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International Women's Day - Reclaiming the Wise Ways

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Kay Nielson, East of the Sun West of the Moon 1914

Happy International Women's Day everyone! Why do we celebrate such a day? I celebrate because not so very longer ago our sisters were bound and locked away from education, did not have the right to vote, often had marriages arranged for them and most importantly were punished for using the Wise Women Ways  - naturally intuitive gifts and tools passed from grandmother to mother to daughter. 
This morning I was thinking of the word 'witch' and it's potency and demonisation. What is it about the Witch that we find so frightening? What is the energetic binding around this name that makes us want to turn away? What if the word Witch could simply be another name for our natural intuition as woman, and our innate knowing of Mother Nature and her teachings? What if the word Witch meant: Sacred Feminine, Healer, Shamaness, Seer, Diviner, Medicine Woman? 
A Visit to the Witch: Edward Frederick Brewtnall (1846-1902)
I would ask you to look at this typical image of the archetypal Witch given to us. What is it that we fear? Examine this image beyond the binding of past beliefs and the brain-washing of a society that has for centuries been deeply afraid to honour the natural wisdom of the Sacred Feminine. What do you choose to see? I would love to share with you what I see.
  • A Crone who is beyond the limitations of appearance and belief of worthiness measured on her physical beauty.
  • An Elder who has lived a long life with many experiences of love, death and rebirth.
  • A woman who has chosen to live close to nature, to hear the Mother clearly, to know her creatures and her plants.
  • A woman who knows how to live sustainably and in harmony with the earth.
  • A woman who knows the value of each element: earth, water, air and fire - because these are all she needs to care for her body and LIVE.
  • Two women who must step out of the busy-ness of the mundane world and journey to the wild forest. Women who need to sit with someone with clear eyes, one who has not been influenced by outside forces and trusts her own authority. 
  • Two women who have forgotten how to communicate with their own spirit and to know what is sick, what is needing nourishment, to know what wise gifts they each carry and how to share them. 
Today I will celebrate International Women's Day by engaging in a practice so ancient and natural to women - the reading of oracles. I will give thanks for having the freedom to not only engage and come to know my own spirit in this way but also the freedom to share my ancestral wisdom with other sisters in open classes, workshops and consultations.  Today I  celebrate all of the beautiful sisters who have shared circles with me and sat with me to open their hearts and in doing so have helped me to open mine. 
This morning I created a Tarot spread to speak with your own Wise Woman WIthin: 
Wise Woman Tarot Spread:

Card 1: What is my own unique wise way?
Card 2: What is unconscious about this gift?
Card 3: What action will help me to bring what is unconscious into my conscious world?
Card 4: What binding beliefs of the past do I need to release to reclaim my intuitive gifts?
Card 5: What do I need to embrace to express these gifts with fearless love?
Card 6: The way forward.
Every woman is Wise Woman. We each carry our own unique essence and we are all valuable, worthy and have a purpose. We are growing Wise Sisters and we are many. Now we are being asked to begin to gather and share our wisdom, to help others who are afraid or sick, to ask for help from the Elders, the Ancestors.  And in this deep love and knowing of Self we will also create equal and respectful relationships, work and sharing with our Brothers and we will remember again how to live in harmony with Mother Earth.

Bee Well! Bee Wild! Love, Julia 

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Gratitude: Joanna Powell Colbert and Gaian Tarot

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The image you see above is from Joanna Powell Colbert's Gaian Tarot. Joanna is artist, author and teacher and for many years, she has been a huge inspiration to me. Perhaps it is because she too is a Water Woman that she feels so much like kin. I use the Gaian Tarot deck almost exclusively in our Swan Blessing healing sessions and balances and in most Tarot workshops and classes. I also use this deck daily to read for myself, to interpret dreaming, dive into the deep pool of the unconscious when I am too fixated on only what I see of the surface and to also attune to the rhythms of the Mother - Gaia. I have found this deck to be incredibly healing and gentle with a strong shamanic essence and deep connection to Mother Nature. If you are looking for a new deck to read with in these changing times or perhaps you are new to Tarot, I heartily urge you to begin your Tarot journey with the Gaian Tarot.
And this morning, we discovered that Joanna had just shared this message with her Gaian Tarot tribe:  

"If you've been reading my work for any length of time, you know how important it is to me that our experience of the natural world is rooted in the place right where we live. So all of my nature musings are geared towards people who live in the Northern Hemisphere. If you are one of our friends who lives in the Southern Hemisphere, I know you are now approaching Autumn Equinox. I have not yet figured out a way to write authentically about my experience right here-and-now in a way that speaks to you too. Until I do, I'd like to direct you to Julia Inglis and Tony Esta at Sacred Familiar, who do really lovely seasonal work (among other things!) in Australia."

Dear Joanna, we are so honoured and deeply thankful! I hope that one day we may share Tarot Dreaming together here in Australia. 
For all those who wish to work online with Joanna in her amazing 'Gaian Soul Seasonal Practices', Joanna is taking registrations for her next 5 week course discovering the wise teachings of Spring. These courses are deeply nourishing and valuable to us all wherever we are in the world. A gift for all those wanting to learn how to listen and work with Mother Nature and awaken their own naturally creative talents. 
Joanna! Love to you across the oceans mermaid sister.
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The Weekly Familiar - Koala

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The Weekly Familiar - An animal message from Tony

KOALA: Koala is a marsupial that lives high up in the gumtrees and is native to only Australia. The koala teaches us about the importance of rest and sleep. It's medicine is of the Dreamer. It comes to us when we need to take time out of 'busyness' and relax. If the Koala has been making itself known to you through dreaming and meditation it may be because there has been too much worrying, which can make the mind race in circles and lead to exhaustion. Let the Koala show you how to step back from your worries and just BE. Not all problems can be solved through the mind, some of our greatest breatkthroughs in difficult situations come through our Dreaming. Koala would urge you to rest - can you make time for a nap today or even better, embrace in a long, deep period of sleep.
Be Wild!
Tony
These photographs were taken last year at the Southern Ash Wildlife Shelter in Victoria an incredible volunteer animal shelter run by Colleen Wood and her amazing team who work without any funding or assistance from the government. Colleen is the leading expert on koala care and welfare in Australia and she would be so grateful for any assistance and donations you can spare to help care for these beautiful animals that are unfortunately in so much danger due to expanding urban environments and man-created diseases. Did you know that you can sponsor one of these gorgeous creatures for just $40?! Colleen's aim is to help as many koalas come to full healing and be returned again to the wild. You can find out more about the work of Southern Ash at their website and on their Facebook page.

 

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Return of the Wisdom Traditions

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Tony walking with Autumn elementals in Sherbrooke Forest 5.3.2013


“Shamanism is not a faith, but a wisdom tradition in which we learn purely from our own individual, collective and personal experience. It is not a religion and is dogma-free; indeed it supports any existing spiritual practice one already has. Many of us deeply desire a connection to our own ‘soulfulness’ and that of all other living beings in a free and natural way. This is the essence of Shamanism.”

-John Cantwell Pathway of the Heart

The beautiful wisdom shared by our anam cara 'friends of the soul' John Cantwell and his wife Karen Ward, through their shamanic practice 'sli on chroi' (pathway of the heart) in Ireland is a gift to us all - I encourage you to explore their amazing and soul-filled shamanic work.

John and Karen have invited us to Ireland in 2014 where they will be host our work as we bring The Swan Blessing teachings to our Irish friends. I can't tell you how happy this makes me and how I am already dreaming in the return to my ancestral home.

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Autumn Equinox Past Life Workshop and Ceremony

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Are you ready to feel free?
We are all feeling the massive changes of 2013 in our own way. For some the transformations feel exhilarating whilst others are feeling intense fear - what you may be sensing is the restriction of binding beliefs, ideas and experiences from Past Life Vows, Oaths and Sacred Contracts.
Join us as we share the message of how to Shed the Ties that Bind at the auspicious point of balance for the Earth that is the Autumn Equinox.  In this workshop and ceremony we will share ways to help you shed what no longers serves so that you can find expression for your unique gifts in the wave of change.
As places are limited you will need to pre-book.
We look forward to welcoming you in the dreaming x