A Blessing For The Brand New Year 2011

May the Bountiousness of the planet

Rain down upon you

Each and every Moment of your day.

And may you have the eyes to see each Blessing

As it comes your way.

May your senses percieve the miracle that is your life

In all it's infinite moments of choice

All flavours of experience.

May you know just how very precious you are

To those who are blessed to know you

and to our dear Mother Earth

And that without you

Life on this beautiful planet

Would not be the same.

May there be words or a gentle touch of Rememberance,

Whenever you find yourself

In the Darkness of forgetfullness,

That brings you back home to your wonder.

And may you find the love in your own Heart

Connecting and merging with other Hearts

Until One Day

A giant Web of Love joins every Heart on the planet,

 As One.

Cassie Hepburn December 2010

An Ode to Autumn

              Autumn Morn

   As Autumn's
Still Grey Morning
Envelop us in a blanket
of Quiet & Silence
her Bright Sundappled afternoons
Reveal a painters Palette
Of Scarlet,
Rust,
& Chartreuse
The Deep Aroma
Of Earth and fallen Leaf
Crisply crushed beneath our feet
Releasing scents that come
But once a year.

This Harvest Season
We straddle the line
Between Action
and settling into our
Autumn nests
Crackling Fire
Blanket and Book
Calling to us
As a long lost lover
Calls from distant memory

Following Summer's outward season
Of exploration
Both far and near
Autumn's Sweet Siren call
Welcomes us back home
To rest once more
In the Inner Realms

As Summer's Light
Begins to soften
And fade
Our Inner Muse
Beacons us to follow her
On our own inward journey
Of Vision and Illumination
As we weave a tapestry
Of colour and Light
To see us through
Winter's Dark and Stormy Night.

Cassie Hepburn Oct 11, 2010

Celebrating the Turning Wheel

Yesterday I had the absolute pleasure of connecting with a dear friend who was here briefly before returning to her life in Thailand and India.

It is fitting that we celebrated Equinox together as the first time we met was in celebration.

A couple of friends and I had gone to a drumming circle in an earth house ( or Kakuli) in the Interior.

The drumming circle had been cancelled unknown to us but the fire was burning when we walked into the Kakuli and there was a woman who invited us to join her as she honoured the passing of her grandmother.

We have been friends since that moment and although the years may pass between our visits, the heart connection never weakens.

Last night we slipped into the forest at Stanley Park just after sunset and celebrated the turning of the seasons.

The Fall in the Medicine Wheel wisdom that I connect with, lies in the West on the Wheel. It is represented by Bear, it's qualities are Feminine in nature. It is here in the West that we travel inward, we use tools such as meditation, ceremony, yoga, breathing practices, all those ways, those tools that take us into our Center, into our deepest selves.

And it is there in those depths, that we connect with the Divine.

Whatever that looks like for you.

It is here that we renew and nurture ourselves after the outward nature of the Summer.

Last night returning through the darkened forest, our path lit but the waxing moon light, my heart was filled with so much gratitude.

Gratitude for my life and the rich abundance of cherished friendships and life experiences and gratitude to have come to a place in my life, that in sitting in the trees in the forest, I was not afraid of the night sounds, or my safety. My mind was still and I could feel myself a part of the forest very breath of the forest and part of the web of life upon our dear Mother Earth

Island Yearning

Island Yearning

Denman Island

You hold my Heart

In the Depth & Width

Of your Rocky Shores

There

Where my feet

Have walked

Canine Friend beside

There

Where my parents

Retired from the City

To return to a life

More conducive

To Living

There

My Father's

 Vegetable garden

My Mother's

Flowers & Herbs

Wood smoke curling

from

Fireplace & Wood stove

 Early Morning Rising

To walk your Beaches

Before

Dawns First Light

Watching

As the World

Awakened

Awestruck always

By your Beauty & Wildplaces

Where there is

Space

To Be

Far from the City

Whose Frantic Pace

Steals our Connection

To Ourselves

And our Space

On this Our Mother Earth

Content to exist

In a Swirl of Chaotic

Ever spinning

Haste

Denman

I yearn for You

The memories

That Live in your Soil

The Two decades

My Parents lived

In your gentle embrace

With Gratitude

I bow to your

Healing Touch

For so generously sharing

Your Sacred Spaces

Your Community

Your Soarding Eagle Cries

With 2 Weary

City Dwellers

Returning Home

To Island Life

Once More

Cassie Hepburn

September, 2010

A poem, A Day on the Shore

A Day On The Shore

Sun's first light glistens

On silken Otter coat

As silently

It slip’s beneath the water

With barely a ripple

To disturb the smooth as glass

Calm of the Sea

Valdez Island

Mist shrouded Mystery

A background for

Chickadees cheerful piping

Oyster Catchers squeaky toy voices

As high above

Eagle's cry

Rings through

The morning stillness

Cedar, the beauty of your beaches

Sandstone carved by wind and wave

A place of Peace

Renew me

How I long to dwell upon

Your nurturing shore

Here in this place that my ancestors

Called Home

Who began their journey

On Canada's farthest shore

Far From the hills and dales of Scotland

I sit,

Their granddaughter

100 years after their feet

Walked upon this land

Sea Lion's curious eye

Peers above the surface

And they seem to wonder

What kind of curious creature

Am I?

Did their ancestors

Come as they do

To watch mine?

Cassie Hepburn August 2010

Summer Dreams Literary Festival

Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending the literary festival at Lumberman's Arch in Stanley Park. Here in this place that I came to so often as a child with my mother, here where as a teenager I came with my highschool best friend Suzie Cackette to our first Easter Be-in or later in my 20's sitting up on the back of a convertable soaking up the first Spring rays of the sun, feeling the wind in my hair, listening to Reggae music blasting through the speakers.

Here in this place that holds so many precious memories, I meet some friends to attend the Summer Dreams Literary festival. I arrive 2 hours late after a 2.5 hour hellish commute from Langley, but soon the magic of this place works it's wonder as I take in not only the talented poets and writers readings but the beauty of the day, the scent of the sea laden air and being amongst a company of those who love writing in all it's different facets as I do.

I play a word game, taking letter tiles to create words, and win a book of choice. The drive slips away as I settle in to enjoy a children's author, wizard's hat perched upon his head as he reads from one of his books. After his tales are told, I make my way to a different stage and hear a variety of spoken words artists practicing their craft, each with such a different style and each a master in their own right, one in particular stands out, the cadence of his voice, as it rises and falls with the rythym of his words, the way his words draw a myriad of visual images that dance through my vision keeping time with his voice.

Then after listening to a panel on the correlation that some poets feel ( myself included) between healing and writing, and one who feels opposed to that view, I am filled and off I go to find my own voice once more.

Inspired by those fellow writers and poets who weave their craft so beautifully, I am so grateful
to have a voice and the freedom to use it.

I am so grateful to the organizers for creating such a wonderful gathering of wordsmiths in one location to connect and inspire each other. And to my writer's group who keep me inspired to do what I love to do, write.

Waterfront Adventure in Cedar, B.C.

Mark and I went to visit my brother this past weekend. He lives in Cedar, B.C. on Vancouver Island. Down the road from where my brother lives, some 80 years before my father's parents had built a home which still stands, it is also where while digging a well my grandfather and uncle found an ancient carved rock with a furocious face on it, it is over 15,000 years old and as yet it is a mystery as far as who made it as none of the local indigenous people used that style of artwork.
The trip was breathtaking on the ferry. We took our chihuahua Jada with us so we needed to stay on the car deck but rather than stay in the stuffy pet area we found a great spot by one of the outside windows, so wind blowing in our hair, with the best seat and view of all we settled in to share our picnic dinner in style.
The two hour trip flew by, my brother Bruce, a marine biologist, picked us up and it was only a short drive from the ferry terminal to his place on the waterfront at Cedar. He has retired from his position taking care of Sable fish at a local hatchery. He has stayed on there to be someone on site in case of an emergency.
After a mouth watering gourmet dinner of Indian food made by his lovely girlfriend Zen shared with their friends from Wildwood Echo Forest, we gathered by the beach, guitar in hand to play some music under the vivid tapestry of the Persieds meteor showers. And rather than sleep in the guest room, chose to sleep under the stars on the beach. Mark drifted off to the sounds of Oyster Catchers, Sea Lions, and the lapping of the waves on shore. I lay awake enjoying the peace of the night and the shooting stars as I gave myself a reiki treatment. There is something so incredibly magical about meteor showers. To see that flash cross the sky and stay lit even it has tranversed the whole sky is so Divine in nature.

The following day we spent exploring the sandstone sculptures formed by wind and tide, taking dips to stay cool after picking pathways through the barnacle ladden rocks, exploring tide pools, napping in the shade of the Arbutus trees.
We watched the sea lions dive off their perch just off shore to frolic around some kayaks who stopped to enjoy their interaction before continuing on with their journey.
I took some time to meditate in the coolness of the nature park adjacent and to send a healing to a friend who has been having some digestive issues. I love distance healing for that, you don't even have to be with someone to send the healing energies to them.
After a blissful day of spending the entire day playing in mother nature we regretfully headed back home. Back to work, the lower mainland and the hustle and bustle of the city all 3 of us comfortably tired from our miles of walking on the beach and breathing in clean fresh air for a welcome change.
My dream is to someday soon be able to live near the sea on Vancouver Island or one of the Gulf Island. I so look forward to manifesting that from dream into reality.