Dreaming Earth Podcast - Episode Seven

Dear friends and fellow Dreamers,

It’s the Dark New Moon, and here is this weeks episode, which you can listen to on the platforms, or here on my website.

Today there’s a shake up in the structure, directly from, and directed by a Dream, which is totally how this stuff works ! There’s a Waking Dream as usual, at the end of the recording. I hope you enjoy …

With Courage, Imagination and Love,

Beth

There’s a change in structure to the podcast this week, and we’ll have to see how that all pans out, but the images on the website version will be changing too. But for now, here is where the recording took place today…

And for those of you who’d like to share or make use of it, here is the transcript for our Waking Dream today.

Waking Dream - The movement of the Moon.

So close your eyes, and on the out breaths I want you to visualise first a 3, now a 2, and finally a 1, tall straight and bright.

You are standing in a field at dusk, it’s foggy and in distinct. It is a warm night, and you are quite safe.

Look at your hands, they’re holding a small cardboard puzzle. A few pieces of card are held together by a small round plastic rivet. The rivet means that none of the different pieces can move, all except one piece, that is shaped like a crescent moon.

As you look at the crescent moon, you see its curve hugging against the round plastic rivet. Watch it as it moves around the rivet, it tries to find a place for itself, but it can’t get comfortable. As you watch, you see it is becoming crumpled and misshapen against the hard piece of plastic. The puzzle feels tired and constricted as you hold it in your hands. You feel tired and constricted too.

With one hand take the plastic rivet and pull it out. Throw the rivet into the air to your left, and watch as it flies out of sight.

Now take your hands off the puzzle entirely, and watch as the pieces start to separate and levitate up and out into the beautiful night air. The pieces have become alive, watch with amazement

as a dark brown piece becomes huge, and heavy, and takes its place as the earth. See another piece, a rich navy blue colour, as it opens up overhead and becomes the deep, dark, clear night sky. Tiny silver pieces scatter themselves across the blue, and appear as twinkling stars. And finally see the crumpled moon piece become its full open mysterious self, a luminous cool humming crescent, finding its perfect place among the stars.

Suddenly your senses flood you, your hear owls hooting, you feel the warm night breeze on your skin, and the scent of the grasses, flowers and trees.

Feel yourself surround by the clarity generosity and beauty of this landscape, and know your part and your place in its mysterious structure.

Open your eyes, breathe out one more time, and feel the awe of belonging.

And lastly, for any of you who want to re read it - the excerpt from Panarchy, via my friend Simon. Huge credit to Simon Handy and his knowledge in this area, which is completely lacking in my own !!

“The environment is not constant. Environmental change is not continual or gradual, it is episodic…[The] critical processes that structure ecosystems take place at radically different rates covering several orders of magnitude, and these rates cluster around a few dominant frequencies.

The spatial organisation of natural systems is not uniform either. Nor is it the same at different scales. Ecological systems are “patchy” at all scales - from the leaf, to the landscape, to the planet. … Therefore scaling up from small to large cannot be a process of simple aggregation: nonlinear processes organise s shift from one range of scale to another.

Ecosystems do not have a single equilibrium. Rather, multiple equilibria define functionally different states, and movement between these states is a natural part of maintaining structure and diversity. On one hand, destabilising forces are important in maintaining diversity, resilience and opportunity. On the other hand, stabilising forces are important in maintaining productivity and biogeochemical cycles.”

Optional donations

I offer this work to everybody, open handedly and completely free of charge, so please be assured that there is absolutely no need for you to donate anything at all.

However, if you’ve found my work helpful, would like to support me and my work, and do have the financial means, you can choose to donate some money.

If you click the Donate button below, you can give an amount that feels right to you, however large or small. Any donation which comes to me and my work in this way, by choice, and from the heart, is such a blessing to me. THANK you !

Donate

Dreaming Earth Podcast - Episode Six

Dear friends and fellow Dreamers,

It’s the Full Moon, and welcome to the new episode, which you can listen to on the platforms, or here on my website, with my accompanying images.

Today we Dream with a beautiful big Beech tree, who lives very nearby to my home, and as usual, there’s a Waking Dream from me. I hope you’ll join me and feel like you belong here,

With Courage, Imagination and Love,

Beth

Firstly a picture of an old plate, I just love this… and it’s full, pale, round shape, and wonderful message is a reminder of our beautiful Full Moon - I hope you get a glimpse of her tonight.

Next is the Beech tree we Dream with, and a video of her movement and her shapes. You can see where her huge limb fell from in the winter…We can thank her for her voice through this episode.

Here is a picture, as promised, from outside my old home beside the Yukon, in midsummer, in the middle of the night. This colour is the colour of longing in the letter from Firefly….

And a picture of a Firefly, to honour all that this astonishing creature brought to the episode today!

I DID hear voices behind me today, in all that blowy wind, it was a man trying to fix the road - this man ! I had a nice chat with him as I walked back, I told him I’d put him on my podcast, so here he is.

And for those of you who’d like to share or make use of it, here is the transcript for our Waking Dream today.

Waking Dream

So close your eyes, and on the out breaths I want you to visualise first a 3, now a 2, and finally a 1, tall straight and bright.

See yourself in a grassy place on the outskirts of a town. There is gentle sunlight, and you can see, and hear people going about their day a little way off. Above you is blue sky, with white clouds moving across it. 

As you look across the grass, you notice a tall, green weed. 

You go towards the plant - you are drawn by the colour and texture of its body. It’s so green ! It is nearly as tall as you, with supple, flexible leaves, bluey green in colour, and covered in tiny beads of dew. It is incredibly vivid, and it moves in this beautiful, fluid way. It is pulsing with energy and life. You are entranced by how it moves. 

The plant is juicy and lush, and larger than life, you want to stay here, but you feel yourself in a detached, flat, monochrome way, as you try to connect with it. 

Feel the layer of static monochrome all over your body, from head to toe, it feels dull and dry, complicated, like newspaper print with too many words. 

You feel a strong desire to know the luscious, dewey, aliveness of the plant in front of you, and as you allow this desire, see and feel this same life force rise in your heart, pulsing with energy and bright light, and begin to shed the monochrome layer like a suit, peel it away from your head, down your back, away from your arms and legs, and finally, step your feet out of the old grey suit, letting it dissolve into the ground behind you. 

Feel how the wind touches your body now - t’s electric - power and light comes from your heart, flooding your limbs with luscious textures - look at your belly and legs, your hands and arms, turn them over in front of you and marvel as you see and feel this incredible energy flowing, and moving through you. You are the same as the vivid plant. 

Feel the new, fresh connection between you and the plant friend, your colours harmonising and singing together. Notice the supple, fluid motion of the plants limbs and leaves, and feel this quality in your own body. Let your body move with this shared energy, animated by the same source, as you share the space together in a completely new way. As you stand together in this energy, feel the joy and relief from the tall green weed, as you recognise it with your body. Let this joy and relief flood through every cell. This is the conversation you both wanted… 

Thank your new plant friend from your heart, and as you look back towards the town, know that you are changed, you are alive in a powerful new way now. 

Open your eyes and feel this powerful new way.

And lastly for any of you who were interested in the Sufi newsletter I mentioned today, its called “Sufi Way - Notes from the Open Path”

Optional donations

I offer this work to everybody, open handedly and completely free of charge, so please be assured that there is absolutely no need for you to donate anything at all.

However, if you’ve found my work helpful, would like to support me and my work, and do have the financial means, you can choose to donate some money.

If you click the Donate button below, you can give an amount that feels right to you, however large or small. Any donation which comes to me and my work in this way, by choice, and from the heart, is such a blessing to me. THANK you !

Donate

Dreaming Earth Podcast - Episode Five

Dear friends and fellow Dreamers,

It’s the Dark New Moon, and welcome to the new episode, which you can listen to on the platforms, or here on my website, with my accompanying images.

Today we Dream with mixed Grasses, the inhabitants of a field very close to my home, and as usual, there’s a Waking Dream from me. I hope you feel included,

With Courage, Imagination and Love,

Beth

Firstly an image for the Dark New Moon, it’s all dark up there tonight, but She’s up there !

Next is the field of Grasses, and a video of me walking through them. We can thank them for their voice through this episode. It is impossible to properly capture their colour and diversity, but I will try!

Grasses identification…

“Sedges have edges, rushes are round, grasses are hollow, so what have you found?”

Here is Iris from the position we are recording. You can see the field I videoed yesterday, before the Dream, in the distance. She is such beautiful present company, that it’s lovely to include her. She is a very, VERY special creature!

And for those of you who’d like to share or make use of it, here is the transcript for our Waking Dream today.

Waking Dream

So close your eyes, and on the out breaths I want you to visualise first a 3, now a 2, and finally a 1, tall straight and bright.

See yourself in a castle, you are a happy smiling woman, cosy and content in a darkened room, kneeling by a huge hearth. You love being here, you are in charge of this place, and this fire. You know all its ways, what it needs, and how to look after it, and keep it burning brightly. It is quiet and warm in the darkened room, the fire glows red, orange, pink and yellow, it’s light flickers on the ancient stone walls, and you can feel it’s warmth on your cheeks. You pick up an iron poker, and stoke the ashes, and you see shadows move, and sparks fly. Feel the immense power of the fire. 

You hear the wooden door open to your left, and a man comes in with an armful of firewood. He brings with him a bright ray of sunshine from outside, which shines its light through the open door, and across the stone floor. He is strong, rooted and calm, and he stands up straight. He is friendly and he is smiling at you. He places the logs by the fire and you wait while he puts two pieces in. You see clearly the grain of the wood as the fire takes it into its heart. You smile at each other, and you both feel the power of the fire. 

Now zoom out and look down on the castle. See the fields immediately around the castle, the children playing, the gardens of vegetables, fruit and healing herbs, the men and women working together. And beyond that the land is covered in diverse plants and trees, animals walk amongst woodland and open ground, there is a generous river full of fishes and plants. Every type of person you can imagine is welcome here. There is somewhere for everyone, and every living thing to thrive. 

Open your eyes and feel again the man and the woman beside the power of the fire. 

Here is the beautiful video I mentioned in the recording, I hope you can embody what this could mean, in all areas of life. It COULD make sense to you in relation to a romantic same sex relationship, but it is MUCH more broadly reaching than that. I encourage you to watch and understand this movement as an inner dynamic, and see just how it is working and why it is special, unique and whole.

@absentfiguree Yoann Bourgeois is a French dancer, choreographer, and artist. #yoannbourgeois #fyp #art #viral #newyork #targetaudience ♬ original sound - absent.figure

And lastly, the wonderful and evocative passage from Song of Solomon, or Song of Songs, from the Bible. I’ll add an image I found by William Russell Flint, titled Song of Solomon, and I invite you to be curious around how it makes you feel…. Do you have a reaction? Can you see these two figures, and this scene, as parts of an inner whole?

Song of Solomon, Chapter 3

Oh the splendours of King Solomon. 

The bravest of Israel surround his bed,

threescore warriors,

each of them skilled in battle,

each with his sword on his thigh,

against the terror of the night. 

King Solomon built a pavilion 

from the cedars of Lebanon.

It’s pillars he made of silver,

cushions of gold,

couches of purple linen, 

and the Daughters of Jerusalem 

paved it with love. 

Come out O Daughters of Zion,

and gaze at Solomon the King!

See the crown his Mother set on his head

on the day of his wedding,

the day of his hearts great joy. 

How beautiful you are, my love,

my friend! The doves of your eyes 

looking out 

from the thicket of your hair. 

Your hair, 

like a flock of goats 

bounding down mount Gilead. 

Your teeth white ewes,

all alike,

that come up fresh from the pond. 

A crimson ribbon your lips - 

how I listen for your voice!

The curve of your cheek

a pomegranate

in the thicket of your hair. 

Your neck is a tower of David 

raised in splendour,

a thousand bucklers hand upon it, 

all the shields of the warriors. 

Your breasts are two fawns,

twins of a gazelle,

grazing in a field of lilies

You are all beautiful, my love, 

my perfect one 

Oh come with me my bride, 

come down with me from Lebanon. 

Look down from the peak of Amana,

look down from Senir and Hermon,

from the mountains of the leopards,

the lions dens. 

Your lips are honey, honey and milk 

are under your tongue,

your clothes hold the scent of Lebanon. 

An enclosed garden is my sister, my bride,

a hidden well, a sealed spring. 

Your branches are an orchard, 

of pomegranate trees heavy with fruit,

flowering henna and spikenard,

spikenard and saffron,

cane and cinnamon, 

with every tree of frankincense,

myrrh and aloes,

all the rare spices. 

You are a fountain in the garden,

a well of living waters

that stream from Lebanon. 

Optional donations

I offer this work to everybody, open handedly and completely free of charge, so please be assured that there is absolutely no need for you to donate anything at all.

However, if you’ve found my work helpful, would like to support me and my work, and do have the financial means, you can choose to donate some money.

If you click the Donate button below, you can give an amount that feels right to you, however large or small. Any donation which comes to me and my work in this way, by choice, and from the heart, is such a blessing to me. THANK you !

Donate

Dreaming Earth Podcast - Episode Four

Dear friends and fellow Dreamers,

It’s the Waning Half Moon, and you can listen to this episode on the usual platforms, or here on my website, with my accompanying images.

Today we Dream with Fireweed, or Rosebay Willow-herb, and there’s a Waking Dream from me. I hope you can listen along,

With Courage, Imagination and Love,

Beth

Firstly an image for the Waning Half Moon, so that you can imagine how she is if you can’t get outside, or the night sky is thick with cloud. She’s up there, and she’s looking like this !

Next is a swathe of magenta pink Fireweed, or Rosebay Willow herb, and a video of them moving gracefully in the wind. We can thank them for their voice through this episode. These photos were taken yesterday before the RAIN came…

Here are some photos of my Ivan Chai making process, first the fresh flowers and leaves as I picked them, and then the dried flowers and fermenting leaves at the start of the process.

Here is the beautiful Lords and Ladies stalk, with his early bright green berries, who sat opposite me as I recorded this episode.

And finally here is the transcript for our Waking Dream today, for those of you who might want to do it again or share it.

Waking Dream

So close your eyes, and on the out breaths I want you to visualise first a 3, now a 2, and finally a 1, tall straight and bright.

See yourself on a pavement, in a busy town. The air is dusty, dry and still. Everything is in black and white. People are walking to and fro - traffic goes past, the world moves around you. See your feet walking on the tarmac. You are walking back and forth, up and down, first in one direction, then in the other. Feel the tiredness of this movement in your body and the weariness in your heart. 

Now notice that there is another road, that you hadn’t noticed before. It doesn’t lead left or right, but goes in a new direction, straight ahead. 

As you look at the new road, see it appear in full colour. It is a beautifully coloured space, there is only colour, slowly changing and shifting. Coral pink, sky blue, saffron yellow, emerald green. It feels cool, fresh and lush. You see this road has great depth and width, it is different. 

See yourself step off the busy grey street and into the new road. As you step you realise you are in another medium, it’s completely new. It feels infinite. Your arms and legs move softly through the spacious colour, and your body feels charged with a new energy. 

There is warm golden light high above the horizon, which shines towards you through the different colours. As it touches your face, feel it soak through you, let it shine directly into your eyes, nose and mouth, down your throat, through to your arms, hand and fingers, down through your heart, lighting it up as it goes, and into your belly, legs and feet. 

As you move forward, a new landscape opens up on front of you, you feel curious and strong, and you feel a sense of possibility. 

Open your eyes and with them open, feel what is possible here. 

Ivan Chai Recipe

So to make this tea, all you need is a quantity of Fireweed leaves ( make sure your identification is good, it’s not difficult, but this is your responsibility! ) some of the bright pink flowers, which aren’t essential but make the tea pretty, and some time and patience to prepare and ferment the leaves.

Pick the leaves on a dry day, when the sun has been on them a bit, and when the flowers are open nearly up to the top of the spikes. The best way to do this is to hold just beneath the flower with one hand, and with the other hand around the stem, pull downwards, gathering the leaves and clearing the stem completely. Or pick them any way you like. Do this until you can pretty much fill a mixing bowl at home. Pinch off the whole flower heads to process at home. I use two bags while I do this, leaves in one, flower heads in another.

When you get them home, you’ll have to take each little flower off its stem one by one. This is fiddly, but satisfying, and it’s a time you can spend really enjoying contact with the plant. Leave these flowers spread out thinly on a piece of paper, or on a clean, empty patch on the table, until they’re completely dry. Turn them over occasionally if you think they need it.

Chop the leaves (with a large pair of scissors is easiest) into smaller pieces, maybe three or four pieces per leaf. You can do this in big handfuls, quite roughly - this part is not critical - but keep the pieces sort of equal ish in size. They’ll shrink when they ferment, but the pieces will be what you end up with in your teapot, so it’s nice if they’re somewhat uniform!

Now is the time consuming bit - you want to get another bowl, and pinch by pinch, take some leaves and rub them vigorously between your palm. You are aiming to break them down slightly, to bring the moisture out, and to help the fermentation get started. Do this with every pinch of leaves in the best way you can, until they’ve all been handled.

Then you want to cover the bowl - I use a plastic shower cap - and put it somewhere warm. If the day is hot, you can leave it on the side in the kitchen, but if it’s cool, use a heated fermentation mat if you have one, or put it in the airing cupboard, or anywhere warm. You want to ferment this for about 5 days ( give or take - this isn’t an exact science, and there are MANY variables to fermenting) and turn it and mix it regularly with your hands ( I do this four or five times a day ). It will start to change colour, get darker, and a bit browner, and it will take on a different smell - richer and more fruity. This is all good, and really only experience will make you feel certain, but after you’ve done this for a few days, you can take the covering off the bowl, and dry the tea, much like you did the flowers. I put the fermented tea in a large baking tray so it’s easy to turn and mix as it dries. You want to do this every couple of hours, or every time you walk past, to ensure the tea doesn’t go mouldy, and it dries evenly.

When it’s BONE dry, put it in a tin or a lidded jar and there ya go! I hope you try making this, because it’s a beautiful plant and a wonderful tea. Thank You Fireweed !

Optional donations

I offer this work to everybody, open handedly and completely free of charge, so please be assured that there is absolutely no need for you to donate anything at all.

However, if you’ve found my work helpful, would like to support me and my work, and do have the financial means, you can choose to donate some money.

If you click the Donate button below, you can give an amount that feels right to you, however large or small. Any donation which comes to me and my work in this way, by choice, and from the heart, is such a blessing to me. THANK you !

Donate

Dreaming Earth Podcast - Episode Three

Dear friends and fellow Dreamers,

Here on the Full Moon is the third episode of my new podcast, and you can listen to it on the usual platforms, or here on my website, with some accompanying images.

Today we have a dream from the Ash Tree, and a Waking Dream from me called the “Understand your Ancestors” I hope you can receive what’s here,

With Courage, Imagination and Love,

Beth

Firstly for the Full Moon, my Full Moon stone, sat on some of the drying Mugwort I picked last week. ( She’s the Dreamers plant, folks!!.. )

Next is an image, and a little film of the dead Ash tree, who we can thank for their voice through this episode.

Here is the red phone cable from the Dream, “plugged into” the Ash tree :)…

…and finally some pictures from the church as promised.

Also as I walked back I was so thankful to have got this episode out of my mouth in some form lol!! It felt like a lot to try and carry today, it’s such a work in progress, and I’m so grateful to find some flow through it, and so I thanked my own Gods for this as I walked. Then I looked up, and as so often happens, the Kite was right there above me. The Kite and I have a history with each other over the last few years, her frequent arrival when I need her being a sign that I’m holding the right thread :) So I add this detail, and the little clip I got of her, to encourage you around your own synchronicities.

And finally here is the transcript for our Waking Dream today, for those of you who might want to do it again or share it.

Understand Your Ancestors.

So close your eyes, and on the out breaths I want you to visualise first a 3, now a 2, and finally a 1, tall straight and bright.

See yourself in a field. The sky is blue, with white clouds moving across it in the wind. You see a large dead tree stump, you are drawn towards it.

As you walk nearer, you begin to feel the presence of the old tree in your body. Feel how the presence of the tree affects your body, feel it on your skin, across your face, through your arms, your hands, your belly and your heart as you come closer. Climb over the large bumpy roots until you find a hollowed place to sit. Rest your body against the hollowed bark. Feel the safe, strong hold of the tree around you. See beneath the ground the roots stretching deep and wide into the earth. Let yourself fully receive how it feels to be held by the tree, let its warmth soak through all the layers of you.

Become yourself as a child, feel how safe your smallness is, within the hold of the old tree. You are safe and welcome. You belong here, and you are treasured.

See and feel this tree in its prime, in full height, feel upwards through its big strong branches with your arms, feel into the fresh, green leaves with your fingers, and feel yourself as the whole leafy tree, shaking and moving in the sun and wind. Look across the landscape from the top of the tree, and see what else is there, the other plants, trees and flowers, the rivers and rocks, and all that were once there.

See yourself as a human child again, with your back against the old tree stump. Know that this being is your great, great grandfather, feel how deeply you are related. Feel all your plant ancestors.

You are ready to leave the holding of this tree, stand and turn to the tree and thank it. Walk away into your life, knowing you can come back.

Open your eyes, and with them open, know the breadth of your ancestry.

Optional donations

I offer this work to everybody, open handedly and completely free of charge, so please be assured that there is absolutely no need for you to donate anything at all.

However, if you’ve found my work helpful, would like to support me and my work, and do have the financial means, you can choose to donate some money.

If you click the Donate button below, you can give an amount that feels right to you, however large or small. Any donation which comes to me and my work in this way, by choice, and from the heart, is such a blessing to me. THANK you !

Donate