Listening to trauma & sadness... fears & love stories... troubles & joys... hopes & dreams... Stories of life... of what it is to be human. This is one of the biggest honours of being a spiritual counselor & minister... of life! Being invited into someone's life for a few minutes... a few hours... to listen. Back in my corporate days, when I facilitated programmes in coaching, consulting & facilitation skills, I used to help people explore what it is to truly listen. How we

I can't tell you how many scarves, shawls, wraps and dresses I have bought recently in an attempt to begin to feel I have something to wear for the weddings and other ceremonies I'm holding this year! Most of them have been returned 🤦‍♀️ I do love these two kimonos though... especially the green one for midsummer.. but wonder if they might feel too much... especially out on the hill blowing about! And to wear my stole or not? The stole I made for my ordination was ministry i

Tea, scones and chat about death. What could be better? Today I hosted a Death Café with a friend here on the Isle of Skye. I love these wee gatherings (this was our second) where anything on the topic of death is up for discussion... There are conversations about pain, grief, family, suicide, assisted death, funeral ceremonies, fear, burial, cremation, spirit and our beliefs about what happens after death. Today I realised that I'd love to be sung across the threshold into

Today I held a beautiful land naming and blessing ceremony which was co-created with the stewards of the land. It wove Malaysian and Isle of Skye cultures and was part of a jamboree weekend with camping and outdoor activities. We began and ended with talented young local pipers. The land and the ancestors and guardians of the land were thanked and given an offering of trees before they were asked if they would receive the name chosen... the answer came by way of an omen bir

Today I took myself out on a Nature Quest... a quest for Earth Day I wanted to converse with the Earth herself to know what we can do to serve her at this time of The Great Turning (as Joanna Macy would put it). I walked a familiar path and gasped in horror to see these hawthorns cut to the ground. Why? For what purpose? These beautiful trees with their blossoms and their berries brought me (and I'm sure many others) so much joy. I allowed myself to feel the depth of th

I'd been having some awareness about integrating the inner masculine and feminine. I seen in meditation that the two altars I'd most recently created had the same form, the female form, with womb containing egg, ovaries and birth canal. In the second altar I added a tall vase and placed the egg into it (it looked pretty phallic from the side! Did I unconsciously bring the masculine into the feminine?!) I'd also became aware in meditation that this second altar mirrored the s

Last Night I attended the first of four 'Plant Encounter' sessions with Jean Atherton-Dow www.jeandowherbalist.co.uk/ and a sister One Spirit Minister Kim Atherton-Dow. I especially loved 'meeting' the plant through smell, taste and intuition. We learnt about the historical and modern uses for the plant (realising biology might have been a useful subject in school after all... if only if taken it beyond the age of 12). And we learnt how we might use the plant in ceremony link

Yesterday was International Women's Day (IWD) and I know I'm supposed to be inspired by it, but it had the opposite effect on me. Something had happened at the beginning of the week which triggered 'unheard' and 'powerless' in me and I had dropped into despair, grief too, which often shows up in thoughts of 'what's the point?'. As I sat with it (I feel if it's possible to just feel the feelings that's what helps me to move through them). It felt much bigger than just the even

Today's Ministry was definitely FOR me not BY me. This week has felt a bit like walking through treacle. Communications and conversations seem to have been challenging. What's going on with the planets? I know we're heading towards a full moon. And I wonder what Mercury, the planet that rules communication, is up to... where it is in my chart... As a coach, facilitator and spiritual counsellor I pride myself on communications, so it hits me hard when it feels so difficult.

I'm thinking of doing something for Earth Day... What I feel called to is to invite you on a nature quest with me. We would gather virtually... Time in nature... alone... on Friday 22 April 22... with questions... just being in nature... listening to nature... seeing how nature responds to the questions... I could write an invitation... explain it a bit more... What do you think? We could all do it together say from 10am 'til noon... or people could choose their own times. Wo

I've been hosting a women's circle online since summer last year and on Sunday it drew to a close in its current format... although it will continue in a new form. The focus has been exploring spirituality and I've loved how it's emerged... the group choosing a different theme to explore in the gaps between the sessions. It's been beautiful to see the deepening of sharing... sharing of what is real and important and vulnerable as the trust in the group has grown. In our final

Had a particularly low day last Thursday which carried on into Friday. I spent time resting, with myself, meditating and I wrote this poem which helped shift through it... A 'free' day. Of late, so rare Anticipated with longing And yet, now here, I find The ache of longing still present With time, I've fallen into a hole Missing, void, partial, unwhole Longing, alongside Sadness, grief and despair, hard to bear Stopping to re-collect my week's feelings I find connection, joy

As we head towards the full moon (Monday), as usual, I find my dreams are ramping up. Not sure if I have more dreams or just more vivid dreams I remember around now, but sometimes I can remember as many as 3 or 4 a night. A few years ago I noticed I only wanted to drink (alcohol!) around the moons and wondered if I was suppressing strong energies, so decided to stop drinking then. And now the dreams! So, last night I know there were 3 or so because I woke a few times remember

It was just before Christmas, the weekend had been full with a family trip away, ending with a Women's Circle on the Sunday morning on zoom, from my hotel room. I'd then jumped on a train to my friend's house, arriving with just enough time to finish planning our final Wheel of the Year Ceremony of 2021, before delivering it that evening. And so when I awoke at 8am on Monday morning, with a dream group scheduled at 10.30am and not yet having done my dreamwork for it, I though

After saying yesterday to a friend I feel I've flipped my life and the spiritual these days feels a bigger part than the human... today I've been working on my tax return again. Urrrghhh... waaaay too much humanness! So focusing on the magic and the joy in my day... I've been doing a 13 day practice which started at midnight on Christmas Eve when I pulled this Earthkeeper card... and ended tonight. The practice has been to draw a card each night and to look out for signs bet

A couple of weeks before Christmas I had a sense of boredom. Not a big urrghhh I need to change my life kind of boredom, just a low level... oh there used to be dancing and getting dressed up and events to look forward to and now there's not. Maybe we've all been feeling a bit of that in 2020 and 2021. There's just been so much less happening. Anyway it brought me to the awareness that I wanted more joy. When I sat with that, I realised that more joy requires two things... 1

This altar has been a long time in the creation! Normally I create a new altar for each Wheel of the Year festival... intuitively gathering items from around my home and from nature, to create something of beauty - an offering if you will. Every six weeks I dismantle the last festival's altar and allow the new one to come forth. But I was away at the Solstice, then caught up in Christmas, socialising between Christmas and New Year and away again at New Year.... So this is m

... it's a space where you can be fully authentic ... it's an honouring of you and all you are ... it's calling on all the loving support ... it's hearing beyond what is said ... it's meeting you where you are ... it's following your intuition, inner wisdom & guidance ... it's sitting in and feeling the feelings ... it's asking questions, reflecting back ... it's walking alongside ... it's a safe space in which to download, breakdown, unravel, breakthrough ... its a recogniti

Just did my first virtual virtual (which has come to mean connecting in spirit not on zoom!) holding of COP26 after we gathered in person (on zoom!) yesterday... At 8.30am I lit candles and meditated. In my meditation I was led up a staircase and into a room where a spiral of women (& perhaps men too, deeply connected with their inner feminine) were all sending love... It was beautiful. The love was palpable, visible and the spiral seemed to amplify it! Sending love to ALL b

May we honour our ancestors of blood and spirit May we recognise all that brought us to this moment in life... our ancestors and their gifts and their wounds, our inspirations and our passions May we be open to receive the wisdom of the ancestors and receive guidance when we ask And above all... on the day before COP26 May we all remember that we are the ancestors of the future... May we leave the legacy we wish for those yet to come #samhain #blessings #ancestors #blood #spi