She grows out of damp soils where Water and Earth merge, representing the embodied consciousness of the shift from Maiden to Mother. 

Bright and quick they fly so close by me I can hear and feel their wing muscles manoeuvring their flight, as they brush past.

Their brilliant bright song fills the heart with it’s sweetness. 

Eating and drinking what the land offers is more than nurturing our bodies, we develop an intimacy with the Earths body, an innate awareness of seasonal flow, the tender miracle and determination of life, how it is sustained and meets it’s needs within an eternal dance of evolving relationship.

… March into April 2026

Over the past few weeks the elementals have been handing over pockets of land and guiding me what to plant in each, as well as glimpses of next years projects already - which means it’s taking some level of self control to not rush in and complete this years projects first!

It feels curious to me that after the year of Snake, which was often referred to as releasing old layers - removing external structures - that this then enables the expansion of the year of the Horse - more room to grow … which loosens what is more deeply buried within to rise up and be seen, witnessed and dissolved.

It’s mid-April and it’s something of a relief to know that throughout all the storm winds, rain, sleet and snow - that nest have been built, eggs laid and the young are hatching …

The more I become absorbed in writing this the more species are showing me their protective qualities … Gorse with the power of a coiled snake, Rowan deeply rooted within the feminine power, Hawthorn emboldening the power of the Heart, Nettles restorative warmth, Hollys ability to hold thunder and so many fungi are talking to me about theirs … and I am starting to be initiated into the knowledge of the protective qualities of nurturance that plants and animals carry to care for what is precious.

They are like fluffy balls of white and grey with a pink flush - and I’ve always associated them with the Fae.

Living closer to the land in a more deconstructed way I need to go outside to move between rooms and spaces. Life in the Highlands means that all plans are influenced by weather and season, I’m used to that, though life not being contained by 4 walls enables deeper, richer, connection.

Many of us have stories where Divine grace guided us in ways beyond our comprehension and the more we can align with those subtle, and not so subtle, nudges the deeper our trust that the magic and the miracles are unfolding even when we don’t see them yet.

Today I found over 30 self-seeded baby Cherry trees on the croft - imagine my excitement ! I couldn’t get an exact count though, as I would have trampled them. Cherry is for New Beginnings, the celebration of having crossed a threshold. 

And now it seems this timeline has been revived along with the gifts of a very different spiritual journey to the one I had envisioned all those years ago.

This is a time of living closely with the land and her multiple realm occupants, in a kind of deconstructed living space, and listening deeply.