Stones

How Tight is Your Comfort Zone? Imbolc is Coming! And New Moon is Rising.

Happy Magnificent, Marvelous, Magickal, Magnanimous, Majestic, Major League, Masterly, Matchless, Memorable, Manifesting Monday!!! Why do I have all these M’s? Well to be honest I always thought that poor Monday got a bad rap. How often have you heard people say “Urgghh it’s Monday?” What a weight to put on one little word and one little day, thus last year I decided we needed to reframe it and make it Magickally Marvelous and the Most Magnificent time for Manifesting!

Let’s talk about comfort zone first and foremost shall we? How is your comfort zone feeling? I don’t know about you but for me the comfort zone can feel ohhhhh so deliciously safe and oh so cosy! As a massive introvert (and I don’t like labels) I am more comfy curled up on the sofa with a book, writing, or playing with a doggo than going out with a massive amount of people I don’t know. Don’t get me wrong if they are my delicious friends that I have known for years and I trust, I am happy to go out-ish and hang out. The issue is I moved. So for nearly 4 months I have had to BE and deal with shit that I hadn’t even thought would come up from other people and then on top it all to put myself out there and start making friends? That felt really tricky and the sofa looked far more appealing. Why is it when your 5 it is so easy to make a friend at the playground and you don’t even need to know their full name, yet as an adult it’s far trickier which is interesting as we have “better” communication skills!

Anyhow, with this glorious year being a 3 year – thus one of Joy, Creativity and Renewal I committed to stretching and stretching my comfort zone. Why? Because it felt tight, mundane and to be honest – a tad limiting. So I committed to trying new things, exploring new places and really being present. Good right? Then I got sick. (So snuggling in bed with ginger root tea and coming up with all sorts of excuses, reasons or just bullshit was quite delightful). However, once I felt hale and hearty physically it was time to push the boundaries a tad. Okay, so what do I want to do (and for some of us that can be tricky as we can default to the “what do I think I should do”.) Well, I have always wanted to take a drumming workshop, I have always wanted to explore if I can sing (as old tapes from my maternal advised me that was ridiculous and I had happily bought into that.) I would sing at home, I chant every morning, but to actually sing and have my voice heard by others would give me the screaming hebegebees!

Guess what? I started an African drumming course last week, I went Axe tossing (who knew it could be so fun) on the weekend and I also went to a vocal workshop called “Tune into Yourself and Find Your Voice”. OMG! Amazing, amazing, amazing – all three. Yet it was fascinating to watch my ego “keeper” as I call her chirp up right before every event. “What are you doing? Don’t you feel tired? Why are we doing this, it’s dumb! You won’t know anyone! You can’t drum, throw an axe, sing etc. See the sofa? It’s raining. Where’s a good book?” All that flooded up to the forefront and to be honest last Tuesday (first drumming class) I nearly bailed, but note the word nearly. Last Tuesday I walked through the pouring rain for 3 km to show up dripping and soppy for an African drumming class and I had so much fun playing with my drum and really connecting with the other 30 people that were there and creating something that sounded really good!

On Friday I went and tossed axes galore (and apparently I’m a natural). On Sunday I went to a vocal workshop where I found my voice, my voice to say what I needed to, to sing, to really belt my thoughts out, to meld my voice with others, to really tap all the way down to my root and again I had soooo much fun! (Yet my delicious ego “keeper” was advising me to stay home, stay safe, stay small and have a nice cuppa!)

Now why am I sharing this with you? Let me remind you, this a 3 year – Creativity, Joy, Renewal. So let me ask – what have you wanted to at least try that you have been afraid of? What would nudge you gently out of your comfort zone into something really cool? What would help you find your voice and your essence (and I know both of those are strong in you, or you wouldn’t be reading this).

On top of stretching the comfort zone we have Imbolc coming up this Friday, on February 1st and what does this mean for you? Imbolc is a Celtic festival celebrating the emerging life in the world around us. It’s a time to really plant those delicious seeds, to harness the energy of the 3 year and to really, really commit to growing, expanding and playing. Imbolc means “in the belly of the Mother” because that is where seeds are beginning to stir with Spring. It is the festival of the Maiden, from this day to March 21st, it is her season to prepare for growth and renewal. So what a perfect time to tap this glorious energy and overlay it over the amazing Eclipse energy we have (that is burbling for at least the next 5 – 6 months).

Then, on top of all that we have a delicious New Moon coming next Monday on February 4th, again a delicious time to plant those seeds of intent, the ones that help you stretch the comfort zone, explore your creativity and really tap into Joy.

If you are on the email list, on Thursday I will be sending out a more detailed explanation of Imbolc, Brigid (the Goddess) and some easy rituals. But for now – can you feel the fertility that is approaching? It’s pulsing everywhere, flowers are starting to push up, leaves are gently welling up into buds, seeds will need to be planted. Thus, imagine yourself like a glorious garden – what do you need to push the dross aside and stretch? To really bloom, expand and grow.

Okay, enough chuntering away (can tend to do that as there is so much I want to share with you). When I went to the cards to ask who would like to be present this week “The Oracle of the Dragonfae” jumped up and down. Now, if you are new to these gorgeous guides, let me give it to you in an acorn shell – “Feel their love. Know your power….the Dragonfae are our flesh and soul kin, our friends, our guardians and our allies. When we connect with them, we reconnect with the lost parts of ourselves, allowing us to fully explore the gift of life.”

Interestingly enough, when I asked which crystals wanted to come support, the rocks and the shells were adamant. Which actually if you think about it makes sense. We live on the biggest crystal there is and so the rocks and shells are the bones of what we walk on. They have been here thousands of years and hold the energy and the desires of all who have touched them and the mysteries. Oh yes, and Rosemary (which is a glorious protection herb) and delicious flowers insisted on participating. If you are at all worried they were discarded afterwards, let me assure you Rosemary went in a glorious soup and the flowers are in an egg cup.

I invite you to take a moment, the longer the better, but even a minute of gifting yourself stillness and breathe where the sides of your rib cage push out is all good. Just breathe, and in your minds eye I invite you to see those wiggly, jiggly bits outside of your comfort zone that soooo want you to come play with them, but of course – you’ve been busy and it feels rather scary. Breathe into what they are, give them life, acknowledge them and with them burbling and swooping in your minds eye ask yourself what’s stopping you. What fear, limiting belief or anything is limiting you playing with the wiggly, jiggly bits outside of your comfort zone. Yes? Then when you’re ready, pick the card or cards that call to you.

Shall we pick?

Fancy a look?

DRAGONFAE OF REBIRTH

We are the ones who have seen you in those moments you humans describe as dark – the ones you so often wish to run and hide from, the ones you fear because you misunderstand their purpose, the ones you shun. Your loathing of your shadow has sometimes driven you to seek and ending. But a literal ending is not necessary. In every culture on this planet, old and new, there has been a ritual that lets you die to your old self, one in which the wise man or woman is guided through a journey to their own underworld. We too know of this underworld, as we dwell there from time to time, and here we are now, in this underworld, waiting for you to descend in order to be reborn.

Fear not your “dark” moments. For in the dark are the shadows, easeful rest and the deep knowledge of the heart and the soul. In this place the seeds you need to plant can flourish and what you feel are dark and “bad” thoughts are in fact manifestations of the desire to die to the self that no longer feels its true self to be captured in its outside form.

You are remaking your own soulself, and in this magick and ritual endarkenment lie the seeds of your reawakening and your own rebirth. We are with you, circling you and clearing and cleansing your energy. There is no beginning and no end, just the cycle of birth, death and rebirth. Now, it feels like death…but it is a death to the old self…not a literal death. Do not fear. You are about to be reborn. Take heart and know that soon you will feel whole again.

THE MORRIGHAN

I see now that events are moving extremely fast; this is a time of rapid change and creation, so rapid that you may wish to slow down, just a little. However I say to you clearly that the time to act is now; and that procrastination and hesitation are your enemies at this time. I can lead you forward through this time, and help you pick your way through the minefield before you. This is a time of testing and darkness, but through this you will grow strong. Be aware! If you have resisted your abilities, or felt blocked in terms of following your life path, these changes will take place very rapidly because they have been waiting for a signal to be able to come in, and they are working hard with you so you do not have to endure a long, drawn-out process of change. Truly, you are ready. Take flight with me, and know that taking your own path seriously and acting now with deep integrity, is the way for justice to reach you.

Do not give in to panic and do not run. Now is the time. If not now, when?

You have already tortured yourself in a thousand ways with your thoughts. You cannot avoid change; each day your cells renew, and all you have to do is breathe in and out for this process to take place. You are confusing stasis with safety – there is nothing to fear, there is everything to gain. A turning point in your life demands action on your behalf, and backing down or avoidance is not the answer. Draw strong boundaries and claim your space. Face trouble rather than turning away. Confront injustice and change the rules by which you have felt bound. Learn to work with your strength and your own ability to create deep change. Lose fear of your own power. Let your courage feel inspired and know that destiny has given you an opportunity to be the courageous being of action that you truly are.

CHENGUANG

I am Dragonfae, thus I am at once a being of copious laughter, and of earnest and deep study. Being Dragonfae, I know when to put aside my serious work and my mission, and play, laugh and love. I know the importance of devoting myself to the playtime that balances, soothes and heals my heart, and lifts the heaviness that sometimes accompanies my days. Can you do this? Or are you too caught up in being taken seriously? There is a perfect balance between serious, cosmic matters and playful light-heartedness to be found. Both Earth and star are necessary for all of us. We are indeed galactic beings ourselves. But most of all, your hope and optimism is paramount right now. Take heart, for delight and joy is yours.

You are about to experience a true reversal in your inner self: you will now think magickally and attain mastery of magickal consciousness. What you think, what you are manifests about you at all times: what you are now is the delicious light-hearted magickal being you were born to be. You are like a beautiful shining star; its light magikally transforming everything it touches. Rays of light beam out from you and your body is awash with healing green energy and fresh new life. You are dancing in the air, lifted up on the strength of your own experience and friendships, and you would do well to wear the divine colour violet, while the gentle zephyr helps your move in the direction of your dreams.

When we allow ourselves to shine we become who we were always meant to be; and by example we encourage others to become who they truly are. Drop the heavy nature of punishment, guilt and beliefs that no longer serve you. You are a powerful role model for others; you have experienced the joy of setting your sights high and the healing power of self-belief. You still have many experiences ahead of you on your journey, but this energy of the star is now your companion and your divine inspiration.

Okay, I will say I use this deck a plethora of times – yet the only time The Morrighan or Chenguang come to play is in this public arena. Thus, someone here is meant to hear the message again (are you listening)? I would also like to say thank you for your glorious emails and shares – I really appreciate and treasure them. Wishing you wiggle room and expansion with your comfort zone and a glorious Imbolc. Remember to plant the seeds and nurture them. Huge hugs and squeezes and new green shoots!

New Moon In Gemini, Ancestors and Summer Solstice is almost here!

Jenny Heston · 2:00 pm ·

Happy, happy magnificent, magickal, mesmerising Monday! How are you delicious lovely? Have you had a glorious week? If you remember from our reading last week, the energy of this month is one of moving from Air to Fire (ideas to manifestation) and also Discipline and Action. Thus, have you played with either of those energies in the past week? With the New Moon in Gemini on the 13th (Wednesday), this is a glorious time to really take the ideas (Air) and set wishes/intentions towards the passion and intentional action (Fire) you want to take. If you have forgotten how to make New Moon wishes, don’t worry, we have you covered!

The last few days here have been far cooler and rainier, which in a way has been quite lovely as it has saved me watering the garden, the plants are growing in leaps and bounds and it’s also meant that I have to be indoors more. Thus, those lovely housekeeping tasks that I had been putting off due to the weather being so stupendous, got done! But what I found really interesting was the whole concept of Ancestors that came up as I was doing things like polishing the furniture and taking down the cobwebs. (And no, no hallucinogens were being used whilst cleaning the house!)

How it all came about was as I finished polishing the 70 year old dining room table, I was gently smoothing a gorgeous hand tatted tablecloth over it and I realised that that particular table cloth was 99 years old! What??? My great aunt had made it as part of her wedding trousseau, and as my hand ran along the intricate hand tatted lace I could imagine her as a young woman sitting by a coal fire, with a lamp lit, gently putting together all the pieces that she would take with her when she got married and started her own home. Wow! Ancestors. Then a little while later I was sorting through papers and getting things ready to pop into the post today. I am renewing my British passport and so I had asked my mother if she happened to have a copy of my father’s long form birth certificate. She most certainly did and when it arrived in the mail there was also another long form certificate written all in Gaelic. Hmmm, what is this? It was was my father’s fathers long form birth certificate from 1883 where he was born in County Mayo Ireland and there were the names of my great grandfather and my great grandmother and the profession of the male. Holy Hannah, that was cool. I know back to three generations on the maternal side, but only 1.5 generations on the paternal side. Ancestors. So this got me to perking even more, how often do we acknowledge, invite or even explore our heritage, ancestry? I know quite a few people who have done the DNA Ancestry Testing and have been quite surprised by the results, and as cool as that is I guess I am thinking more about the faces and the energy aspect of Ancestry than the DNA piece. Does that make sense?

When I used to Karma Krew at Enlightened Warrior, one of the sayings that we used a lot was “AHO” as an acknowledgement and in various of the “processes” that would occur in this format of camp often you would hear “aho mitakuye oyasin”, which is a phrase from the Lakota language meaning “I welcome all my relations”, it acknowledges the connection to lineage and to nature. Ancestors. This in turn got me to thinking about when I meditate or when I am out in the woods, what if I were to invite the wisdom, teachings and supportive energy of my Ancestors to be with me, would it make a difference? Well I tried it yesterday out in the woods, and all I can say was it was pretty stupendous. I felt like I had my own special entourage with me, guiding me, whispering words of encouragement and holding me in an energy of love and safety. I highly encourage you to give it a try!

Phew, so with all that being said let’s crack on with the reading. I was delighted to see The Oracle of the Sacred Rebels come out to play, as I was highly curious to see which deck would pick up on the energy of Ancestors and New Moon Intentions. Then I asked the crystals who would like to come and they literally pointed me to the rocks. The rocks that are part of the biggest crystal we know of – Mother Earth. This made me giggle in delight as often when I think of Ancestors I think of “The trees and the stones, the plants and the bones.” Therefore, the reading was done outside on a bed of glorious rocks.

So are you ready? I invite you to ask your ancestors for guidance as you breathe and look at the cards. See if they are willing to come show you what you need to know for this week. If you need a bit of support with really tapping into this type of energy, I have created a pretty interesting visualisation for you. There is a little cosmic travelling, but it won’t take long and you will be totally safe. So just breathe and let’s go on a little explore.

Did you pick the cards or cards that whispered to you?

Shall we go have a little look see?

FOLLOW YOUR OWN RHYTHM

Deep within you are moved by an ancient, powerful force that cannot be tamed. It is the rising pulse of your connection to the life force. You feel it in your bones, in your blood, in your heart and in your belly. When there is something dying within, you sense it falling away, no longer needed. You sense when it is time to rest and be patiently in transition. You feel the stirring of agitation and restlessness when new life calls you to create, to act, to step forward and to take a risk. You know that you march to your own bet, that no-one else can tell you what your inner rhythms are and that you must trust in your own timing. You cannot be rushed or forced, nor can you be held back when it is time to burst forth. Life celebrates and supports the natural rise and fall of your inner rhythms.

You cannot miss what you are destined for nor will you gain anything by trying to push yourself. Trust in the life cycles within, and you will feel the perfect balance between effort and surrender, discipline and letting go.

When it is time for the rhythm of rest, you will feel a natural slowing within and be drawn into contemplation and environments are more gentle, spacious or nourishing and perhaps more peaceful. When the rhythm of play beats in your heart, you will reach out to others to connect, dance, converse, sing, make music, make love and share your wildness. You will be drawn to uplifting groups and places where you can experience a positive energetic exchange.

Your needs will be met in harmony with your rhythms. All that you will miss out on by trusting this, is anxiety. What you will gain is peace.

WHAT DO YOU FEEL?

There are many opinions around you. Some are helpful but others are distracting you from your truth. Although it can be helpful to hear the thoughts of others, when it all comes down to it, you will have to come to your own decision. Do you know how unique you are? How your path is your path to be chosen, lived and created – only by you? Someone else cannot become the source of your decision-making power without negative repercussions for both of you in the long run.

You have become swept up in thinking things through. You have been thinking about which way to go with a matter of importance and you have got a bit stuck in the logic of the decision making process. Sometimes we have to accept that any path is a path forward and if it is not the best path, we can change our approach later on if needed. If we are slightly off base with a decision, life will often shift and move to guide us back on track. We don’t have to be perfect. In fact, there is rarely ever a perfect choice to be made – just some choices that feel more heart-honouring than others. Sometimes we can only really know in hindsight if we made the best choice possible in that moment. At the time of decision-making, we only really have our internal wisdom to rely upon. And that is all that we need.

Don’t punish or traumatise yourself with possible choices. Just making a choice will set things in motion. The best way to catalyse the situation you are in and bring about healing change, stimulate your creative juices and find a more inspired, energised and enjoyable approach to your life, is to just make a choice based on what you feel right now. Not based on anyone else’s feelings. Just yours. So ask yourself – what do I feel right now? And go from there.

GOING BEYOND NORMAL

On the path of life there are deciding moments where we can choose to go with the mainstream or we can dare to take a bolder, more authentic and trusting way – even if it seems riskier or less safe. To rely solely on logic and science, without incorporating the mysterious and magical is a recipe for an existence that is far too dry! The sacred rebel within our hearts will always choose a juicer approach to life. You are currently approaching such a choice point. You could say that the choice is about balance. It is less about choosing to honour either art or science, gardening or architecture, and more about integrating all approaches so that you enhance rather than hinder your life journey.

There is a time and a place for logic, strategy, planning and measurable outcomes. These are not bad tools to have but we must be vigilant not to worship them or allow them to quash or less rational, but equally valuable decision-making tools: intuition, feelings and those things you know, without knowing how you know them! The flowing, inspirational energy of the heart may have no conceivable basis in logic or reason and still be uncannily accurate. To remain rebellious we must not sacrifice the art of emotion, instinct, passion and intuition, for the science of logic and strict planning!

You are being asked to stay open to the intuitive approach in your life, your work, your creativity as well as in your spiritual journey. The intuitive approach can be likened to the method of a gardener or an artist. There is a sense of what might work where and a loose or even a detailed plan, but how the plan is carried out will depend on and respond to the flow off its surroundings. There is no need to control the situation but rather a desire to nurture an idea to fruition.

You are moving outside of the plan! You are living on the border of what is socially accepted. This is good. This is fringe-dwelling freedom. Others might not see this about you straight away as you seem pretty normal but that secret eccentric streak is just waiting to show itself. And, maybe you are an out and proud fringe dweller, completely comfortable with this way of being. Either way, you have a chance to live from the heart more deeply and expressively than ever before. You need to realise that this is a legitimate, empowered and creative way to live that honours all of who you are. You can give up forcing or squashing yourself down into a very limited set of so called desirable qualities like intellect and control. It’s time to get a bit wild and let nature take its course.

What a glorious reading! How did it feel for you? There is lots to perk at this time with both of the different energies of June, tapping into your ancestral line for support, New Moon and Summer Solstice next week. Holy Hannah! Don’t get overwhelmed, don’t avoid either. Just relax and ask for guidance and support. Two things, firstly, thank you all so much for your lovely emails and comments, I really appreciate them all and the sharing of stories. Secondly, the reading will be coming out on Tuesday of next week, as I am driving for 12 hours on Monday. This will be a lovely Summer Solstice reading and there will be an idea for ritual to help you really hook into this wonderful energy. So do make sure you are signed up for this as you won’t want to miss it. Have a fabulous week and remember to lean back into the guidance that is always there for you. Huge hugs and squeezes! (Oh yes and yummy choccie biccies with hot tea). See you on Tuesday next week.

Stones

jennyheston

Release Anxiety And Claim Your Power