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.