Wellbeing – Space for Nature

Return of the Light

Published on January 10, 2022January 10, 2022 by Space for Nature

We have just past the time of Winter Solstice in the North, when the days are dark, the nights fall sooner, the air is icy , the mornings greet us with blankets of delicate frost and pale fragile sunlight .

At this time of year I can feel the land breathing out , settling down. I can feel gravity pulling me into the ground and a part of me would like to go deep underground, deep into the underworld, and nest and rest and sleep and dream . To escape the madness of this world for a while and steep myself in magic and the turning wheel of creation.

I don’t celebrate Christmas but I do enjoy honouring the land at this time of year .

I used to feel great Joy in bringing in a tree to decorate with hand made stars and shiny lights . The tree for me was what made this season special. I never much cared for the consumption at this time if year . I never understood it , even as a child . The consumerism was never what “Christmas ” was about .

Even in my young child bones it was something much older than the bullshit it is now . It was always a time of silence and retreat. Sitting still. Reading books . Dreaming . And the tree.

The most magical being in the world , invited into our house , decorated with lights and tinsel and wishes . I would sit with the tree for hours , sleep near it , play next to it and always felt like the missing member of the family had finally been allowed in .

I felt at home with the tree in my house . I felt like I wasn’t alone . Trees are good like that . They don’t let you feel lonely.

They will extend their energy out to you if they sense you need it . Because trees care deeply. They care about each other . They care about us . Trees will look after each other in a woodland. They will keep connection to their children , parent and grandparent trees . And if you ever feel lonely and you go walking in the woods a tree will always call you to sit beneath its branches and silently keep you company , share its energy with you and help you ground and reconnect again.

Over the last couple of years I’ve found it hard to justify bringing in a tree , even a potted one I can replant. I used to gather bits and pieces of Ivy and Holly and Pine to decorate the window sills and thread them with lights to bring the outside in. To create a feeling of kinship and magic .

But this year feels like I can’t. I feel the best place for all these beautiful things is exactly where they are . Outside . My inner sense is that we need to preserve as much as we can of what we have left of nature , and leave it alone .

Beyond that my feeling is not to bring anything in at all but to go outside to where nature is . And be with it there.

I don’t know why but it just feels wrong now . Usually the trees and plants have offered themselves gladly for decoration. I’ve been guided to where bits have been cut and pruned by others and been able to make use of whats been left . But not this year . The Ivy in my garden doesn’t want to be cut . The pine tree wants to be left alone . I was allowed a bit of holly but even that feels like I’ve stolen it .

And maybe what it brings up above all else is grief and sadness . All this beauty is being destroyed. The earth is in crisis . Taking whats left to fill the house feels too much like exploiting the land to make myself feel better.

I wanted to avoid buying anything this year for presents etc . I don’t know anyone that needs anything desperately. Its just more consumption thats ruining the world. And whilst for the first time in decades I’ve managed not to feel pressured and obliged to take part in this most destructive time of the year , I have still succumbed to buying a few bits for family.

Mainly because I feel like I can’t not. I don’t send cards , I won’t get a tree, I won’t be over consuming food and alcohol just for the hell of it . It leaves a rather hollow feeling in my soul. I’m struggling to go into shops to buy anything tbh unless its food and essentials.

I won’t be forcing myself to be cheerful. My days of pretending to love this holiday are long gone . I won’t be putting myself into debt so I can give my child the tatt he never needed. I won’t be putting myself under pressure to live a lie for a day.

Every year I get asked “what do you want for Christmas ” and every year for as long as I’ve lived the answer has been either nothing or I don’t know .

Its always bemused me the idea of “wanting things” . I have a roof over my head . I have warmth . I have food . I have family and friends. I have clothes. I’m not sure what much else there is to want.

A world that cares ?

I’ve spent enough years tearing myself apart and struggling under the obligations and social pressures this time of year brings to people. And I am getting to the point where I’d just like to walk away from it all.

I’d like to disappear into the woods for a week . I’ll go out and feed the birds . I’ll walk in the woods and talk to the trees and animals . I’ll sit by the river. I’ll walk the hills and admire the view.

I’ll try not to notice the deep sadness I feel as the earth slowly ebbs away. I’ll remember all the lovely people I know who make a difference. I’ll remember all those who work tirelessly everyday to make the world a better place for everyone.

I’ll feel into how I can better live my life as one of those people without losing myself . Or depleting my own resources. Even if its only in small ways.

Like feeding the birds and leaving the trees alone.

I usually do a little personal ritual to welcome back the light and the lengthening days . Sitting in the dark of the solstice eve , in silence, and just noticing what that brings up.

As the light begins to dawn I light a candle and sit with what this brings with it too. I have a sense that what we need collectively is strength and courage . Courage to face the darkness and the shadows . Strength to face whatever the future brings .

Taking time to slow down and drop into the dark at this time of year is exactly what we need to do. To rest. To renew. To discover what is needing our attention and focus . To come back to our centre , save our energy and make plans for how best to put it to use in the months to come .

The beautiful abundance of the wild .

Published on September 11, 2021October 1, 2021 by Space for Nature

I will let you into a secret. I have zero experience of gardening or any form of horticulture. I know plants grow , bud , flower , fruit and seed and that various birds , insects and creatures including humans eat them and depend on them to live.

I know the names of some trees and how to identify them through the seasons. I know lots of so called weeds are in fact medicine and have health and healing benefits. I know a little bit about this and a bit more about that , not just from research and reading but from talking to people who know more than me . From being curious and observing . From spending time with the plants and asking and then taking the answers and checking it against info available in various resources.

The small plot of land that is slowly becoming a Secret Garden has several different habitat areas. The boundary is mature trees and shrubs , sycamore, maple , ash, elder , hawthorn. Ivy.

Theres a shady coppice of goat willow and Maple in the middle where the ground gets boggy in winter, with a Bog iris Crop growing not far away.

An open south facing wild flower meadow with buttercup, daisy, dandelion and forgetmenot in spring. And as the year progresses, common hogweed, ragwort, bluebells, daffodils, crocosmia, Fetch, plantain, wild orchid, white and red clover , thistle, red knapp weed and several species of grasses .

There is a large bramble patch, strawberry and raspberry plants creeping through the meadow. Several red, black and white current bushes dotted randomly round the site that yielded a large harvest this year though the birds scoffed most of them. And a couple of gooseberry bushes .

The North of the site houses a mini shady woodland with ivy , fern , bluebells , ash , elder, maple , beech and hawthorn trees.

And everywhere you look is nettle, hogweed & himalayan balsam which is invasive but fairly easy to remove. The bees love the late summer flowers full of pollen !

To know that without doing anything much the land is already quite diverse , already has several habitats and already has fruits and edibles growing means rather than look at establishing a wild life habitat from scratch , the need of this space feels more about thinning things out , creating space and knowing which areas would benefit from the reduction of some plants and the introduction of some others . To keep the soil fertile and the health of the plantlife maintained.

My plans are still swimming round my head . Nothing has changed about them . But I am finding waiting for this shift from summer to autumn and the wait for colder , damper weather to bring about the natural period of decay and the stopping of growth before the next stages of clearing and cutting can be done , is causing a sense of impatience and inner pressure. I feel i need to hurry up and get it done now, after leaving the land to its own devices over summer it’s suddenly feels overwhelmed. There is too much of everything .

I’m half kicking myself for not implementing things in spring like membrane to prevent growth in some areas, not pruning the trees , not keeping the plants down in size to a foot or two . Some are nearly 7 foot tall !

But I also remember I was spending the first season doing the minimum to watch what the space does . I feel like I have done “nothing” and bitten off more than I can chew.

I catch myself and take note of the plans I have for different areas and am reassured my instincts weren’t wrong about what would be helpful. Listening to the land has a habit of making me question myself. Doubt myself. I am often stuck or hanging on because I’m not quite sure where to take things next.

Opting for a natural organic unfolding of the whole project has meant not doing the usual human thing of rushing to get things done as soon as possible. Its meant not rushing to form a structure ( CIC ? Charity ? Constituted group ? ) or decide how the space will work or be used – community forest garden ? Wildlife education area ? Outdoor Workshop space ? Alternative venue for community groups ? Forest school ? And not rushing out to fill in funding bids and tell the world all about it . Though that no doubt comes next .

I have an idea now of what will need doing to keep the space ticking over through the seasons, roughly what plants are around that foraging days can be organised around , which areas can be developed for wildflower beds and where the indoor space will be best placed .

I know I need more people to help me and to preferably come along on the journey but they will need to have more experience than I have in looking after the land . Or maybe we could muddle along learning as we go ?

Being patient and waiting to see who turns up ,has its drawbacks. But also brings unexpected surprises. If its an experiment in letting go of control and allowing things to come to me at the right time , I think everything is going exactly to plan .

Flower power : Healing with the land

Published on July 31, 2021July 31, 2021 by Space for Nature

The beauty of nature for me comes in the medicine, food and materials it offers us , selflessly, so we can survive, thrive, grow and know our place as guardians and custodians of the earth.

Its in the healing trees, flowers and plants we term “weeds” that until fairly recently in our social history, were known for their medicinal and healing properties. Not in a far off exotic land , but here in these blessed isles of what we now call Britain.

In the not so distant past , as recently as the 1940’s and 50’s we still had local wise men and women who held the knowledge of herb craft and plant wisdom. They knew what preparations could support the communities health and well being long before we created the NHS .

Whilst there may have been con artists and quacks selling ineffective concoctions for profit ( there still is ) most communities had at least one person, often one with knowledge passed down generation to generation, whose purpose was to tend the wellbeing of the community. We might call that person the wise woman, the cunning man , a witch, a healer , a shaman , one who knows.

They were the midwives, GP’s, nurses , social workers , care workers , counsellors and advisors others turned to in times of need. They lived and worked with local plants and herbs to alleviate and stave off dis-ease and sickness amongst their local population.

As industrialisation increased, as more towns and cities developed as more and more people were sent to work endless shifts in dirty , dangerous conditions that were frequently deleterious to their health and increasingly removed them from their previously close contact with the natural world around them.

Resources that were once common- belonging to all – the commoners – became owned and only available if sold in exchange for money.

As everything increased in price and cost nature became devalued. It became not our abundant store of food and materials but a commodity and as this spread more and more our capacity to care for the land and support it to grow and thrive diminished.

We orphaned ourselves from that which nurtured and sustained us and we set off down the path of careless destruction and disconnection from our true place in the world.

I believe plants and flowers have never stopped trying to call us back home. To mend the severed ties, to ground us back in belonging to the earth. I have the pleasure of many wild weeds , flowers , medicine on the land I am now custodian and guardian.

As a flower essence and shamanic practitioner and wild therapist who has travelled the healing path all my life , been attuned to the nature kingdom since early childhood , who has never forgotten the presence of the other world or the ways in which it speaks to us I find the most profound healing has come through the use of flower essences.

Flowers are one of natures most gentle and potent , powerful healers .

Their capacity to energetically support our soul healing and bring our mental physical and emotional bodies back into balance should not be underestimated.

When people think of plant medicine they often think of Mother teacher plants like , Peyote , San Pedro , Psilocybin mushrooms and other psychotropic plants that often shift consciousness and awareness rapidly and often quite forcefully needing lots of time for us to integrate their medicine and healing.

People don’t often consider that every plant and flower possesses healing medicine , that is just as profound and brings just as much insight , awareness and healing. Albeit at a much gentler pace and speed . Enabling integration to take place more easily and with less of a shock to our system and psychic senses.

Having had the psychic shock and trauma of psychoactive substances taken too young – the very gentle flower essences have been the most effective remedy for re-balancing , repairing and mending the after effects of opening up too much , too soon , when unknowingly too traumatised to properly integrate the experience.

Flower essences have supported me to repair my energy field, clear ancestral and familial patterning , unblock stuck and repressed emotions, ground and centre my energy back into my physical body , clear my chakra system , stabilise the mental and emotional bodies and lots more besides.

If you find yourself drawn again and again to a particular plant or flower it’s probably trying to get your attention. It has medicine for you . It has energy it wishes to share with you . On some level your being needs it .

Sit with it a while . Notice its colour. Its scent . What comes to mind when you spend time with it. What feelings/ memories arise ? How does your body feel in its presence ?

What is it trying to tell you ?