If you think you are too small or ordinary to make a difference you have not been in a closed room with a mosquito (African proverb) or a persistent housefly.
Never too small to make a difference
Purveyor of Creative Stimuli
Setting Intention with Thistle
While walking my dogs I came upon some stunningly beautiful thistles. The thistle has been much maligned. Being a tough plant, the thistle grows everywhere other plants usually don’t. It stands for surviving where others won’t and often this is surviving harsh conditions.
Allow yourself to be seen for your gentleness as well as your strength.
Call in balance and harmony in your emotions.
Give yourself time to grow into your full gifts.
Dive deep internally to fully connect with your hidden gifts and talents.
Forgive yourself and others for not fully appreciating you, and focus on truly loving yourself and what you have to offer.
Read about the symbolism that has been attributed to thistles.
Boundary Setting With Bandicoot
Bandicoot teaches us that one of the most successful ways we can understand the ancient earth is by living a quiet existence, especially amongst times of noise and trauma. Bandicoot comes in our lives to quietly nuzzle our shoulder and point out a little shadowy, sandy track that we missed, and to not neglect it simply because it looks quiet and uninteresting. Like bandicoot, sometimes the quietest places are where we find the most nourishment.
Bandicoot has appeared reminding me to set boundaries and look after my inner home. Bandicoot reminds me of the importance of taking care of myself, providing a healthy environment for myself and not allowing the chaos in the lives of others to dominate. Bandicoot wisdom comes from within and is a reminder, to be honest in my daily affairs and above all, be faithful to myself. To walk my walk and talk my talk will help me feel fulfilled.
Communicate Your Truth
The Peregrine Falcon has flown into my world today to remind me of the importance of communicating our own truth.
These days I mentor very small writing groups. However, whether I have two or twenty-two people participating, those engaging invariably draw odious comparisons and think that their work is not as good as the work being presented by others.
When this happens I remind people that:
♣ a voice trained to live in a dark cave has a strong inner critic to keep it there. You learned to judge yourself relentlessly and to be cautious, and now your inner critic cautions you at every turn. It questions your natural inclinations, your spontaneity; and it ensures that you don’t stand out, and judges you when you do.
♣ When the inner critic dominates, self-worth is swept away.
♣ You are actually speaking the words of someone else
♣ It is natural to de-value your ideas and opinions if they are not heard and valued when you are young. You learned to question their worth, and now in adulthood, you continue to question them and struggle to share them with others.
Perhaps you can add some advice about how to be compassionate to the voice that wants to speak its truth!
Embracing Death
Raven seems more than a litle alarmed, but Donkey knows that to embrace death is to embrace life!
Reconnecting
Shadow Work
Donkey and Raven are engaging in some voice dialogue with the shadow to establish this aspects narrative.
Hasten Slowly
Today the butterfly is reminding me not to rush the process of transformation. I am writing my final essay and I am preparing for a 500-hour placement beginning in June. Butterfly reminds me to spend some time in the cocoon of my home nurturing my creativity and getting in touch with my feelings. Within the cocoon, I can embrace the rapture of transformation and rebirth; trust that a force greater than me has a guiding hand in what I will do when I finally complete this degree in September.
Take the time, within the safety of a special cocoon-like space to read more about butterfly symbolism.
- Wrap yourself tightly in a blanket for a few minutes and then slowly unwrap it and emerge. Does this seem like a metaphor for anything in your life right now?
Inspirational Transformation
You may not spend a week gorging yourself but just unike the very hungry caterpillar, you can undergo a complete metamorphosis and reinvent yourself repeatedly.
Transformation * Change * Celebrating Life’s Miracles * Magick of the Vortex * Lightness of Being * Joy * Understanding * Reincarnation * Seeing Time as an Illusion * Communication with the Spirit World
It’s hard to imagine any creature being so loved by so many civilizations and across so many traditions than the Butterfly. They have captured our fancy since time immemorial. As children, we found our imagination carried away on their painted wings, to the fantastical realms of fairies and elves. And as adults, we are beckoned back to the memories of those magical days, whenever we see these beautiful insects flutter dreamily past.
One has only to think about the miraculous life cycle of these amazing creatures to witness true magick. They begin as larvae in its most basic and vulnerable state, the fuzzy, wriggly form of the caterpillar. Then they enter their self-made cocoon, a time capsule that holds them in what seems like a suspended embrace, but in reality is more akin to a portal of metamorphosis. Finally, the chrysalis breaks, and an entirely new emerging, this one with wings of such ethereal beauty that our minds can scarcely grasp how such a previously odd and rather uninteresting creature, could transform into such a resplendent wonder.
If this stunning insect has chosen to journey with you as a Spirit Guide, count yourself fortunate, for theirs is the Magick of the Fairy realm, the miracle of transformation, and the teachings of one who passionately embraces change. They are a Spirit Animal that guides through the imagination, and imbues their human counterpart with a sense of joy and the ability to celebrate the special miracles we all encounter as we walk through this life.
Butterfly is beside you to teach you that you should always strive to keep your sense of wonder, to find the miracles in the tiniest of places, and to always look for ways in which you can create more beauty in your life, in the lives of others, and in the world at large. She teaches you that time is but an illusion in the greater reality of our immortal souls, whilst simultaneously reminding you that each moment is precious and filled with limitless possibilities.
Time to Cleanse and Renew
When frog hops into your life the creative spirit is reminding you of the importance of cleansing and renewing. Allow yourself the time to do this. You may need to look at your life in an honest way and ask yourself if you are heading in the right direction. Are there changes that you can make to the path you have followed? You will feel refreshed and will feel new growth when you permit yourself to do this.
One way to cleanse and renew is to spend time creating an ideal scene for yourself. Think of a goal that is important to you. It can be a long-term or short-term one. Write the goal as clearly as possible in one sentence. Underneath write the words Ideal Scene. Proceed to describe the situation as accurately as you would like it to be when the goal is achieved. Make sure to describe it in the present tense, as if it already exists.
Seeking a Night’s Shelter
When you have not booked ahead you cannot get lost! On the other hand, when you have not booked you have to hope that someone will provide some shelter for the night.
Lemurian Healer
The Lemurian Giant
Lemurian Healer
Back on the Road
After an encounter with a giant, Raven needed a spot of healing from this Lemurian Elf. Happily, thanks to the healing hands of the elf, Donkey and Raven are back on the road again.
Listening to Your Inner Voice
The whale spirit animal is the earth’s record keeper for all time. As a totem, the whale teaches you about listening to your inner voice, understanding the impact your emotions have on your everyday life and following your own truth. When the whale enters your life, it may be time to closely examine where you are, the actions and emotions that have brought you to this point, and what you can do to alleviate existing drama and unrest and find peace. Those who have the whale as their animal totem is in touch with true reality. They are nurturers and go-getters who understand there is more to this life than meets the eye.
How to create an atmosphere of safety and trust in your inner world and in your inner voice! This chapter from the power of focusing covers:
Let it be as it is
Being in a relationship with your feelings
Being a good listener to yourself
Being a friend to your felt sense
Hearing all the voices
The wisdom of not knowing
Following the felt sense
A Dreaming Space
The appearance of Lizard is a reminder to create a space for dreaming. In her book, “Visioning Ten Steps to Designing the Life of your Dreams”, Lucia Capacchione talks about setting up a creativity gym, a place to exercise your imagination and vision. Dedicating a specific area can pose problems but as Capacchione points out, if you have a free table anywhere in the house, you have the makings of a portable studio.
Over the summer, while my son was here, we had a clearance in the ‘shed’ that was storing things that needed to be sorted and cleared. He did a great job and I now have a big table set up where I can spread out and be as messy as I like and vision what the transformations I have in mind for this space will actually look like. I want to take time to romance the creative spirit and to test run and see how much I use this space before upgrading in any way!
Tomorrow I am having wire mesh placed strategically so that the shed begins to disappear under a swathe of green!
Create your dreaming space today and share any images of what you have created!
Bask In The Sun Daydreaming
The frilled neck lizard is a creature that spends its days basking in the sun, daydreaming its future into reality. Lizard’s wisdom is that of the dreamer; the daydreamer!
In a culture obsessed with efficiency, mind-wandering is often derided as useless—the kind of thinking we rely on when we don’t really want to think. Freud, for instance, described daydreams as “infantile” and a means of escaping from the necessary chores of the world into fantasies of “wish-fulfilment.”
In recent years, however, psychologists and neuroscientists have redeemed this mental state, revealing the ways in which mind-wandering is an essential cognitive tool. It turns out that whenever we are slightly bored—when the reality isn’t quite enough for us—we begin exploring our own associations, contemplating counterfactuals and fictive scenarios that only exist within the head.
Today Lizard is calling upon us to take serious note of our daydreams and visioning! It encourages us to keep a journal and spend time creating ideal scenes, roadmaps of possibilities.
Try creating some ideal scenes in your journal – writing or drawing. Address areas such as
- daily routines
- creative expression
- leisure and travel
- money to support the lifestyle you want
- relationships
Potential for Self Knowledge
Lizard is letting you know that it is time to take do an internal audit. Are you coming from your heart? Be aware – simply because the ego is the master of deception and you will often have to peel back many layers to get at the truth – and to discover what your heart is really telling you. Take the time to really focus on your personal dreams.
For a long time, I have worked with ‘others’ in mind! My heart is telling me to apply my artistic midwifery skills to self! As a result, I am spending time treasure hunting for inspiration and drawing again. Frilled neck lizard inspires me to stop camouflaging myself, to open up fully, step out into the bright light and own my artistic abilities.
When you are able to know what parts of yourself need to be on display you begin to know who you are as a person. There is great potential for self-knowledge with the frilled-neck lizard, who says that rather than hiding because of fear there are ways to display ourselves in ways that incite pride and admiration.
Still Hunting
Jumping over the moon
To stay or go!
Spirit Guides on Lemurian Road
Be Crocwise
As a creative being crocwise means knowing that there are many things that endanger the creative process. Being crocwise means using your head and shielding the creative spirit from all those things that would kill it.
To Wait! To Go?
“Another of the piper’s madcap schemes” thought Donkey! “We are supposed to be Waiting for Godot! Hey Raven! Will we wait or will we go?” Heather Blakey March 2018
The Enormous Crocodile
Roald Dahl really is much more than mere talent! The language in this well told story is an utter delight: enough to bring a smile to my face today! The next time I feel the need to use some expletives I must make use of phrases such as ‘you horrid hoggish croc’!
The Crocodile
“No animal is half as vile
As Crocky–Wock, the crocodile.
On Saturdays he likes to crunch
Six juicy children for his lunch
And he especially enjoys
Just three of each, three girls, three boys.
He smears the boys (to make them hot)
With mustard from the mustard pot.
But mustard doesn’t go with girls,
It tastes all wrong with plaits and curls.
With them, what goes extremely well
Is butterscotch and caramel.
It’s such a super marvelous treat
When boys are hot and girls are sweet.
At least that’s Crocky’s point of view
He ought to know. He’s had a few.
That’s all for now. It’s time for bed.
Lie down and rest your sleepy head.
Ssh. Listen. What is that I hear,
Galumphing softly up the stair?
Go lock the door and fetch my gun!
Go on child, hurry! Quickly run!
No stop! Stand back! He’s coming in!
Oh, look, that greasy greenish skin!
The shining teeth, the greedy smile!
It’s Crocky–Wock, the Crocodile!”
Position Yourself: Be Patient: Be Ready to Pounce
Over 52 weeks I will be learning all about how to live and work creatively. My teachers are Aussie birds and animals. It is week nine and Saltwater Crocodile has swum silently into my life to build on the lessons that Australian birds, animals and habitat have been initiating.
The saltwater crocodile is the largest reptile in the world. They are also called the estuarine crocodile.The average length for a female is 4 metres, and 5 metres for a male but it can grow up to 7 metres in length. These crocodiles are found in parts of eastern India, Southeast Asia and northern Australia in rivers and swamps. They are grey and brown in colour with a strong body, a powerful tail, a huge head, heavy jaws and are known to be excellent swimmers. The saltwater crocodile feeds on fish, reptiles, birds and mammals while the young are limited to smaller animals such as amphibians.
Saltwater crocodiles lurk beneath the waters of rivers and swamps and are excellent predators. They wait patiently, often just below the water, their nostrils barely visible above the surface, until prey comes along. Once they are ready to kill, they strike with lightening speed and immense power. and when the perfect time has come, they plunge out of the water without warning, pull their victim into the water and wait until the animal drowns before having their meal.
Crocodile teaches us about:
Patience – When crocodiles have positioned themselves, they wait patiently. They know that they may have to wait for their prey to come to them and are prepared to bide their time until the opportunity presents itself.
What about you?
Are your expectations realistic?
Do you get impatient when opportunities don’t come immediately, or do you understand that you may need to wait for the right job, the right opportunity or the right time?
Pounce – After crocodiles have positioned themselves and waited patiently, they have to take advantage of the opportunity to pounce when the time comes. They launch themselves with all that they have and grab their chance.
Are you ready to pounce?
When your time comes, will you be ready?
Or do you hesitate and watch while the opportunity that you’ve been waiting for walks in the other direction?
Today we can learn from saltwater crocodile to position ourselves, wait patiently and pounce at the right time.
Be Crocwise! Protect your creativity
Brolga Dancing
Sit comfortably, but erect! Let your shoulders relax and your feet rest on the floor. Close your eyes! Choose colours for brolga dancing! Choose colours that will help your spirit dance! Use your intuition to choose colours! Pick the colours that feel right at the moment – don’t just choose your favourite colours! Visualize a circle with those colours! Keep looking at the circle as it spins and dances. Keep it simple! Watch the colours for ten minutes and then, when you are ready, colour in brolga and write about spirit dancing with her!
It is in this way that I draw and then colour images such as these! Looking at them now I can see the joyful spirit that lies within!
Host A Brolga Party
Along the theme of experiencing joyfulness, brolga also lets us know that it might be time to draw in ‘party’ energy. While this might literally involve organising a party, attending one with friends, or going out with a group it could, equally, simply mean that you intentionally release stress and energy and have a good time.
Social gatherings are often very healing when we go with no expectations but to treat ourselves and look after our social spirit. Rather than going on an Artist’s Date alone you might host a brolga party OR bundle some friends in the car and go on an Akari style mystery tour with an end destination such as the Brolga Room at the Healesville Hotel!
Cocktail
Brogla RoomThe menu below can form part of the canapes to start a function or to create the perfect cocktail party. When confirming your numbers & timing we can work together to develop a menu, you may choose fingerfood for the event or match it with some more substantial dishes.
Cocktail parties include feasting on
freshly shucked oysters with red wine and shallots dressingsmoked buxton trout rillettes with horse radish cream & lavish
rice paper rolls of green herbs, chilli and hoi sin pork
duck rillettes on buttered sourdough toasts with cranberries
cured yarra valley salmon, crme fraiche and chives on rye
crostini topped with-pork & pistachio terrine with pear chutney
crostini topped with-babaganouj w dukkahbuxton trout rillettes w yarra valley salmon roe
yarra valley goats cheese & tomato tartlet w green olive tapenade
pumpkin, sage and fetta arancini
zucchini fritter with tahini yoghurt
lamb kofta with tzatziki
chorizo and sweet corn fritters with aioli
confit duck pithiviers
middle eastern lamb turnovers, zaatar dipping sauce
little caramelised onion tarts, rocket and fetta
salt & pepper squid lime aioli
cones of local beer battered fish & chips
mini beef or chicken burger sliders
slow braised spiced lamb on cous cous
kennedy and wilson chocolate tartlet
mini pavlova with passion fruit cream mini lemon curd tarts
Romancing the Creative Spirit
Over 52 weeks I will be learning all about how to live and work creatively. My teachers are Aussie birds and animals. It is week eight and Brolga has danced into my life, on the arm of and the creative force, to build on the lessons that Australian birds, animals and habitat have been initiating.
When brolga energy has come into your life, it indicates that there is a focus on relationships – particularly romantic or more-than-platonic relationship. It might be time to court your partner again and remember romance or the joy of finding a person you love.
Alternatively, there is something quite intoxicating about being in true connection with the creative spirit. When this happens, as it happened to me as I gifted my one true love, the creative spirit, with the Twelve Days of an Australian Christmas, it can feel like a passionate love affair that washes over you like a storm. It can feel like a Mystical Union that puts everything into perspective and fills one with a deep sense of peace.
When Saint Teresa of Avila wrote I Gave All My Heart she was writing about her relationship with God, her beloved one. When I meditate upon this work I acknowledge that I have given all of my heart to my one true love, the Creative Spirit.
I gave all my heart to the Lord of Love,
And my life is so completely transformed
That my Beloved One has become mine
And without a doubt, I am his at last.
When that tender hunter from paradise
Released his piercing arrow at me,
My wounded soul fell in his loving arms;
And my life is so completely transformed
That my Beloved One has become mine
And without a doubt, I am his at last.
He pierced my heart with his arrow of love
And made me one with the Lord who made me.
This is the only love I have to prove,
And my life is so completely transformed
That my Beloved One has become mine
And without a doubt, I am his at last.
For me, courting the creative spirit also involves making romantic gestures to self. This might involve buying a bouquet, a box of chocolates or king prawns for dinner ‘just because’ is a great way to establish a bond with self.
Brolga also teaches the value and wisdom of flirting. Sometimes flirting harmlessly with friends and meaningfully with partners allows us to re-experience what it is to have fun with others. In the French language class I am enrolled in I am enjoying playful banter, conversation and flirtatious behaviour. This is a way to experience fun within the friendship of this group.
Sometimes it’s time to just let loose and be joyful, instead of being serious all the time.
Contemplative Time With My Guides
Communing with my guides – Heather Blakey 2018
Quantum Jumping Over the Moon
Over 52 weeks I will be learning all about how to live and work creatively. My teachers are Aussie birds and animals. It is week seven and the creative force has produced the Kangaroo to build on the lessons that Australian birds, animals and habitat have been initiating.
Known for their strength and agility, at full speed, the adult Grey can reach 40 mph and can jump a distance of approximately 25 feet in one hop and about 9 feet high. The tendons in their large back legs stretch and then snap back, providing lift-off. When travelling great distances, as momentum builds, the kangaroo expends less and less energy through the use of these special tendons instead of using muscle. Their breathing is also very efficient.
In mimicking Kangaroo’s forward momentum skills and in remembering to take a breath during times of stress, we can learn how to progress and achieve our goals quickly, and our stamina during will be greatly enhanced as we leap over any obstacles in our way.
Kangaroo prompts us to simply use the knowledge from our past to keep us from repeating mistakes, but will never allow us to live in the past. They teach that it is best to look ahead and to keep moving forward toward our hopes and dreams.
Take a leap of faith! Go Quantum Jumping with Kangaroo
While Waiting For Godot 