Wild Rose Path
For the ones who can see the life they want but can't yet find the path to it. For the woman who suspects the way back to herself might be through something older and slower and closer to the earth than anything she's tried so far. Each week I write about life transitions, plant wisdom, and seasonal rhythm... real letters, not polished advice. When you join, you'll get The Stile - a short guide and audio introducing three plant allies for the crossing you're in right now.
It has a name now (sort of)
Hey Reader, I've not been able to write much on here the last couple of weeks, school holidays, and at this point of the year I'm always pretty much running on empty. Full of ideas I want to get on with, but not much time or space to myself to actually do anything about them. There've been refuelling moments though. Walked up to the summit of both Crook and Arant Haw. Got properly lost in thought down by the river at one point and just... stayed there a while. And in between all that I've...
The tunnel was shorter than I thought
Hey Reader, We went on a narrowboat holiday. The idea was to slow down. What actually happened was three kids in a very small moving space and me having never been on one before, wondering why I'd agreed to this! Home, it turns out, is the slow part of my life right now. Not a holiday to escape it. One of the days we went through the Preston Brook tunnel. Long one, about fifteen minutes end to end in the dark. I braced for it the way you do. All that not being able to see, engine noise off...
What if you’re not actually stuck?
Hey Reader, It’s the summer holidays here, and time to do ANYTHING alone is minimal. Three children with very specific needs, plus my own neurodivergent brain means that whole ‘schedule the hell outta every day’ does not fly. It is rare to get all three of them to agree to go somewhere, and quite frankly I’m not up for wasting an insane amount of money on the off-chance that we can have a ‘typical day out’. Besides, hanging out by the riverside is much better than some overcrowded Soft Play...
August Energy Forecast: Standing in Your Own Light
Hey Reader, It's already starting to feel very different to the beginning of this month here, not only with the dismantling of 'normal routines', but that shift in the air and hints of Autumn seem to come ever-sooner each year. I realise that's not the case in many other parts of the world where heatwaves are still causing chaos, but the land here really feels like the season is shifting. Which is exactly what I've been sitting with in this month's energy forecast. In this week's video I'm...
Lost in the bracken
Hey Reader, I've walked the path along the front of Crook quite a few times now - but since the last time, the bracken has grown. And not many people go that way. I started out in the right place...but after a while I realised I was getting quite high up and the fell wall was getting further away. Then the path got worse, until it wasn't really a path anymore. I couldn't see where I was standing because of the bracken, and everytime I put my right foot down the ground underneath sort of slid...
The unglamorous bit nobody sells
Hey Reader, This week's letter is a little late, due to painting and decorating! And no, I've not finished yet... If you've ever decorated then you may know not only the amount of time it takes up, but also the fact you have all. that. time. to. think. It's a practise in presence alright, because otherwise your brain ends up down some extremely deep rabbithole... And I was thinking (yep, using it as meditation practise didn't work), there are parallels between painting & decorating and life &...
The shower count is rising
Hey Reader, Ok, it's getting hot. No fell walks today, I did manage down by the river after dropping the kids at school...but that's resulted in me having to have a shower by 10am. Now I'm having a coffee despite knowing full well it heats me up like an oven... so it probably won't be long until shower #2. Hope you're keeping cool where you are. We are in full Wild Rose season right now, so a lot of this week's content on YouTube/Substack is about the medicine this plant can bring. I've also...
Everyone looks the same now
Hey Reader, You've probably noticed the slew of AI-generated images, AI-written captions, all starting to look and sound the same, especially on Facebook! And before I start, I'm not knocking it - I use AI myself and it deffo has its uses in helping sharpen and refine ideas. But something's happening where everyone's putting in all this effort to stand out, and it's somehow making us all look identical. Which means there's less and less to actually differentiate one person from another (this...
I don't need to be needed
Hey Reader, When life gets heavy, I give myself some 'zoning out' time on the YouTube. Sometimes this looks like listening to plants... literally - I've just got into Bio Music Vibrations and go find the Wild Rose one, it's amazing. But I always end up watching Joe Hudson videos because the man speaks a lot of sense, and my brain needs sense in amongst trying to work out/observe/detach from whatever comes up from the heart space...! Last night it was a money one. He spoke about letting go of...
Spirals within spirals
Hey Reader, It's no secret that I'm a bit of an astrology nerd - and so the next couple of months are looking pretty interesting from that point of view. Some things are already starting to 'play out'... identities shifting and signs of this appearing in physical reality, relationship contracts up for renewal or cancellation... It makes me think about spirals within spirals. For example, we can be moving through the transition of our own becoming, moving towards Sovereignty... and that may...
For the ones who can see the life they want but can't yet find the path to it. For the woman who suspects the way back to herself might be through something older and slower and closer to the earth than anything she's tried so far. Each week I write about life transitions, plant wisdom, and seasonal rhythm... real letters, not polished advice. When you join, you'll get The Stile - a short guide and audio introducing three plant allies for the crossing you're in right now.