The Pool below St. Brigid's Well, The Valley Park, Kilcullen, Leinster, Ireland. Photo Courtesy of Burning Well, graciously shared in the public domain.
The Pool below St. Brigid’s Well, The Valley Park, Kilcullen, Leinster, Ireland. Photo Courtesy of Burning Well, graciously shared in the public domain.

“Architects and planners use the term “desire paths” to describe the shortcuts taken by people for whom the laid-out pattern doesn’t fit their lives. But, in one sense, all paths are desire paths, the marks of human longing or need.”

~ Adam Nicholson, in his review of The Old Ways by Robert MacFarlane*

My anam cara and kindred spirit, Molly Hall, turned me on to Robert MacFarlane’s book, The Old Ways, and thus the way unfolded to Adam Nicholson’s thoughtful musings and the phrase desire paths.

Desire Paths. Ancestral Byways.

Ancestral standing stones at the Isle of Boa, Lough Erne, County Fermanagh. Photo courtesy of Jon Sullivan, PDPhoto and shared, generously, via Creative Commons.
Ancestral standing stones at the Isle of Boa, Lough Erne, County Fermanagh. Photo courtesy of Jon Sullivan, PDPhoto and shared, generously, via Creative Commons.

Evocative phrases, both, in that they stir recollection deep within us and extend to us a powerful invitation … if we allow ourselves to feel it, sense into it, hear it, and follow that call (even if just by asking into it).

So many of us have been, or are now shucking off false or no-longer-helpful conditioning, detoxing from toxic-culture ways, and recognizing and disentangling from unhealthy, toxic-normal patterns.

We’re attuning anew to those authentic, soul-true desire paths and ancestral byways, gathering back the gifts and gems that got scattered or buried deep.

This journey of reaching back to illuminate the way forward is really very in sync with the Aquarian sensibilities.

Brigid's Fire at Kildare Abbey
Brigid’s Fire at Kildare Abbey

Aquarius is co-ruled by Saturn and Uranus–Prometheus: Saturn in its higher expression pulls forward what’s good and worthy from the ancient and ancestral traditions, while Uranus-Prometheus breaks through taboos and shares that fire for the good it can do now and in moving forward wisely, yet also with insight fresh and clear as an Alpine lake, and a healthy dose of Uranian daring.

Here are a just few of my favorite selections from the Sophia’s Children treasure trove to help stir and inspire your recollection of the gifts from your own ancestral byways and desire paths:

The Sophian Quest: Gathering What’s Been Scattered

Haelu: Heal, Health, Whole, and Holy

Uprooting From False Ground

Uprooted, and Growing New Roots

Secret Gates and Hidden Pathways

I tucked a few other related links in the text above, too.

Today’s Blessing

May you be graced with courage, illumination, and wellbeing as you heed the call and explore the desire paths and ancestral byways to gather back what’s been scattered, and may both journey and reclaimed gifts contribute to the wellbeing of all.

Big Love,

Jamie