Why it is important to enter those hidden, magikal, (un)comfortable places

Self Love. Healing. Empowerment.

Hi! my name is Sam. I am a Gardener and Storyteller of the Soul who weaves shamanism, story-telling, spiritual counsel and earth-based wisdom, to create a gentle and profound space for healing and transformation.

Welcome to Soft. Simple. Still. where like gentle butterflies that land upon your hand, soft words will land in your heart for profound healing, stillness and simplicity.

Photo by Randy Fath on Unsplash

Beyond the bracken
Beyond the path
Beyond the stream
and the grove

Beyond the mountains
Beyond the rivers
Beyond the wind
and the snow

Beyond the rain and sleet

it lies
just there…
Just.
There.

Or maybe it is just beyond the simple track
the track that is used and used and used
Maybe it is just beyond the simple path
Walkable
Meandering
Gentle.

Where ever you journey to it
It really is
Just.
There.

Maybe it is a cottage
Or an old bothy.
Maybe it is a cabin
Or a well used hut.
Maybe it is home,
just
HOME.

It is old though.
Very OLD.
It might be well hidden
and secret,
or obvious and clear;
Maybe the path changes
so we miss it. Forget it,
lose our way to find something else
something old
something new.

Maybe we find the waterfall
the stream
the old Mother Tree;
Maybe we find something else
something we were not expecting to find
and yet we do…

Today though
The path opens wide
It wants us to come,
to visit
to be warmed by the fire that glows in the hearth
Today, it is encouraging us to enter.

Sometimes the entering is greeted by Wise Ones and Friends who sit with us and offer us food to eat and drink to nourish us
Today though,
while the door is open,
and the fire gently lit
there is no-one there
no-one there to greet us.

We are here though and we have walked far,
was it hard for you - over mountain ranges or changeable weather
or was it easy upon well trodden paths?

We are here, though.
So let us go in.
Let us be warmed by the fire…
Let us take our shoes off and warm our feet..

Old.

Very old.

Secret.

Ancient.

Dusty.

Hidden and (un) comfortable!

Do we enter?
Do we go elsewhere?
Do we cross that threshold
that doorway
that secret place that is sometimes there and sometimes not?

Ahh, for crossing always means growth
and change
and
and always
Something.
Else.
 
Ahhhh,
do we cross the threshold
or do we stay on this side?

Choices.
One way or another it will change our life
one way or another it will become a memory in our innermost landscape
and then…
What do we do with that memory?
Will it be viewed as something magical and empowering and liberating
Or will it be hidden under rocks and behind the door,
Or up in the attic and beyond human reach?

Are you a naturally adventurous person? Are you naturally flexible and adaptable?
Are you someone who likes the idea of change and easily flows with what is going on? Can you change from one thing to another - job, house, country, friendships, hobbies, rules - with ease?

Or are you someone who doesn’t like change at all and is set in your own particular way of living and being in the world?

Or maybe you are someone like me, who doesn’t mind change as long as there is a gentle transition and a space to breathe out, take stock, a place to gently “acclimatise” to the new-way?
 
I know, the option I just suggested is pretty impossible at times. Sometimes change just happens and we have no choice. A lot of the time actually!!! And what we thought of as true, as normal gets re-evaluated with every breath we take and every step we make. 

Sudden death, retrenchment, sickness, life-choices, financial changes, COVID - they change what was “normal” and gives us a new “normal” to live by…

and sometimes we just don’t like that new normal…

It is lonely.
It has now placed a mental, emotional, physical, financial burden on our lives.
It has reopened doors we once sealed shut.
It takes us off our "safe path" and sends us travelling elsewhere without a compass or map.
It has shaken our self esteem, self worth and self belonging
It has asked that we do “something else,” “be someone else,” find "something else.”
It questions our once-thought-as-normal-life.

And, let’s be honest, change happens EVERY. SINGLE. MOMENT.

The wind picks up or slows down.
The sun rises and shows different colours.
The birds sing and then they stop.
The clouds move and stay still and then change again.
The tide comes in and the tide goes out.

Nature changes EVERY. SINGLE. MOMENT.

And yet for us humans change can be scary, unpleasant, surreal, painful, hard.
Sometimes it is exciting and hopeful, encouraging and enlightening,
Sometimes it is… (what words would you use???)

Sometimes change is like walking into an unknown hut, bothy, cabin, room in our Inner landscape,
a place that you didn’t really know existed until now. 
Or maybe you did and you saw it there in the distance, the smoke rising, the path inviting…and yet the other paths were always so much more inviting and interesting or maybe it was just another path
and it wasn’t
THAT PATH.

And then one day we find we are brave enough to walk onto it,
and then into it…
the cabin, the bothy, the hut…
it at first seems so oppressive, dark, lifeless,
maybe it is messy and downright uninviting.
It might smell. It might take our breath away.  It might make us double over in pain.
It might bring all our fears to the surface.
It speaks a foreign language and

NO IT WAS NOT on the floor plan when we moved in... 

and yet

and yet,

maybe it has always been there hidden like magik until now. 

So, it calls us to enter,
to  go  inside
to make ourselves "at home."

It calls us to come closer to the fire
to be warmed by its light and heat
to take off our walking shoes and let out feet be warmed
and just for this moment in time
It whispers truth in our heart
that this place is a haven
a safe safe haven.

One of the things I love about the work I do, is walking along side folk, like yourself who realise that these places do have a warm fire inside;
that these places, once the heavy velvet curtain can be pushed back, can allow the sunshine to stream through.
That these places have wonderful ancient herbs, sacred lore, soothing tinctures.
That there are parchments and archives of deep raw ancient magik and healing,
and old old recipes of nourishment and sustenance.

Oh yes, these bothy’s and cabins and rooms do wish us to enter and discover them
They do need us to clean them and tend to them
They do need us to commit to them
and open them wide and fully,

so that next time we come
there is more than a fire in the hearth
there are flowers out the front
and friends who wish to join us.

Until we meet where the warming of a fire burns,

Blessed Be

Thank you for pressing the ❤️ heart button and for sharing this article. My vision, my life work, is to help people step over the many thresholds of life - helping them to find the ancient wisdom that lives within. When you share my words as it helps more people find me - in your community, here on Substack and in the wider web of life. Thank you.