"Beautiful Girl Walking through the Field, a Flower in His Hand" by Henri Martin, (1889)
~ Free ~
The tree does not say to the rock,
"You are unworthy"
The moon to the ocean: "You are wrong.
you should not be."
The wind does not judge the fire
The crow does not gossip about the flea.
Yet we silly humans have forgotten
what sacred relief it is, just to be.
That we're all a part of Something Greater
...Not much
is about you or me
~ Rachel Alana Falconer
"Dreaming of Pomegranates" by Felice Casorati (1913)
Dear Mama Earth
I am tired.
Like your are
Weary to my chalk-earth bones
Mama Earth
I look for you, I have my whole life
Without knowing what for. Why.
Though as a child
I was closer.
I somehow learned to see only
where you were boxed up, categorised
bar-coded, repackaged
sold back to me
To build knots and walls up inside.
To want instead
the things they made
of your rich, nourishing body,
From every living, breathing
experiencing
part of life
Dark cogs churning through you
without end.
They sold back imitations,
to assuage our lengthening grief
Like a child given sugar-water,
who needs milk
A child lost,
looking for her Mother.
Perhaps this is why there is so much blame
on human mothers
For no matter how hard they try
Give, nurture, care, feed, love
they can never be you.
But, how could they?
They hunger for you too
I am sorry.
So many imitations.
For even our false mother, Materialism,
tricks her children with your name
'Mater', the Latin word for 'mother'.
An endless consuming that can't be filled
when our souls starve instead
to connect
to commune.
I am sorry.
I was searching the skies for you
as you nurtured me beneath my feet.
As your abundant, glorious LIFE
swirled its symphony of Love and Beauty
all around me
All along, you were right here,
holding me in your arms
as I grew and learned,
Fell to my knees
and learned to walk again.
Rebirthing me always
from Your womb.
I was never alone.
Thank you.
~ Rachel Alana Falconer
Happy Mother's Day! To all the mothers,
and to our Greatest One.
“What time will you get in tonight?
Text me when you’re home
Be careful if you’re driving
Or if you’re out alone
Shout me if you need me
Or call me anytime
Hey, remember when we did that thing
And laughed until we cried?
Take a coat, it’s raining
Or shelter here with me
Let’s watch your favourite movie
I’ve made your favourite tea
I saw this and I thought of you
It really made me smile
Just checking in, I hope you’re well
I know it’s been a while
Have some fun at school today
But wear your hat - it’s cold
And look the road’s got busy now
So here’s my hand to hold”
We always hear and say these things
But rarely do we see
They’re just lots of little ways
Of saying what we really mean
See, if you listen carefully,
You’ll hear them everywhere -
All the messages of “I love you”
“You’re important” and “I care”
***
How are you?
From What the Wild Replied
https://amzn.eu/d/6NrikFd
"Meditation" by Vojtech Preissig
"And then there are the cravings.. Oh, la! A woman may crave to be near water, or be belly down, her face in the earth, smelling the wild smell. She might have to drive into the wind. She may have to plant something, pull things out of the ground or put them into the ground. She may have to knead and bake, rapt in dough up to her elbows.
She may have to trek into the hills, leaping from rock to rock trying out her voice against the mountain. She may need hours of starry nights where the stars are like face powder spilt on a black marble floor. She may feel she will die if she doesn’t dance naked in a thunderstorm, sit in perfect silence, return home ink-stained, paint-stained, tear-stained, moon-stained."
Clarissa Pinkola Estés: 'Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype', 1992.
"But civilized human beings are alarmingly ignorant of the fact that they are continuous with their natural surroundings. It is as necessary to have air, water, plants, insects, birds, fish, and mammals as it is to have brains, hearts, lungs, and stomachs. The former are our external organs in the same way that the latter are our internal organs. If then, we can no more live without the things outside than without those inside, the plain inference is that the words “I” and “myself ” must include both sides. The sun, the earth, and the forests are just as much features of your own body as your brain. Erosion of the soil is as much a personal disease as leprosy, and many “growing communities” are as disastrous as cancer."
- Alan Watts
- Does it Matter? Essays on Man's Relation to Materiality
Art by Jaun Gatti
How the Wicked Sons Were Duped
A very wealthy old man, imagining that he was on the point of death, sent for his sons and divided his property among them. However, he did not die for several years afterwards; and miserable years many of them were. Besides the weariness of old age, the old fellow had to bear with much abuse and cruelty from his sons. Wretched, selfish ingrates! Previously they vied with one another in trying to please their father, hoping thus to receive more money, but now they had received their patrimony, they cared not how soon he left them--nay, the sooner the better, because he was only a needless trouble and expense. And they let the poor old man know what they felt.
One day he met a friend and related to him all his troubles. The friend sympathized very much with him, and promised to think over the matter, and call in a little while and tell him what to do. He did so; in a few days he visited the old man and put down four bags full of stones and gravel before him.
"Look here, friend," said he. "Your sons will get to know of my coming here today, and will inquire about it. You must pretend that I came to discharge a long-standing debt with you, and that you are several thousands of rupees richer than you thought you were. Keep these bags in your own hands, and on no account let your sons get to them as long as you are alive. You will soon find them change their conduct towards you. Salaam. I will come again soon to see how you are getting on."
When the young men got to hear of this further increase of wealth they began to be more attentive and pleasing to their father than ever before. And thus they continued to the day of the old man's demise, when the bags were greedily opened, and found to contain only stones and gravel!
(From "Indian Fairy Tales" by Joseph Jacobs)
Bhutanese painted thanka of the Jataka Tales 18th-19th Century Phajoding Gonpa Thimphu Bhutan
The Sun, Moon and Wind
One day Sun, Moon, and Wind went out to dine with their uncle and aunts Thunder and Lightning. Their mother (one of the most distant Stars you see far up in the sky) waited alone for her children's return.
Now both Sun and Wind were greedy and selfish. They enjoyed the great feast that had been prepared for them, without a thought of saving any of it to take home to their mother--but the gentle Moon did not forget her. Of every dainty dish that was brought round, she placed a small portion under one of her beautiful long finger-nails, that Star might also have a share in the treat.
On their return, their mother, who had kept watch for them all night long with her little bright eye, said, "Well, children, what have you brought home for me?" Then Sun (who was eldest) said, "I have brought nothing home for you. I went out to enjoy myself with my friends—not to fetch a dinner for my mother!" And Wind said, "Neither have I brought anything home for you, mother. You could hardly expect me to bring a collection of good things for you, when I merely went out for my own pleasure." But Moon said, "Mother, fetch a plate, see what I have brought you." And shaking her hands she showered down such a choice dinner as never was seen before.
Then Star turned to Sun and spoke thus, "Because you went out to amuse yourself with your friends, and feasted and enjoyed yourself, without any thought of your mother at home--you shall be cursed. Henceforth, your rays shall ever be hot and scorching, and shall burn all that they touch. And men shall hate you, and cover their heads when you appear."
(And that is why the Sun is so hot to this day.)
Then she turned to Wind and said, "You also who forgot your mother in the midst of your selfish pleasures--hear your doom. You shall always blow in the hot dry weather, and shall parch and shrivel all living things. And men shall detest and avoid you from this very time."
(And that is why the Wind in the hot weather is still so disagreeable.)
But to Moon she said, "Daughter, because you remembered your mother, and kept for her a share in your own enjoyment, from henceforth you shall be ever cool, and calm, and bright. No noxious glare shall accompany your pure rays, and men shall always call you 'blessed."'
(And that is why the moon's light is so soft, and cool, and beautiful even to this day.)
(From “Indian Fairy Tales” by Joseph Jacobs)
Rose quartz is pink quartz It has a pink color, that is often called the "Love Stone." It is a stone of unconditional love that opens the heart chakra to all forms of love: self-love, family love, platonic love, and romantic love. The high energy of quartz gives rose quartz the property of enhancing love in virtually any situation. In turn, this lowers stress. All in all it is a very soothing and happy stone.
Emotionally rose quartz brings gentleness, forgiveness, compassion, kindness and tolerance. It raises one's self-esteem and sense of self-worth. It helps balance emotions and heal emotional wounds and traumas, even grief, bringing peace and calm. Rose quartz removes fears, resentments and anger. It can also heal and release childhood traumas, neglect, and lack of lo...ve, in part by enhancing inner awareness. It can help with reconciliation with family and others. Overwhelming or unreasonable guilt is eased by rose quartz.
In the psychic and spiritual realms, rose quartz is often used to attract love, and for love spells. It is also used to ease the process of transition in dying. Rose quartz can be helpful for dream recall and dream work.
Physically rose quartz is used in crystal healing to benefit the heart, the circulatory system, fertility, headaches, kidney disease, migraines, sexual dysfunction, sinus problems, throat problems, depression, addictions, ear aches, slowing signs of aging, reducing wrinkles, spleen problems, fibromyalgia, and reaching one's ideal weight / weight loss. Rose quartz is also helpful and protective during pregnancy and with childbirth. It is also sometimes said that rose quartz is helpful for supporting brain functions and increasing intellect.
Rose quartz is associated with the heart chakra.
Rose quartz has its origins mainly in Brazil, Madagascar and Namibia, where it often occurs in large quantities, even today. Therefore, those interested in gemstones can also purchase larger pieces of rose quartz in addition to smaller cut gemstones.
It's no wonder many celebrities are born under Aries, a sign which is known to be competitive and ambitious, risk-taking and bold.
Happy 'birthday season' to all of my Rams! May 2023 bring you wonderful adventures!
...For those of you looking for products with this image on it, you can find Aries on cards (Leanin' Tree, Watermark), puzzles (Grafika), cross stitch kits (Heaven and Earth Designs), and of course from my diamond painting partners around the world
Welcoming the change of seasons! Which one is it where you are, Spring or Autumn
? Or better question, which season does it feel like...
Mothering Sunday is this weekend here in the U.K...do you have any plans with your mum?
Here's an older piece of mine called "First Flight" and I like to think of it as a metaphor for mothering...how we help our children along until they are ready to fly on their own, but still stay close at hand, (literally at first and then perhaps just emotionally!).
Josephine Wall
"Karaniya Metta Sutta: The Buddha's Words on Loving-kindness"
translated from the Pali by
The Amaravati Sangha
This is what should be done
By one who is skilled in goodness,
And who knows the path of peace:
Let them be able and upright,
Straightforward and gentle in speech,
Humble and not conceited,
Contented and easily satisfied,
Unburdened with duties and frugal in their ways.
Peaceful and calm and wise and skillful,
Not proud or demanding in nature.
Let them not do the slightest thing
That the wise would later reprove.
Wishing: In gladness and in safety,
May all beings be at ease.
Whatever living beings there may be;
Whether they are weak or strong, omitting none,
The great or the mighty, medium, short or small,
The seen and the unseen,
Those living near and far away,
Those born and to-be-born —
May all beings be at ease!
Let none deceive another,
Or despise any being in any state.
Let none through anger or ill-will
Wish harm upon another.
Even as a mother protects with her life
Her child, her only child,
So with a boundless heart
Should one cherish all living beings;
Radiating kindness over the entire world:
Spreading upwards to the skies,
And downwards to the depths;
Outwards and unbounded,
Freed from hatred and ill-will.
Whether standing or walking, seated or lying down
Free from drowsiness,
One should sustain this recollection.
This is said to be the sublime abiding.
By not holding to fixed views,
The pure-hearted one, having clarity of vision,
Being freed from all sense desires,
Is not born again into this world.
How You Affect Others Daily
You never know whose life you are affecting, big or small.
As the pace and fullness of modern life serve to isolate us from one another, the contact we do share becomes vastly more significant. We unconsciously absorb each other’s energy, adopting the temperament of those with whom we share close quarters, and find ourselves changed after the briefest encounters. Everything we do or say has the potential to affect not only the individuals we live, work, and play with but also those we’ve just met. Though we may never know the impact we have had or the scope of our influence, accepting and understanding that our attitudes and choices will affect others can help us remember to conduct ourselves with grace at all times. When we seek always to be friendly, helpful, and responsive, we effortlessly create an atmosphere around ourselves that is both uplifting and inspiring.
Most people rarely give thought to the effect they have had or will have on others. When we take a few moments to contemplate how our individual modes of being affect the people we spend time with each day, we come one step closer to seeing ourselves through the eyes of others. By asking ourselves whether those we encounter walk away feeling appreciated, respected, and liked, we can heighten our awareness of the effect we ultimately have. Something as simple as a smile given freely can temporarily brighten a person’s entire world. Our value-driven conduct may inspire others to consider whether their own lives are reflective of their values. A word of advice can help others see life in an entirely new fashion. And small gestures of kindness can even prove to those embittered by the world that goodness still exists. By simply being ourselves, we influence other’s lives in both subtle and life-altering ways.
To ensure that the effect we have is positive, we must strive to stay true to ourselves while realizing that it is the demeanor we project and not the quality of our wondrous inner landscapes that people see. Thus, as we interact with others, how we behave can be as important as who we are. If we project our passion for life, our warmth, and our tolerance in our facial features, voice, and choice of words, every person who enters our circle of influence will leave our presence feeling at peace with themselves and with us. You never know whose life you are affecting, big or small. Try to remember this as you go out into the world each day.
Dear members from the group, say anything to stay active.
Lemony, super fluffy, perfectly sweet and easy to make.
3/4 cup unsweetened plant milk
Juice from one large lemon (about 3–4 tbsp of lemon juice)
Zest from one large lemon
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tbsp poppy seeds
1/4 cup unsweetened plant based yogurt
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
In a small bowl create a “buttermilk” mixture by combining milk, lemon zest and juice and set aside. Combine all remaining dry ingredients in a medium mixing bowl and whisk well. Add in the yogurt, maple syrup, vanilla, and “buttermilk” mixture and whisk into the dry ingredients until a batter forms. You do not need to make the batter perfectly smooth or lump free. Preheat a greased griddle to medium heat and spoon 1/4 cup of the batter on to your griddle and cook the pancake for 3-4 minutes or until golden before flipping to the other side to cook for about 2-3 minutes or until golden. Repeat this process with the remaining pancake batter. Once done cooking, serve as desired.
CLOSING CYCLES: 2022
One always has to know when a stage comes to an end. If we insist on staying longer than the necessary time, we lose the happiness and the meaning of the other stages we have to go through.
Closing cycles, shutting doors, ending chapters – whatever name we give it, what matters is to leave in the past the moments of life that have finished.
Did you lose your job? Has a loving relationship come to an end? Did you leave your parents’ house? Gone to live abroad? Has a long-lasting friendship ended all of a sudden?
You can spend a long time wondering why this has happened.
You can tell yourself you won’t take another step until you find out why certain things that were so important and so solid in your life have turned into dust, just like that.
But such an attitude will be awfully stressing for everyone involved: your parents, your husband or wife, your friends, your children, your sister.
Everyone is finishing chapters, turning over new leaves, getting on with life, and they will all feel bad seeing you at a standstill.
Things pass, and the best we can do is to let them really go away.
That is why it is so important (however painful it may be!) to destroy souvenirs, move, give lots of things away to orphanages, sell or donate the books you have at home.
Everything in this visible world is a manifestation of the invisible world, of what is going on in our hearts – and getting rid of certain memories also means making some room for other memories to take their place.
Let things go. Release them. Detach yourself from them.
Nobody plays this life with marked cards, so sometimes we win and sometimes we lose.
Do not expect anything in return, do not expect your efforts to be appreciated, your genius to be discovered, your love to be understood.
Stop turning on your emotional television to watch the same program over and over again, the one that shows how much you suffered from a certain loss: that is only poisoning you, nothing else.
Nothing is more dangerous than not accepting love relationships that are broken off, work that is promised but there is no starting date, decisions that are always put off waiting for the “ideal moment.”
Before a new chapter is begun, the old one has to be finished: tell yourself that what has passed will never come back.
Remember that there was a time when you could live without that thing or that person – nothing is irreplaceable, a habit is not a need.
This may sound so obvious, it may even be difficult, but it is very important.
Closing cycles. Not because of pride, incapacity or arrogance, but simply because that no longer fits your life.
Shut the door, change the record, clean the house, shake off the dust.
Stop being who you were, and change into who you are.
Author: Paulo Coelho
“Before I was six years old, my grandparents and my mother had taught me that if all the green things that grow were taken from the earth, there could be no life. If all the four-legged creatures were taken from the earth, there could be no life. If all the winged creatures were taken from the earth, there could be no life. If all our relatives who crawl and swim and live within the earth were taken away, there could be no life. But if all the human beings were taken away, life on earth would flourish. That is how insignificant we are.”
Russell Means, Oglala Lakota Nation (November 10, 1939 – October 22, 2012).
In Icelandic folklore, Gryla is a giant troll with hooves for feet. Each Christmas, Gryla comes down from her mountain cave to hunt for naughty children, dragging them home in a sack so she can cook them for her Christmas stew. (She also ate a few husbands who bored her.)
Hello all my friends, here is my "Peacock Princess". There are twelve hidden hearts to find instead of hidden faces for a change..!! Hope you like her.
Light & Peace, Josephine.
The Winter Solstice – Yule
The shortest day and the longest night, it is from this day onwards that we start to get a little bit more sunlight each day. The Oak King and the Holly King fight once more with the Oak King winning this time to reign over the waxing period of the year. A time for family, friends, get togethers, feasting and celebrating.
We probably all over eat at this time of the year, I like to think of it as fuel to help keep my body warm…The scents and tastes at Yule are amazing with cinnamon and cloves being my favourites, just the smell of mince pies baking in the oven sums up this season for me.
When you take your after Yule dinner stroll keep an eye out for nettles, cow parsley, crab apples, juniper berries, rosehips, chestnuts and wild mushrooms.
Seasonal vegetables for December are: Jerusalem artichokes, beetroot, borlotti beans, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celeriac, celery, endive, greens, leeks, lettuce, onions, parsnips, potatoes, pumpkin, squash, radish, spinach, swede, turnips and watercress.
The seasonal fruit for December is apples, pears, quince and forced rhubarb.
Coriander Cookies
These are brilliant for winter solstice rituals as they have the sun energy heat from the coriander seeds and they are sun shaped! The cookies are soft and spongy on the inside and crisp on the outside.
150g/ 5 oz sugar
110g/ 3 ½ oz butter or margarine (room temperature)
1 egg
275g/ 9 ½ oz plain (all purpose) flour
½ teaspoon baking powder/soda
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon ground coriander
Beat the sugar and butter together until light and fluffy. Add in the egg. Mix in the flour, coriander, salt and baking powder and mix until just combined.
Drop tablespoonfuls of the mixture onto a baking sheet lined with baking parchment paper.
Bake at 350F/Gas 4/180C for about 12/15 minutes (or just until it starts to turn golden around the edges).
Magic of the ingredients:
Coriander – healing, love
Butter – spirituality
Egg – healing, protection, love, fertility
Salt – protection, purification, cleansing
Sugar – love and to make life sweet
Festive Tea
4 cloves
Pinch of ground nutmeg
Pinch of ground ginger
Pinch of ground cinnamon
Herbal fruit tea bag (raspberry or apple works well)
Boiling water
Teaspoon of honey
Pop all of the ingredients except the tea bag into a saucepan and bring to the boil then turn off the heat and drop in the tea bag. Allow to steep for about 5 minutes then pour into a cup and drink whilst you eat a coriander cookie or a mince pie.
Magic of the ingredients:
Cloves – protection, love, money, exorcism
Nutmeg – luck, money, health
Ginger – power, success, money, love
Cinnamon – success, healing, power, love, protection
Honey – to make life sweet
Incense:
Bayberry, pine, cinnamon, clove, all spice, frankincense, myrrh, nutmeg and orange.
Incense Recipe:
Pine
Frankincense
Cinnamon
Dried orange peel
Oils:
Cedar, ginger, cinnamon, pine, frankincense, myrrh, juniper and nutmeg.
Oil Recipe 1:
Juniper
Pine
Frankincense
Cedar
Oil recipe 2:
Cinnamon
Clove
Orange
Salt Dough Decorations
Salt dough is one of the easiest things in the world to make, and you can create just about anything from it. Use it with cookie cutters to make your own Sabbat ornaments.
Ingredients:
4 Cups flour
1 Cup salt
1 ½ Cups hot water
1 tsp vegetable oil
Preparation:
Combine the salt and flour, then add the water until the dough becomes elastic. Add the oil at this time and knead the dough (if it’s too sticky, add more flour). Once it’s a good consistency, make your decorations with cookie cutters. Bake ornaments at 200* until hard (about 20 – 30 minutes). Once they’ve cooled, paint them with designs and symbols, and seal with clear varnish. If you’re planning to hang them, poke a hole through the ornament BEFORE baking them. Then after you’ve varnished them, run a ribbon or thread through the hole. You can also add a teaspoon of cinnamon and/or some glitter into the mixture too!
“Santa Claus stuffs the stockings.” Illustration by Jessie Wilcox Smith. Published in Twas the Night Before Christmas, Clement Moore (1912), Houghton Mifflin Company.
Christmas Tree (Pohutukawa)
Isabel M. Peacocke
New Zealand
Long ago the Piccaninnies didn’t have a rag to their backs except a huia feather which they wore in their hair. They were the jolliest, tubbiest, brownest babies you ever saw with tiny nubbly knobs on their shoulders, as if they had started to grow wings and then changed their minds about it, and little furry pointed ears, as all wild creatures have. Only these were notwild, but very, very shy.
Where did they live? Oh, just anywhere—all about; among the fern, in the long grass, down on the sands, in all the places babies love to roll about in.
And then People began to come about, so tiresome! They began to make houses, sell things in shops, tear about in big boxes on wheels, and send great, clattering, shrieking, puffing monsters rushing through the country, dropping smoke and cinders like anything. There was such a clatter and a chatter, such gabbling and babbling, such hammering and banging and laughing and crying, and hurry and scurry and rush that it was enough to drive one crazy. There was such a fuss, the Piccaninnies simply couldn’t stand it, and they fled to the Bush. Well, wouldn’t you, with all that going on?
And there they lived a long time. What fun they had swinging on the giant fern leaves, climbing the trees, chasing the fantails, riding the kiwis, who are very good-natured, though shy, and teasing the great, sleepy round-eyed morepork, who is so stupid and owlish in the daytime.
And then People came into the Bush! Did you ever!
The Piccaninnies took to the trees altogether then, and no wonder!
II.
And then one day some one in a picnic party left a scrap of paper blowing about—you know the horrid way picnic parties have!—and a Piccaninny found it. As luck would have it, it was a girl Piccaninny; had it been a boy he would simply have torn it up and made paper darts with it to throw at the other boys, and no harm would have been done. But girls are different!
She smoothed it out and looked at it carefully, and then she called the other girls to look at it. And soon there was such a clattering and chattering that the boys came racing that way to see if the girls had found anything good to eat. You know boys!
The scrap of paper was a page out of a fashion book, and there were pictures on it of horrid little smug-faced boys in sky-blue suits bowling hoops in a way no real little boy ever bowled a hoop in his life, and simpering little girls in lace frocks holding dolls or sun-shades in un-natural attitudes.
But the Piccaninnies were delighted. To be sure they were looking at the pictures upside down, but that made no real difference.
They decided they must have clothes too.
Of course the boys said pooh they wouldn’t! It’s much easier to slide down a fern-leaf, or jump off the end of a branch if you haven’t any clothes—everyone knows that.
But when the girls, after being absent for hours, came back all in darling little crimson kilts made out of blossoms from the Christmas tree, the boys simply couldn’t bear to think the girls had something they hadn’t got. You know what boys are!
After laughing at the girls in the hopes they’d throw away their pretty little frocks, the boys went off together. They simply had to think of something, and it would never do to copy the girls. They came back later with the quaintest little breeches, made out of broad flax leaves, stitched together with the points downwards. It was clever of the boys! They had also stuck some of the red-brown flowers in their hair. The girls were vexed that they hadn’t thought of that, but they went one better. They made strings of the scarlet nikau berries and hung them round their necks. (Trust the girls!)
And that was how Fashions came to be started in the Bush.
New Zealand Pohutukawa Tree
