The Hive and Grove Centre for Holistic Wellness

In the interest of stremlining and simplifying, I will be deleting this page and moving all my posts to my personal page. I will be highlighting what is Soul Alchemy so if you want to skim past the posts of dogs on dunes and pheasants, it will be easily done. But, if you would like to continue to see posts about emotional, mental, and spiritual healing, I invite you to go to my personal page, Tiffany Lazic and send a friend request. :-)

https://youtu.be/CSqVh1Q-TQA?si=rcSauhKApIcT_hf2

Thank you to everyone who came to this morning's online ritual. For those who were not able to be there live but would still like to participate, tomorrow morning is a perfect time as well. I will also post the 5 rune cards following this - not in the order they appear in the ritual 😉

All the blessings of the Season to you all. May your Light always shine bright ❤

Welcome the Divine Sun Online Yule Ritual Stepping into the full cloak of the Soul Alchemist at work, these online rituals from The Noble Art: From Shadow to Essence Through the Wheel of the Year off...

Rune cards in the Welcome the Divine Sun Online Yule Ritual. From the Witch's Familiar Runic Oracle.

Facebook - indeed, all social media - is so interesting. There's the "face out there" and we always seem to have this tendency to see the sliver of what is presented as being indicative of the whole, rather than reflective of a facet. Totally understandable.

I have had this conversation with a few people of the past couple of days who have shared - each in so many words - how they are witnessing George and I living the dream. Of course, each with heartfelt appreciation for the grief and sorrow of the past year, but seeing all the beauty around us that we have worked hard to create as a balm for that grief. And this is absolutely 100% true.

But there is another side - a Shadow side - because, of course, there always is!

I have come to realize - and have seen shared in other places on social media - that the second Christmas when dealing with grief is actually even harder than the first. The first tends to have huge buckets of support around it, understandably. But the first, at least for us, was, I can see now, tempered with shock. The second Christmas seems to be when the stark realization hits. He really is never coming back! The pain of the first is acute, but it also felt that there was so much comfort and grace around it. The second Christmas feels so very different. Harsher. Colder.

I also did not realize that there were shards of pain buried in the absolute joy of getting all of our belongings out of storage, where they have been for a year and a half. Given that I started actively packing over Christmas in 2021, some things I literally haven't seen for a full 2 years. Many things I forgot I had even packed. Especially all the Connor stuff I have. How do I have so much? Truly! How do I even HAVE some of this stuff? (i.e. his journal from his teens, filled with lists of his hopes, dreams, and intentions to change self-destructive patterns! Heartbreaking!) Every bin now is a bit of a minefield of joy and sorrow all rolled into one. There have been a lot of moments of just looking at each other with tears saying "I know, honey, I know". There's not much else to say.

But there has been a darker side, which I think is also a natural part of this process. Where the shards of pain have turned both inward and outward. In and amongst the happy, silly pheasant moments :-) there have been such hard moments of scratchy disconnection. To the point of having to sit down and have a stark discusssion. The pain we are carrying can heal us or tear us apart. Still. And how tragic it would be if, when we are really quite literally sitting in the very place of our dreams - in this land, on this island, in this home, with each other - the devil that we all have to grapple with, the one that skulks inside whispering "you don't deserve this, you are terrible, and the pain you are carrying is proof of that" - how tragic it would be if that devil wins.

In my Drawing Down Divine class a few weeks back, the card I pulled to reflect what I am being guided to comprehend on a very deep level at this time was Chiron. With the message "Hurt and Heal". Well, that's the crux of it right there, isn't it? The process goes on. It shifts over time, but it goes on. Not always present on the surface, but certainly working its way through below.

So yesterday, after the clarifying, healing, connecting conversation and feeling like Shadow had been somewhat dispersed and a bit of Light was shining back in, something seismic (to me) happened.

I was aware, of course, I had turned to the last page of my 2023 Soul Alchemist Journal. I was sitting with all the insights and messages that filled the pages to try to distill it all into a takeaway. The nugget I could bring forth into this next Grand Cycle. Deeply aware it was the 20th. Such a significant number - the day of Connor's birth and the day of his death. And I had a nudge to figure out when my "birth day" from the Tzolkin calendar is next year (because I still have to email the Powerpoint from that class to the participants - lol - such is the brain of a Gemini!). Being a 260 day sacred calendar, it does not always fall on the same day, of course, as a solar calendar. I am 8 Deer in the Trecena of Light. Which in 1966 fell on May 24. And which in 2024 falls on ... OMG!... January 20. Connor's birthday!!! I am not even sure of all the nuanced implications of that, but it is wyrd! With a capital W * Y * R * D!

And then, pretty much RIGHT after THAT wyrdness, someone shared with me a very strange encounter in that morning in Starbucks - one of those odd "Connor sightings" like I have had sometimes. But even more strangely, that "Connor" person was called Connor! Or so the barista called him when handing him his coffee. So, so interesting.

And, unrelated though I thought at the time, but 100% related, I can see now, following a nudge that I had been trying to ignore ever since Jhenah posted :-D , in a spare moment, I actually called The Awareness Shop to inquire about the Airmid statue. Airmid, gathering the herbs of healing that grew on the place of her grief. I was told I could pre-order. She will be available in January. And so I reserved one. And then the question came. "Is there a particular number you would like?" I said "Is the 20th available?" It was.

Every year except for 2 dark, dark years, Connor and I celebrated Yule together, exchanging gifts. Last year, I decided I was going to keep that tradition going and "he got me" a fabulous oracle deck, Alchemy Elementals. It seems this year Connor's Solstice present to me is an Airmid statue.

This is it. The last day of the current Soul Alchemist Journal :-) Tomorrow we start the day with the Welcoming the Divine Sun Ritual and end the day with a Soul Alchemist Journal Tutorial. Interestingly, it was exactly a year ago today that I sent out a newsletter - How to Use Your Soul Alchemist Journal. If you are interested to take a gander at that, I'll put the link in the comments.

You can still order a copy of the journal. I have signed ones available, though it might take a week or so to arrive. They are also available through Esther, who is the wonderful artist of the project. And she also has a digital version available. I will put a link to her website in the comments as well.

May you glean the nuggets of wisdom from the past year's journey. And may they be the golden seeds to plant for a glorious Grand Cycle to come.

The Soul Star Chakra

One of the key aspects I love about working with an alchemical template is this idea that we are not meant to stay in the rarified air of the higher vibrational realms. We are actually embodied and true mastery occurs when we are able to filter the wisdom of the Above into the application of daily life in the Below. In this way we are not cut off from any aspect of self. We are not afraid of our pain. We are not resistent to our brilliance. We are invited to find the path to navigate between those two, knowing they each hold significant keys to the whole of our Truth.

As I say in The Noble Art, we may spend much of our llives living in the Entrapment of shame. But when we are able to find the courage to challenge that prison, it leads us to the glow in our Solar Plexus - the new sense of self that is filtered through Empowerment. We must experience Empowerment first before we are able to hone the nuance and discernment of Enlightenment, else we risk a whole different form of Entrapment known as the Spiritual Bypass.

But, as the Zen saying reflects, certainly while we are still here in embodied form, the true wisdom comes through Engagement. Through our ability to apply that courage to our authentic relationship to the world.

In my Avalonian spiritual tradition we talk about service to self, to Sisters, and to the Goddess. Empowerment is about my service to Self. Enlightenment is about my service to Goddess. But Engagement is about my service to Sisters, to others, to the world to the best of my ability. Engagement is the heroic/heraic Return. "I don't have all the answers, but I do have some or most of my own answers and I am willing to be of service." I really do quite love this. :-)

Those of you who were in my class on Sunday night know how deeply I love this calendar system. Here's an in depth description of the first (of 20) Trecena of the next 260 day sacred Tzolk'in round.

The Trecena of Innovation. December 5 - 17, 2023

"Associated with powerful psychic forces, Imix, or Imox in K’iche’ Maya, represents what is often called the “left side of reality”—those other dimensions, worlds, levels of existence that are unusual, eccentric, or in general deemed outside of what is “normal”. Accordingly, Imix symbolizes not only the receptivity to communication with or messages from these other realities and the ability to see into other worlds, but also madness, insanity, mental disorder, nervousness, uncertainty, and doubt. Imix is a difficult day sign, for these things are not simple to navigate or understand; in fact, they can be altogether frightening. Yet Imix also signifies cooperation, especially in terms of the left arm working in concert with the right. Stupidity, envy, suspicion, and secretiveness round out the pantheon of traits and elements embodied by this complex day sign. Imix is the nagual of the ocean and the spirit of rain, and has a powerful connection with water. Not surprisingly, the animal totems of Imix are the dolphins, whales, fish, crocodiles, and all sea creatures. In the Classical Maya tradition, it is associated with the cardinal direction East and the color red.

On Imix days, the Maya give thanks, ask for rain and water, and pray that their dreams and visions bring them beauty and wisdom rather than delusions and madness. This is the day to pay attention to our dreams and the wisdom they may bring, to heal and cure illnesses of the mind, and to pray for strong mental health, not just for us but also for our loved ones. And it is, as Imix is closely connected with water, a highly beneficial day to spend near a stream, river or the ocean.

There is a very fine line between inspiration and madness. How do you know whether an idea or vision that comes to you is the next great novel or ground-breaking technology, or simply a crazy idea? Who decides what is normal and what is strange? Why is it that for native cultures such as the Maya, smoking hallucinogenic plants is part of a sacred rite that only specially trained members of their communities, namely the shamans, can undergo, while in modern Western society, smoking or taking drugs—also derived from plants—is usually a way to disconnect, have fun, or escape the stresses of daily life and carries no sacred values or associated rituals? Is one wrong and the other right?

Everything that we do and think, every aspect of our personal and family life, culture, politics, profession, nationality, race, and religion, is relative. It all depends on how we handle situations, people, and concepts that are foreign or different from what we’re used to. Some of us welcome the strange, the unusual, the new; some of us prefer the comfort of predictability and familiarity even if it’s not always the best thing for us and our personal development.

If you’re an artist, traveler, entrepreneur, or a creative type in general, you are likely capable of handling Imix’s volatile energies with greater ease and ability than most. As its mutable essence percolates through this next Trecena, focus on strengthening your creative spirit and the power of your mind, and dive into the vast ocean of ideas, concepts, dreams, and possibilities that Imix blasts open. Be aware there is no instruction manual or safety rope here, so don’t overestimate your ability to navigate the conflicting realities mixing around you. Keep your humility and respect for this day sign, and you will emerge with a stronger, brighter, richer mind.

If you favor predictability, constancy, and familiarity, better stay home this Trecena and keep the wild forces of Imix at bay. You might in fact prefer to watch the daring artist types go in head first, from the warm comfort of your couch! In fact, the Maya themselves avoid any appreciable amount of activity, because for them, Imix is a challenging day, charged with reflecting the deep, visionary aspect of reality... not unlike, as author Ken Johnson describes it, Carl Jung’s concept of the collective unconscious.

Whatever your personal character, take this time to explore and test the boundaries of your own reality, however vast or limited they may be. Just be sure you have a rock-solid core to keep you steady and strong."

Text by Birgitte Rasine, author of “The Serpent and the Jaguar” - The Mayan Calendar Portal

Have a happy Crocodile Trecena,

Fatih Keçelioğlu
Founder of MyMayanSign.com

Healing from loss....the archetypal energy of Cycle 8. Perhaps more than any other Cycle, this is the one that challenges us to walk that long road that Rumi speaks of - the road that lies between the head and the heart.

I know these words I wrote, way waaaaay back in 2013, I know they are true. In my head, without a doubt. There is no separation. There is only love.

But the heart still yearns.

Healing from loss is about allowing for the fullness of each moment's experience. Honouring the Spirit in us that knows the truth, but also the humanness that experiences and expresses through the tangible lens of the material world.

It is that which inspires us to write letters to our beloved dead. To create ancestor altars and memorial gardens. To wrap ourselves in prayers shawls. To spritz the air with familiar perfume.

To enact these small rituals that enable our human to embody the continued relationship with the dead is not hanging onto grief. It is not being stuck. It is not unhealthy. These rituals are the way we honour relationship that has meant so much to us in our lives and embed that love in our current cellular experience. The need for that does not change just because we pass the month marker the six-month marker or the year marker. The heart is the indicator light. Not the calendar.

There is a saying that is often heard "What is remembered, lives". True, but perhaps there is a bit of a deepening to that sentiment. What is honoured in all these myriad wonderful ways, lives on. In us, through us and the embodied remembrance of the love.

And perhaps, at the end of the day what we come to realize is that there is no healing from loss. There is just finding the ways - different and specific to eachh one of us - to bring the heart back to an experience of wholeness.

Who would like a special signed copy for the next Grand Cycle? :-) There is still time to order and have it arrive in time for the Winter Solstice.

If you are in the UK, cost including shipping is £30.

For North America, shipping makes it a bit steeper (£40 for book and shipping), but I promise it is worth it. :-) There will be some extra treats tucked in the envelope for you.

If you would like a copy, please email your shipping address to [email protected]. I will send you a PayPal invoice and your signed Soul Alchemist Journal will wing off to you right away.

There is still room for tomorrow's "Pop Up Class" on the Sacred Mayan calendar (December 3, 2 - 4 pm EST). I love this system so much in the way it offers a lens for self-awareness. This 3 hour class will be in 3 parts: explaining the calendar system, exploring the archetypal energies of each individual day sign, and then putting it all together with your Mayan Day Sign.

Click here if you would like to attend: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0qcuGtpjsjGNGfRPxNuoF0-KqwmK-D3Ppz

Cost is $25. 100% of course cost is being donated to a friend in need

Welcome! You are invited to join a meeting: The Sacred Round: Symbolism and Wisdom of the Tzolkin Calendar. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the meeting. The first Soul Alchemist Academy "pop up class". Used from about the 5th century BCE, the Mayan Tzolkin calendar reflects a sacred approach to the course of days, noting the significance of ceremonial time and providing insight into the energies of key days, such as birthdays. This 3-hour class will...

Working with the Active Reflection of Cycle 8, increasingly I am seeing how working with Hynni opens us to experiencing the Web of Wyrd. I certainly have experienced how it creates powerful alchemical transmutation. There is something about including agency and specificity to energy healing that makes for some potent lasting change. Not always easy, but always profound.

A New Grand Cycle Begins - https://mailchi.mp/e65809e95a75/a-new-grand-cycle-begins A year of self-discovery and ritual

AH! When you are caught up in the days so much you lose track of them! I posted the ritual and the events around Samhain, but never posted the week's post :-)

We are in the depths of it now. Remembranrance Day is a very clear marker than we are in the time of the Ancestors. At that time, I sat in an ancient burial cairn and connected with my Beloved Dead. At the end I pulled a card from the Dia de Mu***os Oracle Deck. Part of the profound message received was this:

"When you give yourself time to float in the ocean of your spiritual depth, you are more apt to receive the messages I send you"

Open yourself to experience the comfort in the dark and the wisdom in the silence. May you be blessed during this time of stillness and hear the - sometimes faint but ever present - beat of your own true Heart of Essence.

I embarked on a grand experiment about this time last year - holding a small, closed, year long group centred around exploring the archetypal themes I write about in The Great Work and The Noble Art. I wasn't exactly sure what to expect holding space for the same people to meet over the course of a year with a fairly structured approach to what would be processed. Traditionally I have held weekly groups of shorter duration (usually about 3 months) and the focus has been far more client-centred. I have to say, I have been absolutely blown away by the shifts I've seen in people. It has been profound and remarkable!

I am happy to announce that I have just a few spots for a new Saturday group starting December 16, 2023 with "Forging the Crucible". It runs just about every other week (3 meetings per Cycle through the eightfold seasonal round) through to December 7, 2024 with the final "Releasing the Crucible" meeting. We will be meeting for 2 hours each session (from 2 - 4 pm EST). And every participant will receive a digital copy of the Soul Alchemist Journal to track their own personal journey.

If you would like to participate or would like to know more about it, email me at [email protected].

The altar is set. I look forward to being Embraced by the Dark with you soon. ♥️

Notification from the Anglesey Druid Order that tonight is the Mari Lwyd online ritual (check it out if you can - so incredibly moving!) and from my own notifications that tonight in the Sisterhood of Avalon we honour our Calan Gaeaf Full Moon - the Moon of Initiation and the start of a whole new Cycle of Healing (and certainly check out the Sisterhood of Avalon as well - highly recommended) nudge that we are in the last days of Cycle 7. The last days of the roll up the sleeves, sort through, sift through, experience, understand, and move on aspects of this Grand Cycle. The next Cycle will be quieter, allowing for the simmering and steeping.

The Intuitive Tool aligned with Cycle 7 is scrying. Increasingly, I am convinced that we all do it. Just perhaps not with the methods that jump to mind. Bowls of water. Crystal balls. I am contemplating exploring the messages that are communicated via the patterns in the movement of sheep across a field - LOL Sheep scrying! And I am completely entranced the story of eel divination associated with Ynys Llannddwyn!

So, here's a question for you....How do you scry?

A Soul Alchemist Academy Pop Up Class - https://mailchi.mp/096592b77094/a-soul-alchemist-academy-pop-up-class

Some of you know the very exciting news that had me out of my chair yesterday. Vinnie is back in the field! I missed him every day since he was gone and wondered what happened. Now he's back! And with a wee friend. It makes me so happy!!!

Cycle 7 and Cycle 8 are 2 that invite working with more "intangible" intuitive tools. Cycle 7 is all about scrying and though I do still use it (I scry tile, carpet, clouds, patterns in rocks), I still do love a good ol' card deck. 😃

Recently I was gifted 2 fantastic new decks by Llewellyn. One of them is a shoe in for Cycle 8. But, in light of yesterday's exciting Vinnie event, I decided to use the other deck, The Oracle of the Sacred Horse, for this last week of Cycle 7. And how lovely that 2 cards seem to actually picture these 2. Winter's Heart to me will always be Vinnie. And Spirit of Youth looks a bit like his new little friend. ❤️

I love the concept of Transcendence. The idea of finding peace and perspective by rising above. But, more than that I love the depth of wisdom that comes from Transformation. Not an easy path, by any means. But as Carl Jung said "The cave you fear to enter holds the gold you seek".

It is here, having roused our courage to enter the cave and engaged our tenacity to address all that is held there to be processed, here where we attain the gold that has been trapped for so long. The gold that reflects the sovereignty of Self. That brings such brilliance to the Crown.

Online Ritual: Embraced by the Dark - https://mailchi.mp/a2df9200ed2e/online-ritual-embraced-by-the-dark Ritual to set our intentions for honouring co-creation with Spirit in the darkest time of the year

One of the things I find myself talking about a lot is the focus on mental health. It is fabulous that there has been growing awareness, attention, and sensitivity on the topic. But I also find myself challenged - and this, I freely admit, may just be my own limitation - to understand how we can attempt to create mental health without the absolute inclusion of emotional health. We can talk about all the ways in which borderline personality disorder manifests and yet I find we are still hard pressed to differentiate between healthy anger and anger that is really shame in disguise. (Different topic - we need expanded emotional language!)

To my mind, coagulation is the point at which we have recognized, identified, addressed, challenged, and distilled out all the sneaky ways that SHAME shows up in our thoughts. All the ways we separate ourselves from our selves. We will never completely be rid of it. We are, after all, human, and that kind of by definition means we will experience ourselves as separate from Source. But we can minimize the deep and devastating impact of shame which frees our emotions to speak to us - not always comfortably, but always truly!

As coagulation teaches us, it is never about "mind over matter". If anything, it is the reverse. The mind exists to be in service to the heart.

Saturday Online Goddess Meditations - https://mailchi.mp/591855a48173/saturday-online-goddess-meditations Starts tomorrow! October 21, 2023

It can feel odd at times, I think, to be contemplating the developmental tasks for stages of life that one has not yet reached. And yet, in truth, I suspect, that this is exactly what the gift of wisdom teaches us. As Epicurus said "The art of living well and the art of dying well are one". It is this that brings such potency to working with the Cycles of the Seasons. Every year at this time, we have the opportunity to look at what we are carrying in our hearts with fresh eyes. Harvest offers a threefold wisdom:

1. Know what has borne fruit and gather that with gratitude
2. Know what has withered on the vine and let that go with blessings.
3. Know what seeds hold the potency for future fruits and hold those carefully in your safekeeping for the Cycles to come.

I believe we are meant to leave this Earth with the same lightness of heart - or even lghter, if that be the case - than when we came in. That requires effort and discernment on our part. And it leads to a perspective of old age that makes it less about a number and more about the ability to look with compassion and detachment on all that has been and be able to suss out what are actually the important bits. That wise Inner Elder is accessible to us always, at any age. The culmination of all the inner and outer work that has resulted in an immutable relationship with the Higher Self and the activation of the alchemical Intelligence of the Heart.

Drawing Down Divine - https://mailchi.mp/b2a557b70e6b/drawing-down-divine Your Soul Pilgrimage journey starts October 18.

Week Two of Cycle Seven brings our mind to mind. How aware are you of the energy that gives shape to your experiences? How empowered do you feel to shift the nature of that energy?

As I write in The Great Work, "You are a thought and a thought can be changed". But even more than that, perhaps, I love what Deepak Chopra presents. That you are not so much the thought itself. Who you truly are exists in the potential of the space between thoughts. Who you are lies in the energy of the choice of what the next thought will be. And that is enormously freeing.

The thought you have is the tangible expression of the energy that has landed. Paying attention to that will lead to the impetus of what lies behind that. It is by accessing the space behind the thought that the power lies. And it is there that the true deep unfolding of the axiom "Know Thyself" is possible.