It was -1 C at 9 am this morning, with the wind chill it was -10 C.
Nestled into the hedge, waiting for the heat of the sun
Snow Drops
Tag Archives: WWT
Turning Point
A few years ago, while I was in the early stages of recovery from burn out, I realized that all the work that I was doing to heal was missing a component. That component was my spirituality.
From past experience, I knew that my spirituality was the foundation of my existence. Over the years I had taken a lot of workshops, drawing from each of them, facets that I resonated to and that supported my inner world.
The only way I managed to do anything was when I was reacting to the world around me. but to do that meant that I was ignoring my inner world. to accomplish what was expected of me I would over extend my self and once I had fulfilled ‘their’ expectations, I would collapse for days, sometimes a week. A ‘Catch 22’.
It was at that time, that I received an email regarding an online Spiritual workshop from Jocelyn Mercado. Being online meant that I didn’t have to leave the house, I could choose to listen to the presenters or not.
It takes a lot of energy to listen and focus and I didn’t have the energy to listen to all the presenters, so I sorted through the offering and chose 1 or 2 a day.
I enjoyed listening to the other spiritual guides and advisers, but it was Simone Wright’s no-nonsense grounded attitude that caught my attention.
I worked with Simone for 2 years until she took a sabbatical from teaching last year. Recently, I received an email telling me about a program she is offering called Visioneering.
In Simone’s words “There IS a way to making your Visions a reality and it’s not rooted in magic. It’s rooted in an energetic STRATEGY that actually helps you ENGINEER your Visions for the future, by giving them a stable yet powerful, container through which ALL of the energy of your Visions can move!
YOU are that container and YOU are the Engineer as well.”
Check it out at Visioneering.
Simone’s offering a special price until March 3.
Disclosure: I have no connection with either Simone Wright or Jocelyn Mercado, other than the work I did with them. As a spiritual teacher I highly recommend Simone.
Rivers of Energy, Places of Power
Hello Everyone!
Today I am honored to have Widdershins as guest Blog post. Read On & Enjoy!
Widdershins has just published her book, Prelude – The Gaining Of Shamanic Wisdom. It’s part memoir, part memoir, part Shamanic adventure, and part guidebook, with a dash of dire warning on the side. More information about Widdershins herself, and Prelude, at the end.
Take it away, Widdershins!
-oOo-
We are Beings of Earth, Air, Water, Fire.
But there is so much more to our existence, so much more to ‘see’, all around us, if only we have the ‘eyes’, the awareness, to understand what we’re looking at.
We are also children of this planet, our Mother, Earth. And as such we are able to connect to the fifth Aspect of Her Spirit, by engaging with a different Realm of Awareness than the Physical, measurable, quantifiable one that we see all around us, and without which we wouldn’t exist in these biological forms we currently inhabit.
One of these Realms of Awareness involves the Places of Power on the surface of the Earth, and their interconnectedness through the body of the earth.
The Places of Power are scattered throughout the six great landmasses, Australia, Africa, South America, Eurasia, Antarctica, and North America, and the myriad islands throughout the ‘seven seas’. (There may indeed be Places of Power under the oceans and seas, that we haven’t got close enough to experience yet)
They are naturally occurring Sacred Circles, that separate the magical from the mundane and from within which, it is easier to connect to other Realms of Awareness.
They range from famous and grand structures like Stonehenge in south-western England and the Nazca lines in Peru, to the moment when you walk between two trees on either side of a forest path and know that something is different.
All of them are connected to each other by rivers of energy that pass through the body of the Earth, the mantle and inner and outer core, like a giant three-dimensional spiderweb.
In my Shamanic Journeys I see them as brightly colored strings of shiny beads, woven around a core of pure energy. It’s possible to, carefully, engage with these rivers and hitch a ride to any destination, to any Place of Power, you wish.
The rivers also allow the Places themselves to communicate with each other, to share energy as needed, to repair the passages of Time, or the careless scuff made by the boot of a human tourist.
The smaller Places that are not anchored to one geographical location, as are the two ‘famous’ ones I mentioned above, have the ability to move around, drawn by a Spirit’s need, or responding to the Earth Herself.
They are both the Journey and the Destination. And are such fun to play with!
Imagine, having prepared your physical and Spirit bodies, you close your eyes and hitch a ride with one of the rivers. You travel, at the speed of thought, through the great body of the Earth, observing all the energies swirling around you.
Who knows what adventures you will have.
-oOo-
About Prelude:
Shamans come in all shapes and sizes, from all walks of life, from all the continents of the Earth. We’ve been around since the human race realized there was more to existence than just the physical, and we’ll be around long after the last star has died, when the Wheel turns to renew All.
Becoming a Shaman is not for the faint-of-heart, or the timid-of Spirit. It is not an easy Path, nor should it be. The responsibilities are great and require harsh testing before one is judged capable of shouldering them.
There are many Pathways to becoming a Shaman, and I came to understand mine through my Earth-based, Goddess Spirituality, She who is the First Mother of Us All, in all Her forms.
‘Prelude’ is the story of my very first steps along that Path. It is part memoir, part Shamanic adventure, and part guidebook, with a dash of dire warning on the side.
From the moment I came across a giant statue of Bast, I knew my life would never be the same. There were times I froze, bled, burned, raged, and cried. My life, my past, the shadows, and the shining moments, all the things I believed defined me, were challenged, until nothing but a truth, my Truth, remained.
Join me as I confront my monsters, discover my true Name, and come to understand that the Physical world I grew up with was just a tiny corner of a much vaster Cosmos.
Prelude is available on Amazon as an ebook and paperback, HERE … and on Smashwords as an ebook, HERE
-oOo-
About Widdershins:
I was born in England on a crisp autumn eve in 1958, emigrated to Australia at the tender age of two, and moved to Canada in 2004 where I married the love of my life. I left school when I was fourteen, and thereafter continued my education via libraries, books, and whatever Life decided to throw my way.
I’m a Shaman, a lesbian, a writer of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Fiction. I’m a bicyclist, a feminist, a gardener, a crafter of clay … I’ve been an architect, a seamstress, an athlete, a field hand …
Being a Shaman is the Thread of my life from which all else is woven. Writing is one of my Great Passions, novels specifically, short stories occasionally, and always with lesbian characters.
I adopted ‘Widdershins’ as a username in the early days of the interwebz, and it stuck … because I am, if nothing else, contrariwise. Also, it’s witchy, whimsical, and wild.
I can be found in the ethers with my writerly hat on at Widdershins Worlds and wearing my Shaman hat at Widdershins, The Shaman.
-oOo-
Widdershins, as Writer:
One day, late in my high-school career, in order to avoid writing a very boring science essay, I turned in a short science fiction story instead. It incorporated the information in the essay, but in a much more readable form. (in my humble opinion)
When I handed it in I caught a glimpse of my teacher’s face as she started reading it, she’d turned rather pale. I discreetly exited the room before her ability to speak returned. As I fled I heard a bark of what I hoped was laughter, but it could’ve been an incipient heart attack. Only time would tell.
Upon receiving the marked essay back I saw the following scrawled across the top. ‘Don’t ever do this to me again.’ Somewhere in the middle was a, ‘Well Done.’ In the bottom left-hand corner was a very large red ‘A’.
That was the moment my career as a writer began.
-oOo-
Widdershins, as Shaman:
I always wanted to know the layers of ‘why’, about everything, and to see beyond the horizon, all the horizons. I found answers to most of my ‘why’s and wherefore’s’ about things of a physical, intellectual, and emotional ilk, but the spiritual … hmm … that evaded me. So I engaged with the obvious first, but found far too many holes in traditional religion, and any practice that required genuflecting to a guru didn’t do it for me either, particularly if there was some bloke at the top of things telling everyone else what they should or shouldn’t do in order to achieve his vision of … whatever he wanted.
I read everything I could get my hands on, and quested among New Age philosophies, and ‘eastern’ practices. (a good many of which, unfortunately, fell into the above mentioned ‘bloke-at-the-top’ category)
Then I discovered the women writing about feminist politics and spirituality from a woman-centered perspective. Women like Mary Daly, Colette, Kate Millett, Diane Stein, Starhawk, Monica Sjoo, Dale Spender, Vicki Noble, Clarissa Pinkola Estes, and many, many others.
After much searching I came to understand that what moved my Spirit was an Earth-based, Goddess Spirituality, the First Mother of Us All.
And so, my Journey to become a Shaman of Her Path began, with ‘Prelude’.
In Memory of 2018 – May You Rest in Peace
2018 has been a year of Perseverance and Transition.
After hitting bottom, which can be translated as burning out, over 3 years ago, I had hopes that 2018 would be the end of the stop/start format of the previous years as I tried to heal and create a new lifestyle. Despite all my efforts, well…
2018 started with a concussion and a broken ankle… this was not an auspicious start.
During the first 6 months of the year, I did start working as an office temp. I did learn to ride my scooter. On the business end, I did shift my business from live theatre with a plan to teach … what, I wasn’t sure of. I had numerous ideas, all interesting, created plans which quickly revealed their limitations and at times were noticeably dead-ends.
But… why is there always a but… the healing component was slower.
At these times, my life was like quicksand. According to Wikipedia, due to the density of quicksand, movement may be impaired… slow movement will enable an individual to remove themselves from quicksand, (this is due to water displacing the sand through pressure), sinking is impossible unless movement is panicky. If panicky movement is continued it could trap a person and under adverse conditions, they could lose their life.
The myth of falling into quicksand and dying, according to Wikipedia, is unrealistic and an exaggerated ploy of the film industry.[i]
That being said, the more slowly I moved through the healing aspect over 2018, the lest apt I was to sink through the foundation I was building. There were times, sudden spurts of enthusiasm or worse, trying to fulfill other’s expectations, I would sink… then, I would have to re-evaluate, and find tools to rebuild my foundation.
At the time, I equated slowness with nothing changing, yet in hindsight a great deal changed.
For over the last quarter of 2018, I transitioned my focus on healing, and found the subject I would teach, Burn Out’, my focus, ‘Recovery’.
[i] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quicksand
Ice storm
We just returned from a walk, surveying the damage of the ice storm that swept through Mission.
Trees are shaking off the ice, snow and broken branches as they bask in the heat of the sun. Icicles now hang precariously on power lines ready to impale the unwary. As we were forewarned by a few standing up-right – piercing our drive.
We had listened to the thud and cracks of the trees that surround us; topped, branches torn and swept away by the wind.
Our maple lost 2 branches… we’ve nurtured that tree since moving here 6 years ago, and it was painful to hear the heavy crack as they gave way under the layers of ice. 
It was nirvana to wake up to the power on yesterday morning, after 3 days without it. We’d kept warm with our kerosene heater, but we were down to our last filling of kerosene. And we were melting snow for water, our electric water pump for our little cult de sac has no back up generator.
I’d like to join the many others who are Thanking BC Hydro crews that worked 16 hour days to get the power back on. I can only imagine how difficult it was to battle the ice rain, toppling trees, branches and poles layered with ice.
Work-space Upgrade
As I said, I realized I wouldn’t be travelling and performing as I had originally planned in 2017. My Business Advisor at Community Futures suggested I create a Plan B.
What to do?
What to do?
I played with a few ideas and latched onto Voice Over.
Changing Plans required ‘deep thinks’. My adviser made a few suggestions … Librivox … sounded interesting… a good place to start. following their suggestions, I ordered a mic and I downloaded Audacity. I read (moan) parts of the manual. Looks simple enough.
Seeking guidance on the net revealed Voice.com and Voice Acting 101. Love their websites …a boon of information.
It quickly became apparent that my work-space wouldn’t work.
So after a few trips to thrift stores… this space …
Becomes this space …
The final results are!
Coming up … Sound Panels …
Welcome to Dropping Pennies, the Home of Wise Women Travellers
Dropping Pennies is about insights, changes in perspectives. The Ah Ha!, and Oh!, moments I have, books I read and anything else that catches my fancy. And every now and then I’ll throw in something about my business, Wise Women Travellers, travelling theater company.
I grew up in a family of girls in the Cariboo, BC Canada. My father followed the work, mining and logging while my mother kept the ‘home fires burning’, canning a quarter acre garden and the deer or moose they brought in, not necessarily during the hunting season.
I was in my early teens before we got electricity and running water.
For my 10th birthday, I begged my parents for a pair of cap guns that I saw in the window of the local store – they were full size with leather cross holsters that tied down. I was in my 30’s when I let them go, and even now question why. I believe that the choices we make in life should be informed – conscious – not because others say so or because we’re swept up in the moment – I found not thinking through a choice creates regrets. And so, letting go of my guns was not something I thought through.
About the same timeframe, age 10, a group of entertainers came to town and played at the community hall. The MC and main singer introduced his daughter who tapped danced, telling us that she didn’t like to practice, she would rather skip. So, he and she agreed she could skip as long as she tapped at the same time. It was the first time I realized that work could be more than drudgery.
At Simon Fraser university, where I graduated in 1994 with a BFA in theater, I met a young man in his 20’s, who was born in Tibet, raised in China and India, and was Caucasian. He showed me that race, colour, or religion do not necessarily create culture. Culture stems from our life experiences.
According to E.B. Taylor, culture is “that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom and any other capabilities and habits acquired by a man as a member of society.”
Today there seems to be more pressure on people to conform. Different cultures demand that their differences be acknowledged and the expectations that we deny who we are in order to be seen as politically correct and unbiased. I believe that if we accept our own culture, and acknowledge what doesn’t work, and what does, then we are apt to look for alternatives that are more expansive than our individual culture and then become more accepting of all cultures.
Denying ‘our Selves’ doesn’t create better people. Denying who we are doesn’t help the issues that arise when cultures clash. How can we accept one another if we are denied our own?
Dropping Pennies 