Entwined with Nature

Hello. I'm Seraphina and I am a professional lurker active observer of web communities. I'm also terrible at introductions and ask your forbearance and patience.

I follow a Celtic shamanic path, drawing from the works of the Matthews, RJ Stewart, Frank MacEowen, and Tom Cowan. Uh... this is where I get stage shy. Married with children [eep!] and adoptive mum to a rescued greyhound [Miz Barbie] and a foundling cat named Puck who showed up on our porch on Midsummer's Eve.

I always welcome new friends, so if you're so inclined add my journal to your list. I tend to rave about proper football excessively at times [apologies in advance] and about things that catch my attention and whimsies, as well as more arcane and esoteric matters.

That said, I'm glad to be here and hope to share more with everyone as I move out of lukerdom into more active participation.

Sera~

Though I had a very nice Mother's Day Weekend, I'm very overtired and that makes meditation extremely difficult for me. So far I have nothing on this present meditation on Earth to journal about, however, I will try again either tonight or tomorrow. My hubby has a quiet project to work on and when Elora goes to sleep, she is very quiet. So, I may have the peace to quiet my mind enough that I can get a little meditation done. If not tonight then tomorrow might see some success. I'll keep you posted.

How about building an altar to honor your mom this weekend. :)

A pretty table cloth, a representation of the Goddess in her Mother Aspect, Some flowers, some nice incense (jasmine, rose, etc.) and maybe a favorite photo of you and your mom together. Light a pink candle (for love) and send her loving energy to the universe. Can't think of a better gift.

So take a moment today and honor your mother, be she with you, living far away, or transcended to the Summerlands. Blessed Be.

x-posted to circle_round

Earth, the element in the North Quarter of the sacred Circle. Green is the color. Symbols for an altar to the Earth would include salt, sand, or soil, stones crystals, etc. I've even seen one that included a small yard gnome. ;)

Gnomes are the Spirits that inhabit the Realm of the earth. When I journey to this realm they often show themselves to me and the closets thing I can think of to paint a picture of what they look like (to me anyhow) is a tiny version of the Rock Biter from Neverending Story. About a foot tall they are and they have grey or brown rocky-looking skin. Some of them look like tiny trees with leaves and such for hair. They have dirt under their nails and are always barefoot.

The Earth is where our roots are. It is the foundation stones if you will of life. It has a unique vibration that "hums" to me whenever I'm out in nature.

Meditation:

Lie on the ground (do this outdoors if you can but if not have a plant or dish of soil near you where you can rest your power hand in the soil. Go through your relaxation breathing. As you count backwards from 10 you are getting more and more relaxed. Your breaths are slower. As you sink into this relaxation, think of yourself at the foot of the World Tree and you are slowly going down the roots into an underground cavern. It is a wonderous place. Damp and cool but not uncomfortable. Your voice echoes here. If you sit and wait, you will soon see a Gnome appear seemingly from the rock around you. Greet him/her with great respect. They may look childlike but they are spirits with fathomless knowledge.

Ask him questions if you wish. When you are ready, bid farewell to the Gnome count back up to 10 and climb the roots of the World Tree. Give yourself a few minutes to come back to this plane of existance. Journal your experience if you like. :) I'll journal mine by Monday. :)

I need to catch up on that Beltaine post. Things got a little crazy towards the weekend. Work hours have been hell too, but that's going back to normal this week coming.

Litha is also the next holiday and though this isn't a 'wiccan' community, the pagan/wiccan holidays play a big role in Celtic Shamanism it seems. Also the druid practices are very important as they strongly link us to the elements.

That reminds me that over the next few posts I want to focus on learning about the different elements and the spirits that reside in those realms. I also want to go back to doing more posting about Animals and how they figure into this path we are walking.

Without further ado, I'm going to launch right into the Element of Earth. We will most likely take a month focus on each element. I will make a separate post and tag it Earth. That way if any of you want to post your experiences (please do) you can also use this tag in your post. I'll save them to be archived for future reference.

Many blessings!

Wanted to wish everyone a very happy beltaine!

I found some interesting stuff on Beltaine in Kindling the Celtic Spirit that I will post tonight.

Blessings!

A friend of mine who is also an avid reader pointed me in the direction of a site called Shelfari. (www.shefari.com)

I went there and found some reading groups and the neat thing about the site is that you have a virtual bookshelf which shows books you own, have read, want to read, and wish to buy. The various groups not only have discussions but they also post the books they have read. In two of the communities I loaded my shelf with books I want to read. *wink* One is a book on Solitary Druidism and in searching I also found a book on Shamanic Witchcraft.

Check it out if you want to maybe find some books on Shamanism. Also the folks who post the books generally review them. It is really a good source for finding learning materials.

I'm also currently reading the Apple Branch and will post from it from time to time. I cracked open one of my favorite books called Kindling the Celtic Spirit by Mara Freeman as Beltaine is coming up. *wink* I found a lot of interesting lore about Beltaine and how this time of year affected the Celts. Will be posting about that this week.

Blessings!

And we were just discussing how healers have a difficult time staying healthy. LOL! Ahh, the irony! Anyhow, I got a massage last night from a friend who is excelling at 'resetting' the chakras and I'm going to get some ginger tonight. The baby has a cold too as well as my hubby so it's just all around the household. I deep cleaned the apartment hoping clearing out all the germies will help.

Since that was done I'm going to also do a cleansing and healing ritual for all of us since the whole family has been effected by this nasty cold. My husband pretty acurately nailed it when he said this cold had teeth.

I'm suffering from a horrible cold. (don't get too close to your computer or my germs may spread! LOL). Seriously. I haven't felt this bad in a very long while. Wolf came up on his class break (he's a professor at my work) for coffee and conversation. We had an interesting discussion (as is often the case). I mentioned, laughingly, that one of our students is a Reiki Master and I could use a healing right now with this cold that is kicking me in the arse. Wolf said he gave up on healing as healers are too often sick themselves. He didn't want to be sick all the time.

You know, this may be true. Healers often use "sympathetic magick" and cure or heal people by drawing the sick energies into themselves. Perhaps even though the healer can neutralize or dispose of this 'rotten energy' for lack of a better term, maybe it wears the healer's own immunity down after a while.

What could be do to change this? Use less sympathetic magick? (why mess with what works?)

How do you all stay healthy?

Also, something to note, it was someone strong in wolf power how shared this me.

Wolves in celtic lore are creatures that the ancient celts associated with the mysteries and with faith. They are creatures by nature to be very family and community oriented and can speak in a very complex language. They have many different vocalizations as well the fact that they can community and express themselves through body language.

Wolf power is one that challenges you. It challenges you to learn to express yourself in a greater way, to learn to listen with ears that are not your own physical ones. To see with eyes greater than your vision. The wolf teaches us the mystery of communicating with the 'wee folk', the elemental spirits, and even Wolf teaches us to communicate with the Goddess and God. They show us the link the between ourselves and Creation as well as the importance of family ties and community ties. Wolves draw us closer to the both the simple and complexities of life should you be strong enoough to accept their teachings.

Wolves have a heiarchy in their society. The Alpha doesn't take to challenges lightly. If you respect His place, then he will protect you and teach you. You quickly learn that yes you are strong, but you have much to learn. Opposible thumbs does not make us superior.

Hello all! I'm relatively new to the Celtic realm, but have been a confirmed pagan since '91 (and have always felt a strong connection to nature as found in solitude in the deep woods). I consider myself a Shaman as opposed to anything else, it's the closest concept that fits. I've worked most closely with the Norse Gods, but have also dealt with a few Egyptian Gods as well along with various "totem" animal guides and spirits in a Native American/First Nation feel... Coyote early on, Stag more recently, and most closely with Raven and Crow. I was brought to the Celtic sphere of influence by the God Heimdal and to the Morrigan specifically by Freyja. I've run into some that have issue with anyone connected to the Morrigan, and although She/They can be harsh, I have only known Her/Them to be just and true in Their cause (which, admittedly, I'm still learning.)...

Beyond that, I'm kind of a nutbar, into prophecies, dreams/visions, of most kinds. And have a bit of an obsession with Merlin in any form, be it fantastical or historical (hence my account name)...

So, yeah... Hi!

edit... More guides (the post on bats reminded me), Bat and Owl... honestly, don't know why I forgot Owl, as I have a mask that is half Owl and half Raven... (hangs head in shame) ;)

I began a long time ago studying Native American Shamanism. The more I looked into, the more I was drawn to certain aspects of it but also the more 'away from Me' I felt. I'm mostly Irish and a few years ago I saw a book on celtic shamanism. It seemed a wonderful blend of the healing arts I had begun to study and my celtic roots.

I have several books on the subject now, but not a huge amount of information is out there so I'm on the path of seeker and hoping to rub elbows with others who may be further along this path or who might be where I used to be (just beginning).


What brought you to this path??

Welcome souls_dance!

I used to be on Live Journal and that is where this community got started. Unhappy with the goings on at LJ (the commercializm, profiling, and general BS) I moved over here and I'm taking my communities with me. :)

Thanks for joining! I hope you enjoy it here. For the next few weeks I'll be posting about power animals. If you have had any experiences about power animals, please feel free to share. :)

I thought I would begin by a series of posts on power animals. Though the celtic mystery paths don't worship animals, they do however recognize the importance of animals on the shamanic path. They have characteristics which can teach about our primal selves as well as remind us that in all things we are connected to one another with no beginning and no ending.

I thought we'd start with the Bat. Bats have a sonar so they can travel and fly even with very poor eyesight. They are helpful to the enviroment as they keep the bug population down. Though small they accomplish much. They don't focus on the disadvantage of their size. They work in large groups and use their sonar not only to communicate with one another, but also as a way to "see".

Bat Magick can teach you to see with your mind's eye. In the grand universe we might feel very small, yet we are still a very important part of Nature and Life. Our possible disavantages can be overcome.