Category: Nature + Moon + Tea

Keepers of the River

My husband and I took a walk down to the river in my neighbourhood yesterday morning. A chilly breeze blew off the water. It smelt of autumn. The sun hid behind the grey clouds, peeping out here and there to comfort the earth with its warmth. I stood on the river bank and let the soothing sound of the flowing water carry me to a tranquil inner sanctuary of stillness.

There are times when I’ve put my feet in river water just to see what it’s like to be a river rock, the coolness of the flowing wetness rushing over my skin. It’s so refreshing and a part of me wants to flow with it all the way to the end of its course just to feel the joy of the river’s journey. To be part of the mysteries that it carries with it.

Flowing water is liberating somehow. I’m aware that on a metaphysical level, it’s is said to break up stagnant energy. In my experience I find this very true because when l relax into the vibration of flowing water, I sense myself coming unstuck. I love knowing that this river is there. This little piece of wildness meandering amongst domesticated constructions of city life the way my wild essence meanders within. It takes me back to the that place of freedom in my childhood, when I lived in rural Kwa-Zulu Natal and my cousin and I used to go down to the river and play. Those were such blissful times of simplicity.

When we crossed the bridge to the other side of the river, we saw a pair of African black ducks – a monogamous pair bound as life companions for eternity. They are a species of river ducks that nest in the riverine forests. They are like keepers of the river who are always sailing the currents and they rarely stray away from their watery home. The black ducks prefer the fluidity of rivers and rapids more than the placidness ponds and lakes like most other ducks.

Over the past year, I’ve spotted numerous pairs of these black ducks in various rivers and Nature spots within and on the outskirts of the city. This is the first time that I’ve seen them close to my home, so it felt like an encouraging sign somehow. It’s as if they are following me. I like the idea of these ducks watching over the wild flowing river and listening to the language of the water. I imagine them as keepers of its ancient stories, recording in their hearts all the wisdom that the river has to tell.

Yesterday, I remembered that the African black ducks are cousins to the mallard who are spiritual symbols of grace, commitment and protection. They are connected to our emotional body, the watery feminine element and Goddess too. Some ancient African tribes believed that they were rainmakers, carrying the wetness of Goddess’s love and tears under their wings. That’s a beautiful thought, although I suspect this is because we are more likely to see them around the rainy seasons when the rivers are flowing.

I haven’t been going there as often as I could. I’ve been exploring different Nature spots elsewhere. But having re-connected with spirit of the river, I feel the need to make time to visit there more often. I know that the river and its keepers have wisdom and healing to offer me. And who knows, perhaps I have something to offer it too.

African Black Duck

Wild Word Mantras

As a writer with a deep spiritual connection to the Earth, I draw much of my inspiration from the natural world and the Divine feminine energy it connects me with. I’ve mentioned many times that the wild stories the Earth are a source of insight, wisdom and healing to me. My words and Nature are strongly tied together.

A while ago, I read a passage in Masura Emoto’s book The Miracle of Water, where he suggests that our fore-mothers and fathers “learned the first language of humankind by listening to the various vibrations and sounds created by nature.” I know very little about the origins of language, but I like this idea and there are indeed various instances where you can just sense the energetic connection between an aspect of nature and the word used to describe it.

I’ve been sitting with the nature pieces that I collected for my autumnal altar last week, just attuning to their consciousness, drawing out their wild words and then stringing those together into healing affirmations (the way I wrote about in a previous blog post – Gathering Your Inner Wild…). I’ve started off with the acorns. The impressions that came were Grounding, Abundance, Potential, Seeds and Fertility – words that resonate with the kind of healing I’m seeking on my wild mother path. So I’ve incorporated them into an affirmation, the mantra I’m meditating with and integrating this week.

Whenever I create and use these earth inspired mantras, I feel small healing shifts take place in me and in my life. I look forward to seeing what kind of shifts the acorn energy affirmation sets in motion.

Have you tried working intuitively with Nature to create affirmations? What was the experience like for you?

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What are Your Vibe Triggers? And How Can You Make More Space for Them

My morning is a dreamland of silver raindrops dripping from the glossy green trees. In the midst of the Sunday morning stillness I am comforted by its soothing sounds…drip, drip, drip…

There’s been an extra air of magic about all weekend. Perhaps it’s the residue of the energy set in motion by Friday’s equinox, eclipse and new moon. On the equinox, I spent some time outdoors with my husband.

Walking, exploring and breathing…

We gathered acorns, pieces of mossy bark and the little bits of Nature from the floor, all to make an autumn inspired altar next to my writing desk. Its taking shape slowly, I still want to add some candles. But in the meantime, I’m enjoying the uplifting energy that it brings to my work space.

Creating this altar reminded me that the natural world is my biggest ‘vibe trigger’, for Nature brings me back to my heart-space, to my truth and immediately shifts my energy to a more positive, high vibrational space. So having plants, feathers and little pieces of her magic near me triggers a deeper connection to the Earth, together with a flow of vibrant higher energy.

What are your vibe triggers?

By ‘vibe triggers’ I mean things that bring you back to the essence of your inner wilderness?

What takes you out of the entrapments of negativity and puts you in a space where you emanate good vibes?

The word trigger often has negative connotations. It’s commonly associated with ‘strange vibes’ people or places give us, or things that set us off, things that put us in a bad mood, revive unhealthy old patterns or open old wounds. But over a year ago, while creating lunar inspired altars for each moon phase (as part of a course that I participated in), I began to see just how the little sacred spaces that I created activated soothing or inspiring vibes that triggered something positive in me and around me each time I saw them or meditated near them.

In Wild Essence, I describe vibe triggers as “points of focus that help to keep stimulating the wild energies…little reminders or things that you surround yourself with to activate your essential self.” (or positive energy in general) Depending on what your needs are they can be entry points into a space of deeper being or simply things that activate positive emotions, feelings and good moods.

When I think of vibe triggers, so many things come to mind:

Connecting with Nature. Mantras. Creating sacred spaces. Nourishing meals. Meditation altars. Filling my home with candles and vases of beautiful flowers. Walking by the water in the moonlight. Watching sunrises and sunsets. Falling asleep to the sound of rain falling. Writing soulful words. Reading inspiring passages, poems and prose.

What do they look like for you?

Whatever they are, I hope that you find ways to explore them and make space to accommodate their inspiring vibration in your daily life wherever possible, as often as possible.

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