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The interest in Witchcraft and the practice of ancient sacred feminine rituals have never been more popular. So what does it mean to be a modern witch and how can we reconnect to, and understand, the magic that lives within us all?
Women’s empowerment guru and social entrepreneur Lynne Franks takes a fortnightly look at what is happening for women in the world today and how we can grow into our full potential as leaders in community, business and as changemakers in the creation of a sustainable, positive future for all.
Love and learn with Lynne’s forthright chats, conversations with inspirational women and men plus simple exercises from her Seed platform to support and nurture you to grow.
[00:00:00] Lynne: Hello and welcome. It's Lynne Franks here. And the first in my new series of frankly speaking within Frankston pre. Podcasts and also films on YouTube of course, and I am so happy to be back after far too long, a gap. And we are having a different theme with this series of podcasts, Frankly Speaking, where we're going to have a subject to talk about with my guests as we process over the next 20 weeks or however long it is. There's so many great subjects out there to talk about right now, positive subject subjects, which help us look at the world, a world that is not an easy place to live right now and see how we can create a better future. And that is my feed.
[00:00:45] So my first guests I'm really thrilled to welcome two incredible women, Barbara Meiklejohn-Free and Flavia Kate Peters, who are two of the most extraordinary women I've ever met. And I've met a lot of very extraordinary women. They are celebrity, which is, they are followers of the ancient pagan ways. They are also business. Top selling globally authors and creators of the most wonderful Oracle kits of which there seem to be many, many, cause we sell lots of in the shop. They have traveled the world. They have plugged into the mistakes of all kinds of belief systems and they are living in the UK and they are both British, really focusing on what I call them, what they call ancient beliefs in a modern world. Right. Welcome. Welcome. Welcome Barbara Flavian. And I'm sure you both agree and I'll start Barbara with you. Is the attraction so far in the whole area of which is magic, sacred, feminine from women, mostly women. I'd say of all ages though. Lots of young women. Well, why do you think that there's suddenly this incredible upsurge in interest?
[00:01:58] Barbara: One of the reasons when I first started being a, uh, which back in my teenage years, up in the Highlands of Scotland, there wasn't much talk about it. But what we've noticed over the years is people searching for an alternative, knowing that those that were coming into this, um, this time now have gone. I need something that I can connect with. As witches, we connect with the earth, we connect with the land. We connect with people and it's part of past lives as well. A lot of people we meet who are suddenly going, or I need to, I'm fascinated by witchcraft and, and I really want to learn. It's amazing because it's for everybody. The one thing that puts a lot of people off of course is the name, which, but we, we pan it saying it's wise, incredibly talented, creative healers, and that's who all, every single one of us, there was a witch that lives within every single one of us. And that's the wisdom from ancient times from past lives. And it's living on the land. It's working with, you know, in flavor, we'll explain all about the elemental walls and nature, but it's living with the matchup that lives within us and him and what's happening now is that women in particular, as well as men is a lot of male witches as well, we're now empowering ourselves. We've been disempowered, you know, from childhood through past lives. And now it's coming to a point where we're going back to the old ways and recreating that magic that once lived on the land before the persecution. And, you know, when we look at the witch trials and everything that went on, people were persecuted because they were empowering themselves and standing up for themselves. And of course, nowadays people are looking for that alternative and it is actually the fastest growing religion in the world. It's incredible.
[00:03:56] Lynne: incredible. So back to the persecution, which were roundabout five to 700 years ago. Of course, as we've discussed previously, She's in those days where the midwives, the herbalists, the healers, the wise women, and both really all over the Western world, these holders of the ancient wisdom were destroyed. Why do you think that was? I mean, it was moving into a very much more patriarchal world. Do you think that was part of it? Flavia, what would you say?
[00:04:24] Flavia: Yes. Hi. I would say that it was deliberately done. So, you know, for thousands of years, people like honored the nature spirits. They worked with the land, like Barbara said, and then around like 500, 600 years unfortunately this is when, like the religion really came in at really swept in and superstition was abound. The middle ages was full of superstition. So if your crops failed and there was some older lady nearby, she was suddenly to blame for the crops failure. And this happened in every village, across the land. People were getting blamed for things going wrong.
[00:05:03] And so as religion became stronger and more powerful, those in power wanted to put this and stop anyone who had their own self-empowerment those who were going to the land who were connecting with the fae like many witches did. That's where we get our secrets from a secret potions and herbal recipes. And so they don't want anyone to be in their power, they wanted the church to rule. And this was the very beginning of the downfall of the witch. This is what started with all the witch hunts, because they wanted someone to be able to connect with source, as a church would call it God, and so it had to go through a priest or a man to be able to even tap into that power. And of course you can't tap in going through another person because it will actually comes from within. And so of course, with a persecution, it was really hard because through the religion everyone's been taught to look outside of themselves to connect with a day or two in a bigger power, rather than the cells. It's all very, very clever, whereas the witch's secret knows that everything is within them, contained with them as if we're like, we are a chalice. We are this vessel.
[00:06:15] Lynne: And in fact, even more than five, 600 years ago, If you think back to the early Christians and many religions, really, it was 2000 years ago. It was when the priestesses, were
[00:06:29] Barbara: Look at hype look at Hypatia. She was deemed as a witch and I Hypatia was the mathematician. She worked in Alexandria and she was dragged through the streets and their skin flayed off her body. So when you look at the. It goes way back, right back to Mesopotamia Sumeria. When the magic was first into juice by the shining ones, there's many ancient stories through Egypt to the time was then tacky through Sumeria, Babylon, Mesopotamia, those regions, and of course it's been going on since records began where people who would empower people who had that magical belief that was gifted from the gods suddenly, it was deemed and everything was turned upside down. So as you rightfully say, it's been going on. And even today, last year, there was a woman in Saudi Arabia who was burned for witchcraft. So it's still ongoing and Africa, Papa, new Guinea. It's still going on all over the world. It's about six to seven countries that still deem witchcraft as a, uh, as a death penalty to this day.
[00:07:42] Lynne: It's extraordinary. I was thinking even, but to, um, Moses coming down from the mountain with the 10 commandments and he smoked the tablets because down below his sister was. Rejoicing. And they were supposedly worshiping the golden calf. I mean, to me, that was patriarchy killing off the matriarchy reading.
[00:08:02] Flavia: Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, and that's something that we're really, really, really hold dear to our hearts. We're really, really passionate about understanding the way the divine feminine was completely wiped with the patriarchal um, coming in. And of course that did happen around 2002 years ago. And that happened all around. Was it 325 A D the, um, council of Nicea. When suddenly it was decided what was going to be put into the Bible and what was taken out, And it was from there really, because really, I truly believe that at the beginning, if, if we're talking about a bit of religion here but when we look at how this all sort of seemed to start on talking about changing the patriarchal, from, you know, there's Jesus, and that Mary McLean, but they were completely imbalanced with each other. It was the divine feminine, the divine masculine,
[00:08:57] Lynne: It's even like the God, the son and the holy ghost. I mean the holy why the holy ghost? Why wasn't that the feminine? And of course it would have been. And I agree with you entirely. and I've read ancient ancient teachings of Jesus, where he said it was about fraternity and the women and men were always be equal. And, um, there's so many legends and stories even about Leonardo DaVinci and the missing. And Mike Dillon on last supper. I mean, there's so many stories and, and it's so healthy of course, that it's now coming back out.
[00:09:28] And if you look back how witches have been portrayed for the last 500 years, you know, the whole wound they're called and doing bad spells and big noses and waltz. The whole childhood sort of look of how we've been brought up, it's a very beautiful thing, feeling it, knowing, and feeling and practicing the magic. I'm sure you would agree because you're both practitioners of it. And, and as you said, flavor is very much going into the land it's nature. And I think one of the attractions for young people is that they are so passionate about keeping mother earth, whole and healthy and not exploiting. And it just works together. Doesn't it?
[00:10:09] Flavia: Oh, it's just amazing. I mean, it's incredible this century, we've seen such an upsurge, um, as you mentioned before of magic of people wanting to connect with this, of course when we were brought up, it was like you went to church and anything you did, it was just so straight. It was like the devil as work, if you've got into magic. This century has been amazing because the millennials have been brought up on the power and the magic of Harry Potter. they've come in into knowing all this. They know what a book of shadows is. They know what a wand is and they know how to use it. They've been practicing in that bedrooms. And I remember what I knew that Barbara did the same when I was a little girl. I remember always thinking, I'm sure I should be able to turn my light switch off just by looking at it with my eyes, you know? And I used to try all this thinking, why isn't it working? But of course that's like a really deep sort of like past life they want to, everyone really did have that have their magic.
[00:11:04] Lynne: So you to have without question, very specific gifts, I don't know how you feel about, are they very special to you or do other people have them, but they came from childhood. I think we're born into living a certain way. And some people get born into these, this current lifetime, the knowledge and the openness and awareness of more than what we can see and touch and feel.
[00:11:24] Barbara, you, you had a lot of experiences. You were telling me earlier, you brought up in Scotland, you were identified as the Highland fear at a very young age, by your predecessor, who was a very spiritual man and leader. Tell us a bit about your story and how you got to where you are now.
[00:11:42] Barbara: Well, my, my story is that the one of the first memories is people coming into my room, sitting on my bed. I used to have a grandmother and she had one eye and she was all now old and everything. And I later went on to find that the, she was the Kelly you know, the, the high go Scotland, the GROL Neal woman, one of the goddesses of Scotland. And when I was growing up, I'd have a native American at the end of my bed and I'd be looking at him and I go and tell my mother, I was adopted doctor. So I go into my mother and she said, don't be so stupid. That's just your imagination. And I would go back to them and say to the older people, something wrong, my bad.
[00:12:20] Lynne: These beings.
[00:12:21] Barbara: You're just,
[00:12:22] Lynne: Yeah.
[00:12:23] Barbara: they were real as real flavors now. And I'd say, I've just been told, you're just part of my imagination. And, and they would say, well, but that's the key. Well, I was to find out , I didn't know, in school I was dyslexic. And so I was belted and all the time, you know, caned to every day for being stupid and an idiot, made to stand outside the classroom, put a dunce's hat on, perfect, put a witch's hat on, cone of power, and off my wind. And I run off out into nature. I would always speak to the animals. The animals would speak to me as the Flavian. It was interesting.
[00:12:59] When we met up, I used to look after baby Ravens and flavor. I used to look after baby Roukes as children. And so growing up, I didn't have any support and I felt very, very lonely and I know a lot of people probably at the same story, you know, once we're going to watch this podcast. And so for me, when I met swim McDonald a Highland, it, when I walked into the room and. He just looked at me and he said, ah, you have the gift of second sight lass. And that was it. And then I wouldn't tell my parents where I was going, but I go with my, my mother's friend who was secretly into this, cause my parents were church goers and it's strictly to church, but the church didn't like me because I'd say, oh, this dead person here. And there's a dead person there. And of course that was a no-no and like Flavia as we were growing up. They tried to beat her out to me.
[00:13:52] So working with Swain explained everything, but I wasn't crazy or mad or should be certified, whatever it was, they were suggesting. And so he was that foundation for me to know that what I was seeing, what I was feeling, what I was imaginating. Imagine it hearing feeling seeing was very real. But how many people have that?
[00:14:18] You know, um, growing up in the sort of sixties and seventies, there wasn't many people around. So you, it was very much, I felt very much a solitary witch and, and a lot of people do when you don't have somebody. And nowadays is great because we can share all this information. But how many people ended up in mental institutions that are gifted mediums and Sears and pass, that would just have some tablets. There you go. Um, all their abilities and gifts were dumping down and everybody that comes onto this planet nowadays have gifts and abilities or different, not everyone's a medium or a psychic, but everybody has gifts for working with animals or plants or the earth or. Cops or whatever it may be. That is a gift of wisdom. It's really important.
[00:15:09] Lynne: beautiful. It really is. And flavor for you growing up because you're you and Barbara, your work slightly different in so much. The fairies. Do you want to talk a little bit about
[00:15:21] Flavia: Yeah, sure. From a very, very young, um, young age, I was about three years old when I, when I, I consciously remember seeing a factory and my father was playing cricket I remember sort of like, uh, wandering over to this great, huge Oak tree. And it was like holiday inside. And I remember pairing up it, like, I see this tiny little lights just buzzing around. And I was like, really? I just instantly knew it was a ferry. I instantly knew. And then I didn't even know what a ferry was, but I knew it was a ferry. If I hadn't thought about that before and we lived. Right in the middle of woods in rural bark share. So I spent my whole childhood, like looking for fair is playing with a fair is leaving them food.
[00:16:04] I was really fortunate. My father was really spiritual and he taught me to meditate at about the age of six or seven. And so I'd go to the trees and sit with my back against them and really commune and I've written. Connected with them in so much away that I knew how to, to work with them. And I understood who they were and I understood about the elements of them.
[00:16:26] it was just a really magical thing. But the problem is if a shared that shared stories about the fairies, I knew instantly that'd be like, oh, there's no such thing as faeries and oh you are silly and all of this sort of thing. And I sort of shut myself down a little bit, um, because I'm the sort of person that was, I'm a real empath. So I fail everything everyone's feeling I can fail. Everyone's thinking, and so I will say because of being an empath, you tend to be a bit of a people pleaser. And there's so many people pleasers out there. And I really was when I was younger massively. And so I wanted to people pleasing, even in a way that affected my relationship with the fairies and it took it away a little bit. And then, um, and unfortunately it did all come back, massively came back, but I sort of shut down a little bit when my father left our family home. And that was really hard for me because he was the one that I really looked up to. And he taught me so much on that meditation side. But since I was really young as well, when I was really tiny, I used to be able to hear having me singing. And again, I need it. That was angel. Say for me, I was real high vibe working with angels, working very much a fair is not, and that is still quite high five, even though they work with the earth, but you've got earth, there is air, fire, and water, so it's very much working with the elements. And what I worked out was once you've sussed each one and brought into your life, then you were in that full. And they really want to help us to be in full balance. be obviously for this earth, this whole planet.
[00:17:58] Lynne: That's beautiful. So what about rituals and covens and all the sort of classic stories that we hear, witches do, I mean, I've done, I do rituals myself. I've done them for years and I don't even know really what do we mean by covens? Isn't that just a circle of women that come together regularly and do their rituals. How would you describe it, Barbara? And what would you say?
[00:18:23] Barbara: There's been talk of it since again, you know, and especially in the witch hunt persecutions about, um, which is coming together and covens, I mean, there's a, a trial better con Tweed, wasn't it? Whether it's king James. Oh, was it you'll know more. I always James, the first day and I go, it was the talk of that a covenant come together and the cause the, the crossing across the ocean, I think it was to do with an was it. And so there was a big trial of witches and better compound tweet about that. And there's lots of stories about Cubbins coming together. The interesting thing is that up in Scotland, because the witches would all solitary and they couldn't come together because you'd have to travel hundreds of miles to get to the next switch so it was more sort of focus down in England. And then, back in the 1960s, when a general guide nerd and many others like Raymond Buckland came together and talked about the Cubbins as they formed the off shoot of Wicker from witchcraft, because there is a difference , It is, as you say, a group of women, a group of men and women, traditionally it's 13, and it's about coming together. And as you say, doing rituals, doing spells on the Sabots on the S spots, certain times the festivals, like Spain as we call it in Scotland. So. It's a coming together of purpose of working magic and in particular with the moon phases and the eclipses and the lunar cycles and many other things.
[00:20:00] And for a lot of people, they think, oh, this is, you know, I'll have to be in a coven. You can be a solitary, which so many different types of witches nowadays. And it's good because if people are starting out, where do I go? But I've heard so many reports, people being in the part of a coven, having to come out and they can't cope with it because of the old you've got to do it our way I, myself and flavoring. The magic lives, whether you do it your way, we just help and support those witchlets, we call the teenagers, witchlets. So yes, there are rituals, there are covens, that's been going on against recorded time, but nowadays seems to be more solitary, but there's a lot on the internet as well. They've been doing gatherings and
[00:20:44] Lynne: I was with one quite a few hundred first domain naturally.
[00:20:48] Flavia: And of course the more that gathered together, the more powerful it is. So that's one of the main reasons as well for that cup and to really get that kind of power.
[00:20:57] Lynne: Yes. And let's talk about spells because we would always assume that the spells offer good. Obviously people can use magic in a negative way, but that can be very dangerous because it often rebounds on them. Traditionally, as you mentioned, even earlier, flavored spells are for agriculture for having a good harvest for the wellbeing of the community. I mean, there's always been, I suppose, love potions, always rather classic.
[00:21:24] Flavia: Yeah. Is that clean as, as we might, the love potions with so many people, you know, went to a witch or the wise women of the village or a charm. And quite often that, you know, they'd be handed like a little poppet doll, that's what the word popping night, how they pop it, but that's where it comes from. My, maybe it is a wax effigy and match. It would be like just upset the intention basically was then put into that. But it loves to spell to someone to fall in love with them or to bring them wealth or abundance of whatever that main might be or health. And so the, which I work with herbs as well, maybe in twining, like a little bit of Rosemary rounder, wax effigy, If they wanted to invoke really beautiful memories or whatever it, whatever the herb is, what upsets right. Really working with, with nature.
[00:22:12] And so with spell casting, it's all about, um, it's all about your intention, but what we firmly believe and what. And all our experience. If you always need to put action into something, because you need to put energy into something, if you're completely connected and you, and you pray and you ask for something, yes, that will upstate become about, we have to wait and you have to believe, wait for it to come. When you spell cost, you're working with the potent energies of the universe and with, with the magical gifts of the earth or whichever, whatever you want to use in your spell. And so when you putting that action and energy into something will come about much quicker. So you'll choose the right moon phase.
[00:22:54] If you want a massive abundance, you'll work with a full moon when it's at its absolute optimum energy. If you're wanting to sort of like punish someone or get rid of a situation in your life, then you want to be working with the moon after the full me. So when it starts waning, so it's getting rid of, and it's all weakening down and then you punish it down to the dark mint. So it's getting to know your moon phases. It's getting to know nature. It's understanding the directions.
[00:23:25] You know, if you're facing the direction of north, that's connecting with the ancestors. So you might want to bring some ancestral magic into it or you're facing the north and that's the cold icy, you know, a bite of winter. So if you want to freeze it uh, situation, that's the direction you'll stand in. If you want to bring in the love and passion into your life, your stand in the direction of the south, you're bringing the warmth of the fire to invoke that.
[00:23:51] So being a witch is knowing your nature and being connected with nature. That's not a problem because you'll find that every single natural, which just loves nature. They're just like, oh, just even, brief that wishes on the breadth of the wind, you know, any, any, which just loves nature. And that isn't mainly what it's all about. Even pagan paint and means country dweller. That's what I actually mean. So people, oh, they will pay. Yeah, we live the country. Yes, we are pagans, you know, so, so that's where style casting comes in. And of course we've all seen like a Disney, Disney is amazing because Disney's brought magic into this realm. And what Walt Disney did he actually unit like the artists who draw farriers from the other realms they can see, and he could see, and he's brought magic into this world. Unfortunately, a lot of people think, oh, it's just made up it's imagination. It's just Disney. That he was very, very clever and a master in his own right for doing that. I truly believe anyway.
[00:24:56] And so bringing in that magic, we've all watched like maleficence or any evil queen with a finger pointed and seeing powers of extremity coming from their finger. How many people want to be able to manipulate and work with the forces to be able to bring about what they want. We can do that. Okay. It's not going to be necessarily in that extreme, but actually when it all boils down to it all comes down to your intention. that's what it boils down to.
[00:25:25] So Barbara and I, we fought to the point now we're just instantly manifesting. We don't even really need to do any actual spells and bringing in niche. We've got to the point now we're just going to write, I really want that to happen. And Hey, Presto, it just does. When you get that, you'd just always instantly manifesting. And that is what every single person should be. Because when we've all been taught this, we are all gods, we are all Godess, we are all creators.
[00:25:51] Lynne: No, I completely agree. Absolutely agree. I've manifested as well. And it's, once you plug into that side of yourself, that has the knowledge that you can manifest and it can accelerate the way things happen in your life, as it is extraordinary.
[00:26:06] Barbara: it really is.
[00:26:07] Lynne: Yeah. I mean, I do think there's a sort of possible downside where, which I've experienced, where I think I want something so badly and I manifest it and of course it's not what I want and it doesn't serve me So
[00:26:18] Flavia: And that's why the phrase be careful what you wish for.
[00:26:22] Lynne: Yeah. absolutely. Absolutely.
[00:26:25] Flavia: Yeah we've all
[00:26:26] Barbara: Make sure you've got everything together, don't forget, any ingredients that a friend of mine is a witch and Salem, and she's got her own shop over there. And we were talking about spells a manifestation of that. And she told me the story that she was wanting a man to come into her life and she managed festival you'd look like, and how totally was and the job and everything. And then one day walked into the shop. And he walked into the shop and he stood there and he smiled at her and she went. And he doesn't have any teeth. And so she just disregarded him and I said, well, that'd be me. I don't take them straight to the dentist, got on the pitiful. See what the point of it is was she didn't say I want good teeth as well.
[00:27:07] Lynne: insurance. I'm going to tell you a joke. Now, if I may, I don't use usually do I podcast, but this is so appropriate. I don't know if you know this one. There was an old lady that lived in, in a, in a forest in a little cottage, had no money, just enough to feed one day, there was a knock on the door and she opened up another little old lady standing there and she said, can I come in? Can you walk me by you're with your fire and can you feed me? So she, although she had nothing herself, she took the blowed woman in, who turned out to be a witch. She gave her food, she made her warm and the witch said, you've been so kind to me, I'm going to give you three wishes.
[00:27:41] So the first I already said, okay, please make me young and beautiful and a princess. So the witch were born and she was suddenly everything she wants to be. So the second thing is. My second worst is I'd like to be living in a palace with my, uh, all my wealth of beautiful things around me. So next thing the, which made her a princess and a beautiful palace, and she said, and the third thing, I'd like you to take my old cat and turn him into a beautiful prince boom, there's this beautiful prince study in front of her. And he said, I bet you wish you hadn't had me neutered now.
[00:28:15] I thought that appropriate, it's like, you wish for, make sure you cover all of all possibilities.
[00:28:22] And what about sacred spaces? Because obviously not now, it's not so easy, but before COVID you were doing sacred trips, um, yourselves, uh, around Americas, connecting him with native American indigenous people. You did a lot of trips to Egypt, the big pyramids. Do you want to talk a little bit about the power of a sacred space?
[00:28:40] Barbara: It's incredible I mean, when I grew up in Scotland, we had a lot of sacred sites around us, so it was a little girl. I was out in the, the stones. The club has stones, right beside clot and battlefield. And then the power of place is incredible. And for me, it's actually, when I went to America and started working with the native American people who taught me about boundaries and thresholds and about placing tobacco and of course you'd go through that, and it wasn't until I'd done a sundance once. And before you go into the sundance, you place your offerings and one sun dancer didn't and as soon as he stepped in, he just collapsed. And the center of that sacred space.
[00:29:30] And I've seen it time and time again in Egypt. Of course in sacred sites before, for example, in the temple of Karnak and Luxor, you would, there was a Roman bath, which has recently been uncovered and you would cleanse, you would do ceremonies and rituals before you entered into that space. The time and time again on trips to Egypt and America, we've seen people going into sacred sites like medicine wheels. Um, they just fall down.
[00:29:57] I saw one woman broke her leg right in front of me. We were taking a, there was a group going into the great pyramids and we'd done some ceremonies. Some people didn't want to do it, and others walked in, who'd done the ceremony and that those were being sick. They were throwing up final entry space. And so with sacred sites, it's really important to respect whatever you.
[00:30:20] We see it all the time at age three, where people just wandered around and. There is a disrespect for the ancestors of powered in place. And it's so important that before any of us and even coming into a house, you do a prayer, you ask permission. I was always told whatever I traveled, you know, whatever land I going on, very much like the Pope, you know, who gets there at end, he gets down and he kisses the grinds, but actually originates actually from a very old Smithsonian ritual of respecting the place of getting down or honoring those who had walked before us. And that's where that originates from. But it doesn't happen. And it's lacking these days that people should honor the place of power and spirit and the ancestors.
[00:31:08] Lynne: beautiful. And I think maybe one of the things for me from this whole lockdown a couple of years you've had is really being present and more connected with the ground. I mean, I'm very fortunate to be living in the sacred land in between Stonehenge and. Glass and we toured, but I think just generally, or for a lot of us having to stay still and stay connected is, has been very, very important.
[00:31:31] You talked earlier about Wiccan, the difference between wicked and which is Barbara, what is the difference between being wicked and which is?
[00:31:38] Barbara: It's the old adage of somebody makes up a name. I mean, traditional witchcraft works with the people of the land. So I'm from Scotland. It wasn't called Scottish witchcraft. Um, it was known as craft of the wise. The was no names. People love to put names on things back in the 1960s, I general Gardner termed offshoots of known as Wicker.
[00:32:04] So. People who are Wiccans. It gets very confusing because they say people who are Wiccans are not necessarily witches and pagans and it gets it's this very, there's not a clear, defined line of biotech.
[00:32:19] For example, in America, lots of people are wicked. And then they'll go on about different things. And that was formed in 1960 in that time period where he was bringing in wisdom from all different esoteric fields, like the golden Dawn or the nightstand blur or the catheters, and especially to do and he was in that time period where Martin Balenski and many other ancient scholars were bringing all this wisdom and this craft together.
[00:32:51] So nowadays people are tending to sort of work with witchcraft, which is the craft of the witch, the craft of the land, the craft, or the wise. But I really feel that when people start saying I'm this and I'm that in the next thing, I'm Barbara, know, And then it gets too complicated when people are saying I'm a grand master of this, or I'm a third degree, witch of that, so for me and Flavia, we stay well clear of that.
[00:33:25] Flavia: I think what we say clear up the rules and people like we shouldn't do it like that because it should be like that. It really shouldn't. And as many people that come into our shop or meet us at shows, and then I say, I really love, I really feel like I am a witch, but I'm not quite sure how to do this, I think I'm doing this wrong. And we say but you're not doing it wrong. How could you possibly do it wrong? It's what comes from within it comes from your heart and what makes your heart sing and you know, where will everyone is different? Every single one of us is different. So we would approach our connection with a goddess approach, our connection with divinity, our own divinity different because we are all different. So they can't be complete rules, what feels right for some isn't meant another.
[00:34:09] Barbara: I find as well, and the flavor of fines, you know, when some people say, well, we weren't the Lords or lady, we worked with the skull desk, or we do this. And when I was traveling around I was doing a lot shamanic work in most sort of thirties and forties. And I got confused with all the different medicine wheels and all the different directions and all the different things. And so, again, it's very much what's happening now and what we're seeing with a lot of people writing books about. Witchcraft is that a lot of people are also saying, look, do it your way, call yourself if you want to be a C, which are green, which are an eclectic, which collects at which just works, rubbing a solitary. It's just the name at the end of the day. What's important is your integrity and how you utilize that magic.
[00:34:57] Lynne: And you're very prolific both of you, not only running your own fashion business, bringing you these wonderful goddess garments around the world and you're in shop, but the books and the Oracle cards that you are constantly putting out. I mean, I can't keep up with it and I sell them. Um, so there's so much knowledge and wisdom that you two have learned and were born with as well, that you put into these cards and put into these books. You want me in your diary this year, that is that's your first diary, isn't it?
[00:35:28] Flavia: That was the first one.
[00:35:29] Lynne: And it's a best seller, an Amazon bestseller bestseller throughout the country already. Um, Well, where does the inspiration come? I mean, what, what makes you think it's time to do a new book on the moon, or I know you're working on Oracle cards for them moon cards right now.
[00:35:44] Flavia: Yeah, w we, uh, uh, was so driven and when Barbara and I met, we, we both held the same vision and we were just so surprised that we did when we met that can heart to heart, as I said, and when they met it, was murder. What I mean by that, when we met the ho the energies for best buy, we just can't contain ourselves it's as if we've just got this download of information going right now, you've got to do this, we're literally directed by spirit. I mean, that's how Barbara and I've always worked and that's why things work out really well for us because we're good listeners and we just follow the path of what we're meant to be doing.
[00:36:20] So literally, yes, we have got a massive list on our iPad of everything that we want to do, and believe me, that list is pretty much endless. So we're actually at that point going yes, we've got, I think the 10th Oracle deck is about to come out next year. And that is the, is moon magic, which we're really excited about. And literally we've got so much that we want to do with thinking there's not enough time. Really? Just where does it come from? It comes from inspiration. That's just, it, it literally is bubbling within us. We've
[00:36:52] Lynne: Yeah, I completely why I feel so connected with you too, because I feel exactly the same and not enough time we are running out of time in this world to make this new future. And I know, and I'm no YouTube feel the same, that we can collectively create and collaborate and create something that is for the generations to come, that will save mother earth, that will take away the corruption and the shadow there. I mean, there's always shadow where there's the light, we know that. Ah, it's just about the balance and the imbalance right now has been really dreadful.
[00:37:26] So if I was to ask you, which I am asking you, how you see the future could be your vision of what the world could look like, I know we could be here for a week or more talking about it, but I'm going to finish all these podcasts of the new series, asking my guests to come in from all sorts of backgrounds and disciplines the same question. How do you see the future? What could work?
[00:37:49] Barbara: I think the most important thing is, is to empower people. First of all, because if you look at history, what's history about disempowering everybody, and that's what's going on now. And it's about getting, getting, reaching out to people and I'm sure we'll all agree on this one and empowering them all and saying, you are amazing, you are. Beautiful, you're incredible, you have this amazing gift. And if the most important thing for us and what we do is in our message with our decks are books, our diary, is empowerment, empowerment, empowerment.
[00:38:23] Flavia: When I met Barbara and she agreed with math, but I work as like to bring back the magic of the old ways. Not just what, imagine just being in a. Beautiful forest in a wood, and you've come across this cave. That's just completely covered in ivy. And he pulled a bit of the ivy back and he walked into this entrance and there's a shrine to the Goddess. How does that make you feel? I just like, okay. See, I'm not as how it used to be much little gone and we're walking through the woods and just worshiping the goddess like that. When, and this is what happened when Chris Jones was spreading across the land? No. At shackle rule came in and everyone forgot that we have within our bodies, every single cell, we have the essence of the Goddess within us.
[00:39:11] The vision would just, it's just so amazing that everyone realized that we are actually the Goddess incarnate, that we have the power of ha within us one that's everyone realized that they can just suddenly power up themselves without anyone telling them whatever, because it has to come from in here. People could tell you, you are amazing until they're blue in the face. And if you don't believe it yourself, this is the work, but what if people just believe that actually, yes, that is the goddess and this is all the goddess. And we are actually standing upon her and her physical form, she is in everything. If everyone could just know that and then just have their eyes open to the magic of that, that would produce a most beautiful world.
[00:39:58] Barbara: Also it's, it's very much about belief system, it's all about, you know, everything that's going on at the moment. What is this about what was going back to that disempowerment taking away the magic. Thank goodness for having pottery and discovery of witches and everything that's going on at the moment. You know, which is incredible, it's also a boat supporting one another, you know, being there for everybody else.
[00:40:23] And of course, with everything that's going on with COVID a lot of that happened. But what we're seeing at the moment is a lot of negativity and people being down and depressed because all of a sudden what's happened with COVID is what is the future? This is sort of put a big block in going forward into the future and with what's happening with everybody, all the environmentalists, the children like that young lady is she caught member Greg and people like that. It's saying, look after earth nurture earth. You know, I know the government got together, but as a collective consciousness, if we can all be a collective consciousness and go, if we don't have the earth, we don't have a home. And so we have to, all of us see that together.
[00:41:12] Flavia: Exactly. If everyone was a witch, everyone has that Lebanon heart for nature, if everyone believed in fairies like our ancestors, absolutely. They wouldn't walk across a meadow without leaving them an offering. They wouldn't walk into the woods without leaving them in offering. Everyone understood that within themselves. They've connected to the Ferris themselves. We're all born under star signs, so we've all got an element in us, whether we're under an earth sign or as far a water. And when we start working with that, we get into balance. If everyone was in that balance and harmony with nature, that's what would bring the balance. And that's what we need is the balance.
[00:41:49] And as teachers, we're all taught leading up to 2012 and 2012. We all believed was that the catalyst something major was going to happen on what we all worked with. Was that better? Can you pass through the eye of the needle or have you got loads of stuff that you're holding onto all your doubts, fears and worries? How much of that have you got? And we all asked ourselves that, can we walk up, go through the eye of the needle?
[00:42:16] Now, 2012 past, but everything started to change. We knew that the old institutes and everything that ruled that could no longer sustain and the new energies would start to crumble and we're watching that happen. Now, all the old. Um, companies and things which kind of hold up, we've got the middle of they've all come and these beings are amazing. They've come in with a mission. We're where the old ones where the old way show is, these ones are coming in fighting
[00:42:44] Lynne: Oh, they gen Z even that's after the millennials, because they're moving.
[00:42:49] Barbara: Yeah, they haven't
[00:42:50] Lynne: teenagers and early twenties, and they're an amazing, amazing, uh, generation of particularly the young women. They're so brave and powerful. And the indigenous young women that we saw over in Scotland, actually in Glasgow for cop. I mean, they were the most inspirational voices of all.
[00:43:06] So that's what we're here for. Isn't it we've chosen to be born be time as the wisdom keepers to hold open the doors and show the directions and that's just beautiful and for people, and I'm sure there will be many that will want to get in touch with you, we will put the details with the podcast, but what's the name of the town you live in and where is it so people can find you and your lovely shops?
[00:43:31] Barbara: It's the shop's called Arnemetia's after the goddess of the land of the Grove, the water and the growth. And. In market streets in Buxton, in Darbyshire. And if people just Google the purple shop, we come up, or if they Google spirit visions, as you said already, our names are a bit of a mouthful to remember if you just put in the purple shop or, um, yeah.
[00:43:59] Lynne: Clarified you we'll, we'll put it all here anyway. And it seed, you know, we're huge fans of both of you. We love having your Oracle cards and books and clothes here. So for those who can't get quite, as far as Darbyshire. There are anywhere near Somerset, come and visit us. And we hope you'll be here for many visits, and we also hope we're going to be doing collaborations together. I think you're both absolutely incredible, um, or inspiring and just beautiful women of today. The wisdom keepers, the Sage, the stairs. Thank you so much. God bless you. And uh, we will meet again very soon. Thank you.
[00:44:35] Well, after finding out so much about magic in the modern age, from our special guest celebrity, which is Barbara Meiklejohn-Free and Flavia Kate Peters, I would like to use their inspiration for our seed exercise for this podcast.
[00:44:55] I'd like you to say. About a way to really activate the magic in your life. Now this can be a variety of different ways and one of them of course, is to get into nature. So it could be just promising yourself to calve a walk in nature in some wild lands near you, or it could be spending time in your garden. It could be being open to the elements and see if you can spot the fairies at the bottom of your garden. It could also be creating ritual, making an alter. Bringing your crystals into the HETI life, whatever it is that you feel activate the magic in your life. Can I challenge you to do that inspired by this podcast this week?
[00:45:37] Thank you so much for listening and taking part. We will be putting up this new series of Frankly Speaking with Lynne Franks and Friends every two weeks on a Friday morning. And I do hope you'll be back with us again.
[00:45:57] If you like what you hear and want to learn more practical methods to help you plant the seeds in your own empowerment journey, then please subscribe to this podcast, rate it and review. Also make sure to join our Seed Hub Club if you haven't already, and together with thousands of like-minded women, you will make friends, you can promote your business and share your stories. Visit theseedhub.club to find out more about our community of wise women of all ages, dedicated to creating a new harmonious society based on love, integrity, and collaboration.
[00:46:36] Until then, this is Lynn saying, have a great couple of weeks and I'll see you next time. Namaste.