Thank you to all who contributed in all ways to making my flying visit to Assynt this week possible. I went for the Assynt Field Club talk -The Bone Caves of Inchnadamph – the Story of the Three Bears by Peter Dowswell (Tain & District Field Club) about the caver’s exploration of, and digging out of the Inchnadamph Bone Caves, where various bear bones have been discovered. The Bone Caves are a significant sacred site for me and I am convinced they hold ancient memories of Priestesses of Ursa who have gone before. Much of the inspiration for my workshops comes from these caves and they are at the heart of my daily journey to visit Bear in meditation.
I am planning a short talk in Glastonbury in the New Year about the bone Caves from what I learned on Thursday night and David Haines of Assynt Field Club has kindly given me a copy of the slides of the digs to use. This will also be written up as a future blog so watch this space for Bone Caves info…..
But there was an unexpected gift in this week’s visit for me which I am truly grateful to you all for, and that was really feeling what it is like to step into my role as a Priestess of Ursa, to really feel the energetic of the life I have been calling in for quite some time. Ever since Bear first touched my life I have known that She shows us how to dance across the polarities of our lives, to reach out to our extremes. One aspect of that for me is to be able to spread my work time evenly between Scotland and Somerset, between Avalon and Assynt and I really have had a taste of that over the past few weeks and it has been very magical and special. I can feel in my Bear bones that this dance between two extremely different parts of the UK is my bliss way of life.
So Thursday evening saw me alone in deep penetrating darkness (there is very low light pollution here) on Achmelvich beach. This is a wild remote place, white shell sand, machair, ancient stones and not much in the way of human activity at this time of year. Wrapped up against the wind I ran and danced on sand that had no other footprints on, I screamed my pain to the sea, I sang all my joy and gratitude for being there to the waves…..then I called in the circle of Bears, and they came and my heart was full full full.
Then off I went to Lochinver Village Hall for the talk where I felt held by connections to people in this small community and it was just the best feeling to end conversations with ‘ see you when I’m back next week…..’ This dancing Bear Priestess is finding Her true rhythm.
Saturday night saw me back in Glastonbury for the famous illuminated carnival. How different to Thursday night it was, rushing around to feed a houseful of excited giggling kids, then out onto the crowds in the high street in the bitter cold to await the floats which fill the night with light and pumping music. Carnival is all about partying, and despite its very commercial modern face I believe it must have its roots somewhere in some ancient Somerset winter fire festival. It was great to hang out with Sister Priestesses to enjoy the noisy, frenetic shenanigans and to share news of my visit to Assynt.
And as for the dance of polarities, well, I need to keep doing all the steps between these two worlds, feeling into my extremes to stay whole and vibrant just as Bear does. She who has the capacity feast till She is huge and plump, and then sleeps through the deep winter dreamtime to emerge thin and hungry with Her cubs. She is Ursa who lives in the starry sky and Grandmother Bear who sleeps deep below the earth in Her cave, showing us Her capacity to embrace polarity.
So Bear took me to two different places this week, and in each I am grateful for the people who support me and my family every Bear step of the journey…THANK YOU.