Dear Hearts
My heart is full to the brim. So much to take in … it’s been a lot. A journey down the Foxglove Fairy Path, the great Solstice Oak, Gathering In The Green, midsummer magic, and a meeting of minds.
Here’s a glimpse of what we did at Wild Spirit Woods, our on the ground home and my dear late friend Dawn DeVivres’ living legacy. I missed writing to you last week. Everything became a sort of log jam and I couldn’t get my brain to work to get the words out I was so full with it all. (I still have our gods and goddesses podcast to do!)
This time it was Oak Tea Ceremony, nature connection outdoors, a talk about Merlin, Midsummer and Bears ( because well, who doesn’t want to hear about bears and how they are related to these things?) and then I took everyone on a sound journey and we finished with a talking circle and a wood fired pizza feast and talked, laughed and played into the night under a canopy of stars surrounded by Oaks. Needless to say Bella was the star of the show and placed herself right in the middle of the altar as you can in the photo above!
You may remember I took a trip to collect a great gong calling in at Avebury whose presence now graces our gatherings and is a valuable addition to my many sound bath treasures. Here’s a few pics of me getting ready for the evening making pizza dough and getting stuff ready. (film on the way for you lovely paying supporters).
We had the most extraordinary afternoon on Saturday, before our Gathering In The Green in the evening, as we had two very special visitors to our community Michael Vaughan and Ben Cooper of Staffordshire Bushcraft CIC. Looking for a new home it seems the gods/spirits/angels (call them what you will) have kindly sent them in our direction. I am delighted to welcome them to Wild Spirit Woods and our Forest Heart community and foresee many good things coming from this meeting at such a magical auspicious time.
Far left Michael, Ben, the Simon Head Volunteer and manager, then me.
Michael is a great big bear of a man, in fact they both have that aura about them. Now if you have been journeying with me for any length of time then you know of my niche interest, my fascination with, nay obsession for all things Bear! Hmm there is magic afoot and no mistake. So, there is Michael a great shining presence, a man with a mission and wide open smile radiating passion. The light just beams out of him. Ben who accompanied him seems thoughtful and quieter though no lesser a man for that. He seems to be the one steering this immense passion held by Michael and manifesting things with his strong grounding presence. He is a blacksmith by noble magical trade and looked very kindly upon by spirit I feel. Blacksmiths have a long and venerable magical and mythical inheritance beloved by gods and people alike. There’s a powerful energy in him and more than a whiff of magic about his presence. The best way to describe it is kind of like when you rub your finger around a glass and another starts vibrating at the same tone. Meanwhile me and Michael are stepping from foot to foot trying to keep our enthusiasms in check. Simon my right hand man and his Ben his right hand man are there grounding us as we do a quick tour around the land. It takes a monumental effort on my part not to info dump (an autistic thing) get over excited (ADHD thing) and swamp them with my love for this place. It is hot, not a breath of wind and I can feel magic crackling in the air.
We have 5 acres here and you can literally stand and watch things grow. The bracken, no word of a lie, is eight foot tall in some places. The Balsam too towers up to the sky. I have seen countless hours of toil disappear into the green including my own. It really is a miracle of the green and growing plant kingdom. It is wonderful and we humans can help tend to this kingdom by keeping invasive interlopers in check. Those of you who have been with me for a while will well know my battles with Balsam and Bracken! Tending and befriending the land where we live is a sacred task that takes loving care, but sometimes also clarity and clear vision to balance by human hand what Mother Nature would have done herself if we had left her eco system intact. But I digress.
With grateful thanks to Jenny Bridget for first 2 pics. 🙏🏻🌳💚
What I am meaning to say is that for a while now I have been thinking that we need an army to help battle the bracken and such, (especially since the accident to my leg) as well as help with other projects and my goodness but the prayer is made manifest! For Staffordshire Bushcraft CIC is a very special project supporting ex-servicemen and women and good mental health and wellbeing. All whose vision is the work of Michael with support from the indefatigable Ben. Mental health as many of you well know is also a real passion of mine and is woven through our Facebook groups and the Ancient and Sacred Trees website as well as in my own work. So to our little growing band of volunteers we now have these wonderful warriors bringing their heart and soul to heave and heft and help do the good work of making the miracle manifest.
It may take spirit … (for this you may read God, Goddess, Angels, Jesus, and such as you please. What I am meaning here is that divine wellspring of love that courses through all things. But you knew this already. I merely repeat myself for you dear Reader who are recently arrived) … , it may take Spirit some time to answer, but my goodness when they get going you’d better hang onto your hats!
So, first the gong, a set of wooden cups coming courtesy as a gift from Jenny Bridget which I’ve been hankering after for my tea ceremonies (I will show you once I have them), we had the loan of a wood-fired pizza oven for our gathering last weekend and lovely soul Andy Wild to supervise it all evening, and now a battalion of Balsam and Bracken bashers and amazing heart filled people to join in with the work of finishing the Sun Lodge.
Oh, and if you remember last I wrote, the wood for the Sun Lodge is now all paid for!! Thank you so much for all your support Dear Hearts! Not only this but the day Michael and Ben to came to look around was the very day they were granted CIC status! Archangel Michael and Blacksmith Ben as I cannot help but think of them. Honestly, you could not make any of this up.
So, what does all this mean I hear you ask? (Especially if you are new. ) Well you already know (most of you) how I dreamed of having a wood to care for, to tend and befriend, a safe haven to pour my love into. To create a haven for our wild friends and somewhere that humans can learn to live with a little grace, where they can gain respite and heal and become the wonder that they truly are. Having worked with so many different communities including young people with complex and severe psychiatric and/or psychological needs, refugees, mental health groups and many more, and myself as someone who has experienced trauma (I don’t like the word victim and survivor doesn’t do it for me either), neurodiverse (AuDHD) with a hidden disability, I well know how important these spaces are for all of us. You also know, as well as I, just how very important it is to attempt to repair the damage to our relationship with our wild friends too. Essential in fact. Now this dream is becoming a reality due to my dear friend Dawns’ living legacy.
With the continuing work on site it means that the Sun Lodge will be a warm cosy space to offer for those who are ill to come sit and be in nature even if just for an hour, even through the winter. It will provide a space for volunteers to have a brew and bite to eat and a space for us to sit warm and snug through the winter. I cannot begin to tell you how happy this all makes me.
I have learned not to question the way things work, they just do. Like I said about my meeting with Oak last time, I don’t know how I was drawn over to meet them, it just happens. Autism wants to explain to micro level and ADHD just wants to go with the flow! The Lord moves in mysterious ways, as some of you might say. All I know is that when we are in service to something greater than ourselves the stars align and the fates conspire to weave a way for things to all work together. What I can tell you is that gratitude and blessing are powerful things and love finds a way. That’s what all my work is about and in service to.
Anyway here’s a song to celebrate and get my point across. Well, you know I love mixing things up a bit. It’s not the first time I’ve added music or film to my letters. (Think of the trip to Avebury or my pieces about Thors’ Cave).
Let me put this another way. I’m a bit shy, a bit socially awkward and anxious at times (autism and fibromyalgia both at work) and have survived all kinds of things (all stories for other times). I set up a Facebook group for what I thought was a niche interest never expecting it to explode the way it did and thence setting up Ancient and Sacred Trees not for profit project and becoming a community leader in the process.
Now who would’ve have thought it? A person that some might regard as a tad eccentric with crazy ideas and a sun spangled vision yet who for years never really had a voice. (How that came into being is a story, if not a book in itself). It’s one thing becoming a teacher and workshop leader, but this is another level. My point is that if I can do it (with a whole set of Louis Vuitton luggage travelling on behind me, and yes Ive unpacked it all and marvelled at the contents) then so can you. That’s what social justice IS, that’s what spirit enables and that’s what love does.
Community takes time to build, (as I saw years ago as one of the founders of an art studio years ago) but seemingly in this instance spirit has other ideas …
Anyway, let’s bring this all back to earth. After our Gathering In The Green, which was late starting because time went completely elastic with so many magical happenings, I had to give up any pretence of being in control and just laugh about it all. Then we had pizza. Here you go, watch and enjoy and try not to drool. Food always tastes so much better eaten outside and especially when cooked over an open fire!
There is something very important about preparing food and sitting and eating together. This is how communities come into being, it is another form of ritual and humans do love their rituals. Such things open hearts and minds and that is where my passion lies. As a teacher I have always loved seeing the light switch on in peoples’ eyes. I love ritual, ceremony, offerings and blessings and connecting folks with something beyond themselves, with Mother Nature.
And here is the thing, when we feel good we are empowered to do good.
Anyway, the way I see this continuing to grow (and have done for a while now re our community) is both online and on the ground and these slotting neatly together. No matter where we all are in the world we are all a part of the magic. This is our Forest Heart community wilding within and without, walking the way of the woods to the heart of the Forest.
Wilding wishes and many blessings as always.
Yours in service
Amanda Claire x
If you would like to join us for the next gathering at Wild Spirit Woods in Cheshire we are celebrating Holly. You can stay over too if you like. Your seat awaits. There’s some retreats lined up too you might want a look at.
To you my lovely Paying Supporters, films of the sound bath n some behind the scenes stuff awaits along with a trip through the Foxglove Fairy Path Portal. Enjoy your letter.
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I see your beautiful events on your Events page, but no dates. Is there a way to see the dates, please. I’m traveling to UK from US in September. I’m a Subscriber and would love to say hello. I’ll be in Andover and Oxford area. 🙏🏽