Hope in the Valley

Photo by Grant Ritchie on Unsplash, Hope Valley – England

A weekly update only for this month. I’m focused on mastering Resilience Coaching skills with positive psychology, writing, rootwork, practicing hot yoga, resuming a prayer praxis and learning lots about Permaculture. It feels like a time of being less passive and less dependent upon other people to fix things and to be awake. A time to reconnect with old friends, family, seal old wounds, resolve problems, write to people, conquer fears, prioritise love over fear, focus on what’s important, follow heart and soul, care for my son like mad and be there for him. Everything has changed, is changing yes but also this means that things can always get better – I’m aiming for the top part of the spiders leg.

Spider diagram photo by College of Wellbeing

I’ve had it trying to fix others’ broken systems, it’s time to just stop fighting and rebuild anew. Like an Escher painting when you’re lost in a labyrinth, the impossible steps go down as well as up but it’s vital to find the upstep (in an lockstep story) to flee the Goblin King.

Escher and the Goblin King

I choose a Le Guin utopia. Herbology is my weapon, Coaching is my defence and Yoga is my anchor – all rooted earthed and real. I’ve tiny hills to die on and ships to burn before surrender to clockwork universes. My one wild and precious life runs in this cycle of high weirdness. Demonslayers in plague winds, banishing and purifying. I am a root in this interconnected web. Wellbeing and Resilience is my wish. Slow living, analogue futures, small and local. Full of independent business, guilds and artisans. Soil and dirt and kitchens and hearths. Grandmothers’ remedies, urban homesteads, flourishing together for all and loving wild selves. To be whole is to be a part (not apart). Optimism in the ecosystem.

Herbal oil allies by my side like Buffy’s entourage. I’ve angelica for guardianship, agrimony as protector, arnica to heal, bladderwreck for business, caraway and rosemary for protection, eucalyptus to clean, fennel for courage, woodruff for victory, amber for happiness and lavender for sleep. Clary sage, peppermint, mugwort, bergamot, jasmine, rose, orris, vervain, cinnamon, basil, marjoram, ginger, thyme, allspice, bay, cedar, frankincense, salt and parsley. Asafetida, dragons blood, high john, camphor, bayberry, St. john’s, rue, star anise, sandalwood, garlic, hyssop and clove.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel  - gif from Tumblr

Jung said: “No tree, it is said, can grow to heaven unless its roots reach down to hell.” In these hellish new normals I am rooted, in the dark soil, to shine a light into deepest fears – and grow into the sun.

Grow plants, work herbs & oils, counsel others to adapt and grieve, do yoga, build better futures, face the sky, ward off legions, root-down, write, brew, pray, plant, think clearly, question every narrative, take spiritual baths, open minds to animism and cycles and LOVE IT ALL. Afterall we chose this life, this kali yuga, it’s very much our time and we are very much of this time.

It’s always about time. And resilient hope. Shores of hope, in waves, from valley through earth to sea.

Ferring beach, sourced on Instagram