precious beauty of death + dying

Little Wing precious gift from Mother Earth

Whenever I commit to a new dream, Spirit begins showing me just how much that dreaming has always been close. I believe Intention brings more focus - just like the zoom lense of a camera, we begin to see the worlds within worlds around us. Now that we have begun taking enrolments for Guardians of the Threshold, a death and dying wisdom circle, I am seeing Death everywhere. And It sounds morbid but it truly isn't. Yes it is sad, there is always a loss when we face death but there is so much beauty. Death is the ultimate invitation to FEEL and she strips away our masks and armour to expose the tender heart. She makes us remember what it is to be truly human and alive.

Here is Little Wing the wing of a dear parrot who passed away on my doorstep on the day we signed the lease on a new home in the forest. For the last 12 months, this house has been my private bird sanctuary, so many feathered friends visit us here every day and owls come to keep us company at night. This ending is of course the threshold I must cross to begin again. I feel sad to leave but also excited about the new chapter awaiting. The next home is still in our beloved Sherbrooke Forest but in a house that is more open to welcoming to visitors and seekers. After year of sabbatical, I am ready to begin seeing more clients. I could not hold this work in our current home. And so this week I feel like I am in limbo - I know I am moving and yet I can't seem to make myself pack yet. it's been manifesting as a constant underlying anxiety and obsession with tiny, unimportant details. I feel exhausted and I realised yesterday it is because I have not let myself feel the grief of this change.

This is also a common experience when we lose someone we love and it can manifest in a much deeper and traumatic way when we repress our deepest grief and pain. In my family there is a long history of suicide in both my mother's and father's families. Suicide is still such a taboo subject and can be one of the hardest causes of death to talk about. In my family there is a gaping hole that is filled with silence and deep pain. This hole, this wound is a source of soul loss for many family members and instead of feeling and speaking and facing the many unanswered questions, the pain has been repressed and has manifested as deep depression. Recently, in Vision, I asked to know more about this spirit of depression that has followed my family for generations and I was shown not a horrible demon as I had expected but instead, the lost and forgotten spirits of family members who had taken their own lives and were never spoken of again. They were asking me for acknowledgement and remembrance and that is something we can all do and give. Often all Death requires is for us to be truly present.  It was this vision and the incredible healing that came after it, that pushed me to create a circle where we can finally release this unacknowledged pain, ask questions about death and dying and share our stories of loved ones no longer with us. To remember with love. We will also speak of the beauty and rebirth that occurs in this crossing of the threshold. The mystery of the afterlife and the visions and visitations that Spirit often gifts back to the living to help us to understand that there is nothing to fear.

When I need to cry and release I often head to the water and yesterday we drove to Phillip Island. It was the best gift I could give to myself - to just step away from it all and dive into the soft embrace of Mamma Ocean. As we arrived at the beach, we saw Bunjil, the wedge tailed eagle circling above and as we left the ocean we came upon a beach memorial that we hadn't noticed on the way down. The memorial was in a grove of trees and when we arrived it was being guarded by a blue tongued lizard. I was touched by this small and public altar to a beautiful young girl. It was decorated with toys and shells and was accompanied by this dedication:

'Where there is love the heart is light.
Where there is love the day is bright.
Where there is love there is quiet peace.
A tranquil place where troubles cease.
Oh blest are those who walk in love.
They also walk with god above.
Fly free Miranda you are loved.'

Whether you have healing to do around the loss of a loved one, are living with a loved one right now at the sacred threshold of dying, or want to come and heal the taboo and fear of speaking about death and the afterlife, you are welcome to join us in this wisdom circle. Together we will remember what it is to embrace the natural wisdom of the endless and eternal cycle of life.

Details of Guardians of the Threshold - Wild Wisdom of Death and Dying with Sacred Familiar and Rainbowalker.

Memorial for Miranda

letting go letting flow

thresholds

the wild wisdom of death and dying

Hello everyone, on the New Moon last friday, we met with Rainbowalker to consciously open the dreaming well for Guardians of the Threshold. In this circle we will be sharing practical information on how to care for loved ones during the shamanic threshold death and dying. You will also have the space to share your own stories and wisdom, together we can bring light back to an area of our lives that is so beautiful and natural but has been shrouded in fear and taboo.  

Not too long ago this wisdom was a part of ancestral wisdom or 'granny wisdom' as I call it. There would have been someone in the family that was called on whenever a family or community member was nearing the threshold of death. They would have come to your home and gently consoled the family and made the dying as comfortable as they could be. Most importantly they brought peace and solace to the dying, often just by being a calm and gentle presence in the room and held their hand as they made the Great Journey. And this wisdom would have been passed to a child who perhaps at a young age began to accompany the granny in her work and showed a natural ease and knowing with this medicine. 

This is very specific medicine that may not call to many of you, but if you are feeling drawn to know more or if you are already making the journey with a loved one in your family, we encourage you to get in touch. For too long this natural process has been surrounded by fear and just as it is important to have a conscious life, it is important to have a conscious death.  When we lose our fear of death we can begin to truly live.

Click here to register for Guardians of the Threshold

Rachel's Vow to Bind Her Femininity - Released with the Magdalenes

The Artists' Suffrage League

Sometimes before holding group Swan Blessing journeys I worry that there may be a chance that these large dreaming pools are not strong enough to give the journeyers all the answers they need. I worry that without one-on-one assistance as I give in personal Swan Blessing ceremonies, that they may not see as well or that vital clues may be missed. And then when I talk to the participants of these circles, I am always blown away by the clarity and strength of their journeys - journeys that are often very deep and potent. I have come to realise that Swan's medicine will work in any environment that is held as sacred space and that everyone always receives exactly what they need.

At the dreaming pool of Femmina Unbound at the Convent I was eager to hear back from the sisters journeying in such proximity to the site of the Magdalene Laundries. I had a feeling that they may have gone far deeper than ever before. Before I began the group Swan Blessing I was told by Swan to create the intention to ask them to journey to and release the strongest binding belief or promise of the past upon the Sacred Feminine. This is Rachel's story of her journey taken in the presence of the Magdalenes, a cause close to Rachel's own heart. Her's is a potent Swan story of release from the very literal bindings of the past - the beliefs that negated Womens' Wisdom and stopped access to higher education. I believe we are at a very important time when we are being asked to value education but to stop the worship of the educational hierarchies that dominate and control learning and do not honour and teach the valuable ancestral wisdom of intuition and creativity.  We must learn to value both again and understand that wisdom comes from within and cannot be found by climbing a corporate education ladder but by spending time alone, going deeper inside to truly meet yourself. Only then can we come to truly understand our own Ancestral Medicine and how it can best be applied to serve our community and Earth.

"A man appears before me as I gaze into the dark pool at my feet. I have been taken here by the Swan, to uncover what binds me, what I need to reclaim and release from my Spirit's past as part of Feminina Unbound at the Abbotsford Convent on the first day of Spring.
...
A well dressed man in the fashion of the early 19th century, he stands straight and tall, untamable curls peaking out from under his tall hat.  His eyes speak of knowledge and determination, but also betray a hint of something out of place, something deeply hidden.
I see him standing in a grand wood-lined room lecturing to a group of men - lawyers, politicians, academics, men of wealth and means.  Speaking with eloquence and passion, he is arguing for the rights of women, emploring these men to understand the importance of equal rights for all citizens as the new century is born.  They listen, expression ranging from skepticisim to downright mocking on their faces, but they are at least listening for once. 

Later as I watch he strides down a street in a well-to-do area, gas lamps being lit as evening rolls in.  He is nodding acknowledgement to the many people he passes, but he doesn't really 'see' them.  His mind is blank but for a growing sense of anticipation tinged with a slight trace of fear.  For the first time I sense a tightening in his body - from chest to hips - which grows more and more uncomfortable as he walks now.
His chest aches by the time he reaches the door to his home.  Stepping inside it's clear he is a bachelor - the house is furnished well in a strongly masculine style, clean and neat but devoid of any feminine touches.  He forces himself through a precise nightly routine quickly as I sense a strong eagerness to move upstairs.  For the first time I realise that something? someone? is waiting upstairs - this is what he's been waiting for all day.  His 'dirty little secret'?!? 

The sense of binding grows more and more uncomfortable by the moment and the fear and excitement are all consuming.  Quick steps take him up two flights of stairs until he stands before a securely locked door, his heartracing now as he pulls a heavy key from within his waistcoat and opens the solid wooden door and bounds upstairs into the attic.
Striking a match he lights the glass lamp that sits on a small table at the top of the stairs and a soft, feminine room is revealed by the soft glow. Light and beautiful, the room is a stark contrast to the rest of the house.  A hand embroidered quilt covers a bed against one wall, the scent of fresh flowers wafts up as he walks pass a dressing table covered in perfume bottles and makeup pots.  A beautifully carved armoire sits in the far corner next to an ornate full length mirror.  The only masculine piece in the room is an empty valet stand in the corner. 

In quick steps he crosses the floral rug to stand in front of the mirror and begins to undress, hanging each item carefully on the valet.  Only as he removes his starched white shirt do i see a glimpse of bandages covering his whole torso.  The bindings I could feel as he walked are literal!  My mind is filled with childhood visions as the bindings are unwound slowly to reveal the soft feminine curves of the body underneath. A pretty little girl bearing witness from her hiding spot in the corner.  She knows she must remain hidden, but all her instincts tell her to go and protect her Mother who sits sobbing in the palour once again as Father screams at her for spilling his tea..."You stupid, worthless woman!"  

The warmth of the tears running down her face is replaced by the warming heat of the fire in her grandfather's study, where she sits for hours as he discusses with her all manner of things that little girls aren't supposed to know.  Her mind being expanded and tested, her reason and logic being exercised and challenged.  

A first class education is his gift to her despite his son's protestations that "educating women is a waste of money".  But it comes with a price, as she finds only frustration as she steps into the world as a young woman, only to be ignored, overlooked and dismissed as she tries to engage high profile men in meaningful conversation over the rights of women.  But her determination is absolute and she is willing to do whatever is needed to make her stand. 

As the last bandages are wound into a neat roll and placed on the valet she can breath deeply for the first time all day and she looks at her naked body in the mirror.  She has her mother's figure - full hips, a small waist - perfect for the fashions of the day, for the high waisted full skirts that she will never wear. She slips on a luxurious silk robe and moves to the dressing table where she primps and preens in the mirror - anointing herself in the finest of scents and lotions.  Fingers fluffing her hair back into soft curls from where she tried to tame them.  Missing her long locks that her mother used to brush for her each evening before bed. 

She will never wear a beautiful gown and dance with handsome men at a ball. She will have no lover, no husband, no children. Her urges and desires are pushed down, hidden, ignored in the name of the 'greater good'.  Her only indulgence is this hidden room, the only place she can be "her".  In order to fight for the freedom of women, she has had to sacrifice her own femininity."   

Rachel, Femmina Unbound at the Convent 2013

Image chosen by Rachel

Thank you Rachel for sharing this potent Swan story of release from the belief that we could not appear to be feminine and hold our power. I know that in this sharing you have already helped those who read it. I believe that even if we do not carry these bindings personally, we carry the wound in our collective consciousness. How deeply were our own mothers and grandmothers affected? Was this passed through the lineage? It's important to feel into the blood line and clear binding beliefs that are not your own.  

I love that now in her present life, Rachel has embraced the medicine of teaching women in circle in her work through Soul Divine. Rachel is also a gifted Tarot reader and has deep ancestral bonds to the medicine gifted to her by her own ancestors. You can experience Rachel's beautiful 'soul mamma magic' at her circles: Tea by the Hearth. I can heartily recommend her as a guide and holder of sacred space for women. Love to you Rachel and thank you for bringing your medicine to the Magdalenes.  We welcome another Sacred Artisan to this world again: Teacher -  bridging the worlds and creating pathways to women's wisdom. 

** as a side note, the day after reading Rachel's Swan Story, I found this article on the Sworn Virgins of Albania. 

Hiraeth, Diaspora and Pathways Back to the Dreamer

A Place of Meadows And Tall Trees - Clare Dudman

The Lunar Illumination of Black Moon Lilith

Dark Beauty Magazine

Very early on thursday morning (1.56am) we will experience a Lunar Eclipse in Gemini and she is conjunct with Black Moon Lilith. Black Moon Lilith - our Dark Sister is often where we carry our wounds and fears around the Divine Feminine. Our Shadow is calling to be healed, embraced and understood. Yes this is a week of challenge and tests - do you dare look into the cave of your own heart? What fears keep you from looking, from healing - we are so afraid that we don't dare step too close, we turn our face away. But to meet our fears with love and courage creates such a transformation that the light we carry with us into the cave allows us to see that our deepest fears are often our greatest teachers, often our brightest jewels.

Serpentarium by Patricia Ariel

At the Solar Eclipse last week I created 9th Wave Water Rites Self-Blessing Essence to bless our own spirits again - we do not need to be blessed or healed or cleansed by anyone else - we are our own authority. These Rites are to be performed by yourself morning and night for 9 days and 9 nights. The essence carries the medicine of both Frog (cleansing, purifying, speaking in your true voice) and Black Swan (embracing unique beauty, healing the wound of the Divine Feminine) and plant essence of the Blackthorn Flower (healing memory of shame and guilt). The Rites are so beautiful, light and freeing, they carry the wisdom of my Celtic Ancestors and the blessings of the Sidhe.

In our blessings Tony and I merely hold sacred space and stand beside you as you peer into that cave, as you come to meet your own Shadow - the Dark Sister or Brother. The blessing comes from your own spirit as it journeys with the WIld Swan. We have just created Eclipse Balance sessions for Friday and Saturday to work in this potent energy of Lunar Illumination. 

The 9th Wave Water Rites Essence 9 Day Ritual: $25 plus post

Lunar Eclipse Balance Sessions: 1 hour 

($100 - 9th Wave Water Rites Essence and Ritual to take home)

Black Swan Black Moon Lilith Sessions: 1.5 hours

($160 - please provide birth details so I can prepare your natal chart)

The Swan Blessing Sessions: 1.5 hours

$160 - 9th Wave Water Rites Essence and Ritual to take home)

Daughters of the Well - Sacred Water and Sound Healing

Good morning everyone and happy New Moon in Scorpio. The New Moon was born this morning at 6.57am and the energy of this fresh & dynamic moon after a particularly challenging & turgid week leading up is much needed.  

To celebrate this period of watery rebirth I am so very happy and excited to announce my new healing consultations: Daughters of the Well - Sacred Water & Sound Healing. In these shamanic healing sessions I will be working very closely with the beautiful and sacred water collected from the deep forest well in Wombat Forest and our own Forest Well Plant Essences. During the healing you will feel the calming and soothing benefits of the natural spring water collected from these ancient springs as it helps you to release and clear old energy and blocks. Once cleared you will be supported in a bed of sound and music as the water creates a new and strong flow of energy to help you to connect to new pathways and healing. (Please see the testimonials below for an idea of the shifts experienced from the healings and essences).

Launch Offer: Personalised Annointing Essence - For the first 20 people to book a Daughters of the Well Healing, I will create a personalised blend of Healing Annointing Essence for you to take home and use in further healings, cleansing sacred space and healing tools. 

The Daughters of the Well Healings will take one hour and the cost is $90 (including personalised annointing essence).

Warmest Wishes for New Flow, Julia

Testimonials

Hiya Julia,

I am feeling really 'together'.  Thank you so much for the wonderful Healing session, including the insight you provided me through our conversation.  I truly believe that you are possibly the only person that has understood me and what it is like to be in a dark place for a period in life.  The light and guidance you provided was so inspiring and I felt an immediate hopefulness take the place of fear ('Breakthrough not Breakdown').  Your beautiful healing with the treasured natural spring waters and mother nature's wattle was transformative.  My heart felt as though it was filled and turned into a colourful bloom of flowers and I came away feeling peaceful, hopeful and motivated toward happier days. I truly appreciate your gift and all of your efforts to share it with us.  

Kerryn, Oct 2011

"Dearest Julia,

The benefits felt of your "Grounding Essence", since I started using it, were absolutely amazing and very powerful.  The Grounding Essence became my best friend, I carry it with me at all times  and use it often.  I am very sensitive person and get affected easily by outside world and energies around me-protection in all forms is very important & essential for me-I found your Essence very useful and when taken, I do feel at peace, very grounded, calm and protected.  I also benefit from your beautiful Essence as a Reiki and Seichim healer-it keeps me extra grounded and protected from any unwanted energies, helps with my focus by keeping me even more calmer and centred.  It also works very well with the Bach Rescue Remedy...I've also noticed that when I use your Essence, my heart opens up even more and is beaming with a beautiful feeling of an unconditional love.  I've experienced a very special thing the first time I used it and this is what actually happened: One of my ex friends, that I had to let go some time ago, was on my mind a lot that particular week-even though I was sending her way lots of Love, Blessings and Forgiveness, I just couldn't get her out of my mind.  Your wonderful and magical Essence changed all that-the same afternoon I collected Grounding Essence from you, dear Julia, I took 3 drops as soon as I got home, and boom!!!  It just happened, just like that, out of the blue-I felt this glorious warmth of Love, a beautiful feeling of unconditional Love went through my veins and I forgave her, instantly-asked her to forgive me and to let each other go!!!  It was such a wonderful and magical experience, a very special feeling of pure Love.  Haven't thought of her since then-am actually thinking of her now, in a totally different way-she went through my mind very quickly, like when a bird flies near you so quickly that you barely noticed it, with no hard feelings attached-only Love is felt! Thank you so very much dearest Julia for introducing me to your beautiful Essence and sharing it with me-I absolutely love it and will definitely be getting more of it from you & recommending it to others who could benefit from it.  It also helps me with my meditation-opens my Third Eye Chakra even more and helps with my visions...You are doing an amazing job beautiful lady-am thanking Universe for sending you my way and am very blessed to have you in my life...Much Love and Blessings to you always" 

Saska, Oct 2011

Trentham Falls, Vic, the 'White Lady' of Forest Well Essences