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| The Moon Rising as The Milky Way Sets - © Chad Powell Photography 2019 |
Those who also know me in my private life, know that I am a tireless traveller: my unstoppable desire for wanderlust, always pushes me in search of new places, intense colours, exotic dishes to savour and dive into cultures far from mine.
Probably I inherited a little the curiosity that characterises me from my father, who travelled in his time far and wide on the continent armed with a camera, an old and broken-down car and a sleeping bag during the glorious 70s, a little might be thanks to my Aquarius placements; as soon as I was old enough to travel, I found myself on a plane to explore horizons other than the usual Veronese sky I was used to.
After travelling most of my dear Europe, so familiar yet so multifaceted at the same time, I decided to change continent. I then hopped to Thailand, Cambodia, India until my recent trip to the United States of America.
2020 not only marked a new decade, a new era for everyone - both numerologically and astrologically: 2020 was to be my year for travel too. My partner and I had planned Morocco, Norway, Madagascar and probably South America at the end of last year.
And instead, here we are. Like the rest of humanity, we find ourselves forced into our small island. Literally, since our house is located in a strip of land off the English Channel.
When the pandemic started, our reaction was of dismay and uncertainty, not knowing what we were dealing with. Until resignation and acceptance, a process I believe can be shared with the rest of humanity.
As we have mentioned in several articles, nothing happens by chance: this virus is a reminder for us to make us understand we are living the wrong lifestyle, both spiritually and not. Fruit of a consumerist way of life, reckless and not in line with the laws of Mother Earth, it forced us to stop and reconsider our actions. It will then be up to us to decide whether we want to learn from this lesson or whether we want to persevere on our journey, then paying the consequences again in the near future.
Having said that, what lesson can I have learned - personally?
In recent years I admit that I felt confused, I may have gone through perhaps what is called a crisis of faith: while my esoteric knowledge grew exponentially in a theoretical way, my sensitivity to the world of the occult that led me to approach it in the first place, it was getting thinner and thinner. I could read voluminous tomes on how to connect with spirits, but I no longer felt that shiver at the base of the spine that made me excited during my first, rudimentary rituals.
Why?
The answer is very simple, and it has been under my nose all this time. But I was too focused on everything else to realise it: a busy working life, a social life to be maintained both in reality and in the social media sphere and various frivolities filled my time but took away the focus from the essential. I was so used to getting on a plane, to get out of the routine, to convince myself to look for beauty elsewhere - completely forgetting to really appreciate the land in which I live.
That same land that offered me comfort and wonder when I moved to England: away from
smartphones, social media, work and commitments. I didn't know anyone, I didn't have a job, I didn't have a smartphone and I limited my online presence to sporadic access in front of an old laptop.
My only company, during my long hours of solitude, were my thoughts and the beauty of nature around me: the impervious cliffs, the intoxicating scent of foxglove, the green open spaces kissed by the sun, the shady woods ... That amazement which then became apathy and habit, like covid.
During this forced break, not being able to get away to chase that traveller's thrill and nauseated by the toxicity of the media, I learned again to appreciate the beauty that surrounds me and to enjoy the company of Mother Earth. Far from human beings full of resentment, frustration and ignorance.
I am isolating myself, I am detoxifying, I am finally aligning myself with the rhythms of the spirits around me. This was the lesson I was taught: I forgot to honour the sacred land on which I live, consequently moving away from its power and losing my vision as a Witch. Yet the answer has always been there, under my nose. But sometimes we need to go against a wall, to realise what we are doing incorrectly.
That's why I no longer felt like a powerful, aware Witch: the more I studied, the more stupidly I walked away from Gaia.
Waldeinsamkeit is a German word, made up of wald-woods and einsamkeit-solitude. It is a word that contains the feeling of wandering in solitude in the forest, in symbiosis with nature. A word that does not have a translation into another language outside of German, but a mood certainly known to many of us.
As I mentioned in my very first posts, my first rituals all took place in the woods. A wonderful forest, located at the gates of Verona and at the foot of the Alps, where nature made sure that I found my calling.
The feeling of being a parallel dimension, where everything remains suspended in fragments of time, is indescribable. The smell of the undergrowth, the lapping of the waters, the lazy buzzing of a bee. It is here, where the sunlight barely filters through the leaves of the trees, that the Gods walk among us.
Where I currently reside, I am fortunate to have an ancient forest near my home. Parkhurst Forest covers 500 hectares with oaks, conifers and thick undergrowth; one of the last strongholds of the red squirrel - now extinct in most of the country, supplanted by the grey squirrel.
This forest, sometimes obscure, healed me in one of the darkest moments of my life: on a rainy day, I decided to follow one of the less travelled paths and go into the green meanders of the forest. I was the only person in the woods that day, and I stripped myself of all the pain and ghosts that tormented me. I found myself dancing in the rain, singing and feeling free as never before in my whole life.
And here I am, after years, once again to retrace these forgotten paths to pay homage to the ancient spirits who welcomed and healed me - calling me after all these years, while I was groping in the dark looking for answers. It is funny how nothing is casual in esotericism, in one way or another we always get where we need to go.
Nothing will ever give me the same feeling of tranquillity, peace and inclusion as walking in nature - not even getting on a plane in search of divine illumination on the banks of the Ganges.
This I feel like telling you, in the light of my quarantine reflections: study, travel, learn as much as you can, broaden your horizons. But never forget to relate to your land, you don't have to go to the top of a mountain. Even the city park of your country is full of microcosms and spirits, just connect to it. If you take care of the earth, the earth will take care of you.
Both in our small ways and in the grand scheme of things.
Being disconnected, believing ourselves to be gods on Earth and trampling and mistreating our ecosystems have led us to today's situation: deforestation, intensive breeding, unbridled industry are the causes of climate change, covid and suffering that we are living as a planet and humanity. It all comes together to be distant from Gaia, let's start again from small things to build a world that lives up to everyone's rights.
Probably I inherited a little the curiosity that characterises me from my father, who travelled in his time far and wide on the continent armed with a camera, an old and broken-down car and a sleeping bag during the glorious 70s, a little might be thanks to my Aquarius placements; as soon as I was old enough to travel, I found myself on a plane to explore horizons other than the usual Veronese sky I was used to.
After travelling most of my dear Europe, so familiar yet so multifaceted at the same time, I decided to change continent. I then hopped to Thailand, Cambodia, India until my recent trip to the United States of America.
2020 not only marked a new decade, a new era for everyone - both numerologically and astrologically: 2020 was to be my year for travel too. My partner and I had planned Morocco, Norway, Madagascar and probably South America at the end of last year.
And instead, here we are. Like the rest of humanity, we find ourselves forced into our small island. Literally, since our house is located in a strip of land off the English Channel.
When the pandemic started, our reaction was of dismay and uncertainty, not knowing what we were dealing with. Until resignation and acceptance, a process I believe can be shared with the rest of humanity.
As we have mentioned in several articles, nothing happens by chance: this virus is a reminder for us to make us understand we are living the wrong lifestyle, both spiritually and not. Fruit of a consumerist way of life, reckless and not in line with the laws of Mother Earth, it forced us to stop and reconsider our actions. It will then be up to us to decide whether we want to learn from this lesson or whether we want to persevere on our journey, then paying the consequences again in the near future.
Having said that, what lesson can I have learned - personally?
In recent years I admit that I felt confused, I may have gone through perhaps what is called a crisis of faith: while my esoteric knowledge grew exponentially in a theoretical way, my sensitivity to the world of the occult that led me to approach it in the first place, it was getting thinner and thinner. I could read voluminous tomes on how to connect with spirits, but I no longer felt that shiver at the base of the spine that made me excited during my first, rudimentary rituals.
Why?
The answer is very simple, and it has been under my nose all this time. But I was too focused on everything else to realise it: a busy working life, a social life to be maintained both in reality and in the social media sphere and various frivolities filled my time but took away the focus from the essential. I was so used to getting on a plane, to get out of the routine, to convince myself to look for beauty elsewhere - completely forgetting to really appreciate the land in which I live.
 |
| Twilight at Mount Bay - © Chad Powell Photography 2019 |
smartphones, social media, work and commitments. I didn't know anyone, I didn't have a job, I didn't have a smartphone and I limited my online presence to sporadic access in front of an old laptop.
My only company, during my long hours of solitude, were my thoughts and the beauty of nature around me: the impervious cliffs, the intoxicating scent of foxglove, the green open spaces kissed by the sun, the shady woods ... That amazement which then became apathy and habit, like covid.
During this forced break, not being able to get away to chase that traveller's thrill and nauseated by the toxicity of the media, I learned again to appreciate the beauty that surrounds me and to enjoy the company of Mother Earth. Far from human beings full of resentment, frustration and ignorance.
I am isolating myself, I am detoxifying, I am finally aligning myself with the rhythms of the spirits around me. This was the lesson I was taught: I forgot to honour the sacred land on which I live, consequently moving away from its power and losing my vision as a Witch. Yet the answer has always been there, under my nose. But sometimes we need to go against a wall, to realise what we are doing incorrectly.
That's why I no longer felt like a powerful, aware Witch: the more I studied, the more stupidly I walked away from Gaia.
Waldeinsamkeit is a German word, made up of wald-woods and einsamkeit-solitude. It is a word that contains the feeling of wandering in solitude in the forest, in symbiosis with nature. A word that does not have a translation into another language outside of German, but a mood certainly known to many of us.
As I mentioned in my very first posts, my first rituals all took place in the woods. A wonderful forest, located at the gates of Verona and at the foot of the Alps, where nature made sure that I found my calling.
The feeling of being a parallel dimension, where everything remains suspended in fragments of time, is indescribable. The smell of the undergrowth, the lapping of the waters, the lazy buzzing of a bee. It is here, where the sunlight barely filters through the leaves of the trees, that the Gods walk among us.
Where I currently reside, I am fortunate to have an ancient forest near my home. Parkhurst Forest covers 500 hectares with oaks, conifers and thick undergrowth; one of the last strongholds of the red squirrel - now extinct in most of the country, supplanted by the grey squirrel.
This forest, sometimes obscure, healed me in one of the darkest moments of my life: on a rainy day, I decided to follow one of the less travelled paths and go into the green meanders of the forest. I was the only person in the woods that day, and I stripped myself of all the pain and ghosts that tormented me. I found myself dancing in the rain, singing and feeling free as never before in my whole life.
And here I am, after years, once again to retrace these forgotten paths to pay homage to the ancient spirits who welcomed and healed me - calling me after all these years, while I was groping in the dark looking for answers. It is funny how nothing is casual in esotericism, in one way or another we always get where we need to go.Nothing will ever give me the same feeling of tranquillity, peace and inclusion as walking in nature - not even getting on a plane in search of divine illumination on the banks of the Ganges.
This I feel like telling you, in the light of my quarantine reflections: study, travel, learn as much as you can, broaden your horizons. But never forget to relate to your land, you don't have to go to the top of a mountain. Even the city park of your country is full of microcosms and spirits, just connect to it. If you take care of the earth, the earth will take care of you.
Both in our small ways and in the grand scheme of things.
Being disconnected, believing ourselves to be gods on Earth and trampling and mistreating our ecosystems have led us to today's situation: deforestation, intensive breeding, unbridled industry are the causes of climate change, covid and suffering that we are living as a planet and humanity. It all comes together to be distant from Gaia, let's start again from small things to build a world that lives up to everyone's rights.
♃Ludna
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