smells of the soul

Frankinsence is one of the most evocative aromas that draws us back to times passed and memories forgotten.

too bad there is no smell option....

the dark and the new

Dark Moon

Waning and dark moon rites are for guidance and understanding, and for assimilation of wisdom on inner levels. It is a time for quiet inward reflection, reaping the fruits of our wisdom and experience.

New Moon

The new moon is sacred to the maiden of the triple moon goddess, bringing inspiration and intution. It is like a new seed, full pof potential and energy. TRhe new moon is the time for new beginnings, the time to begin new projects, new directions, new resolutions. It is the best time for invocation and speaking out your intent.(Ref': Kindred, 2007)

The dark of the Moon is the most powerful time psychically. It seems to lure us toward the deepest self, the longings of the soul, and restful listening is a great way to receive these messages. It's been compared to the dormant seed under the winter snow, or the cocoon holding the butterfly. You might feel tired, or crave quiet solitude. It's important to make space for the unfolding of the spirit at this time. Like death itself, it's preparation for the new beginning that begins with the crescent. Each dark Moon is a chance to be renewed, to experience unknowing, and to gain timeless wisdom. The dark Moon opens a door to the past, and it reaches back far into the collective memory. Make it a sacred time for yourself each month, a time to connect to the great mystery of life.
(ref: http://astrology.about.com/od/foundations/p/DarkMoon.htm)

hearth

There is nothing more comforting that one's own hearth. As winter closes in and the introspection begins, the all embracing warmth of a hearth is a comfort that no electrrical applicance can mimic.

How is it possible that such a heat can be soft?

How is it that the sound, smell and sight of a hearth conjures memories so distant, one loses a grip on the now?

There is something primal about staring into the flames and seeing your past, present and future.

I love winter.

travel

And so today I build my own roadways from there to there and back, where I enjoy the advantage of living in two worlds at once - the mundane world and the world 'out-there' where the sun never sets and adventure lurks in every breath, where destiny and free-will meet, and like past and future are irrevocably wedded.

(ref: Eileen Garrett)

now

sometimes we are wise enough to know.
it is the inherent knowledge passed to us.
we step confidently and know that we will not fall.
the past guides us as we look to the present.

and then at other times, we are challenged.

not sure how or when to step forward.

in competition with our ego.

the fight can rage for some time until there is a winner.

but the real winner is the one who has the courage and strength -

that which she knows she already posseses.

summer power

Summer in Australia is about power - the raw power of nature.

"We call this the place of the wild, the untamed, the unpredictable. It is often seen as the height of masculine or male energy, of assertiveness, thrust, push and growth, the linear and overt: the opposite of the dark embrace of [winter]. It is the place of power."

but what is power?

"The whole concept of power...is dangerous ground. It pulls without feeling at the roots, testing, testing our resolve and our ability to deal with the consequences of our actions, licking the air with its hunger...it reveals our weakness.

"To grasp our power is frightening. It is our ability to act, which means it's also our ability to make mistakes and to fail. Too often the [north] is avoided."

Mandela tells us: "Our greatest fear is not that we are inadequate, but that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that frightens us."

 So, "...avoidance doesn't teach us. To learn, to grow, we must stop, find courage... we turn to look at the beliefs we hold about power. We look at the energy, the unpredicability, the force... It is the spark of our courage, fuelled by the oxygen of our thoughts and the old wood of our past experience, all of which make the fire that is our drive." (ref: Restall Orr, 2000)

Power in summer is the storm that rolls in after a hot day that tests even the most patient. We are afraid of the power of the storm- its unpredictablity, its destruction, its chaos. We can not stop it, redirect it, calm it or reason with it.

Sowilo

"This force is the lightning bolt that links heaven and earth and guides the vitki... It is the illuminating beacon that guides the seeker across a sea of consciousness... The sun rune means strength, energy, life force... the light of truth and enlightened consciousness. It strengthens the will, and helps one to gain access to inner guidance..." (ref: Paxson, 2005)

Be not afraid of yourself

smelling the past

"...that quiet crack and pop. It's the sound of still moments in tranquil places." (Wilkins, 2004)

"A smell from your distant past can unleash a flood of memories that are so intense and striking that they seem real...called a "Proustian Memory". It's named after Marcel Proust, one of the greatest novelists of the 20th century...We humans smell with a yellowish area in the roof of each nostril, just underneath and between the eyes. This yellowish area is called the olfactory epithelium....Once the nerves leave the olfactory bulb, they're sent to two main destinations...one of them is...the limbic area of the brain, an ancient region that deals with emotion, pleasure, motivation and types of memory associated with food...according to Professor Rachel S. Herz, 'the ability to experience and express emotion grew directly out of the brain's ability to process smells.'" (Kruszelniki, 2001)

"...limbic brain. This is where the soul physiologically lays down its memories of experience...its developed sense of the past peppering the present with anticipation, with expectation..." (Restall Orr, 2004)

Fate

Ancient Germanic lore had a number of ways to describe and explain the concepts of fate. The first was the three norns - Urdhr, Verdhandhi and Skuld. These sister are the weavers of fate, the three hags who sit in the roots of the World Tree, spinning and unspinning the fates of all. Each represents a time: Urdhr is the past, Verdhandi is the present and Skuld is the future. In old Germanic lore, fate is not a set thing, but, "...is being transformed constantly by ongoing action." Thorsson (1999) continues: "[fate] itself is a complex idea. The word (in Old Norse) literally means 'primal layers', or 'primal laws' and really indicates action that has been laid down in the past... both the past actions we have dealt out...in the previous existences of our essential selves, and that which others...have dealt out to us over the same span of time."

Interestingly, in Greek mythology, there were also three sisters known as the fates. Clotho was the sister who was responsible for the birth, death and lives of men (humans). Like the norns, the Greek sisters used thread to weave the fates of humans.

The norns are also known as the Wyrd Sisters, Wyrd meaning 'life unfolding'. Stories abound of parents taking their children to the 'norns' to have their fates read. According to Bates (2002), "Through the centuries, stories about the three sisters persisted. In England, they are mentioned by the medieval poet Chaucer, and famously a few centuries later by William Shakespeare in his play Macbeth."

For the ancient Germanic and Scandanavian vitki, the purpose of runecasting was to try to get a picture of what had been spun by the Wyrd Sisters. Once a person's 'fate' is made visible by the runes, it can be read and analysed - not necessairly changed, but perhaps better understood.