This autumn equinox has found me in a place of powerful change, which initially left me feeling out of tune with this time of balance. After a lovely string of unfolding events I have come to embrace this polarity, and infact understand that I am now embodying what I have been saying in talks and workshops all along :Bear energy is all about polarity and moving between points of polarity. So how is this manifesting for me ?....I have come to understand that my long dreamed of move to the Highlands must be grounded in Avalon. I must deepen my connections here in order to move there...Yup - it still feels a bit perculiar for me to voice and write.....how does putting down roots here help the process of leaving?!?! .....but the more I consciously practice doing it , the more Bear is reasponding, one simple footstep after another....dancing accross what appear to be two contradictory ideas with grace and strength. She is holding it all in the balance for me.

So here's a little journal of my unfolding autumn of putting down roots here and how Bear has responded....

Here I am putting the finishing touches to the fire for a firewalk at Treyhill in Devon. We were blessed with glorious sunshine in the day, and an amazing sea view accross the Devon countryside. It was an amazingly powerful firewalk, everyone gave themselves fully to the process and really made magic. My intention for this firewalk was to fully commit myself to moving to Assynt in the Highlands. As many of you know I have been dreaming of this for several years now, but using phrases like ' if the opportunity came up, one day Id love to do it...etc' . I have been searching for some thing from outside of myself to come and rescue me. With this walk I dropped it down from an abstract place of dreaming, down into my body and commitedly more solidly from within me........and in less than 24 hrs I had a phonecall from a friend in Assynt saying that a house had become available for rent ( a rare thing in that area) and she really felt it was time for me to be there. WOW !

A few days later I was contacted by a sister Priestess and fabulous story teller Christine Watkins , she invited me to go to a story work day workshop she was leading at the Goddess House in Glastonbury. I accepted very exitedly and went not knowing what to expect but having heard Christine telling stories before I knew it would be good. We reflected on the theme of abundance and grattitude, with a Breton story called 'White Thorn'. It touched me deeply and really confirmed all that I was feeling after the firewalk. With the lessons of 'White Thorn' in my heart I knew that I had to follow where I am being led without question, that is for me, not letting my logic brain overwork the apparant contradiction between rooting and leaving. There my personal abundance lies. So as many of you know, I have not exactly been happy here in Glastonbury, in fact it drives me mad a lot of the time.....so how to root here ? Well I began a daily practice of actively falling in love with it......sounds a bit forced, but it is flowing. Above the orchards at West Bradley where I have been taking my daughters every week to pick apples...and Oh it is so sweetly abundant....definately a big love love thing going on now....

Above is an evening picture of Shapwick Heath, a wetland near the base of the Tor, a reflection of how the landscape would hev looked when this really was the lake , the glass isle. Part of the practice I have been developing has to ask the elemental Goddess of this land to release me from here in a place of love and abundance. There must be no running away to the Highlands, it must be heartfelt and conscious leaving for me. So my connecting to water has been to visit Shapwick Heath, and I have had a real sense of sailing away from Avalon,( quite literally....anyone know someone with a boat so I can feel this ?) and arriving in Assynt by boat. But a deepening knowing that Avalon will be my safe harbour to which I can return, and share what Assynt has to teach me.

This is a gorgeous mushroom I found on Blackdown. This is a lovely bit of wildish moorland and woods on the Mendips where I go to stretch my legs. I include it purely for its stunning beauty and the joy of this season.It feels and smells so earthy.

There are changes afoot in my family too, I can feel my eldest cub desperate to spread her wings and fly, she is off in the world and spending less time in the nest. So this year it was just my younger cub and me celebrating the equinox simply. A fire and and blackberry feast on the slopes of the Tor, a perfect way to put down roots and feel grateful for what this land gives in abundance.

Finally a shopping moment, whilst many have their impulse buys and crazy shopping moments in the mall on a saturday.....mine was a load of wood. A bargain it was too, a huge load of wonderful cherry logs, cut to the perfect size for fire building. They smell amazing , I wish I could share that with you, the colour is a rich firey orange, they are perfect....can you tell how excited I am ! Anyway we spent a happy afternoon making several large stacks in my fairly small garden, it felt like a real autumn ritual . They will be ready to burn early next year, an investment in my firewalk plans for the future. there are already a group of people dreaming up their firewalks for 2017, finding venues and connecting to me so we can work this magic together. This work empowers us all to step into our authentic and abundant selves, Bear wants us to burn brightly and shine.

Sending out Bear blessings to you all at this time of Equinox. Eartha Bear asks us to put down roots into the soil and feel the abundance below the surface.