I shall begin with Bealtaine Cottage… The plan in the beginning was to create a garden with hundreds of trees interspersed with paths that would become a symbol of regeneration and hope in a landscape that represented one of the poorest and therefore cheapest places to create. North-facing, thin, poor soil- my first book, ‘A Cottage and Three Acres,’ details the story well.
(And, by the way, the tunnel is fifteen years old with the original plastic covering…nothing special, 6mm and middle price range in case you are interested!)
The plan evolved into a full Permaculture design in the first year, with swales and ponds, drainage and raised beds, fruit and vegetable gardens and so on. Then, as the years progressed and trees began to grow, the energy changed. It became evident to me and those who were following my journey, (online since around 2010), that Bealtaine Cottage and the Project was heading in a different direction, fuelled by a potent and powerful energy!
Permaculture alone seemed complete and static as the trees began to develop and dominate the landscape. I had to give in to the force that was awakening in the Earth below my feet and so, Goddess Permaculture was birthed!
I explain this by way of the word, “innovate.” The tremendous force of energy that was growing around me innovated Goddess Permaculture.
Innovate: To give new form of that which exists.
This force of Nature was a Divine Feminine force of such tremendous power, that it was impossible to resist. Those who have visited Bealtaine Cottage will bear witness to this energy!
I felt drawn towards the story of the Goddess and began to explore the relationship my ancestors had with this powerful Creatrix. Academics like Maria Gimbutas, opened doors into the world of the Goddess and slowly, slowly, the dire situation developing in the outside world began to make sense! We had abandoned our relationship with the Great Goddess, Mother Earth, fuelled by a belief system that was inherently patriarchal and dominating of Mother Earth.
We had developed a totally extractive way of living with Earth…out for all we could extract from Her…greed has overwhelmed everything!
The overwhelming sense of loss began to be replaced with a powerful sense of regeneration and re-birth. My second book, “In Search of the Goddess Rising,” heralded the beginning of my understanding of the Great Awakening!
Yesterday I felt compelled to write a note on social media, expressing something of the dilemma many people feel and are unable or even fearful to articulate…
As we enter the #SixthMassExtinction,
remember this…
We sacrificed our divinity to sky gods, religions, a promised afterlife,
ignoring the sacredness of #MotherEarth
the abundance She creates in joy for us all!
We were taught dominion over Her.
We became #abusers
And so it is.
In order to move forward and embrace great change, it is imperative we accept what we have done. We are all included here…
Arrogance, hubris and ego will be our downfall if we fail to make the radical changes needed to live in peace with Mother Earth!
There is so much more to say, but I am both mentally and physically exhausted at present and am embracing a regeneration for my own health, in the form of a Juice Fast for the next few weeks.
Blessings to you all XXX Colette and Jack
PS: I noticed that my address on the website had been changed…and have no idea why or how this happened! The past two weeks have been rather strange in that I have not received any mail, which led me to check the address!…please check the website as I have corrected the address. please understand that I don’t have the time to respond to personal emails or letters, though read all.
Your vine has woven magic around the door to my cottage.
I am, from this morning, in search of the Goddess in the landscape from Bealtaine to the Atlantic Ocean and surrounding countryside.
What began as a quest for Eden, thirteen years ago, has evolved into a quest to find the Goddess in all her secret wells, valleys, woods and mountain tops.
I have often wrote about her, dreamt of her and felt a need to help her rise from obscurity, for this land was the home of the Goddess before the importation of other belief systems.
My task is complete here.
To this end I am writing and photographing my next book as from today!
Evening descends.
The cottage stands silent on the little hill.
Jack, SammyBear and I head off down the cottage lane for a walk.
The clock salutes the hour of ten, as night begins its descent in the west of Ireland.
As we move towards Midsummer, the light holds sway.
I carry words in my head as we make the descent along the little lane, planted on either side with generous intent.
The words were spoken by a Native American many years ago, but are as relevant today as they were then…perhaps more so.
“Wherever forests have not been mowed down, wherever the animal is recessed in their quiet protection, wherever the earth is not bereft of four-footed life – that to the white man is an ‘unbroken wilderness.’
But for us there was no wilderness, nature was not dangerous but hospitable, not forbidding but friendly.
Our faith sought the harmony of man with his surroundings; the other sought the dominance of surroundings.
For us, the world was full of beauty; for the other, it was a place to be endured until he went to another world.
But we were wise. We knew that man’s heart, away from nature, becomes hard.”
We carry words and music in our heads, most of which seems trivial in reflection.
I have turned many of my favourite poems, quotes and words into mantras of meditation.
Some, like this one, become prayers.
They were wise.
Their wisdom makes our so-called civilisation appear trite in comparison.
As I climb the lane towards Bealtaine, the air is silent.
Birds have gone to roost.
Night is drawing in.
Bats have taken flight.
As Bealtaine Cottage prepares to celebrate it’s thirteenth Midsummer, the tide of life amidst it’s trees and woodland swells.
In this year of the feminine thirteen, I dedicate this sacred space Mother Earth, free from impoverishment of spirit and death…
the eternal return!
This is a morning in early winter, at Bealtaine Cottage in the west of Ireland. 
On this Sunday, the twentieth day of November, I awoke to frost, clear skies and that bitter cold signalling immersion in Winter. 
Bealtaine Cottage didn’t always look like this…you can see how it once looked at the bottom of this page…
Twelve years ago it looked quite different. 
The monoculture of meat production had brought the land low. 
Mother Earth was slowly dying. 
The air was silent. 
This morning you can see for yourself the beauty brought back to the land through Goddess Permaculture. 
What is Goddess Permaculture, I hear you ask? 
It is simply this…to recognise the Goddess in all life and honour her beauty and abundance, living as close to the Great Mother, Goddess Gaia, as one possibly can. 
To understand the Divine Feminine as the source of all life. 
To honour the life force of Mother Earth.
Waking up this morning, I smile,
Such a beautiful Sunday morning here at Bealtaine Cottage! 
I walked out to greet the day and marvel at the subtle changes in the season.
It is a Benediction each morning here at Bealtaine. 
A Benediction is a prayer asking for divine blessing. 
My Benediction is a prayer to spread the love of the Great Mother out far and wide. 
There are people all over the Earth embracing this Benediction and spreading it further…blessings like little breezes. 
The invocation of blessings from the Divine Energy of Mother Earth. 
For me,there is a deeply emotional conviction of the presence of the Divine all around this land. 
It is shared by the many visitors to Bealtaine.
It is revealed in ways that are quite magical. 
Each morning there is another layer of beauty and abundance added. 
Instead of an intellectual search, there was suddenly a very deep gut feeling that something was different…seeing that Sun…set in the background of the very deep black and velvety cosmos, seeing – rather, knowing for sure – that there was a purposefulness of flow, of energy, of time, of space in the cosmos – that it was beyond man’s rational ability to understand, that suddenly there was a nonrational way of understanding that had been beyond my previous experience…On the return trip home, gazing through 240,000 miles of space toward the stars and the planet from which I had come, I suddenly experienced the universe as intelligent, loving, harmonious. 
We need silence to be alone with the Goddess, to listen to her and ponder her words deep in our hearts. 
Prayer is the recovery of the souls breathing. 
Have a Blessed Day wherever you are with Mother Earth. 
