New Ash Moon Dreamboard...

... on Ash Wednesday, no less :)

Another powerful board, which came together very easily...

Somehow, I knew this morning as this landed in my mailbox from the lovely folk at Panhala.net, this would be a GOOD Dreamboard. And yes, I read it aloud as an invocation as I prepared myself to make this New Moon Dreamboard

Invocation

Let us try what it is to be true to gravity,
to grace, to the given, faithful to our own voices,

to lines making the map of our furrowed tongue.
Turned toward the root of a single word, refusing

solemnity and slogans, let us honor what hides
and does not come easy to speech.  The pebbles

we hold in our mouths help us to practice song,
and we sing to the sea.  May the things of this world

be preserved to us, their beautiful secret
vocabularies.  We are dreaming it over and new,

the language of our tribe, music we hear
we can only acknowledge.  May the naming powers

be granted.  Our words are feathers that fly
on our breath.  Let them go in a holy direction.

~ Jeanne Lohmann ~ 

(Between Silence and Answer)

As always, I use Amy Palko's Bloom by Moon to learn about the Ash Moon...

The Ash has very deep roots to draw up the Earth's goodness. For the Celts it was the Tree of Life, for its roots went down so far into the Lower World, its branches reached so high into the Upper World, and its tall, straight trunk stood tall in the Middle World.

Left-hand page

Water and emotions are strong in this New Moon of Aquarius, but Amy also ties in the 'soft animal of your body' (from Mary Oliver's Wild Geese poem) as the outer expression of those emotions...

As the Ash tree connects the Worlds ('As above, so below'), can we in our animal bodies connect our deep, inner worlds and share them truthfully and honestly. Can we, as Mary Oliver says 

let the soft animal of your body

love what it loves.

I plan to ponder these things each day until my next Dreamboard on the Full Moon.

I'd love to know if you have any thoughts/insights...

And I just had to share this, taken this morning

Molly-cat knows her soft animal body loves to sleep in the warm sunlight (even though it's freezing outside!!)

Full Moon Dreamboard

What a morning! Flipping Google is making my online life a misery **ggrrrr**

But now I've finally been able to log into both Blogger and Picasa, and I can post my Rowan Full Moon Dreamboard, even if I can't get the image of the whole spread to upload... *sigh*

Left-hand page
Starting top-left is this year's We'moon Diary page for Imbolc which begins...

The NEW ONES are stirring. Feel the vibration of Nature in February. Every-thing in potential, teeming underground...

And underneath is an image from a card called 'Replenishing Her Spirit' by Laurel Porter-Gaylord, and I'm certainly feeling this deep in my belly as I make this Dreamboard...

Then, top-right is an image of a woman communing with a tree and the words 'A Walk on the Wild Side' from a magazine advert. Underneath is an image of a raven in the snow from a card and finally a gorgeous image of a winter goddess, her face illuminated by runes...

Right-hand page

At the top are pages from old We'Moon diaries showing a woman drumming a painting by Melissa Harris (2010) called 'With Soul', a wee image called 'Ancient Moonlight' by amara hollow bones (2009) and this powerful poem by Robin Rose Bennett (2011)

The Times We're Living In

It is not so easy to see what is birthing

Beneath the surface of the world, 

Getting ready to emerge

Like a newborn crowning.

As old ways of domination and violation

Fight to hold sway,

A great birthing has begun,

The birth of a new way

Of being in the world

A way of re-connection and shared power,

A way of cooperation and love.

We are flowering out of the mud

Of our darkest time of separation

Evolving from the time of me

To the time of we.

This time is difficult, yes,

But it is also juicy and joyous.

It is not easy to soar through mud

But mud is rich and fertile

And out of mud

The lotus blooms.

At the bottom of the page is another We'Moon image by Autumn Skye Morrison called 'A Keeper's Promise' (2007) and two quotes from last year's calendar, which just sum up this whole Dreamboard

There is nothing stronger in the world than gentleness.

Han Suyin

and

In the end, it's all about Love.

Before the end of this moon's cycle, we will encounter St Valentine's Day - not a day I've ever chosen to celebrate, for me Love is just so much MORE then romance, and flowers, and chocolates...

It is THE truly BIG concept, which covers every human interaction with the world in which we live - starting with the Love we have for ourselves... *eek* Probably one of the hardest loves to practise...

I don't see it as a coincidence that this is the 13th Full Moon Dreamboard I've made... It is the number of the goddess, of feminine spirit, and I can just feel the energy seeping out of it... Can you??

Happy accident...

I overslept and almost missed seeing Mama Luna as she slipped over the horizon behind the trees...
In my rush, I fumbled with the zoom button on my wee camera, and some how discovered EXTRA zoom!!

Now, if only I can figure out what I did...

I'll be making my Full Moon Dreamboard today and will share later. Who knows what other happy accidents will occur :D

Happy Imbolc!

What a day!
There is bitter cold and death...

... and there are sunny spots and life.

It's the feast of Candlemas, the story of presenting the baby Jesus at the Temple and the prophecies of Anna and Simeon.

And it's St Brigid's Day and Imbolc, the time of 'stirrings in the belly'. The time for making reed crosses and bridie dolls...

What a confluence of stories and traditions across times and cultures...

It is a powerful, in-and-out-of-time, kind of day! 

In the northern hemisphere, it is the beginnings of Spring and lengthening days. And I, for one, am so glad the long, dark month of January has passed, and the light is returning! 

I love how the sun's rays are just catching the head of the wee bridie doll above to give her a halo!!

Here's the closing blessing of Christine Valters Paintner's Stirring in the Belly mini retreat for today:

May you feel the seeds in your belly rumbling

as they yearn to break open and release new life.

May the breaking open of these seeds be

an earthquake shifting the plates of your soul.

May you notice the tiny green shoots

breaking through the ground of your awareness.

May you feel the pull of your very being

reaching toward the abundance of God,

as the stem is drawn toward the sunlight.

May you experience the unfurling of your petals

one by one in a blaze of color.

May you feel yourself stretched wide

in a posture of welcoming to all that is yet to be spoken within you.

As your petals fall gently to the ground

May you remember that after blossoming

Comes the journey toward fruit.

Amen!!

Wanting...

... to write something... but didn't know what, or why... 
Then I found this image online (can't remember where), and it said it all...
It's now my screensaver :)

January New Moon Dreamboard

There are definite themes in this Rowan Moon - the first New Moon of 2015.

According to Amy Palko's Bloom by Moon 

Take these visions and ground them in practical action. Let them take root and gain strength from the energy that flows from deep within the Earth's core. Let them offer you their gifts of vision and protection.

And I've written this out on the right-hand page on a image on which I'm stuck a wee wooden house and a sticker with a heart kite withe word Fly

Another theme is 'the space between', which is written on the trees postcard - the space between the vision and the 'practical action', but also the space between mentioned in the poem 'Blessing' by Patrice Haan (2010) from an old We'moon diary at the bottom of the page

Grace meets you between two heartbeats,

In a blink, pulse, shift of breeze rippling cat's fur, all is changed,

All.

And the world, which leaned into its negative pole, glances,

fascinated by the positive, all

before breakfast, before the day's first tasks.

The great longing lifts

like a voice, like wings, and soars

effortlessly, splendidly, a thing of such joy

the bird stops singing and the animals 

come out to listen. All the people put down their masks and

tools and stand awash in the moment. What

will we tell the children? How remember the instant

we glimpsed grace and knew true peace like

stars at night, water in the desert, the first great

breath on surfacing.

I've also remembered St Brigid, whose feast day is in a couple of weeks, with the image She Tends the Flame by Megaera (2006) with words by Donna Henes (2003)

One by one, in tiny increments, candle by candle,

gesture by effort, wish by prayer, concern by care,

we feed the life-fires of the soul and light

the infinite universe, little by little from within.

The left-hand page is less busy and is pretty self-explanatory - with images from the Toast catalogue and various magazines...

As I sit with this completed dreamboard, I think of my visions, my seeds, my intentions for the New Year, for this New Moon...

Foremost is beginning the e-course Lunar Flow - the first part of Marissa's CMP course (there's a button on the sidebar)...

... I really can't wait to start and will be sharing as the weeks unfold. I've boldly written my intention for the CMP course in the course handbook:

To connect with my inner wisdom.

To learn to trust my gut using the moon, chakras, stones and tarot.

To build on what I've picked up on these things over the years and dive deep into my own real Knowing.

My Word for 2015 is DELVE and I intend to delve deeper and deeper through this course.

May it be so :) x

In the gloom...

... I lit candles... I rearranged my altar...

... giving my new chakra crystals centre stage...

... and perused the internet to find a chakra balancing meditation.

After trying several - the sound of water doesn't calm me, loud jungle song doesn't centre me, but this man's soothing voice did - and I found the meditation, with its beginning and end rooted in Mother Earth, very energizing and grounding.

I will use it whenever I feel all-over-the-place/agitated/scattered...

It was 25 minutes very well spent!!