Irina the Wolf Queen in Sherbrooke Forest

Irina the Wolf Queen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNB8YZDhpIo&feature=youtu.be

There are parts of Sherbrooke Forest that have been wild and then owned and settled and then wild again.  In one part of the forest, an old residence is like a ghost in the garden, all that's left of any kind of human dwelling are pathways, drystone walls and mysterious manmade pools or ponds. It is a strange place because you feel the land's history and the present all at once and even though we are allowed to enter, I still often whisper and walk very quietly in this land. All I know is that many, many years ago this garden ceased being private land and was given back to Sherbrooke Forest and the trees, the vines and the ferns have made quick work of welcoming it back to the wild.

Melbourne author, Leah Swann is not only a writer I respect and admire, she is one of my dearest and oldest friends. We met over 20 years ago when we shared a house in Scotland with, let's say, a very curious collection of people. At that time it was rare to meet another Australian living in Glasgow. A  huge amount of our early conversations involved our fascination with sacred sites and ancestral mythology and nothing has really changed! As a writer, Leah is interested in creating ways to re-wild the spirit of women and men and at the heart of her trilogy for children and young adults, Irina the Wolf Queen, is a young female heroine who lives in a wild, intuitive and magical world inspired by the archetypal wisdom of fairytales.

As soon as I read Irina the Wolf Queen I saw it instantly as a film. Recently Leah had the opportunity to create a trailer, a visual welcoming into the imagined world of Ragnor where Irina and her wolves reside and she could think of no better place than Sherbrooke Forest. The young woman you see as Irina in the trailer and doing the amazing voice over is Leah's own daughter, Brigita - the inspiration for the character of Irina. I love this! I see this as active dreaming - to be literally creating the dream world of Irina in our present time. How amazing would it have been for our own mothers to have written a tale of magic and courage and then to have placed us as young women in the main role? And so Brigita is now walking and speaking in the dream of her mother and so this dreaming now belongs to both mother and daughter and the energy created is huge because underlying it all is a such a clear intention and collective dream for the sisterhood - to become the magical heroines of our own lives and to create our own mythology.

Adorning Brigita and her wolf

It was a such a magical experience to watch the filming of this dream in Sherbrooke Forest. As usual, I am always tuning into the animals to learn more about what's going on and I spent a lot of time watching the beautiful Apollo, Irina's 'white wolf'. To say that his owner was worried about Apollo would be an understatement. Apollo is very powerful and strong, loves to chase birds and is extremely hard to catch. But like most intelligent beings, he is highly intuitive and sensitive to his environment and when he stepped into the filming and felt the focus and intention of everyone involved, he became at ease and serene. Apollo was so calmed by the conscious focus of the dreamers that he actually fell asleep in the middle of that busy forest at Brigita's feet.  I've seen this happen with our own dogs when they work with us. Even in stressful environments, the energy of creating with intention is powerfully calming. Perhaps this is a message for those of us who also feel sensitive in chaotic environments - keep your focus on the dream and what you are creating.

I believe there is a great need for stories like Irina for young women and men, if not only to create a balance with the strange message being broadcast through mainstream media to children but perhaps to even burst that bubble of pressure and illusion completely. Here's to the spirit of the wild wolf, to Irina the Wolf Queen and to the writers like Leah Swann who are creating dreams for us all to feel closer to magic and nature.

Sherbrooke Forest is a beautiful between place - between the tame and the wild. The last time Tony and I visited the garden where the filming took place we found deer tracks on the path. As we turned down a different pathway we heard the stag just ahead of us, we heard him snort and turn and disappear back into the trees.

www.leahswann.com

Purchase the Irina trilogy

StagWoman Medicine Doll Drawn by Alice Savage

This week I received the finished drawing of our StagWoman medicine doll by Italian artist, Alice Savage. And of course she came at a time when I really needed it. She is magnificent and this photo doesn't do her full justice - she is drawn with diamond ink and shimmers in the light. The StagWoman was a personal medicine doll that I created for myself last year when I first moved to the forest and now she lives with Alice and is working her magic across the oceans. I feel this doll helped me to grow stronger and more resilient in the forest - I wonder what she is sharing now?

I'm so happy to be involved in this collaboration with Alice!

Alchemy of Coexistence by Patricia Ariel

"Alchemy of Coexistence"
Graphite, charcoal, acrylic, pastel, on Fabriano watercolor paper, mounted on panel
16 x 20 in  2014
© Patricia Ariel

Aaaaah Patrica Ariel! Sometimes it feels like she is painting directly from my dreams. Alchemy of Coexistence is one of Patricia's latest paintings created for the Hidden Kingdoms exhibition that also featured another dear friend, Alice Savage. I love so many of Patricia's paintings but something about this new work is so enchanting to me. In fact, whenever I see this painting I have to stop. I have to take it in all over again. And then it does a strange symbiotic balance within me as I sit in front of it. The balance of the antlers and the datura flowers and the sweetest expression in the women's closed eyes and soft mouths... it's such a mystery isn't it?

Next month I will talk with Patricia for a new series of interviews about artisans who consciously create with the sacred and with intention. Another reason I'm so in awe of Patricia's artistry is that not only does she have an incredible ability to paint what she sees in her visions she also has the gift of weaving with words and when she writes about her work and inspiration she does it in such a fascinating way that she doesn't 'solve' the riddle of her creations but helps you to navigate and journey deeper into their dreaming - or the rabbit-hole! I think Alchemy of Coexistence is a perfect entrance into this mystery.

"My "hidden kingdoms" are inhabited by characters that take the shape of an archetypal and spiritual analysis of my own personal experiences, and how their understanding can reflect on the outer world. At the time I started the piece I was somewhat immersed in reflections about my own duality, and thinking about how the experiences that take me to darker and more silent places end up nourishing my so called “positive” side, creating almost a third entity. This “inner alchemy” I experience so vividly constantly reminds me of the Jungian concept of shadow integration: two polarities – conscious/unconscious, light and shadow, day and night, masculine and feminine – coexisting in perfect cooperation. I decided to explore it revisiting the image of the “twins”, each wearing a different headpiece that are not simply placed upon their heads, but that are almost part of their own bodies. The headpieces, shaped on the form of deer heads, an animal that symbolizes gentleness and regeneration, are clearly representing the dichotomy life/death, that here are not literal symbols, but archetypes of “darkness” and “light” - unconscious and conscious. The figures are surrounded by datura flowers, seen as a sacred plant by Native Americans as having the power to make the living to communicate with the spirits of the dead, which I found a perfect metaphor to the concept, as well as a good representation of the “flourishing” of the consciousness due to this integration."

Patricia Ariel  http://art.patricia-ariel.com

ORIGINAL AVAILABLE AT THE DREAM FACTORY GALLERY
http://dreamfactoryart.bigcartel.com/product/alchemy-of-coexistance

Quiet Observer by Isabelle Bryer

We love Isabelle Bryer's paintings, you might remember her artwork adorning some of our spirit doll workshops. This is her latest painting just revealed today : Quiet Observer. So much symbolism and messages here, can you read her hands?

You can see more of Isabelle's beautiful magic here. 

Swan Blessing Past Life Story - Unbinding Plant Wisdom

Offering from the Amazon Shuar Series by Susan Thompson

Today I share again with you the moving Swan Blessing experienced by our dear sister, Nicole Ahava, doll enchantress and plant medicine woman. These are not titles that Nicole gives herself but this is what I see and feel around her so strongly. I will always be grateful to Nicole for awakening my own ancestral memory of shamanic doll-making and plant medicine. It is a path that once re-awakened, is hard to ignore!

We both knew that there was a memory with Nicole of still needing to hide and work in secret. This is something that many of us feel now and it can be very hard to reconcile with only the rational mind. I hope Nicole's story helps all of those feeling this fear to come out of the darkness and share your wise medicine with us again.

I am walking barefoot through a familiar forest. I come upon the well. I look into the deep pool and see her. She is a tribal woman, with long dark hair and dark eyes. She takes my hand and we cross the threshold, I am there. It is dark, the land is barren.  She dances around a fire. I see so much pain inside her. This is a dance of mourning. Her face is full of sorrow as she stomps and writhers around the fire. 

She shows me her journey. I see her wondering naked on the bare earth. She is a very small child. There has been a great upheaval and her family has left her behind. She is found by a wise old woman who takes her in, raising her and teaching her wisdom. They walk the earth together. This is where she learns her medicine. Later she is a grown woman she takes me to her village. We are in front of her mud hut with her six children. They are so beautiful. They have very little but there is so much love. She shows me her work with plants making medicine.    

There has been great famine, all the people in her village have been driven away from their lands. They now live on barren land, fighting starvation and illness. Her husband has gone to a far away land to work.  The women from the village cover their heads as they go to her for medicine and scurry away quickly with her brew hidden in their robes back to their huts. She is living in fear and isolation. She shows me how they come, soldiers, tearing her children out of her arms. They are taking them away, she pleads with them desperately, she vows never to use her medicine again, but they take them all away.   

Finally I see her lying on the bare earth, she is old and lonely, overwhelmed with grief. She lets her body go and is instantly free.
I am back in the forest at the water’s edge we are facing each other. I honour her. I understand why she made that vow. She smiles at me. She knows why we are here. It is time to let it go. We hold each other with deep love and she transforms into light she is surrounded and embraced by her family, her children, her husband, the wise old lady and her mother they are all free. 

I am standing before the daughter of the well bound heavily. Together we cut the bindings and instantly I feel myself expand, I am free. She takes me into her sacred well, all the daughters are there. I am floating in the sacred well. The daughters are washing away all that burdens my soul. I am cleansed, pure, light and free. 

The first time I got an email from Sacred Familiar about the swan blessing I knew it was something that I just had to do. I put it aside for a while but the swan medicine continued to call me. It is a very sacred and profound blessing. In this life I was born a healer. As a child I would give healing to sick animals, I would lay in my bed at night and send healing to people. I was cut off from my medicine after receiving one of my vaccinations and very quickly it was forgotten. Years later when I began to explore my own healing I became a Reiki master and it all came back to me, but I would find that every time I shared my medicine the energy would get stuck with me or my children would get sick. I could not share my medicine because I was afraid that it would harm my children. 

The swan medicine really is very gentle as she continues to unfold and expand in my life. There have been many changes I have been able to share freely without fear, I feel as though a channel has been cleared from which I am free to connect and receive more clearly and my medicine is changing, becoming more potent. Julia really is a divine magical being.  I extend my deepest gratitude for these beautiful blessings to you Julia beautiful sister. Thank you. 

Nicole 2013

Thank you precious sister for your healing story. I believe it is a beautiful gift and medicine that Nicole holds in her gentle soul. Nicole will be holding her Spirit Doll Workshop at Seven Sisters Festival next month. When she came for her Swan Blessing I saw that Nicole is a powerful healer and one of her strongest gifts is working with Plant Medicine to create Medicine Dolls for sick children - beautiful comforting dolls for them to take into hospital when they are feeling afraid and to become dear friends to them in the long weeks of recovery at home. For those who wish to look into purchasing one of Nicole's healing dolls or receive a distant healing session from Dream Empire, you can find her here and on Etsy.

Do you love the Earth: Gaian Entelechy by Jake Kobrin

Gaian Entelechy by Jake Kobrin

This is a repost because it's so important and because I love everything about it - thank you Jake Kobrin for your artistry and eloquence.

Do you love the Earth?

Over the millennia our species has developed a complex symbiosis with our environment. Earth is our home. Everyone you have ever loved, every experience you have ever cherished, and every possession you have ever coveted, is a product and aspect of the Earth. At this point and time we stand at the precipice of a new and important era. As our society rapidly develops, our planet is being devastated and our precious resources are being depleted. We all know and fear what could be on one side of this situation. We fear natural devastation, nuclear wars and genocide, endless impoverishment, starvation, war, disease, and death.

But a new vision is emerging. All throughout the globe, people are coming together to celebrate our precious planet and to envision new ways to live in harmony with the Earth. Communities and alliances are forming that respect the Gaian entelechy, and seek to follow the natural wisdom of the Earth, rather than nihilistically ravishing the very source of our being and destroying the prospects of our future generations.

This artwork GAIAN ENTELECHY is a tribute to this emerging visionary culture. It is a representation of the Earth spirit, of a noble consciousness that exists within the natural world. The Earth is alive. And we are a part of it.

We all have access to the Gaian entelechy, in so much as we are all an integral part of the Earth. The idea of us existing as separate entities upon the Earth is a falsehood. The truth is that we are only one Earth. The Earth is a living organism, in the same way that billions of individual cells comprise a human being. And so a person who lives in an urban setting is in no way less in touch with the Gaian entelechy, because cities and their inhabitants are products and aspects of the Earth as well.

Terence McKenna held the belief that the Gaian entelechy was accessed through entheogenic trance, that when you take of the Earth in the form of Ayahuasca, cacti, or mushrooms, you are actually allowing yourself to be shown the wisdom of the Earth through direct experience. He believed that you experience a form of communication that exists within the plant kingdom at a molecular level and that the plants (and nature in general, as a whole) are teaching human beings how to live with insights wrought from the entheogenic trance. Whether or not this is the case, I believe the Gaian entelechy is, essentially, intuition.

The Earth knows what it’s doing, and as manifestations of the Earth we need only to look within and trust in our intuition to act in accordance with the natural world. The problem is that most people haves strayed so far from listening to their own hearts and intuitive senses that the human race has strayed away from the Gaian entelechy and began to ravish the natural world. I believe the solution to this is to strip away the mental noise that clouds intuition, whether it be through meditation, entheogens, or whatever have you.

- Jake Kobrin, April 2013

https://www.facebook.com/JKobrinArt

http://jkobrinart.tumblr.com

via

Animal Spirits: Patricia Ariel

Animal Spirits: Deer Patricia Ariel

 Our dear sister Patricia Ariel has been creating these beautiful Animal Spirit paintings over the last month. Patricia has created so many of the artworks you see in our healing space and in our Swan Blessing including our mandala. She is available for commission work and you can see more of her beauty here. You can see the full series of Animal Spirits and what she still has for sale at her StorEnvy site too. Love you Patty! You always inspire me xx

Animal Spirits: Hummingbird

Animal Spirits: Cat

Animal Spirits: Dragonfly

Animal Spirits: Crow

Birthing in Darkness - Visionary Art of Augustin Lesage

These intricately detailed works of art were created by French coal miner Augustin Lesage at night after spending his days in darkness deep within the earth.  He went to work in the mines as a child and had only ever visited an art gallery once in his life before hearing a voice in 1911 at the age of 35 telling him, 'One day you will be a painter'. The voice he heard came from within the pitch black mine. Prompted to explore communication with the spirit world, he was then instructed further and given guidance on what to paint. While guiding his hand, he was told, 'Do not try to understand what you are doing.'

I am fascinated by these works, they are so very similar to shamanic paintings and particularly visionary works painted by Ayahuasca shaman. Of his work Lesage said: 'I never have an overview of the entire work at any point of the execution. My guides tell me... I surrender to their impluse.'

via www.messynessychic.com

new encaustic weavings at Spring Equinox

sacred familiar

dear children of the Sun, 

wherever you are on our Earth

however you are experiencing flow in the turning of the Wheel

I hope your Equinox has brought a sense of Balance

here are some new encaustic weavings

for a textile project I am dreaming in

the medicine of colour

Spirit of Equinox, Oracle of the Bee Julia Inglis

Bird Shaman

Owl Medicine

Ancestors

Medicine Women Return - Wocekiye by Patricia Ariel

Wocekiye - Patricia Ariel