Demeter

the Goddess at our workshop this month was Demeter. I think I have found one that i resonate with. I think I have been in Demeter archetype since a very early age.
what came to me at the workshop though, was healing the mother wound..

we had a lovely sharing Circle -

and created a seed mandala in honour of Demeter..each woman choosing seeds and placing them on a red velvet cloth..after we had finished, we each took a corner of the cloth and started to wave it, mixing all the seeds up.. and then we were given a paper bag to gather some seed [plus a garlic bulb from the altar] and we are to make ourselves a healing soup during the next month.

Demeter Altar
each woman lit a candle and sent her love and wishes for the world into the future.

healing of mother-daughter wound. my mother and I. which for me, is all about forgiveness, acceptance and letting go of the need to be responsible, guilty, not being perfect [embracing Athena also as part of this to help me with strength and courage to speak my truth, the poise and confidence to speak to my mother without anger, fear, frustration.. and to be patient with her]
Demeter will bring many things to me this month best of all a beginning of the healing of my ancestral wounds, you see, I believe that I have chosen all that happened to me as part of my soul journey. All the past trauma in my life has a reason and I am feeling blessed to have this opportunity now, to begin to heal all the past traumas of many ancestral lines and also into the future, to prevent the abuse that many women in my ancestral line have experienced. What an honour this is. Mind boggling actually. And I know that my great grandmother Laura stands beside me as I do this, as I travel to Cornwall in a few months. I now know this is part of the reason of my travelling over there.
[I can see that my mother is in the Demeter shadow archetype as Martyr]. What I can bring to this healing is a positive Demeter with eyes of compassion, warmth and generosity of spirit and quality of time spent with her, instead of feeling as if it is my ‘duty’
In turn, this will bring to me, to her, to the world, gifts of healing and regeneration.
I will do a ritual this month sometime, maybe at the time of the moon that I was born.. I have the tag that was wrapped around my ankle when I was born, this has blood on it and I will use this as part of my ritual. I am going to interview mum and allow her to talk about her childhood, lighting a candle and allow her to speak and really listen, like I do in circle to each of you. And maybe I can do a little gardening with her in her little unit where she lives.
I am feeling positive about this, I do love my mum but she does frustrate me alot.. this is where I can embrace my own Demeter archetype.

and in working with Demeter, an idea is brewing in my soul.. to hold a Circle meditation, worldwide, once a month.. creating our own mandala and then meditating with it .. will sit with this for a few days as it comes to me..

'we can heal the future, just by projecting love into it.. we can heal Earth, by sitting with Her, meditating and sending love to Her now and into the future"..
lets do it!! let's do this for the Bees.

the season of Imbolc

my Imbolc altar: a little Brighid doll that I made a few years ago, some early snowdrops, white lace cloth, some crystals, a Brighid cross from Ireland and a healing cloth [folk lore from my ancestors says that if you hang a cloth outside on the eve of Imbolc, then Brighid will pass by and bless it.. and she did pass by that night, leaving a trail of thick white frost, early morning]. I love decorating my home to celebrate each turn of the Wheel of the Year..

"Woke to the carolling of magpies in the pine trees
Maybe telling us that it is nest building time and they will soon have baby magpies to introduce to us. Their singing was more melodious , more intense, more loud than other days. It was beautiful to lay in bed and listen. I am grateful that I can hear.
A chilly morning with a heavy frost , my birdbath was frozen,

the snowdrops are up, a sign of early spring. This is the plant that I will plant in my wheel of the year garden to mark Imbolc, early spring. They never fail to bloom right now. An early walk around the garden with frost crunching underfoot, I observed the plants, surrounded by the light covering of frost on the mulch. They are all getting in readiness for the spring burst of growth, I can feel it. Flower stems promising a profusion of the madness of colour in spring that comes with a cottage garden

This will be my first spring at Avalon in Katoomba. I walk to my front gate and untie the holly from Yule and place it in my new cauldron where it will be burned sometime during the next week for Imbolc.
I try not to stress too much about doing all of this on the actual date, most importantly for me is that I am noticing and honoring the seasonal wheel turning. As I walk around my garden the magpies continue to sing and I see them flying around. One alights in the old cherry tree and watches me. I wonder if he/she is watching to see if I am a threat to their nest. Fear wells up, these birds, as gorgeous as they are, can sometimes be quite aggressive at nesting time. A note to myself to be aware of this. I hope to make friends with these birds like I did at inglewood where they knew that they were safe in my company"