There are not many witches I know, in fact none as yet, who have experienced what I and my close sisters experienced on the Autumn Equinox 2020, it was truly a proper shamanic death and rebirth at our watery temple in the woods. I and six other sistas are priestesses and care givers to this very ancient waterfall situated in North Cornwall. I have been visiting this awe inspiring sacred site since the early nineties and the first words I uttered when I initially arrived here and gazed into the depths of the water many years ago were, 'I am home!'. Since that fateful day of returning to a place where I had been a priestess in a previous incarnation, my journey with the spirits who dwell within and beyond this shimmering waterfall has proved to be an incredibly magical on so many levels. I have seen shimmering Egyptian deities there, witnessed spectral delights, seen countless shimmering orbs and received many visions of what was and what may come to pass. At an event there organised for World Goddess Day some years back, two people witnessed my oracle table actually manifesting water without a water source! I had left my oracle table to conduct a reverent ceremony down at the waterfall and when I returned I saw the look of shock and confusion on their faces because most people don't witness real magical manifestation and when they do they try to justify it, in this case they could not and had to accept that they did indeed witness a real miracle. I have witnessed spirits as old as time here and in other sacred places, one of which is a goddess who shared her name with me, Silina. I have seen this waterfall be passed from guardian to guardian and now become a huge tourist attraction, whilst the waterfall itself remains how it has remained since first it came into being. Yes I have seen many wondrous visions here, and on the Summer Solstice of 2010 I received an actual gift bestowed by the waterfall spirits. I was there visiting with my oldest son who at that time was nine years old, and I was there for specific mission, to help save my mother's life. She had been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer and given three to nine months to live and it was inoperable. Needless to say our family began doing everything we could possible to try to save her life. I intended to commune with my waterfall spirit friends and so on arriving I took off my boots and as usual stood barefoot in the shimmering waters of the Kieve. It was a particularly busy day as a coach had arrived so I switched off from the hustle and bustle that surrounded me and silently asked for help for my mother. It was at this moment that two shining deities appeared in front of the waterfall and were Egyptian in appearance which confused me as I wasn't expecting to see Isis and Osiris at a Cornish waterfall! I gratefully received their blessings, and on turning to rejoin my son I saw three women staring in amazement towards me, they too had seen the vision! After being excitedly hugged and conversed with I began the journey back up the granite steps, still with a deep sadness and worry in my heart. Half way up the ascent I heard a voice and this voice told me to stop, turn and put my hands into a crevice in the rock wall. So I did what the voice was asking of me and there deep within this crevice was a flat crystal, a piece of rainbow fluorite! I remember my son asking how I knew it was in there and I replying that it was to help Granny! On returning home, I placed this crystal in my mother's hand and told her to hold it and place it under her pillow at night as she was now in the hospital, very weak and being supervised daily. Miraculously her health began to improve, no one could understand but I why this was happening and so she was discharged and allowed back home and told that the cancer was just too virulent and advanced to retreat any further so not to expect any further improvements. Whilst at home I prescribed a radical diet for her and together with the magic emanating from the waterfall stone my mother's cancer completely vanished. The oncologist said it was a miracle, but I silently knew that the magic stone had been a huge factor in her unexpected recovery. I now wear this stone around my neck and use its incredible healing energies to help others and our planet, and it magically links me directly with my blessed waterfall. But what happened years later at this watery temple I really wasn't expecting! it is now 2020 and I once again I visited St Nectan's with my close sistas who also feel a strong magical link to the sacred waters of this place. We were there to bless our Silina talismans that had been crafted and gifted to us, and also to give our usual healing and honour to the precious waters. We were also joined by a few people from Glastonbury who had visioned a few days before that the portals of the waterfall would open at 11.11 (they were almost right!). They drummed and chanted at 11.11 and when they had finished Becky and I stepped forward, barefoot and conducted our usual wind roaring together and body runes to open the portal to commune with our blessed goddess of the waterfall, and it was here in mid ceremony that I died... Only one woman who was another visitor named Maggi could conduct CPR and apparently she pummelled my chest for a long while and brought me back from the Otherworld. I was rushed to intensive care as had suffered a major stroke, died and been resuscitated. Two brain operations later I was in a complete state of confusion and couldn't walk at all, I had memories of my journey in the Otherworld but most of my memories of this realm had gone. I was allowed home after six weeks and my intense recovery began. For a long while I was in a state of mental confusion but I could feel the waterfall spirits with me, infact a part of me is still there, but that's another tale to be told for another day! I saw much across the veil. My strong link with the magic of this sacred place now flows like the waterfall itself and I am now bonded to this place in a way that I could never have truly envisaged. A year after this event I miraculously began to come back into balance and each day I would take piskie steps, as I call them, and try my best to walk unaided. Our local Cornish beach became the place for my physio therapy and the day I actually walked across it unaided I shall never forget, twas a wonderful feeling. Some of my memories have faded but most have now returned, and my surgeon like my mother's one said it was an absolute miracle that I could walk and talk coherently. I have my moments of brain fog and stammering but overall this witch is back, stronger and much wiser than before! Now there is something else magical about this story, for all life stories in my opinion carry important messages and lessons for us, and in my case the spirits took me up to literally save my life! Like many other empathic witches I know, I had been suffering from an underlying disease for fifteen years prior to my stroke, and had not been treated well by the NHS. I was given a diagnosis of ME, fibre and chronic fatigue, which at times in the past had left me bedridden and unable to walk, I had radically changed my diet but my general organ and blood levels were getting worse as the years progressed. I was also never tested properly, and being a healer I already new that it was definitely an auto immune disease, but was still continually denied any in depth testing. So my waterfall spirit friends took me up because they knew it was inevitable the stroke was going to happen and they kept me safe. I remember visiting my DR a few months before my collapse and telling him that I could feel strange movements around my brain, but still wasn't taken seriously! Now, however they finally are and I am now receiving the testing I should have been granted years ago, and yes I have an auto immune disease. I am sure if I had of collapsed anywhere else I may not be writing this now, my shining sprit guides brought me home to administer healing to me so I could return and carry on the important work that I do daily as a witch. My health is now slowly returning and when I suffer days of weakness I simply rest, and I have used this precious recovery time to also finally write my book and it is now finished. It is a miracle that I am still here and that I have managed to compile a very special book indeed, I have felt the spirits of the waterfall guiding my every thought and word. I now I need a publisher as it is finally finished, what a journey of nostalgia this has been, my magical life is reflected withiin every page. and I am sure the Fates will bring the right person to publish it to me. My life has been filled with tremendous highs and lows but one thing that has remained constant is my deep connection to real magic. I was born a witch and I have been a warrior, a Volva and a wise woman in many other incarnations, and they have all led me to this life and I have no idea how long I am to remain here but I know now that if the Norns deem I fly off again I shall be leaving behind not only a book about witchcraft but also about my magical life. Magic has always been with us and part of my job as a witch is to help people remember and re-connect to the magic of the Land, Sea and Sky, so I can rest now knowing that my magical knowledge and experiences will remain forever in the pages of this book of wild witchery. Watch this space and hopefully soon you will be able to order a copy, and crikey oh Riley this book is a long time coming! Thank you for all the love and support you have shown me since my shamanic death and rebirth and I can now say with my hand on my heart that this realm is one of many others because I have been there, albeit briefly! May the magic of the Land, Sea and Sky be with you and may real magic find a way into your heart, so it is! x
The above photo was taken by a member of the public who witnessed my friend Maggi Magenpie and myself cleansing our crystal balls at St Nectan's. Months after I had my stroke my dear sister Maggi unexpectedly passed over to the Otherworld, I would be with her now if the spirits had deemed it so but whatever reasons they chose to send me back. St Nectan's was very close to Maggi's heart to and on Faerie Day 2021 we met to honour her memory here, she sill forever remain in our hearts, fly free piskie sista x
