It´s been a while since I posted - how the weeks slip by!  Yesterday we went to the seaside for the first time in ... well, over a year I guess.  We went to view a motorcaravan at Peniche which turned out to have a beautiful beach.  Not overcrowed at this time of year - just a few surfers enjoying the swell.  After the first rain of autumn on Friday, the weather yesterday turned out gorgeous.

After getting some sand between our toes, filling our lungs with sea air and gathering some shells, we visited a beautiful town inland called Obidos.  It is a walled city, narrow, cobbled streets, castle, twee little shops - very charming.  There was a festival on too, so we were treated to some local folklore, singing and dancing.

Also got to sample some of the local speciality, Ginja.  Obidos is the main place this wild cherry liqueur is made.  Would make a wonderfully warming drink for winter - yummy.

So we enjoyed a lovely day out and have to remind ourselves to get out and about more often.  This country is full of surprises.

Been a bit quiet lately, although have still been reading your blogs :).  I am heavily back into tarot & have just started doing a few readings for other people.  I´m often found hanging around Aeclectic these days, if not Facebook.

Anyway, this week coming is a holiday long looked forward to.  We are going to the Boom Festival - just a few Km down the road from us (so we can pop back to look after the animals and water the plants) - but another world away in a different sense.

As well as having my ears blasted with the latest psytrance, shaking my fat booty, swimming in the lake and other fun stuff, I am hoping, nay expecting, to learn a few new things about alternative culture, permaculture, alternative energy, bio construction etc.  There will also be plenty of workshops & talks that catch my eye.  Here´s a couple of those I am looking forward to:

Experiential Astrology - Kranti Pessoa (Brasil)

An experience of how the different components of astrology influence our pratical lives.  Starting with everybody sitting in front of their own starsign disposed in circle in the room, people are guided to share their vision of how their signs act in their real life, forming groups of the same sign, of the same elements, and showing them the opposite signs and visions.  There are different modules, the basic one using just sharing their own vision of their signs (in groups) , and others which using different techniques of body work such as biodanza, bioenergetics, psychodrama, breathing, relaxation and dynamic meditations, taking people to feel their inner witness, beyond their mental conditioning.

Alternative Economy - Marijke Hoftijzer (Netherlands)

According to our goverments and economic experts our economy must grow. But whymust our economykeep on growing?Naturaly something can not keep on growing forever. Somewhere it has to end. But then what?
Already many people are working on alternatives. On a world-level, country-level and in their own local communities. In this workshop we are going to talk about how we ended up in this situation, show some alternatives and, most importantly,we are going to find out what your alternative economy looks like.
We hope that you will get inspired by all the wonderful ideas that will come up in this workshop.

Plus, there will be plenty of therapists to give oodles of lovely healing :D

Boom expects to receive people from about 50 different countries worldwide and it is this multiculturalism that makes it so special for me.  In 2004 and 2006 (this is a biannual event), we made new friends from Europe, the former Balkans, Japan, East Timor, Brazil, Russia, Mexico, Canada, US, Australia and India. 

Check out their website at www.boomfestival.org and who knows - maybe I´ll meet you there in 2010 !!

I´m very concerned about the spate of bombs in Bangalore yesterday and today.  My son Owen and daughter-in-law Lucy live there.  They are OK but the last bomb found and defused was in the Forum Mall that I know well and is frequented a lot by westeners.

Any energy you can spare to restore peace to this vibrant and cosmopolitan city would be much appreciated.

The herbs have been so abundant this year.  I have used loads for cooking and tea etc. 

Today I gathered some marigold petals to prepare calendula oil, saved some St. John´s Wort seeds (I have already prepared St. J´s tincture) and experimented for the first time making a vibrational flower essence from Mullein flowers.  I really missed most of the mullein without realising what a valuable plant it was, so there were only a few flowers left on the tops of the plants - just enough to make a flower essence.  Home made vibrational essence will be an interesting experiment, that I will try with other plants if I find this beneficial.

All of a sudden, I seem to have moved into a phase of communication and connections, old and new.  Emails and letters arriving from people I thought I´d lost contact with.  Old rifts being healed too.

Feels good !!