Greeting up the sun..

The Magician from the Druidcraft Tarot... this larger than life character.. Sure hes got all his kit on, but no matter what he wears he is connecting to power, to that moment where its like the whole Earth is recreated as if it was that first dawn of creation...

I watched a sunrise this morning, something I know I should do more frequently... and wow, I was blessed with the most amazing sight and revelation.

So in honour of the Gods who kicked me out of bed, walked in the BLOODY COLD and got me to a field - I thank you.
In honour of the Sun in all its wonder of the sunrise I saw today - Thank you.
And to the Wrekin, who was the background to my blissful experience this morning, where the Suns rising was refracted in the most gorgeous way by the mists around that sacred hill - I thank you.

And in honour of the Wrekin, and the sunrise that the ancient Cornovii would have seen, heres a piccy of that big hill I can see from my window



The River is the Severn, you've got a side on view than I had of the sunrise that I saw creep over the back of the Wrekin.

Totally nothing at all to do with DPO... but, its my blog, I can blog what I like. Connecting to the sacredness of the world around me is part of what the Sacred Garden is all about.

Blessed Be

/|\

magical reading

OK..

So, ive got an issue (aint I always, always the one with the problem, thats me! LOL) and so I seek my DPO to shed some light on whats occuring :)

Q - Tell me about this blockage I have about ritual at the moment?
The spread is one Ive just knocked up.

-----4----
-----3----
-----2----
-----1----

Card 1 - the present, what my problem is? Borage
Im staring at that sword.. I think my problem is Im being too 'gentle'. The purpose of ritual is to make communion with the Gods, to work on realising the magick within and without and sometimes that means doing a bit of 'magick' of your own, be it a simple meditation and feeling the energies or chanting mumbo jumbo.
And... Maybe somewhere along the line I've forgotten that. I've got 'safe' too scared to take the sword out of the scabbard and prove my worth to the Gods and thats that are listening.
Ive just looked at the reversal meanings in the book - and it says about Rosemary and how sometimes we forget what is important...
well, I think I forgot something pretty important where ritual is concerned.
Why have I forgotten? Why have I become a bit too 'softly softly'? Folk that know me know Im nothing of the sort in ritual usually lol.

Card 2 - Why do I have this problem, whats the lesson? Plantian
Hmmm OK this is interesting.. I think its reflecting something important. Recently over recent weeks I've been doing more ritual indoors for a varity of reasons, yet for years nearly all my rituals have been outside, in places of power. So the environment is why.
But I used to do rituals indoors all the time... its never been a problem then.
Perhaps also, in the change of environment I have forgotten that even indoors is a sacred place, a part of nature for we are alive in our homes and so part of Nature, part of divinity, its not like the Goddess stops at the door and goes 'oh, no entry for me!' LOL.

So.. its place, its about what I think about that place... and then remembering what the ritual is there for, and that communion can happen anywhere, not just by trees or around sacred stones.

Card 3 - How do I overcome the problem/learn the lesson? Juniper
Ok, its a mind thing.. its about realising what is within is without and without is within.
Like the crane bag that holds all the magical items of Albion, I AM the thing that has all the magic inside me. Ritual is just a guise, a format to open up that connection and let it all shine through. But its nothing to do with place, what Im wearing (or not), its about perspective, about realising it all comes from within. Sod how recently the room was vacuumed lol.

Card 4 - Anything else to share and enlighten me? Chamomile
Chillax girl... So your getting your head around different ideas, different ways of working. But if you get stressed out that how are the words of the Gods meant to shine and flow through?
Be relaxed, be open, the details arent important (even if they are important to you) Im not going to 'prove' anything extra to the Gods if my heart and mind is not open to commune with them.

Wow DPO , your a legend :D

Reading for tonight..

2 cards i shall quickly draw, to see what i can see...
For tonight I am among the witches, for a chance of revelry..

LOL well, maybe not witches, but friends who cackle hehehe

So, I thought i'd draw a card of what opportunities are to be taken tonight, and what challenges there are..

Opportunities - The Guardians
Ohh interesting, I dont think i've drawn this card before.
So, they are the sustainers of lifes path, they guide it, they keep it ticking over. The rock that is in the water before the birchtree roots to me is looking at me saying 'ya know, there should be a faery sitting on that rock, peering close into the water'. I've got faeries on the brain with wanting to get the Heart of the Faerie Oracle lol. Maybe they are telling me I should get it (no, I dont really believe the Guardians card is encouraging deck buying. Although, home late at night from being out, Amazon 'one click' can be very dangerous!).
So, its about nurturing, continuing on with stuff and walking that extra bit on the road, knowing your loved, guided and protected.

Challenges - Yarrow
Ooooh that snake is looking at me saying 'you are naughty! You shouldnt read about these things, there is a magical process of not knowing'. OK so its nothing special, its seeing some friends and having fun, but obviously theres something more to it because the snake is looking at me 'trust the unfolding, trust the process'
Great - My yarrow snake has gone on druidy on me.

Ya know.. I think my DPO has got cheeky since it played with the DM! I think its a bad influence on it LOL.

ETA - I had a really extraordinary experience of kundalini energy that night, which is what the Yarrow was telling me and yet not telling me. I mean, it was so unexpected I wouldnt have believed it if the snake had rolled out of the card, spoke to me and crawled back in again! But then, if i had of known it was coming would I really have experienced it with an open mind? I shall see that snake stone with a new mind!
And the Guardians were holding me, guiding me, one extra step taken on the road..

Ah gotta trust them plants.

DPO meets the Deviant Moon, when my significant others meet

Having a wee moment wondering about this PDR business and the DPO. I feel that Im missing working with Tarot so much for my own reflections. I know the beauty of the PDR is that we can play with other decks, but, as the DPO is an oracle its just not tarot - even though its wonderful.

So... today I thought Id mix it up a bit. I want to know more about woad, about why it keeps coming up, what am I missing about this card?
Heres the 2 sides of woad.. the plant and the dye, the yellow that becomes the blue, the thought the becomes creativity, inspiration and Awen. I think these two pics are really powerful of what Woads energies are..


And I figured I could use the Deviant Moon to help me do that. DPO and Tarot fix all in one :P Using a Recurring card spread

****5****
4*******6
****1****
3*******7
****2****

Card 1 - the recurring card, in my case Woad
Yes I see the familiar face of the boar in the rock, the spear head, the ivy and holly, and the curl of a rams horm in the tree.
And of course the plant itself - that strong energy leading to so many things...
I know all this!! But I feel Im missing something, something more.
Last night whilst I was at a friends house I caught a glimpse of wild boar on the tv, and their CUTE tiny little piglets. Now, I dont really do 'cute' as such, but with their stripes I couldnt help it! But I wouldnt want to get caught in the line of fire of a wild boar.
Actually, maybe thats what people think of me? Small, cute sezo with a dark twist? Oh, Ive never thought of that before!

Now its time for the Deviant Moon to play (oh boy Im excited!).
As Im shuffling I can feel this world is a bit bemused by all this. 'I mean,' says the DM, ' plants are plants, they dont talk, they dont walk, they dont DO anything. Plus its dark in our realm, plants look like shadows, and not really interesting, until the moon shines on them and they sparkle in the frost. But they are ONLY plants', I think they will learn :D

Card 2 - what's underneath, the root cause - Sun
Oooh thats nice to see! Im doing a lot of work to bring out my potential, and so this is what Woad is about. The process isnt just one of kicking and screaming, but its like a mindset that is always open and ready for battle. Like old warriors that keep up with their training even in peacetime.
The Sun in the DM is about unity also, so Woad is highlighting how all my goings on are joined, steamlined and forming one path, one road :D

Card 3 and 4 - the past influences or fading energies - Queen of Cups and The World
The queen I think reflects how I try to keep so many plates spinning because I love them all so dearly. And sometimes, it can feel disjointed. Like now I feel the DPO and Tarot are two different things, yet with Woad I've worked a way of unity and bringing them into something new! Sometimes I do feel its an either/or situation, like if I start one idea I am 'betraying' the other (yes how daft is that!). I care so much for all that I have in my life, I love to have it yet loathed to put it to one side if I need to. And so I sit, reflect like the Queen does, worrying about the drop that is to be spilt and not the ship that is crashing into the rocks. I focus too much on the detail and not on where the undercurrents want me to go.
The World is showing that I'm processing this, that Im coming to an understanding of absorbing and doing, feeling and being that is part of it. I can see it all as part of me, of what I do, and not just one or another. No matter the label I give myself I am me that weaves all this together, and its all good. My opposing beasts of doubt and inaction have been tamed (mostly!) and I can now just go with my flow.

Card 5 - what the person knows or wants with regard to the card's issues - 4 of Swords
The figure looks like an angel, like a fairy thats been squished into the ground. But shes not, shes sleeping, shes in that process of fairy rebirth and will be even more beautiful than before.
And I think this is the really long term part of woad. Of forging things together, of making a mindset that is open and 'can do' about it all so that there will be a tiny yet significant change of mindset, of perspective.
When I first drew this card I thought I would need to drop something, or I will do something to force me to stop and I thought NO! I like this momentum, i love this bustling energy all around me.
So I drew another card to reflect what I now want, after looking at Woad some more, and drew the 9 of cups who says in a dodgy foreign Genie type accent Ah I have you now little one! You asked and wished and now I have you! Your wish is my command! The momentum will not stop, it will carry on, it will grow and burst like stars!
Ta Dm - I hope I wont regret that wish lol.

Cards 6 and 7 - what's to come or what will flow from it - 5 of Wands and 9 of Swords
AH CRAP I HAVE SO MUCH GOING ON IN MY LIFE, IN MY HEAD, IN MY BEING! HOW THE F*** AM I GOING TO FIT IT ALL IN? WHY DID I DO THIS TO MYSELF? WHAT SHIFTS AND FAN SPREADING 'FUN' WILL IT BRING?
Those are the DMs words on it exactly. But then the Sun comes out and says.. hey, its all good, its for a reason, you love it, its part of you. Of who you are... now stop worrying and just dance and let it flow!

When I stop and think, I panic, I freeze, I doubt and that is not what Woad is about. It says now is the time to just focus and do - it works, dont work out how or why, just accept and learn.

Dancing Bear did a DPO reading for me, and I think her Chamomile/Bramble advice is really imporant here too. To pick the fruits you have to go through the thorns, yet sometimes you need to sit back and drink some tea to work out how to do it, with a plan :D

DM base card for this was the King of Wands Oh yeah , he looks like he needs woading up, the 'just do it' man of the deck, the seducer of the pack to make you do it and love every second of it, even the odd twinge of guilt, because you've done something thats made you alive. How many people are alive with their eyes wide open?

Too true Sire!

And because its the first day of my holiday, and I want to, heres a piccy of the reading :)

Full Moon... hooooooooowl

So I used Eowyn's new moon spread, so I want to use her new Full moon spread

***3***
***2***
***1***
***0***

1.- What can be seen with clarity, so bright that can even blind you. - Fir Club Moss
I can see lots of things very clearly at the moment. Eyes wide open... and in that there is a sense of awe and wonder. And ya know, thats something I have been missing recently.
I had an amazing experience last night connecting to the Horned One, lord of animals... and it was just, spine chilling. Just amazing that after 10 years or so of spiritual 'stuff' that I do, you get things that take you completely by surprise and with wonder.
And I think the Fir Club Moss is fab. Im a tiny plant in the big whole of the universe, but its connection, its energy, its nwyfre and magic is as strong and as life changing as the ancient yews and the standing stones.
Hengwah as one Mr The Bard would say :)

But also, a small thing can start a huge change. And I hope this is true for somone i care about, and I hope i get to help them through that change.

2.- What gets completed. What closes a cycle. Cuckoo Pint Rx
A period of disharmony and toxicity... well I hope this is very true! We need some harmony and balance!
But, this is something that individuals have to seek out for themselves, to realise and integrate what they do and have done and own it.
And I've been part of that myself... I really hope to catch up with a dear old friend this week that I havent seen in a long time, who I wasnt exactly pleasant to the last time we actually spoke to one another. Although hes forgiven me (or he'd say nothing to forgive) I guess I wont have harmony in me until I see him myself and get a hug :) It will mean a lot to me.

3.- What begins to fade away, to darken, to abandon you... or what needs to be. Primrose Rx.
Theres a really amazing line in the book for primrose 'to what degree is your quest in life to find completion through another human being, or through yourself?'
How so very very true.
But also, to what degree can you try to actively avoid harmony with another being by pretending to be 'questing'? Ive had a few readings recently talking about a love interest coming into my life - and Im like 'really? Are you sure? Im way to busy to bother about boys' but maybe the universe has other plans? I really dont know how to feel about that.
Hmmmph.

0.- Yourself. Shadow card, from the base of the deck. Woad
Ah good old woad, how many times does it come up for me at the mo? Me and my Huntress energy, questing, hunting, a bit 'do or die' in some aspects. Well, it keeps the Gods on their toes hehehe.
But whatever, I am free... the sky is my limit. I have the freedom to do what I want, and ok I have things that im duty bound to, things like uni/work etc, but they are part of my freedom. I freely chose that path and I freely love to run on it. And my others.
Ya know, I cant complain because Im free to make the most of what I have, and most of the time I do try to do that.
This Page of Swords chappy though, this Primrose man... hmmmmm
but lets not throw out the idea coz thats when we judge that which isnt even seen yet.

But I hope hes hot ;)

Card of the Day - madder

I thought I'd pull a card to see what I need to know today and pulled Madder
A really interesting card as my body is starting to go into my bleeding time. I dont mind my bleeding, but boy I know when they are coming.
So I feel Madder is asking me to just embrace the monthly changes that happen to me :)

Also, I had a lovely day today seeing some friends, and that gave me some great advice. With lots of things pushing me here and there I have felt a bit torn, but today I feel like I've had the message to not doubt things and go with where Ive been told to go.. embrace the journey.

And that I wont be doing it alone.

ETA - Ive just been out to have a ponder and a think.. and as I felt the moons rays spread across the sky and on to the snow, the grass, the trees and then me.. I had a phrase come into mind.. Everything she changes she touches, everything she touches she changes
Aint it the truth

Elemental Herbs.. Air

Ive been pondering a lot on herbs, the DPO and the elements. So I wanted to do a bit of a pondering on Air today, with the plan that over the next few weeks I'll go through all the elements :)

So - air, the element of the Swords and most things sharp and pointy. It links with communication, travel, protection, clean/fresh air, and even sleep and dreams - as good sleep and dream interpretation are part of a healthy mind as well. Also Air deals with the intellect, so the accumulation of knowledge and hopefully understanding. I often think of professions like Lawyers, and crossword lovers with Air, as its that precision of finding the right word, the turning of the grey matter and looking at things from every angle. Air is linked with all winged creatures, birds, insects like dragonflies and bees... Zodiac is Libra, Aquarius and Gemini, the planets of Mercury, Jupiter and Uranus. Sense of smell and sound and the throat chakra.

So what does that mean for plants?!
Well heres my lowdown of my interpretation of Air plants in the DPO..
Agrimony - of liberation and soul flight, feeling free to fly. It is also a herb of purification. I feel that Agrimony is a plant that just makes us think differently at life and lets us see the good rather than the negative. Also, Agrimony is a very tall plant, and height is associated with air and bringing objectivity.
Borage - acting within your own ethical framework, and sometimes that means fighting. The card has a sword in its scabbard saying you should be prepared to fight for what you believe to be right, after a good long think about it and trying to resolve it with words etc. Rosemary is another herb of purification and cleansing the mind of feeling blue, especially PMT induced moody blues.
Celtic Bean - communicating with the dead/ancestors, but also seeing clearly about the ancestors of land. Its easy in our very modernised world to think the ancestors lived a life so deeply attuned to the land and were happy - take off the rosetinted glasses! Also, it cleanses negativity and promoted intergration and acting within our integrity, else the winds will change on you and return what you put out.
Fern - a bolt out of the blue, what the winds suddenly blow into your way and becoming invisible like the wind. Fern also has deep connections to the lifeforce which in Yogic traditions associates prana with breath/air.
Meadowsweet - to celebrate and even instigate change and thinking of ways around a problem (like Gwydion thinking of ways around Arianrhod's wishes).
Mint - as it calms the mind and emotional anxiety and worrying. Also its good for freshening your breath and airways.. also like Menthol.
Mistletoe - its up high in the air, and I feel its energies are a plant to rule complementary therapies which are an 'all-heal' in that they look at everything holistically, no just the symptom/cause/disease of modern medicine (although thats a very useful tactic when feeling ill too!). It cuts what is waste out of our lives, and helps us to reap from our own knowledge and wisdom. Also mistletoe I think its a herb of oral traditions.
Vervain - the star herb of the druids that was meant to be harvested under the light of the rising Dog Star. It promotes good dreams, and frees our minds from our desires, focusing on what is important and not 'temptations', although at the same time Vervain is a bit of a trickster energy, for it is also believed to be an amphrodisiac! lol.



Others herbs of Air are..
Anise - for its powers of concentration and focusing the mind
lemon verbena - a strong cleansing smell, thats good for promoting messages/communication, especially between lovers.
lavendar - its strong scent calms the mind, and promotes sleep and dispells worries and replaces them with a feeling of contentment.
Parsley - for protection as well as purification, for it cleanses the palete and freshens breath as well as the mind.
Peppermint - great for bringing up trapped wind! I also think its a great herb for expressing what really is on your mind, the thoughts that you feel trapped by and unable to say.
Rosemary - for it cleanses the mind from PMT associated blues, bringing you a clear head out of a hormonal chaos, the 'i dont know why I feel so upset or angry' kinda feeling. Also, rosemary helps promote your memory!
Sage - has long been associated with Air, for its purifying incense/smoke, also Sage tea is wonderful for soothing sore throats, and it magically helps us pick our words carefully, thinking before we speak.
Wormwood - for promoting the ability to communicate with the spirit world and the dead. It also is a heavy protection herb, the Mafia of herbal protection.

And lets think of a few of the Tree Ogham for Air..

Birch - the tall silvery lady who bends in the wind. A tree of flexibility, who's bark can be used as paper to write and also great for catching flint sparks to create a fire. This tree blesses new beginnings, like the dawn of a new day.
Ash - A tree of your world view, but also for linking betweeen the worlds. Promotes travelling to them as well as recieving messages from the other realms. Ash always makes me think of arrows, cutting through the air, that firm focused energy out of the chaos.
Ivy - the life force, like prana.. also many pieces of pagan iconography show figures with ivy pouring out of their mouths. It also keeps us focused on our contracts, our word being our bond and keeping to our goals.
Pine/Elm - reaching new heights, climbing to see a new perspective, objectivity. Its also the tree of seeing things with a new revitalised look if you've look been on a path or job that is starting to feel stale, or trapped by a 'glass ceiling' of your own making.