Happy Magickal, Merry, Misty, Mischievous, Magnetic, Manifesting Monday!
Hello my darling, darling – can you believe it is the last Monday of July!
This is going to be the last reading until September as in August I am immersed in ceremony and ritual, writing and teaching and cooking up amazing offerings in my alchemist cauldron.
But I will be back! (Yes that is a threat lol).
In a chaotic world that continually tries to convince us that we are divided and not connected I had a huge smack in the face this weekend of how wrong and patriarchal that is!
On Saturday I had the honour of leading a gorgeous Blessing Way ceremony for my dear friend Verity who is about to become a mumma.
This is a glorious ceremony and celebration filled with ritual, depth and is honouring the Divine Feminine and the transition into motherhood – honouring the mumma.
Bringing us back to our roots!
This is a sacred celebration that crosses cultures and has been around for thousands of years thus is rich with wisdom, potency and magick, and each ceremony is specially crafted for the mumma to be to support them during labour and to welcome in a gorgeous new soul into the world.
As I was setting up for the ceremony on Saturday in my sanctuary garden (as that is where Verity chose), one of the themes was the weaving together of all the women that would be attending and the plant allies lavender and rose.
I had made lavender lemonade, lavender shortbread cookies as part of the nibbles, and woven lavender posies and lavender oatmeal bath bags as gifts for everyone who was attending.
Then it hit me – lavender!
My sister loved, loved lavender and would have it with her all the time. For me it is Rose, I have it with me all the time!
Today (Monday) is my sister’s birthday and on this day 6 years ago my brother in law and I had the honour of bathing her in a bath with lavender and helping her pick out the outfit she wanted to wear as 4 of her treasured friends were going to come and celebrate her birthday at the Hospice with her for an hour in the afternoon.
After getting dressed she said she would have a little nap before everyone got there and she snuggled down on her bed in a room that I had filled with sunflowers, lavender and roses and that was the last time she was fully conscious. She died 3 days later.
My brother in law (who lives in the UK) had phoned and left me a lovely long voice message on Saturday about how he wanted to get more lavender plants and put them in the garden as they reminded him of Fi and how he wanted one of the Hansa Roses (that are my favourite as their smell is divine) to sit in the middle of them.
Wowzer, wowzer, talk about all the threads that weave us together.
Birth and Death.
Celebration and Grief.
Scents and Memories.
Heart and Hands.
What connects us is often unseen—woven in story, memory, and heart.
So if you ever feel that you are alone and that you are out there on your own – please remember that you aren’t.
In the spaces between words, hands, and moments—we find the fabric of belonging.
I will say the Blessing Way was epic, beautiful, raw and real and hummingbirds and dragonflies came to play with all of us as we were surrounded by the green of my magickal sanctuary.
And today, I am going to play with lavender and make a glorious cake in honour of my most amazing sister that I love dearly.
Okay, enough chuntering on, let’s crack on with the reading.
When I went to my delicious guides and asked who wanted to come and play.
These lovely guides came in loud and proud! If they are new to you, please let me introduce you.
“As above, so below. As within, so without. Today, many of us seek to reclaim the sense of connectedness that existed universally in ancient cultures, when human fate was wholly entwined with nature.
The world was seen as a symbiotic entity in which all living organisms interacted and supported each other, from the innermost cellular level to the outermost cosmological level. An essential bridge is being rebuilt between humans and nature, allowing us to access the realm of the transcendent and the land of the luminous.
Herbalism is the medicine of belonging, a gateway through which we keep alive a very sacred aspect to our source. “
With all that being shared, let’s drop in shall we? Take a delicious breath and invite in the energy of endings, as when there is an ending there is a new beginning.
What needs to just gently drop away (no drama), so that something new can grow?
Then when you are ready, pick the card or cards that resonate for you.
Did you remember to pick?
Let’s go have a look, shall we?
REISHI
Retreat
Called lingzhi in Chinese, Reishi represents immortality and is considered the “herb of spiritual potency,” meaning success, well-being, divine power, and longevity.
Said to have been discovered in 396 BC in the Changbai Mountains of China by Taoist monks, it is one of the oldest mushrooms used in medicine. It has long been called an anti-aging mushroom and powerful Shen tonic, a category of medicines that “nourish the spirit.”
Reishi powerfully influences our main spiritual centres: the endocrine, nervous, and hormonal systems. Hormones powerfully impact our perception, mood, sleep-wake cycles, ability to bond with others, and awareness of reality. They activate the nervous system, which is also directly related to igniting mystical experiences.
Reishi is ruled by Jupiter, the “guru of planets,” the one that dictates how we derive wisdom and access to the mysteries of life.
Reishi is inviting you to Pause. It’s time for renewal.
If you feel overwhelmed or mentally overloaded, it’s time to retreat. Take the time to recuperate and recharge, and personal growth will follow. Overstimulation and indecision lead to a sense of weakness, imprisonment, and a feeling that you are evading death.
Like Bear, hibernate or rest before you take on the next project or challenge.
Many Native American tribes have called this space of inner contemplation the Dream Lodge, a place to witness death and see beyond the confines of physical reality by visiting the dreamtime.
Create the space to be in silence and calm the internal chatter. Take time for reflection and nurturing yourself (and we all have that time).
MITRAGYNIA
Shape Shifting
The Indigenous peoples of Southeast Asia have valued the power of this rainforest tree for thousands of years and have used it as a poultice to treat wounds, as well as treatment for a variety of symptoms, including stress, pain, fatigue and fever.
Like Coca leaves in the South American highlands, fresh leaves from the Mitragynia tree are chewed for energy and stamina throughout the day.
Mitragynia was revered among monks in Asia, as it assisted them during long periods of meditation by providing focused attention and positive energy.
Mitragynia embodies elements of both Saturn and Neptune, as it profoundly relieves and decompresses the musculoskeletal system, while granting a freeing and euphoric feeling to the body-mind.
Used in the right amounts, it can greatly assist those with addiction (Neptune).
The balanced side of Mitragynia represents the ability to shapeshift and adapt across realities.
Like the Dragonfly, Mitragynia grants us the power to break through the illusionary facade we often accept as reality, providing us the freedom from pain in order to break through limiting illusions.
Dragonflies, like Mitragynia, help us initiate subconscious healing from the trauma experienced from endless cycles of pain and suffering.
Dragonfly medicine invites us to seek out the parts of our habits that have gone unchanged, unnoticed, and stagnant.
Ask yourself, have I tended to the changes I’ve been wanting to make?
Don’t get lost in the labyrinths of self-doubt.
Break free from illusive belief systems that hold back your transformation.
ANGEL’S TRUMPET
Death
Angel’s Trumpets have an intoxicating scent and flowers that resemble angelic horns aimed downward, symbolising the call of the angels to humanity.
Plants in the Brugmansia genus and relatives like Daturas have a rich history of use among shamans and magic practitioners, even though they are poisonous.
Some South American Indigenous groups, like the Kamsa, Jivaro, and Ingano, initiate their children at a young age into the path of curanderismo – becoming a healer – by ingesting Angel’s Trumpet during a flower ceremony.
Jivaro boys who walk the shamanic path are given the medicine at the age of six to acquire an external-vision-producing soul that lets them communicate with ancestors called arutam wakani.
Angel’s Trumpet is ruled by Pluto and Mars.
Angel’s Trumpet signals a time of catharsis or death.
A deep emotional breakdown is due or near. You may feel lost in your own emotional despair, depression, shame, or unworthiness, but now the angels of discernment and darkness are here to support you.
Coming eye to eye with the darkest feelings within yourself catalyses the greatest awakening. Deeply pause, let go of control, and witness the broken pieces within yourself with loving awareness.
The medicine of the Bat symbolises the need for a ritualistic death of relations, situations, or aspects of life.
Bat, like Angel’s Trumpet, signals catharsis and rebirth, signalling literal or metaphysical death of old patterns and worn out habits.
Understand that you can reconstruct at any time, create something new, deeper, richer and more in alignment, regardless of how shattered you feel.
Wowzer! Love these messages and they tie into the monthly energy (and you seriously can’t make this shit up!)
Wishing you a stupendous week filled with ease, grace and health. See you in September! Big hugs and squeezes!
