Writing Wild and Some Reasons to Celebrate

Happy Monday to you all!

How are you kicking off the magical and festive month of December?

Some pretty exciting things are happening in my life today, especially in the writing sense. For one, the final proofs of my book are done! If you don’t know already, Wild Essence is a book about liberating your spirit from the shackles of fear and domestication to return to the peace and freedom of your inner wilderness. It’s a book that comes from my heart and I see it as a love letter to the women of the world – women like me – whose souls have been broken in to submission to remind them that they are essentially wild creatures of profound beauty who are meant to be and express all of who they are, not lurk in the shadows. Below is a picture of what the final book cover looks like. So right now, I’m waiting for my author copies to arrive.

I’m not sure how long that will take considering that there has been a four month long postal strike going on in South Africa. Although staff have recently returned to work, things aren’t fully resolved yet. But that aside, I wait in anticipation for the arrival of my first batch of books. I so look forward to holding the paperback books in my hands. This is a life-long dream that is finally coming into to being. And for that I am so grateful, humbled and am floating in dreamy state of bliss. I’m looking forward to doing a few book giveaways too.

In other news, today, the lovely and inspiring Jen Saunders, the founder and editor of Wild Sister Magazine launched their new Wild Sister Mag book. It’s called Wild + Precious a beautiful resource pack with stories and tips about self-love. I’m happy to share that my own contribution is also featured in the book. I wrote a piece about my experiences of self-love and healing while dealing with health issues over the last couple of years.

Exploring the Lunar Cycles with Tea and Tarot: New Moon

New Moon blessings to you all!

What seeds are you planting this cycle? What does your wild essence call you to?

The Tea

I’ve decided to explore the new lunar cycle in with tea and tarot, intuitively selecting a tea for each phase of the moon, and drawing one tarot card for guidance and meditation for each phase too. Since the new moon is a time of seeds, intentions and setting dreams in motion, the tea that I felt called to work with is Chai Spiced tea. It felt fitting and symbolic to draw the energies of a tea made up of bits of bark (cinnamon), root (ginger) and most importantly – seeds (cardamom and fennel) – into my body at this time. And it helps that the warm and deliciously spicy aromas of chai tea always put me in a dreamy mood too, which is the perfect space to get into when setting intentions and painting visions for future manifestation. The words that come to mind when I look inward to draw out what it is that my wild essence desires to see more of in my life are specific and simple – Finding the Goddess in everyday, Resting in the embrace of inner peace and De-cluttering and releasing whatever stands in the way of the vibration of simplicity that I crave so much.

The Tarot

The tarot card that I drew for the new moon is – Father of Earth. This card brings messages about groundedness, connecting with the earth to find stability and inner firmness, finding satisfaction in the discipline of soulful work and thoughtfully focusing on your strengths and self-confidence to complete unfinished projects in order to harvest the benefits. The earthy masculine energy of the card gives me a sense of a provider who is focused on their purpose, with clear set intentions and a sureness that comes from being grounded in the present and grounded in their inner truth. Looking at the card, the clay bowl full of grains in the earth father’s arms stood out to me. I got the sense that the grains are the harvest, the fruits of our soul work, but they are also seeds. While we enjoy the bounty we reap at the end of one cycle, some of what we harvest needs to be stored and planted for a new cycle. Each completion is also a new beginning. Some of the rewards we gain from completing a project need to be invested wisely into a new cycle of production. To sustain ourselves we need to keep something for to replant and continue the cycle of life. We need to invest in ourselves, in our dreams and in our well-being.

This tarot message resonates a lot with me, especially in the context of self-care and my writing life. So I am taking the guidance to heart.

Crystals and Essences

Two other things that are accompanying me through this new moon journey are crystals and African Tree Essences. I’m working with clear quartz and amethyst crystals. They always help me connect with my inner world, visualize and bring the intuitive visions of my wild essence to the fore. The Platbos African tree essences are my all-time favourite flower essences to work with. Platbos is an ancient forest along the Western Cape coast of South Africa. So the wisdom and energetic vibration of the essences made from the blossoms of these ancient trees always have a profound effect on me. For the new moon, I am working with the Pock Ironwood essence, the essence of intuition, to draw out my wild intuitive resources and to allow greater receptivity to the wild whispers of Goddess.

A Life full of Rain and Wild Flowers

Life feels slow and quiet these days. In the mornings, I’ve been waking up to the gentle sound of spring rain falling. A soft stillness seems to have settled on everything. The garden is wet, green and happy for having her thirst quenched after a long dry winter. The herbs are thriving and the bougainvillea is in full bloom. It’s the type of grey weather fit for staying in bed, reading and drinking loads of tea and cocoa, which is exactly what I’ve been doing. It feels good to allow myself this space and quiet time.

I’ve been enjoying bringing the gifts from the garden into my home to uplift the energy too – bougainvillea flowers, basil blossoms and twigs of cedar. Each day I find something new. I keep remembering how much I longed for this during the six years that I lived in a flat. I longed for a garden and a deeper connection with the earth. My heart ached because I felt disconnected from such a profound part of my wild essence. Now I feel so grateful and blessed to have my small garden, my little corner of the Earth to nurture my heart.

IMG_20141110_160942 — Fresh Bougainvilleas from the garden

Cedar twigs and basil blossoms from the garden. Such uplifting blessings.

At night, I’ve been falling asleep listening to the soothing voice of poet Vigdis Garbarek’s The Daring Deed. It’s like manna for my soul. I discovered Garbarek’s work over on The Little Forest Flower blog. A quote of the poet’s work that Anne shared really touched something in my. Garbarek’s words are like a dreamy meditation seeping into my consciousness as I drift off to sleep at night.

Yesterday, my husband and I went walking at a nearby park, rain and all. We needed to get out for a while, breathe and take the freshness of the moist air into our bodies. It was beautiful and we stumbled upon so many stunning wild flowers. I saw some flowers that I haven’t seen since childhood, back when I’d spend hours playing in the veld and picking wild flowers. Life was so magical back then and it was just soul soothing to have rekindled that feeling on our walk.