 A Registered Homeopath, Reiki and Seichem Master and Teacher, Mary offers Reiki and Seichem treatments or homeopathy and flower essence treatments at our shop in Lampeter. She also visits the Cygnus offices regularly, sharing her wonderful healing skills for the benefit of all the Cygnus staff. She is dearly loved by us all, and we thank her with all our hearts for everything she does for us, and for allowing us to share this special message, Rest and Replenish, with you.
Dear Friends,
Sitting by the bank of the River Usk at Crickhowell, South Wales, I wonder if I might share the personal insights of a simple but inspiring day spent here recently. After an unexpected telephone call I found myself here for the weekend at Riverside Park with my very small, but beloved caravan, Pearl.
I use flower essences a great deal in my work, so to visit the place where Dr Bach found one of his first essences, Impatiens, was very exciting. Table Mountain looms over the village and it was there I decided to go walking. A local man advised me how to walk the mountain: he said he knew the route well, but had never done it personally, not able to find time in a busy life. How often do we miss what was there all the time, or is it that we need to look and step outside our ‘comfort zone’ for the answers that lie within?
Setting off with two maps, one internal and one external, I decided that when I couldn't understand one I would call on the wisdom of the other, using intuition to perceive the truth.
After only a short way, I came across a shelter and water well with a plaque bearing the invitation to ‘Rest and Replenish’. So, quite out of character, I stopped and did just that. A fork in the path appeared and I turned right. ‘But was it right?’ I thought. Well, it's just a choice, so I made one, ‘just because’. As I climbed higher through leafy glades and rocky paths, I was rewarded with stunning views of a world that cannot be seen at ground level, yet it is there all the time. Stepping out of my ‘comfort zone’, new experiences were happening. Following discarded feathers that were at my feet, and guided by the screech of a buzzard somewhere above me, as yet unseen, I was exploring a place where spirit and matter meet: we call it Earth.
Around a corner was the answer to my earlier choice: a stile where the two paths met. ‘Next time I will turn left’, I thought, and gain a different, but equally amazing experience.
Orange fritillaries led the way now through the aptly named Pleasant Meadow, soft blue harebells covering the grassy banks. Remembering the words at the well-house, I sat amongst the harebells to rest and replenish. Up to now I had been alone on my climb, but now a lady walked by. We never spoke – sometimes words detract from the moment – we exchanged greetings in a way that cannot be spoken, a shared appreciation of the world, in silence.
I wondered about her reasons for being there, but urged myself to stay in the moment and carry on.
A huge oak covered in lichen stood as gatekeeper to the woodland ridge, holding out arms towards me. I responded by lying against the warm, comforting strength of its trunk. ‘Rest’, she whispered, ‘there’s always enough time.’ She smiled, and so did I.
Next came a gnarled, wise thorn tree: her beauty was different. I paused again to fill my soul with her wisdom. Tracing the outline of her form, from sky to earth, I noticed a shiny silver-grey shape lying on the crisp, dead leaves at her roots. With curiosity I bent down and picked up the shed skin of a slow-worm. Words really can’t convey my feelings at that point: having always had a fear of worm-like creatures since my younger brother put maggots down my jumper as a child, to touch this beautiful, smooth and shiny skin was a privilege, and certainly out of my ‘comfort zone’!
Somewhere out in the undergrowth was a fellow traveller, with a bright new ‘overcoat’, having discarded a part of himself that no longer served him well, revealing himself in a new way to meet new challenges.
‘Asking’ the universe if I might take this offering with me as a reminder to do the same, I carried on.
Yet more trees, but with their age they seemed to be sharing their wisdom by interlocking branches and dancing hand-in-hand, having fun! Unseen nature spirits echoed the message in a gleeful, encouraging way. Thoughts of Dr Bach flooded my mind. I was standing next to an ancient beech. ‘Lighten up; have some fun.’ it suggested. I laughed, then cried, opened my arms and gave a hug of appreciation.
The path was now becoming very rocky and barren, and as often happens, as the summit of our journey appears, there were moments when I wondered if I would reach it at all. Would I have failed in some way if I hadn’t?
Every step had been an experience; each moment a blessing. Perspiration ran down my back, and I replaced it with a drink from my backpack. The faint trickling of a summer mountain stream gave me another opportunity to rest and replenish, plus the added bonus of wild mint leaves to chew. How refreshing, and at that moment better than any teabag!
Washing in the pure water I gave thanks for the gift of water, so precious and vital to every life form.
The summit view was awesome: Mother Earth below and before me. My heart had opened and my faithful feet followed. A golden aura skimmed the earth’s crust and warmed my soul. Standing in shining splendour I gave thanks.
The descent was through drifts of bracken, fields of sheep, pine woods, hedges of holly, cobnuts and blackberries, studded with wild rose. Butterflies, cornflowers, sloes, horsetails and rowans were my companions. So much was revealed to me on that journey. I never tasted one drop of a flower remedy that day, but the essence of them all ‘flooded my being', just as Dr Bach had discovered. Connecting to nature in any simple way brings a deeper understanding of our path, inner gifts and purpose.
By taking time to rest and replenish in the midst of nature, we find the strength, grace and gentleness we need to become active in the outcome of our own lives. Nature itself can teach us how to use the gifts we were born with in a way that has been unable to develop until now. Then we will be able to bring to fruition transformations which began many lifetimes ago.
So many of us are finding, these days, that we are being forced to move out of the ‘comfort zone’, into the unknown. This can be challenging to say the least. But remember, we are never without a map, for it is within us. We are supported and guided on every step of our inner journey. Everything we need has already been given to us, including the necessary courage!
That’s why, whatever anyone says about the coming times – you know, 2012 and all that – I am convinced that no one will be left behind by their lack of information or understanding; only by denial of the process itself. 2012 is our future; today is the moment that will take us there.
And why do we all choose to make this journey? Well, it’s ‘just because’.
From Mary with LOVE,
the Energetic Vibration of Life.
Text & photographs © Cygnus Books 14-Sep-2006
|
Messages from 
