Who am I?
Mother – Grandmother and Lover of Land Sea & Sky
Porridge eater – sea swimmer – dancer – singer and lover of life
End of life Doula – Writer – Painter – ceremonially welcomed Elder
Hands in the Soil Person
Ceremonial Circle Sitter
I Declare my commitment to Mother Earth – all Winged Ones – Crawlers Creepers – Swimmers and Deep Divers
plant life and all living beings
Dear and Most Beloved Ones
Brothers and Sisters
I and the Ancestors are at your back, along with those who are to come.
(One and the same as they be)
My Declaration
A call out is ringing through the spheres, hollering off the mountains, singing with the rivers and dancing with the wild ones in the darkness, a call out to all who can imagine feeling into the possibility of ageing as the most fruitful and important stage of life.
And again, to those who can imagine sitting in a circle of likeminded individuals, knowing you are seen – witnessed and honoured for your very presence.
Where the only premise is listening deeply without interruption to your inner wisdom and that of others. Feeling heard as you recognise that who you are is of vital importance to greater earth community.
And again, to those wisdom keepers who feel deep in their hearts that positive ecological change can only emerge from the inside, not as an external construct fabricated by corporations, politicians and the power hungry.
What if stopping, listening, sharing and community where exactly what the world needs now.
What if we are the ones we have been waiting for…? We are!
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In this era of ecological and planetary distress we find ourselves witnessing the unprecedented demise of our precious natural world along with structures and formulas for living that have up to now felt dependable and safe. The grief alone can feel overwhelming – it is overwhelming.
And that is before other emotions clamour for attention including rage, frustration, despair, impotence, and fear. And ‘I do not want to be a pawn in a politician’s eye while the world burns, feelings.
Those who have gone before are calling us, those who will come after need us.
In an ageing body, the ego can be backstage, less impressive – wholeness can step forward, the perfect vehicle for change. Far from being obsolete, life has lived us Elders, and we can now be still.
Naturally there are times when we as humans long to cover our eyes and carry on the pretence that all is well- a legitimate response when ‘business as usual’ is the cultural cry.
However – when we meet those feelings with courage, honesty, and integrity we can transform them into spiritual power, positive action and support for the village, community and all that breathes. In our power, we can manifest what is most needed for the future.
Society struggles with facing individual mortality. Unsurprisingly, when faced with the magnitude of global collapse –it is beyond imagining. So we run, and run fast, hiding our fear behind work, in eating, shopping, in fact anything compulsive that can distract us from reality.
As an end-of-life doula I am aware that we nearly always have options. It is rarely too late to wake up – even in the last few hours, the final breath. Sometimes we must reach that edge – the place where the running stops. Where the heart breaks open and we are ready to embrace something fresh.
Rites of passage – the marking of transitions from one stage of life to another, can be seminal moments. Alongside offering us a key to transformation they can empower us to step into a new way of being in the world.
The time is NOW to create a Rite of Passage for our planet, the wondrous Great Mother to us all. To acknowledge how she, as an ancient animate being might be feeling as she witnesses the destruction we are perpetrating, the pain we are inflicting not just to her but to each other, apparently oblivious to the paradise we have been gifted.
In all reverence and humility, it is time to honour her, create ceremony that in many cultures is afforded those who are birthing and those who are dying – cradle and croon our beloved Mother into the new age.
We are witnessing the fading light of an era and rather than hiding our eyes it is time to draw out our inner wisdom, cultivate Cronedom, (aka Elders – the midwives of change) and create closing ceremony for what is dying. Only in this way can we create space for that which needs to be born.
In the words of the Sufi mystic, Llewelyn Vaughan-Lee
Now is not the time for plans or strategies, even though in our present mindset this is all that we know. We cannot afford to be fixed on any ideology, any dreams of a green future, or myth of sustainable growth. Sadly these “solutions” come from the same mindset that has created this “problem.” We do not dare to realise that no solution will save us, will fix the broken world we have created. When an era comes to an end, when a civilisation dies, when its way of life is simply unsustainable, it is not a problem to be solved. Rather we need to relearn a quality of attention, a way of listening, of sensing. We need to relearn another language.
NEW A Hidden Pathway – Working With Oneness