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The Human Touch: why AI won’t be part of my work as a celebrant and author


The world is changing. There’s no question of that. I’ve long held the belief that to live and thrive in this world it’s not so much ‘survival of the fittest’ but ‘survival of those who can adapt’. And this has always served me well both in terms of being a risk taker and rolling with life’s pulls and punches. It’s a kind of shape shifting that allows me to bend, like a willow, and make my way in the world no matter what. Increasingly, though, there’s an aspect to this world, and specifically how it impacts my work as a celebrant, celebrant trainer and author, where I have been questioning just how much I adapt to those changes. Am I just an old ‘fuddy duddy’ now I’m almost 56? Am I behind the times? Is it time to hang up my celebrant hat? I’m referring to the widespread use of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

 



Bit by bit I’ve watched changes in the celebrant world, for example: celebrants using Kindle or some other technology to read their script from during a ceremony or various apps and programmes to store their client information. The latest intrusions into this world include celebrants outsourcing their scripts to other celebrants/writers and also the use of AI to write their scripts.

 



Here’s where I stand: I will never use a technological device from which to read my script. Apart from the aesthetics (my main aversion), there is also the risk of the device not performing on the day (for all manner of reasons). I also use good old-fashioned diaries and calendar to keep track of my dates (no risk of technological failure/theft), and use my funeral and wedding planners for essential details. I’m not suggesting it’s wrong for a celebrant to use a Kindle or to use an app like 17 Hats. I’m simply saying that it’s not my way. In the same way that I feel holding an A4 folder looks clunky compared to a smaller A5 one.

 



When it comes to outsourcing the writing of scripts to AI or other celebrants, I feel ill at the thought. (Ditto the number of professional authors now using AI to write books so they can publish more often.) What happened to heart? What about the joy of creativity? Surely this is what we want to bring to this work?

 


If someone employs me to be their celebrant, then they are choosing ME to create and dream and write their ceremony into being through my experience, imagination, creativity, wisdom, intuition, awareness and so on. AI CAN NOT DO THIS.

When someone buys one of the books I’ve written, they are buying non-fiction books based on my experience, skills and wisdom, or fiction books based on my imagination and creativity. AI CAN NOT DO THIS for me.

Are we, as humans, becoming so far removed from what it is to be human that we think and feel it’s ok, indeed preferable, to rely on technology rather than heart and the creative fire?

And if we’re going to outsource to another human then for reasons of ethics, integrity and data protection this needs to be clearly stated at the outset on one’s website and in all communications. The buyer of your services needs to know that they’re NOT getting your services! Outsourcing the writing of scripts has become prevalent in this industry. 

 



The celebrant industry (and make no mistake, it has become an industry whereby some celebrant trainers and celebrants have completely forgotten or never knew or understood the true purpose of ceremony and the place of a celebrant) is changing rapidly, for better and for worse, in ways that would have seemed incomprehensible to me when I started on this path in 1995. I’ve had so many moments in the past few years of not wanting to be part of this changing ‘industry’. It’s so far out of alignment with my approach to celebrancy that, despite my view and ability to ‘adapt’ to changes, I’ve contemplated walking away many times. And yet, I’m still here. I remain, for now. Why? I’m here for those people who understand (even if they can’t articulate it) ceremony to be a liminal place in time whereby the celebrant holds the space for those crossing the threshold (regardless of the rite of passage). I don’t, and never will, see rituals (such as handtying) as some sort of parlour game or joke or that it’s acceptable for people to arrive at a ceremony half drunk.

I can hand on heart say I will never outsource my work to AI or another celebrant. My sense of reverence for ceremony and the rituals within it don’t mean that I’m devoid of humour or can’t create a bespoke ceremony for a fun-loving couple or family wishing a joyous celebration of life. Far from it. What it does mean is that I understand the purpose of ceremony, and at each step of the way bring my whole heart, creativity, reverence, integrity and care.

 

 



To be clear: I’m not against technology. I’m writing on a laptop. I am grateful that I have a car and that a washing machine cleans my clothes rather than me standing all day long scrubbing them and wringing the water out of each item. These things all have a place in this world. I’m not against change or advancement. Ceremonies and storytelling, though? Let’s keep the heart there. In this rapidly changing world, we need it more than ever. Let us not lose touch with compassion, empathy, kindness, humour, wisdom, awareness of body language, curiosity and creativity, and dare I say: our innate sense of spirituality.

The day I don’t bring the human touch to my work as a celebrant, celebrant trainer and author is the day I step away.

 



Veronika Robinson has been a celebrant since 1995, officiating across all rites of passage, and is the co-owner and co-tutor at Heart-led Ceremonies Celebrant Training in Cumbria. It brings her great joy to, alongside her husband Paul, teach others the sacred art of creating ceremonies from the heart.

She’s the author of over 30 books including the popular books for celebrants: Write That Eulogy; The Successful Celebrant; Wedding Celebrant Ceremony Planner; Funeral Celebrant Ceremony Planner; and coming soon: Funerals for Children; and Discrimination-free Celebrancy. On a daily basis, she is connected to the natural world and draws her inspiration from there.

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Silent Wedding Vows

Silence is golden, my mother often used to say to me. I see now that it was code for the fact I talked too much as a child!

Kahlil Gibran, the Lebanese poet, wrote in his book The Prophet:

“You talk when you cease to be at peace with your thoughts;
And when you can no longer dwell in the solitude of your heart you live in your lips, and sound is a diversion and a pastime.
And in much of your talking, thinking is half murdered.”


My brother Rene and his partner Chantal invited me to be the celebrant for their wedding in Australia in August. I was really taken with their last-minute idea of ‘silent vows’. Now, knowing my brother, it was probably due to the fact that neither of them had time to write vows! He assures me that what he really wanted to do was give them to her telepathically. If I put my cynic to one side, I am swept away by the beauty and romance of keeping this intimate moment of a wedding simply for each other’s ears and hearts.

There have been many times I’ve asked clients about their handwritten vows, and I’m eagerly given a bit of paper with their handwriting scrawled along each line. In some cases, these words have arisen straight from their heart. I’ve had moments in ceremonies where I’ve struggled to keep my tears inside because the words were so incredibly beautiful, raw and honest. On just as many occasions, I’ve read them and thought “oh hello Google”, as I’d heard the very same thing at previous weddings.

 

And then there are some couples who don’t write vows (or nab ‘em off Google) because the idea of standing in front of a gathering of friends and family to share their deepest feelings is way beyond their comfort levels. And that’s okay too.

 

Silent vows offer a wonderful way for couples to share their intimacy before their friends and family, but with the words kept safely for each other.

Photographs of Rene and Chantal exchanging their sacred silent vows by www.benbroady.com

 

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Penrith’s Woodland Burial Site

At the top end of Penrith’s cemetery, up on the hill overlooking town, there is a quiet oasis: a little haven away from the busyness of town. It’s the Woodland Burial Site.

 

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Woodland Burial Site, Penrith, Cumbria

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A peaceful haven: Woodland Burial Site

 

It’s fair to say that most people don’t think about how they will honour their loved ones or themselves after death in terms of funeral choices and disposal of the body.

 

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Penrith Cemetery

 

Increasingly, however, as people become more aware of the huge impact the funeral industry has on the planet, some are taking active steps towards honouring Mother Earth by choosing a low-impact burial. What does this mean?

 

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Penrith’s woodland burial site

 

It is about burying a body that hasn’t been filled with formaldehyde (which is used to preserve the body so a funeral can be delayed for a week or longer). Some people recognise that an eco burial also means thinking about the coffin. In some instances, families will choose not to use a coffin, though there a many eco ones on the market, and use, instead, something like a shroud. The only legal requirement is that the body not be seen. It is not a legal requirement to use a coffin.

 

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wildflowers on the woodland burial site

 

A woodland burial site doesn’t use headstones, but instead is a natural and holistic way of honouring death by allowing nature to grow unimpeded. Personally, I find it beautiful, simple and inspiring.

 

 

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A beautiful place

 

Oftentimes, people who have chosen the option of an eco burial will also practise home care: this is where the loved ones take care of the body, by keeping it cool with dry ice, and brushing the hair, cleaning the body, and keeping a vigil until the ceremony. Most people are unaware that using a funeral home is an option, not a necessity.

 

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Secluded and peaceful: Penrith’s Woodland Burial Site

 

 

We’re blessed in the Eden Valley to have such a wonderful resource as this woodland burial site, and I hope in time that it becomes the norm to bury our loved ones in this way (or on private land) as people move away from environmentally unfriendly cremations, headstones, and cemeteries that require constant upkeep through mowing and toxic weed killers.

 

Veronika Robinson is a funeral celebrant who is available to officiate ceremonies throughout Cumbria. Her work involves creating, writing and officiating ceremonies based on the wishes of her clients, and founded on their beliefs, whether they’re religious, humanist, spiritual or other. She is happy to work directly with families or via a funeral director. She is passionate about eco-burials, and opening up the conversation around death and dying in a conscious way. She is a supporter of the Natural Death Centre. https://www.veronikarobinson.com/celebrant/funerals-memorials.shtml

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Penrith’s woodland burial site

 

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Fatherhood is a sacred journey

Last night, my husband and I drove through heavy winds and torrential rain from Glasgow back home to our cosy cottage in rural Cumbria. We’d just left our younger daughter, Eliza, behind to begin her new life as a university student. Messages came through on my phone from friends asking me if I was ok. I guess they figured I’d be a blubbering mess: after all, I now live in a home with no children, and after 21 years of parenting, it’s a new land. Sure, the terrain is going to be different, but the traveller is well equipped for the journey.

 

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My overriding feeling, though, as we drove, was one of immense gratitude. That amazing man beside me, driving us safely through wind and rain, has been by my side every step of the parenting way. Not once did he ever say he was too tired to change a nappy, or rock a teething baby (even when he was up at 4am to work as a breakfast announcer on radio). On days when I flailed around hopelessly (and there were many), he was there, steady as a rock, providing practical support and humour by the bucket load.

 

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It might seem odd, given that I founded, edited and published a magazine solely dedicated to the holistic path of mothering for more than a decade, that I would today—the first day of living in a poorly named empty nest—be writing about the sacred journey of fatherhood. The truth is, though, that my path through mothering was made possible, and enhanced, by his constant high-level of awareness to my needs and those of our children.

 

 

Seconds after giving birth at home, by candlelight and Mozart, to my daughter Bethany.

My husband Paul catching our baby and passing her to me straight after birth.

 

Whatever decisions were made regarding our children, and there were many that flew in the face of popular culture, he was intimately part of and proactive in those choices. Not once, not in more than two decades of our parenting partnership, did I ever feel I was in the job alone.

 

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Parenting with another person is the ultimate business partnership. I used to joke with my daughters: don’t have sex with anyone you’re not prepared to have children with! But it’s not a joke, not really. The older (and hopefully, wiser) I get, the more conscious I become of the enormous responsibility and privilege it is to be a parent, and bring a new being Earthside. Surely the person we choose to share this parenting journey with should be up to the job? But, like mothering, there is no manual for being a fabulous father.

 

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To father consciously and from the heart means knowing one’s self, and constantly choosing ways of being and living that allow you to become the highest version of who you are. Sometimes this happens in the presence of children, and sometimes it doesn’t.

 

 

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I saw a post on Facebook this morning, which although was clearly meant in good humour, upset me quite a lot. Why? Because it was pretty much about how awful being married is, but you know, we stick at it anyway because that’s love. It went on and on about the fighting and screaming and inconsideration and suchlike that happens in parenting. I read it twice, and thought: that doesn’t happen in my home or marriage.

Did I just get lucky? Yeah, maybe. But actually, each of us is responsible for how we show up in relationship. It’s far too easy to blame our partner because they did or didn’t do something. If we truly love our partner, then we live in a way that respects them as well as ourselves. We only want the BEST for them. If that is the foundation of our marriage/partnership, then this absolutely flows into the relationship we have with our children.

 

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Many times over the years I’ve heard comments like: “If the dad bottle-feeds the baby he can bond with it.” NOT TRUE. This isn’t how bonding works. A bottle is an inanimate object. It does not connect father and child.

 

If a father truly wants to be connected to his child (and the child’s mother), he needs to spend time with them.

 

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It’s not just women who have hormones in relation to parenting, men do too.
Vasopressin (also in women, but to a much lesser degree) is a ‘monogamy’ hormone which promotes strong, paternal behaviour. This occurs when a man is living with his pregnant partner.

 

Testosterone drives a man, encourages aggression, and tempts him elsewhere. Vasopressin has the opposite effect. It encourages a father to be dedicated to his partner, protective, stable, and want to touch and be touched. It helps him bond with his baby. The hormone is triggered through being near to the mother in pregnancy, and with mother and child during and after birth. The ability of his body to interpret his partner’s hormones is due to him detecting the change in her pheromones (steroid hormones on her skin).

 

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Paul, Eliza and Beth

 

When my husband and I met, I invited him for dinner. He moved in the next day. Six weeks later, I was pregnant. Our relationship has been a creative partnership of raising two wonderful daughters. Now, as we explore life as a couple (thinking ‘honeymoon time’) without children to raise, I allow my heart to be filled with an immense ocean of gratitude for a man who not only loved me fully, as a wife, a woman, and a mother, but who always had time for our children. It has been a sacred journey, this path of loving our babies into adulthood. I know with absolute certainty that I couldn’t have been the mother I was without his excellent fathering skills.

 

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Oma and Grandalf

When I was a little girl, there were two women who were large in my life although I never had the pleasure to meet them in person. These women, my Omas, lived far across the world from me. I was born and raised in Australia, and my grandmothers lived in Germany. Even though they weren’t part of my daily life, and I never got to sit on their knees or hear their stories, they were every bit as present in my heart as other family members.

My Oma Minna (my father’s mother) would crochet me dresses. Oh the delight to open those parcels. She did this for years on end.

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Oma Minna Marie Herbers, 1929

When I was of writing age, I would exchange letters with my Oma Leiselotta. I was about ten or eleven when she died, and that was the first time I ever saw my mother cry. My heart broke that I would never get to meet her.

I keep their photos nearby, and often ‘chat’ with them in the spirit world. I have a kitchen oven hand protector that Oma Leiselotta once crocheted. It’s a simple thing, but it means the world to me, and has survived moving countries a number of times. Even at those times when I have whittled my whole life down to a suitcase or two, that yellow item of Oma-love comes with me.

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Perhaps it’s because I didn’t have my Omas in my childhood the way other children have grandmothers, and perhaps it’s because my daughters haven’t seen their Oma since 2005 (she lives in Tasmania, Australia), that I feel even more strongly about wanting to be a living, loving and generous presence in my new granddaughter’s life.

 

It was such a joy for me to meet our little Sarah Hope a few days ago. What a treasure! I am so in love with her. Throughout Beth’s pregnancy with her, Sarah would visit me in dreams. I remember one dream in particular where I was teaching her to say Oma, and she was repeating it after me.

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Kissing my beautiful new granddaughter, Sarah Hope, who was born on my husband’s birthday.

One of the first things women who are already grandmothers ask me is “what are you called? Granny, Nan, Nana, Nanny, Grandmother?” I proudly say: OMA. For as long as I can remember, it has felt such a special word to me, and I will wear that title with joy for the rest of my days on this earth.

(I treasure this little video clip of me meeting Sarah)

For anyone who knows my husband, Funny Boy Paul, you won’t be surprised to know that he isn’t going to have a regular Grandpa tag! He jokingly said one day that he could be Grandalf! (for those who aren’t familiar with Lord of the Rings, there is an old man in there called Gandalf). Anyway, the name stuck! So, here we are, at a new point in our lives (Eliza leaves home this week for Glasgow University). We’ve become grandparents to gorgeous Sarah, and we’re about to experience life without children in the home.

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Grandalf with his beautiful granddaughter, Sarah, born on his birthday: August 25th

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Paul and Sarah.

What adventures await Oma and Grandalf!

 

Paul Robinson. Veronika Robinson. Sarah Carlile

We love Sarah to bits! I could just kiss her all over! She’s so scrumptious.

 

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Our daughter Eliza getting to know her new niece, Sarah.

 

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My first role as Oma, apart from congratulating Beth and Chris on becoming parents, and giving kisses and cuddles to my beautiful new granddaughter, Sarah, was to make soups for my daughter’s freezer to sustain her through the Babymoon. A bit of edible mother love, so to speak.

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I made two huge pots of soup from my recipe book The Mystic Cookfire.

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Saturn Crossing the Ascendant (Astrologer’s Notebook)

When Saturn first kissed my ascendant, a few days before Christmas last year, my elder daughter and I were sitting in the car at the train station. She’d just got off the train from university, and wanted a chat with me before I drove her home for Christmas break.

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I wrote an article for Dell Horoscope magazine about my love of the planet Saturn.

 

 

I had been wondering for months, maybe longer, what Saturn crossing my ascendant would tell me. As a Capricorn, Saturn is strong in my natal chart. I was determined it would be a conscious transit, and not wipe me out. After all, I love Saturnian energy. By nature, I’m disciplined, focussed, determined, a planner, reliable, responsible and every other Saturnian word.

“I’m pregnant,” she said to me casually waiting to see my reaction.

I almost had to laugh at how literal Saturn’s message was. Saturn, the great marker of time and age, was slap bang on my ascendant (identity). So, I am going to become a grandmother. This was the most amazing news, and I was overjoyed!

I knew at some point Saturn would retrograde, and discovered it would come back to this exact point at the time my grandchild was due to come Earthside, and also at the time my younger daughter would leave home for university.

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Enjoying this last bit of time with Eliza before she leaves home for university.

 

So, my precious, beautiful, delightful, gorgeous granddaughter, Sarah Hope Carlile, has arrived Earthside. And what a joy! She also happened to arrive on my husband’s 68th birthday. Becoming a grandfather for the first time was a pretty awesome gift.

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Late at night on Paul’s birthday upon hearing the news that our granddaughter and niece had arrived Earthside. Oh the joy!!

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Sarah Hope

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Chris, Beth and Sarah

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A natural waterbirth makes Sarah a 2nd-generation waterbaby! In 1995, I set up the National Waterbirth Trust in New Zealand to help other women access information on birthing in water.

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And in nine days Eliza leaves for university, officially leaving me with ‘an empty nest’. Well, whoever came up with that term clearly has no idea that my life is anything but empty. But what is true is that Saturn crossing the threshold (over my ascendant), at the same time as my Chiron return (in my 5th house), is bringing change to who I am. I have invested twenty-one years of my life as a mother, for the most part in quite concentrated ways, such as home educating and publishing a holistic parenting publication for twelve years of that time span.

I may be a ‘young’ grandmother (48), but I plan to be a fit, healthy, happy and fab one.

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My first run after becoming an Oma (grandmother). I intend to be one fit grandmother to our beautiful Sarah. Thanks to Saturn on my Sagittarius ascendant right now, I am discovering the discipline that comes from using my legs (Sadge rules thighs/upper legs)

 

I have had many dreams of Sarah during her mother’s pregnancy, and if there is one thing I learned in that time, this little girl will have quite a sense of humour. Our synastry shows that our bond will be strong, despite the miles between us. I look forward to getting to know her, and watching her parents blossom as their family life unfolds.

Next week, I will wave off my other daughter as she flies the nest and explores this amazing thing called life.

The family home will always be open to my little chicks, but oh my how full my heart feels to watch them flying, flying, flying.

Saturn may be considered a karmic planet, but let us remember that karma isn’t ‘bad’. It is the story of what you sow, shall you reap.

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Astrologer’s Notebook: Life on Two Feet

One of my strongest childhood memories from school days was the humiliation of coming last in running races. Every single bloody time! And not just a little bit last, but a loooooong way last. Even though I was a bean pole of a kid, all skinny and gangly, my legs felt like lead. It was like running with a concrete building perched on top of me. I was not built for speed. That certainly didn’t change over the years! What I did learn to do was find a way to wangle sports days, and instead would head off down to the Condamine River, and there I would swim naked with the school boys who also fancied leaving the running to other people.

 

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The Condamine River, Warwick, Qld, Australia

 

A couple of years ago, after having private laboratory testing for my adrenal and thyroid health, the report came back with the firm message: medically advised not to exercise. It was like a kick in the guts. I’d been carrying excess weight for a number of years that wouldn’t shift regardless of calorie restriction or exercise. Being told that exercise was injurious to my health was the last straw. I, being a determined Capricorn, continued to walk, and added weight-resistance exercises to my daily life. I kept cardio limited to walking and use of the recumbent bike and a little bit on the rowing machine. Over the past two years I’ve slowly built my body up and have learnt to become friends with it after feeling betrayed by it for so long. I took up swimming and aquafit classes, too, until swimming in water for several hours a week had a negative impact (chlorine is one of the worst things for the thyroid).

I have so often felt at my wits’ end, and the frustration of living a healthy lifestyle, but having a body which doesn’t reflect that, has many times left me questioning everything I’ve learnt about nutrition and health. It would be (and has, at times, been) too easy to fall into victim mode, but each day is a new day and I keep searching, exploring, and experiencing ways to be as healthy as possible.

One thing I have learnt is that stress of any description is a massive endocrine interrupter and is no one’s friend.

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I’m not sure what inspired it really, maybe it was watching my friend Sara learn to run, but I got to the point of thinking: I have to do something radically different. I have to do something my body isn’t expecting or thinks it can do.

I found myself standing in the magazine section at the supermarket looking at publications of interest: Vegan Life, Gluten Free, Yoga, Gardening, Rural Landscapes, etc.

Women’s Running magazine sat there as if to say ‘why not?’ I laughed at the idea. Me, run? Don’t be stupid! Apart from having a body that doesn’t run: big (okay, huge) breasts, legs like lead, shoulders which have dislocated more than a dozen times, poor adrenal history, low thyroid; the magazine whispered something to me. I left it on the shelf.

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A bit of bedtime reading!

 

Each week I’d pass the magazine section, and it would catch my eye. I wasn’t stupid enough to pick it up!

And then one day I noticed our local gym was going to start a Couch to 5k programme. Essentially you go from being a non-runner to learning to run 5kms over the space of about 9 weeks. I was on the verge of signing up. What stopped me? Was it because it was Winter and I was scared of slipping on ice? Yep, good reason not to do it! The last thing my shoulders need is for me to sleep up and cause more injuries to an already fragile body.

The REAL reason I didn’t sign up was actually because I thought my pelvic floor wouldn’t hold up. I’ve been on trampolines and rebounders, and figured running would have the same impact, and frankly, I didn’t fancy peeing my pants in public. So, I let go of the idea.

I felt like I’d let myself down, big time, but continued walking for half an hour on the treadmill (at 6kms an hour) several days a week, as a warm up to my weight-resistance work. Each day I could feel myself becoming stronger and faster.

Some months later, I googled C25k again. I read through the programme, and searched people’s success stories. What if I ran on my own, somewhere near home, where no one would see me? It was a Thursday, and I decided that come Monday I’d give it a go. I love Mondays, and knew it would be a good day of the week to start. However, the next day was a beautiful sunny Friday morning. I was out walking collecting feathers to use on an altar for a wedding I was due to officiate the following day. The Sun felt fabulous on my skin. I was alive, and happy with life, and suddenly the thought overwhelmed me: start C25k right now! And my legs moved. They moved! I looked at my watch and checked the time. And that’s how my first day of running started.

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No matter which way I run out of our village, I am blessed with beautiful scenery.

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I love running through woodland

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Saturn was conjunct my ascendant. I love Saturn. Most astrologers and students of astrology pass on the idea that it’s a malefic planet which brings no good. But I love Saturn. It’s the Wise Elder of the zodiacal system. Saturn, to me, is the Fairy Godmother dressed in Crone’s clothing. She teaches us about plans, goals, discipline, and just getting on with things. She is the Goddess of Responsibility, and when we embrace that life is a pleasure rather than a slap in the face. I adore how Saturn just gets on with it all, without a fuss, and makes things happen.

 

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A day I will remember! This was my first run as an Oma (grandmother!) I felt so high with love and joy about the birth of beautiful Sarah Hope, and each step felt like a breeze. I was covered in sweat in this pic, and so glad to be alive.

 

I’m now in week five of this programme (I had a week or so off between week 4 and 5 due to being away on work commitments) and am in absolute AWE at how I have adapted to life on two feet. My body wakes up and expects me to run, and the hardest thing for me at the moment is ensuring I have rest days in between so my muscles and heart have time to heal and process the increased work load. Yesterday I could have run twice. For someone who wasn’t a runner, I most definitely am one now. I am blessed to have had this transit of Saturn over my Sagittarius ascendant (Sadge rules thighs/upper legs). Every time I run, I tell myself: I am fit, I am healthy, I am strong, I have powerful legs.

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My daughter Eliza started C25k a week or so after me. She prefers to run in the evening, but on this occasion we ran together one night. Such fun!

 

I love the discipline of running: one foot after the other. Some days, the first part can feel like hard work, but by the end of the session my legs have loosened and warmed up.

 

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It’s an amazing feeling to be outside at dawn and be part of the Earth waking up for the day

 

The runner’s high is real, people! Running sets me up for the rest of the day. It’s like a happiness drug times ten. This past week Mars, the planet of drive, energy, passion and athleticism, has travelled over my ascendant, too. Bonus! All that extra high-octane energy pumping through my leg muscles. I feel ever so grateful for it.

Often by week five of the Couch to 5k programme, people are considering pulling out. But Mars has given me a boost, and I can really get a sense that in one month from now I’m going to be able to run FIVE kilometres without stopping. Just over a month ago, running for one minute was monumental, and frankly, I thought I might just die when my heart pounded so much. I’m barely aware of my heart now when I’m running.

I love to run in the mornings (the ascendant in our natal chart rules sunrise), and I get such a buzz being out the door while my family sleeps, and then watching the Sun rise over the hills.

There is a whole world in every step that I take: the breeze through the wheat fields; geese on high; birdsong; wildflowers in bloom; brambles, early morning mist shrouding the horizon, a red hot air balloon gracing the sky, hares bounding through the fields. Alone with my thoughts, I am creating not only a healthy and fit body, but a way of life in which I carve out some time for me where I am free of distractions. One step at a time.

 

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There are no words for being awake, alive and experiencing a new day come into being. Sunrise here in the Eden Valley.

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Sunrise through the trees

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Mist over the river

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Peak-hour traffic

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My natal Saturn is in Aries (the athlete). For 48 years, I have felt held back in terms of body movement (I was expelled from ballet class aged five for not being able to touch my toes!!). And now, Saturn, that Goddess of time, aging, discipline and dedication, is showing me that: if you have a body, you’re an athlete. Consciously using the energy of Saturn allows us to become the ‘author’ of that part of our chart, and the energy it contains. Bit by bit I am learning about the best way to use Aries, both physically and emotionally.

 

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A gentle read by a Japanese novelist about his experience of running

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One of the BEST books I’ve read in a long time. So inspirational. It’s about so much more than running: it is about life, love, the power of the mind, and about being the best we can be.

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From Your Pace of Mine? by Lisa Jackson

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As much as I am a Sun worshipper (I am an Aussie girl stuck in the cold north of England), I really love running in the rain

Veronika Robinson is the author of many books, both fiction and non-fiction.
I Create My Day: simple ways to create a beautiful and nourishing life, is one of her most recent publications. All her books are available as signed copies from www.veronikarobinson.com She is a second-generation astrologer, a women’s mentor, and a celebrant (weddings, funerals, namings, and other rites of passage) who officiates ceremonies throughout Cumbria.

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The Spider Grandmother: living the life of the red thread

In Native American myth, The Spider Grandmother (Spider Woman), created all life by spinning her web, and connected all living life together using her magical thread.

 

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The web that is woven in myth also symbolises how we weave a life for ourselves, and have the ability to always choose what and when to thread next; which way to weave, and, of course, how to weave. Spider woman teaches us that we are all connected.

As a celebrant, I have many red threads that I have been blessed to acquire over the years. The Blessingway ceremonies I officiate almost always feature the red-thread ritual. I have my old ones woven into old journals, and used as bookmarks. The miles may separate us, and the years may roll forward with increasing speed, but these women, with whom I once sat in sacred circle, remain connected with me through time and space.

The reason I choose red for the thread is because it is the colour of blood, and is what links all humans. During a Blessingway ceremony, the ball of hemp or wool is passed to the pregnant guest of honour who then wraps it around her wrist several times. She throws the ball across the circle to one of her guests. That woman also wraps it around her wrist several times before throwing it to someone else in the circle. This continues until everyone is linked into the web. This circle is a wonderful symbol of connection.

The guest of honour cuts the string each side of her wrist, and then cuts the string around the circle. Each guest wears the string until she hears the joyous news that the baby has been born.

Even after the string is cut, we recognise our connection: that we all still come from the same ball of yarn. Women of the medicine wheel sense this energetically, and really feel connected to the circle in the weeks to come, and for some of us, for years to come.

As I prepare to cross the threshold to becoming a grandmother (a beautiful expression of Saturn conjunct my ascendant, by transit), I am mindful of Spider Grandmother and the red thread. Around my wrist is a red thread with three beads. One to represent me: grandmother. One for my daughter: mother. And one for baby: child.

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Motherhood is written within each of us whether or not we are mothers, daughters, sisters or friends. Even if we have never given birth, the code of motherhood is within.

Seconds after giving birth at home, by candlelight and Mozart, to my daughter Bethany.

Seconds after giving birth at home, by candlelight and Mozart, to my daughter Bethany.

I call in my ancient mothers, now, those who’ve walked before me and birthed babies, to gather together in spirit and guide and protect my daughter as she transitions from maiden to mother. Birth is an experience that in our culture almost fully focuses on the physical, but is equally emotional, sexual, mental and spiritual. We are never more open in life than when we give birth. When we say ‘yes’ to this, the whole Universe rushes forward and claps!

I wait now for baby. Poised. Grateful. A heart filled with SO much love for this human being that once lived in my womb as an unfertilised egg. An egg of promise. An egg of beauty. An egg of wisdom.

An egg… that is waiting to tell a story.

 

Veronika Robinson is the author of many books, fiction and non-fiction, which honour the story of motherhood, including The Blessingway, Cycle to the Moon, and Sisters of the Silver Moon. She is also a celebrant and an astrologer.

www.veronikarobinson.com

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The Blessingway: creating a beautiful blessingway ceremony

The Blessingway: creating a beautiful blessingway ceremony

 

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Astrologer’s Notebook: Gifts from the family tree

As I eagerly await the birth of my first grandchild, I can’t help looking at the alignment of the planets, and wondering just where those personal planets will fall exactly. I already see how her birth will impact me (and herself/himself, of course) through the outer planets. (If she’s born while Venus is in Leo, it will fall in my 9th house of grandchildren, indicating to me that she is, in fact, a girl.)

 

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My gorgeous aunties

 

What intrigues me is the place of ancestry and family of origin in the natal chart. What I do know, with certainty, is that this baby will have personal (inner) planets in either Leo or Virgo, or both. These are such strong themes and archetypes on our side of the family.

My MC (midheaven: the highest/most visible part of the birth chart) is Leo ~ the storyteller (novelist) and performer (celebrant), not to mention editing a magazine for twelve years about raising children (another Leo theme) consciously. I have Saturn resident in the natural home of Leo: the fifth house. It’s a deeply creative house, as well as being considered the house of children. I also have my Chiron (wounded healer/teacher) and North Node (soul’s purpose) there, in the house of Leo (5th house).

 

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females in my family tree

 

I have three planets in industrious Virgo, and Lilith in my 6th house (the natural home of Virgo). And that’s just me!

My husband has Mercury and the Sun in Virgo, and Pluto, Eros and Saturn in Leo.

My daughter Eliza has a Virgo ascendant, North node in Virgo and a crazily jam-packed sixth house. Her fifth house (Leo’s natural home) is blessed with Venus, Mercury and Neptune resident there.

My mother has Neptune conjunct Moon in Virgo, and although I don’t have her birth time, am almost certain her Jupiter is in the 6th house. My mother’s mother was a Virgo.

My father had Moon in Leo and Neptune in Virgo.

 

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My ancestresses

Obviously this blessed baby is going to have DNA from her father’s side, too, but one thing is certain: we are not born blank slates. It’s understood that when we’re born we are encoded with every thought our parents had up to the point of birth, every thought their parents had, and so on for seven generations. Frankly, I find it quite scary! On the positive side, though, and certainly when I look at my grandchild’s family line on her mother’s side, there is an immense amount of creativity and skill to draw upon. She will be our fingertips as she steps forward into the future. Oh what a joy it will be to watch her create her life! I trust that whatever we have achieved, enjoyed and learnt, will be there in her DNA for her to claim, if she chooses, as helpful and useful in this journey called life.

 

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Not long to wait now 🙂

Leo: the storyteller, actor, performer, children, creative flair, fire, drama, great hair!, solar energy.

Virgo: nutrition, health and well-being, earthy, mind, body and soul health, apprenticeships, mastery, perfection, attention to detail, editing, writing, gardening.

Veronika Robinson is a second-generation astrologer with an international practice. She works by Skype, and also offers face-to-face consultations from her home in Cumbria. www.veronikarobinson.com/astrologer

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Finding Balance During Turbulence

If you’ve ever been on an aeroplane during turbulence, you’ll know how unsettling it can be. Life itself can feel like that too, can’t it? You’re just going along, minding your own business, and then —whoosh!— the air currents become unstable, and you lose your centre!

 

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Recently, I published my book I Create My Day: simple and beautiful ways to create a nourishing life. At its heart, the message is about discovering spiritual grace. It provides the tools for, hopefully, creating less turbulence in your life, and for recognising that you have the inner tools and resources for navigating any turbulence you might fly into on any given day.

 

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For the most part, I have now created a life fairly free of turbulence. However, I live in a world that involves other humans, and this in itself offers just the ingredients that set faulty air currents into motion! I have, many times over the years, been left speechless by what appears, to my mind, a lack of awareness, consideration or respect between humans. For example, if someone says they’ll do something for you, or agrees to arrange something, and then they don’t. Why I still, after all these years, expect people to honour their commitments is beyond me. (laughing). We’re all wired differently, and while integrity, keeping one’s word, honouring sacred space, awareness, taking responsibility, etc., is something I adhere to, I am (still) learning that these are my values and not necessarily anyone else’s.

 

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Turbulence came into my yesterday from easily six different sources. I found myself reacting emotionally in ways that weren’t pleasant for my body, and at complete odds with the centred, balanced place within that I have strived to create more and more with each passing day. I found myself becoming increasingly angry because other people were acting in ways that were, at best, inconsiderate and selfish. But, you know what? The only person suffering was me.

 

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Do I feel any different today? Yes, I do, and this is because of two things:
1.) I gave thanks. I truly expressed gratitude for each of those situations, even though they are not what I expected or would have consciously chosen.

 

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2.) I remembered my golden rule of: every thought and feeling is a choice. No one can make you feel anything you don’t want to feel.

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So, yes, while I still have disbelief surrounding the way some people can be, I honour my well-being enough to ‘let it go’. Again and again, I come back to: what will be will be. What is, is.

 

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I Create My Day (paperback & Kindle)

 

It is so much nicer to fly when you see the clouds or country below you, and all is calm. Compared to the adrenalin rush and instability of turbulence, I know which I’d rather choose. I choose peace. I choose love. I choose calm. I choose forgiveness. And always, every single time, I choose gratitude.

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