Rooting into our power
Why it’s more important now than ever to shine a light on the deepest part of your strength – and a free Imbolc offering from me to you.
Well hello, and blessed Imbolc.
What an Imbolc it is, right? I love this time of year for so many reasons, not least that it traditionally feels like a time when nature herself is showing promise of stirring after a long winter here in the northern hemisphere.
But this year feels different – as though nature is desperately trying to hang onto nature while the world of man seems determined to drag her forwards in ways that feel not only too loud and too fast but also, quite frankly, barbaric.
Let’s not beat around the bush here: The revolutionary times we’ve been told about for oh-so-long are upon us and, in news that will surprise no one who has been here for a long while, it turns out that the road to whatever lies beyond is not about love, light and ascension.
Who’d have thought it, eh?
This revolution needs us to be sturdy, to be nourished, and to be deeply deeply anchored. It is one that is calling us, in no small way, to be rooted.
Before we dive deep into that though, let me also give you a quick head’s up on something I’m hoping will help with the rooting. Because this month sees the return of Re-Kindling Her Stories… with a twist. Not only am I trying these sessions out as audio only offerings but, as a special Imbolc gift, I’m offering this first one – a journey with the Primal Mothers – to you completely free. So read on, you’ll find the all-important links at the end of this post.
Now back to our roots…
The urge for rootedness
Last week I found myself at the inaugural gathering for the North East Folklore Society. I had a lovely night and met some wonderful people (I’m already looking forward to our next get-together!), but as I travelled home from the event, I found one word echoing in my mind more than any other:
“Roots”.
Why? Because in conversation after conversation throughout the evening I’d heard some version of: “I guess what drew me to local folklore is really just the desire to feel rooted.”
It’s a sentiment I totally understand, and one I feel really passionate about if I’m honest. But it was also one I found interesting. After all, for years now so much of the world – including spirituality – has tried to encourage us to look upwards, to think expansively, to grow and stretch and collect.
Is it really any wonder that, as the facades of so much that we’ve been taught is progress shatter, we find ourselves being pulled in a different direction; towards depth, sturdiness and anchoring?
I really don’t think so. And I for one was grateful to hear so many people in one room talk about their desire to feel more rooted, because in my mind only good things can come from the senses of nourishment and sovereignty that true rootedness brings. After all, aren’t deep roots the only things that make it possible for us to stay standing during whatever storms lie ahead?
But let’s be very clear here, to strengthen our roots is not necessarily an easy process, and it’s one that might well require us to venture into the unknown.
Journeying into the dark
I read this week that the movement of Neptune from Pisces into Aries means it’s time for us to leave behind the “love and light” approach to spirituality. I don’t know about you, but I could not be more relieved.
Not that I’ve got anything against love – to paraphrase a wise man, I’m pretty sure it’s the one thing the world needs more than anything else right now – or light – which is always helpful in my book. My issue is, instead, with what that school of thought tends to steer clear of: the dark.
I know, I know; the dark is all too often seen as a place of the bad and the difficult, the terrifying and the depressing.
But what happens when we look at it through the lens of nature rather than that of a school trying to make us forget where we come from?
In that case we remember that the darkness is depth, soil, compost and all that lies beneath us. It’s the place where, slowly, gently, change happens as the first sprouts of the new begin to break out of the seed and spread themselves out to grow.
We remember the thing that animals have, for so long, modelled for us every winter: That the darkness is a place to retreat to and rest when it all gets a little much out there in the world, safe in the knowledge that we’ll be held tightly until it’s time to show our faces again.
And let’s not pretend it’s only plants and other animals who don’t naturally fear the darkness, it’s us too. After all isn’t that where we all started, in the dark waters of the womb, where we were all free to grow and develop?
Long before it became a place to avoid, the dark was the place we knew we were safe; one where we could not only retreat happily but also rest, grow, dream and develop. Isn’t that the perfect place for the roots of our new beginnings to start?
A power that comes from below
I know, the world has told us that power is something everyone sees; something we shout from the mountaintops whenever and wherever we can. And goodness knows that’s something many of the “leaders” in our current world like to do, right?
But here’s what I realise more and more the older I get: The true power, the kind that feels a lot like sturdiness and looks like sovereignty, comes from above.
Think about the people that you’re drawn to as real leaders, inspirers and authority figures. I dare bet what really draws you to them isn’t the way they look on camera or the size of the stage they stand on.
Instead it’s the sturdiness with which they carry themselves and speak their truth, the grounded view they seem to have about the world around them, and the often steady way they tend to respond to challenge or uncertainty.
The truth is that a real leader is rooted not in the people around them or the systems and institutions that have granted them authority; but in the body that holds them, the wisdom that has led them and the communities that they serve – whatever those communities may be.
True leadership can be found in sovereignty and that only comes when we dig deep into ourselves and allow ourselves to grow into the wise ones that only we can be. Not to land grab or claim authority from anyone else, but to hold it for ourselves, in ourselves, from a place of rootedness.
Rooting deep to stand tall
And that brings us to the most important piece when it comes to rootedness – one I know I’ve said before but that has never felt more important than right now.
Because I know, only too well, we are living in a world that seems determined to bombard us with chaos.
Where our phone screens are lit up with a steady stream of trauma, our front pages are filled with constant threats that it will get worse, and the people in positions of power seem to want nothing more than to perpetuate both of those ways of being in a bid to keep us wholly and completely exhausted.
I don’t just get that, I feel it myself, right down to the marrow of my bones.
But that’s exactly why rooting into ourselves, the communities that – truly – stand with us, the traditions that hold us and the forces that inspire us has never been more important. Because, when we have something to root into, it’s so much easier to stand tall.
The winds will still come, of course, and they may even shake us until we’re dizzy from time to time. The winters will still bite and may lead us to retreat inwards for a while, gathering our resources until it’s time to bear fruit again.
But no matter what the outside world throws at us, those roots – as deep and wide as they are – will never allow us to topple, they will only ever help us to build.
Rooting for revolutions
And so as we find ourselves here in this new Age of Revolutions1, my greatest wish for us all is that we return to rootedness.
That we become familiar with the dark and all of the brilliance it has to offer.
That we allow ourselves to dive deeply into a power that feels like true sovereignty – not just individually but collectively too.
And that we grow and tend roots so deep and broad that we – and they – can in no way be toppled.
So this Imbolc, as the first sparks of spring make themselves known, I want to remind you this isn’t a time to reach higher or stretch yourself thinner. Instead it’s a time to remember exactly where you stand, and to root deeply into that place, those values and communities.
And just when you feel like your roots have gone so deep they can’t possibly grow any further, I invite you to take yourself into that beautiful nourishing darkness for even just a moment and ask where your roots are asking to grow deeper.
After all, the roots of all that is long, long forgotten, are starting to stir now and may well be calling you to remember them. And honestly, that’s something I could not be more excited about!
P.S. A couple of reminders
If the roots of a power that has long been forgotten are calling to you, then be sure to check out The Primal Path; a nine-month long initiation launching on Ostara. And, thanks to some whispers from the ancestors, the early bird price for the journey has now been extended for one more week until 9th February.
And if you’d like to spend an entire weekend rooting into the fullness of Gaia and all she has to offer, then join this year’s Project Earthwork activation weekend, From Soil to Starfire. It takes place this June, and there are now just four places available!
An Imbolc gift
That’s right, I made you wait right until the end of the page, but I like to think over two hours of freebies might just be worth it – especially when they’re as potent as this.
If you’ve been here for a while, you may remember Re-Kindling Her Stories; live sessions that blended storytelling, meditation, channelling and more to offer a deep and potent journey with a figure or archetype from feminine spirituality or myth.
Over recent months I’ve been journeying deeply with Re=Kindling Her Stories and how best I can bring that idea back to life in a way that feels truly nourishing and expansive, while still leaving space for us to dream with the energies who make themselves known.
The result is an audio offering which will be coming your way officially this spring. But I wanted to start the ball rolling with a free version, coming your way as what I hope is an inspiring Imbolc gift from me and some of the most powerful women I’ve ever worked with.
So without further ado, I’m pleased to introduce to you Re-Kindling Her Stories: The Primal Mothers, which you can find below via the links to three separate audios:
Re-Kindling Her Stories: Introducing the Primal Mothers (storytelling and introduction)
Journey to meet the primal Mothers (meditation and channelling)
Primal Essence Rest Activation (a practice inspired by Yoga Nidra - and go gently with me here, this is a first for me!)
I’d love to know what you think of the above, so please feel free to comment and share your thoughts below.
For now though, that’s all from me for now. I’m wishing you a blessed Imbolc and, as always, thank you so much - for being you and for being here.
In November 2024, Pluto moved into the sign of Aquarius, where it will stay until January 2044. Its last trip into that sign - between 1778 and 1798 - was a period known as “the age of revolutions” thanks to the political upheaval witnessed on almost every continent, not to mention the beginnings of an Industrial Revolution which would go on to shape the whole world.