When many of our clients and students come to Waking The Wild, they come with a wealth of gifts and skills… some naturally given, some long-earned and some hard-won. Those gifts and skills often mean that they’ve created lives that are deemed successful by many standards, certainly those of this modern world.

I had a huge smile on my face and joy in my heart as I settled in my purple tent of wonder in the woods last week. I can’t say I ever imagined I would feel sad for my nights in it to come to an end…. But now I can count how many are left on almost one hand, I do.

The last few years, and especially the last couple of months, have been an initiation into slowing down to my true nature.

We modern humans have sped up. Magical, creative beings that we are, we have created all kinds of technologies that allow us to step out of the natural patterns of life… A slow trot beginning with farming, lighting and heating, and then hurtling into computers and AI.

From as early as I can remember, I’ve done what I can to help our non-human friends, even the smallest… from moving worms from the pavement to physically fighting with the boys in the playground to decide the fate of the crane flies (known then as daddy long legs) they enjoyed pulling the legs and wings off.

My soul came here with a message… that it *is* possible to live an enchanted life, and not just possible, it’s your human birthright.

And when I say “enchanted”, if you know me at all, you’ll know I don’t mean a Disneyfied, glittery (not that I’m knocking glitter), saccharine kind of enchantment, and I don’t mean the bypassing of the mess, mud, tears, and blood of the human animal, I mean the stuff of wild magic, myth and meaning… the legacy of our long ago ancestors.

I find myself thinking about being autistic less and less these days, and it’s easy to forget why I am able to do that.

I was reminded last week after an ill-considered supermarket trip that my frazzled nervous system required a few hours in bed recovering from.

“Dreams are the guiding words of the soul. Why should I henceforth not love my dreams and not make their riddling images into objects of my daily consideration?” Carl Jung

Last night I had a dream that was especially vivid… it unhooked me, frightened me and also allowed me to see how safe I really am.

What’s required to live from soul?

✨ Heart-centred

✨ Soul-led

✨ Sovereign

These are the three tenets of Waking The Wild that are woven into everything we do.

A stellium is when three or more planets are clustered in a single zodiac sign or house.

Having mentioned in a video yesterday, that I have the rare distinction of having FIVE planets in one sign AND in one house… in Libra and in the 7th house (which is also connected to my sun sign of Libra,) which is ruled by Venus and is about partnerships, and also harmony and beauty.

I’m lying in bed listening to my family downstairs making me breakfast in bed, and admiring my very own Klimt, painted by my daughter (when she discovered last week that he is one of my favourite artists, she secretly began painting this).

When people discover the archetypes that are meant for them, especially the ones that are rare in this modern world, the difference it makes is beyond anything rational… that’s because the archetypes are beyond the rational.

If you’re comparing your pace of productivity and creation to someone else’s then you’ll miss your own gold.

I see some people creating at a rate that seems almost alien to me (and I say that knowing that my own flow of creation can seem extreme to others).

I’ve been lying in bed looking through old photos with the children.

The timing is interesting because this month in Waking The Wild Medicine we’ve been entering the crucible of Story (especially the telling of the story of our wounds and gifts… and telling them from Sovereignty), so my younger self has already been more in my awareness than usual.

I was just pondering some of the reasons that people have joined Waking The Wild Medicine in the past couple of years…

✨ To discover their purpose

✨ To connect deeply with a circle of like-minded people

✨ To peel back the layers over their authentic selves

I’ve been journeying through the five stages of The Thankless Task over the past decade (and in truth, before that for most of my life at stages 1 & 2), if you’re human, I suspect they’re stages that you’re journeying through too.

And you’ll notice that there’s no “How to” move through these stages, that’s because it’s the same work I speak about over and over. It is the work of individuating and actualising to live from soul - our deepest, fullest truth - which requires devotion to healing our wounds, integrating shadow and realising our union with all that is…. And it begins with choosing to begin.

1. That it’ll come easily.

Yes, a vital part of doing your soul work is about doing what you’re innately great at, but ‘innately’ doesn’t mean that there won’t be a tonne of conditioning and wounding in the way or that it won’t require years of guidance and practice to fully actualise it.

Last week’s #wildwednesday invitation over at Waking The Wild is one that couldn’t be closer to my heart… it’s all about finding your special tree (or honouring it in reflection if you already have one), if you want to join us in this practice, the link is in the comments. And also do share with like-minded friends who might want to join too!

This poem below is one I wrote some time ago that is my reflection of what my tree has provided to me (it’s truthfully beyond words but words will have to do). ♥️