Animisma - All Things In-Spirited

Season 2, Episode 1: Winter Solstice

Intro Music

Intro
Trees. Oh blessed ancestors, sacred wisdom keepers, holders of the stories of old, keepers of the passage of time. Trees have held a central place in the spirituality of almost every human tribe on Earth, from cold North to scalding south, from dry deserts to wet tropics, trees have been venerated, revered, prayed to, and partnered with. The world tree, the axis mundi, the tree of life, nature spirits, nymphs, the fae, grandmother trees, grandfather trees, gods and goddesses, guardians, protectors, portals and doorways; the spirit of trees has, and continues to be, a divine source of magic and meaning for countless generations of humans.

The Celtic Tree of Life is a symbol of harmony, of the passage of life from birth to death and back again, of longevity, strength, wisdom and protection. There are many trees held sacred in Celtic lore and this Second Season of Animisma - All Things In-Spirited will take us on a walk through the Celtic otherworld at each of the eight festivals to meet, honor, and be blessed by the wonders of these ancient beings.

My name is Heather Louise and I’m so deeply grateful that you’ve found your way to my quiet, gentle, mysterious, mythical, forested corner of the digital realm. The first Season of Animisma included an exploration of myths, legends, and customs of each celebration. If you haven’t had a chance to listen already, I invite you to head over to Season 1 and have a listen there too.

If this is the first time we are meeting, it is my honor to connect with you. I am the granddaughter of the trees, an animist and an eternal student of mystic wisdom who lives in veneration of the Earth. My work is deeply inspired by my Celtic heritage and tends to revolve around honoring and connecting with the natural world, celtic myths and legends, and the gentle reclamation of personal sovereignty. I partner with story, poem and song to create spaces for people to directly connect to nature,spirit, and self in ways that are authentic and true for them.

As many do, I live as a convergence of blood, bone, language, and culture. My blood ancestors, those whose face I wear, traveled from Scotland and Ireland to the land known in the common tongue as Australia where I was born into this life onto the ancestral lands of the Cammeraygal clan of the Eora Nation. Like my ancestral kin, I too have traveled across the world and at least for now, find myself living in the high desert in view of some old mountains in the middle of what is known as the United States of America on the ancestral lands of the Ute, Arapahoe and Oceti Shakowin - the 7 council fires.

Living as a Celtic convergence, my offering is one of connection to spirit and nature for all those who are also woven of many threads and who are drawn towards honoring the cycles of the seasons, the natural world, and all of its inhabitants - tree, flower, feathered, finned, elemental, animal, spirit, all.

For those that are listening from the future, this episode was recorded in the gregorian year of 2021. Many today feel we are living in a time of forgetting, a time of great confusion, of disconnection and fear. During times such as these, gently and authentically connecting to the precious and wild beauty of the natural world can offer our frayed nervous systems a soothing balm and can act as a gently bubbling spring of hope. When the fabric of one’s being feels stretched tight and thin, connecting with the spirit of the natural world can offer a rooting and a grounding deeply into the resilient and magnificent wild parts of ourselves, relieving the strain on our soul’s weaving, regulating our responses, rooting us into spirit, and reconnecting us to the blessing that is life.

Season 2 of Animisma is an offering of seasonal contemplation, offered with care, and offered in peace. It is a walk along the hidden paths, along forest floors covered in soft grass, sunlight peeking through ancient boughs, breezes quietly moving across our faces as we walk with permission through mist and shadow. It is a walk in the presence of giants, of plants as portals, mystical herbs and magical flowers. This season is an offering of connection to the myriad green kin; an invitation to slow down, connect with the space in-between each heartbeat, and to remember that we are surrounded by spectacular, extraordinary, medicinal, ancient, and exquisite beings every day. We are not now, nor are we ever alone, and in honoring the natural world we can find the blessing of sovereign connection, health through boundary, and a return to reverence for the sacred and the divine. In witnessing and connecting with the divine, we may be inspired to live a life of health, honor, and integrity, and my prayer for you dear listener, dear friend, is that you find all of those things along your path, supported by the earth below you and the sky above.

So welcome to Season 2 of Animisma - All Things In-Spirited. I’m truly thrilled and humbled that you’re here. Ceud mille failte a charidean - a hundred, thousand welcomes, friends.

The Winter Solstice
Ah, the deep dark heart of winter. A time of stillness. A time of depth. A time of darkness peppered with light and the green reminders of life everlasting. A time for introspection, a time for dreaming. A time for death and deep contemplation. A time for silence anda time for the decaying of the old and used energies and dreams to go to Earth, creating space for possibility and potentiality.

Together today, let’s take a walk through a sacred, mythical forest in the Celtic otherworld to celebrate the Winter Solstice and connect with the beautiful plants and herbs venerated at this time.

In preparation for this walk, I invite you to take a moment to support your vessel, your physical body. Find a quiet and comfortable place where you won’t be disturbed and where you feel safe. It can be indoors or outdoors, providing you have adequate protection, warmth, and ventilation. It could be in a room, in a car, you might be traveling on a train or a plane. Perhaps you are outside by a fire, lying by a tree in a park, or sitting on a haystack in a barn. Wherever you find yourself, welcome. Take a moment to really get comfy and then take a deep, nourishing breath as you settle in to meet the sacred trees of the solstice.

If you have a candle and your allows for one, now is the time to light it. Please, as ever, ensure the flame is in a safe place, away from where you are sitting or lying, held on a surface that will not burn and clear of anything that could catch fire.

For those that do not have a candle, I will light one for you now, and I invite all to please take a moment and join me in thanking the flame. Thank you flame, thank you fire, for joining us on this day. Ever grateful for your strength and sacred wisdom we ask you to light our way. We honor you.

Once you are ready, warm, safe, and settled, continue to notice your breath. Start with a few strong, slow inhalations through the nose, followed by a few gentle exhalations through the mouth. If it feels true for you, welcome any sounds that might want to leave along your breath, as you steady and settle in for our sacred solstice walk together. In this ritual practice, of honor and celebration, we will stay firmly rooted in our bodies, guided by voice and breath, and rather than sending our awareness we will gently become aware of our surroundings, supported, rooted, emodied and protected at all times.

On behalf of all who are connecting through these words today, I humbly request that you be blessed and protected, today and all days. I humbly request that your trusted guides and allies join you today, seen or unseen; may you be surrounded by those who love and support you today and all days. Surrounded by blessing, protection, love, and safety, my invitation is to now release all that does not serve you, all that is out of alignment and integrity. You are held and you are safe. You are whole and you are complete. You are well and you are held. I humbly and lovingly acknowledge the unseen and the seen, all spirits known and not known to us, who kindly offer us wisdom, protection and guidance. We are honored by your presence, we are so grateful you are here.

It is before dawn at the darkest time of the year, the winter solstice. There is snow on the ground and you are wearing a rich, thick, deep blue cloak. The hood covers your head and the body of the cloak is heavy, warm, protective, and long, covering you completely. As you slowly look up, you see a thin path between tall trees leading into a thick, dark grove. Before taking a step you close your eyes, take a deep breath, bring both hands to your heart and speak to the guardians of the forest.

To those that tend this place, I bow to you. Today I seek passage to your center, to greet the sacred trees, in celebration of this longest night and shortest day. I will walk as gently and as softly as the deer through your forest - if you grant me permission to pass. I am your ally and I do no harm, I bring only myself and my respect to these lands. I leave any pain and anger at this threshold and I come in peace, I offer serenity. I do no harm.

The forest remains still. No sound comes from the trees, however, the Earth begins to warm below your feet, and as you blink your eyes open you notice that the path is glowing like a rivulet of tranquil dawn light leading deep into the dark forest; the guardians have granted you passage to pass and to follow the path now glowing. You bow your head again in thanks, grateful for permission to enter, taking seriously your vow of serenity and peace. Stepping forward onto the path you notice the air - it is cool and still, and the snow that rests on the branches of the trees as you pass is shining, a billion tiny crystals playing with the thin rays of light that make their way down through the brush and needles.

It is peaceful here. Slowly moving through the forest you feel surrounded by ancient and protective giants, sleeping in the mid-winter, resting deeply and soundly, dreaming of the infinite threads that weave the world, held by the long dark days. You feel the great depth of their roots, warm and damp underground, and you feel the strength of their mighty trunks, still and at ease. Even in this heart of winter darkness, you notice the green needles everywhere, covered in shining white snow, and you remember that even in the depth of this season of stillness, life continues, everlasting.

As you walk further and deeper into the heart of the winter forest, following the glowing path, you slowly lift your head and look towards the clear, deep, sky filled with more stars than you ever thought possible. The light around you is very slowly shifting, changing first into a soft mauve, then a pale amber hue reaches its way across your sight. You stop and take another deep breath, breathing in this sacred dawn light, the first rays of the solstice. Gently against your skin, this first, dawn light is a blessing sent from our home star, the sun, and we pray that this light warms our hearts and fills our dreams with strength and kindness, potentiality and patience, as we move into the winter months along our wheel of the year.

When you return your gaze to the path you see a gate. Beyond the gate is a sacred circle of trees, a nemeton. As you arrive at the gate you notice a small sign, a poem left there by another traveler.

Inscription for a Garden Gate by Pearl Council Hiatt
Pause, friend, and read before you enter here.
This vine-clad wall encloses holy ground.
Herein a mellowed garden dreams away the years,
Steeped in serene, sweet light and muted sound.
Herein tranquility and peace abide,
For God walks here at cool of evening-tide.

Pause, friend, and strip from our your heart
All vanity, all bitterness, all hate;
Quench, for this hour, the fever of your fears.
Then, treading softly, pass within this gate.
There, where the ancient trees wait, hushed and dim,
May you find God, and walk awhile with him.

You bring your hands again to your heart nodding in thanks to the message and the travelers that have gone before, and those yet to come. Gently opening the gate you cross a snow covered threshold heading toward the grove.

The Grove
This circular nemeton, this divine grove of solstice trees is a sacred place. In its center, a flat smooth stone lies. As you step within this rooted and connected circle, there is a stillness you feel. Inside this stillness, there is strength. Like these sacred trees, you feel the deep roots of connection reaching from your feet deep into the Earth, your vessel strong like the ancient trunks and branches. There are also vines here, slow moving, with deep green leaves, turning towards the sun as it rises and sets. You lay down in the center of the grove on the smooth flat stone, pulling your rich, thick cloak around you. You notice how you are comfortable here. Staring upwards you gaze towards the sky, your circular view framed by varying types of branches and needles. This is a quiet place. A place for dreaming. A place of harmony. A place for greeting the first moments of the winter turn of the wheel. Upon this dreaming stone you close your eyes and let the wisdom and blessings that each sacred tree holds wash over you, entering your dreams...

chime?

Silver Birch
Great seer, great goddess tree, diviner of the new year, we pray you bless our dreaming with clarity, purpose, and beauty.
We pray you render our path and our souls pure, purified of the past, released of our burdens, pure of heart, pure of thought.
We pray you bless us with your protection, showing us how deeply layered we too are, as your own layered surface.
We pray for your flexibility, as we move beyond the past year and dream our new year into being.
Blessed be this sacred tree.

Mistletoe
Mystic ball of ever-life, living in the high branches of the Birch we honor thee and pray you bless us with the hope you represent - hope that life continues, whether in this realm or the next, as you live betwixt and between so too do we and we pray you bless us with sight beyond these long dark nights.
Blessed evergreen, whose medicine heals the heart may you bless us with the kiss of kindness during this turn of the wheel.
Blessed be this sacred tree.

Pine
Keeper of the long vision, great evergreen and holder of the wisdom of life eternal, we pray you bless us with long-reaching site, by grounding us into presence we are capable of dreaming a new, clear future into being.
May our hearts and thoughts rise tall as you, towards the highest heights of our being, returning to the Earth all that does not serve us, all that does not serve the deep heart of nature.
May we be nourished by your gifts, the deep greens living throughout the coldest and darkest of times.
Blessed be this sacred tree.

Yew
Great teacher of death and resurrection, growing wherever your branches touch the ground we honor you.
Tree of eternity, tree of the grandmothers and grandfathers, we pray you bless us with your deep wisdom, and hollow our vessel, as your trunk is hollow, such that we may be filled with your blessings, filled with spirit, filled with dreams, filled with compassion. Great protector and holder of the bones we are humbled by your presence and pray that we may be blessed by your resilience and glimpse the weaving of the many threads of existence as you do.
Blessed be this sacred tree.

Ivy
Powerful connector, growing and exploring, linking us in friendship and kinship, we honor you.
Your leaves, as endless vines of green hearts, reminding us of the heart of nature, the eternal breath of the Earth, she who winds herself around both living and dying, we pray you bless us with your wisdom of connection and resurrection and help us to grow in sovereign friendship without becoming entangled, we pray you help us to connect through clarity.
Blessed be this sacred vine.

Holly
Great unifer, protector, and guardian, great holder of the light and the dark, we ask for your blessing at this sacred time, returning from this shortest light and longest night towards towards balance.
We humbly request your blessings of protection and ask that your eternal medicine of restoration finds its ways into our souls and sinews, enriching our blood, balancing our paths, severing us from strife and connecting us with compassion.
May the stories of the Holly King restore us, strengthen us through the earth’s winters and our own times of inner cold and darkness.
Blessed be this sacred tree.

chime?

Eyes still closed, you feel the dreaming stone below you. Connected to the great wisdom and medicine of each tree, you take in a deep breath of life giving air, lovingly created by each of the wisdom keepers around you. Slowly opening your eyes you see that dawn has arrived. The trees glisten and sway, ever so slightly, and as you observe the trees in silence, you notice that they too, are observing you. Watched by the trees, you gently rise to sitting, you bow your head in grace to each of them, for their blessings and their wisdom offered on this sacred winter solstice.

The arrival of the dawn light beckons you return to the edge of the forest. You walk away slowly, softly, remembering your promise to walk as gently and softly as the deer. You return to the glowing path, noticing the strength and stillness you feel, and as you move, your heart beats in a steady rhythm, like that of an ancestral spirit drum, your ancestral spirit drum, beating calmly in your chest.

You make your way to the edge of the forest and before you leave, you turn and bow one more time, giving thanks for life, for forest paths, for shining stars, and for sacred trees. You leave this space infused with wisdom and blessing, offering your deepest thanks. You look down towards the ground and notice the glow of the path fading softly into the rich, cool, dark Earth.

chime?

Gently blink your eyes open, and move your body in ways that feel good for you. Maybe stretch your arms and legs, twinkle your fingers and toes, and maybe gently nod or rock your head. Maybe move your arms like the swaying branches of a tree. Take a deep grounding breath and release it with a sigh. When you feel ready, find a comfortable seated position.

Turning towards your candle, you blow it out with a breath of love and care, thanking it for its warmth, light, and protection. If you do not have a candle, see one in your mind’s eye and in that space, offer it your gratitude, and watch the flame extinguish, a line of sacred smoke rising from the wick.

---
The heart of yule is evergreen
The old year gone, the new pristine
The wheel again will turn to Spring
This blessed time, much joy to bring.
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Thank you for joining me today on this beautiful walk in celebration of the Winter Solstice. As you shift away from these words and this time, don’t forget to drink a little water or tea and eat a little something, maybe something sweet, to help you ground into your body and integrate the experience. If you feel so called, maybe journal a thought or two, or sit with a tree nearby and offer it your friendship, listening softly to see if it has something to share.

Whatever you do today, I pray that you and all you hold dear are blessed by the wondrous deep warmth and darkness of this season, may grace guide you and hold you in the coming year and may the sacred blessings of silver birch, mistletoe, pine, yew, ivy and holly root you deeply into the dreaming wonders of the winter ahead.

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In Closing
May all that we do and say, today and always, be for the benefit of all beings.
May we walk with integrity, honor, and grace.
May we welcome our shadow forward in service of revealing to us all that needs tending as we walk in human form.
May we never forget the passage of our ancestors, human and otherwise, that brought us into being and may we honor the wise and well ones for their guidance and support.
May we honor the descendants - all of our kin - and may we commit ourselves to guide them, love them, and resurrect the wild beauty of our shared home, this precious planet Earth.
May we live our lives in safety, offered in service, guided by spirit.

Outro
Thank you so dearly for joining me today. This episode was influenced by the blessed teachings of Glennie Kindred, Danu Forest, and Penny Billington. I so look forward to connecting with you for Episode 2 of Season 2, Imbolc. You can learn more about this episode, the Celtic wheel of the year, find resources and more about upcoming episodes at thepathofintegrity.com/animisma

Ayla Nereo’s beautiful song and homage to our tree kin, “Whispers” from her album “The Code of the Flowers” was licensed for use with permission from Jumpsuit Records.

Animisma is brought to life by the brilliant Emily Osborne. You can learn more about her work at emilyosborne.co.

If you’d like to hear more, I invite you to subscribe and share amongst your community. Email subscribers receive instructions prior to the podcast regarding offerings, rituals, ceremony etc. and you can subscribe at thepathofintegrity.com/subscribe

Tapadh leibh a charaidean agus tioraidh an drasta! (Thank you friends and goodbye for now!)

End