heart alchemy - healing the lineage

Stacia Napierkowska

Today I am creating a bespoke medicine doll for a seeker who wishes her doll to hold the spirit of Avalon. This morning I began gathering ferns and moss and oak leaves from a tree nearby. I will place an acorn in her hands - perhaps in a basket. I did a final walk to see what treasures were on the ground waiting for this doll and as I lay them out I began to feel what resonated for the doll and thought this is like alchemy, it is always a delicate balance of different plant and animal medicine. Some medicine feels distinctly feminine or masculine.

As I was laying out plants and feathers I received an email with the gift of the photo above of Stacia Napierkowska. The woman who sent it to me was in need of a session to heal the wound story of the lineage of women in her family. She remarked on how similar the photo felt to the card The Fferyllt representing the archetype Temperance in the Druidcraft Tarot. The Fferyllt were the Druid alchemists - creating the Sacred Marriage of balance between the Sacred Feminine and Masculine. We see this work here in the element of Water (in the cauldron) representing the Feminine and the Fire below as the Masculine. 

This healing of the Sacred Union is such important work for us now. These wounds may come from your own experiences in this lifetime, from the lineage wound in your birth family, the collective unconscious or carried over from past lives. This heart alchemy will not only be a benefit to ourselves but also to the lineage of children to come and the ones who came before us. Ancestral healing teaches us that we are all linked - when one hurts, we all hurt - when one heals, we all feel the benefit of that release. To do this healing work for your lineage, family and community is a great gift. Sending love to all those finding the delicate balance of heart alchemy today.

Swan Blessing: Return of the Medicine Women - Healing & Blessing the Ancestral Lineage at Seven Sisters Festival

Druidcraft Tarot

Voice of the Ancestors - the Wild Bees

There is an old saying about the secret wisdom of the bees: "Ask the wild bee what the druids knew." The more that I work with the incredible medium of beeswax to create art, the more I feel the message of the bees, the wisdom keepers of the Earth, the voice of our Ancestors - the Wild Honeybees. They ask us to slow down and taste the sweetness of life, they ask us to care for our own Queen Bee, Mother Earth. Bee Well.

Oracle of the Bee: The Crone's Message

Happy Awakenings at Imbolc and a big ROAR for all the Leos!

Michael Hiep - 'Awakening of Spring (Element: Earth)' http://www.michaelhiep.nl/eng/index.php

Today we celebrate the ancient Celtic Festival of Imbolc - a time of new beginnings and the awakening of the world below the Earth before Spring. This is also the feast day of the Goddess Brigid and I love to think of the Michael Hiep's Awakening of Spring as a young Brigid waking up deep within the earth. At this time of the year we may not see much change above the earth but we sense the heartbeat of the Earth growing stronger, animals awakening from hibernation, new animals being born, plants recharged and sending new green tendrils up through the soil. I am always reminded of Imbolc when I smell jasmin for the first time after winter and there is an abundance of it in gardens at the moment. Imbolc is a beautiful time to begin gently moving towards the dreams you wish to see bear fruit in the Spring and Summer months ahead. And today we are feeling the bright promise of the New Moon birthed last night. A perfect day for planting the seeds of your new life.

This morning I woke up thinking about the first class of our Women's Celtic Mysteries Course: Healer, Mystic, Creatrix. Our first class will be focussing on the Element of Earth with Airmid Irish goddess of herblore and herbalists. I wondered how she will teach us to heal ourselves and the gaelic words 'Oran Mor' rang in my ears. Oran Mor is the gaelic 'song of creation' or 'great song'. It is the song that births our world and creations into being and it reminded me that we can allow ourselves to be born into a new life every minute.

'The Restorers' from The Druid Plant Oracle. Illustration by Will Worthington

'It is this primordial myth that, like a Celtic knot, weaves throughout the entire corpus of the Celtic mythos, knitting an interwoven, cohesive mythology. The Oran Mór, as the primordial "sea melody," flows through the myths and legends of submerged lands, mystical springs, life-giving cauldrons, and holy grails. As Wisdom it "fills the head," and gives meaning to the severed heads that so disturbed Caesar. It is the "creative melody," always creating, both in the hearer and in the one singing. It is the myth of Uaithne and Boand who bear the three strains of music: innocence, sorrow, and joy. It is The Song of the Three Cauldrons giving and receiving creative blessing in its song. The words of the song are as diverse as there are people to hear it; always taking their meaning from their divinely breathed sound, never from that design which we impose. The Oran Mór’s divine sound gives meaning to – no, creates – the Celtic languages.'

'Oran Mor: The Primordial Celtic Myth' by Frank Mills

I encourage you to work with this beautiful chant at either sunrise or sunset (when the Celts believed the next day truly began). By singing this chant and bringing conscious energy to the experiences, healing and love we wish to create in our lives we connect to the divine and powerful spark of life that dwells within us all.

I have just 2 places left in Healer, Mystic Creatrix so please let me know as soon as you can if you feel called to learn more about the Celtic Mysteries.

And we have the bold and creative fire of sign of Leo to walk with us this month - happy birthday to all the wild and beautiful Lions!