Depths, Shadows and Sharks.

‘Subconscious Landscape’ by Blima Efraim.
”This collection called Subconscious Re-Creation is very special to me. I don’t plan what I am going to paint. I play with colors and textures and allow my subconscious mind to guide my hands. Through the fabric of colors I notice all of the hidden faces, objects, animals and whatever else my mind wants to lay on the canvas. The results are even surprising to me as I learn how easy my eyes capture the images of my soul. ” Blima Efraim.


Working with the Subconscious 

I chose the image and Efraim’s description above as it illuminates an intuitive way of living, living through the subconscious mind, in a sense from a blind space of vulnerability in which the soul speaks to us. The subconscious could also be called ‘higher aspects of self’. It’s that which see’s from the timeless.

I’ve been diving in to the subconscious waters this year through something called Gene Keys, after a gardening client and friend of mine invited me along to a group. I’m not usually in to other people’s complex systems, I prefer the simplicity of allowing consciousness, contemplation and reflections within nature to be my inner guide but as she explained more about it it became evident to me that this ‘work’ had already surfaced a few years back, interestingly, whilst working with Evening Primrose.

If you haven’t heard of Gene Keys, (I’m still exploring it) but to briefly fill you in, its a system created by Richard Rudd- He had one hell of a cosmic download. As a young man he had an experience of falling asleep in an Oak forest and waking up to finding himself encircled by three adders, he sat with them for an hour neither him nor the adders moving, one by one they left, shortly after this experience he began having visions.
It was many years after this that he had the Gene Keys ‘download’, something I like about it is that he describes it as being alive. He went through these processes whilst writing the book or as he says it wrote him. It’s designed to bring about personal transformation through your DNA, it has a uncanny habit of coming alive as you contemplate and probe its interwoven insights. 
It’s based on the i-ching, 64 gene keys and your place, time and date of birth to give you what Richard calls your Hologenetic profile, a map of your various genetic sequences that you can use to help unlock or awaken ‘higher’ aspects to your shadows. Each the 64 keys has three components- The Shadow, The Gift and The Siddhi.  

As I said other peoples systems aren’t usually my thing but he doesn’t call it a system so I guess I’m good with that.-
”The one thing I try to make clear to anyone who comes to this knowledge is that it isn’t knowledge, and it isn’t another system. It is a living transmission. It came to me as a transmission, and it passes into others as a transmission, no matter what any of our minds think. Because the Venus Sequence is a living presence, it cannot be mentally understood, but can only be grasped intuitively. It is in essence a deeply feminine transmission that has chosen a very masculine form through which to propagate itself”. R.Rudd, Gene Keys
 
We can gain the same genetic transformation and transmissions through sitting with aspects in nature, which is what happened with Evening Primrose, when we sit with plants or trees or any aspect of nature in a deep meditative way a synchronisation and transmissions can occur. Gene keys offers a similar intuitive form of working through you, even though its from the head space of a book and /or written/verbal information it seems to speak to the subconscious and begin processes of transformation and transmutation that our conscious minds are not in control of. As I recognised the same shadow work that Evening Primrose had transmitted was again being spoken of here I thought there must be something in this, It felt timely. 

There is nothing to do in a sense to transform our shadow aspects but become aware of them, it’ll do its thing, shining the light of our awareness in to the recesses of ourselves begins a process of transformation from within. The act of contemplation has this affect, as we quieten down and listen to ourselves we hear the way it is. It would also seem apparent that a larger natural change is happening in this moment that is stirring something from within, a transmutation of cellular, bio chemical, energetic and our DNA. What starts this is a matter of frequency. We are not a fixed matter, as each part of the whole gradually shifts and changes the whole collective changes, it is also being instigated through a change in our place within the cosmos and through the Sun. 
Unless you’ve been wearing a bag over your head for the last few years its pretty hard not to recognise that we are passing through humanities collective shadow right now, eh?   

There are a number of sequences and pathways within your profile, I happened to start going to the gene keys group on the first day of whats known as The Venus sequence. –

”The Venus sequence is an inner contemplative journey into the dynamics of your emotional wounding patterns, inherited through your ancestral DNA. Constructed from the positions of the Earth, Moon, Mars, Venus, at the time of your Birth the Venus sequence outlines a natural pathway of six Gene keys which govern all your emotional patterns in this life. As your awareness begins to understand and observe the shadow aspects of these six Gene keys, particularly in relationships, you will begin to transform the low frequency patterns in to higher frequency Gifts. In this way, your Astral body moves through a process of transformation leading to the permanent opening of your heart. During our current phase of evolution known as the Great Change, the Venus sequence has particular relevance as its underlying purpose is to open up a new centre of awareness in the solar plexus”. R.Rudd, Gene keys.

One primary relationship that has a big effect on our shadow aspects is that to our parents, the patterns which are formed during our childhood, particularly our relationship to our mother as there is the physical bond and experience of separation that occurs at various times within this relationship. Being carried then birthed, weened, etc.. our childhood, our upbringing and even potential trauma whilst being carried within the womb. We all carry wounds of separation, abandonment, and attachment to varying degrees and we all have specific wounding, traumas and patterns that I believe we incarnate into to have specific experiences for the learning of specific lessons. There are also Ancestral wounding patterns we carry too..  

”Ancestral patterns can all be followed back to the very source of the sacred wound itself at the big bang.This is where the science of fractals comes into play.

To put it very simply, fractals are self-replicating patterns that are found hidden almost everywhere in the universe. If you slice open a grapefruit, you will see a similar geometry to a spiralling nebula. Even where there appears to be chaos, there are hidden harmonics at work. The principles of fractal geometry can be applied to anything. When you apply them to genetics, it becomes fascinating. All Europeans, for example, are descended directly from one of seven women. By simply taking a swab of DNA from your saliva, a geneticist can tell you which woman you are descended from in a matter of minutes.The lineage that connects you back to this woman is a fractal line. Her lineage has divided and divided in dendritic fashion through her children and her children’s children.

Fractal lines also link us to archetypal patterns through karma. Certain family lineages carry certain karmic residues from the beginning.The sacred wound has its different branches of suffering.”  R Rudd, Gene Keys    
 

You may be thinking humanity is just one giant weeping wound of an abscess and you’d probably be right but thank fully we have plants to help us. Our relationship with plants is that of a mother to a child, they feed us, heal us, shelter us, clothe us. What amazed me at the time of working with Evening Primrose was that I could see in hindsight that a process had started way before I had even recognised I was in it. It took my conscious mind time to catch up and realise that my ‘shit experience’ namely the pain in relationship break up was having in my life was in fact part of a bigger growth pattern. 
I had been preparing a workshop on Evening Primrose, initially I was focused on unlocking our individual power of expression through the solar plexus, demonstrated in the way in which Evening Primroses flowers open in the evening like spring loaded clock work. Embodying and owning our creative gifts through our solar plexus and helping us to bloom. The more I journeyed however I found she was shedding light on to my pain and its origins, that pain and wounding was actually not to do with the individual in my life but was a core wounding, a wounding of separation, a wounding of attachment, a wounding of abandonment. Core wounds that we all have from childhood, from our parents and from our ancestry are embedded with in us until they are triggered when in situations of abandonment or separation or some other inherited pattern.  

Having the space within our consciousness to recognise that these feelings of abandonment, attachment and separation are not completely a direct result of our circumstances, yes we may feel hurt and have a personal story to work through with individuals but at the core it’s the same feeling that was felt at different times in life and in a sense the feeling itself isn’t personal. The situations change but we may feel that same wound. We grow through our patterns when we learn to become aware of the ways in which we react when our patterns surface.  what happens if we react differently to our patterns in the heat of an argument? Instead of blaming we consider the others view point and offer something which isn’t defending our position. 

OakeyDokey

Mighty Oak with family cow constellation. This Oak gave me the vision of the cows before they’d arrived or were even talked about, I ended up working with these cows and eventually creating business with them. If you want to see how to fully process life go and watch a cow ruminate, the master digesters and ‘lazy’ observers of it all. The mama Oak in the picture is reported to be around 900-1000 years old, the picture doesn’t do her justice, it takes about 5 or 6 people with outstretched arms to get round her belly. She’s completely hollowed out inside.
I always had the strongest imagery and communications when I wasn’t going there with questions, when I was empty she would speak. 

The mighty oak from the tiny acorn. The tiny acorn holds within it the blue print of a ginormous oak tree, it has to go through a life of strains and struggles before it reaches its zenith. Did the sapling need the wind battering? the hail? the storms? the grazing animals to strengthen it for it to fully mature, sure it did. We are just the same. It appears that Oaks and plants are better at fulfilling their blue print than we are.. ? or at least they don’t have the same hang ups as us, they’re a different creature, that’s why they are so good to sit with, they transmit their qualities and help us embody the aspects we need. They have an uncanny timing to reflect what it is we need and give it unconditionally, all of nature does. The Oak has popped in here after I’ve stopped and started writing this, They are great to work with for strength when we are going through processes of wounding, they’re the grand Mothers and Fathers that can hold us in their wisdom, a community tree that bare the secrets of Life, Earth and Cosmos. 
 
 

And now to drop down in to the deep oceans. We could view the subconscious as a deep ocean that we are swimming in, we can’t see what is beneath us, but when we put our awareness goggles on to expand our vision we can see further in to the abyss. Within the many beings of the subterranean other world lurk shadow monsters and sharks. When we face them without fear, head on, they change in appearance.. 

Apparently!? If you are ever find yourself being attacked by a shark your best bet is to turn and face them, punch them on the nose and in the eyes. 
And hurl abuse at them.. 
Come on then you big fish faced prick…  You toothy bastard,  and so on..  

I love sharks, I’m simultaneously fascinated and petrified of them. They symbolise the primal fear, the apex predator, the sea monster, diving in to the subconscious primal fears, the emotional waters, to really dive deep in to our subconscious fears and surface with pearls of wisdom. To risk being eaten alive, Thats what it feels like when the inner turmoil is churning away or the mind is racing, What can we do but let go and allow it to devour us? 

There’s a lot of newagey talk of raising your frequency, though its true, it truly is a matter of energy and ‘expanding in awareness’  to reveal ‘higher” states of consciousness.
There is the danger of trying to constantly live from a ‘higher vibration’. I’m quite sure it’s verging on disorders of the neurotic,. only eating the highest vibe foods and never allowing yourself something that’s deemed unhealthy, not doing things because it lowers your frequency – I listened to a well known astrologer the other day listing all the things they do to keep their frequency high and all the things they exclude in their day. They’ve stopped going to the supermarket in a bid to stay super high vibe! I agree supermarkets are pretty shit, a symbol of many things are wrong in our world today but it feels like we are acting like some sort of OCD obsessed low frequency deniers. I didn’t go to a supermarket for about a year – not through a choice to keep my aura clean but because I was working somewhere that fed me, interestingly only the highest vibrational foods, which interestingly gave me a stomach ache, infact, I started going to the supermarket in order to buy ‘lower vibratonal’ foods to balance me out. I am being a bit flippant, I get the obvious point that we need to recognise whats good for us and what’s not and that might be different for everyone, you have to find your level. 
If you are chastising yourself for missing your morning practice of doing 88 om’s whilst standing on your head clenching a smokey quarts crystal wand between your bum cheeks you might want to go easy on yourself. If you are practicing this method please, PLEASE remember to cleanse your crystal wand thoroughly before and after use as smokey quarts can hold on to astral entities that may become lodged in the lower auric band. never… NEVER lend your wand to a friend. 

You’ll be relieved to know there are things we can do to feel better that don’t involve the quarts crystal clench. 

Below are links to two exercises that help us to feel grounded within our bodies and simultaneously connected to the outer environment, being in these expansive yet grounded states is for me what it is all about, they are time tested, originating from when we walked the Earth doing the most primal and natural of acts, to hunt and gather food and medicine.
When moving across the land tracking an animal or foraging for food/medicine your senses are keenly focused in the moment, yet, your senses are picking up information on many levels, psychically, intuitively, we are tuned in to the outer environment through our inner environment, communication then occurs through our body instrument. 
Thats why its possible to have a chat with a stinging nettle from this state of perception. It’s essentially the root of spirituality today; live in the moment, rooted, connected, expansive. It’s possible to feel ecstatic states of bliss through these states, isn’t that what the yogic traditions call Samadhi?   

It takes perseverance to quieten down long enough and carry on listening even if we aren’t receiving what we might be expecting. It’s not about achieving bliss or communication or getting rid of our pain or transcending any part of us but simply practicing becoming more aware. If we cultivate that listening reflective observing presence then somewhere within our consciousness we bring ears from the timeless with us in to the present.

Bodies exercises

Inner / outer awareness exercise. 
http://youtu.be/_3X4PXHrDK4

Hakalau / hunter gatherer peripheral vision technique. 
http://youtu.be/e9X-HHmOqtg
(To add-  This is just the standing practice) You don’t need to have your hands out at half mast all the time, its having the simultaneous awareness within and without as you move through the environment.

 
Here is a link to a post I wrote at the time on Evening primrose – 
https://wildwisdom.org.uk/2018/03/ 

and 

Gene keys – This is where you can get your free profile but then you really want the book, there are courses you can do too but I just go along to the group, imagine there are other groups located around the place as well? –http://genekeys.com/free-profile/ref/1423/ 


 

Mark

www.wildwisdom.org.uk

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Hi all, 

I haven’t written a post in quite a while but I have been writing Newsletter/emails so thought I would share a few here from this year,2022. This one was from earlier in the year back at Beltaine. I really noticed the shift in energy this year at Beltaine and to be honest it hasn’t really stopped over the Summer, I’ve had a great year! and to be honest I’m ready for the change in to Autumn and the slowing down a bit. If you would like to be on my mailing list then you can sign up via the surprisingly titled menu page – Newsletter Signup.

There be Dragons, Water Dragons. May 10th 2022.

Hope you all enjoyed celebrating Beltaine. I certainly did. I went down to Cerne Abbas to watch the sunrise on the giant, drink a foraged ale I helped brew a few weeks earlier and watch the Morris dancers and that big monster thing they carry around.

The evening before I went to a talk in the church at Cerne Abbas by Peter Knight and Sue Wallace of StoneSeeker.net, they’ve written many books on connecting to the Earth, to sacred sites and this talk was on one of their books entitled, Albion Dreamtime:Re-enchanting the Isle of Dragons. Looking back now, it was a theme that had been talking to me for that past week. Specifically water Dragons and has been a reoccurring presence that appears to ebb and flow like the tides. Peter and Sue toured our Albion Isles with a ‘focus’ delving in to the subconscious and listening to the dreamtime being of sacred places that have strong presence. I’ll leave it to yourselves to explore their journey if you wish, you can find them at http://www.stoneseeker.net they run some great walks, talks and events. 

The theme of water has played an initiatory role in my life at certain times, though I’m not afraid of water, I grew up on an Island, it is the element I feel least comfortable with, you could say I feel more at home and at ease in Air, Earth and Fire, water is an element of the unknown, the subconscious, its wet, cold and dark, where beasts may lurk in the unseen depths. I prefer to play in the warmer, dryer hearty places, however it is an element where one can dive in to the recesses of our shadow and psyche. I have a sharks tooth strung with 6 tigers eye stones that I wear around my neck which represents just that, bringing the subconscious to the light of our conscious minds. 

So this most recent of my watery themes came about a week or so before Beltane, it started, as it has before, in the physical, during work. Leaking underground pipes at the farm I live and work at, not much fun. Then perhaps the most significant was on a gardening job I started that week at a beautiful property which has a river running though it, the river snakes though the property with several cascading waterfalls, the energy there is potent, the owner knows full well of the energies present within this mini paradise and had commented of her experience of a water dragon there.

I had seemingly forgotten all about this in my usual right brained/bird brained living of life only to remember this the following week when I returned to an evening of singing there. Ravi, the musician for the evening, had shared that they had been gathering at places of water to sing. A light bulb went off as I recalled the events of the last two weeks of water murmurings and the owner sharing her experience of the water Dragon.

I haven’t even got to the main point of this rambling story yet which is that after the Beltane sunrise I journeyed on to spend some days with a group of creatives on the side of a cliff in Dartmouth. They were spending a week there to work with the land and share creative ways. Two major highlights were in singing the song of the plants and in the discovery of a water dragon.

On the first day we walked the property, again another mini paradise, paths, gardens, hidden coves, carved out of the side of this cliff. As we walked up and down and along the winding paths we came to a willow grove, the group stopped and spontaneously sang, the voice of the willow, a water plant, was birthed though us as we expressed sweet willowy whaling through vibrating sound. This was the first of the plants to sing. The second was Green Alkanet, which one of the group had planned to make a dye from its roots.
That morning I had snuck away to the healing hut to connect with myself and one of the group later joined me, we sang with the shruti box; colours of green, blue and purple enveloped ours minds. The colours of Alkanet. We weren’t consciously connecting to Alkanet here yet 10 min or so later we were as a third group member came and we decided it would be a good time to connect to the Alkanet before digging up her roots for the dye. We sat amongst them and sang, three of us, tears, again streams of green, blue and purple hues. Tears not from emotional turmoil but of overwhelming heart wrenching bliss.

What struck me was how easily and casually this group of human beings intuitively sang and spoke of it quite casually, ‘yeah the song of the plants’ shrug of shoulders style. I may be reading in to that but that’s how it appeared, perhaps they had learnt of this from courses? They were obviously not foreign to this type of singing but for me this is something that has come spontaneously and left me with questions and a profound exploration of the deep mystery which often leaves me speechless and trying to explain and connect with others. I’m currently writing a book about my experience of spontaneous toning and singing in nature. I believe it carries multidimensional connection, communication, enhancement of earth energies, healing and much more we are completely unaware of.

Now the Water Dragon! I Feel this post is dragon on a bit! haha… So what will be easier to is to copy and paste a post I wrote on the facebook group, ‘Earth and cosmic energies, alignments and leys’ ;  

Recently, whilst staying at a gorgeous location on the edge of a cliff in Dartmouth I dowsed what appeared to be a water dragon. It was surprising to me as it didn’t appear to be coming from a physical source of water, no underground stream or water source, it wasn’t an elemental being but a form of water consciousness. It appeared to be in a snaking line, travelling from the land and out to sea. 

I had walked out the front door of the cabin and the question came of please point to the nearest dragon, I could see a rocky outcrop which took the shape of dragon which I initially thought the rods to be pointing to but upon following the rod it came to a shed/ artstudio /workshop building which the line started and stopped either side of. 

After following the water dragon, which snaked off up through a thick woodland, I asked whether there was a fire dragon, which there was, it appeared to be on the other side of the property, higher up on the cliff side and located at a tree house. This part of the land appeared to be more yang and drier than its watery counter part.  

 When I had returned from my trip I remembered that I had spoken to my friend before, whom I do gardening work for, and she had mentioned about a water dragon on her property. I’ve since dowsed and sat with this Dragon and it is the same type of water consciousness. My feeling is that it’s a being that lives at a vibrational space within the element of water. I wonder if any of you have encountered dragons in this form? I’ve always perceived them as being connected to a physical earth energy phenomena, dragon lines of earth energy from physical sources of underground water streams or magma or the earths chi. I have seen them within my minds eye as long moving energy forms like worms or snakes moving along energy lines within mountain ranges but this appeared to be something else? Any thoughts? I’m just trying to get my conscious mind around it. 

So there you have it, that’s my Water Dragon tale. And suspect it won’t stop there. An interesting aspect to labyrinths known by dowsers is that they attract water to them. The owner of the property has been thinking of adding a labyrinth right next to the Water Dragon so we shall see what the Water Dragon thinks if that is to materialise. 

Best watery wishes to you all, follow the path. 

Mark

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I’m excited to be writing a second edition of ‘Re-wilding with the labyrinth’. A short illustrated and hand-written biographical book inspired by the wisdom revealed through working with the labyrinth. Fuelled by a love of plants, nature and spirit, searching for deeper truths and connection lead me to taking a herbal apprenticeship in Ireland back in 2012? I think.. It was during this period that I found myself living on a permaculture farm for the summer in the wicklow mountains and my first encounter with what I was later to recognise as the labyrinth.

I’ll be adding two new sections to the book, one on working with plant spirit and another on how to create and build your own labyrinth which also includes a part on an exciting area of research in to the phenomena of pictograms!, Dowsable forms that appear in the ether, which gives credence to a theory I have on the origins of the original Labyrinth. The book will be published through Greenmagic publishing, hopefully this year, 2022.

I was actually working on a new book this year, ‘Nature speaks re-enchancted with the land’, which was inspired through working with sound, and is an extension to the online course – Nature Speaks, Working with plant spirit’ but I’ve ended up putting that on hold as I really wanted to get Re-wilding with the labyrinth out there to a larger audience.

The core teaching that came through working with the labyrinth is an absolute pearl, a universal teaching of our bodies intelligence and our ability for connecting through awareness. I truly believe its vital information for anyone wishing to connect deeply with themselves and the earth during these times we are living in.

You can find out more about that ‘technique’ which came through working with the labyrinth through these internal awareness exercises

Hakalau https://youtu.be/_3X4PXHrDK4 and inner /outer awareness https://youtu.be/e9X-HHmOqtg

and if you wish to go deeper the online course which may not be live? haha.. if you want to do it then ping me an email I’ll activate it for you. https://wildwisdom.org.uk/online-learning/ or there are always 1to1’s which can take the form of healing, coaching or mentoring. Coaching is life stuff, finding your path, help and guidance where as mentoring is specific to learning the ways. 1to1’s – https://wildwisdom.org.uk/one-to-one-sessions/

Illustration below – Dog rose Dreaming. Re-wilding with the Labyrinth.

I had a very vivid experience of an Alsatian dog running up behind me and sitting behind my right shoulder as I sat in the physical presence of a beautiful pink dog rose. The experience spoke of the masculine principle of the heart and of protector. This is plant spirit medicine without psychoactive’s. A consciously aware and awake dream in physical waking reality. Spirit talking. Doesn’t happen everyday but these divine moments are poignant and happen more when we are relaxed, unrushed in life, happy, content, listening, present, willing and open. Then we may be in a place to hear and receive.

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I recently took a trip to meet a friend in Minehead and the medieval town of Dunster in West Somerset. Primarily to meet a friend but I thought I’d check out the area to see if there were any interesting Earth energies about the place. After writing a post on the ‘Earth energies, alignments and leys’ facebook page, a couple, whom I’d previously met whilst they were dowsing, got in touch to say they have done a lot of work in the area and suggested checking out Bratton woods. Gordon and Geraldine work with what they call Beacon tree’s, Oak tree’s that are emitting a lot of light energy. Gordon mentioned that he had found one Beacon tree on the East end of the woodland but that there was one more. So we went off to Bratton woods to see if we might locate a Beacon tree.

Driving through Dunster I could see the signs of a slightly more untamed elemental landscape than the other part of Somerset I had come from, the elemental energies were slightly wilder here, possibly being closer to the coast and may be a change in the substrate or just the slightly more pronounced hillsides. We drove through the medieval town of Dunster, well worth a visit, and on to Bratton to locate the woods. A local farmer pointed us to the track which led up to the hillside and woodland, apparently known locally as stinky lane! There was a fire at the entrance on the right which looked like it is regularly used for burning brush and a farm with barn and stone wall directly opposite.  
As we ascended up the path to the top of stinky lane I noticed a change in energy, I dowsed what I thought may be a small energy line about 3 or 4 metres wide and about that same distance again to the top of the track to the gate, crossing the path horizontally. We crossed the line several times, dowsing its outer edges, giving our selves and the rods a warm up. Dowsing is not really my primary tool of use but it gives you quick answers, especially in terms of direction, simply stating what you are looking for and using the rod to point you towards the location is a very hand tool indeed.

Earlier in the week I had an interesting experience with a Holly bush. I was working, driving the tractor, and from a distance of about 100 foot away I felt a strong sensation in my body and my eyes fixated on an area as if I were in its ‘tractor’ beam, the spot that was pulling me in was by a water way, a stream, that runs under the track with an area that is fenced off in a triangular shape. As I got closer my gaze was fixated on a spot and I began to make out this Holly bush, I’d felt the essence of the Holly strongly within my body. I’d never noticed this particular bush before and Holly is also not a tree that I have ever worked closely with, though a very topical tree for this time of year. The actual bush it self is quite inconspicuous amongst other species of plant and you barely notice it, but it pulled me in. I carried on my task and on the way back I stopped and stood in front of the Holly, the energy was again effecting my body, not in bad way, though my heart had a clearing, a slight pointy painful clearing, like you might imagine the leaves to feel like on your skin. I also felt pressure in my head release, it all lasted a few moments then dispersed. I observed a Robin sat on the fence as I asked the Holly if there was a particular message? The Robin flew around the tree and flew off in a westerly direction, I simultaneously heard, ‘Head West’. Over the next few days I’d also had some intense clearing going on, some heat and anger passing through, that lasted a couple of days, I also noted that mass solar flares were happening at the time.

     
This encounter proved poignant on our visit to Bratton woods. As we entered the gate at the top of stinky lane, in to Bratton woods and asked the rods to point in the direction of the Beacon tree, both our rods pointed right, we headed along the path and again our rods began pointing at the same time diagonally left, towards the North West side of the hill. We started heading up ‘North Hill’ path, which is sign posted, and a little way up on the left of the path we were both drawn to a little enclosure, naturally formed by a Holly tree standing with its branches around an Oak,(see picture above). We sat under this natural shelter and played our instruments, a flute and shruti box and sang to the land, noticeable changes in the landscape played along with us, breezes at certain points though the day was still, crows and other birds appeared to call in response and a flock of pigeons emerged in the trees in front of us as we entered the timeless merging of dimensions within nature. It was a gorgeous experience of oneness and connection. Playing not a rehearsed piece but rather reacting to the moment, the lands song emerging through. This entrainment that happens when we sit in nature and use sound as a vehicle of connection and expression is currently what excites me the most. I know of the healing capabilities and adjustments to the body that sitting in nature can have and another very interesting point of this experience was that I had been suffering from quite a bad back injury all week and immediately after the experience and on the way walking back down stinky lane I suddenly realised I had no more pain! though I can not say it is completely better it is significantly better!! and has remained so still today.
Upon returning I sent an email along with the photograph at the top of the page with the Oak and Holly to Gordon, Gordon dowsed the photo and has confirmed he believes it to be the Beacon tree!

You can find out about Gordons work here – https://artisttreedowser.com/

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I mentioned in the last newsletter that I had been doing a consultation for a friend to build a labyrinth in Denmark, I asked Sara if she would write a post about her process. Sara Domingo’s grammar is even worse than mine! haha, however, English is not her first or even her second language! She gave me permission to make any grammatical changes or to change any parts of the write up but I’ve only made the odd adjustment for translation purposes so as to keep it as close to her expression as possible. 

I am sure you will agree that it is a gorgeous story and an absolutely lovely process of connection and communication that Sara went through. Clearly, Sara already has a strong connection and ability to listen and hear nature, but wow! I so enjoyed reading about her exchange and experiences of the elements that were involved in this labyrinth’s creation, The dog Rose in the centre, the magnetism of the stones.. the communication and deep insights that were gained when the simple process of listening is engaged with. I wasn’t jealous but this would have been a lovely labyrinth to build as the Hecate labyrinth as it is known or by some the Chakra-Vyuha.. funnily enough it was this labyrinth that I wanted to build next, so in I was very happy to suggest this design after Sara told me of her connection to the spiral and the trinity, The Hecate labyrinth is related to the triple spiral ((((( may be include link to hecate labyrinth post))))))

I’ve sited the following with links at the bottom of the article. Hecate Labyrinth

Building the Hecate labyrinth. By Sara Domingo

PART 1

‘’Being like a Rose bud’’ 

I did not have any plans of ending up in the coast lands of Djurdsland, Denmark, neither was my idea to build a labyrinth.

 But like the Universe often do, it likes to play hide and seek, and it likes when life is a game of changing directions at least thats how i have experience the great Universe of things to be with me. 

Now I’m here, not doing my farming course as I signed up for, instead, I’m building a labyrinth and finding all the wonders of the stone people. 

I didn’t do a great research and I did not know much about labyrinths, when I wake up one day and the idea had seeded in my head. I had met Mark about 3 years ago in South Spain and he was, I would say, the first person who ever told me about what a labyrinth is, so of course I wrote him that same day. It was exciting to feel his support and guidance from the beginning. 

First I read Marks book “Re-wilding with the labyrinth” and tried to draw some different labyrinth patterns. Quickly I resonated with the 5 ringed Hecate labyrinth, I have always felt more comfortable with the trinity and the number 3. So I took a quick decision. I had asked the farm near from where I was staying if I could build a stone labyrinth on their land. Funnily, the farm was called Stone farm so I thought that could only be a good sign. Soon they accepted my offer and I began to work with the piece of land they had allowed me to use. 

It was perfect! I thought it is was almost like someone has arranged it all to build a labyrinth here. There was a flat sandy surface covered in moss and lots of plantain with a beautiful Wild Rose in the middle right next to the ocean and 100 meters away from a big mound of stones. 

I didn’t have to meditate long to feel the land was waiting for this to happen. I decided to integrate the Rose bush in the centre of the labyrinth. After meditating and sitting on the land I made a deal with the Rose bush that I was only allowed to do the labyrinth in silence or singing, so from that moment I knew I could not use any electric tools.

The first day I took down a big wheel barrow with lots of tools to work the land where the I would build the labyrinth; A Scythe, Spade, Pruning Scissors… But, quickly it became disorganised in my head, I did not have any plan and lots of questions appeared that made me do nothing. How big would it be? Where should the entrance go? Should I take out the high plantain first? and how flat should the ground be..?? I required a plan.. which I did not have, perhaps it is in my character to avoid plans but in this moment I sat by the Rose and I observed its buds, the fruits of the Autumn. I thought about its journey being a bud then a rose then a bud again. At this moment I decided not to plan, not to mark the labyrinth, not to think so much about why I do it and what my intention would be, or which labyrinth to make. I would start with no preparation only with this connection to the Rose knowing that she would be the centre point and that she would birth the labyrinth like she gives birth to her flowers. She had all the answers to our labyrinth journey. I imagine the labyrinth at that point being a stone but that is opening and would becoming a full stone flower of the Earth, the excitement of a birthing flower, reminded me of my background as a Birth Doula and the supporting of a Mother in the birth of their child, the unknown is part of their excitement but is also a fear, embracing the unknown means to be pregnant, surrender is the birth. 

I concentrated on the centre on the rose and started working from the inside out. I pruned the Rose bush and gathered some of her buds in exchange, I buried some of my hair with the prayer that it would grow back strong. With the buds I made a tincture that I know has a special medicine and gift from the Rose bush. After that I made a ring of stone around her to mark the centre, to mark the bud and/or the pregnant belly. It felt so satisfying having begun this journey, working with the land which also gave me some grounding in this new phase of my life, where my soul is searching to ground, to find my own centre, and be able to re-connect with my roots here in Denmark.

Stone Love

After marking my centre I started building the seed pattern, I followed my first feeling and began to make the Hecate seed pattern.

 https://labyrinthsociety.org/labyrinth-types/3642-the-chakra-vyuha-labyrinth-aka-hecate-labyrinth – Here you can view the Hecate seed pattern and how to draw it on the labyrinth society website. 

Placing the stones I quickly realised that some stones just seem to easily touch each other and others, no matter how hard I tried, would not stay together, like two magnets with the same pole, there was a force that made them pull away. I thought this must be the different magnetism of the stones. 

Instinctively I was trying to find stones that had the plus and the minus so they would stick together. I thought also that the stones would prefer it like this.. there was a sensation of harmony and love when the stones touched each other in an easy way that wasn’t forced. 

This simplification of Love really stayed with me. The way stones love came to a matter of polarities of energy. I was thinking this must be the same with people, we just make it so much more complex since we have this menacing mind that questions and thinks and creates strategies, it wants to find the perfect match that not just feels good but also fits into our plans and dreams. 

I keep observing and noticing this magnetism, I wonder if it is what the stones are made of or where they come from that defines their magnetism. Most of the stones were collected from the field. As I mention before this field is 300 metres from the ocean so the stones are of different minerals probably rolled from different parts of the land, there were stones of different colours, Red, Green, even some had blue in them. They were of different shapes some round, some sharp, some were flint and even some had little quartz crystal in them.. with all this variations of stones it was very hard to find and answer of what defines their magnetism.. but wondering over this I wondered also what my magnetism was? as I reflected upon my life, as if I was a stone rolling in the bottom of the ocean being shaped from the force of the waves heating me against other rock , stones, pebbles, sand.. Am I still a stone in the ocean? or am i a stone of the land? Am I a stone in the deep warmth and fire of the Earth? or a stone on the top of a windy mountain? Every stone is in a constant shapeshifting by the great forces of nature, they are in a constant travel and probably it is the combination of it all that make them who they are. I do not have a clear conclusion and these days have only opened why..an intrigue in to the wonder of stone magnetism… 

This day I observed how most stones they fitted perfectly with each other despite their many differences they accepted each other, they were supporting one another and it seemed like they were happy to share some stories of their long life journey, but also I observed how a few stood out and were hard to integrate, I doubted it they at all wanted to be part of the labyrinth at all so I kept them out for now. 

Today I felt how the stones are alive, how they, like us, have a personality that is shaping and shifting and energy that they seem to be very aware of and over all I learnt today how love is much more simple when you are or dare to be like a stone 🙂 

End of part 1: This is currently where Sara has got up to. The pile of stones she is using has run low. So she is looking at locating another source of stones locally before finishing the labyrinth. Stay tuned for part 2. If you are interested in building your own labyrinth I offer consultation.

Consultation costs £25 or a donation and consists of advice, information and guidance on your project before, during and after via phone calls, email or zoom.

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I am writing this post today in response to a having just lost a very close and loved friend. Every single one of us struggles with some form of mental health, anxiety or depression in varying degrees and in different forms. Life isn’t supposed to be simply bliss but we can learn very simple natural ways to change body chemistry and ‘body’ energy that have very real effects on our health and well being which can help us to better cope with life’s tough and darker aspects.

THE main tool for this starts with breathing, breathing in the ”right” way has such a massive impact on our physical, mental, emotional health, it will literally change you. Physically, When we breathe in to the lower abdomen, more commonly known as your belly, we increase oxygen intake. The lungs fill down as well as out when we breathe in to the belly. A common trait in anxiety sufferers is that they breathe shallowly from the chest actually creating tension and stress in the body. Breathing from the belly relaxes the body, alleviates tension, lowering the stress hormone cortisol, it oxygenates the blood, increasing blood flow to the organs and brain, reduces heart rate, blood pressure and blood sugar levels. It is even detoxifying as it helps shift toxins out of the body through the lymphatic system. It helps aid in good restful sleep and perhaps most importantly it rebalances the autonomic nervous system.

You can practice abdominal breathing anywhere at anytime. It can be done as a stand alone exercise to help reduce stress and anxiety or you can retrain yourself to breathe this way constantly. It will take time and will feel strange at first yet it has long lasting health effects and is our optimal natural way of breathing, if you watch animals or babies they breath from their gut. I believe its due to the build up of various trauma’s, shocks and stress throughout life that we begin breathing from the upper chest which only adds to tension and anxiety.

The answers lay in nature…

We evolved with a nervous system to keep us alive in the wild. It geared us up for running, fighting or some other adrenalised action or for resting and rejuvenating and sensing. Our nervous system comprises of two parts, The sympathetic and the para sympathetic. The sympathetic is our flight or fight response and para sympathetic is the rest and digest mode. Today we live far more often than perhaps we should do in the para sympathetic state, hard wired, constantly on the move, direct focus, push, push, push, our nervous systems are strung out. Without a need to run away from a Bear we get triggered by an anxious situation of some sort and then we don’t switch back in to the resting place of the para sympathetic. This is compounded by our urban environments, our fast paced lifestyle of screens, work and over consumption of inflammatory foods, caffeine, drugs and alcohol. Simple body awareness and breathing techniques which mirror that of our hunter gatherer ancestors help create an inner environment that is still, calm, receptive, peaceful and content, yet fully aware and alert. This is what the work with the labyrinth can help with as we entrain our bodies and minds to slow down by simply being rather than doing. Allowing the body to calibrate in to a state of balance, being in nature naturally helps restore our bodies in to balance.

Another aspect that needs to be addressed is talking to someone. This is particularly true of men, apparently suicide is the biggest cause of death in men under the age of 45. If you are struggling then talk to someone. We don’t realise how open and ready friends, family and people are to listening and helping. Though my friend wore his heart on his sleeve and would talk openly to some people about his problems, no one knew the extent to which he was suffering. The one thing that everyone wishes he had done was to have just spoken to somebody before making the choice he made. Though it may not feel like it, things can be worked through, everything is in consistent change.

I am now offering one to one’s which you can follow the link to for more information. In light of this topic the one to ones offer a space with which you can talk, they can be done via skype, phone or soon from the land at Earth Heart, in the middle of the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire where nature therapy will also be undertaken. Another element to the one to one is coaching or mentoring, that can be mentoring through your issue by learning the techniques and ways of being in nature that I am trained in. These techniques build resilience, purpose, relationship to nature and above all a greater understanding of yourself in order to better equip you with the tools to not only cope but flourish in life.

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