A Sacred Year: SPRING

Spring is a time of new, new energy, magic and growth. It’s not just the leaves and the flowers and the birds and other animals that are birthing something new. It is our intentions, our seed packets our energy. It is all coming into the new.

A creative time, where you check in with your intentions for the year so far, you bring into balance perhaps something within those intentions that is out of whack, we bring harmony to our intentions. There may even be a different, more creative approach you can take. This is where we really start to lean into our action stations.

Your Introduction to the Chakras: The Root Chakra

You may associate this Chakra with the colour red, it’s often represented as a lotus flower with 4 petals. When in balance this chakra brings safety, security, a sense of grounding & stillness. The perfect place to start when you’re beginning your work with the Chakras and the balancing/aligning of your energy body. If you don’t have your system rooted in it’s greatness, you cannot connect to your confidence, or your self worth, leading you to disconnection to the heart, your self expression energies and beyond.

Being Free From

What does being ‘free’ feel and look like for you? In a conversation I had with a client not too long ago, we explored what it means to be free. We were chatting as this came up around an intention she was working with. When we dove into it. She was exploring all the options she wanted freedom around and what that could mean for her life.

I asked her one question that changed it all. What do you want to be free from? Rather than free to do, we explored what she wanted to be free from. It opened up a very different way of seeing aspects of her life. Especially when we talked about how can we be free when to show up daily in our lives, we feel we need to control situations/narratives, outcomes.

A Sacred Year: WINTER

Welcome back to the 2nd part of my SACRED YEAR Blog Series, as we welcome WINTER, or YULE, and what an incredible festival/Solstice to honour.

A time of stillness, deep rest, seed planting, and an honouring of the true dark. We know that the Solstice is our shortest day of the year. The night is the longest night.

It’s a time of candles, generating warmth in the home, enjoying hearty + nourishing foods. We’re often more quiet with our social lives, more internal with our processing, we’re actively hibernating if you will. We’ve not forgotten what came up for us during Samhain, in fact, we’re ruminating in what came up for us. We’re spending time to connect and understand what is truly in our hearts, soul, future.

Sacred Travel

I recently did a little Values Checkin Practice. A lovely practice held with my good mate and Fully Flourishing Expert, Sophie. It’s a great Practice and allows us time and space dedicated to answering questions around what it is we love about our life, where you love spending your time, what you owe talking about, and so forth. What came up for me wasn’t really a surprise. My Sacred Biz, My Health and Travel.

Perhaps heavily influenced because as I share this with you, I’m in Peru. A trip that I’ve had on my heart for many many years. I'm not really a vision board or bucket list kinda gal, but what I do do, is hold the visions in my heart. One of those visions is to venture to Peru on Sacred retreat with my mentor Sora Schilling.

Connecting to the Seasons. A Sacred Year

Following on from a blog I wrote many months ago, haha like this time of the year about 3 years ago.. I feel now is the time to share my thoughts on what each of the 8 seasons/festivals mean for us. Whether it’s the changing colour of the leaves, the temperature, the energy of the earth, our own energy. This seasonal/nature way of looking at our months and year, has really supported me in getting deeper with my Sacred Self, connecting further with my Intentions and allowed me to absorb the energy of the time of year, harness it and make amazing magic with it.

We start in the Southern Hemisphere, right now. On the 30th of April we celebrate Samhain: pronounced ‘sow-ane’

“This is the beginning, and this may be strange to start the beginning with an ending, but you can’t have a beginning without an ending and this one night marks them both.”

This festival marks the beginning of Winter. It is the halfway point between the Autumn Equinox and the Winter Solstice. Days are certainly getting shorter, morning air is getting cooler, we’re starting to wear long sleeves and socks.

This time of year brings amplifies contrast, light and dark, ending & beginnings. It has an energy of ceremony and remembering, as well as fun, laughter & joy. We know Winter is almost upon us, but we look beyond and know deep down that new light will be here before we know it.

The Magic of Cacao

For those of you that have been following along with my life for a while, you will know that this sweet, delicious chocolatey goodness has been an anchor for me for good few years now.

I’m trying to remember how I came across it. It was well over 7 years ago. And to be honest I think Cacao found me. I was a pretty avid coffee drinker. Lived in Melbs, that’s kind of what you do there. I loved coffee, it was my daily thing, it was a way to connect with the peeps at the coffee shop, catch up with friends, keep me going through my busy days, and probably a bit of a coping mechanism to get me through some sticky situations.

Cacao found me at a different time in my life. I’d moved on from quite a stressful working environment, I’d discovered Yoga Nidra, was looking after my health, connecting to my spiritual Self. And then one day I found Australian Ceremonial Cacao. I felt compelled to buy a bag instantly. It arrived and I don't think I looked back.

The Practice of Kintsugi and the Heart

I wrote in my journal the other week about this. How upon reflection I feel like I’ve spent 12months Kintsugi-ing my heart back together. A term I heard from a client I worked with a while ago.. not of the heart, actually maybe we were taking about the heart and mending it after heart break. So Kintsugi: The Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by mending the areas of breakage with urushi lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum.

Yep this is a beautiful way to describe what I’ve been moving through. I did all the heart stuff last year, my heart Chakra received a real work out.

My Fave Sacred Practices

What better way to start than to share 3 of my fave Sacred Practices right now. At least one or two of these Practices I do every day. Sometimes all three, time permitting. Sometimes all together and other times I step into each Practice throughout the day. The beauty of this being your own Practice, is you choose what works for you in that moment.

No1: Has to be my Cacao Practice. This for me is a daily Practice of devotion and an honouring of my Sacred Self. I hold my intention as I’m making my Cacao every day, with every stir in the saucepan I’m holding my intention in my minds eye and heart.

Hi, I'm back.. healing & being rad!

Well hello, It’s been a little while. Quite a while actually, since I’ve been here in this space. I took a break because.. well life really. And now I’m listening to the little soul whispers, saying it’s time to share a little more with you again.

Intention

I’ve been working with intentions effectively for a good few years now. Way back in the day when I’d set goals at the beginning of the year, never really think about them again until the December of that year, then wonder why I’d never really moved closer to the goal. It wasn’t until I found Yoga Nidra & learning more about the energy of the Lunar Cycles that I really tapped into the power & energy of setting intentions.

Forest Bathing

At a time when many of us have been isolated, locked down, working from home, unable to get out into nature. This practice is needed more than ever. And it can be simple and sacred. A time to disconnect from the busy, the static, the thought congestion and the to do lists, the must do’s, the should do’s. Lets make this a time to connect, or reconnect even, back into the deeper system: that of Mother Earth, the wild, the raw, the wonder, the quiet. Where the only sounds are of sweet birdsong, trees talking to each other and the streams flowing.

Spring

Spring:

Spring is said to be a time of harmony, creativity, new life, new ideas, the equal energies of the the light & dark, although the light is becoming stronger..

It gives us a sense of renewed energy after the rest, the quiet action and the deep learnings from winter. All of those ideas that you’ve had bubbling inside over winter, are wanting to emerge. The seeds are planted and the shoots are searching for the sun, that is beginning to shine brighter & brighter as the days move closer to summer.

Dark Moon + Rest

Welcome to the last/final phase of the Lunar Month. Not a specific phase of the moon, rather a ‘void’. And in some reading, it’s known as the ‘void-of-course’. This is more of an energy felt. It’s the dark time of the moon, when she is almost New again. Sometimes you won’t even see the tiny sliver of light on the moon. This is often 2-3 days before the New Moon.

Oracle Card Love

Where to Start with Oracle Cards

This is one of my favourite practices. And when I’m feeling a bit all over the place or I’m starting something new, sometimes at the beginning of a new month, or when I’d like some guidance on how to show up this month. I go to my oracle deck.

A couple of things with oracle cards. There are so many available for you to choose from, modern, ancient, animals, moons, simple, in depth. I mean so many. I’ll list a couple of my favourite ones below. But just choose a deck that you vibe with. If you like the concept or the pictures, or the meaning, or the author or the designer. You know what you like.

The Wheel of the Year

For a good few years now, I’ve followed a different kind of calendar when it comes to setting Intentions, moving through the year and anchoring into the potency of our Seasons. It’s be been really powerful being guided by something more than the calendar and just the moon.

I’ve really loved reading and learning all about The Wheel of the Wiccan Year. Not necessarily seeing myself as a Wiccan or Witch. It’s the seasons and the connection to Mother Earth that I’m drawn too. I love working monthly with my intentions and the Moon Phases. I know there is some great power in that, and the moving through and bringing intentions to life in this way is so special. But aligning myself with the ebbs and flows of the overall year is really cool.

Digital Detox

For the last 28 days I committed to digitally detoxing my mornings. Prompted by a card reading I did around the New Moon in Feb.

It was an interesting practice. One which I thoroughly enjoyed, once I moved through the first few days of having to really remind myself to stop looking at my phone, and to put it down. It was incredible how often I would grab for my phone & immediately start scrolling. The muscle memory in my hands: They knew exactly which apps to open first & where they are on my phone, it was super interesting to witness and work on changing that memory.

My Journey with Crystals

People often ask me how I got into crystals: I always start my story with my nan. Nan really was my spiritual influencer. I remember she served in the Anglican Church, but also had this ‘woowoo’ side to her too. She was an intuitive, and would often write pages of messages she’d received from her guides for me.

So Nan & crystals. Every full moon we’d line the ledge above the kitchen sink with jugs of water, sitting in the bottom of each jug were a heap of Clear Quartz chunks. I’d ask her what they were, and she’d say they’re special cleansing/purifying stones: they make the water cleaner & better for you. This was when I was young: like 7/8. And now, most full moons, I remember back, being with Nan, making the water clean and charged.

Exploration

Originally when I thought of writing about this theme, I thought it would be about exploring in the physical sense. Maybe I talk about travel, exploring new places. When I looked up the meaning of the word: I felt into it even further & thought wow, we’ve pretty much all experienced a level of exploration this year, not we’ve not really ‘travelled’ anywhere.

Whether it has been exploring & witnessing what a global pandemic can do to you & your community/family. Exploring what life like is without work, without family, friends around, without financial security. Exploring life when working from home & juggling kids home-schooling and exploring your own expectations of that life. Exploring how it feels when you watch the news and see the panic when people think necessities like toilet paper could run out.. I mean that was nuts.

For almost 10 months we’ve all experienced some level of exploring something unfamiliar.

Musings at this Moment

This started as my November newsletter.. It turned into something else & I thought I’d share it.

…..

Happy November, Can you believe 2020! I'm not going to re-hash the last 6 months, but just acknowledging that it's coming up to the last 2 months of the year. And wow, haven't we all had lots going on?

I've found my energy has been fluctuating between really high & motivated to really low and questioning every decision I've made the last 5 years.. Not going to lie, it's a bit to work through. Lots of shitty beliefs & crappy behaviours have come to the surface. Old patterns have showed their scary face. Anyone else feeling this?

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Sacred Musings

send a message to carly about this post or complete the below to hear from me each new moon: where i share updates, practices + upcoming circles & workshops. much love

THE CARLY EFFECT RESPECT’S YOUR PRIVACY.