Connecting sole to Soul with Nature

Sometimes I ask myself what has created this seismic shift inside me, this huge surge in spirituality?  I guess its always been latent in me, just waiting to be given room to blossom & grow.  This single greatest catalyst has been my deepening connection to Nature.  The Goddess & God speak to us through the landscape & if we tune in everything we need to know is right there.  It's key to healing ourselves & to understanding what we need to do to live in deeper harmony with Mother Earth.  I can feel the shift happening in me & I am so excited to be joining the Essence of Wild Barefoot Breathing e-Course this month as I journey deeper into Nature.
I'm so happy that Jason at Essence of Wild has written this beautiful guest blog post for me to share here, illustrated with his sumptuous photography:

'Overhung by bluebells, brambles and ferns I lay on the musty woodland floor feeling the cold damp seep through the waterproof picnic rug beneath me. The boggy ground provided a perfectly soft resting place as I lay there keeping company with the bowl of flower essence that Jackie and I had been given by the geum flowers. We knew it was necessary to be fully present with the essence until it told us that it was time to be taken away from the parent plants, so I happily rested with nature.

The rain began to pour. I wrapped the rug around me, leaving only my eyes and my feet uncovered. Gazing up to the topmost canopy of sycamore leaves I watched the path taken by the raindrops. They spiralled down to me. They actually spiralled! The journey took a count of 3 seconds. I stayed with the woodland for 4 hours and got to know so much about that tiny corner. Even now, months later, I can revisit every nook and cranny and recall the birds that came to see me. Particularly the tawny owl.

Being still for so long isn't new to me, I've spent many a day in cloth 'hides' waiting to photograph birds and have sat for hours willing the right cloud formations to dress the landscape in front of my camera. However this was different. I wasn't just waiting for nature to give me something, I was a part of nature's process. Without me the essence wouldn't have the spirit of the plant. My presence was serving a purpose, allowing some alchemical magic to take place between the diva of the geum, the spirits of the place, the guides, ancestors and higher beings we had called on and my own heartfelt intent to honour and respect this sacred work.

As we sat with the flowers earlier in the day and absorbed the messages of their healing little did I realise that what we were doing has been done since the days of prehistory. It felt like a new discovery to me, a new connection and I wanted to tell the world. I still want to shout about it and to share the knowledge that plants know a thing or two, but have come to understand that it really is nothing new. Nature has communicated her gifts to those who care to listen for as long as humans have foraged in her midst. After all, other animals self-medicate don't they?! Most of the modern world have simply lost the way, that's all.

Being able to slow down to nature's pace, learning how to be absolutely present with her and most of all, exuding a heartfelt love and warmth for nature that cannot be feigned are the keys to developing this relationship. Once we've begun the journey the mysteries that begin to unfold are many. Shamans and Hedge Witches have long known the deeper connections that result from nurturing this relationship with nature and our land, and perhaps not surprisingly modern scientific research is beginning to support what we have always felt through the bones of our ancestors.

Scientific textbooks such as 'The Secret Life of Plants' and 'The Secret Teachings of Plants' demonstrate how plants can detect our emotional states. More than that, they can actually alter their chemical make up in reaction to our emotions, crafting the perfect soul medicine we need! This came as a real revelation to me and helped answer many questions about herbal medicines. Previously I had this vision of the herbal healers of old working hard to find a remedy for a particular ailment and toiling their way through all the thousands of plants available before finding the correct one. Now I know how they did it. They simply asked. They went out into the land and asked which plant would like to help cure this illness. Being open hearted towards nature they would know the answer when it was given. Similarly they would enjoy a communion with the spirit of place, with the moon... with every single element of our universe and between them they'd come up with a solution.

The very real beauty of this is that nothing has changed.We can do this too! Nature is still there, she is still happy to work with us if we but ask. Healers, mystics, lightworkers

Connect with your earth, go barefoot, feel the difference, soak up the energy from the heart of our planet. Reconnect sole to Soul. Remember, as far as nature is concerned we are a part of her. How much better can it possibly get! '

Summer landscape

When we moved out to the countryside on June 20th 8 years ago, the significance of Summer Solstice had only vague meaning to me. Since embracing a more spiritual path it has a myriad meanings to my heart.  This year my Solstice celebrations were a little muted due to the unfortunate timing of some surgery, but never the less I was very aware of the many blessings brought to my Summer landscape at this mid point in the year.

We are very lucky to have a bridle path literally on our doorstep which meanders for a mile across open fields.  It's a safe place to walk our dogs off the lead & we walk that path there & back,morning & evening, every day, almost without fail.  The landscape is stunning.  To the left the beautiful Malvern Hills dominate the horizon.  The Hills never look the same twice, no matter how many times we walk the path.  Some days the sun shines so brightly on them you can pick out incredible detail on the hillsides.  Some days fog rolls in & the Hills disappear altogether. Every evening you know that if conditions are right you will be met with the most stunning sunsets, sometimes bringing fire & passion to your soul, sometimes bringing incredible peace to your heart.

In the last couple of years the farmer has adopted an organic approach to farming.  It has really had a positive affect on the wildlife this year.  We have seen a far greater variety of butterflies, birds, insects, flowers & bees.  At this mid point of the year the landscape, fueled by the Sun's energies, is a virile tangle of tall seeded grasses, foliage & wild flowers.  The air is alive with the humming of busy bees, chirruping crickets & bird song.  If you breathe deep down into your lungs you can smell the lushness of the grass, the perfume of the flowers, the dustiness of hot days & the freshness of rainy days.  If you look, really look, your eyes are met with so many treasures - new tree saplings, wild flowers hidden away in the grass, tiny beetles scurrying here & there & tell tale signs of mammal activity, like badger tracks & fox fur caught in bramble branches.

The landscape is burgeoning with vitality, & if you tune into it the energies are powerfully uplifting & invigorating.  Just by kicking off my shoes & walking the path barefoot, ruffling the grass with my hands, tracing the curve of a petal with my fingertips or stepping into the shade of a tree to lean against it's bark I  become more deeply connected to the landscape.  My heart swells with joy at seeing the deeper harmony around me brought by the farmer's organic farming methods.  The wholesomeness of it all filters into every pore of my being & it brings a powerful desire to mimic more fully the precious & delicate balances of Nature in my life.  To take more action, however simple, however small to make sure I tread lightly on Mother Earth's surface.

I truly believe that if we all took time to tune into Mother Nature she would breathe the same message into all of our hearts & then maybe, just maybe, the subtle shifts in people's attitudes to their environment that I can see happen all around me will become seismic.

Like this little sapling, we all have the potential within us to root ourselves deeply to the Earth & become mighty oaks

Barefoot tribe

Practicing in a solitary way makes me treasure connections to like minded people via the internet, for me Twitter has been a place where I have connected to some people that have become very important to me in terms of my spiritual development.  In fact it was a connection made through Twitter that first helped me understand my spirituality & set me on my Pagan path.  It was the natural connections I made once my heart was open that led me to understand my soul's purpose & set me on a 'hedgewitch' path.

One thing that is a huge blessing is my connection to Jackie & Jason of Essence of Wild.  I was fortunate to be able to meet up with Jason at a time when I needed a little guidance & reassurance & I feel his spirit walking with me strongly.  I have yet to meet Jackie in person, but I feel almost as though I don't need to, her loving, nurturing aura touches me regardless of the physical distance between us.  I can't wait for my Essence of Wild newsletters to come pinging into my inbox, each one is my little sanctuary of inspiration, learning, healing & connection.

The Solstice newsletter brought with it an invitation to join the Barefoot Tribe, to kick off my shoes & connect more deeply to the Earth.  Being a bit of a hippy, unless I'm in my trusty wellies, I regularly walk barefoot.  But this was perfectly timed.  I had undergone an operation & was in need of some support in my healing.  I kicked off my sandals, lit some incense & settled beneath my beautiful holly tree for a barefoot meditation.

I concentrated on my breath & felt the familiar peace of meditation flood through me.  My dogs felt it too & came & cuddled against me interrupting the stillness, but they felt my need for quietness & went & found shady corners of the garden to dose in. The grass beneath my bare feet that at first felt prickly, became a soft, supportive carpet beneath me, the sun's heat warmed me to my core & with my eyes closed & palms turned towards the sky my brow chakra became open.  At first the Earth's energies travelled through my bare feet & lifted my face towards the Sun.  Still with my eyes closed I began to see my landscape instinctively.  I saw my holly tree by it's protective energy, I saw each bird around me by it's pretty heart song, I sensed every beautiful flower in my garden & the life forms around me.  I felt uplifted & free.  As love poured into my heart, so I poured love out to the skies, to the Goddess.  Even in this peaceful connection I could feel a sense of the pain of the Goddess, the pain of all the harm we are doing to our beautiful planet. After a time, I gently turned my inner focus away from the skies, placed my palms face down on the grass & let my base chakra gently open to receive healing from my Mother the Earth. Earth energy flowed through me, roots grew from my feet & took me further down into the heart of my Mother.  My body began to slowly curl downwards towards the earth.  I felt that Mother Earth was taking me into her own womb to offer me healing.  I sent waves of love & gratitude & let myself sink further downwards into her arms.  I had the sense that as well as offering me healing, my Mother was accepting my soul seed into her heart & that each time I returned to this meditation she would help me to grow spiritually.

When I was ready to gently come out of my meditation I was surprised, as I always am, by the things I had seen & felt.  I'm still new to these experiences, I have no preconceptions or expectations when I begin a meditation or cast a magic circle.  That's why I know the things I feel to be true.  Gradually I'm becoming more confident & less awkward about sharing them.

After my meditation I took time to walk barefoot around my little garden, giving thanks for the beautiful things   around me.

My hug from my Mother the Earth was like a healing hug from my beloved birth mother. <3 <3 <3