Category Archives: Angels
For millennia, ancient peoples have harnessed the power of crystals, using this power to release mental, physical and spiritual blockages. 
You will have seen crystals whirling from trees across the gardens and hanging in windows around the cottage. 
On a cellular level, our bodies and quartz crystal are both made up of mineral silicon-dioxide. 
When crystals are placed directly on your body, they have a powerful vibratory effect that surges from the crystal to you. 
Those who are aware of the changes taking place, will seek to develop their consciousness, realizing that much of what we are is related to energy. 
The importance of energy is now being revealed to us, as we move away from the strictures that bind.
I use crystal energy pieces to serve as a tool to help the thoughts of my own consciousness connect with the environment I have sought to create here at Bealtaine Cottage. Many refer to this as manifestation. 
Each one will be wrapped in fresh Sphagnum Moss taken from the land here, as a unique way of preserving the integrity of the crystal. The Second Coming
There is a madness rising in the world.
I feel it quite severely.
Seek sanctuary in the sacred…your life, your family, your friends…but especially your home, Mother Earth. I hope against hope to keep beauty alive in this little place.
Politicians drag their overblown egos to parliamentary podiums to huff and puff their cursed words of war .
There is nothing to stop their vile spewing of death and revenge, for our media is the dog that laps at the floor!
In a desperate attempt at solace, I turned into the pages of a book.
I was in search of inspiration, any small morsel of comfort, or even defiance.
I picked up an old poetry book of mine and randomly opened it to find Yeats and this…
The Second Coming was penned in the stunned aftermath of WWI.
This time, I fear it takes the place of a prologue… for what lies ahead.
THE SECOND COMING
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: a waste of desert sand;
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Wind shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)
Angels
Embracing one’s journey means being ready for change.
To be ready, one has to be open and receptive.
This morning I searched for an explanation of what I experienced in my dreams; the kind of dreams that seem real, so real you get confused, almost trapped between two realms; that of sleep and wake.
Before going to bed, I went through the usual ritual of walking Jack around and under the trees near the cottage.
The moon was full and very bright…it had risen late.
The night was still and the moon was rising in a cloudless sky.
The West of Ireland enjoys many nights of star-filled skies and amazing moons, but last night there was a strange feeling in the air…something akin to an ethereal experience.
My rational mind simply couldn’t engage with it; I couldn’t explain what I was feeling.
I must have fallen asleep quite quickly after going to bed, for the dreams I experienced seemed to go on and on.
My dreams were filled with angels, small moth-like beings that were also fairies, yet I knew there were angels.
Isn’t it a strange experience to have rational thoughts in a dream and “know,” what things are about?
As I walked through what appeared to be the world, the angels flew around and around like butterflies, whispering to me and making me smile.
I don’t know what they said, but the whispers were happy and reassuring in their tones.
Recently, like many of you, I have felt anxious and disturbed to see what humanity has done; atrocities committed and the blood of innocent children spilled so casually.
The threat of war prevails.
Weather has become violent and unpredictable.
All around, this violence pollutes the Earth and humankind.
We stand near a precipice and dare not acknowledge it!
However, upon waking, all my anxieties had disappeared…I felt renewed!
I have felt for a very long time, indeed for the past ten years, that the Earth is trying to communicate with us.
Mother Earth is desperate for us to live in peace with her, rather than against her!
Living in the simple way I do has allowed me time and space to consider her.
There are no distractions at Bealtaine Cottage, no TV, radio or harsh intrusions, yet still I sense the formidable force of what lies beyond the gardens…it is dark indeed!
There is a mighty transition taking place and those who would destroy are on a final rampage across our Sacred Earth.
In the midst of all this darkness, I believe there are forces of light, unseen at most times, but gathering and sharing strength.
Yes, we are living in a time of Apocalypse, but please, remember what the true meaning of the word really is…’lifting of the veil.’
Take heart…we are not alone.
The word,“apocalypse” comes from Ancient Greek and pre-dates the Bible.
To source the word one has to look to writings from that period.
It is there.
Apo=un
Kaluptein=to cover
Apokaluptein=uncover
Apokalupsis, from ancient Greek, to modern Greek then into Old French/Latin=Apocalypse.
The original meaning is lost in translation, though it is relevant to point out that the word is found in the Book of Revelation. Revelation coming from “reveal” or uncover!
Does make one think, does it not?
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Link to Bealtaine Cottage Craft Shop…just opened…
The Tipping Point Moment
“Right now over 70% of the world population is convinced that something serious has to be done about the dangers facing the planet. …Most of humanity wants to know how to make the change. It’s one of those tipping-point times where things can change unbelievably fast…”
~ Paul H. Ray and Sherry Ruth Anderson, The Cultural Creatives
Words of wisdom.
Words of vision.
The coming times; a glimpse of what’s to come.
These times are infused with uncertainty and fear.
Many people deal with this by switching off.
The Tipping Point has arrived.
Most of us know this to be a truth.
We know it deep in our hearts.
There is a panic among those who hold power over us.
This is manifested in the shifting sands of policy as things appear to fall apart.
Our governments have sown the seeds of chaos…in what they have done and what they have failed to do.
The most insidious, Machiavellian, duplicitous human beings are rampaging and corralling us all into dark times.
“Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.”
― W.B. Yeats, The Collected Poems
For several years, as I have written this blog, and photographed the exquisite and the beautiful that is Mother Earth, I have attempted to inspire and encourage a return to Mother Earth.
For those who dwell close to her, quickly find the connection to life and spirit they have searched for, and in the finding is birthed a renewed sense of humanity, compassion, goodness and joy.
These are the values we have, as humans, innate within us.
The intuitive, intrinsic, spontaneous gifts of the Divine which make us as one.
Those we have elected as Trustees of Our Planet are conjuring wars, corruption, hatred and despair; thrusting us into the darkest of times.
As the falcon turns, hold on tight to what you know to be the truth.
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Bealtaine Cottage is free and has over 850 blogs, as well as over 3,500 photographs.
Bealtaine Cottage Good Life is a mere 12 euros per year and allows me a small income, to keep doing what I love doing most…writing about Mother Earth and photographing her.
To subscribe, a small donation of 12 euros per year, will add your name to the subscriber list.
Click on button below to join the website…
Thanks for your support!
Morning
Morning in the west of Ireland on a perfect day in late June.
The back door of the cottage is open; wood pigeons call softly to one another as blackbirds swoop noisily in and out of the blackcurrant bushes, feasting on the heavily laden stems.
Morning…full of stillness and promise, the prelude to a hot, dry day of high summer.
The cottage will remain a cool sanctuary, as the heat of the day rises golden over the hill of Ballyfermoyle.
Birds will swoop along paths of shade, wings outstretched catching the earthy updraft of chill.
“Summer was our best season: it was sleeping on the back screened porch in cots, or trying to sleep in the treehouse; summer was everything good to eat; it was a thousand colors in a parched landscape; but most of all, summer was Dill.”
― Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird
“Summer set lip to earth’s bosom bare, and left the flushed print in a poppy there.”
― Francis Thompson
The hill at the back of the cottage captures the sounds of the birds, holding them close before echoing onto the walls and through the open door into the cool recesses of the stone.
Leaving this sacred place would never sit easy in my heart, for all that is Bealtaine Cottage has been co-created with the great Mother: Earth, Gaia, Nature…whatever insufficient name we draw upon to express the mystery of the Divine.
My dream to plant a forest will come to pass…in some divine way…
I dream and manifest the vision in sleep and wakedness.
One day, a beautiful morning such as this will shine through onto a young forest floor, illuminating the darkness of a greed-stricken world.
Game of Thrones
Western skies move slowly, as clouds bank up from the Atlantic Ocean.
Warm air merges with rain sodden earth and the mist rises, wisping it’s way over mountains, that sweep down to bog and lough on the western shores of Europe.
Ireland moves inexorably towards Midsummer and Solstice.
The settlements dotting the landscape are timeless, houses today, cottages not so long ago and earth forts before that.
Mountain, sky, water and earth hold the memory of past lives, all gazed upon by peoples from the past, invader and native alike.
This land has captivated the hearts of countless generations, breaking many on the way.
Revered as sacred, farmed and fought over, grown men have wept unashamedly, as they left from the American Wake, never to return.
Everything we have comes from the land; food, clothes, homes, furniture and health…especially health.
The cycle of life is bound, woven tightly, into the land.
We are woven into the land, despite the layers of seeming impermeability we weave between ourselves and the sacred earth.
In these days of threat and uncertainty, as our leaders play out the dangerous game of thrones that threatens war, our return to the land affords us time of calm and meaning.
We inhabit one very small and exquisitely beautiful planet in a universe of dying stars.
We are of stardust itself…united on this small, blue, beautiful planet.
The Memory of Eden
What is it that makes so many farmers and gardeners want to burn vegetative material?
The same happens here in Ireland, a country with the lowest tree cover in all of Europe!
This is essential for building soil, in fact is the only thing apart from erosion of rock, that actually gives us soil.
Our connection to the soil is vital, for it gives us our food.
Those who fail to make that connection are doomed to starvation and loss of habitat.
Loss of habitat means certain death.
Is this what is happening all over the Earth right now?
It appears to be so.
Disconnection!
Earth is not a thing we live upon, but Gaia, as described by James Lovelock.
Gaia is affected by everything we do, every breath we take, every loving or hateful action we do to her.
The collective consciousness we inhabit is being infused by her cries…there are those who are evolved enough to hear and respond, and those who willfully lock themselves out from the trauma our planet is enduring.
The latter will have to watch their step for Mother earth is angry and will not abide!
I believe that we are each a part of the Divine Consciousness and dependent on every other living thing.
I see this grasp of understanding, manifesting in so many people now, that it really lifts my heart!
There is a fusion happening.
This fusion is bringing us all together with all life, every last atom of it!
For those who embrace this, there is a sense of pure joy bestowed upon us by that Consciousness.
For those who continue on the path of hate and spite, dominance and abuse, there can only be fear and a deep dark corner of a dying planet.
The atoms we carry within us were once part of the Milky Way, of stars long since vanished back into the Divine Consciousness.
We carry Eden within us.
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Bealtaine Cottage is also on YouTube…with over 110 videos about Permaculture, planting, growing and living.There are almost 700 blogs in the archives on this site.I write, photograph and film, in a small way, to give a voice to Mother Earth.
Angels and Animals in an Irish Cottage on Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve at Bealtaine Cottage.
Snow has fallen.
The air is cold and a bitter wind blows.
It rained hard last night and the streams are in flood.
The blackbirds are hungry and have taken to stealing cat biscuits from the bowls on the veranda!
The blackbirds are clever creatures and have watched both cats enter the lodge through the cat door, where they now sleep away the day, their bellies filled with food and milk.
Jack stays by my side, in and out of the cottage, as I work.
Jack looks out for me and is a wonderful friend and guardian angel!
This is a difficult Christmas for many who are without basic necessities.
I am thankful to have a well stocked pantry and woodpile.
For many, food and heat are major problems in their everyday lives.
It’s good to give thanks for a warm home and a full plate.
May you all enjoy both this Christmastide…
An Irish Christmas Blessing
The light of the Christmas star to you
The warmth of home and hearth to you
The cheer and good will of friends to you
The hope of a childlike heart to you
The joy of a thousand angels to you.
Happy Christmas!
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This will be my last blog for a little while as I am taking some time out.
Blessings to you all X
Penny Power
The important fact is that we are amazingly powerful as consumers.
I refuse to give money to any corporation or anyone who is involved in the rape of Mother Earth.
I don’t use gas in my cottage, not even a lighter, for I refuse to support fracking.
That is my bottom line and what I work towards with all the energy I have…bit by bit…
I believe in Penny Power, for as one of the biggest supermarkets in the UK and Ireland says in their advertising, “Every Little Helps!”
And with the small amount of money I have, bit by bit!
When I was transforming this cottage and land by planting, it was done bit by bit, tree by tree, plant by plant…
The effect was cumulative, for every little bit helps…doesn’t it?
With enough people withdrawing their money, from the destroyers of our planet…
And empowering themselves and others,we will see real change…bit by bit!
Now, that’s what I call power!
Small Things…
Keeping time.
Morning merges into early afternoon.
There is a seamlessness about the work on this last day of September.
Cutting wood, cleaning windows, stringing chillies, all merging as the day progresses.
Somewhere, in the distance, a crow calls its lonely caw…it’s repetitive and makes me think an animal has caught it…perhaps a fox.
I have watched the fox make it’s way across the rushy fields, darting here and there among the clumps of withering green.
Deep in the Fairy Wood, cutting and stacking with my little handsaw, all I experience from the outside world are noises of life without.
Che-Mousy-Bear stays with me as I work.
Once so very timid, he is finding his own place in this world, where he initially found only rejection.
I love him for having the tenacity to stay with it all…one of the small things that weave the tapestry of life here at Bealtaine.
Time to brew a pot of tea and stoke the stove…working on the land is fluid, as the day progresses.
I am obsessed with hearts.
I have no idea why, but the shape draws me in.
I see hearts everywhere.
They fascinate me.
The work of the day continues with juicing apples for saving in the freezer.
Autumn changes the colours of the trees surrounding the cottage.
It seems that the view from this window changes every time I pass it…
Tiny webs configure across and around the Celtic Knot, too beautiful to clear away.
The woodland beckons…
I write and post about Bealtaine Cottage, on this website, as well as making and posting Youtube (ad-free) videos, about permaculture and life at Bealtaine Cottage, to provide inspiration and empowerment for all seeking a better way of living on this precious Earth.
Donations help me do that 
Monday Morning in the Permaculture Gardens
Recycling waste cardboard in the permaculture gardens of Bealtaine Cottage…part of the work programme for today as I continue to make new beds that will be planted out in the Spring.
It is early morning here in the west of Ireland and the sun is playing hide and seek…a beautiful, warm autumnal morning.
The kind of day that makes one feel so good to be alive and out in Nature!
The abundance of the harvest continues.
Work is ongoing in converting the Lodge to a workshop and shop.
The apple harvest is bountiful…nine years of apples and no chemicals, sprays or other tampering with Nature!
Tomatoes are falling out of Potager beds…these are the seeds that Tara Angell sent me from New York…Black Tomatoes.
This is the potager bed I made with students in a workshop this summer. There is no soil in it, just home made compost and shredding mulch.
In fact, all the seeds sent to me this year and last are growing magnificently here in the west of Ireland, in these north facing gardens of poor, thin soil!
As I walked through the gardens I noticed the abundance of berries for the birds this winter…a sign of cold days ahead!
This huge shrub almost dominates the apple trees in the orchard…keeping the wild birds fed and happy!
What is a garden without birdsong?
Have a good week ahead everyone!
Enjoy the rest of the photographs taken this morning here in the permaculture gardens of Bealtaine Cottage…
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Permaculture Harvest despite Chaos!
The permaculture harvest continues, along with the increasing numbers of visitors to Bealtaine Cottage.
Garlic is harvested, dried and stored…just in time for re-planting the crop for next year, in just a few more weeks.
As the world teeters once more on the brink of chaos, in the forms of war and nuclear contamination from Fukushima, getting the harvest home and planning for next Spring is a way of keeping one’s sanity!
It’s also a way of nurturing optimism and hope for the future!
Tomatoes are everywhere in the gardens and tunnel.
I let them do their own thing and they have produced wildly!
All the tomatoes are late, but then the summer was dithering in and out of Spring this year!
Even the Perlagoniums in the photo above are in late flower after several months of sleepy time!
As the summer fades into Autumn, the light changes inside and around the cottage in the most delightful ways.
Shadows prevail in unfamiliar places, making all look quite different.
Onions, Blackcurrants, Peas and Broad beans are all stored for the year.
I am continuing to use the remainder of last year’s Blackcurrants!
More wine I think!
I was invited to give a talk to the Green Party recently and am invited to give another talk at an Arts festival in Connemara…along with a wine making demonstration, so will be finding use for excess Blackcurrant crops!
Shadow play on the door of the Lodge…isn’t this beautiful?
This is a good place to dry herbs when the stove is lit, as it gets very hot very fast!
I noticed that there is a bumper crop of Blackberries on the hedgerows this Autumn.
I looked up some old recipes for using Blackberries, so will be collecting them and saving them in the freezer, ready to use in a plethora of delicious recipes!
Food for free and lots of it!
The new compost heap is being stacked up daily, so am already thinking about next planting season!
There is a slight chill in the air, heralding Autumn as it transits into cooler times.
It’s a good idea to wear cotton scarves around shoulders and neck and take them off indoors!
Along with all the food harvested, there is an abundance of seeds to bring in and herbs to dry and store.
This is also the time to begin collecting tree seeds to sow in pots…something I do every year!
As I work, show visitors around, harvest and continue building my workshop, Missy snoozes, oblivious to it all!
The Transmigration of the Soul
The Romans conquered Europe, but resolutely refused to invade Ireland, despite ruling England, Wales and Scotland for several hundred years.
Recently I have made a concerted effort to find out why this was…Why continual Roman Emperors left Ireland alone…?
What crops up in my investigations time and again, is the issue of the ancient Celtic belief in the transmigration of the soul.
This was not just something that was taught by the Druids, but an unshakeable conviction in the afterlife…one so strong, that it made them absolutely fearless in battle.
Transmigration of the soul is a doctrine of reincarnation.
Within this belief, spirits may be reborn into any of nature’s forms – human, animal, or even inanimate things, such as trees and water.
This is supported by evidence from the ancient Celtic Heroic tales.
The Greek writer Diordus Siculus (c. 60 BC – 30 AD) noted that the Druids believed “the souls of men are immortal, and that after a definite number of years they live a second life when the soul passes to another body.”
The Greek philosopher Strabo (c. 63 BC – 21 AD) observed the Druids believed that “men’s souls and the universe are indestructible, although at times fire and water may prevail.”
Julius Caesar wrote of the Celts “They wish to inculcate this as one of their leading tenets, that souls do not become extinct, but pass after death from one body to another, and they think that men by this tenet are in a great degree stimulated to valour, the fear of death being disregarded.”
This was most troublesome for Julius Caesar, as he realized this race would not be easily defeated and thence subjugated.
The Roman Empire was all too aware of what happened when the British Celts, under their Queen Boadicea, decided to revolt against Roman tyranny.
The Celts, led by their Queen, cut a mighty swathe through the Roman settlements, towns and armies in England, almost wiping out Roman occupation!
The Romans had raped the daughters of Boadicea, making her watch…the entire Iceni Tribe rallied behind the dignity of their queen and against the tyranny of such barbarians as empire breeds.
As for the women of the Celts, Roman Diodorus Siculus wrote of them, saying, “Among the Gauls the women are nearly as tall as the men, whom they rival in courage.”
Amicus Marcelling states – “A whole troop of foreigners would not be able to withstand a single Celt if he called his wife to his assistance”
Julius Caesar was frightened of the Celts, despite the mighty legions of Rome.
This is a truth I carry today…to be steadfast and resolute in holding fast to what I believe to be right.
Blessings X
A Magical Midsummer Morning…
Happy Solstice everyone…
In this special year of the return of the Divine Feminine…
There will be a full moon on Sunday, June 23…
And it’s a rather special one…
The biggest moon at Midsummer
It will not only be the largest full moon of the year…
It will also be the moon’s closest encounter with Earth for all of 2013.
The moon will be at it’s peak on Sunday…
Celebrate this Solstice…it’s a rare one!
I’m heading to the ocean for a long walk along the Atlantic shoreline…
My Midsummer Treat!
Happy Solstice Everyone!
Bealtaine Cottage is also on YouTube…with over 110 videos about Permaculture, planting, growing and living.
Over 550 blogs from Bealtaine Cottage in the archives here.
Thank you for supporting this blog
An Angel at Sunset
Sun and rain has enabled wonderful growth.
The rocket stove has allowed me free tea all day…just a few twigs to boil the water.
The Potager beds are filled with plants and new growth, as the seaweed is watered in by the Atlantic rains.
Last year’s Blackcurrants are being emptied from the freezer to make this year’s wine.
The race is on to use the remaining harvest from last year as the summer promises yet more abundance.
The brilliance of this sunset beckoned me out to capture it in photograph and share it with you!
There is a mist descending on the mountain.
The bats are beginning their night patrol.
The day is almost over.
The sun is setting in the west.
It is 10pm.
Bealtaine Cottage is also on YouTube…with over 100 videos about Permaculture, planting, growing and living.
Thank you for supporting this blog
