A Winter Walk or Two

This morning it was a little drizzly on our walk, so we got to walk with a rainbow nearly the whole way.

It's the walk we call Mundaring Sharing, because it's in the reserve right next to the local community learning centre of the same name.   It's a favorite of the dogs because a lot of other dogs get walked there and roos and other beasties visit too, so there are plenty of good smells to be had.   It's got some lovely trees too.

We had it all to ourselves today, but Tuppy still stayed on her long lead.  It's just less stressful all round that way.  Too bad Tuppy!  Between running off following her nose and being a snippy bitch to dogs we meet, she really shouldn't be off lead.  I just tell myself that if we had a Greyhound or some other sighthound breed, we wouldn't have them off lead either.  While Tuppy is all Labrador, somehow she also turned out half Whippet.  :)

This is one of my favorite trees along the way.  A grand old Jarrah.   I call these type of trees petticoat trees, because it looks like they've lifted up their skirts to show their ankles.  :D

Those gaps through the trees are perfect liminal spaces. If you ever meditate and want to go deeper, find a tree like this in your inner landscape and pass through the gap.  Doorways, windows, tunnels and like work too, but I find these petticoat trees extra helpful.

Yesterday I left the dogs at home and did a divinatory walk as part of my Shaman studies, which I am currently doing to deepen my Ovate studies. I am lucky enough to be OBOD tutored by Mike Williams, who is also the author of this fantastic book, "Follow the shaman's Call: An Ancient Path for Modern Lives" so I'm taking advantage of this wonderful opportunity and getting his feedback as I work through his book.

It was a very different experience to the usual stroll or march with the dogs.   You walk keeping your attention your surroundings, city or country, and keep a question in mind such as ," Should I change jobs?" or "What path will lead to my greatest contentment?" or some such.  Then you find three things along that way that are obvious signs in answer to your question.

It certainly put me into a very interesting mental state as I walked.  I had six signs that I could not narrow down to three.  Of course part of the way it works is that what you see and what you are keeping in mind gel together and give you new insights that were probably just waiting for the space to get into your foremind anyway, but however it works, it's very well worth a try!

I wanted to know how to further my healing, which seems not to be moving forward just now, especially my digestive system/liver due to some crappy bouts of Porphyria.  These were my signs:

A huge old Marri tree bleeding in spots all over from the invasion of canker.

A very annoying dog who barked and barked at me as I walked the long fence-line beside its property, whether I ignored it or spoke nicely to it.

A property sign on a log that read, "Newhope Farm."

A very, very maggoty dead Quenda (Bandicoot.) (Euuwwwww!)

This one looks much prettier than the one I found!

I also saw:

A pair of elderly neighbours sitting on logs and having a peaceful chat over the fence between their properties.

A pair of White-tailed Black cockatoos peacefully eating honky nuts right above me in the tree, when I'd actually stopped to watch their flock-mates chaotically flying and calling all over the valley.  Looking up and suddenly seeing the big birds so close was quite a moment.  Usually they fly away if you get near them, but instead they just watched me and went about their business while I stood and enjoyed observing them so closely.  I guess I'd been quiet enough not to seem a threat.

This is what I was hearing.  There were birds in the trees and flying all over the valley. 

    


I don't think the messages for me there were too hard to read, though I'm still pondering the horribly dead Quenda!!!!   :P  Give it a try some time!  All in all, it was a very peaceful and insightful exercise that connected me wonderfully to place and to 'other' as well.

For crochet, I'm messing with these little daisy granny squares from Bunny Mummy.  I'm going to make my middle niece a 'pasture afghan,' since she loves green so much.  I'm going to do big squares in different types of green, with a flower in the middle of each.

I couldn't find anything quite like what I'm picturing when I googled, so will be interesting to see how it looks in the end.