Journey of the Heart

Hearth of My Heart By Avellina Balestri   Home is calling Tugging at the heart Piercing it through Like a fisherman’s hook Like a net cast breaking The skin of the sea I’m being called home To the place of belonging Where the turf fire burns And the cauldron boils Where the grail overflows And time is undone   Find me a thin place Where water kisses land Where the seals sing And the salmon swim Let my bowl be filled With nuts and apples And pour me spiced wine From the warrior’s horn Nine maidens to guard my sleep Nine virtues to guide my path   Blessings on your door posts And your crosses of Brighid Welcoming the weary traveler With a circle cast about me A star of elements and wounds Bring bright blessings, old and new Of earth and water, fire and air And the blood of God Love’s royal wine Drinking deeply Souls bound fast   Let the winds roar O circle me round! I shall find the forest queen Woodland fae turned Nazareth’s maid And the bird’s song will sever time An...

This is taken from a time when I was going through a spell of severe spiritual dryness… However, playing my bodhran drum for a studio recording helped me remember to the Divine Order that is all around me, as exemplified by the rhythm of the drum beats. Bodhran by Avellina Balestri I feel the skin of the drum Taut with ageless anticipation And walk my fingers along it Making a sound like pattering rain, Preparing the parched ground for growth. I brandish the beating stick Grasping it lightly, letting it dance, Helping the wood to remember its roots. Once it sprouted from the heart of the earth; Now it will sing earth’s holistic hymn. My wrist is quick, like a snake’s tongue, Flashing in and out, up and down, Sinking into rhythm and running free, Like a wild horse or a water fall, Hoof-beats thunder and rapids rush An intuition takes command, Borne from the Soul of the Universe – Mystical Mathematics swirl In harmonies unlea...

As an author and artists who greatly appreciates the Celtic Bardic tradition... ...I felt inspired to write this prayer for those who seek to enlighten through their art.  Photograph by Katarina Silva A Bard’s Prayer by Avellina Balestri Let me catch the flame Golden, glittering, glaring So my fingers may glow as I hold the pen Let me taste the wine Sweet, smooth, sumptuous So my speech may be seasoned when I tell the tale Let me smooth the cloth Crumpled, crude, queer-colored, So beauty and grace may greet each eye Let me weave with thread Silver, star-lit, spider-spun So my words may flow like a moon-kissed stream Let me glimpse the ghosts Fast-footed, fair-faced, fleeting So my blessing may reach them as eyes meet eyes Let me climb the chain Twinkling, taught, tenacious That connects the present with the haunted past Let my arrow fly Straight-shot, shimmering, shocking To cleave each heart for the sake...