The Magic of Feeling Safe to Be Seen: A journey to the sacred spring at Seckar Woods

Magic is always something I’ve believed in, even if I’ve never understood exactly what it is or how it works. Some of my earliest memories as a child are sitting in the back seat of my parents' car on the way to the Yorkshire coast, singing to any grey clouds or bursts of rain that greeted us on our journey. I remember believing that if I sang to the rain, told it how much I loved it, how amazing I thought it was, whilst also wishing it would hold off so we could enjoy our Summer holiday un-drenched, it would hear me. 

And not only would it hear me, it would do as I asked. 

My singing always worked, or at at least that’s what it felt like to me. It seemed silly to think it was just a happy coincidence that the weather turned out in our favour. In my eyes, I was, without a doubt, a magical being, and everything in my environment, whether it be a cloud, a rock, or an insect, had the ability to hear and understand me. 

For a child to believe this is easy for most to accept. It’s a bit different when that child grows up and starts bringing pebbles and crystals to work to put across her desk.

Although I’ve gone on to have no trouble placing inappropriately HUGE chunks of black tourmaline in front of my computer in other jobs, the humiliation young adult Amy felt in that first full-time role, being laughed at for her belief that crystals have powers all their own, still makes my stomach do a back-flip. The lesson my mind taught me that day is - “it’s not safe to be yourself.”

After years of listening to this ‘lesson’ - which saw me trying to fit in and lie about my true beliefs, never mentioning the mystical experiences I had, keeping quiet when I felt uncomfortable, and saying yes when I felt no to make others happy - it felt like there was no room for magic anymore. I was too preoccupied trying to be liked by EVERYONE, and saving up energy to partake in social things, like a normal human, but which made me want to hide in a dark room face down in a bowl of coco pops for a week afterwards.

And then something shifted. I started daring to be more myself, and the more I did, the stronger the threads of magic began weaving into my life, bringing with them beautiful connections with people who just seemed to get me, as well as incredible life experiences that I could never have planned.

That’s when I began experiencing a new kind of magic, the magic that came when I felt safe to be me, in my full wyrd and wonderful expression. In fact, I’ve realised recently that fearlessly being myself is the safety I’ve always been seeking! It’s extremely liberating and amazing for my health!

There are many people in my life who have totally embraced me as I am and made me feel safe to be me, and I thank you all, from the bottom of my heart. Yesterday I got to spend the day with some of the women who have, by doing just that, completely changed my world.

For those who have read my other posts, you will know I started this blog with the intention to visit and write about sacred sites. Firstly, to see if visiting them can bring about healing in any way shape or form, secondly, to connect with others who also interact with the land as a sentient, magical being. Yesterday, Sri, Simire and Andrea (three absolute QUEENS and power-vessels of wisdom and beauty) joined me on my search for a sacred spring that Sri had told me exists in Wakefield! Honestly, talk about magic, I’ve been planning on visiting all these wells across North Yorkshire, looking for places where the waters are pure enough to drink, and there’s been one in Wakefield all along at Seckar Woods!

We sipped cacao, sang and drummed to the land, spoke about our mystical experiences, and I was lucky to be able to capture images of them expressing their own magical ESSENCE (which I would very much like to bottle and carry around with me if possible thank you please). 

We took a couple of detours, but eventually found the spring, which flows into a rock clearing under the roots of a silver Birch tree.

For the first time EVER, I sang a song to the waters in front of these incredible women, who also sang their own melodies. It’s something I’ve never experienced before, witnessing and being witnessed with such love and gratitude, all of us in a state of absolute devotion for the land. 

It's one of the most healing things I’ve ever had the blessing to be a part of.

To worship the Waters feels so natural to me. To sing, to kneel, to offer my joy. There is a longing in me, not to take from her, but to merge with her. To honour the land in this way is also an act of seeking, a seeking to connect to my ancestors, the ancient nature tribes of Europe and Britain. It feels to me these people saw Water as a tangible expression of the Spirit that flows through and gives life to all things.

Like Source Energy/Consciousness/Divine Mother (whichever name feels right for you to give it), Water is the All-Reaching presence. There is nowhere on Earth that Water is not. She not only makes up our oceans or the clouds in the sky, but she IS us, making up most of the human body and all other forms of life. She even exists in the tiny particles we cannot see in the air around us. The Water that is on Earth today has been around for billions of years, constantly flowing and transforming. The ancients saw Water as a keeper of stories and wisdom, which makes me wonder who else the Water in my body has lived through, and whether it's the Waters within that carry the codes of my past lives, something I only used to think was a spirit mechanism. Am I so drawn to ancient Scandinavian history because my spirit lived a life back then, or is it my inner Waters awakening a story it lived through during a time long past?

Is it both? Or neither?

Either way, I embrace the mystery of it!

Thank you Sri for taking these pictures of me in my absolute element!

Whilst being in the Spring, I felt the discomfort in my womb ease (it’s not returned and it’s been 24 hours since I ventured into the spring at the time of writing this). Simire also had a healing experience, with swelling and pain in her leg reducing significantly. If things couldn’t get any more magical, just as we were about to do an oil anointing ceremony, a figure emerged through the woods. He was holding a camera, so I instinctively asked if he wanted us to move whilst he photographed the spring. He smiled kindly and told us to stay where we were, and began talking about how he could feel the energies of the Earth shifting, how he sensed the Divine Feminine rising and Mother Earth’s call for humans to connect with her getting stronger. We were all stood there, gobsmacked, as this absolute Merlin shared his wisdom and heart with us. He happened to have the same Canon camera I have, so I asked if he wouldn’t mind taking some pictures of us in the spring. He kindly agreed.

He also let me take his portrait before he left. 

This is Pan, a very talented photographer, musician, and writer! I found out that he published a book he wrote in the 90’s and lives his life by the following mantra - 

“My life is simple…life provides, all I have to do is love it.”

So, can visiting sacred sites such as this bring healing? I’m beginning to believe it can, and not just through the grounding touch of bare feet on sacred land, but through the incredible conversations and connections that happen on - or should I say with - these places. Which so far, to me, seem to have been Divinely woven by an all encompassing and loving presence. The kind of presence I simply called ‘the magic’ as a child, something vast, untouchable, and outside of myself. Now I feel it differently. Not as something separate from me, something that will only reveal itself depending on how ‘good’ I am, but as something that moves through and within me.

In these moments of truth, of feeling safe to be seen and allowing my full expression to shine bright, I see that I have all the magic I will ever need within. Little Amy knew that, as she sang to the rain without any doubt it was listening.

What kind of magic will awaken in my life if I just keep believing in it, I wonder?

All I know is, I CANNOT WAIT to find out.

There’s something so healing about being witnessed in your full expression while held in nature and in sisterhood. I love capturing the beauty of these moments through the lens.

I’ve been dreaming into the idea of offering photoshoot retreat days, gentle, heart-led spaces for women in business, creatives, or simply those feeling called to reconnect with themselves and express their truth in front of the camera.

If this speaks to something in you, please do reach out or leave a comment below!