Blog 30th Sept 2016
We are home! 
Fourteen wonderful people have shared the sacred space, opened their hearts and received enormous waves of healing energy from West Crete. I’m not sure whether any or all of the group participants took themselves to the ‘ashram’ of the heights of the ‘White Mountains’ in their sleep – but what I am sure of is that at an etheric level they have been touched and a shift has occurred. Was it pure coincidence I ask myself that the only week available for us started on the Autumn Equinox, a time for shifting energies.
Energy work is phenomenal. We can’t really explain it well, and some people find it too hard to fathom. Yet it most certainly effects us all , and the most sensitive ones amongst us, very deeply. Many of us are unaware of the effects of being somewhere sacred other than the magnificence of the view we take in, or the sense of awe we may fell simply from being there. The caves of Saint John the Hermit in Spillia hold this phenomenon in massive amounts. It is a place in the hills with an enormous view of Crete including the highest point of the White Mountains (the Ashram of Ascended Master Hilarion, and an energy centre of Archangel Raphael). It also holds the miracle of St John the Hermit who tapped the rock with his staff and opened a spring which flows now into a tank of ‘sacred and healing’ water. We all take some water and bless our chakras here. In the inner hollows there are different spaces where the local villagers would hide to celebrate their own religion when Crete was invaded by the Turks in the seventeenth century.
Cretan history goes back several thousand years BC with quite a lot of historical energy still clinging to this village of Spillia and the sacred cave. We always include a visit during my retreat week and I am thrilled that two lovely people, chose to renew their marriage vows there. With a hand-fasting and broom jumping ceremony thrown in!
Symbolism is becoming much more widely understood and it seemed appropriate for a couple who have already spent over two decades together to use both a beautiful white, and bright turquoise blue ribbons to symbolise purity of their love, and clarity of communication, to ‘tie the knot’ . Then a broom to sweep away the past and clear their path forwards. Our happy couple chose to stand in front of a permanent Nativity scene in the vast main cave for their vows. And although I was quite surprised at first when the sun was shining outside it soon became clear that this was a place representing ‘re-birth, with the message of Archangel Gabriel holding the promise of new beginnings, hope and joy’. I was honoured to be the celebrant and our ‘Angels Abroad’ group were all happy witnesses. It was a very emotional and beautiful experience for all of us.
Among the special guests at our celebration was a white dove perched high in the rocks inside the cave. A white dove always represents the presence of the Holy Spirit for me, and although we all noticed and remarked with pleasure that it was sitting watching throughout the whole ceremony I think we all had the same thought. That there was something special about its presence. White doves symbolise peace too, and it was no coincidence that they were very noticeable at the Baptism site of John the Baptist on the banks of the River Jordan when I was there with a group earlier in the year. A small and very significant blessing for our lovely couple.
Signs and symbols are everywhere. From internal messages through dreams and meditations to the leaves on the ground and clouds in the sky. They speak to us. We can make them as meaningful as we choose. Some people read symbols from cards, and others from the palms of our hands. However the signs appear, make sure you are open and ready to notice. It might be a powerful presence or a gentle pointer offering a direction to follow. My advice is notice everything, whether in a cave or in your own home, and always take it lightly.
