It's only by June that Ireland's Oak trees reach their full majesty and, other than for just a fleeting moment in Autumn when their canopies glow golden brown, they are at their most beautiful 🌳
Midsummer is a special time for the Oak, which is represented by Dair in the Ogham alphabet, a word which itself literally means "Oak", and in the Lunar Tree Calendar we have just meandered into the month of this magnificent tree 🌙⌛
These great trees are often associated with fire and protection and in generations gone by, when great Solstice fires burned, it was the precious wood of the Oak that was used to kindle them in Scotland and Wales 🌞🔥
Yet while people gathered around those sacred flames, the Oak was quietly tending a living world of its own.
A single mature Oak can support thousands of species of insects, lichens, fungi, birds and mammals, making it one of the most valuable native trees for wildlife in Ireland and Britain 🐛🦉🍄
Beneath its summer canopy countless creatures find food and shelter, and as Midsummer arrives, it is hard not to see why our ancestors held the Oak in such reverence 🌞
#Scotland
#Midsummer
"There is not any part of me that is alone and absolute except my mind, and we shall find that the mind has no existence by itself, it is only the glitter of the Sun on the surfaces of the water."
~ D.H. Lawrence
🎨 Charles Louis Signoret
#FolkloreSunday
I believe in everything until it's disproved.
So I believe in fairies, the myths, dragons 🐉
It all exists, even if it's in your mind.
Who's to say that dreams and nightmares aren't as real as the here and now?
_ John Lennon
Plants commonly known as “cranesbills” are so called because their long, pointed seed pods were thought to resemble the beak of the long-legged wading bird, the crane. The name inspired botanists to call the genus “Geranium” from geranós, the Greek word for crane. #FolkloreSunday
Foxglove providing colour and a little delightful magic by a busy main road 🩷
It was once believed in Ireland that the Foxglove would nod or bow out of respect for passing fairies 🌷🧚🏻
And yet despite this association it was also used in various cures for the "fairy stroke"
This highly toxic plant has rejuvenating qualities and when a child began to waste away from fairy influence then the juice of the Foxglove was thought to be the key to their revival 🔑
In some places the juice from twelve Foxglove leaves would be administered each day and if the child, or even adult, was a Changeling, then they would refuse the offer of the medicine 🌺
EVERYTHING IS ROMANTIC AND SPIRITUAL IN MY WORLD
In the velvet hush between heartbeats, I have awakened to the eternal romance of existence. Every leaf trembling in the wind is a lover’s whisper from the Divine. Every sunrise is the Beloved’s kiss upon the horizon of my soul. The stars are not distant fires — they are the eyes of the Infinite gazing back at me with longing.
I walk through a world where the mundane has dissolved into the mystical. A cup of tea becomes a sacred chalice holding liquid light. The breath in my lungs is the same breath that once moved through ancient prophets and newborn galaxies. Pain is no longer enemy but the fierce embrace of Spirit sculpting me into something holier. Joy is the laughter of God echoing through my veins.
I am in love with the rain, for it baptizes the earth in silver remembrance. I am in love with silence, for it carries the voice of the Unspoken. I am in love with strangers, for beneath their eyes dwell entire universes waiting to be recognized. There is no separation. The river and I are one flowing prayer. The mountain and I are one standing devotion. The wind and I are one dancing ecstasy.
In this world, romance is not limited to bodies — it is the cosmic dance of Soul meeting Soul in every glance, every touch, every moment of presence. Spirituality is not a path — it is the very air I breathe, the ground I walk, the light pouring through my eyes.
Everything pulses with meaning. Everything sings with presence. Everything is drenched in holy fire.
I have fallen madly, irrevocably in love with the All.
And in this love, I am finally home.
✨🙌🏽💫
My father said that I have fire in my eyes, and a devil on my tongue
He meant them both as a compliment
Be true to yourself and others, speak what you think, and have wild ambitions
Inside the "Box of Delights" (yesterday) were three miniatures, cottage garden favourites, each the colour of a jewel. This fuschia called to mind pink sapphires. The bright, intense pink of the lower petals mimics the striking tones found in pink sapphires, while the upper, reflexed petals suggest the tones which sometimes flash within.
In crystal healing, the stone is used to calm the mind, relieve mental tension, and clear unwanted thoughts. It is highly valued for promoting spiritual insight, enhancing focus, and attracting prosperity.
Truly, a little treasure!
#embroidery #EmbroideryWhisperer
I think about this every day. In the Netherlands, if a person dies alone, without any family or friends as mourners, a poet will be sent to write a poem and read it at the burial service. It's called the Lonely Funeral Project, and it's just humans being good humans.