healingwords: poetry for the soul

Chamomile grows freely on the hills in this region of Spain, some large clumps growing as big as an armchair. Locals have always picked stems of the flower to boil and drink both for all kinds of digestive problems but also as an aid to sleep. I drink 'manzanilla' for both issues. Along with mint tea, known as menta here, it is a popular choice after a meal, especially if it is too late for a dose of caffeine. Many people will not drink coffee in the evening as it keeps them awake. If I wake in the night and insomnia strikes, after an hour or so of tossing and turning I will make a manzanilla and soon drop back to sleep.  

This image is of the 'Gorg del Salt', the waterfall cascading into a deep green pool, part of the river system known as the 'Barranc de L'encantá', the Ravine of the Enchanted. The river cuts through the rock, collecting in pools and falls.  The legend of the Enchanted is a local myth dating back to when these lands were populated by the descendants of the Arab Kingdom of Al Andalus. When Felipe III decreed the expulsion of the Moorish population the people of the Vall de Gallinera were forced to leave. The legend states that they left a wonderful treasure hidden in a cave in the Barranc, which stretched for 14 kilometres from the village of Planes to the mouth of the river Serpis near the village of Beniarrés. The treasure was guarded by a young women who was enchanted to be its guardian. Various versions tell that she was a beautiful maid from the waist up, with the lower body of a goose, who wore a golden crown that shone with sunlight when she left her c...

The dew drops on this finger size shoot of new pine reminded me of the hidden world beneath us, where microscopic creatures colonise the soil and bugs and beetles scuttle out of sight. Who knows who might dance around this tiny Christmas tree.  © 2019 Jacqueline Knight Cotterill.  All rights reserved.  

The hillside was bright today with warming sun. I walked a little nervously as the evidence of wild boar was everywhere, overturned soil, splattered shrubs and broken down stone walls marking their path. This beautiful leaf sprang out from the plant looking like a discarded sword on the forest floor.  © 2019 Jacqueline Knight Cotterill.  All rights reserved.  

The Three Fairies Dancing sculpture at the Rollright stones is the work of environmental sculptor David Gosling and his son Adam and reflects one of the legends associated with the stones. It is said that fairies live beneath the Kings stone and come out at night to dance around the stone circle. The sculpture is inspired by William Blake's painting 'Oberon, Titania and Puck with fairies dancing' from A Midsummer night's dream. It is a nice thought that Shakespeare may have known the Stones as they lie close to the old Stratford to London road. The dancing fairies have an amazing energy, they seemed semi real on a windy, grey day and were perfectly at home next to the Stone Circle and near the beautiful wood sculptures in the Whispering Knight's wood project a few hundred yards from the stones.   © 2019 Jacqueline Knight Cotterill.  All rights reserved.