3.2 Stella Tomlinson: Priestesshood and Earth-Based Spirituality
Hello! Welcome to series 3 episode 2 of Prompted by Nature, thank you so much for being here! Lots has been going on on this side of things. The Benfield Valley Project, which I set up last year, is about to become a constituted community group - whoop! - I’ve got started on issue one of my upcoming seasonal e-zine, which I’m really excited about and my newsletter subscribers will know that I’ve done a ‘soft launch’ of my Patreon community. I’ll share the address in a moment but first let me tell you about today’s conversation.
Today I’m speaking with the wonderful Stella Tomlinson. Stella Tomlinson is a Priestess of the Goddess Brighid, an author and poet, and an experienced creative meditation guide. She helps women find peace, purpose and trust in life through nurturing a spiritual connection with Mother Earth.
Her work has evolved from 20+ years experience in personal and spiritual development through meditation, mindfulness, energy healing, yoga and Goddess and Earth-based spirituality and she's been writing and teaching in these fields since 2011. Her latest book is called 'Whispers From Mother Earth: Poems and prayers of healing, inspiration and transformation'.
Stella’s path and how she came to be a Priestess
What a Priestess is
Stella’s study of Druidry and how it complements her work as a Priestess of Brigid
Ancestral and indigenous wisdom and the importance of connecting her spiritual practice with her ancestry
Stella’s earliest memory of nature
How Stella uses her menstrual cycle to connect with nature
How these internal cycles link with her creativity and her writing process
The triple goddess archetypes and why Stella works with the five goddess aspects
How the writing process of each of her three books differed
How she overcomes imposter syndrome
The process of self-publishing and why she chose to approach a publisher for her third book
How she looks after herself and her own creativity
What her path has taught her and her hope for the future
I loved having this conversation with Stella. I’ve known her for a number of years now after we met at one of my mala-making workshops in Portsmouth. Our paths have mirrored each other in some ways and so I loved hearing about how she came to move away for the yoga world and into a life more aligned with her heart and inspired by her connection to the earth. You can find Stella on her website at www.stellatomlinson.com and on Instagram @stellasoulwisdom
As always you can find me over on www.promptedbynature.co.uk where you can book onto any of my in-person or online events and sign up to my newsletter, on Patreon www.patreon.com/promptedbynature on Instagram @prompted.by.nature and if you’d like to find out more about my 100k run in aid of the Sussex Wildlife Trust in September, which I mentioned in the first episode of this series, or to sponsor me, you can go to www.justgiving.com/helen-forester123
Remember to hang around until the end of the episode when I’ll give you a little insight into the meditation and writing prompt that follows this conversation. Happy listening and I’ll speak to you after.
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Meditation and Writing Prompt
In this meditation and writing prompt, I read through Stella's poem 'Inner Space' from the 'Whispers from the Elements' section of her most recent book 'Whispers from Mother Earth' (available from her website www.stellatomlinson.com).
I then talk you through some of my own ideas for where you could take the poem and use it as a prompt for your own words and creativity.
Please feel free to share your words with me either via the contact box on my website www.promptedbynature.co.uk or by connecting with me over on Instagram, @prompted.by.nature
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Inner Space from (Whispers from the Elements) by Stella Tomlinson
Vast. Deep. Free.
Oceanic. Limitless.
Infinite Love.
This is the space between my breaths…
The space between my thoughts.
I connect. I drop into this space.
And all is well.
Boundaries melt away. Tension dissolves.
I am supported.
Floating and buoyant on a sea of now.
No beginnings, no endings.
No comparisons.
Just here. Just love.
This space is always within me.
I unlock the door with the key of stillness.
I close my eyes and watch and feel the breath.
Time slows…My mind expands…I dissolve.
Pure consciousness expands within me and hold me in Her embrace.
I am alive.
At one.
Spacious.
Free.
I feel You in this space.
We are all here, where nothing divides us.
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Happy writing!
Helen x
