Druid Plant Calendar 14th Feb - 15th March Vervain Moon

So, we've had a few Moons already now..
Madder Moon,
Chamomile Moon,

and I know Im lack of this current Moon - but I've been super busy and super tired to even get 10 mins to pull a card and blog about it. I love having a full life, but its been rather overflowing. That spell of flu I had delayed lots of stuff... although I did get to kick back and dose myself up on herbal teas and good books during the flu - very good Chamomile energy! hehe

So.. this moon, already in its first quarter I know.. but the DPO says it is the Vervain Moon
I do like this... Vervain is a plant of power, of connecting to the energies and in doing so sharing energies. As this moon grows I can spring growing into its fullness, and as it does our spirits grow also. It starts with spring cleaning, with feeling that mad 'march hare' energy, bits of chaos but love and fun within it :)
A time for problems to be overcome, and love to spring forth says the book... nice one :)

PDR review reading.

Its been ages since I've played with my DPO. It seems ages since I was even outside under the full moon in the snow, cleansing its bag and spread cloth. Its with a touch of nerves that I pick up my DPO this evening. How will we fair now I've been ill for so long and not played with it. I tried to pick it up the other evening, but it just wasnt happening and the plants just said 'leave it out' lol.

So, Ive had to do a centering and focusing practice before even opening the deck bag tonight. But that feels appropriate. To put the 'vibes' of illness at the door and let the flowers of the plants sing to me something hopeful.

So I finally get a chance to play with Onyx's tweaking of a previous spread, tweaked with the Primary Deck Reflections in mind.. Onyx's post for the spread here

The spread..

******2*****4*****
*********3********
******1*****5*****

Position One: How am I progressing with my PDR? Cuckoo Pint
Well, the card shows that Im making a real progress with the PDR, far more so that I ever thought I was. If I think back to how I was very sketchy in my aims when I set up this blog - yet my experiences and the readings I've had with the DPO have come on really well. I've been able to go with my intuition a bit more and let the plants speak to me.
Cuckoo Pint I also think of like the Lovers, the union of male and female, the fizzle of attraction and how that plant is just saying 'come and get me baby' lol. And I have had some decks that have battled for my affections (one Deviant Moon) and other interests and flu that have been also in the background. Yet its been a very good constant for me.
I think we are a really good match! I think its also because the plants want to permeate through all the levels of your being. Its not just an oracle deck to find out what will happen with X or who will ask me out on valentines day. The plants energies are there to really work their magick on you. And Im more than happy for them to do so.

Position Two: Why do I need to do this PDR? Nettle
OK... heres the stinger. Part of my deeeeep down reasons to play with this deck was to fight against an assumption I'd made about the DPO. I thought 'Philip, Stephanie and Bill had a fab idea with this deck, but plants just don't 'read' the same way other types of oracles do'. And boy did they prove me wrong! So its that shedding of my misconceptions, that my own issue with it had created a problem, like people who think of nettles as evil stinging plants yet are marvelled when they drink its tea, or make nettle string etc. Its an amazing plant.
Also, I've had a few stingers in 2010 so far. And the DPO has been a wonderful processing tool of whats been happening. Whether this blog is a wonderful processing tool is something to be debated about in my head as I progress with my PDR. But yes, its definitely good for me to do this regular practice and reflection with the plants.

Position Three: What problem am I facing with my PDR? Vervain
The Hare on this card is looking at me.. or rather looking at me and wanting to LEAP back into the Nettle or the Cuckoo Pint cards. A lot has happened to me over the past few weeks, both on the inner and outer realms, both to do with PDR and not to do with PDR. And thats groovy - thats the wonderful mystery of what life is all about.
I guess what my problem is that sometimes I get so excited and want to LEAP OFF to other ideas, other possible areas of study, that I forget that solid foundation. These changes that have happened to be recently I really feel are due to the work Im doing with the DPO, reflective connecting process of Spirit and my Self - and thats a very sacred process not to be forgotten by the new shiney thing in the corner (yes I have short attention spans and magpie tendencies). Also, I get an idea and want to leap off making connections that never get finished.
SO Vervain is saying this is where I have felt connected, nourished and empowered, and this is where I need to keep working, putting more time in with the cards. Not to be forgotten.
I think especially as March is looking to be a particularly 'mad march' (get it, mad march, hare.. oh nevermind LOL), its a reminder to be focused.
Thank you Vervain :)

Position Four: Where do I need to focus on developing in my PDR? Yarrow
First words in my head - divination.
OK I've shown that DPO is more than a reading deck, its more than pretty set of pictures, BUT i do need to do more readings for others with it. It was part of my plan when doing this PDR and so it should continue to be!
Yarrow and Nettle both have snakes... perhaps this is something I need to consider? Hmph. Yarrow is not a card I 'feel' a lot for, apart from the arrow thing, but I feel that doesnt apply so much here. Hmph some more. I think the snake is significant.

Position Five: What can I gain from this PDR? Clover
*sings roll me over...*cough* maybe not..
Well Im also stumped on this card. Ok, deep breathe and feel..
The card is like a little piece of faery in the woods, an untouched place by man. The blessed 4 leafed clovers are hidden in the card but I can see them. Its like I've been on a quest to find one thing, and found something so much greater.
So here is an idea of small caterpillers big butterflies grow.
The Salmon is a fish of wisdom and inspiration but only by the food it eats and the waters it lives in. So I need to fill my PDR with good positive ideas so that positive outcomes come from it.
And not to forget that my personal life affects my relationship with the DPO. If I have illness then that will affect the DPO and my PDR - and I really did not want to play when I had the flu. So there is a feeling of deep respect and sharings of energies that needs to be appreciated.
The books keywords of Wisdom, health, good fortune, venom, liberation and assimilation all roll into what I have felt. However the words dont justify the feeling. There is this deeper energy work with my PDR experience of the DPO that is really important to me in ways I know and cant even begin to know. That might sound weird pagan hippy shit - but its how I roll!

The base card (also a base card, plants have ROOTS ya know!) is Woad another old friend and ally here in DPO land.
The PDR keeps me on the straight and narrow, the stem of the plant vs the umbrella like nature of the roots and flowering point of the card. I was speaking to an archaeologist friend of mine about spears, and how with a spear you have to hold your nerve, you are getting up close to your prey and you need be bloody bonkers to do it considering prey like the Wild Boar.
LOL Maybe Im bonkers trying to hunt myself? Well they do say God helps those that helps themselves...


BBQ anyone? :P


So... what does that mean for my February plans with the PDR.
1) Keep it as the DPO. Its just working so well, its going somewhere interesting and I want to find out where it goes
2) Its a really good nurturing rock for me to learn the DPO, to reflect on myself, but also to have a connection with those who are also following a PDR experience on AT. So its that reason I want to 're-open' the doors to the blog and celebrate that connection. You have to be in the web to feel part of it.
3) continue holding myself to the outline set out in post 2 of this wee blog. Its working, Bramble is a good 'get off your arse and do something coz its good for you' energy to have around me at the mo :)

Groovy! My PDR chums will be so happy :D

broken legs and pancakes

I feel really flat today, Im having a pancake day. I just feel blah.

Last night I had a very odd dream that keeps replaying on my mind. I was on a swing, and it took me a while before I got on the swing of the swing. I was going backwards when someone came and walked infront of the swing. I think it had been a game in the dream of them running across the swing as I swung forwards.
Anyways, for some reason, before I got anywhere near them they fell on the floor and broke their leg. It was a proper nasty break, as if i'd broken a pencil. I could see all inside the leg, the marrow, the vessels, the tendons and muscles.. it was quite gorey but even in the dream I had a nurse's curiousity of 'ooooh so thats what it really looks like' lol.

So, I want to probe what this dream means. Asking my newly consecrated DPO and its bag and cloth, I got the reply of Vervain (top card) and Lady's Mantle (bottom card).
Vervain keeps saying to me something about needing to break things apart. To really get a true idea of what is happening, of what something is, you need to pull it apart, smash it open and see how it works.
I keep getting the idea of eggs cracking as well, eggs are only symbols of rebirth and new life because we know inside is a new life growing - needing to be smashed open to come out.
The book mentions a joining together and a reconsiliation - about how offerings and sacrifice reconnect us to the Gods and to the Magic of the land. Maybe I need to go out and make an offering to put the broken leg back together again?

Lady's Mantle is an interesting one. I feel that its first reply is I've done well to read about this dream, to look deeper into it and find out its meaning, its healing, its potential. Dreams, like dew drops can sometimes be easy to forget about, walk through to get on with the rest of the day. I have felt this one was imporant to read about..
It could also be another message to do with the recent vibes in my life to connect deeper to the Goddess, the subconscious, the Moon etc.

By the Gods these plants are good!

I also desperately want to do a PDR reading over my experiment so far! But that'll also wait till later. Hopefully I'll have some get-go today to organise myself!

my week ahead

OK im getting braver now, going to go for a spread with 7 cards and the DPO. In a bid to put the past week behind me, I'm going to read for the week coming - so between now and the 17 January.

The spread...
------1-------------7---
--------2---------6-----
----------3-----4-------
-------------5----------
Its the horseshoe spread, that is well used and loved by most tarotists out there, and I do love it. I usually like to play with the Umbrae version of it, but as I'm doing a reading for this week coming and not to look at the future 2 weeks and beyond.

1st card - past Borage Rx
its not been the time to get angry or get even. In fact theres been a swallowing of some anger and feeling upset and wanted to fight my own corner. Its been appropriate to keep the sword in the scabbard. Even words havent been a weapon to use (if you think about swords/air/words in the tarot). Others might think I have been apathetic, been very quiet and not running into war like I usually would. But its been the better option at the time, considering Mercury Retrograde its best to say nothing at all lol.

2nd card - present Vervain Ux
That the decision to be quiet has been the right one for me at this time. That I have spent time working within my own power, finding and healing and procesing stuff. Im at a point where I feel very groovy and happy with my lot, and trusting in Spirit that what is right will weave in or out of my life. But Im very grateful to all the stuff I have and have had. Sounds a bit fluffy and wishy washy, but its very true :D

3rd card - near future Cuckoo Pint Rx
I feel here that this is another warning that before the end of the week, things are going to seem rocky again. That things will come together one way or another, but not without a very awkward moment or two where I'll want to shout and scream 'my truth' when really its just spitting venom. It would seem silly after carefully holding my tongue to finally pop and ruin all the hard work i've done!
Having said that I am working nights next week, and a lack of sleep and general grumpyness will not help me speak my truth in a fair and eloquent manner. Lets try to remember the lessons from the week previous Sarah lol.
Yes, that flower of the cuckoo pint does look like a tongue.

4th card - answer - Mugwort Rx
Wait for the tide to change. Do not try to force things to change or to unmuddy the waters myself until Spirit is ready to let me see.
Its hard, I want to jump up and down and demand an answer from a few people right now - but its best to just ride out the storm and wait till things are calmer.
Perhaps definately wait till a new moon and mercury goes direct again on the early hours of friday morning.
Perhaps it would be good to not to any readings etc until after friday then after this, i dont want to muddy my own waters and get lots of conflicting ideas. I've done work over the weekend of sitting and surrendering to Spirit, so I should just keep on with it until its time to see things again.

5th card - people/energy surrounding querent - Mint Ux
Well that looks quite tranquil and pretty. One might almost say boring LOL. A getty with no boats, no where to go etc. But its only more journeys, more distractions Im looking at, rather than focusing within.
Or focus on work, getting paper work done, getting over working nights etc.
Perhaps seeing the world from sunset to sunrise will be an interesting way of changing my tides (which funnily enough my last night is on friday night, so it could be that things will feel clearer from saturday onwards?)

6th card - attitudes/hope and fears - Comfery Ux
Well, comfrey is bonewort - it unites and puts things back together. So with the warning of cuckpoo pint to make sure things heal up in the right place and without me losing my temper. The book mentions healing something from the inside out, and I feel I have done a lot to work on personal stuff, so Im waiting to see if that comes through into bringing some sort of resolution to 'external' stuff. We'll see.

7th card - outcome of 3rd card/whole layout Nettle Rx
Stop being so irritable LOL.
Hopefully I'd have learnt over the last few weeks that ya know, things happen for a reason and we say and do crazy stuff...
I do have a bit of a catholic tendency to keep birching, or nettling myself over an issue, beating myself up over and over after its well and truly gone. So the idea of the layout is to just move on, stop beating yourself up. Theres no more big 'stings' left, I've dealt with things as best as possible and the rest is up to the Gods.

The base care is Burdock Ux
yes I have done my best to get the learning from the past week or so, and i hope I am still processing it. But not in a place to just get a quick result, as the destination isnt important, its the journey, its the learning and its being hopeful. I think at one point I did feel like throwing in the towel last week, but my 'attachments' my friends have been wonderful in reminding me of whats groovy about me and groovy about my spirituality. Even when ya feel like crap, its fertilizer for roses to grow later :D

Overall - dont be a pillock, hold your tongue and dont lose your temper (well really try not to) and wait to see what the universe wants to unfold for you. I was sat infront of the fire earlier on with my dad and I was there quiet happy just feeling warm and snug, and he comes along, keeps jabbing at it and somehow KILLS the damn fire! So, the lesson here is just dont poke, let it flow and enjoy the rewards of everyone and everything in nature doing its thing..

reminds me of Crowley - Love is the Law, Love under Will.
And I never thought this morning I'd link Crowley with the DPO LOL.
I also guess that this will be the only posting of a reading that I'll put here on the blog for a week, if I take the advice to heart in the Mugwort card.
Of course, I'll have to remember to draw a card around the 15/16th for the Druid Plant Month ahead!

Adios Amigos
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