Good morning Reader,
Here's the TLDR this month!
- Registration for the Ancestors Retreat is closing in 13 days. We are so excited to host you at this potent time -- it's the Celtic New Year (Samhain) and we'll be creating our very own amulets so you can re-connect with past, present, future at any time. We'll be celebrating the Cailleach (Crone archetype), that sweeps over the land and dips us deep into darkness & winter.
Hurry to take your in-person Tkaronto place at the ancestors table now, while the veil is thinnest, before it's too late. Tiered pricing.
-- Click here to claim your spot at the retreat --
- A lower barrier to entry is to join our community is The Grove Online.
The Grove is a seasonal commitment to meet online once a month (Autumn schedule & signup here). It's not too late to sign up -- login online and experience a guided visualization, ultimate relaxation, and a remembering of your true nature.
-- Sign up before our next session, Oct 19th, and get your first visit 50% off -- here.
- The Ogam tree of the month is Elder / Ruis.
Elder transforms, and with transformation there is death. Withdraw, introspect, and release.
We are remembering missing and murdered indigenous women and girls across Turtle Island on the heels of National Day for Truth & Reconciliation.
Touch the Earth.
The full moon is also Oct 6th - in Aries. Time to re-assess your relationships.
- Stay tuned to these monthly emails for upcoming events, like our annual Release Ritual ceremony in December (in-person).
Read on for more on Elder wood.
Elder - "I represent completion"
I went to the woods yesterday. I walked bare foot on treaty lands and traditional territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, in Oakville.
I gave an offering to the land spirits and they came along with me for the journey. My feet sank deeper into Earth. I felt faery energy.
My body was blessed with tree water, fallen leaves and soft moss.
I spent hours sitting on a ridge and watched the maples, oaks and hawthorne shed their leaves. I crawled on all fours, belly to Earth.
And in return for presence, the land gave me courage.
Courage is the gift of Elder.
The courage to call to completion this past cycle of growth and lean into the finality of it.
The courage to end things and move forward with a loving heart.
Elder encourages us to release something, so we can move ahead.
These relatively short trees are ancient mighty beings, they stand with your ancestors and offer you strength in times of transition.
If you're looking for courage to jump that leap of faith - this is it.
This strong transitional support is likely why ruis / elder / sambucus nigra medicinally has a few amazing seasonal properties (this is not medical advise):
- It's bark has historically been used as a purgative - to detoxify.
- It's berries are chocked full of vitamins A and C - an immune booster relevant for this time of year, especially against viral infections.
- It's flowers are anti-inflammatory and anti-allergy, sometimes even used to protect against hay-fever.
In Druidic folklore, elder is a protective witch and associated with the Rollright Stone Circle, near the village of Long Compton in Oxfordshire.
Long ago, a Danish king and his troops were near Long Compton planning to overtake the town, when an old witch appeared and challenged them, saying --
“Seven long strides shalt thou take; and if Long Compton thou can see, King thou shalt be”
(from the vantage of the stone circle, Long Compton village itself is hidden behind an earth mound, locally known as Archdruids barrow).
The Danish King took 7 steps and could not see the village.
So the witch yelled out:
“As Long Compton thou canst not see, King thou shalt not be. Rise up stick and rise up stone, For King thou shalt be none. Thou and thy men hoar stones shall be, And I myself an Elder tree.”
With that, the witch vanished, and the Danish King froze. He became the lone stone now known as the King Stone, surrounded by his knights (the stone circle).
There you have it -- The strength of elder at the threshold of becoming!
May you have an abundant October.
~ Big Love // Gra mor ~
Frankie
Abundance World stewards transformative human:nature immersions you crave (retreats, forest baths, sound healing, Celtic & Druid cosmology) for teams and individuals.
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