Hi friends - for those of you new here you’re so welcome! I’m Layla – I’m an Irish writer & tender to many things living at the foothills of the Wicklow mountains in south eastern Ireland. I’m interested in exploring, as a mid-40’s woman, how it feels to write, hold and (m)other on this beautiful, tattered planet right now.
I think of the beauty & bone community as a small yet mighty gathering of like-minded souls, determinedly fumbling towards a brighter future.
To learn more about the beauty & bone community, head to this wee post I made:
OK, let’s dive in to the second spiral of the Element Sessions, which is exploring
M E T A L
(to learn more about the Element Sessions, head here)
The Metal Element is connected to the season of Autumn, to a shedding, releasing, letting go. It is a deeply powerful time of the year. It was said in ancient China that the emperor would wait until Metal season to decide on which prisoners were to be release and which executed, because there was the greatest access to discernment and truth at this time. It is a a time of release, of return, of respect.
Next week I will share more on this beautiful element and how it shows up in our lives, but I wanted to begin this spiral by sharing a deep and wonderful conversation I had just yesterday with my dear friend and wisdom weaver Mari Kennedy. Mari is an Irish Celtic cyclical guide, a map maker and a global gatherer of women. Her passion is evolution, in particular of ‘women and our relationship to power and wisdom at this wild messy bewildering edge of evolution’.
Mari grew up in the ‘70s and ‘80s in the West of Ireland at a time when most of us didn't question anything. She was the archetypal "high achieving good girl." In her late 30s, the Cailleach, the great Dark Feminine force in the Celtic tradition, upended her life. As Mari writes:
‘the Cailleach dragged me kicking and screaming onto the Path of Sovereignty,
where she showed me that...
I wasn’t in my body
I didn’t have myself
I wasn't using my gifts
I was disconnected from nature
I was playing small to stay secure...’
𓇸 We talk in this conversation about how Mari climbed back into her body and started to weave a new way of life.
𓇸 We talk about our avoidance and fear of the darkness, and of how we can with tenderness begin to move towards it more.
𓇸 We talk about our relationship to failure and vulnerability, about how uncomfortable with not knowing, with messiness and disruption.
𓇸 We talk about the collective Samhain and death our planet is going through at the moment and how the Celtic Wheel can help us navigate these times.
It was such a powerful, truthful and moving conversation with a dear friend and a woman who I know will open your heart to a radically new way of being.
You can find Mari on Instagram @marikennedywisdom or at www.marikennedy.com.
This is the first part of the METAL spiral. Here’s what’s coming up for the remainder of the spiral :
M E T A L Element Sessions
𖥸 Friday 1 November : Podcast will land in your inboxes with wisdom weaver Mari Kennedy (free for all subscribers)
𖥸 Friday 8 November : Deep Dive written post into the M E T A L Element will land in your inboxes (free preview, then access to paid subscribers)
𖥸 Thursday 14 November : 10:30-11:30am GMT: M E T A L live call (Paid subscribers). You’ll receive a link to the Zoom the day before, recording available).
Energetically connected, I’m also offering this series of four gatherings towards the end of the year.
Chatting to some of you on the last Element Sessions call, I was struck by the value of simply committing to sit for an hour together and write, pause, think, create. I extend an invitation to you all to sit with me for 4 early mornings towards the end of the year and do just that. I’m picturing a womb-space, a dark, warm holding space for us all.
Details are
𖥸 6-7am GMT
𖥸 Friday 29 Nov, 6 Dec, 13 Dec, 20 Dec
𖥸 On Zoom, I’ll send the link the day before. Will not be recorded.
𖥸 Free to all paid subscribers
Layla xx
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