New Shoots 2021

The online version of our seasonal Tree of Life Cycles newsletter for New Shoots 2021.

Imbolc | Candlemas | Tu B’shvat | Fourth Cross-Quarter

(Click here to read about the names we chose for the annual cycle of traditional festivals throughout the year, and why we chose them).

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Welcome to our New Shoots newsletter!

We may not yet be able to see the first intimations of relief from the pandemic we were hoping would peep from underneath heavy restrictions that have been trapping us in a wintery, Saturnine grip. But despite climate change, Mother Nature is still running her usual timetable and, if you inhabit the Northern Hemisphere, you will be able to see clear signs that, even if the landscape where you live has been icy, the first new shoots are braving the weather. In the Celtic tradition this festival is Imbolc – meaning ‘first milk of the ewe’.

In Christianity, the mythology tells us this was the time Mary took her new baby to the temple for the first time – this is Candelmas. Both these images bring our attention to the mother energy of New Shoots. Nature, as our Mother, is abundant and protective.

New Shoots – Fourth Cross-Quarter

RETURN: BREAKTHROUGH: RELEASE: REGENERATION

The very first, tiny signs of Spring are beginning to appear. Glimpses of green can be seen on what looks like dead wood. The icy ground is still in place but there are certainly little cracks where new life is breaking through, persistent and active. We cannot see the movement of the Lady of Living Green who is seeking to renew the land, but we can sense her presence, even when the wind and rain are cold and the ground muddy beneath our feet.

So it is with our own Soul work: we can regenerate our spiritual life and that can lead, magically, to regeneration in the physical body, whose capacity for renewal is much more potent than we imagine. Let us attend to spiritual matters and then our physical wellness will more easily take care of itself. Let us explore the deeper, frostbitten soil of our personal consciousness and plant new seeds that we can nurture, as the time of the Snow Queen begins to melt. Perhaps we need to melt some of our old, rigid patterns of thought and behaviour, in order to release the energy for re-growth. Pruning and paring back our old twisty roots and branches can bring a new feeling of vigour and a fresh outlook.

Seasonal things to do

Here are two suggestions. One is for Soul, the other for the material life!

Take some time one evening to go on an inner journey. Give yourself the opportunity to imagine a meeting with the Snow Queen in a white castle made of ice. She may appear to you in familiar guise, as she has been the subject of many children’s movies in recent times. You are wrapped up warm in thick fur. Stand close by her and feel her cool vibration. Her crystal clear sparkle offers you a mirror in which you can see your own heart’s desire. Look at yourself in her magic glass and see what you are presenting: are you warm enough to melt the ice? Can you see and feel your own beating heart, glowing red under your winter garments? Thank the Queen for being a reflection for you, then allow your warmth to melt her silver gown until she reveals her green cloak. She is stepping out of the frost, back into the world to regenerate life and offer new hope.

The next morning, find some gardening work to do, or some way to connect with the living Earth. If you have a garden, find a corner where you can do some pruning, or plant some spring flowers. You could call by a local park and investigate what is going on in the flower beds. Even if you only have a windowsill, you can plant something in a pot. Talk gently to any trees or shrubs in your garden, or along the pavements where you walk. Open your heart to the energy of Springtime and allow the Green Lady to walk beside you, wherever you go.

Candlemas

Ice-twigs
Prison lace
The snow queen
In her palace-canopy
Of white and naked trees.
Old man’s beard, frosted,
Curls about the holly crown
She now must set aside.

New bride,
Rose of Sharon,
Lily of the valley,
Stirs in snow-soft bed,
Treads invisible
Where snowdrops skirt.

Candle-quiet
The virgin brings
Her baby to the temple
And all the world
Is hushed
As the lamp is lit.

— Theolyn, 1992

Guided Journey: Archangel Auriel – The Companion

Keywords – Salvation, tender loving care, mending hurts, grace
Colours – Silver and pale blue
Gemstone – Beryl
Festivals – Candlemas (2nd February, with her consort Sandalphon). Another option for celebrating Auriel energy is Lady Day (8th September)
Celestial Body – The Moon

The Archangel Auriel represents the mothering energy that ensures newness will be guarded by the Light of the Divine and her name means ‘Light of God’. Most Archangel names are Hebrew, so we have to transliterate into our English alphabet. Archangels’ names can vary in spelling because biblical Hebrew has no vowels, so Auriel’s name can be spelt as Oriel or Uriel.  I associate the Moon with the Archangel Auriel. The Moon is the ‘consort’ of our planet Earth, because she does not simply circle the Earth but dances with our planet around a common centre. The Earth and the Moon are what astronomers call a ‘binary system’ – two heavenly bodies bound together as they move around the skies. Similarly, Auriel is like a bride to Sandalphon, who is the steward of planet Earth.

If you would like to connect with Auriel, I have recorded a guided journey – use the button below. I strongly recommend you first download my guide, Getting The Best Out Of Your Visualisations, to make sure you have the best experience).
 

SoulSchool News

Spring 2021

For the next few weeks, Will and I are continuing with creating new Gateway Grade courses!

• Accessing Angelic Realms will be ready for new enrolments before the end of February.
• Creating Abundance should be in the Shop before the Spring Equinox.

There will be three Gateway Grade courses altogether and these can be taken in any order (read more and watch the video here) although you could start now by enrolling on Grounding Your Life Purpose while the current Special Offer is still running. You do not need to complete the Fundamental Grade courses (The Shefa Method and Shefa Expansion) in order to enrol on a Gateway Grade course. However, I know from experience all my courses will be more inspiring if you do have a reliable and effective meditation technique. This is why I always offer very special package deals to encourage you to do both. There’s no reason why you shouldn’t follow a Fundamental Course in parallel with a Gateway Course if you have the time.

Autumn 2021

Luminary Grade courses will be available during the Autumn Term (read more and watch the video here).

• Your Crowning Glory
• Meeting Your Shining Ancestors

In order to enrol on Luminary Grade courses you will need to complete both Fundamental Courses and two Gateway Courses, both as supervised students, and one of which must be Accessing Angelic Realms.

Luminary Grade courses are designed to expand your consciousness and will prepare you for going further towards becoming a healer or a teacher at a later date. If that journey is calling to you, please let me know – I am always happy to have a free, no-obligation chat if you want to explore how to move forward. Also, please be aware, that I am willing to discuss adjusted fees for people on low incomes, if their goal is to give back to others at a later date by offering healing and workshops.

My Personal Goal for SoulSchool

By Spring 2024 I want to have a team of twelveSoulSchool Healer/Teachers. If you think you might be one of them, don’t hesitate to contact me straight away. Please be assured that if this is a good pathway for you, then any financial issues can be addressed and we can discuss how you can move forward.

The Survey

A big thank you to everyone so far who has sent in their surveys – the prize draw for January has now taken place and there will be another one on February 28th. So, if you haven’t entered yet, you still can. Just click here to fill out my short survey. The reason I offer rewards for completing the survey is because its so valuable for me to have feedback before planning upcoming classes and webinars.

Videos

Over the next few weeks I will be continuing to record Signs & Wonders videos and I shall also be writing Mystical Wisdom blogs. My aim is to provoke you! I want you to keep asking questions about your life and, especially, I want to steer you in the direction of taking charge of your own story. It might not be a SoulSchool course that will help you ground your life purpose – there are lots of options out there – but I keep presenting the wisdom that I have developed and received over many years, because I believe I can help you on your journey. Check out all my vlogs and blogs here.

Recommended

Film

The Dig – Directed by Simon Stone (2021). Starring Carey Mulligan, Ralph Fiennes, Lily James, Johnny Flynn, Ben Chaplin, Ken Stott, Archie Barnes, and Monica Dolan. Based on the book of the same nameby John Preston. Distributed exclusively by Netflix on their streaming channel from 29 January, 2021. Click for trailer on YouTube.

Theolyn and I had been looking forward to this for some time, ever since we saw the trailers on Netflix, and we were not disappointed when it finally reached our home cinema.

This is a dramatised retelling of the excavations of the burial mounds at Sutton Hoo in Suffolk. If this site isn’t familiar to you, it was Britain’s ‘Tutankhamun’ discovery, and revealed the Anglo-Saxons of the 6th and 7th centuries to have been highly civilised. This find shone a bright light on what had previously been called the ‘Dark Ages’ and the world marvelled at the finely made treasures. Well, they would have marvelled, were it not 1939 and the expectation of war preoccupied most people. It also meant excavations had to be quick. Against this anxious backdrop, what has been described as the ‘first page of English history’ turned and gave us a glimpse of a rich history we were completely unaware of.

Added to this is the story of the man who found the burial, Basil Brown (played in the film by Ralph Fiennes), a talented amateur archaeologist and author, completely self-taught, though no less wise on the subject. As a local Suffolk man, he knew the soil intimately, in a way no fancy degree could teach. So, when the hostile Charles Phillips (Ken Stott) of Cambridge University hears about the dig and sweeps down to take over, Basil is none too pleased.

The film does depart from history somewhat and takes a few liberties. To begin with, the wealthy widow, Edith Pretty (Carey Mulligan) who owned the land and hired Basil, is portrayed somewhat inaccurately. The film doesn’t acknowledge that, as well as having an interest in archaeology (which was why she originally bought the estate at Sutton Hoo) she was also a spiritualist. She had had a dream of a figure walking on one of the mounds on her land and she was convinced there was something special under the ground there, but this part of the story is left out. The film also introduces a completely fictitious love element, complete with dishy RAF pilot, and the photography of the site is attributed to him. In reality, the pictures were taken mostly by two women. Such airbrushing of women out of history is not uncommon, and the injection of romance into cinema is hardly rare either, but this should worry only the most nerdy of moviegoers.

The performances are, as one might expect, exemplary, with Fiennes going to great lengths to sound just like a real Suffolk man. At least he convinced me, and I pay attention to accents. Contrasted with the graceful lilt of Carey Mulligan, the class distinctions dance lightly against a lovingly portrayed landscape. Mike Eley’s cinematography is extraordinary, and works as an epic visual poem dedicated to one of England’s lushest counties. The pace of the film respects the horse-drawn lifestyle of pre-war Britain and we are drawn into the narrative little by little, happily forgetting our impatient 21-century habits. But the magic is woven expertly and we never feel we’re watching an over-long Hovis ad.

You won’t see much of the actual treasure in this film (visit the British Museum’s site to find out more) but the story of its discovery is so rich, and its portrayal so graceful, you hardly miss the sparkling gems and decorated gold. Thoroughly recommended! — Will

Book

The Soul’s Code – James Hillman. Available at Hive.co.uk here.

This book has been on my shelves for years and I always recommend it to people on a spiritual quest. Hillman was a Jungian psychologist who wrote many insightful books, but this is the one that can help you rethink your life, and what you feel about it. It’s also an excellent companion for anyone following my courses.

Hillman uses the image of an acorn, destined to become an oak tree. He believes every life has an inbuilt image which describes the essence of that life and its calling, or its potential. We are all being called to our destiny by the ‘acorn’ within. This is such a liberating approach, because it allows us to understand childhood grievances, contentious family issues, and what might be seen as unpleasant events. Every bit of your story is pointing in the same direction. Once you know the shape and size of your ‘acorn’, you can start nourishing it with the best compost and you will flourish towards your best, carefully designed destiny. Your ‘daimon’, ‘genius’ or ‘guardian angel’ is a guiding force that is always calling you towards your personal destiny, great or small.

This book can help you answer fundamental questions: What is it that I must do? What must I be? What must I have? And why? Every spiritual seeker should read this book – at least once. — Theolyn.

YouTube

Psychophysiology of Yoga Chakras with Serena Roney-Dougal – Interview with Jeffrey Mishlove of New Thinking Allowed Foundation. Click here to watch on YouTube.

When I was a teenager, my stepfather had a book on the family bookshelves by an English surgeon, Kenneth Walker, who was a follower of Ouspensky, the famous disciple of Gurdjieff. The title was Diagnosis of Man, and I was intrigued. There were chapters in the book concerning the physiology of the human being, but also discussing the human spiritual quest. One chapter, called Different Paths to Truth, set me on the path to discover everything I could about Buddhism. This was a challenge because I lived in a remote part of the Cotswolds without access to quality libraries. I became a member of the Buddhist Society so I could get information by post. My aunt and uncle had books about Theosophy, so very early in my life I was discovering that all religious practices were directed towards the same Oneness.

Another chapter was Human Types. In this section, the author explained about the endrocrine glands in the body and how they affect human behaviour. When I first read the book, I hadn’t gathered much astrological knowledge, but a few years later when I re-read this section, I began to see how the different glands might connect with the qualities relating to the planets. There is a chapter in Walker’s book about yoga, but this is quite general, so I didn’t learn about chakras at that point. Diagnosis of Man was written in 1941 and obviously medical understanding has advanced since it was written. However, Walker wanted to demonstrate that our physiology and our states of consciousness are inextricably entwined, and that is still true.

I was reminded of this book when I came across an interview on the New Thinking Allowed channel, where American parapsychologist Jeffrey Mishlove interviews a wide range of experts from many different fields. If you explore his back catalogue you are bound to find some topics that grab your attention. The interview I thought I would share with you for this newsletter is with an English parapyshcologist living in Glastonbury, Serena Roney-Dougal, who I met a couple of times when I lived there. They discuss the yoga chakras and how we can identify their roles in our system by comparing their activities with the way our glands function. Serena is an engaging speaker who is very knowledgeable, but not at all geeky. She practices what she preaches – and makes an impassioned call against eating meat, reminding everyone to treat the human body as a ‘temple for the soul’. Highly recommended. —  Theolyn.

Many blessings as always,