The magic of this house and this land is striking. As you turn onto the estate's private roads there is a feeling one has stepped through the wardrobe doors of Narnia, like you are no longer in Herefordshire or Shropshire but that you have slipped somehow between the gap of the two. That feeling of in between-ness is a liminal space. The gap between one thing and the other. It's the space of healing, gestation, or the moment after death and before birth. A pause.
I'd been looking for a large house with land to rent for the year prior to us finding this house. Prices were escalating and there was nothing suitable for both my family and the work. I knew I needed 6 plus bedrooms and a large separate room to hold the group work that was becoming such a core part of this work. One place popped up over that year. There were some impressive calls from the land and a magical moment where a good friend called by to tell me of the shamanic land she had just walked upon and found an ancient dreaming temple. That place was too large and obscenely expensive although I felt the trust in my body that whatever came up would be paid for somehow.
A few months later and I had stopped looking. The searching and striving was not an energy that produced results, so I'd sat back and focused on other things. The seed however had been planted, and the Goddess had heard the call. I'd been looking from Oswestry area (and actually as far as North Wales) down to Monmouthshire. Hoping for something close by so I was still central enough for my wonderful clients to reach. One night I found myself alone and with a free hour. I decided to have a search. I put in my search criteria and again there was nothing suitable. I pressed refresh and a pin appeared in the map that hadn't been there previously. It looked very close by, and I knew it was in a really beautiful part of the world. Close to the forests around Ludlow and within walking distance of our favourite wild swimming spot. I clicked. There was a beautiful, 7 bedroomed house, far cheaper than the others I'd seen.. as I clicked through I was thinking it looked wonderful but there's never going to be a big room for the work.. then, there it was.. a ballroom of sorts build on the back of the house, with 3 glass walls overlooking the nature reserve at the bottom of the garden! I was shocked! My heart thumped. Then my head said - but it's still more than you can afford.
The next day a great friend came by with her family. It turned out she wasn't going to stay but her husband would with the children. As the kids ran around the garden and climbed in our outside bath with ice lollies in hand, I mentioned to my friend's husband about this house and the area it was n knowing his family lived close by. He said - I was there last week painting it! He knew the house well, and talked me through the good the bad and answered all my questions. He ended with saying that he thought someone was due to move in, but maybe it had fallen through if it had come back online.
Then along came clients talking about a place they had found years before, a magical place in the woods. As soon as they spoke of it I knew it was adjacent to the house. I jumped in my car after the session and went to find it. A dreamy grotto was hidden at the foot of the garden. I wasn't ignoring the clear call to this land.
As soon as I'd seen the house online I began to have the most successful month financially I'd ever experienced. With an excited heart I decided to give them a call. I viewed the house with the thought that at some point they'd say no, maybe at some point I'd be 'found out', that I grew up in council houses and had only just started to be financially stable. I met the woman who showed me round, and we got on brilliantly. We bonded over our shared love of fabric (many of the beautiful curtains were to stay in the house) and the laundry room! Every step of the process was simple. When they asked me to send my finances over I thought this was the moment they'd say no, not knowing exactly what they would expect to see.
Over that week I was in a limbo. I knew that the land I'd been working and living on had already said goodbye to me so was worried that I'd have no where to go. Then one day stood in a que at a shop in popped an email to say we had got the house. I cried in the que. Then had to go home and convince my partner that instead of some woodland and a few yurts we should move to a 7 bedroomed manor house. That was a difficult conversation. But in the end he told me he trusted me and he trusted this process. We took it!
It's been like learning a new language living in a place like this. How do you clean a house with 20 rooms not including out houses?? How do you manage the housekeeping, the children, home education, the finances, so much to think about but it is the greatest blessing to share this place with those who come to do the work. Healing this land and practising Priestessing in such a magical place is a blessing and learning curve. Will you join us here for some magic?
