Rose Cottage

  Several years ago,  my   feed   over on Instagram delivered a wonderful post featuring a continuing saga of the artist's adventures ...  In her post,  Hannah  wrote about a taking much anticipated camping trip, which turned into a sodden disaster! She wrote that they hung their 'cloutie flags' upon setting up their campsite in Cornwall.  Clootie flags on my porch I guessed she meant small cloth prayer flags or banners, and  found this  article when I looked it up: The Scots word ‘clootie’ means ‘cloth’ - the term can also be found in use in the Scottish dessert, the ‘ clootie dumpling ’. (A Scotts pudding , with dried fruit - currents, raisins and the like) which is boiled in a cloth (the clootie).   Clootie flags  are scraps of cloth, hung from trees surrounding a sacred well or spring. These sources of fresh water have been considered places of healing for millennia, and the flags hold prayers for healing.  Tra...

 The Reiki precepts begin  kyo dake wa , just for today ... When we have Reiki, we can invite the energy to flow into our activities and interactions throughout the day.  When Hawayo   Takata , who brought Reiki to the West, awaited surgery in Dr Maeda's hospital in Tokyo, each of the meals prepared by the doctor's dietician sister was  blessed with Reiki : green tea, Rice, beans, steamed vegetables, seaweed.  As she learned Reiki herself, Mrs Takata blessed her own food and drink, and later recommended her students do the same. Spiritual leaders and teachers from most traditions suggest blessing whatever we ingest. Say a little prayer before a meal, imagine rainbows in your water - if we do this daily, it soon becomes second nature. We can also use blessings and Reiki around the home: set up an altar (appropriate to your traditions and beliefs) Keep a gratitude journal - begin and/ or end your day with gratitude hold seeds, flowers or herbs a minute before...

 For several years, I've enjoyed videos from a Japanese teacher Samurai Matcha (Aki-san). This week's offering on 7 Japanese habits  fits beautifully with my Reiki practice and good sense, and I grew up with many of them, in my rural Oregon home.  Hara Hachibi bun me  Respect and honor our ancestors - this is one of the Reiki principles, honor your parents and elders; Aki-san speaks of receiving the 'baton of Life' from our ancestors, to help us in our own lives! I grew up taking flowers to my grandparents' graves on Memorial Day, and hearing stories of their lives. Clean up public areas - pick up trash, leave things 'cleaner than you found them! In Oregon, private citizens 'adopt' sections of the highways and beaches, and do regular clean ups. Our Edible Landscaping group adopted the 6 block stretch along Alpine street where our raised gardens are located. My folks loved to camp, and again, cleaned up around the site before and after. Cities find that c...