Introduction and Celebrating 16 Years in Business
Welcome to this week’s episode of the Thirsty Soul. I mentioned in my newsletter and on Instagram that I was 16 years in business as of June, and I invited people to send in their questions for someone with this level of experience who has navigated many cycles in life and business. I received some brilliant questions, and I am going to go through them in chronological order. I will not get through them all today, so I plan to cover a couple of episodes on them.
Before we go into the episode, I want to share a few things happening here at the Thirsty Soul.
On the 11th of August in Foxrock County, Dublin, there is a shamanic ceremony celebrating Lunasa called “Gifts Within Your Harvest.” This is an opportunity to gather together and celebrate all that you have created, survived, and grown through so you can recognize all that you have become.
Then, on the 31st of August, there is a day retreat at my home where you can work on the land and learn from it through certain earth practices. It is called “Celebrating the Flowering of Your Soul” and is an opportunity to nurture your soul’s growth and embrace the richness of life that surrounds you.
There are also a couple of upcoming Reiki events. I have Shinpiden Reiki 3 Master Level at the end of September (details coming soon on the website) and you can join the waitlist for first notification.
Then, starting on the 5th of September, there is Inner Alignment with Reiki, which is online. More sessions will be available online gradually. It is a six-week journey tailored to the people who join; a questionnaire is sent out beforehand so that the meditations and practices can be customized to what you are experiencing at that moment. As the group comes together, a collective energy is created—if you are yearning for a place where you feel nourished, nurtured, and can attend to the parts of yourself seeking reconnection with your soul essence and life, this is the place to be.
All details are on the website thethirstysoul.com or on Instagram at thethirstysoul.com.
The Celtic Wheel through a shamanic lens
My lens is always through the shamanic, animistic, ancestral, initiatory path—the natural rhythms, the cycles, the ritualistic—because that is my background and those are the areas I love.
For me, the Celtic Wheel: we can know it on an intellectual level, we can understand it as theory or knowledge—as in, “Oh yeah, I know, I understand”—but for me, the biggest part is, “How is it a lived experience? How is it an embodied experience?” That’s what makes the biggest difference in understanding it and walking it. It’s about how we embody these different phases within our lives, and how we’re meeting them.
To me, it’s like we are an apprentice to the Wheel. I’ve been walking the Wheel for about 11 years, and no two Samhain are the same, no two Imbolc are the same, and no two Spring Equinoxes are the same. That’s because I am different, nature is different—even though we might think it goes through the same cycles, there are always the smallest little changes that we do not see, and do not notice unless we are watching for them. So, if I am different and nature is different every time we meet, there’s an opportunity to learn more about how I engage with this turning point in the Wheel.
For me, the Wheel is alive, living, and breathing. It’s not that, “Oh well, I studied eight turning points, therefore I know them.” Knowing is great, but I still don’t know them fully, because I have to live them, and I have to meet them.
If you think of them as archetypes, we’re meeting those energies, and each time we meet them, we get to meet them on another level. I get to be in a deeper relationship to the part of me that resists change, or the part of me that is resisting my creativity, or the part of me that wants to come out and share myself with the world in a certain way.
When I say, “share myself with the world,” that’s not about business or your career; that’s about parts of you that maybe want to be expressed in the world. The turning points are never the same, and that’s the most important thing: to begin to engage with these turning points as living, breathing and alive.
Finding Your Place in the Wheel
If we don’t know where we stand in the Wheel, we don’t know where we stand in life. The Wheel is like a map—not to be used in a very linear way, because it is like a spiral map—but it’s a map that gives me an idea of, “Oh, this is how cycles move, this is how rhythms move, these are the parts of myself I can meet, this is the light in each part, this is the shadow in each part, this is the creative cycle, this is the growth cycle, this is a soul’s evolution cycle.” There are layers and layers to it.
When we’re standing on any point, first of all, I like to think that we place ourselves in the centre of the Wheel, so we know that we are an active participant in our life. It’s not something happening out there that I’m not a part of—it’s not happening “to” me; I’m in the Wheel. When I stand in the centre of the Wheel, I can become aware of what energies are speaking to me at this moment in my life.
We can break it down into my life as a whole: What are the core energies speaking to me? What season or turning point is making itself known? We can also break it down into our relationships, finances, work, business, health, creativity—even individually, what cycles are they in?
The way I like to look at it there is a predominant turning point that I’m experiencing in my life that may or may not match what is happening in nature. I’m not trying to align myself to nature. If I am in a death phase of life—things are shifting, I’m letting go, I’m ending things in my relationships, in my finances, in my business, in myself. Then, if I’m meeting Imbolc outside of me, I’m not going to force myself to be in Imbolc energy. But I can turn to the energy of Imbolc in nature and let it nourish me, feed me, and guide me as I navigate my winter. Obviously, I can use what I know and what I have embodied from navigating winters in the past to help me, but I can also turn to what’s happening outside.
We’re not trying to make ourselves fit into something. We are using the whole Wheel at any point in life to help me navigate where I am in this moment. If I don’t know where I am in the Wheel, there’s a good chance I’m fumbling around in life, walking around without a map, in the dark, trying to find the light switch, trying to find the eject button— “Get me out of here! I don’t want to be here. I don’t want to be in this place. I want to be in the summer energy. I want to be growing all day long, every day.”
What happen when we don't know where we are on the Wheel
If we don’t know where we stand in the Wheel, we can end up feeling stuck because we don’t know what to do next, we don’t know what is next, or we might end up with that sense of hopelessness or despair, especially if we’re in the winter-ish—the darker phases of life, the darker seasons. We might think, “My god, there’s just no hope, the light is never going to return.” But we know that it will, and we know everything is impermanent. However, knowing, experiencing, trusting and allowing it to unfold are completely different parts of life.
We can end up pushing against the natural flow of life. For example, if I could be in the gathering phase—sort of the spring phase—where ideas are coming to me, we’re often taught, “Just run with it, go with it, grab the ball and run up the field, launch it, produce it, bring it to life.” But that gathering phase is as important as the bringing-it-out-into-the-world part. You could be in a gathering part, but if you don’t allow yourself to be there, you can miss a lot of the magic and the medicine, or if you’re building something, a lot of the foundation.
Then, when you bring it to life, it might not have the stability it needs to do a full cycle, to come to fruition. Or you might find that because it doesn’t have its foundations, when you come to certain parts of the Wheel—where maybe it’s growing, evolving, changing—you have to go back to the foundations because, “Oh, I skipped all those parts. I was in such a rush to produce this, I skipped them.”
The Celtic Wheel is teaching us to be mindful of our natural flow and to trust it. We move very fast in general—I speak fast, I act fast, I move fast; that’s just naturally me. But I have to be mindful that when I get an idea, I don’t just throw it out into the world. I’ve learned to let them digest—some ideas have sat for four or five years before I bring them out. Even thinking of the Celtic Wheel 2.0, as I’ll call it, it’s been four or five years. I could have run that every year, but I put it back into incubation— “There’s more to this”—and then I let it reveal itself.
If we’re not aware of where we’re at in the Wheel, we can end up—maybe not stuck, but hanging around in one part a lot. “I just want to stay in the growth phase, I don’t want to let go,” or “I love beginnings, I love starting things, but my god, I can’t complete anything, I can’t go deep into anything.” We learn, when we’re walking the Wheel, how we’re meeting each part.
We can also learn that if we don’t know where we’re at, we ignore our body’s cues. For instance, coming into this time, we’re in Imbolc—spring—and I go, “Oh, it’s March 21st.” To me, it feels like a lifetime away. My whole system was going, “Oh my god, I have almost forgotten what the sun feels like!” I spent all of the winter, and even all of the summer, in Ireland. As much as I love Ireland, I miss the heat.
I was looking at photographs last week on my phone, and I thought, “God, were they taken in Ireland?” They’re all of plants, but they’re in the summer. The sun is in the background, the blue sky, and it feels like a lifetime away. So, my body is not looking for rest—it’s craving heat, aliveness. It’s craving not momentum as a fast momentum, but that “Ah!”—the life force rising again, that real spark beginning to grow and ignite within me. But if we don’t know where we’re at, we might not know what’s needed in that minute.
So, I know that I do not need to move fast ahead, but I know my body is craving heat in different ways, so I can give it to myself in different ways. I also know that I’m not craving rest, I’m not craving going back to my cave or into the winter phase. I can be here with that tension of the part that’s like, “Yeah, I’m rested, I’ve loved my winter—oh, sweet god, please let there be more outer life!”
For other people, it could be when we get to autumn and winter, there’s a part that’s going, “Oh, I’m going to plan it so that I go into winter differently this year, I’m going to rest, I’m going to have space on my calendar, I’m just going to receive life.” I swear to God, life would take off like 100 miles an hour, and I’d be like, “Why? Why is that happening?” That wasn’t really the most appropriate question; it’s more like, “How am I engaging with that?” I let it take off, and I took off with it. By January, I used to be like, “Sweet divine, I’ve lost my rest—I didn’t even get to rest!”
Sometimes we ignore those cues of the body, and it might not even be resting your body is looking for in winter—it could be just space to dream, little moments of pause in my day. We sometimes think rest has to be, “Oh, my whole calendar is clear.”
If we don’t know where we’re at in the Wheel, we’re missing those cues, those ways that teach us how to live life, how to be in life, with where we’re at on the Wheel.
Then we can also force, push, be in frustration, impatience or misaligned timing, because maybe we’re forcing things when we’re in the creative or gathering mode. So, we’re missing the train, in essence.
We often talk about presence—being present to what is. For me, the biggest teaching of the Wheel is: how can I be here, where I am in this moment, and acknowledge the part of me that’s maybe going, “Oh god, I want to get moving, I want to start growing something,” or the part of me that’s going, “Oh my god, I just want to rest,” the parts that are pulling in different directions. How can I be with these parts, how can I be here?
If I am in a creative phase, can I let myself be here, even if it’s not producing something yet? If I am in a clearing-out phase, can I let myself be here, even though a part of me might say, “Forget about the clearing, just start something new”? If I’m in a death phase, can I really let myself be here to receive the medicine in it, so I can truly plant or become aware of the seeds that need tending as I come out of that phase? If I am in my growth phase, my visibility phase of summer, can I let myself be there without burning out or without hiding?
Maybe it highlights the patterns of self-sabotage or the limiting beliefs that keep me from letting myself be seen.
When I talk about sharing myself with the world, that’s about parts of you that want to be expressed in the world.
The Celtic Wheel as a map for our lives
When we know where we stand on the Celtic Wheel, it means we have a map that we can follow. As I said, it’s not linear, because we’re in different parts at different times—we can be in different parts throughout the day, even, because the energy is always fluctuating. The key is never to make it rigid let it be alive; let it teach you. Don’t try and impose your knowledge of it on the Wheel; let the Wheel teach you.
We can end up missing our own initiations if we’re trying to navigate it in a way that’s meant to be a spiral, but we try to make it a straight line. Like, “Oh well, sure, if I’ve cleaned out and let go of things, therefore I know I should be receiving something. I’ve been the good girl, I’ve cleaned out; give me my little prize.” Sometimes it works that way, sometimes it doesn’t.
It might be, “Yeah, you’ve cleaned out, but now we’ve got to go back and look at what’s preventing you from beginning something, moving into something that really is your life, yourself,” which is often what most of the healing work is about—becoming ourselves beneath everything else.
We can end up clinging to old identities when we’re in a phase that’s naturally ending. We can end up feeling adrift. We can end up waiting for clarity— “I’m not going to do anything until I’m really, really 100% sure.” We can end up not recognizing that we’re in the void, and that part is necessary for the rebirth. We can end up resisting the ebb and flow of our own spiritual and emotional seasons because we expect that we should feel the same all year round—it depends on how we’ve been taught to feel our emotions or how we’ve been taught to experience different parts of life by our family, by society, by our cultures.
It’s so deeply layered and intertwined, and it’s like—we’re not taught how to meet endings, we’re not taught how to meet beginnings, we’re not taught how to navigate the space in between, we’re not taught how to rebirth ourselves or rebirth parts of our life. We often think rebirth means the most pain.
As I mentioned earlier, I remember somebody asking me at a Celtic Wheel gathering, and the pure terror when I said, “Everything will end at some stage, everything will die at some stage.” They had pure terror of having to let go of something. I said, “Not always, because in every death there is a beginning, but it doesn’t mean it’s a brand-new beginning. It can be what I like to call the revival, the regeneration.”
If you’re with somebody long-term in your work or even in a partnership or relationship, that relationship hopefully will go through the full cycle many times, because otherwise it’s stale. It has to change if you’ve evolving – if you’ve left your job and your partner is now the main earner, there have to be conversations around, “Okay, this has changed, I need to rely on you more,” or “I’m not comfortable with that,” or “We’re going to evolve in our relationship with each other.”
So, there’s always this evolving, but sometimes we get trapped in the period from Autumn Equinox up to Winter Solstice, where we think it’s a full stop, and it’s not—it’s the spiral. I go deeper and deeper and deeper into myself, into my life, into all parts of life.
The Wheel and our natural rhythms
So why do we walk the Wheel? Why bother? For me, as I said, I look at it through this lens of animistic and shamanic rites of passage. It’s to remember, for me, that it’s always going to be engaged with the natural world—it’s to remember that we are nature.
When we say that, people often come for shamanic healings, and I’ve yet to hear a person say that when they go for a walk and come back, they feel worse. But I also notice there’s a disconnect: nature is still something we visit, something we “get” something from, whereas from an animistic/shamanic perspective—nature (I’m looking out my windows as I chat here)—nature is alive; we are in a relationship with it, we are nature.
The Wheel helps us connect to that. Just as nature has its natural rhythms, so do we. Most of us have adjusted to everybody else’s rhythms, but what is your natural rhythm? It will change and grow and evolve. My natural rhythm now is very different from what it was five years ago; I didn’t have an off switch; I didn’t have a pause switch. I did, but they weren’t very long. The way I move through my day now is very different as well.
Even just considering for yourself, or tracking, “What is my perceived natural rhythm?” and getting to know, “Is that my true natural rhythm?” By walking the Wheel, we build a relationship to the land around us, hopefully. That can be even if I live in a city centre in a skyscraper 600 feet in the air—it is still built on land. Everything around me is still full of spirit, full of life.
We learn to listen to the world, to how it speaks to me when I’m out and about in nature or in life, city, wherever. When I’m out in my day, how is nature speaking to me? What am I noticing? If my head is always glued to my phone, I’m not going to hear much, but there’s so much beauty to be found in all the cycles as there is in nature’s cycles.
Listening to Your Natural Rhythms
As we become more attuned to knowing what cycle we’re in in the Wheel, we become more attuned to no longer fighting against our rhythm but flowing with it. For me at the moment, my life force is just more alive in the morning—which you might say is common sense, but I do most of my work in the morning. By 11 o’clock, I’m beginning to do my exercise, because that’s where my energy is best for that during this cycle of spring/winter.
During the summer last year, I was doing exercise at about 5 o’clock in the evening. I couldn’t imagine doing exercise at 5 or 6 o’clock in the evening in winter or spring—I have nothing left in me at that stage for that kind of push. Then in the evening, it’ll be walking, potentially some work depending on what class I recorded first thing in the morning (you don’t want to hear me talking in the evening!). After making my dinner, I start to wind down, teaching my body it’s okay wind down, relax, chill. Then it’s off to dream time, off to bedtime. I have little rituals I do to let go of the day and to enter that space differently.
But what is your rhythm? What does that look like, what does it feel like?
We walk the Wheel because we learn that there’s medicine in all parts of it. I have yet to meet anybody who is deeply comfortable with all of the phases. We may know them—I know the phases; I’ve lived through them consciously many times. I can say I love them, but it doesn’t mean I always love being in them when I’m in them. I know I need to be in them at certain times, and sometimes they’re short periods, sometimes they’re longer.
We need to know that there’s medicine in all parts rather than judging ourselves for not being where we think we should be—maybe looking at our friends doing X, Y, Z and feeling like we’re behind because we don’t have that yet. We think we should be somewhere else, and we’re not.
The whole point of walking the Wheel is: I am where I am now.
I can get stuck there, so we have to look at nuances. We have to know ourselves. By knowing ourselves, we know, “Have I gotten stuck at the beginning and I can’t even get it going? Is part of me afraid of bringing this to life, afraid of starting a new job, starting a new relationship, starting to look after my health because it means I have to take responsibility for other parts of my life? Have I gotten too comfortable in the darkness?” You might think, “How could you get comfortable in the darkness?” But you can, because you get used to it. You get used to that pain, that suffering, maybe being in victim mode.
We need to ask ourselves, “Am I lingering too long in one phase or rushing through it like collecting $200 in Monopoly?” There’s an intelligence to walking it, to knowing how I’m meeting it, knowing myself well enough to catch myself or to allow somebody else to reflect back to me, “Have you stayed too long here? Are you not receiving the message in this place? You’re not seeing it, or you see it but you’re not then taking action with it.”
How long do we stay in things before we let them go? “If I could just change this, then I’ll be okay… Actually, no, I’ll just ignore it, it’ll be fine.” It takes honesty and courage to walk all parts of the Wheel, to show up to life, to ourselves, to our hearts, and our souls. It takes deep honesty and courage. We might say, “Yeah, this business isn’t working for me, I need to change it in some way.” It doesn’t mean I have to burn it to the ground—I just need to change it in some way. Or “This way of working isn’t for me. This way of healing my burnout isn’t working for me.” Then we can begin to explore, “What is it inviting from me, what is it asking of me, what does it need in this moment?”
When we walk the Wheel, we learn how to engage with the difficult parts of life. We learn to bring them out of the shadow, out of the taboo, and talk about them. Even just talking about something can bring deep healing to it.
We learn that we don’t need to move so fast; it’s okay to pause and take a breath. It’s okay to be silent, it’s okay not to be seen all the time. Hopefully we’ll learn to listen to our bodies, to our souls, to our growth cycles—and not just growth for growth’s sake.
We could look at the Wheel and say, “Just keep planting everything, keep it growing!” But the most important parts are, for me, noticing what needs to be planted. Is that really meant to be planted, or is it somebody else’s expectation? What needs to be removed to allow growth to happen? What needs to be added to allow growth to happen?
If you think of soil, if everything’s released from it, it loses all its nutrients, so things have to be added to it. It’s the same with us. Sometimes we can get obsessed with releasing things and forget, “What do I need? What can I add instead of just subtracting?” That’s like shamanic healing: there’s extraction, releasing energies that are not conducive, but then there is soul retrieval, bringing back energy that is mine and is needed for this moment in my growth.
Imagine if walking the Wheel, in and of itself, could help you navigate life changes with clarity, trust, and a deep sense of support, instead of resisting change or feeling stuck. Imagine it teaches us to trust the cycles, to trust where I am. Can I be here, can I receive from this place—what is this place trying to inform me of?
Initiations and reclaiming ourselves through the Celtic Wheel
We will go through the cycles if you think—like, in simplified ways of looking at it, we navigate certain life transitions. The one that’s often put on is “maiden, mother, maga, crone.” It teaches us how to move through them, what’s being initiated in that moment.
Even midlife can be a full spiral. It’s like, “What is being invited in that space?” Because midlife is going to say, “Whoa, whoa, whoa, I love what you’ve done to date, but that actually isn’t you,” or “We’ve noticed you’re still being the saviour, you’re still being the little people pleaser, we’re going to have to adjust those.” There is a death, the ego initiations we go through, the soul initiations we go through.
We have lost a lot of the initiation culture. It’s not there for us to be witnessed and honoured in a way that we can receive deeply from it. If you even think of the maiden transition—now it’s become a lot more popular, but it used to be, “Oh god, what’s going on with my body? Oh my god, my first bleed, hide everything, let’s not talk about this, let’s pretend it doesn’t happen.” It’s meant to be a celebration of stepping into another phase. Yes, the innocence has changed, but it can be brought forward in a different way. It teaches us how to get to know our bodies in a completely different way, to really be able to listen to it. It teaches us, if you think of the creative cycle, about bringing things to life.
We’ve lost that initiation culture, so going into midlife, for example, we will still be initiated, but we’ll be like, “What the bloody hell is going on here? Why is this happening to me? Why do I feel like the stereotype (which doesn’t happen as much now) where I need to pack my bags and run off to a hill; somewhere, run off to a little cottage, hide from the world? Why do I feel like I need to burn it all to the ground?” We’re learning where we’re at in those phases and how to work with it.
We’re also, in each of those, learning to reclaim parts of self in each turning point that we’ve been taught to suppress—those that feel like too much. There’s something to be reclaimed in each turning point. If you wanted to apply the eight points of the Wheel to life in that aspect of initiation, it’s like we have early childhood, late childhood, early adolescence, late adolescence, early adulthood, late adulthood, early elderhood and late elderhood —actually, that’s a mouthful! But just because I go through them in my life does not mean I’ve been initiated into them. It does not mean I’m actually maturing or growing in wisdom or evolving.
As Stephen Jenkinson, I think, says: not all older people are elders. Elders are usually people who’ve been initiated by life and by culture or whatever it might be. So we can find on the Wheel that even though I may be in—I’m going to use the word “motherhood,” but it’s basically adulthood—I might have a lot of my early childhood or early adolescence playing out in chaotic ways because they haven’t been initiated. It’s beautiful to look at it that way, because we learn there are parts that need healing, but there are also parts that need reclaiming.
What’s the benefits of walking the wheel
We walk the Wheel to remind ourselves that not everything is permanent, that everything will die and be reborn in some way. But, as I said already, not all rebirth and death have to be woe, suffering, or pain. We walk it so that we can shift our mindset from linear to spiral, which I think is a beautiful way of experiencing life.
It’s not about, “Well, if I do A and B, I get C—pat on the back, good girl, me.” We’re learning about the pauses, the rebirths, the endings, the letting go, the surrender, the trust, the patience. They’re all a natural part of life, so can I make peace with all of those parts? Can I surrender to all those different phases?
The Wheel helps us move out of, “By the age of 30, I should have X, Y, Z; by the age of 40, I should be X, Y, Z,” or whatever stories have been passed down our lineage or through society. We can say, “Says who? This is my path; this is my way. I will go down—I like to think about it—sort of up, but I will also go down deep. I will meet parts of myself over and over and over again, but they are not the same parts as the last time; it’s a deeper layer of growth, evolving, reclamation.”
We walk the Wheel so we can tap into our ancestral wisdom, so we can remember who we come from. We walk it to remind ourselves of our ancestral ways. We don’t want to go back to those ways; we want to bring them into our life as it is, so we can repair and reclaim our ancestry. We can learn about our myths or the archetypes and learn about how they were in relationship with the land.
Some of the most beautiful parts are that the land was alive. When you read the mythology of Ireland and the different archetypes associated with it, it gives depth and meaning to ourselves—who you are, where you’re from, and also where you’re going. You feel connected to the greater web of life—there is a belonging.
We walk the Wheel so we can, as I’ve mentioned, understand our own rhythms, notice where we naturally thrive in certain cycles, and notice where we tend to resist other parts. Knowing that walking the Wheel can support us to move forward with confidence instead of fear—knowing I can meet all parts in the Wheel. I might get stuck on them, I might not navigate them in the most beautiful way, but I’ll learn each time, and that’s the most important thing. It’s a way of exploring our inner world, so I can explore the outer and the inner, and the outer reflects my inner as well.
It’s not just about spirituality; the Wheel can be applied to your business, creativity, relationships, decision-making—to anything at all.
How to bring it into daily life
How to bring it into your day-to-day life? How to work with it on a basis where you can weave things in? Someone asked how to step over the threshold of each in a sacred way to honour it and weave its energy into daily life.
You could grab a piece of paper or just type it into your phone:
What phase do you feel you’re in?
- Are you in the purification, the creating space, the clearing, the beginnings, the gathering of Imbolc?
- Are you in the emergence, the gentle bringing forth of Spring Equinox?
- Are you in the beginning to bloom—the creativity, the wildness, the life force truly rising, the celebration of Beltane?
- Are you in the fullness of summer, shining bright, life full and expansive, growth just happening?
- Are you in Lughnasa, the gathering, the reaping of your harvest, the receiving from everything you’ve been doing—like even in therapy: “My god, I’ve been doing my therapy, and now I’m actually seeing changes in my life, it feels so good, I’m reaping the rewards.” It can be tangible things, like, “Oh, I’ve created this business, I’ve written my thesis, and now here it is in my hands—oh my god—and now I get to go into the next part of it.”
- Are you in Autumn Equinox, where it’s now time to begin to look at life and see that things are changing—“Oh, I can hear the breeze of change coming, and it’s inviting me to let go, to lay things down on the earth, it’s asking me to surrender. Oh god, do I have to? Can we not just begin again?”
- Are you in Samhain, where it’s the call to end things, complete things—well, that’s Autumn Equinox, the completions as well—but Samhain is about the death, aligning more to your lineage, your ancestral ways. Is the Cailleach whispering in your ear, “This must end. It’s time to come full cycle”? Because often Samhain is seen as the new beginning, the Celtic New Year.
- Or is it the Winter Solstice, where it’s dreaming—you’re envisioning, you’re pondering, you’re wondering, you might be wandering, you’re resting, a space of receiving. So, are things ending, are they beginning, are they gathering momentum—where do you feel you are?
To take it another layer deeper, in each part of your life, where are you?
How to bring it into your day-to-day life? How to work with it on a basis where you can weave things in? Someone asked how to step over the threshold of each in a sacred way to honour it and weave its energy into daily life.
You could grab a piece of paper or just type it into your phone:
What phase do you feel you’re in?
- Are you in the purification, the creating space, the clearing, the beginnings, the gathering of Imbolc?
- Are you in the emergence, the gentle bringing forth of Spring Equinox?
- Are you in the beginning to bloom—the creativity, the wildness, the life force truly rising, the celebration of Beltane?
- Are you in the fullness of summer, shining bright, life full and expansive, growth just happening?
- Are you in Lughnasa, the gathering, the reaping of your harvest, the receiving from everything you’ve been doing—like even in therapy: “My god, I’ve been doing my therapy, and now I’m actually seeing changes in my life, it feels so good, I’m reaping the rewards.” It can be tangible things, like, “Oh, I’ve created this business, I’ve written my thesis, and now here it is in my hands—oh my god—and now I get to go into the next part of it.”
- Are you in Autumn Equinox, where it’s now time to begin to look at life and see that things are changing—“Oh, I can hear the breeze of change coming, and it’s inviting me to let go, to lay things down on the earth, it’s asking me to surrender. Oh god, do I have to? Can we not just begin again?”
- Are you in Samhain, where it’s the call to end things, complete things—well, that’s Autumn Equinox, the completions as well—but Samhain is about the death, aligning more to your lineage, your ancestral ways. Is the Cailleach whispering in your ear, “This must end. It’s time to come full cycle”? Because often Samhain is seen as the new beginning, the Celtic New Year.
- Or is it the Winter Solstice, where it’s dreaming—you’re envisioning, you’re pondering, you’re wondering, you might be wandering, you’re resting, a space of receiving. So, are things ending, are they beginning, are they gathering momentum—where do you feel you are?
Engaging with the turning points in nature
You could also look at the easiest way, I find, especially around the turning points, but every day—just step outside. Keep it simple: step outside and notice,
“How is nature speaking to me today?”
This morning, I got up and was standing at the threshold—at our patio door, whatever you might call it—standing on that threshold point from my house to our garden, literally standing on a threshold, and just looking and noticing, “Oh, the light is different today.” There was a brightness to it. On the side of the house where I’m recording this, there’s a greyness, but this morning, there was a brightness. That spoke to me. Within me, I could feel it—I was like, “Oh, wow, that’s beautiful.” I could feel myself drink it in. It can be as simple as that.
When I go out for my walks and runs, I tend to do the same path, so there are certain places I know, certain trees I know, certain plants I know that show up at different stages, certain places where little mushrooms will pop up at times.
I keep an eye out—without looking but just noticing what’s there. In the last couple of weeks, I’ve noticed there’s a place that’s usually full of snowdrops, and they’ve only come up this week. Last year, they were there at the end of January. I’ve noticed certain birds at our bird feeder; I’ve been watching them, watching a little blackbird take a bath in the puddles.
You may have seen, if you follow me on Instagram or read my newsletter, that at each turning point, I take a photograph of a circle of trees in our garden. I track that, not just through the photos, but I track it every day. I watch them and notice how they’re different each time at the same point in the season. I notice, “Oh, they’re not doing what they were doing last year necessarily,” or “They’re later this time.” That is a simple way of engaging with it, and you’re letting yourself receive from that.
You do not need to read into it or psychoanalyze it; you’re just noticing, “How am I meeting that, how does it make me feel?” Is it relief, excitement, a softening, warmth, and what did that do to my system? For me, it was just a brightness— “Oh yeah, I forgot about you, hello!”
To me, that’s a simple but potent way of working with it. Notice which little animals make themselves known at certain stages of the Wheel is another one of my favourite things.
Working with the elements at each turning point
Then, a longer but still daily approach is that each of the directions—north, south, east, west—is associated with an element and a part of our aspect.
- Samhain/winter is associated with earth and with our body, so it could be that during that period, I decide to really tend to my body—which, if you think about it, makes sense. Everybody’s medicine wheel is different, but mine is Samhain/winter = earth/body. My body is going, “Please, my god, just rest, feed me, nourish me, tend to me, let me shed.”
- Imbolc/Beltane is air, the mind: “How is my mind? What’s going on in there? Is it a peaceful place, or is it saying, ‘No, you can’t begin anything, nope, that’s scary, stay where you are, let’s just think about this, let’s keep you clogged up so there’s no clarity on how to move forward’?” Also, think of that transition from earth to air—very different elements to move from. We can often find that transition point a little bit clunky.
I know I have to be extra tender with myself in the transition from winter to spring and from summer to Autumn Equinox, because they’re the two parts I find the most clunky in that transition. But how is the mind, the communication, the clarity of mind?
- Beltane/Summer Solstice is fire, the spirit. How can I feed my spirit at those times, my soul—really listen to it, really tend to it? How can I feed that fire energy within me so I don’t go into burnout or become destructive, but so that it can be harnessed?
- Lughnasa/Autumn Equinox is water, the emotions. In that period, can I become aware of my emotional body? What does it need? What’s really going on beneath the surface—if you think of water, what’s really going on in the deep, deep waters? What’s going on in the shadow? We could work with it in that way.
During larger periods, you could work with the element of earth, the element of air, the element of fire, or the element of water, simply by becoming aware of it.
- During winter, even placing your feet on the earth—I love that part where I do a meditation where I’m just lying and being held by the earth.
- For air, I become aware of my own breath, allowing myself to breathe life into me and exhale old life.
- For fire, it could be sitting with an actual fire, lighting a fire, having a little candle, or feeling the fire within yourself.
- For water, that life force—can I drink it but really notice it move through me? Maybe I go and lie in water, or swim, or put my feet in water, so I can begin to converse or just be and see how I meet each of those elements.
Even if you think during the day, there’s the full cycle in one day: morning (sunrise), midday, sunset, and nighttime. Those four points could become a little way of bringing the Wheel in. You’re not going to do eight points, but you could do four.
The easy one is to go out to the sun (the sun may not be visible, but it’s there), so at each of those four points, go out to the sky, draw down the sun at that first sunrise, the light beginning to grow, then draw it down again at midday into your body—notice how it’s different in its fullness. Look at the sunset and receive that. And how does that speak to me? Stand out under the dark sky during the list of stars—how does that speak to me?
When people come here for sessions in my home, the first thing they often say is how quiet it is: “Oh my god, I can hear the birds singing!” or “Oh god, this is beautiful, this is just so peaceful.” Or even on their drive here, they might be excited if they’ve seen the first little lambs or the expansiveness of the green fields—it’s already doing something to their system. If they’re here at nighttime when it’s dark, they notice the stars, because the sky is so clear here.
That’s a simple way: each of those four points during the day— pause for a second, go out and draw it down, or just notice, “How does that make me feel?” You’ll notice throughout the whole year that it’s different. The sunset of winter is different than the sunset of summer, or of autumn. I do love an autumn sunset—the colours are fabulous.
Working with the elements at each turning point
Those are simple ways. And then say, for each of the eight turning points, obviously you can come to the gatherings, but what is one simple way of acknowledging that? Because if you think of a day as our own little mini life cycle—life, death, rebirth—the sun rises and will set.
For our own selves, we can look at each of the turning points.
How do I notice the small changes?
Maybe each turning point, I go outside and ask myself,
“How am I meeting Imbolc? How is Imbolc speaking to me?” and put notes into my phone.
WRITE A LETTER
Write a letter, which is nice for each one. “Dear Spring Equinox, I have no idea what you’re talking about when you’re talking about rebirth—could you explain that to me?” Or “Dear Spring Equinox, I find you hard to be with. I want to get to know you, but I find you a bit hard to be with. Can you teach me how to befriend you? Can you teach me your medicine?” Then allow it to be an automatic writing of a letter to it.
You can also write back from that season or turning point: “Dear Roseleen, Spring Equinox here. I was going to send you a text, but I thought a letter would be better. Rebirth isn’t what you think it is; it’s so much more than that…”
MINI RITUALS
Each of the turning points can be acknowledged in smaller ways.
- For Imbolc, it could be cleaning a space; it could be lighting a little fire of purification.
- Spring Equinox could be planting little seeds. Another one I like is eggs. I love gathering eggshells that I find out in nature—I have a little collection of them, and they’re always out, but I specifically bring them out for Spring Equinox to remind me of the excitement I feel when I find them, that excitement of, “Oh my god, life is coming out again, something is being born or reborn.”
- Beltane, it could be bringing fresh flowers into the house, or things from nature into the house that speak to that. It could be deciding to go outside and spin around—what does wildness mean to you at Beltane? What does it mean to be full of pleasure, passion, desire? Maybe tending to the physical body in a way, like little massages—something you can do daily, or just do at that turning point. I have an image that if you always wear your hair tied back, you go, “Bugger it, take it out and let it go wild.”
- For Summer Solstice, I might have a big piece of yellow card—a sun—in my room somewhere, so I can look at it. Or I bring the colour yellow into my clothes or wear a scarf to bring in that energy.
- At Autumn Equinox, I might bring in some leaves and place them around somewhere I can see them. Maybe I do a little fire ceremony to release.
- I take out the memorial cards of those who’ve passed, I take out my family tree, and I work with that. For me, Samhain is ancestral time.
- Winter Solstice—lights out. We use red lights, and everything just goes darker earlier in our house, and candles are lit. Rest is really rejuvenated. The one thing I always remember is space, space, space, Rosalie, because that’s what I crave at that time of year.
So, for you, in that space of those eight points, what can be one little thing that’s easy to do that reminds you of the energy that’s there? Each day, just checking in: “How is outside speaking to me?”
Wrapping up
As I’m chatting here, I’m beginning to wrap up. The light is shining differently on the side of the house—a beautiful beam of light coming in—because each turning point has its invitation, lesson, and energy.
So where are you in the Wheel, you personally? What is happening in nature right now, and how can you be here exactly where you are?
I think we will wrap it up there. If you have more questions, head over to my Instagram page, @thethirstysoul, and send them to me or put them in the comments section, or email me at [email protected].
Remember that the Wheel is not meant to be rigid; it is not meant to keep you in line. It is ever-flowing and spiralling. Let yourself get to know what it means for you.
If you’d like to explore the gatherings, they will be on the website—keep an eye on them. If you’re on the newsletter, they’ll be announced shortly. So many blessings to you; may you continue to walk the Wheel. If you’ve never walked it before, hop on in—it’s a beautiful place to be. I look forward to chatting with you again very soon.
Take care.
Where to find Roseleen:
Show Notes:
Today’s guest:
- Annemarie Curran – Holistic Psychotherapist, Reiki Master, Yoga Nidra Guide
- Sinéad Keenan – Reiki Master, experienced in NGO sector and ancestral healing
In this deeply nourishing episode, Roseleen McNally is joined by Anne-Marie Curran and Sinéad Keenan, co-founders of Soul Matters Ireland. Together, they explore the profound impact of living cyclically in alignment with nature, using ancient wisdom to heal ancestral trauma, and embracing rest through Yoga Nidra as a transformative practice.
Together they explore the revolutionary power of rest, the profound healing available through Yoga Nidra and Reiki, and the importance of reconnecting with ancestral and Celtic wisdom.
They share insights into living in harmony with nature’s cycles, understanding ancestral trauma, and the transformational journey from exhaustion to awakening.
Key Highlights & Timestamps:
- [01:00] Meet Annemarie and Sinéad, creators of Soul Matters Ireland
- [03:00] The birth and evolution of Soul Matters
- [06:00] Understanding the powerful trio—space to be, structure to belong, and energy to become.
- [08:00] How aligning with cyclical living transforms personal growth and healing.
- [11:00] Insights into Samhain and the importance of honoring life’s darker, transformative moments.
- [13:00] Learning to rest deeply and resist societal pressures to constantly “do.”
- [18:00] Simple, accessible ways to reconnect with nature daily.
- [21:00] How ancestral and collective trauma impacts us today
- [29:00] What exactly is Yoga Nidra, and how does it support deep healing?
- [36:00] Overcoming resistance to rest
- [39:00] How ancestral patterns shape our relationship with rest
- [49:00] The power and healing potential of community rest
- [53:00] Advice Annemarie and Sinéad would offer to their younger selves
- [56:00] Embracing rest as a birthright rather than a reward
- [57:00] Exciting new offerings from Soul Matters and upcoming events
- [1:01:00] Invitation to experience a free Yoga Nidra practice from Annemarie
Connect with Soul Matters Ireland:
- Website: soulmattersireland.ie
- Instagram: soulmattersireland.ie
Gifts:
- Free Gift: Yoga Nidra Meditation download here
- Discount: 25% off their Celtic Wheel Yoga Nidra & Reiki Online Program using the coupon CELTICWHEEL25. Valid until Thursday 20th March
Upcoming Events:
- Spring Equinox Event – March 23rd, Knock Rose, Co. Wicklow (limited places available)
- Celtic Wheel Yoga Nidra & Reiki Online Program – Starting March 20th, ongoing community support online