The Essence Of Who I Am

My Medicine Shield

Back in August 2018 I came to the end of my Three Year Shamanic Training, the culmination of which saw me produce this Medicine Shield, designed to truly depict who I am, even though at the time I didn't wholly realise what this meant. However there were enough clues in the imagery and my final Vision Quest to suggest what it could be hinting at. As I have journeyed in the weeks and months since, the shield has given me much greater clarity, proving to be a great teacher in its own right. 

Whereas in the past I have run companies in graphic design, branding and personal development and always chosen logos that in some way shape or form related to nature, there was always something missing, most likely because I wasn't really sure of my own unique identity behind the brand, my own true self.

However, this shield truly represents me and my recent journey, it holds all of my medicine power. I know it and love it deeply because it has come from a truly intimate place within my soul, each element being spelt out to me within nature as an essential part of who I am. I shall now carry this image with me, quite literally, for the rest of my life.

This I believe is the strength of shamanic training and working with spirit in this way. It gives you this essence of who you are, this understanding, this knowledge, by giving you riddles along the way for you to solve in divine right timing.  

I had been drawn to include flowers in the motif, for what reason I did not really know but they had been very much a part of every ceremony I had done in nature. I knew this was seemingly a very feminine thing that I had to depict within any would be warrior shield but I just knew they had to be in there somewhere, intuitively, instinctively, they wished to have their presence known. 

There were the foxgloves that had stood as guardians in the darkness of a Devon forest, protecting me on one scary, lone vigil night, as I was being introduced to my first power animal, the black panther, representative of all my feminine qualities that had dominated my life to that point. Then again that same flower had stood tall in the full glare of sunlight in a Druid Welsh valley where I received a dream as vivid as you could imagine of my second power animal, the red stag, who started to bring forth my masculine side, so sadly missing from my previous existence. The two animals together would give me the balance that I so desperately needed.

Here in the shield too was the thistle whose seeds had blown continuously through the 'Shedding Of The Skin' ceremony that I had completed within the first 12 months of my training where I left my past behind me to witness my full power blowing on the wind spreading its potency as far as the eye could see.

Then there was the rose itself, which I was still yet to discover its true meaning until only this past week. 

For this summer solstice I was guided to create my latest flower essence, the wild rose. One of the things that I had been given from my last deep immersion in nature in the final days of my training was the fact that I could in time start to work with flowers and flower essences in particular, little realising then how much I was going to love this voyage of discovery once dipping my toe in the water.

Signing up to the Chalice Well Flower Essence Practitioner Course back in March is seemingly the best thing that I have ever done. I believe the flowers have heightened my connection to nature and spirit, they have been continually calling me to make essences from them, to understand spirit better through them, so as to frame all of my other work and build a brand to help my fellow 'Allies Of Nature'.

Creating my own essences of blackthorn, bluebell, red campion, foxglove and now wild rose a story has begun to be told of how they all link together and the beauty held within each one of them in their individual qualities. The rose speaking most highly of a return to source, as with the original wild rose where all roses have arguably come from, getting back to the real essence of what it is to be who you truly are. Then to live from that place, with a strong heart, seizing the moment, seizing the day, carpé diem, in how you live your life for the rest of your existence.

This is what the shield most represents to me I feel that solstice moment of the full sun in the background, being at its height, its zenith, with the masculine stag in the middle ground with all its power and might, and the flowers in the foreground representing the warrior, guardian, protector, with the strong heart. From here comes the pure joy of the swallow, dancing in the sky, and ultimately the swallowtail butterfly itself behind it all, unseen, who helps form the brand of 'Allies Of Nature'.

So there we are, that is me, in all my glory. As this shield becomes more ingrained within my psyche and I devote more of my time to be able to work in my element, sure of who I am now. I hope this will begin to reap rewards not only for myself, but for all the people that I am lucky enough to come into contact with to assist in their own personal development and for the rest of the planet also.

If you care to comment on this blog with regards to any issues or feelings it brings up for you please feel free to do so below.

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