Avalon in full bloom

Summer is here after what has felt like a very, very long winter. Inner and outer. And Avalon is now in full bloom, bees buzzing, buds bursting and blossoms taking my breath away with every step. My roses and peonies are lighting me up more than I imagined. Sunny seems to love flowers as much as me, reaching for them every five minutes; he now thinks the peony bush is called “Gentle….no!”

 

Soon after we were called to this land, my husband and I verbalised the yearning that was seeded deep in our hearts that we had not until that point named. To live in devotion to nature.

As the wheel has turned many times since and those roots have gotten deeper, we have both been through deep deep healing and transformation. First him, then it was my turn (still is!).

Avalon is known as the home of the Goddess, it is a place of healing that pilgrims have been travelling to since times ancient. It is also a place of transformation. I’m very grateful for what this land has held us through. The light and the dark. The expanse and the void. The many faces of the Goddess. She’s seen it all before. She’s held it all before.

In our garden is a protected ancient yew tree. The yew is a sacred tree of this land and my ancestry. You will often find them in churchyards. But don’t be mistaken and think that the church came first; in many cases the yew was already a place of worship.

During the Roman invasion of the Celtic Isles, churches were built on sites that were sacred to the Celtic peoples. This land that I live on was home to the Dumnonii people, who are said to have retreated into the Selwood Forest during the Roman invasion. I have been developing a relationship with that sacred forest since 2018 and it is also where I host my sacred pilgrimage retreats.

In times like these I feel we are all being called to look at our disconnection from the earth and each other. For many, emotions from sadness to rage are bubbling up to be released from our bodies. As if the pressure has all of a sudden become too much to contain. We are learning the difference between wants and yearnings.

Wants often feel empty once we get them and are often externally based. We almost immediately move on to the next thing. Yearnings are much more subtle and simple and based on a state of being. Living in devotion to nature is one of my deepest yearnings. Deepening my connection to my ancestral lineage is another. So much has been severed throughout human history. And I believe we are all processing that right now.

Just up the road from me in Glastonbury is a recognised public indigenous British Goddess Temple. I believe that so many of us feel the disconnection from the Goddess. And that we can bring Her back through connecting to the land, and building temples within our own hearts in devotion to Her.

While I know we have a long way to go, I’m not sure how long it will take and it’s not clear what we are in, I do have hope for humanity. I have hope for the generations to come. And I believe that if we are to thrive on this planet, we must continue again and again to return to each other, ourselves and the earth. To remember that we are nature and to reweave the sacred back into our everyday lives.