All Fingers and Thumbs

..seems a good day to remind myself of the vows I took while on retreat. I am glow I will be kind I promise to honour my need for water I intend to feel holy I am claiming my connection to the Ancient Graces Thank you Project Slumber and thank you Shan Leigh for your beautiful photographs .

..for the autumn pageant. It's a once a year extravaganza but you can't miss it, especially not in England this year. Just open your eyes and it's all around you demanding attention, begging you to inhale great lungfuls of the magnificent scents. Marvel at every tree taking its turn in the spotlight. All. The. Leaves. (Many now in my house!). I used to think that the spike of energy I get in this season of spectacular decay was a little at odds to what was going on around me. I thought it due in part to cool, crisp, bright days and rain soaked breezes refreshing me after the (sometimes) hot summer. Due in the main to the school new year imprinted from childhood and reinforced by years working in academia. The more I slow down and look at what nature is actually doing at this time of year the more I see other clues as to why October is the month in which I start my new year. Underneath the showy shedding of the leaves they are finished with, I now see the deciduo...

As the Balsamic Moon wanes to vanishing point and the New Moon waits in the darkness I have been reflecting, not just on this lunar phase, but on this solar cycle. This is the twelfth lunation for which I have been following the Lunar Abundance practice . The overarching goal for this past year was to build a sense of trust in myself: to show up, to take care of myself with as much compassion as I could gather. I have deepened into this relationship enormously. I have found a reliability in myself that has often been there for others but gone missing at vital moments when it would have saved me a harder lesson. The gratitude for this alone is heart expanding but, of course, there is more. There is always more if we allow it. At times like these, when words seem clumsy and inadequate in my hands, I am so grateful for the eloquence of others.  Mary captures this hummingbird for me. When I held a little honouring ceremony earlier this evening, sat on the earth, branches overhea...

the insane good it does me to go retreating with a circle of women , imperfectly/perfectly capturing heaven/hell in a blissful weekend bubble/compound :: consciously cultivating a honeymoon re-entry weekend with my beloved :: everything Mary Oliver has ever published :: the theme song from Maid Marion  :: and also (by the power of the divine nudge/YouTube suggestion) remembering Round the Twist  :: coming home to a freshly made bed and a welcoming Siamese :: my new travel pillow :: conkers :: the rush of the Isis at Iffley Lock :: I have to stop YouTube - now we're Star Trekkin :: lamp light :: making a playlist in my Amazon music library in the sure and certain knowledge that they are pushers and I am sucked right in to their game :: the many grains of Cape Cod that travelled the 3,500 odd miles with me :: a room of my own :: tangible and intangible souvenirs :: the weird moments of awakeness that jetlag give you :: passing out half way through trying to watch the se...