nettles have so many good uses. After all, they are pretty unpleasant to come in contact with, and no wonder. They contain formic acid - the same stuff that is in ant bites!

One of the oddest uses I have ever heard for Nettles, though, is this: In some places, people used to take bunches of Nettles and beat them against painful rheumatic joints. It's said that they got relief from this. Perhaps just a case of "if it doesn't kill you it might cure you!" but this picture has always stuck with me (I read about it back in the 1970s) and I think that knowing about it, I am less fearful of the Nettles' sting, and perhaps even find it less painful than many people do. I can only suppose that at least one reason this flogging helped was an effect known as counter-irritatation - which is how stuff like Deep Heat Rub works, as well. These things provide more than just a distraction from the original pain. It seems that by creating inflammation on the surface tissue, the inflammation in deeper layers is relieved somewhat. So as well as a maybe pleasant hot/cold sensation, a good counter irritant increases blood flow, removal of toxins and lots of other good stuff. I know that things like Tiger Balm and certain essential oils work for me, although I haven't tried the Nettle remedy yet!

Perhaps the question in a reading is - For what is all this a metaphor? How could creating a little discomfort in the short term, bring relief in the long term? Is there some way in which all this irritation is actually helping you get through a difficult time? Somewhere to focus your anger? A distraction? Even helping you to "clean out" emotionally?

Nettles, of course, can also be used as a food. I'm sure that you've come across things like Nettle soup, steamed Nettles as an early spring side dish or even Nettles in pesto. Nettles have lots of good things in them, including chlorophyll and many of the available minerals we need for cell development. I remember once I was having bad nosebleeds. I figured I needed something like vitamin E, or that maybe I could shove some Aloe Vera up my nose. I finally went to a herbalist who told me that when people have problems with skin/tissue, the thing they're often lacking is minerals with which to build tissue. Hmmmm.... A few days on a tea made from Nettles and other high-mineral herbs totally cured me!

So again, what's going on here that relates to your life? Is there something you need to nourish you, but the source seems too ugly, unfriendly or improbable to consider? I believe this to be one of the more obvious meanings of this card.

I have talked quite a bit about herbal medicine here. While I definitely don't consider drawing a card to be a herbal prescription, I never completely discount the possibility, either. If something resonates strongly with you on a physical level, you can always follow it up by either talking to a trained herbalist, or reading up and deciding whether self treatment with Nettles is for you. With that in mind, I am going to attach a link to an article about the vibrational uses of Nettle. More and more I'm coming to believe that often we don't need to be ingesting big  hunks of a plant to get its benefits. I use Bach Remedies a lot and this is one thing that has really shown me the way with this. I'm not necessarily recommending the company whose website the article is on - I don't know anything about them - I just think that looking at things from the vibrational perspective might be useful, and this is a great article. 

Another thing I find about Nettles is a strong dualism - pain and healing, male and female, toxins and nourishment. Maybe that's also something for you to think about. I remember once reading something along the following lines. When you have the flu - you can be sure that it won't last forever. And when you don't have the flu, you can be pretty sure that one day, you will have it again. The same goes for feeling low or depressed. The pain that feels so all pervasive when we're in the midst of it is likely to abate eventually, but likewise, times will come again when life will feel uncomfortable. This is another important aspect of the card - simply reminding us that pain is natural, just as relief from pain is also natural. As humans, both will come to us, in their turn.

Click here to book an oracle reading by email.

The terms "full moon" and "new moon" really describe a fleeting moment in the moon's flowing cycle of waxing and waning. Any astronomer or astrologer will tell you that the moon is only truly full or dark for a fraction of a second. As the picture below shows, the changes in the moon's shape always appear on our right as we look at it. So when the full moon begins to wane, the right side appears to be eaten away by darkness, and after the complete darkness of the new moon, the crescent of light begins to appear on the right side of the moon's circle. This flow is nice to understand, in those moments when you glance up at the moon and may wonder "Is it about to be full, or was it fuller yesterday?" and "Is the new moon coming, or has it passed?"

You may have noticed that at the full moon people and animals tend to be restless, more emotional, sleep less, and so on. Tides are higher, there is more crime - everything is powered up and highly charged. So what about the time of the new moon? Generally, this is a time of calm, of waiting. I believe that it is a great time for deep meditation of the "empty mind" type. It is a great time to make peace with ourselves, with our surroundings and with one another in a serene setting - without effort, without discussion. Just to be.

So, personally, I would take the night and day of the darkest moon as a time to do nothing. I would create a still pond on which new impressions and inspirations may be envisioned as that glimmer of light begins to show itself in the coming few days. A sort of internal scrying. Then I might begin to make plans and take actions, working my way toward the full moon when the power is strongest. There is no one right way to work with the moon's power. In some cases, I find that if I have a big, new idea I might only think and plan during an entire waxing period, and after the full moon begins to wane - I might simply let the idea begin to rest and think about it less. Then, as the moon begins to increase again, if the idea has taken root in my heart and mind, I will begin to work on it in a more concrete manner - laying groundwork, planting seeds and working with the increasing energy.

Using the natural flow of the moon's energy in this way is healthy. It allows us times of rest and reflection, times of hard work and achievement. Contemplation and celebration each find their place. Catching hold of the power of the waxing and fuller times of the moon vs taking time to simply open ourselves to the quietest of guidance, and to rest, helps to keep us in balance. In a world where we are told that "we must fulfil our potential" it is easy to feel that we must make things happen, and also easy to give up on them a little and quit trying, to feel like failures, if they don't. Just as we need to find the balance of circadian rhythms of night and day, rest and activity in order to be healthy and productive, so we can also benefit from tuning in more to the rhythm of the moon.

Another way to think about this is in terms of launching boats. Someone launching a little dinghy from the seashore can use the rhythm of the waves to make it easier to get water underneath the boat, and to get a little boost to get moving, too. A larger vessel must wait for the daily tidal changes to be right in order to be safe, perhaps even in order to float. Did I mention that the moon controls the tides?

If you knew the universe would deliver whatever you wanted, what would you ask for? Imagine holding an Aladdin's Lamp between your hands, knowing it has the power to grant any wish you desire. But never mind "three wishes". Let's just start with one...that one that you've never had the nerve to give yourself!

Is it more time alone that you crave? Or an opportunity to learn a new skill? Have you always secretly wished to dance on stage? Do you silently fantasize about a new career path? Have you always wanted to sign up for a painting class? Travel? Wear a different style of clothing?

Some of us are really, really BAD at giving to ourselves. And part of that is likely due to feelings of worth or beliefs around deserving. But even when some of those issues are clearing or have been cleared, it can be challenging to gift ourselves if we aren't even clear about what we want.

Text
Please sit or lie down in a comfortable position, and eliminate any distractions in your environment. Close your eyes and take a deep breath, feeling the breath go all the way down into your belly. And fully exhale. Breathing normally. Now imagine you are in a very quiet space, by yourself, and you are completely SAFE. This space may be a secluded garden, a forest grove, an island, a clean, beautiful room indoors, of any other place that feels special, safe and secure.

You're seated comfortably on the soft grass or sand, or a cushion or rug. Feel whatever is beneath you supporting you. Bring your attention to your hands and notice that they're holding a beautiful brass lamp. It looks like what you imagine to be Aladdin's Lamp. It feels heavy. The surface is smooth, with slight indentations where it's engraved with the your name. The lamp is made of brass. It feels cold in your hands but it warms to your touch. You know, without a doubt, that this lamp has the power to grant your wishes - even those wishes you've never had the nerve to admit to yourself. What gift of time, or material resources could you imagine gifting to yourself? What experience do you WISH you could give yourself? Remember nobody will know what you wish for unless you choose to tell them. This is your private wish.

Now imagine what that would feel like, if you permitted yourself to have that gift. How would you be different? What you be saying about yourself that you don't say now? What positive things would OTHERS say about you? Imagine, as you bring your attention back to the lamp, that the energy of that wish is inside it. The energy of that gift. As you gently rub the smooth brass exterior energy begins to emerge from its interior, through an opening in the top of the lamp. What does it look like? You may see its colour and be aware of its texture as it swirls out and towards the top of your head. You may even smell the energy. You may taste the energy. It may have a sound. You may experience a physical sensation as the energy of your wish enters through the top of your head and then gently flows to every cell in every part of your body. Allow yourself to feel that energy - the energy flowing to every cell in every part of your body. And when you are ready, imagine sending it out into the world, in layers, in ripples, in waves, and then imagine it returning to you again. Imagine it in your body. Take a nice deep breath now, and exhale slowly. You've embodied your wish, given it life and sent it into the world. You've brought it back to yourself with the knowledge that you CAN grant your own wish, in whatever ways work for you. Now become aware of your body in the here and now, breathing normally, perhaps wiggling your fingers, gently moving your limbs. And when you are ready, open your eyes. Come back into your physical space. Know you have the right to wish for what you desire. Know that you deserve to give to yourself. Love yourself. Always.

The stag seems to be following me of late. I see him as a friendly entity. You might know him as Cernunnos, Herne or a form of the Wild Man of the Wood. In natural history, the Red Stag (or Bull Elk to North Americans) is a powerful figure, bent on procreation above all else. Metaphysically, or metaphorically, I see him as representing fatherhood and therefore a deep creative impulse. A primal urge to make something, to bring forth a representation of ones deepest being as a gift to the future.

The Red Stag came up in a reading I did recently. Here is part of what I wrote about him in that reading -

Celtic languages speak of imbas or of awen. Words that might be explained, if not exactly translated, by other words such as breath, inspiration, muse, impulse, enlightenment and so on. Where does this come from? Although I have no firm answers, I think it's an important question. The answers may lie in each person's belief system. God ... some particular god or goddess ... the soul ... the psyche ... ancestral memory. This inspiration, literally a breath blowing into us, and giving us life, is asking us to operate on a higher plane - to bring that which is beautiful to light, to be shared.

I've noticed that many people are worried about opening the door to awen in the form of meditation, or something like a card reading. Yet it is only a chance for a deeper version of a familiar experience. The experience of being moved by nature or art, the experience of creating something meaningful or of knowing something greater than ourselves. While you have probably experienced all these things in a very pleasurable way, you may have also experienced them as challenging at times. They may allow us to feel or release deep emotions, make us aware of our mortality, cause us to question our beliefs or simply to expend effort. However, we call the shots. We can walk out of the theatre if the movie is too graphic, or stay in our own garden rather than have an extreme wilderness experience, we can enjoy the creativity of raising kids, rather than painting the ceiling of the Sistine chapel.

When we meditate, we try in some way to de-clutter our thoughts. Whether we strive for an "empty" mind or a focused one, we are surely opening ourselves to imbas, as well as simply de-stressing. Fifteen minutes on the meditation cushion is unlikely to bring either nirvana nor terror, however, it could be the start of something good. It could be the start of enlightenment. It could become a chance for a regular visit to an island of peace, and a chance to begin to carry a little more peace within.

When I do a reading for someone, we are both opening ourselves to a high level of inspiration. How deep this experience goes depends partly on my skill and intention in delivering a reading. Once it is placed in your hands, though, it becomes your responsibility. You get to call the shots. You can take it lightly, with a grain of salt, if it doesn't suit you, or you can over think it to such a degree that it drives you a little nuts. (I hope you don't do that, of course!) I hope that it becomes a little piece of awen that moves through me to you. I hope that it inspires your life in some great ways, but you have to take it, and make it yours and work with it for this to happen. I do believe that this is another reason that you have nothing to fear from a reading. You deal with the material in your own time, on your own terms.