I decided late last night on my word for 2014. I had been contemplating several words and each time I felt I had made a decision I could see the benefits of the other words! I read something inspiring on the first Moonshine lesson where Effy had referred to a Danielle LaPorte e-book. The idea behind her words is that rather than seeking to achieve goals, we should actually seek to attain a feeling, and emotional state. That the pursuit of goals and plans will follow this much more harmoniously.
Naturally I have been thinking a lot since 28th November and I had pretty much decided to use TRUTH. After reading this article I changed my mind. Truth isn’t an emotional state to me, although I do want to live my truth it didn't quite encapsulate what I want to pursue this year. I settled instead on AUTHENTIC, the idea of living my life and being authentic to my beliefs, my morals, to my Higher Self and who I really am. The trouble with this, the scary part, is that I have completely forgotten who I am! I have lost my authentic self and need to do a lot of soul searching to find myself again before I can even begin to live a life of authenticity.
When I was walking to work this morning I gave this some thought and had some really good insights into my own character. I thought about who I used to be when I was in my late teens, how I acted what I believed:
• I was very organised with people's birthdays and always had cards/presents sorted well in advance,
• I was fascinated by mythology, Egyptology, numerology and astrology.
• I loved crystals
• I loved to learn things and teach myself things
• I enjoyed spending time on my own, never lonely, always busy doing something.
I have lost so much of who I am and what I believe.
My vow for Moonshine, and this New Moon phase, is to do daily journaling to discover who my authentic self really is. I may re-look at the OLW project I started following last year with Ali Edwards. I won't pay to do the project again, but I can use last year notes for this years word and adapt to suit – doing the parts I enjoy and changing the parts I didn't.
All in all I am excited for 2014 – excited for the adventure that is ahead in the reclaiming of my Self and the renewal of my relationship with my Beloved.

Location:Moving forward

All Hallows

This year has been an amazing year for me! From October last year onwards I was in a very dark place and feeling very down and lost. Slowly I have re-found myself and feel strong once again. I feel like Me again! And what is one outcome of this?? Halloween decor!!!!!
Last year I didn't decorate, which is just ludicrous for me as All Hallows is so special to me.
It is Samhain, the Celtic new year and that is the spiritual Path I follow, so of course it's special to me!
I know pumpkins aren't a tradition Samhain thing, but they are part of our Halloween culture (and anyway, they just look to damn great when carved not to include them!!!)
Here are some snapshots of my day (taken with Hipstamatic app on my iPhone, the film is 'Float' and the lens 'Roboto Glitter'. It is my fave spooky look!) I can't wait to scrapbook these!!!!

A Moment of Epiphany

It's my day off, and I have read the next session of My Quest this morning. It is session 8 and is focussed on LIMINALITY...moments of transition, of nothingness and yet totality.
I have been sat here with Saffy on my lap doing NOTHING. Intentionally waiting but not knowing what it is I'm waiting for. I realised that cats do this a lot. They sit, completely aware of everything going on around them, waiting... waiting for the next thing to occur.
From this my mind wandered to my photos as I suddenly was so happy with the clarity of thought I had just had that I wanted to take a photo! I realised that I take photos when I have had a moment of clarity, or am experiencing a moment of joy. I take photos to document a deep thought or story. And then...what do I do with the photos? I scrapbook them. But generally by the time I scrapbook them the TRUE story behind the picture, the clarity, the joy, is lost or diluted. Forgotten.

This photo I took quickly on my phone after the really deep, meaningful thoughts i have had today...when I scrapbook it...it will probably be about how I love to curl up with my kitty! All depth, all clarity will be lost. UNLESS I REMEMBER! So I have decided that when I DO have moments like this, when I DO take a photo that represents some moment of deep reflection, that I will blog. I will add the photo, I will write about my moment of clarity, joy, sorrow even, and I will tag it I will scrapbook this . Then when I do scrapbook that photo, it will be to tell a story that is much deeper, much more honest, and frankly much more interesting and worthy of remembering in years to come!