Winter Sleep This short art video is about the Dreaming of a Mother Bear presented by My Bear Self! It was made spontaneously while we were in Sweden in April and unexpectedly experienced a White Easter (rather than the White Christmas we had hoped for a few months earlier in the same location). One of my long-standing dreams was to put on a bear costume, roam in the forest and hibernate in a cave – so I took the opportunity to do just that. On another level this art video is about dissolving separation between humans – animals, self – other, ancestors – future generations, inner world – outside world,…

    This is a brilliant book and an absolute treasure trove of esoteric information you will not easily find elsewhere! I was pleased to be asked to review it as I had already set the intention to post a review – because this author deserves more readers. In this book Pennick describes how magic was deeply embedded in the everyday life of pre-Christian societies in Northern Europe. People believed in magic both because it worked and because their whole worldview was inherently magical. In this book Pennick examines the underlying principles of this work and how different forms of magic are powered and used. When we speak of the…

  GUARDIANS OF SOUL This painting was made while I was enrolled in Sandra Ingerman’s shamanic teacher training program in Santa Fe (in 2012 – 2013). She is the author of the seminal book Soul Retrieval: Healing the fragmented self. It describes how the ancient technique of soul retrieval is used to return soul essence that ‘runs for safety to the spirit world’ when severe trauma or a great shock occurs. Really this is a safety mechanism, our ability to feel pain is reduced in that moment, but it is not a healthy solution long-term. For that reason shamanic practitioners spend a fair amount of time returning precious soul essence…

SEAL MOTHER OF SOULS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5t5VP0Me24Q&t=4s This short video was inspired by a powerful dream I had in California, October 2015. In the early 19th century the native Chumash and Tongya people were forced to leave the Channel Islands off the coast of California. They were taken to Spanish missions and pueblos on the mainland. One teenage girl ran back to look for her baby and the ship left without her. She lived alone on San Nicholas Island for 18 years, when she was ‘rescued’. Her name was Juana Maria. I had a powerful dream in which she appeared and showed me images of her life in those 18 years of profound…

  My dream for summer 2016 was talking to wild plants and learning their names and magical/medicinal properties. The dream came true: I spent the summer in remote rural Sweden where an abundance of flowers awaited me. People in-the-know say that the plant you most need unfailingly grows near you. If this is so, perhaps I only need to step outside (wherever I am) for a unique perspective on my health, my future or my marriage?! I developed the habit of walking around with a magnifying glass in my hand and field guide in my pocket. I was soon moving in a fog of linguistic confusion. I grew up in…

On Easter Monday 2017 I had a long and rather complex dream about a fox costume. (I had this dream during the night following the day where I had been running around a snowy forest in my bear suit while my husband filmed me, eating snow and sleeping in my cave. This actually happened, in ordinary reality! (The footage is part of an art film I am currently working on). However, in my dream I had a very beautiful and realistic fox costume. The head was separate and fitted my head perfectly, like a helmet. It was also very life-like. I really BECAME A FOX wearing it. I decided to…

In truth don’t know all that much about plants – but I am still going to write a piece about plants! For me summer 2016 was dedicated to learning about wild plants and communicating with plants and trees. We had just bought our dream house in Sweden. It is set on a huge rock in a pristine forest, on the Baltic coast just south of Stockholm. I spent a lot of time in the forest and walking down farm tracks. I also read some thought-provoking books written by people who have dedicated their lives to plants. My key learnings about plants and trees in general were that a) They live…

  A year ago I started using some tried and tested  techniques from shamanism (the most ancient spiritual practice known to humankind) to support my eldest son through his GSCE exam period (those are general exams for all 16 year olds in the UK). I can’t be the only parent who is actively looking for a spiritual toolkit specific to the challenge of exams. In this article I will share some tried and tested things that work well for our family. Powering up! Our society has (largely) replaced religion with science. This means that most people roll out of bed and start their day without prayers, meditation or actively setting…

DISMEMBERMENT This painting was inspired by a passage in the Bible. In Judges 14, Samson kills a lion and leaves the body there. When he returns a swarm of bees has taken over and he now finds honey there: A key concept in shamanism is Dismemberment. It means being taken apart. Our spirit allies will often do this during a dream or shamanic journey and it is a great form of spiritual cleansing because it reaches all ‘forgotten dark corners’ so to speak. Tribal shamans are put through severe ordeals and initiations by their shaman elders in the community. This completely changes their energy signature. If they survive, they become…