the magick of Cornwall (and SOSF thankyou)

'When we know about our ancestors, when we sense them as living and as supporting us, then we feel connected to the genetic life-stream, and we draw strength and nourishment from this' - Philip Carr-Gomm

the more I research and learn about Cornwall, the more enthralled I become... I sit and read about all the magick that is Cornwall and something, deep inside me, stirs and makes me want to cry... and I swear, that the corners of Laura's mouth tip slightly so that it looks like she is smiling at me.. and her wise eyes, encourage me to keep searching.. ... and even though I wasn't born there, I am sure it is my soul's home... it is in my genes - right back to 1408 and probably further back in time....
Laura is my connection to Cornwall... she was my Pa's mother. His name was Percival Arthur Truscott (I wonder if his name was chosen because of a link to Arthurian times?).. she has been guiding me on my family search for sometime and now I have Daisy on the other side helping as well... so I really can't lose.

and as it is Samhain for my friends in the Northern Hemisphere...there is no better time than "Halloween" to tell of my continuing family search...

From ghoulies and ghosties
And long-leggedy beasties
And things that go bump in the night,
Good Lord, deliver us!
~ Cornish prayer

I have traced Laura's parents and our family tree - the Tregilgas Family tree back to 1408 and her mother, Elizabeth Curnow's family back to the 16th century - all in Cornwall..
I have had contact with many 'relatives' including a man in Florida who wrote me a letter about the Curnow Family Tree Project and he is willing to help me in my search.... I have relatives in Wales and Scotland... as well as other areas of England... many, many relatives in Cornwall...surnames in my Cornish Family tree include: Wills, Bettens, James, Dawn, Nicholl, Vibert, - this takes us back to the 15th century... anyone think they are related to me ??

I can just see Daisy clapping with glee as she sends all of this information to me!

This morning, I was sitting in my Sacred room, journalling, telling my journal that I was tired of this spiritual quest that I am on.. I wanted a break and I felt an iciness come over me... a true icy cold feeling.. 'Of course!', I thought to myself... 'Samhain' except here we are coming up to Beltane.. then I felt the spirit of my dad, then Daisy and then I saw my great Nan Laura.. who held my hands and pleaded with me not to give up.. she told me, that this search I am on to find my wild woman, to find who I am, is one that I am not only doing for myself but also to my ancestral women... those women who did not have the opportunity that I have... so I continue.

I joined in the Society of Secret faeries seasonal mail gift for Halloween and received mine last week.... I have no idea who sent mine, 'cause it is secret... but I just wanted to say that I loved opening the package.. it came at the right time for me.. some vintage goodies as well as teeny tiny bottle of faery dust which I am sure will come in handy! ... so a big thankyou to my secret faery who ever you are... plus lots of faery magick, blessings & joy being sent to you, on the whispers of the wind.... I loved the faery dust !

I AM a wild woman!!

so much has happened over the past few days.. and this is a post that I just had to get out, then no more until the 31st...

Last night when I was Moon gazing and sending my wishes out to whoever takes care of them... I sat, looking out at the Moon which was hidden behind the dark storm clouds... and I asked Her to show Her face... then I felt a presence beside me.. it was me, yet not me and we sat together looking at the Moon.. was it the Goddess? was it Daisy or was it my Wild Woman who I had lost contact with many moons ago? as we sat there together, in perfect peace... the clouds parted and the Moon shone in all Her glory, surrounded completely by clouds.. shining down on 'us' for a few minutes and then disappearing again. It started to rain.

I dreamed last night of the angels and how they have been leaving me feathers and coins quite alot lately... and I dreamed I was outside thinking this very thing and how I hadn't had a feather in a few days.. feeling very greedy... and I looked down and there was a feather on the ground... I picked it up... thinking another one! Then I woke up... and realized that the angels are even leaving me feathers in my dreamtime.

For a few years now, I have heard of the book "Women who run with the wolves" and I asked a friend about it awhile ago and she said - 'don't bother, it won't help'.... so I listened to her and not to myself. Until a few days ago.. it started popping up on blogs and other places and something started to niggle at me...
I bought that book today. And just now.. I had a bath... taking the book, my glasses and a huge drink of water with me...and I started to read... crying, gasping.... really gasping for breath. Was this book written for me? I felt like shouting ! I was actually crying and gasping so much from familiarity, I think. I felt loved.
"the longing for her comes when one happens across someone who has secured this wildish relationship" Page 5 ~ yes....Ruth
"searching...... for a sign that she still lives, that we have not lost our chance" Page 6.......
.... "for we are not going on without her any longer" page 6....
"once women have lost her and then found her again, they will contend to keep her for good" and "this wild teacher, wild mother, wild mentor supports their inner and outer lives, no matter what" ... THANKYOU Clarissa Pinkola Estes!!!!!!


there is hope. I am a wild woman!!! oh my .. this is such a wonderful feeling.. it is like I have discovered myself... I am afraid this will slip through my fingers... but I will be brave and strong... my Wild Woman will not desert me..
and yes.... my Wild Woman group will come... I just know it !!!! I could cry with happiness.... you know what? I think I will.

I wrote a poem last night while looking at the rain...

loving being me
in this present moment.
the rain drizzles down,
soaking deep into Mother Earth.
quenching the soil, quenching my soul
bringing to fruition, seeds that lie waiting.
the Goddess sends the rain of love to the seeds of my soul,
I bloom and blossom, into the wise woman that I am.
shedding my safe cocoon.... and flying free,
like the butterfly
who I am meant to be.

I don't care

I use to say these words quite often when I was a child... 'I don't care'.... I wonder if I really did care or if those words were just to stop me from being hurt.. or to stop me from caring about something or other...

however.. when these words spilled from my mouth as they often did .. my mother would counteract them with her own: 'Don't care was made care'.. I use to roll my eyes and it became a standing joke.. whenever someone said 'I don't care' - we would answer.... 'you know what Nan says' and we would roll around laughing..... we always tried to analyze what the damn hell she meant.. but it seems it is from a little British Nursery Rhyme, that must have been passed down to her, from her dad, my Pa and to him from his mother Laura.

Don’t care was made to care,
Don’t care was hung,
Don’t care was put in a pot
And boiled till he was done

it still doesn't really make alot of sense.. I wonder how many of us, use phrases and sayings not having a clue what they mean. And by saying them.. are we attracting what they really mean.. OR is that all too deep to really understand?

*~* I hope your day is filled with butterflies, magick, colour & fripperies! ~*~

October Full Moon in Woodford

I couldn't let the full Moon pass without a post...

The full Moon - a time for attraction spells of all kinds, full of energy to draw those things that you wish for, into your life.... time for me to call my real life soul friend.*I wish for a sacred circle. One where women can come together to share their journeys, joyfully. Where we can satisfy our inner need for community, of the Goddess. Like in ancient times where we sat and shared, laughed, cried and discovered our true selves. sometimes pampering ourselves, sometimes learning, sometimes meditating together, sharing rituals and spells, walking in nature. I call this group now... here in the mountains.... may their souls hear my call*

the full Moon is in Taurus today. At exactly 2:51 pm . According to my notes this is our Purple Moon, because in some parts of New South Wales, the jacaranda is blooming, but not so, here in Woodford, where it is a little cooler than most areas. Our nights are still chilly and the past few days have been drizzly rain.

the past few weeks - we have had seasonal oddities... heat up to high 30's celsius and cold down to 7 degrees celsius - so a real mixed bag... one day I am frantically trying to keep plants alive...then the next day, a reprieve of light drizzle and cooler weather. The spring green of new growth is vibrant.

The leaves of early spring flowering bulbs are all neatly tied up to conserve energy for next years flowering. The orange trees are heavy with blossom, making the bees giddy with delight of the abundance of pollen. ... empty cicada shells cling tightly to trees... where they were left in a burst of birth... while the newly hatched cicadas are singing their final song. loudly I must say. Roses are bursting forth in the first springtime display...

this Moon in Woodford is being noted in my Book of Shadows and Light as the 'SONG OF THE CICADA Moon' (and just as typed this out... they started to sing, for the first time this morning, as if they were confirming my choice!)

hold on!!! we are off on a ride !!

*~* I hope your day is filled with butterflies, magick, colour & fripperies! ~*~

sending love

the fires in California have bought me back to the realization that my 'problems' are minor. I am sitting watching the news, my heart hurts with sadness... sending as much love to my dear friend Carmen xo

*~* I hope your day is filled with butterflies, magick, colour & fripperies! ~*~

back on October 31st. . .

I am taking a little time away from blogging - read the previous post and you will see that I need to do a little soul work. I am stepping out of the victim role and taking the next step towards my healing.....

it's time to take time out -

this is not an easy decision to make and I don't even know if it is the right one. But i have to stop blogging for awhile. I have been sitting here crying, feeling lonely and blaming life. I was crying about my pain in my shoulders from stress, I was crying because I am consumed with this soul journey and am finding it difficult to live in the present moment. I cried because I have to pay someone $110 an hour to fix something that is not my fault. I am even beginning to think I am going to have to get anti depressants and you all know how I feel about that.
I journalled today: I hate that Daisy died, I hate that I have no one in real life to share my journey with, I hate that I have this dreadful feeling of soul lonliness. I hate that I can't cry. I hate that i have this feeling of burdening people with my problems, I hate that I analyze and stress about every single email I get, I hate the fact that I keep thinking I am a burden to people, I am always aware of 'energy stealing' and on and on it went.

I sat and weeped....wanting a friend. Then I tried to declutter my art room as it is chaotic. I cannot live like this anymore. I can't live in chaos. I have realized that I spend way too much time on the computer.....looking for answers. I am using the computer and internet for a shadow comfort so I have decided to limit my time until I get it sorted out. The thing is - that I know that I am really a joyful fun-loving person. I am full of love & kindness but it is not showing itself alot lately. I feel drained. I really need to be able to tap into my own wisdom.

I want a friend who I can talk to about my grief, a friend who I can say- 'gee, I feel like crap today' and not feel guilty about telling someone how I feel. I want a friend to share my magick with... I want to be able to answer truthfully if someone asks am I ok.. I want to be able to accept a hug from someone without pushing them away. I want to be able to voice my opinion with out having to worry about offending someone...

I want to be able to feel like this and not feel guilty about not being joyful all the time... because in reality.. life is not joyful all the time, I don't care what Louise Hay or Doreen Virtue or any self help book says. I want to be able to use the dark part of my journey in a good way, to embrace it. I want to stop worrying about what the Secret says in using the words want and need...

Hell, I am not even sure if this post is going to make any sense.

My email is on my profile and I would love to keep in touch. ...so if you would like to email.. please do, I would love to hear from you.

I need to sort this out once and for all....

a few nights ago... I had a visit from a faery... i had my eyes open too! I woke up with a sense of a flapping and when i opened my eyes there was this little green faery that looked much like a huge dragon fly.... it was an amazing thing... at last the faeries feel safe to show themselves to me and I feel safe to see them!*~* I hope your day is filled with butterflies, magick, colour & fripperies! ~*~

REED Lore

Lore for the Reed or Elm, which is the tree for the 12th Moon of the Celtic year (Oct 28 - Nov 24) The Celtic name is Negetal ~ pronounced:nyettle
The birds associated with the month of Reed are the owl and goose (the goose is a totem that you can call on to help heal your inner child) The Elm tree is a tree of Saturn and is associated with the element of earth. And is associated with the day of Tuesday.

This is a good month for using music in magick and also for divination.


The Elm is commonly known as "the elf friend". If you desire to have contact with wood elves, pick a grove of Elm trees and sit under them and sing. Around about dawn, the elves will have gotten over their initial shyness and come out to join in the singing. Elm trees are also thought to provide a channel for the communication with divas. To get an Elm tree to help you in this quest, offerings can be brought to a favorite tree and left. The best offerings are wine, mead, tobacco, coins and sage. Tiny twigs of Elm can be worn in a bag around a child's neck as a charm to produce eloquent speech in later life. Elm wood may be bound with a yellow cord and burned to prevent gossip. The Elm represents primordial female powers and therefore the Elm is a tree with great protective qualities. The wood from the Elm can be made into talismans and charms that can be worn for protection. The Elm also has the qualities of regeneration, boldness and fidelity, and so added to its protective qualities, it is excellent when given as a good luck token to departing friends

*~* I hope your day is filled with butterflies, magick, colour & fripperies! ~*~

the hermit

I have decided to take time out.

Grief counselling is wonderful but bringing up so many other things for me to deal with. Childhood monsters.

These 'issues' have to be dealt with, nothing I can do about it.

Do I share or keep it all to myself? Does the world need or really want to know?

By not voicing and facing these 'issues', am I still in denial or shame? Am I suffering post traumatic stress or am I just a normal person with normal stuff happening.

Over the past few days, I have been re-reading my blogs from the beginning with Daily Parcels til now and I have realized that my blogs have been a big part of my soul journey. I have been peeling back layers via blogging and it has helped. So I know that if I can put into my blog.. my deepest thoughts, feelings and monsters it will help me tremendously... but will I lose friends along the way. That worries me.

Which brings me to the question - where does my blog go from here? I am not moving or closing, but I know that if I come back ... there will be a different me.. the same me but different. And the reality is - I need to be true to myself...

I am off to buy myself a pair of ear-rings (thankyou Ruth for the inspiration xoxo)
I will journal over the next few days - go for my walks and see where I am heading.

mercury in retrograde by daisy

Just a few more words about Mercury being in full retrograde from tomorrow [28th]. Things that could go wrong or be disturbed by the Divine Powers of the Universe. Computers may behave erratically, emails may go missing for a few hours or a day or two before they arrive, any parcels or cards you may could take a long time or go missing and travel plans could be difficult to achieve easily.

How can we make our way through this troublesome time? Well trying keep a piece of clear quartz on top of your computer to clear the air. Be patient above all things, the Universe allows these things to happen as part of its system of being, for every difficulty at some time in the future you will have a good happening to balance it. For travelling and mail, look out crystals and herbs that will help you achieve these things. Crystals and herbs in your pocket when travelling can help ease the journey and a sprinkling of the right herbs in the parcel or letter will help it on its way. Jasmine and /or Tuberose incense or essential oils will do well to help you with the effects of a retrograde Mercury Just take things carefully and slowly my friends.


*~* I hope your day is filled with butterflies, magick, colour & fripperies! ~*~

and now, The Dreaming

it has taken me a long time to even want to share this but I feel the time has come to put it down into words
I go to a gorgeous place to have my massages and other soul treatments - the name is perfect: "Scent from Heaven" and I have two massage therapists who have become very good friends of mine. They are the girls who I gathered sacred herbs with a few weeks ago... one of them did The Dreaming for me. She was trained by an Aboriginal woman in the mysteries of this sacred, ancient land. It is a 3 hour body and soul treatment - using Aboriginal healing techniques along with native essential oils, earth ochres and desert salts... smudging and music. Here is a link to LI'TYA: spa care from the Australian dreamtime

The treatment was wonderful but the whole experience for me was a spiritual one more than a physical and it has helped tremendously to ground me here in my home land.
The music that wass played was a shamanic one - drumming and chanting which puts you into a trance like state as your body is massaged and your soul is healed.
I had many visits from spirits during the time - the most incredible one was an Aboriginal elder who said he was my spirit guardian. He was painted in ceremonial pains and had a spear in his right hand. I asked him where my angels were and he said that all are one in spirit world. He came through like this as I needed him at that time. He told me that I am here to experience this land we call Australia, to absorb her mysteries and magick. To become one with the land and learn the 'craft' here.

Since then I have had contact with my Aboriginal spirit guide - he is a gentle spirit and wants to help me along my journey. He is wise and knowing and very understanding of me.

*~* I hope your day is filled with butterflies, magick, colour & fripperies! ~*~

totem animals & gathering herbs

My moon diary tells me today that: 'over the next few days, it is a good time to collect and use herbs, they are very potent.' So, I woke early this morning to harvest some. To use in a charm bag and a poppet that I am making. I walked around my garden.... just asking what was needed and I began to gather ~ rosemary, yarrow & lavender. Then I thought that I might add a little piece of Rowan and when I asked permission, my Rowan said to me that he was such a little tree, that he would prefer if I took some from my ancient apple tree. Made alot of sense to me as the Apple is a sacred tree to witches. So I picked a small branch and gave thanks... then I heard the clove pinks calling to me... and as I gathered them.. they told me to take one violet leaf to add to the mix.... I tied them all up in bundles, chanting and blessing as I went, feeling very much like I was in the past, as if I were one of my ancestors........now they hang to dry....

I also picked 5 heartsease flowers to make myself a melancholy & despondency essence... yesterday, after my wonderful light & joyful post a few days ago.... a cloud descended over me... I know that life is not always peace, love & mung beans and I know that I can deal with these times.... the feeling could be because I did a chakra dance class yesterday and I am clearing 'stuff'.. or it could be because I trying to wean myself from HRT...... I don't know.. but I want to help myself through it. Last night I did an invocation to Isis to help me with this feeling.

So I put the 5 little Heartsease flowers into some spring water along with rose quartz crystal.. for love... and it is now sitting energizing in the sun under my SweetPea plants (SweetPea - for courage & strength). I was wondering why the sun instead of the Moon, seeing as I love the Moon... but the sun is happy & joyful so I am guessing this is why. So, a big thankyou to Ruth for showing me how to make Flower Essences xo
"Do you have a totem animal? I am a hare for now, but frogs seem to cross my path a lot in the strangest of places. Last night I opened my front door to look out, this was about 11.30 at night, and sitting happily on my door step was a large frog. We looked at each other, and I just said hello, and then went back in" ~ Daisy

the other day, I was driving along, just pondering as I drove.. (I tend to do that) when I noticed a crow flying over head. I thought to myself, 'maybe that is my totem animal... a crow' then I said ' I need to find out my animal totem'....off I went to my favourite shop - The Sacred Lotus, to buy some incense and various other bits. As I was browsing - I spotted an owl candle holder... then some Owl brand incense...hmmm. An Owl? I am not rushing this I thought to myself. I popped into a local antique shop, just to have a look. Not really looking for anything.. and there sitting on a table for sale was Hedgewig - Harry Potters Owl... no, not the real one - just a stuffed toy, but it was an owl. I turned around and in a glass cabinet was a collection of OWLS !!! I think I am being told the Owl is my totem...
I asked Joe to buy me an Owl from the collection and he picked me the sweetest little pottery owl who will be living on my altar...

'Remember, I once said to you the deep truths are not in books. What no one much ever tells you is that like the heron, any animal, bird, insect or fish can be a totem. They come and announce themselves to you, you do not pick them. They can be ugly animals or beautiful ones, you know when you have one. Therefore, it could be something like a frog or an eagle you have no choice in the matter.' ~ Daisy

so, an Owl it is, seems I have no choice in the matter!

*~* I hope your day is filled with butterflies, magick, colour & fripperies! ~*~

a few days ago, I was reading the blog of a new friend, who is very similar to me... and she posted about how she was feeling at peace with herself and her world... most of her post could have been one that I wrote.

for many years, I have worried about pleasing others, not fitting in, trying to be something or someone I wasn't. Until I finally lost contact with my authentic self.. me, my SELF... it has been a long road and I feel I am getting there finally.
today, I went out and bought myself a sleeveless dress.. something I haven't done in years, always worrying about my upper arms.. you know, nearly 50 and all that.. but I thought what the heck.. I love this hippy dress and I am going to wear it with joy, along with a anklet just like Carmen wears... if I can find one!


so, yes Lee - I feel a total feeling of peace both within and without! xoxo

*~* I hope your day is filled with butterflies, magick, colour & fripperies! ~*~

New Moon in Libra - a time to let go.

The Wiccan Rede says "when the Lady's Moon is New, kiss your hand to her times two"

the new moon in Libra today... I woke to a stillness only broken by the magpies calling each other in the white flowering gum. A stillness where there were no bees buzzing, no cicadas, not a breath of a breeze and I knew the moon was resting before she starts to breathe in again. A time for us to rest & regenerate, to fast or detox or to kick a bad habit. This new Moon is one where we can let go of past pain and last night I wrote my list. Tomorrow morning I am going on a early morning walk to a lookout far from 'people' where I will let my past pain drift off to our ancient ancestors...
above is a photo of a Banksia Man, these grow on an Australian native called 'Old Man Banksia' - can you see the face? These seed pods peer out at me as I walk through our bushland and when I was a little girl, they scared the living daylights out of me...
below: my grandson Thomas.. he is 8 and a lovely soul. We went on an artists date on Tuesday. We walked around some National trust gardens, just noticing things of nature and talking about what we saw.... sharing.

and then we sat down to our picnic lunch. I packed a sandwich each, a bottle of lemonade for Tom and a bottle of water for me. I also packed pencils, sketch books, scissors, paper & glue. And a bottle of bubbles! As I unpacked, Thomas yelled out; 'Grandma, you think of everything... lemonade & bubbles... how did you think of that?' and 'grandma, you are the best!!!'

- my heart sang.. we sat and ate, blew bubbles and I journalled while Thomas sketched.......

Lately, I am thoroughly enjoying researching the Moon and I am thinking of finding a course next year. Maybe I can manifest one! Make that: I will manifest one!
I have had a feeling in my heart centre, the past week or so.... and I just realized that this feeling, this 'pain' or 'ache' is actually my heart chakra opening. It is an amazing feeling, not a bad pain at all but like my heart centre is filling with Love. I have never felt anything like it...is this called self-love? Finally! all the affirmations, the being aware of negative thoughts and patterns, the journalling....are coming to fruition... these, plus finally realizing that there is a grand plan and I just have to be open to it... that there is indeed syncronicity & magick at work.... makes me a very happy soul.

*~* I hope your day is filled with butterflies, magick, colour & fripperies! ~*~

faery magick, food for thought and me, a divine co-creator

I am working through alot of stuff right now, with my books, affirmations and element essences and like Solstice dreamer says - sitting on the edge of a change.... sometimes, this change feels a little daunting.....
one of my books - 'White Magic by Lucy Cavendish', mentions time being linear and puts forth the theory that all of our lives - past, present and future are being lived concurrently.. I will post more abou this in another post, once I have digested what she says. Her theory explains the feeling that I have sometimes, of living in the past.. a knowing that I cannot put my finger on..... being somewhere else while being in the present - it is sometimes called day dreaming....

it is coming up to the dark of the moon and I am doing wonderfully. I still have niggles of melancholy but I remember to whisper to myself - 'be gentle with yourself'. I am pampering myself alot and really going inward, reflecting, taking time to be still in my soul - I also read these words of Daisy's, at the Dark of the Moon:
"There are days when I can feel slightly down, and a little bit grumpy, this usually makes me realise I have been overdoing things 'burning the candle at both ends' as my Mother would say. I try to find extra bliss in all the small things that make my day enjoyable. Silly little things like the feel of my old straw hat on head when I am gardening, the blackbird that is not frightened of me and sits near my feet if I am quiet with a worm in his beak. The sun shimmering through the silver birch leaves, and later at twilight sitting out in the garden as the stars switch on in the sky and the tiny bats come out from the derelict barn down the lane and dart hither and thither. Or on colder evenings sitting in my living room with the rich smell of incense burning, candles flickering glad to be inside. At the moment my most blissful moments are waking just as the first note of the dawn chorus rings out and lying in bed listening as more and more birds join in then turning over and going back to sleep. Some mornings I even get up for a cup of herbal tea and listen to them before returning to bed." *she was indeed a wise woman*

.... I wanted to create something to honour Daisy this dark moon and I remembered her telling me what she did for her faery friends, so I copied it out and created a whimsical painting around it.....

I have been religiously doing my pages in my journal every morning - it is delicious. I get up early and go into my sacred space and sit, looking out the window while I write my thoughts down...and sometimes, I get flashes of creativity bursting forth - like these words this morning:

walking along the bush track
Tiny little flannel flowers,
whispers, laughter, a movement.

sitting, chin cupped in my hands
watching silently, a world
that I always knew was there
play with us! have fun! be joyful!

and then
get your head out of the clouds, don't be silly
make believe won't get you far in life

in a flash, my insight was gone
to be rediscovered as I become a child once more.

today I am off with my grandson, Thomas for an Artists date. We are packing picnic lunch, pencils, art books and our creative selves and going to The Everglades - a garden not far from my home... where we are going to wander for awhile, have lunch and create.... memories and art.

*~* I hope your day is filled with butterflies, magick, colour & fripperies! ~*~

gathering as we go....

Gee, I am becoming a little 'laxa-daisy' in my blogging.. but something is shifting deep inside me and I don't feel the need to be blogging every day...
yesterday two of my friends and myself went on a gathering bush walk early in the morning..... we went to gather O'Yarrarng or Old Man's beard so that we could make our own smudge sticks... I am really quite excited about this. I am going to use eucalypt leaves, the O'yarrarng and Lemon Myrtle to make my own instead of using the sage smudge sticks. I am finally feeling a connection with this wise and ancient land that I was born to this time... it is like I have finally found that part of myself that has been missing... as I peel the layers of my SELF I am discovering who I am... I know there will be desert times but I know now how to cope with them....they will be a time for me to reflect on how far I have come, a time for this new aspect of myself that I have discovered, to settle in to where it belongs.......so we started our walk....

up the dirt path to where the O'Yarrarng grows on the exposed cliffs of the Blue Mountains...
past views like this, up stairs and along cliff edges, like this.....
I was a little worried about snakes but I thought to myself 'no, face your fears'... so a quick plea to the elementals to keep the snakes away.. and I walked on... I didn't see any snakes so I am not sure if it was the elementals working for me or if it was me stomping through the bush! Our snakes here are poisonous and we have deadly King brown snakes as well as tiger snakes.. not fun to meet them on a bush track in the middle of nowhere. I would have asked St. Patrick but just recently I learned that he drove the Druids out of Ireland, not the snakes.. so I don't like him much at all now. We walked on,'til we finally came to the sacred place where it grows.....
we stood silently and asked permission from the elemental spirits.
Certain trees in particular places are said to be under the care and protection of the Sidhe. A lone thorn bush growing in an uncultivated field is often such a tree, especially if it is growing on a sharp hill slope. The site of each tree is important to the Sidhe. It must be growing within the banks of a rath (fort), inside a fairy ring, or in a rocky field of rough grass, especially if growing near to a large boulder or a spring. The sidhe will protect their special trees. If someone harms or disturbs the tree, they will suffer, often by becoming ill.
-Author Unknown
we gathered and chatted, talking about sacred circles and bonding... such a wonderful time.... I felt like an ancient woman... I guess I am. Once we had gathered enough, we said thankyou and made our way back along the path and I spied these:
faery steps! I remembered Daisy & I use to talk about them all the time... I just had to go up and see what was there.... thinking how Daisy would have loved them... but I guess she was there with me....and I found these:
these are exactly the same kind of 'seed pods' that I saw faeries in when I was a little girl... I stood in awe of them... remembering.
When I returned home, I placed my Old Man's beard in a bowl.. then made myself a cup of tea and reflected... and wrote some words down which I think could be the beginning of a poem:
deep inside
a knowing
unlocked by being as one
with our land
ancient memories stirred
by a presence standing beside me
pointing the way

not quite grasping
that wisp of wisdom
that I know is there
deep in my inner soul

today I am spending time in my garden... mowing the lawn and mulching some more. The cicadas are singing right this very moment.. taking me back yet again to my childhood....

*~* I hope your day is filled with butterflies, magick, colour & fripperies! ~*~

scrap bag post ~ moon magick and my adventures among other things....

"the village witch was an herbalist, spell-caster, interpreter of dreams, healer, midwife and psychologist. In times where there were no or very few skilled doctors, she was the people’s only resource against injury and disease"

On the weekend, Joe and I went for a lovely ride, in the Spring sunshine, or so we thought. The wind whipped up as we rode through the mountain and at times, I felt like Mary Poppins, if I had an umbrella, I would have been flying off into the wild blue yonder! The weather stayed sunny but it was freezing! Thank heavens i had my thick leggings on and my leather jacket!

We rode over the ranges and into Lithgow and decided to take a detour to a famous lookout - Hassan's Walls. The most amazing view.

I was walking around looking for a nature object, for my altar and found alot of Old Man's beard growing on a bush, which I gathered to make my very own smudging herbs. This is something I was told about when I had my Dreaming treatment (I am still sorting out the post explaining it.. will do soon, I promise)

I wanted Joe to take a photo of me sitting on the edge.. after I got settled, the wind whipped up to a gale and I was sitting feeling very insecure...Old Man's beard grasped in one hand and trying to hang on to the rock with the other.

Been busy in my garden the past few days too - beetroot is in, my potatoes are up & I am just about ready to put my beans in - I planted some thyme in my sacred space for the faeries:~ Thyme is associated with fairies. Wearing a sprig of wild thyme, or essential oil of thyme, is said to help one to see fairies. If you place springs of thyme on your closed eyes and sleep upon a fairy mound, will supposedly guarantee your seeing fairies. Dried, powdered thyme, sprinkled on doorsteps and window sills, is an invitation to the fae into your home. Wild thyme, gathered from the side of a fairy mound, is especially potent for use in fairy magic.

The Moon is in her waning phase now ~ Waning Moon Magick:
From three-and-a- half to ten-and-a-half days after the full moon. The waning moon is used for banishing magick, for ridding oneself of addictions, illness or negativity

...oh and before I forget, if you want a post card from the Blue Mountains... just mention it here - I have two more left!

*~* I hope your day is filled with butterflies, magick, colour & fripperies! ~*~