I have so much to tell you all! Grab a cuppa and settle in for the magical journey we are about to go on. I’ve had a busy week and it has been rather exceptional!
I mentioned that I was going for Ancestral Healing work with my friend Tass last Saturday? I hate to drive but it was too far for Norm to take me so I put on my big girl pants and set my GPS which got me almost there. All was fine until Lil Miss GPS took me on a wrong turn when I arrived at the village of Scarborough. I then remembered that Tass had mentioned maps often did that, but there was no way to her house from that spot unless you are a crow. And even though her medicine name is ‘Two Crows Flying‘, I, however, was in a car.
Tass lives in a lovely wooden chalet at the top of a mountain looking out over Scarborough Beach. The view was amazingly special. When I parked a little cape robin landed on the fence by my car and looked at me. I nodded a hello to him and carried on to Tass’ house which clings to the side of the mountain and has a little higgledy-piggledy foot path more suitable for mountain goats than my arthritic knees. A little lizard popped out from under the stone by her gate to greet me too and poked his head out again when we were leaving. I had already said my morning prayers and asked the ancestors to show up and to guide Tass in my healing. I could almost feel the magic of nature welcoming me.
Tass smudged me and did a prayer to open my chakras and we set off to her ‘office’ which is the protected milkwood forest that runs along the Scarborough beach and is part of a nature reserve. We parked and walked along the path to the protected area of the reserve which is called Schutteskraal.
The Milkwood tree is a ‘protected’ tree and cannot be cut down or destroyed without penalty. This section of forest is estimated to be up to eight hundred years old. When we entered the milkwood trees we set our things down and Tass brought out tobacco for us to offer as a gift to the trees and to ask them to assist us on our journey. I looked down and there was a lovely intact shell which I took as a memory. There were lots of them so I did not think it was an issue. I thanked the sea for offering it up and the forest for accepting me and gifting it to me.
We moved a bit further into the forest and Tass made a pallet bed for me to lie on for the sound journey, but first we did our prayers to the 4 directions, to Grandfather Sun and to Mother Earth and called in all of the elements and our ancestors to assist us. Tass then brought out a beautiful, simple leather bundle which contained her medicine tools. I stood still with my eyes shut and my arms open by my side and she used her bird’s wing feather ‘wand’ to brush across various areas of my body. Next she picked up her rattle and worked around my body, my head and other areas. Finally, she used her hand drum along the same paths. She moved them each all around me, stopping on places where she sensed work was needed or that energy needed clearing.
Tass did a lot of work on my right shoulder. I had an injury to this shoulder when I was in my 20s. When I was a radiographer a patient fainted and instead of letting her hit the floor, I caught her and it tore something in my shoulder. I never had it surgically repaired (because that is how I am in regards to surgery, if I can function, then I do not need surgery!). For years I have had various treatments trying to heal this area of recurring pain in my shoulder. I worked with a Body Stress Release practitioner for months until she finally said to me ‘there is something deeper than your physical injury and I cannot resolve it’. She told me that the right side of our body represents the past and she felt I needed to do some ‘work’ on it. I thought that meant she was fed up with my BS and so I never went back.
After the session Tass told me that there was a huge tomahawk buried in the right shoulder which she removed. So Miss Body Stress Release was right, we just did not realise how far back in my past the injury went.
Tass zeroed in on a tiny spot on my sternum. I have had a very painful sterno-clavicular joint for as long as I can remember (right over my heart). It always hurts to touch one specific spot. The only time I ever had relief was from a McTimoney Chiropractor in the UK who worked on that specific joint as miniscule as it is. If you have never heard of the treatment here is a link to show you. The video background music is horrid 70’s porn-star-ish nonsense, so for gawd’s sake do not put the sound on.
The little flicks of Tass’ feather wand are a bit like some of the moves they do in this practice.
Tass told me that there was an arrow buried in my chest in that exact spot where I have pain. She kindly removed it for me.
Tass worked on my hips and afterwards asked ‘what is wrong with your hips?’ I told her that one has been replaced which is why she could ‘see’ something odd. She worked on my knees and then she worked on my wrists and my ankles.
She cleared shackles from my wrists and ankles. When I had my past life regression years ago I was taken back to a life which appeared to be in Roman times where I was a slave and I was being led along by my first husband who owned me. He was holding a chain attached to my shackled wrists and ankles. When Tass described the vision it tied in exactly with my own past life visions. Even though I did not feel shackled to the pain of my past I obviously was to some extent.
Tass worked on my right forearm. I had fallen off of a pony and broke that arm when I was 5 but of course she did not know that. She also worked on my left wrist where I suffer from carpal tunnel. My left pinky is still numb but I mean goodness the woman had a mountain to climb with this healing! I will do another round in the new year to clear any residual issues.
Lastly, she worked on my digestive system which is generally knackered. She said I should do a liver cleanse and that celery juice is good for that. If anyone has a source of pure (preferably organic) celery juice hit me up! She also recommended I try Black Forest tea for my chronic tummy issues. She mentioned Sceletium for my anxiety, all of which are plant based medicines.
Tass does not know my past and my history enough to be able to know about these painful areas. It was pretty amazing that she just zeroed in on them all one by one.
Tass said she could see my guides, a male and a female Native American as well as an Appaloosa horse. Since I was a child I was obsessed with horses, especially appaloosas. I had plastic figures of them a a child that I played with constantly and a beautiful silver one with a flowing white mane was my fave.
Just when we thought we were finished with that portion of the session, the spirits told Tass of an exercise they needed me to do. I had to build a representative figure of me out of leaves on the ground. I cleared a section of the ground and did so just by raking up handfuls of leaves. When I stood back to look at it there were sticks poking up in all of the areas where Tass did the energy clearings! It was a bit freaky. Spirit then worked through Tass to guide me in saying out loud words to repeat to heal myself “through the planes, the dimensions, the generations, 7 generations behind me and 7 generations after me” and other words I have unfortunately forgotten.
We then moved across to the pallet Tass had made on our arrival and I lay down and Tass covered me with a blanket despite the warmth of the morning. Tass started drumming and taking me on a drum journey into a deep trance like state led by the heartbeat of the drum. She told me to visualise standing on a mountain and that all around me were trees with different coloured leaves showing the changing of the seasons. My mind immediately went to the Cherokee Mountains which are always so beautiful at this time of year. Tass walked me down a path, through a waterfall, along a river and finally into a long house. My Native American ancestors were there circling around the fire, and encircling them were my European ancestors. I joined them in the circle around the fire.
After the session Tass said that it was very unusual to see both European and Native American ancestors and that they are obviously working together. I told her about the history of the area where I grew up and the Cherokee people intermarrying with the Celts. Tass laughed and showed me the Celtic band saying that she never wears jewelry when doing a journey but spirit just popped it on to her hand.
The message that came through from Tass in my drum journey was that all of the Native Ancestors in the circle were to reach deep inside our hearts and souls and grab the sticky cluster of pain that is the result of the damage from colonisation of our people, the rape of our women, the theft and murder of our children, the shame brought to those of Two Spirits and the oppression of our people for generations and generations. After we gathered all of this pain up we all put it into our bowls and then we put the bowls in the fire to be consumed.
Next, one of the elder’s stepped forward. He was not the highest ranking in the group, i.e. not a chief, he was the eldest of the group of my ancestors. I was handed a gift by the Elder. It looked like something wrapped in very thin animal skins. I made my goodbyes and left the lodge.
Then Tass took me back the way I had come, out of the longhouse, along the path, past the waterfall and along the river until we climbed back up the mountain to the top. Tass then gently brought me back to the present and fully awake.
Afterwards, I felt like an anvil had been lifted off of my head. My back felt straight. My neck felt free to move with no restrictions. It was similar to treatment by a chiropractor where after realignment to your proper structure your body feels loose, but slightly bruised. I felt so light as if my soul was a balloon barely held down to earth by a fine cord.
The next morning I awoke knowing what the gift that my elder gave me was. My ancestors were giving me The Truth of our history and asking me to pass that truth onto the world. The true story of the crimes done over the centuries to indigenous people all over the world.
A few years ago during Black History month, each week I wrote about a different historical event or horrific thing done to the American blacks and people of colour. This not only educated many of my readers but the research made me learn about the historical racism present in the US. None of these things were taught to me in school and the history of the oppression and torture of my ancestors is the same.
So from next week I will be doing this to educate myself and my readers.
You can contact Tass via her website: http://www.right-relation.org/ You will benefit in whatever manner that spirit wants you to benefit. ❤
Tass sent a link to me about milkwoods and I discovered this page where you can Donate a Tree. If you have international money you can make a big difference with very little money.
On Sunday I had drumming practice. We are practicing for the local Dance to Heal The Earth. Usually after drumming I am buzzing with positive energy as I was last month when we drummed for the first time as a group. But this week someone new arrived with a very heavy, almost frenetic and dark energy and I found it very hard to cope with. She spent the first few moments of our arrival telling us how horrid things had been for her (and they had!) but I absorbed all of that energy. I would have grounded and protected myself if I had known I was risking running into such energy but as I said usually drumming is my church and my place of happiness. This person is also a bit controlling and we wasted a lot of time on nonsense when we are under such time pressure to be prepared for the dance early next year. The Chief is supposed to lead us but was so distracted by this person. I found it really challenging and I was getting extremely stressed. It is ceremony and we cannot disrespect the dance by floundering around, we need to be support for the dancers. I will need to ask Spirit about this whole thing as I shall not attend if it is stressing me, that is the complete opposite reason for drumming.
On the way home I expressed all of my anxiety to Norm who said to me he could not believe the difference in my energy from the day before after spending time with Tass vs how I was almost twitching after drumming. I realised I needed to cleanse myself of that energy rather than spread it to others as it had been so carelessly passed onto me, so I used the tools that Tass had taught me.
I went into the garden and did a few deep breathes and chose a solid, strong tree and I put my palms on the tree and I asked it to please remove the negative energy from me and to push it deep into the ground where it could do no harm. I held on until I felt calmer. I thanked the tree for doing this energy exchange with me and I then asked Norm if he would open the swimming pool for me as I felt a desperate need to submerge my head in the ice cold pool water.
The water was a bit cloudy as we have not yet used the pool this year, but it was acceptable. It was icy cold and I loved the feeling of going under and pushing off across the freezing water, eyes tightly clenched. Finn came for a swim with me and afterwards we chilled in the garden. I had recently bought some new swimsuits and cover ups to reward myself for weight loss and I love them all. This suit below is hidden but it is bright turquoise and has a 1950’s pinup style top. The happy yellow coverup is like a ray of sunshine.
Norm has now started building a new patio for me at the corner of the pool area. This is the only shady corner of the garden near my bird feeders. This my people, is unconditional love. Expending your time and energy doing something for someone just because it makes them happy? Or, as an OCD Dyson-addict maybe he is doing it to stop me sitting there in the dirt and then tracking dirt all over his clean floors? That is a real glass half empty / half full range of motion going on in my head as always. AKA “Life with a Virgo”.
I wanted a little set of chairs and a table for the new seating area and I spotted some gorgeous metal chairs on Facebook marketplace on Monday. I thought that they were a fair price and Norm went to collect them for me in a nearby village.
So two of them will be put on the new patio when it is finished and two are at the end of the top patio above the pool. Perfect! I was very pleased with my purchase. Lola is happy to join me there when I watched the birds.
Of course Finn and Pixie are always underfoot.
I found the perfect little table for the new shady area and once that arrives (in plus or minus 21 days according to Builders) I am sorted for summer.
I will have a chair in lots of different corners of the garden and I won’t have to haul them about if I want to move into the shade. We gave away the two large concrete benches by the pool as they took up too much space now that we have the pool cover. We are looking for a second hand wooden or metal bench to put by the pool to plonk your towel on or for mom’s to sit near their kiddies when swimming.
As the week went on I continued to experience some very interesting things which definitely felt like they were a result of the healing work with Tass. I had a wee nose bleed. My nose threw out a good spot of blood then it stopped. My ears kept popping. (Tass had cleared energy from around my ears). I had a load of wind as if someone stuck a pin in a balloon, and one morning I woke from a vision of Tass grabbing my colon (stay with me here) and giving it a shake and then she morphed into my grandmother grabbing a snake by the tail and giving it a shake to slam it’s head on the ground and then chopping off it’s head. My grandmother would then hang the snake in the fork of a tree to bring rain. That part of the vision is true by the way, my grandmother did that.
Did it work? I have no memory of the effectiveness thereof unfortunately. It now sounds so cruel as I love snakes. But in ‘the country’ (that was what we called where I grew up but it is aka ‘the outback’/ ‘them there hills’/’in the bush’ or whatever your local country terms the arse end of nowhere) you have to make sure the snakes do not kill your cats and dogs (or grandkids) and that was what she did. She protected us.
Another morning I woke up and remembered (when you cannot see them you forget they exist) that I have a huge tattoo on the same shoulder that Tass pulled the tomahawk from! It was done years ago as a tribute to my ancestors and is a feather and bear claw on a ribbon / leather thong. Tass has never seen my back and does not know that so her vision was not at all related to the tattoo. In fact my unconscious maybe knew about the trauma and that was my way of making amends to the ancestors? Either way I found it all really thought provoking!
My mind was whirring with all of the knowledge coming at me all week.
On Thursday my consulting house had our year end function. It was very close to me at 12 Apostles Hotel. Norm kindly dropped me off and when I got out of the truck I waved a cheery good-bye to Norm and went around to the back to kiss Finn goodbye. A man was walking nearby who laughed himself silly and then followed me to the same function as he is also an employee. Obviously he told everyone at the event who also thought it was funny. My boy Finn.
We had booked the Braai area which sits up behind the hotel and the rock pool.
We had 3 menus to choose from and I chose the seafood menu.
We all mingled and imbibed plenty of wine. This is a pic of me and some of the Data Architecture team.
This is my work pal Sally and I. I love Sally to bits, she is very similar to me in many ways and we have a lot of laughs together as we have the same snarky sense of humour.
The views were exceptional and from our seats we could see the whales jumping in the sea, flashing their tails at us and blowing water out of their spouts. It was absolutely magical!
First we all had an individual starter served at our seats. I cannot express how divine this was! The soy jelly was so salty and was the perfect accompaniment for the trout. It was like eating sushi without the rice. I adored this and could have eaten about 4 plates and been happy with nothing else.
Then they started bringing out dish after dish of delightful looking sides and meat dishes and we all piled our plates high with happiness.
Just when we thought we could not eat another bite, they came around offering either rice pudding or the lemon and raspberry dessert that went with the seafood menu. This dessert was just so gorgeous. The lemon tart was creamy, the lemon curd sharp and sour, the raspberries fresh and tangy. The crunch from the little crispy drop of meringue and the macaron were the perfect balance. I really enjoyed every bite of this dish.
We all hung out until the sun started to set then I rang for Norm to collect me and I wobbled off home happily. I had such a brilliant day and felt very spoiled.
This weekend Norm is working on my patio and I am going to do some gardening and some drumming on my own. My drum is in need of some attention and I am in need of the drum beat.
I hope you have a lovely weekend and week ahead. Until next time, Kisses from the Kitten xoxoxoxox
Kitten in the City 
I thoroughly enjoyed your musings…particularly of your experience when you went to Tess. I was having a little smile wondering if any indigenous locals were watching the feather work she did and thinking “what sorcery is this!?”
You write beautifully 😍
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Thank you so much! There was a group of young people playing music and singing and I did wonder what they thought of our drumming and vocalising! xx
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