Insight – January 2015

Happy New Year everyone! I hope that 2016 is a fantastic year for you, full of insight and growth.

This time of year, right in the middle of the Water season, is a wonderful opportunity to reflect on the year that has gone before. The power of honest self-reflection and insight is enormous. It is a sign of real maturity to be able to recognise our own behaviour, accept it, NOT SHAME IT, and figure out a healthy way of moving forward that may involve change or simply acceptance on our part.

Speedwell is a wonderful essence to encourage this kind of deep insight. Try sitting with a picture of Speedwell, or hold a bottle of it in your hand, and meditate and see what comes up. Or set aside some time, after you have taken the Speedwell essence, to think over all that has happened in the last year. Speedwell helps us to remain detached and observe our insights without making assumptions about their meaning.

We must be deeply grounded in order to see

This time of year invites us to be deep and contemplative. We can listen to that call and choose to dive deep. But we must be properly grounded.

When Earth is deficient, Water is not held properly and obsessive thoughts are more likely to loop around as we become self-absorbed and worried. This is not conducive to going deeply within in order to replenish!

Obsession is an excellent choice for breaking the endless loop of thoughts that return and go over and over and over, stopping us from moving forward, keeping us stuck in a mire. Ragwort is the main flower for the looping thoughts, but Obsession also includes Indian Balsam for quietening the mind and White Dead Nettle to break the addiction of recurring thought patterns.

Earth should therefore still be nurtured at this time of year. Regular meals of nourishing stews, root vegetables eaten slowly with with love and appreciation coupled with keeping warm will help to strengthen Earth. Also, getting plenty of good quality sleep is crucial to support the Spleen (Earth).

We enter into the Water season of life every night when we go to sleep. In our sleep, we dream and reflect on the happenings of the day. Our mind has the opportunity to go over things, to learn from them, to file them away and to then recuperate. When Water is in balance, we wake from sleep fully rested and ready for the new day.

We need to make space before we find the treasure

Out with the old and in with the new! Ringing in changes that we feel drawn to make at this time of year directly reflects Metal and the cleansing energy that it represents. With a solid Earth base, the Metal aspect of cleansing and clearing to find the gem becomes possible (even inevitable).
Try a little real or symbolic cleansing (cleaning, clearing, smudging, spraying) before making the time to go within. This quite literally clears the space of old stuff, which allows the new to enter. Conifer Mazegill is a fantastic essence to welcome in new energies and beginnings.
Artists often spend large amounts of what appears to be “wasted time”, simply staring out of the window or day-dreaming. This is not wasted time for anyone wishing to explore their own creativity. In fact, it is crucial to spend time in this way, in touch with the essence of Water, as this is the well from which all creation arises.

Anything can happen in the Watery realm of reverie and reflection! All music, stories and inventions come from here.

It is not without reason that forward-thinking companies that require creativity from their employees have begun to move towards sofas, plants, comfortable corners and relaxed hours so that people can have the space to dream.

A great essence to promote working with creative energies from Water is Arizona Fir. This essence is about celebrating our life and our very existence. When Arthur talks about the “dance of celebration when we, the dancer, no longer exist”, he is talking about being one with all, which is the deepest essence of Water.

“In such timelessness there is no ego, just a unity with all creation”.
-Arthur Bailey

 

I deeply recommend taking some Arizona Fir and spending some time gazing out of the window, or spinning around the room like a ballerina, or running along the beach and allowing the wind to tug at your hair with no aim other than to simply enjoy being alive.

In a nutshell, Earth yourself, cleanse yourself and your environment, go within and be still. And do it often.

May your dreams be full and rich.

With love
Becca