The Eight of Swords in Winter No Less...

Challenges and confidence are linked in the way that enriches ~ life, love, purpose ~ hippie

Howdy hippie tribe!

    As the year darkens in the Northern hemisphere and brightens in the Southern it feels as if we have a circle within a circle, the spiral is an actual being as the wheel turns minute by minute. It feels comforting that the cycle continues on more than one plane of existence.

Reminds me of "Watching the Wheels" by John Lennon.

Labeled for reuse by Google

     Today the cards do tell of challenges bound to end, a fatality in preparation for a rebirth during the winter here on Mother Earth. No surprise, yet thinking on a personal level the foretelling of a temporary opposition coming into its own fatality can only bring new life and a new stair in the victory of purpose.

    Stay light of heart and immerse in your self. And run a-muck, a-muck, a-muck in the colors of life!

    Be groovy.

   

   
      

Life and Love by Spiral Dance

Hi ho and merry day o!
 
     There are so many things to write about, namely that Florida is being blessed with the awesome music from Australia that came on the wings of this airplane all the way from around the world. Spiral Dance is enjoying the beautiful Florida weather and blessing us with their new CD:
Land and Legend, which is exactly the sound of Spiral Dance we know and love. Just going to talk about their new CD today and

    After the privilege of hearing two of the songs live, they sound rich with spirit and really speak of the connections to land and the legends of the ancestors that gave their energy to the land before us.
My favorite song off the album is Goddess of the Southern Land, out of bias no doubt because Adrienne reveals a part of her journey and, I feel, it holds a key to how to connect to the land and be part of its energies, wherever you are.
 
    The Song of the Trees has a lot of swing to the music and it feels perfect for the climb we are taken up the trees, through its branches and standing strong with the roots and legends. Trees are a lovely theme along the albums of Spiral Dance and a theme I really hope includes more perspectives of their life.
    I'm additionally pleased to see the artwork for the Land and Legend CD cover includes lovely aboriginal artwork by Indigenous Artist Sal Lavalle of Bogong Moth Art that represents Our Mother Serpent in indigenous legend. The cover of the CD features the Megaliths of St. Just in Brittany, the Celtic music center of the world and is an actual photograph of the stones, along with Harry, Merlin's dog. :)

What's even more delightful is the surprise vocals on tracks 1 and 11 of another wonderful bard we all know and love - you'll have to get a copy to find out who!

I'm excited to really sit down this weekend and listen to each and every song on the 11 CD album in more detail. Paul's squeeze boxes are so delightful to dance to, Nick's guitar work always has a hidden surprise, so hearing the full production with Rick's percussion and Nigel on bass and there's didgeridoo, too, which I just discovered is a skill I wasn't aware Nick had. Additionally wicked.

  I hope you enjoy the new music as much as I do.

And the best part is they left some magic behind :)

Don't miss their last concert in Winter Springs, Florida this weekend, because they are leaving the States very soon!

It's actually tomorrow, October 14th at 7:30 pm.

Click HERE for the details!


See ya soon!

Hello Life

Hello from the humble hippie hut and feasgar math to those who know what that means :) At least it is evening here in the urban forest.

Sitting here thinking a little bit about society, recent events and my place in it while Billy Joel's We Didn't Start the Fire plays on the tube.

Getting ready to make a first long trip, new healed leg motorbike ride to Ocala to meet up with Spiral Dance - it's such an exciting, welcome time in the new season for a breeze from Australia on the heels of Wales. I believe they brought the breezes that kicked up so lovely today. The good news is Gateways is super close to being an actual recorded CD and that is hard to believe. It felt like such a distant dream and I hope you enjoy it. As soon as it's ready I'll let you know how you can get a copy of the single so you can give it a spin.

I can't let this blog go by without mentioning the senseless violence we see not only just this weekend, but all over the world. There are many perceptions to life, death and the means in which it occurs, yet when we love so deeply, loss scars deep.  It sometimes feels the world is like this big circular  bubble all around us just in chaos and it feels the peace never penetrates much farther than our tribes.

I choose to believe that we have to keep the core burning bright, keep the basics alive and embrace the storms, they shape us, which shape the balance of the Universe. Keep singing,  dancing and loving.

May peace wash the world and soothe the hearts of the hurt. And live today like it's your last.

It's also incredibly noteworthy to mention the sudden loss of a really great music legend, Tom Petty.
Thanks so much for the amazing music and fun harmonies. May you rest well.

Fitting perhaps the last verse of Gateways addresses what is seen as the last cycle of life, going into twilight, and the underworld.
It speaks of Rhiannon's cave entrance where the rowan tree grows and the black bird sings and the owl of the night soars with the magic of the moon. It seemed full circle to the sunrise. It is said that twilight is a time when to feel the other realms, the spiritual worlds, meditate, receive divinity and also a time when to watch for fairies and gnomes strolling through the woods. The blackbird sings an enchanted song, drawing you in and welcoming you. Rest assured the cycle never ends.

~ hippie

Sky Father can you hear me
Earth Mother can you feel me
As the blackbird  (sends you deeper inside)
Sings his enchanting song
From the entrance (the gateway to Rhainnon's cave)
Of the cave

Callich Oidche (white old crone of the night)
She spreads her gray and silvery wings
It is twilight (the past has just begun)
Won't you stay

Irma me this, Irma me that.

There are so many courageous souls heading out during and after any natural disaster to rescue, repair and rebuild places so they are habitable and safe again, let's do all we can to  help.
The one thing all this techno-connectedness brings is help where it is needed. These latest months shows so much namaste in its true form.

Be well my friends.

Where's Florida?

We'll be in the Twilight Zone...

~ hippie

the wheel moves

Feeling the movement of the wheel,  got a vintage tune in my head like something out of the '50s
and interesting. It's something to work on while new classes start.

Many of us take stock of  projects, happenings and flow when a major holiday approaches  and not only are we facing a chance to grab onto a little bit of balance and teeter-toter back or sway a little on either side of center, I can just feel the need to see what is ahead on the path as the veil begins to call up on the consciousness of the mind.


What I felt was a very important message about the effects of music therapy is sitting on the side for awhile, as I start to hear new tunes as the air will cool. I see the weather up north is slightly showing signs of cooling already. A vision of turning leaves to bring some relief from the heat everywhere.

Enjoy a safe and joyful holiday!

The Grove

Not sure where to start, except a  welcome and some peace.

Today I'm attempting to outline the meanings within the second lyrical verse of Gateways.

So here the words work into recognizing sacred places of  life and the cycle we see in every year. It incorporates imagery in my head of the sacred cow providing nourishment for the crone of the underworld barrows, who is heading into rebirth as Brighid.

Starting with the  recognition that as Spring appears in Avalon, so does the snowdrop flowers coming to life under the snow. I  heard them whispering against the fading snow.


Then as the long sleeping winter crone, known in Scots and Irish Gaelic as the Cailleach, leaves the barrows and heads for the entrance of the green grove that is budding, full of live giving water of the sacred well and begins to sing life, as she does in the first verse of the song.

The whispers of the snowdrops

Reflect upon the fading snow

Winter Cailleach, (white old crone of  the night)

Leaves her dark and dreary mound

for the entrance of  the grove

(Budding fruits from the green hand of the grove)

In the forest 

(at the base of the hill)

She finds the springs of Mother Earth

Drinking deeply,

(nourished milk of the mother and she sings)

Brighid sings. 




I feel this as a vision of always cycling, never dying and falling in love with life once again.

Feel free to comment below on what visions you see  when you hear these words. 


Until  next blog time....

~ hippie

Water, Blessings, Happy Day and Music!

So many prayers for all those affected by floods, a small donation and prayers your way are all I can muster. Be safe, I've seen pictures of little kids playing in the flood waters, remembering the dangers of the waters, not only are alligators and water moccasins and sharks and more going to explore, sewer systems and gasoline tanks and flooded storage with toxic and hazardous chemicals are all floating around. May all have a victorious day in all of your efforts. 

In other happy news I've been cleared for weight on my broken leg!  Thanks so much Sir Dennis for the help to the doctor and the celebratory hug :) I wonder how many steps it is to your house? Like how many licks does it take to get to the center of the tootsie pop, I'll have to remember to count.


On Saturday a new batch of hippie head scarves are in the works and a pile of packages sent  in the mail the following Friday ~ and we'll explore the second verse of Gateways to figure out the visions in this hippie's head when they materialized on Sunday.

We'll also take a look at Spiral Dance's newer album while we wait for it to come to the US at Caldera Music Fest.   <----  click there! 

Adrienne, Nick, Paul and Rick are on International Tour starting right about now. Their first stop is with Damh the Bard   <----- click there, too!

And the schedule is listed at Spiral Dance's website HERE.

Always smile and plant a tree! ~ hippie

So while I find the beauty, I know the pain and I know the dirt and the digging and while the beauty soars above my head in song, the dirty digs in a the sex of pain, the sex of life, the sex of pleasure and the sex of death in hidden tones only known by those who have been through the earth, cleansed by the water, uplifted by wings and have found a burning and sometimes satiated desire. So goes the hippie.

Summing it up ;)

Where words fail, music speaks - Hans Christian Anderson

Yeah, that's me. Nothing I speak coincides with what I'm feeling,

 but play me a rhythm for the soul to spill. ~ hippie

The Watery Cave at Sunrise

   Legends of Celtic lore of many Irish and Scottish clans having descended from the seal, the Ron.
The cry of the seal is eerie, yet a beautiful feeling of primitive connection to life, reaching a depth of life that can only be born of connecting in the watery depths.

 Lying on the magical shores of the Isla Da Druidneach the shifting tides bring forth the watery birth of the seals, of the selchies, of life. One very old creation myth found in the Orkneys speaks of humans being 'sung to life' by the sea goddess, in connection to the mournful sound of the seal's cry in the region. The images started flowing around in my brain and this legend came to life in the first verse of Gateways. 

Mainland, Orkney ~ Circle of Brodgar

                                                


    See ya next time for the ideas behind verse two.

May Awen be your life ~ hippie

A Story of Cycles

It's such a beautiful, bright day today on the Nature Coast and great for reflecting upon the stories I've gotten to know intimately.
Today I'm sharing the story of the gates that were revealed at the time. Next time I'll tell the stories attached to the various legends in the song.

May Awen stir you ~ hippie


Gateways

Her voice  blows on the breeze
It sings you and it sings me

Renewal
(Sacred rebirth)
Of the May queen
From the entrance
(Feel the warmth of the womb)
Of the warm and watery cave

Shedding sea skin
(Living song of your soul)
Of the ron in the foamy green

It is sunrise
(The beginning of life won't you stay)
Won't you stay

The whispers of the snowdrops
Reflect upon the fading snow

Winter caillach
(The old crone of the night)
Leaves her dark and dreary mound
For the entrance
(budding fruits from the green hand of the grove)
Of the grove

In the forest
(At the base of the hills)
She finds the springs of Mother Earth
Drinking deeply
(Nourished milk of the mother and she sings)
Brighid sings

Sky Father can you hear me
Earth Mother can you feel me

As the blackbird
(Sends you deeper inside)
Sings his enchanting song
From the entrance
(The gateway to Rhiannnon's cave)
Of the cave

Callich Oidche
(White old crone of the night)
She spreads her gray and silvery wings

It is twilight
(The past has just begun)
Won't you stay

~ © C. Pasterchek 2010

What's Your Inspiration?

A day of work breezed right on by on a writing day. Welcome to the cyber extension of the humble hippie hut. It's been cloudy and warm and my kitties are loving the air conditioning.
The most amazing lightening strike occurred so close to the hut it hit before goosebumps raised on my arms. Heart pounding with terrified excitement, I discovered my heart won't actually leap out of my chest, but my vision was foggy from the flash and  my ears were ringing for a while. An experience  of energy I'll never forget.

     Despite the heat, the hawks have returned after helping the young ones leave the nest. soaring above our little valley to greet the day and scare up some vittles. The Monarchs and milkweed are flourishing as are the ibis and the cardinals are still enjoying the Florida sun.

       Today as promised, let's explore the inspiration behind Gateways. Even its detailed meanings to me have escaped the usual self analysis. After thinking upon it during another famous summer storm I discovered the bones lie behind legends retold in The Druid Animal Oracle by Philip and Stephanie  Carr-Gomm. Within the expression I discovered the cycles within the cycles within the circles within the circular flow of our bodies. I discovered the larger cycle of the story of life, along with the intricacies of the cycle of the year, the cycle of a day. The additional melody gave a second dimension adding a description to the aspects of the characters and locations in the story. Gateways embraces the vision I have of the Universe and how it manifests itself in all it has created.
      The song also makes me think of Willy Wonka. 
  
    If you study or practice Druidry, are Celtic or are familiar with The Druid Animal Oracle, the  Gaidhlic in the song will be familiar with you. 😎 Those not familiar, enjoy discovering their meanings:)
 I'm delighted Gateways will be my first CD single, my commitment for a release date is for Imbolc, 2018. Hope you'll come back tomorrow to see the story. Some of you know the song already. Hope you enjoy the finished product!

May Awen stir you.  ~ hippie

  
  

Hail Summer!

And here we go :) The wheel has turned its face upwards and glows with warmth and light, let it make you sweat, Clear the pores and let in the light. Refresh in the brightness, let it awaken the spirit! Let it nourish you, nourish me. ~ hippie

Hallo to you!

     In surrender of the mystical feelings and the hazy vision that makes up joy inside,
being deep is just who I am. I'd be delighted and honored to have you walk with me. It's been a struggle to make a commitment to myself, so I'm  going to make the commitment to those who enjoy my musings and songs. All I am is rhythm. Stepping onto the stones of strength is a calling to be heeded, the purpose of each breath contemplated and given to each other, swirling into the Universe.

What new magic lies under the new leaves now turned?

I believe it is an ecosystem of love that feeds you and me.

      Come visit with me here tomorrow to discover the inspiration and story behind Gateways.
I wrote the song way back in 2010 after meeting a beautiful, tall goddess from Australia.
The after festival nap was filled with a tune and when I awoke, I had to get it down. I don't think I left the computer for 24 hours until it was finished.

     A week later the rest of the story poured into cyberspace.

It just occurred to me that the auspicious number of seven is the number of years this song has been waiting to be more than a recording on a couple of computers. The song speaks of coming full circle in growth and just won't leave me alone this year.

Pull back the veil and be the magic you feel.
Love the warmth and light that burns within you.
Use it for building strength and know you deserve it. All.
May Awen stir you.  ~ hippie




  

Moving into Air

Journeys through the elements, to me at least, are some of the most soul searching pathways to healing that one can take. 

Even though I've worked through elements in younger years, the current journey has been the most life changing, dragging me through the dirt and mud, scraping and sloughing off pain, pushing me off cliffs into deep whirlpools of darkness, drifting downstream and tearing out my heart, replacing it with something new and connected to energies unknown. Drifting to the end of the river where the sun shines through the trees, dries the skin, warms the soul and shapes the mind to match the heart.

Shifting into  a consciousness bearing tendrils of smoke wrapping tightly around the vision of life. 

Chimes begin to ring softly at first, vibrating waves of sound traveling further into the sight of the stars in a vast expanse of space filled with the breathe of the green ones, the wild ones and us. Exchanging one another's force, mixing pieces of souls from one particle of dust to another  

when the wings of the owls, the hawks and the eagles spread the memories of time. ~ hippie

With the hawk family nesting nearby and the butterflies coming north and laying eggs already and the otters have come out to play, I thinking about Ostara/Easter/Alban Eilir/Spring Equinox, pick your pleasure.
How will you celebrate?

Time for me to make a wreath and set up the altar of thankfulness and honor of our East winds and continuing life. Breaking out the shamrocks, for the Triple Goddess fed her hinds on the luscious, sweet clover.

Incorporating the altar with these symbols with Holi and celebrating Sri Ram, will be full of jasmine, trefoil and the fire springs that bubble renewed energy.
However you celebrate new life, may it be filled with joy! ~ hippie

Oh yeah?

So you think "we're" heading backwards. No, we are not. They are. Those who subservient themselves to do so. They can do that all they want, not in my house. It only works if we let it permeate us. BE the change you want to see. We've said it for so long. TEACH your children to think broader, GROW the generation for something new. KNOW that everything is temporary. BELIEVE that we are united. UNDERSTAND they cling to the past. CREATE the evolution of future. RECOGNIZE the age of hope, the age of love, the age of Aquarius. ~ hippie

The Wilds Awake

We know it's going to be an especially enlightening day when the hawks and the crows call out the morning and the owls have brought up the sun ~ hippie

Yeah, It DID start a conversation

I need to say out in the Universe that I am grateful for the conflicts our world faced in 2016. Why?

Because on every level in daily life in 2017 thus far. I see a human spirit that is not crushed. I see more and more compassion.

From a veterinarian sitting with a rescued pup in the cage for a day to make sure he ate, to innovative work in organic ways to solve the problems of the recovering and disabled, to expression that shows the most fun and laughable moments and to art that takes my breath away, I see PEACE and LOVE fostering on the underlying layer of humanity in people. The layer that the naysayers don't acknowledge, the layer that speaks of common sense, diversity and the power of action and words that does not take in account the results because good action is the result.

The world is more connected than ever before and more are joining the energy center of the Universe every day. So Megyn was right - it started a conversation and it made me a better person and it's actually wiping away learned behaviors of those not fighting the evolution of the human mind and psyche.

And that's what makes the world go 'round. ~ hippie