My Third Week of Retirement

Another Monday morning rolls around.  It's my third Monday into retirement. Now it no longer feels like I took a a two week vacation.  Now it hits home that work is no longer a way of life...and to be honest...it feels so good.  I wondered if I would begin to feel board as I had whenever I took a few days off work, but I am far from bored.  Even when I have nothing to do, I have plenty to keep me occupied.  Love this life of ease...and choices.  I had to mention that it feels good not to be limited in my choices and not have to wake up in the morning with only two to make--call in sick or go to work.  Now, as they say, 'the world is my oyster'.

No news about my tests on Friday.  Maybe today.  I did my best to keep my mind off of it this weekend, although, try as I might, it has crept in on occasion.  On Sunday I went to Church.  I find so much peace there and no longer feel like the intruder that I did in the beginning. I had felt strange, as if I didn't belong because I wasn't a Catholic, but that's all changed now.   After the service, I spent time with the statues and said a prayer with Our Lady of Lourdes.  Friday evening there is a healing service and a vigil thereafter. I plan to be there.

I made up a recipe for some red cabbage over the weekend, and it was so good I ate half of it before it hit the plates...as you can see by the half empty bowl. Very simple ingredients--red cabbage, low sodium chicken broth. garlic powder, and white vinegar--simmered in a pot. Delicious if I do say so myself.

This weekend I purchased a book which I had placed on my 'Wish List' long ago and  anxiously awaited its debut on Kindle on the 28th....'Shaman Pathways--Elen of the Ways-- – Following the Deer Trods' by Elen Sentier. The wait was worth it. I wasn't disappointed.   My only complaint is that the book was too darn short.  89 pages.  But the message found in the book was huge.  Wake up, humanity, before it is too late. Throughout the book, the author encourages us to seek and find a connection to the land. The author, a British Shaman, was  born and raised in a small village that continued to follow the old ways.  Her grandmother was a witch, her dad a Shaman who taught her his skills.  In this book, through her own personal journeys, Elen acquaints us with the old ways,the ancient Shamanism of Britain which today has been largely forgotten.

She introduces us to the reindeer goddess of the ancient Boreal forest, which covered Northern Europe and the Americas thousand so years ago, Elen of the Ways, a goddess who, I have to admit, I knew little about. Now I am eager to learn more.  She was predominant at the time when mankind belonged to the land, rather than the land belonging to them.  Throughout the book the author describes how we, too, on a spiritual level, can find that same connection with the land through ancient Shamanic practices.  She guides us by showing us simple practices that we can easily use to re-connect. such as tracking animals and birds, learning to read the landscape, and asking permission of the food we eat...just to name a few.  The following is a copy of the book description.  For $2.99 on Kindle, you cannot go wrong.

“Elen of the Ways is about the ancient shamanism of Britain. Elen Sentier grew up in a long family lineage of following the Deer Trods; in this book she tells of the old, forgotten ways of our ancestors. Through her own experience, stories, practical exercises and journeys with the deer, Elen takes you into the realm of the Boreal Forest, of which Britain is a part, to show how the Deer Goddess is the spirit of this land. To walk the Deer Trods is to realise how close and connected you are to nature and everything in this beautiful world which we share with our non-human brethren. You learn, too, that our everyday world and otherworld are intertwined. Elen of the Ways is both here and there at the same time. You will find her everywhere.