Every Morning

Available in my Etsy store in 2 different sizes.

Wild Fairie Adventure Picnic

While I was in Brisbane a few weeks ago, I wanted to connect with some of the goddesses in my life that I have met from so many parts of my journey: high school dearhearts, internet un-met lovelies, womens circle sisters. Instead of meeting each of them for different cups of tea, I decided to Create an Event. Something a little bit wild, a little bit delicious, gentle but surprising. I considered having a Turkish banquet: too boring. A midnight rendezvous on a mountain: adventurous, but I'm more awake during the sunshine hours. A wild fairie adventure picnic: just perfect.



Now, I only needed to find a place for it!
I woke on the day of the picnic just as the sun was rising, my two sisters still slumbering. I slung on a long green skirt emblazoned with elephants, and a black singlet, and out into the morning I walked. I journeyed north, and found a park: it was bare, with small trees and traffic on all four sides. I journeyed on. I wanted to find the river, but didn't know where it was. I followed no map but the gentle pulling of my innards over sloping hills made of crumbling concrete and tropical jungle.



Down past a large white house, I found the river: wide and rumbling with skiers, hedged with mangroves. I clambered into the mangroves, and cried for a while. The distance of weeks since has blurred my memory of what pushed the tears forth. It could have been tears of joy at finding the river, and gratitude of being guided there. It could have been tears of gentle sadness at feeling all the emotions of a human with a fractured, precious heart. It could have been all of these. I only know is I cried with gratitude and honouring of the tears. And then I looked up, and the mangrove leaves were shaped like hearts. I smeared mangrove mud on my legs. I walked on.



I spoke to the fairies as I walked:

Dear Fairies,
I would like to find a pretty-ish bit of wildnerness* to co-create a magical event with. I would so love to create a space for goddesses to connect with mama earth and each other. If you could please help me find this place, I would be so grateful.
(P&P reference, for those of you playing at home)





As I gave my request, I decided that in return, I would do something for the fairies to thank them, and to make it a true energy exchange. After reading Doreen Virtue's "Healing with the Fairies", I know that fairies are custodians of the natural world, and need help in nourishing and protecting the earth.





A few minutes later, I looked down into the mangroves and saw an abandoned shopping trolley stuck halfway in the mud of the river. I looked back up the steep rocky incline to the road. Not an easy hike. I decided that a wild adventure fairie picnic is worth fighting for, so I hitched my skirt up and made my way down to the mangroves and mud. I hauled that shopping trolley inch by inch up the rocks, giggling away to myself, reminding myself all the way "I'm doing this for the fairies... doing it for the fairies..." Once up on the road again, I fixed the shopping trolley to a handrail, and high-fived myself.



I walked on. And on. And on.
Past pandanas trees and kayakers and large green leaves piled in gutters. Past huge sporting ovals and cute cottages. And then, just over a tiny creek, I found a little green space between the houses. I couldn't see where it ended, so I walked in. Past purple jacaranda trees and green jungles. Golden flowers sang and butterflies danced. I swore I saw fairies.



Past a well loved basketball hoop and a handmade pizza oven. Past voluptuous trees, into a clearing that was hemmed by a river and jungle. There were lizards and blue kingfisher birds and brown wild turkeys. It was a piece of wilderness in the suburbs, a well-loved but unowned slice of magic. Someone had mowed the clearing in a circle, forming a beautiful spiral in the grass. I had found it. The place. The one I trusted existed, even if I didn't know its name. Even though it wasn't on the maps. I had found it using my heart, and it was just what I wanted it to be.





So I sent out the call, giving wild and elaborate directions for a place that didn't exist. I wonder even if it would be there if I went to look again, or if it existed only for that short space of time, like the secret garden, or the place behind the grandfather clock.





That afternoon, we gathered there. Women and children and a tiny puppy named Bella. Goddesses of all different flavours, all stunningly beautiful in their own ways. Friends of friends meeting friends. Women finding each other and sharing. Eating and laughing and speaking. Soaking in the fairie magic. Painting wildly. Throwing the canvas as far as we could across the spiral oval. Getting hands and feet and noses and faces glistening with rainbow paint. Wearing paper tiaras. Being just as we are.





I don't know how to express just how much sacred and sublime gatherings fill me up now. Just how much I have learned that when you take the path less travelled, adventure and magic flow in as easily as breath. I see the glistening, shimmering beauty in every soul I meet. I feel blessed beyond belief. And onwards I walk, knowing there is more work to be done, more life to be lived, more joyous celebrating to be had.






Onwards I walk, to a new place, and to a new self.
I journey onwards now, to India, to dreams come true, to lotus flowers and Kali Ma.
I kiss the palm of all I meet, and hold my own.



I am off on a journey ~~~
I return in a month.





Until then, may your journey be blessed with light.
May you have magical, sublime, sweet times.



May your eyes fill up with goodness.
May you dare to be your own wild adventure fairie.

Namaste,
Leonie

P.S. Remember: Magic can happen anywhere at any time. Ya just gotta give it the space to enter.

A quarter of a century ago...

I was swimming, swirling, dancing, turning,
in my mama's womb,
the night before I came to be.

Thank you mum, for holding me inside you, and for loving me with all you have.
Thank you dad, for co-creating me, and for loving me with all you have.
Thank you my ancestors.

And thank you life, for breathing through me. For all the lessons, for all the love, for all the finding, discovering and crazy beautiful days.

I want to honour and recognise also the parts that feel less beautiful and more just plain crazy: the fears, the pain, the gnawing worries. Today a dear friend said to me as we dropped jewelled tears on a rock: "You always look to the light, Leonie, even when there is a deep darkness inside you."

So I acknowledge that darkness, and I acknowledge that light.
I acknowledge all the journeying, all the moments lost in translation, the not-knowing and the sharp, clear moments of knowing.

All of the rough tango, the glory, the loss, the mastery. And Goddess, the moments Earth feels like heaven:
when the sunlight glances through the clouds and casts embers through your hair;
when the wind roars through the trees on the mountain rim;
when a white bird skirts through white eucalypts;
when the air smells so sweet and mossy I want to bathe in it and smell like it always;
when the kookaburras laugh and make you want to draw your head back and join them;
when the rocks are damp from the rain and are kissable.
I wonder what this all felt like the first time I experienced these miracles.
Today, I feel them as though they are the first time.

I have a vision of who you might be, Leonie, and I strive to find my way to you, to honour who you are, and become you.

I love you Leonie.
Happy birthing day, my precious, precious self.

Portrait Partying with Pixie

The Goddess Pixie Campbell met up with me in the Portrait Party room for chocolates, drumming and the usual Goddess fare.

I dig that Pixie woman, even from across the oceans in the land of Not-Met-Yet.
I honour who she is, her bravery, honesty and true-ness.
I honour the way she cultivates the earth, grows with her chillun and nourishes her own Self.
I honour Goddess Pixie just as she is.

I am completely spellbound with the portrait she created of me - you can see it over on her blog.
Wise open (I meant to write wide open, but it came out that way) and laughing... inside my spirit she looks. I feel so very honoured by her creation.

My gosh, this Portrait Partying is pretty much the most fun ever.

One day we will circle, Pixie,
Leonie

Sacred Sounds

Saturday afternoon was birthed clear and blue, shining and new.
What to create on a day such as this?

Dream this:

Souls driving out of the city
and into the southern alpine fields that kiss the feet of tender purple mountains.

A Sacred Sounds Concert on a healing retreat ~
friends, lovers, families, dear ones to celebrate sacred sounds.

Imagine making music because that's what calls you,
that's what frees you, that's what makes community.
There are no mistakes, there is only sound, and there is only laughter,
as you make music together.



Imagine a circle of souls:
of healers, children, teachers, musicians, shamans, filipino tribal chiefs, artists, fairies and farmers
holding hands in one circle, in oneness,
in an old circlular cow shed
singing ohm together
until the sacred sound swirls around them
and dances up through the roof
making spirits creak and souls soar.



Imagine dancing like an eagle,
in a circle of dancing eagles,
with a goddess child in your arms.



Imagine a couple who love each other
tenderly, honestly and genuinely.
Who love this Earth and its people so much that they open their hearts and their land
to make a healing retreat and hold gatherings to come home to.



the entirely beautiful peter and gini



Imagine an incredible band who don't make just music:
they make spirit and magic and dreams play harmony in the air.


Gorgeous George and their sublime drummer

Imagine the Andi and George band that make music that is your soul home.
Imagine them and then buy every single album they own,
because they deserve it and you deserve them.
You deserve their tilting, dancing, miraculous ocean music beauty in your heart.


Goddess Andi

Imagine bare feet
aching to tell
their story
in movement.



Imagine your friends, your circle sisters
swirling together into light and song and dance
there in the cow shed with you.


Angel and Freya


Goddess Kaylia

Imagine a gathering of souls and music
where dogs are just as much a part of the gathering
as anybody else.



Imagine a beautiful man who loves you
so deeply, unconditionally and acceptingly,
always gently watching from the corner,
always watching you fly.

Imagine a man who is a lake of reflection,
soaking it all into his depths,
letting the singing bowl and the didjeridoo
make their music inside him.



Imagine walking by the lake,
coming home to yourself and to the Earth,
strung in a necklace of Goddesses
who have become your tribe.



Imagine finding a woman who is like a twin to you.
Imagine her. She is coming. She has arrived.



Imagine reclaiming the Dance:
the Dance of Freedom, the Dance that makes you Glad,
the Dance your body longs to dance.
Imagine the Dance that isn't about judgements or others,
it is the Dance of Being Alive and Barefoot and Grateful.

All I need to dance now
is hands beating drums
and the dirt floor of a cow shed.



All I need to dance now
is Mother Earth
kissing my bare feet



and Father Sun's light
kissing my bare face and arms



and the sacred sound of our own hearts beating.




All we need is the sacred sound of our own hearts beating.




Imagine it... so it may be...

In brilliance,
Leonie

remember your own beauty

It seems so many of us are remembering our own beauty these days.

What if the whole world remembered?
How can we remind ourselves on a daily basis of this love?
How can we remind each other when we forget?

I have a burning passion of sharing the truth of beauty with the world. I want to set the whole world alight with love. Each creation is a baby of truth and a signpost towards divinity. I see images and feel words and wonder how I might be able to gift and share these out into the world.

I feel this is where art and business intersects as a vehicle for living my purpose and sharing my creations with the world. "Business" can have such funny connotations around it, and yet at the base of it all, everything is energy. Money is an energy exchange and the sharing of art is an energy exchange. When I can create with intention, offer it to the world to be sent out in wildly coloured envelopes or hung on studio walls, and receive an energy exchange back ~ that is a spirited and abundant cycle of inspiration and connection.

Which is a lot just to share ~
It would be amazing to have these messages of beauty, truth and spirit sent around the world.

For those beauties who asked (and every other soul beauty who might be interested) ~ you can buy prints and cards reminding us of our delicious truth here ~

www.cafepress.com/leonieexclusive

Other joyful creations can be found at my Etsy Store.

Happy Remembering,
in love and light,
Leonie

(And a big, deep, sincere thank you and love to the Goddess in this picture who glowed in the light of our Secret Spy Tunnel, ablaze with all her beauty ~ my friend Sone)

i met her in the desert

I met her in the desert last year,
this goddess of a Taurean Woman.

She spent her days walking around the earth,
when we met she was exploring the ochre tracks of the Northern Territory.

We became firm friends the week we were together,
there in the desert,
dancing in the mouths of wide caves together.

Sometimes I see her face
on women in the shopping centres,
so far away from the walking trails and the desert,
and I think of her sweet soul
and all our adventures out there.

Megan Lotus Hands, I'm loving you and sending a blown kiss and dandelion out into the wind to find you. I wish you the deepest of happiness and the greatest of joys. You are a treasure.

love,
Leonie