Images

Parts of a Whole

After recently opening up about my mental health, it was encouraging to watch Philip Carr-Gomm’s weekly webcast Tea with a Druid. Episode 153 is entitled “Honouring Fragility, Hallowing Limitation” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLSbYw4SqRY. Philip spoke about the heroic quest we may find ourselves on while travelling a spiritual path. I took special note of the following words:

“As with everything, I think we always have to include its opposite. If we only stress the most heroic part of this quest…we’re going to miss something. So, honouring fragility and really allowing ourselves to not try to get away from those feelings of weakness, fragility, limitation, feels to me really important.”

Of course, Philip’s words resonated with me, and lead to a very healing experience the other day while I relaxed in the garden. I imagined the many parts of myself, and honoured my fragility for what it is, one part of a whole. In turn, my many beautiful parts revealed themselves as they gently swirled closer to one another, and touched.

As a whole, we merged with our surroundings, especially with the life-giving trees who share the plot of land we live upon. We grew increasingly aware of the many wonderful colours and tones, the crinkles and cracks, of the trees’ bark, and felt renewed by the abundance of life in their amazing eco-systems.

All those little parts of myself – the fragile, the stubborn, the creative, the funny – make up a whole that is, simply, me. Honouring my fragility has come to mean being open and curious enough to explore its depths. I’m continuing to become more grounded, more centred, and feel that the (relatively) heroic goals I wish to achieve are realistic, and right for me.

With tree wisdom in mind, I’ve chosen to include a photo for this post that shows the beautiful bark of a Western Red Cedar – a bark that is rich, resilient, and a valued strand in the fabric of life for so many.

When You Take Your Own Troubles Back

My grandmother used to say that if you put all the troubles of the world in a basket, you’d soon take your own back. I always thought it was a great bit of wisdom, especially coming from a mother of ten, a teacher, and a strong woman who loved life. She was thankful for all that gave her comfort. When I think of Grandma, I always see her smiling, or laughing, belly jiggling and all.

Cut to me, sitting on the living room couch and weeping while watching Anne Hathaway lie down on a bathroom floor, and sob. I’m referring to a beautifully performed scene from an episode of Modern Love (Amazon Videos) entitled “Take Me as I Am, Whoever I Am”.

In an awkwardly presented YouTube video, which I deleted months ago, I briefly referred to the depression I live with, and the PTSD which was diagnosed about four years ago. The hope of offering understanding to others in need of healing was why I set off on my WordPress and YouTube journeys. Hopefully, I’m getting somewhere with these words, even when they don’t come easily.

I will continue to take my own troubles back. Leaving them in the basket will keep them hidden in the dark. I will hold a bright flame to them, even when those feisty little sparks surprise me with their stings.

Integration 2

The blackberry harvest has been abundant this year.  It began a few weeks ago with the thornless variety, originally present in only the neighbour’s backyard, but well established in mine now, after growing under and up the fence.  Two to three weeks later it came time to harvest berries, and a few small wounds, from the very thorny wild bramble I leave to grow in one corner of the yard.  The bramble’s survival instinct is incredible – if I didn’t cut it back it would devour the whole garden, and then some.

Blackberries are a favourite fruit, a taste nurtured during sun-filled days picking berries with a pie-and-cobbler-baking auntie.  At this time of year, we would hike up to a power line, where the forest was cleared.  It was there that we found good access to the blackberry bushes that grew along the edge of the clearing.  We frequently spotted black bears, who were out and about for their share of the berries.  Foraging alongside wild animals added to the adventure, and certainly offered a life lesson in how inter-connected our lives were.

When I first flipped through The Herbcrafter’s Tarot, written by Joanna Powell Colbert, illustrated Latisha Guthrie (U.S. Games Systems Inc., 2019), it amused me to see Blackberry as card number fifteen, the Devil.  Perfect!  While harvesting berries this year, I was reminded of this Devil card, which led me to having a look at other decks.  The word ‘integration’ appeared a number of times.  I clearly saw that the Goddess of inspiration was encouraging me to take the idea of integration to a deeper level.

A few key words for the Devil card are struggle, trapped, materialism, decisions, potential, awakening.  I’ll be more aware of the opposing forces as I work to find wholeness, and for me that means being able to, in turn, channel the creative forces that flow through me, outwards again.

Integration

For a couple of weeks after I received the beautiful self-published ‘Tree Whisper Oracle’ by Maggie Black https://treewhisperoracle.wixsite.com/website, I frequently pulled ‘Integration’, and the message resonated.  As I move forward with Brigid’s Creel, what I thought would be a blog about Tarot and Oracle cards, is going to be about the many allies that accompany us on the road to healing.  These allies help to create balance.  My sun sign is Libra.  Ultimately, I suppose, the lack of balance feels wrong; unfulfilling.

The word ‘unfulfilling’ may sound a little selfish, so let’s turn it around; to fulfill conveys a straight-forward, positive idea.  Here are two definitions from the OED:  Achieve or realize; gain happiness or satisfaction by fully achieving one’s potential.  I would wish fulfillment for everyone.  I am truly grateful for the friends I’ve made, and look forward to strengthening the threads that connect us.

Many of you will already be aware of my interest in gardening and herbs.  I also enjoy photography, history, literature, and folklore.  Looking to the cultural and spiritual traditions of my ancestors has always been very inspirational.

The key theme of the posts will be the life-affirming journey to healing and creative expression.  The content I share will be offered with the hope that I am providing a space where others might find kinship, and allow themselves to comfortably sit for awhile.