Sensing the Wild

05/04/2022

07/03/2022

06/02/2022

How has your started? Mine began with tea, yoga and the Epic of Gilgamesh...

21/12/2021

Solstice blessings 🌠🌌

12/12/2021

Today is Worldwide Light a Candle Day, held in remembrance of children who have died. This candle was lit from the World Peace Flame in Garforth, which in turn was lit from one of the seven original World Peace Flames that have been burning since 1999.

I've lit this candle with a prayer of gratitude for my daughter Sayuri, my greatest teacher in life and ally in death, and for a more peaceful world to come for all the children ❤

06/12/2021

We'll be journeying to meet the deities of Ancient Egypt this Saturday. Hope to see you there! 😄

https://www.sensingthewild.com/journeying

27/11/2021

“I asked the leaf whether it was afraid to fall, since it was autumn and the other leaves were falling. The leaf told me, "No. During the whole spring and summer I was very alive. I worked hard and helped nourish the tree, and much of me is in the tree. Please do not think that I am just this form, because this leaf form is only a tiny part of me. I am the whole tree. I know that I am already inside the tree, and when I go back to the soil, I will continue to nourish the tree. That is why I do not worry. As I drop from the branch and float down to the ground, I will wave to the tree and tell her, ‘I will see you again very soon.’"

Suddenly I had a kind of insight very much like the insight contained in the Heart Sutra. You have to see life. You shouldn’t say, life of the leaf, but life in the leaf, and life in the tree. My life is just Life, and you can see it in me and in the tree. I saw the leaf leave the branch and float down to the soil, dancing joyfully, because as it floated it saw itself already there in the tree. It was so happy. I bowed my head, and I knew that we have a lot to learn from the leaf because it was not afraid; it knew that nothing can be born and nothing can die.”

Thich Nhat Hanh in “The Other Shore” (Parallax 2017)

07/11/2021

Orion over Stonehenge 😲😍

This has been the hardest image i have ever captured, i spent 2 and a half nights last week trying to get it under perfect conditions after mist rolled in just before the right time and wispy clouds got the better of me another night. The valley the Avenue leads into is a mist maker and can be really misty this time of year.

In the image you can see the Rosette Nebula, Barnard's Loop, Flame and Horse head Nebula and even the Witch Head Nebula which i have also started imaging last week 😊

Sky 5 x 240s F4 iso 800 Tracked and stacked 24mm
Foreground 3 x 120s F4 iso 1250 Stacked 24mm

02/11/2021

"For years now, Danielle Hill has felt corn reaching out. The plant has visited her in her dreams, and helped her through pregnancy and post-partum care. And for a while, corn was simply offering gifts. But this year, something changed. Danielle had an opportunity to reciprocate."

Over 340 years after King Philip corn was taken from the Wampanoag people, a planting ceremony has been held to return this corn to Wampanoag land.

For years now, Danielle Hill has felt corn reaching out. The plant has visited her in her dreams, and helped her through pregnancy and post-partum care. And for a while, corn was simply offering gifts. But this year, something changed. Danielle had an opportunity to reciprocate.

31/10/2021

The woodlands are ablaze with coppers and golds, as the Earth gently lets go and lets go. The festival of Samhain has arrived, and the veils between the worlds are said to be at their thinnest. This is a time of year when the dead can be felt more closely. The ancient Celts lit sacred bonfires to honour the souls of the departed, and we can find our own Samhain ritual by lighting a candle and placing beside it an offering to our ancestors and beloved ones on the other side.

As candles and fires bring us warmth in these darkening days, it is also a moment in which we can connect with ‘The Children’s Fire’, of which Mac Macartney writes in his eponymous book. Many years ago, the elders asked themselves how they could best govern their people. They pledged that nothing should ever be done, no decision or action made, to harm the children.

At this pivotal time in history, when all of life on Earth hangs in balance, we can give thanks to our ancestors and rekindle the Children’s Fire in our hearts, pledging that everything we do should serve life, should serve the children.

Samhain blessings, and may the fires burn bright! 🙏🍂🍁🔥

Image: Johannes Plenio

17/10/2021

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/13/sami-people-norway-ask-danish-queen-to-return-sacred-witchcraft-trial-drum

Norwegian indigenous minority seek permanent ownership of artefact seized after 17th-century trial

05/10/2021

https://bigthink.com/life/mammals-dream-before-birth/

A study finds that baby mammals dream about the world they are about to experience to prepare their senses.

29/09/2021

“The dream is the small hidden door in the deepest and most intimate sanctum of the soul.” Carl Jung

Dreams can tap into the collective unconscious, reaching far beyond what we know with our conscious minds. There are beautiful dreams and terrifying dreams, but even seemingly mundane fragments can hold riches that will help us navigate our waking lives. In a one-to-one dreamwork session, available in-person in Leeds or online, I will work with you to unlock the secrets in your dreams. The session will include a shamanic journey, and no previous experience is needed.

This is my invitation to you to honour your dreams and follow their guidance!

Our shamanic journeying circles in Leeds are open to all. We use the drum beat to enter other worlds and meet spirit guides.