Natures Way

I have been pondering about Forest Bathing and what to create as a resource on my website. Forest Bathing , like Mindfulness, is helpful but they are part of something and not finite within themselves. Mindfulness comes from the eight fold path , which incorporates ethics , meditation and wisdom : it is meant to be practiced as a whole and always with compassion. In the western world we tend to pick out something to industrialise and monopolise which causes consequences as it wasn’t meant to be separated.

I feel that there is a path , a natures way, which we need to integrate. There is a Scotts Gaelic phrase called Doigh Nadair which means “Natures Way” and I expect that our ancestors and current indigenous people understand this meaning more than we do. . Also another Scots Gaelic word “Duthchas” which means our inherent relationship to nature and you can see this shown in Robin Wall Kimmerer books when she writes about reciprocity.

A long time ago I had a dream about a forest Antlered Goddess who created paths through the dense forests. Her name in the dream was Elen. I was quite suprised to see her in mythology. Elen of the Ways has been a going as long as the Palaeolithic , evidence of her at Star Carr in North Yorkshire 9000BC. Cave paintings thirty thousands years ago show her. There are rich and diverse stories about her through time.

All stories are fractal , re-cycle and are contextual especially when the word was spoken , names are changed in cultures like Beaivi in Sami or Sadhbh in Irish. Forms of Elen found their way into literature which some people think nothing else exists except for this, causing arguments. Elen is everything who you want her to be on your journey , your path revealed, your cross roads, your standing stones , your spiritual direction and your own sovereignty within that story. The path is reclaiming your natural self and as each of us are different and therefore many paths like the roots of a tree or the branching patterns of a river which Elen can guide you through.

Everything is alive and life wouldn’t be here as we know it without the Mycelium creating a way for plants to reside on land. Mycelium is the teacher which taught the trees which taught the Deer allowing the Deer to show the way of paths for humans. It is a timeless spiritual journey which Humans , mostly in the Western world have separated themselves from.

I wonder about what brought those expressions of life here.

This conscious expression is vibrating in every atom of our being. We have just covered up the wisdom of the land to live our strange un-natural life of materialism. We do not need to discard but integrate in a healthier way. To evolve we have to incorporate the earth.

I do not really know how this path unfolds but in 2018 i had an audible message whilst i sat in my home which said “you are what you give” quite loudly and i believe i should share what i learn whether from others , my inner wisdom or experientially.

Bakethin Nature Reserve

Winter Solstice is upon us now

In the depth of winter , i

finally learned that within

me there lay an invincible

summer.

Albert Camus

It is time of Mother Deer of the Winter Solstice , the guardian of wild places , the bringer of light and the inner guiding star to our life path. We have to remember that we too are wild places which have been covered up with our modern beliefs and attachments.

Walking through nature on a Frosty day is grounding and a informative way of cultivating mindfulness as we cannot ignore our exposed face exposed to the cold and our fingers being nipped. The cold is introducing you to being uncomfortable with unwanted feelings and as we push away those arising thoughts we either stay in the warmth or quickly retreat.

Just like these wonderful frost touched plants that have waited for its arrival , the frost reveals a hidden beauty for us. Embrace with compassion the frosty day , feel the cold and just be with it without needing it to be anything else. Let the frost teach you how to heal.

Along by the second nature pond lies a cluster of native trees which revealed something quite new and beautiful. It was a lovely person on Bluesky which told me what it is. Hair Ice which is uncommon and usually reported in lattitudes of 45-55 degree north on broadleaf trees. It is derived by a fungus Exidiopsis Effusa and the hair ice is formed of tempretures under 0 degree C. We are at 55.2 North in Kielder , Northumberland so perfect conditions.

You can hardly not notice it as its as pure white as snow , firstly i thought it was that. But its texture when i got close was like a silk worm had spun it or a strange spider had gone mad.

In the Wild Painting

Dear me

let my failure be my breakthrough

let my messes be triumphant

let my anxiety turn into energy

let my floundering be my star

Christopher Evans

Hareshaw Linn

I was wrong to think that the mushroom season had ended as after days and day of torrential rain and a need to go out to do more photography, and here they are. It was only a few weeks and the place had transformed , it was darker , sparser and more mysterious. I was finding assemblies of nature of stories everywhere , colours and textures of interconnectedness. I was in bliss , soaking wet and trying to slow down so i may use the tripod in such low light.

The colours of the woodland as i wander deeply connect to my unconscious and i awake in the mornings with a sense of palette for my paintings and when you look deeper at the tree trunk, leaf ,berry or plant you see flecks of what was before. It is this time of year you see the whole of something , like Camus Solstice poem , you see and invincible summer within its shadow of winter.

This is why i feel so connected to taking photographs at this time of year , its not just i see beauty in all but this time of year has poetry which is sincere and authentic. Its that realisation that innately within us lies all the colours of wellbeing regardless of whats happening.

Bull Crag Peninsular

I managed a second visit with my tripod. I was armed with a flask of coffee so i may purposely stop and slow down each step. The light was not too dark but with intention if it was physically possible i would use the tripod. Quite often , like the photography squirrel i am , some positions the tripod cannot be of service.

I was hoping for something more misty or frosty to add some photographic elements but i do not mind whatever the conditions are as each time offers something different and nature doesn’t sit in a photograph, it is moment by moment and thats what i like to share.

What coming here today brought to me was a sense of fun of finding things which for me tell a story of a place and i feel that even old grass clumped up by rain and the wind are as wonderful as a magnificent tree. On my “natures way” its about my relationship with the land , being able to see it all , to love it all as this helps my compassion.

It is Christmas in a few days time and i will be taking some time off to rest and let go of the year with some nice food , little wine and a log fire or two spent with my bestie Stella ( the cat) i will have a small diary entry with lots of photographs for the 27th and 3rd of January and everything back to normal on the 10th January.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas wherever you are and whatever your culture is. Blessing of love to you all.

Thank you ever so much for reading as it has encouraged me so much and inspired me to share personal life journeys. Especially thank you to Amy from Blusky for your kind support.