Category: Chronicle

A timeline of truth. Every entry, in date order—dreams, memories, moments, and meaning. Track the unfolding, the patterns, the pivots. This is the whole thread, stitched one day at a time.

  • After the Drain

    After the Drain

    The Dream

    Commercial bank
    its pond
    fetid.

    Its fish
    dead
    and dying.

    Call
    the RSPCA.

    The water
    drains

    waste and
    rubbish
    remain.

    Fresh water
    pours.

    No.
    The toxic mess
    remains.

    The Meaning

    pond
    The bank of emotions needs its poisoned swamp draining of waste before it’s refilled.

    What Lingers…

    What if emotional renewal requires more than refilling? What if it demands a purge?

    What if healing can’t begin until the waste is named, not just drained?


    Marginalia

    Sometimes, life needs a clear-out. We collect experiences and relationships that aren’t always beneficial. Much like the resurfacing of old memories in The X Files, here my dreams are demonstrating how a new environment can be just as harmful if what was originally toxic remains present.  

  • The X Files

    The X Files

    The Dream

    A series of old memories,
    residue of time gone by.

    Why now?
    You mean nothing.

    Don’t you?

    The Meaning

    old memories
    Not all memories dissolve on contact.
    Some stay lodged until the body feels safe enough to unearth them.
    Healing isn’t a delay, it’s timing.

    What Lingers…

    What if the body stores what time alone can’t dissolve?

    What if release depends not on will, but on safety that never comes?


    Marginalia

    We know that painful memories can be hard to process, but what happens when they resurface years later like fresh cuts, unannounced and unprepared for?

    I don’t think our bodies want us to return there; instead, I think it’s a passage forward. To allow us to reframe with fresh, compassionate eyes. To help us let go.

  • Smudging with Mugwort

    Smudging with Mugwort

    They say mugwort is the ancestral herb, used for centuries to open portals between this world and those that came before it.
    I didn’t know that when I started smudging my room with it.

    I’d never even heard of smudging until I got to Arran. The farm was welcoming, but the house was strange. At night, I’d hear the front door open and close. Once, I heard a bedroom door handle turn. I lay frozen in bed, wide awake.
    The place felt off. I couldn’t rest.

    One night, while I was out with a housemate, the others smudged the house with sage. When we returned, the energy was different. Calmer. Like something heavy had finally left the building.

    Eighteen months later, that same housemate mentioned she’d been smudging her bedroom, in an effort to sleep, without knowing why she couldn’t. Her words brought it all back. I’d been walking with mugwort, drinking tea made from it, and something in me stirred.

    I bound a small bundle of mugwort with cotton thread. Smudged carefully. Let in some air. Went to sleep.

    I woke crying.
    The dream was Misunderstanding and Violence.
    Something had been released—shoved violently out of me in tears.

    A few months later, while cleaning, I smudged again. I hadn’t planned to. I didn’t prepare. That night, I woke at midnight—completely alert. I paced the house.
    Hours later, I dreamed again: The Break-In.
    Only this time, it didn’t feel like my dream.

    Both dreams were laced with fear, instinct and attack. Both came after smudging with mugwort. Both now felt like warnings.
    I had just been writing about my maternal great-grandmother, Catherine. The woman who gave too much, who overextended past safety.

    What if those dreams weren’t mine at all?
    What if mugwort didn’t just facilitate dreams, but opened up the dreams of the dead?
    What if I didn’t dream about Catherine—
    but through her?

  • Part 2: The Break-In

    Part 2: The Break-In

    The Dream

    My house.
    I lived here—
    once upon a time.

    My son.
    Sleeping upstairs—
    small but not cosy.

    The door.
    A huge bolt,
    but so many holes.

    The windows.
    So many,
    with useless curtains.

    I am exposed.

    A knock.
    From the darkness—
    a man, desperate.

    “Open up!
    I need money—
    I see you in there!”

    I’m silent.
    He’s angered—
    smashing his way in.

    “Fire!”
    I shout—
    I’m terrified now.

    The Meaning

    house
    A past place of exposure and vulnerability.

    door
    One access point now, but full of holes. My inner boundary under direct threat.

    windows
    How I’m perceived. Someone sees me as withholding, but my refusal comes from fear, protection, and context—not stinginess.

    curtains
    I can’t hide myself. Transparency makes me a target.

    attack
    A collision of learned behaviour, fear of overextending, misunderstanding, and maternal instinct. I’m literally under siege.

    fire
    Survival strategy at its peak. I don’t cry for help—no one will come. I shout “fire” to draw people in through spectacle and self-interest.

    What Lingers…

    What if desire to help sits hand in hand with the fear of giving too much?

    What if the forgotten safety of intuition is replaced with survival scripts to protect?


    Marginalia

    After The Renovation from the night before, as much as this dream feels like its sequel, it doesn’t feel like it’s mine.

    I’ve spoken before about how dream sequences ramp themselves towards a terrible climax. Each night teasing themselves closer to the ‘root’ of the issue being explored.

    In Not My Dream, I also discussed how I’ve had dreams that haven’t belonged to me. This I believe, is another of those dreams.

    Only yesterday, I’d posted the insights I’d discovered about my maternal great-grandmother in Fragments of Catherine. In it, I state how she overextended her boundaries. This dream feels like her warning to me.

    To trust my instincts when things ‘feel’.

    To make sure I have boundaries in place. Not just in my waking life, but in my dreams also.

  • Fragments of Catherine

    Fragments of Catherine

    She says they came
    to her
    to read their future.
    She read tea leaves.

    She says she went
    to her
    when she was cold.
    Deep to her breast.

    They say she held
    secrets
    her lips sealed.
    She did not judge.

    Stars say she loved
    too deeply
    more than her
    weary soul
    could hold.


    Marginalia

    Catherine is one of the ancestors I found was imprinted onto my natal chart. She apparently gifted me with intuition, symbolic thinking, spiritual downloads and dream insight. She’s not a fanfare, she’s just there at my side, holding my hand.

    I never knew Catherine but when she showed up in my chart, I was intrigued to know more. This poem (if you want to call it that) is the fragments of what I discovered about her. And by now, I wasn’t surprised to find those fragments echoed in her natal chart.

    My Nana, however, her daughter could read people as easily as the news. I recall her rocking in her chair when something vexed her, when she knew the truth was being withheld. I can’t recall the exact instances, just the subtle changes in her behaviour.

    I thought that everyone had that ability.

  • Part 1: The Renovation

    Part 1: The Renovation

    The Dream

    My house —
    so big.
    So many
    front doors.
    It’s perfect
    to split.

    Everything
    needs renovating.
    It’s such a
    disaster.

    When it’s done,
    I’ll rent the rooms
    to refugees.
    It’ll be safe
    here.

    The Meaning

    house
    It’s back. This time in ruins.

    door
    Access points to my inner world. More than one way in or out. I’m open.

    renovation
    The interior is chaos, but I’m not giving up. I’m ready to rebuild from scratch — not patch over. What’s reborn here isn’t just for me. I want it to shelter those still seeking safety.

    What Lingers…

    What if inner ruin can be repurposed into refuge?

    What if usefulness begins not with perfection, but with making one room ready?


    Marginalia

    I think I’ve already mentioned elsewhere that I only ever recall dreams that have a message for me. Because of that, I don’t remember every bit of brain fodder, and days, weeks, and months might go by before I recall again.

    Sometimes the recall comes in flurries. It’s been over a month since my last ‘recalled’ dream. I’ve now started my new herbal course and already feel confident that this was meant to be the way forward.

    The last time I dreamed of my house in The House That Contains Everything, I accepted all the rooms in it, even those that were cold. Here I’m on with the renovations and I’m clear about why I’m renovating… It’s to be for the benefit of others.

  • Clean Hands, Dirty World

    Clean Hands, Dirty World

    The Dream

    Changing rooms
    an argument
    she steals
    from me.

    On camera
    I see her
    I’m not innocent
    I still want justice.

    Camping
    they steal
    from me.
    I know
    where they live

    The Meaning

    theft
    I carry guilt but I’m not corrupted by it. I’m committed to doing the right thing, even if it burns me.

    What Lingers…

    They say let those without sin cast the first stone. But what if standing by means the world rots?

    What if doing the right thing still matters, even when no one gets to stay clean?


    Marginalia

    Sometimes I can’t locate my dreams into my waking life and I wonder where they are from? The past? Maybe the future? Maybe from another life entirely.

  • Retreat From A Storm

    Retreat From A Storm

    The Dream

    A hedged garden.
    Weather, raged
    is rolling in.

    I shout, in warning
    I curl
    the wind
    bawls overhead.

    The Meaning

    weather
    I sense disruption before it breaks. I warn, not to control, but to prepare.

    curling
    I withdraw into instinct. I don’t confront, I don’t outrun, I survive by yielding until it’s safe to stand again.

    What Lingers…

    What if retreat isn’t weakness, but the most powerful form of retaliation?

    What if sensing a shift is its own kind of power?


    Marginalia

    There are many ways to deal with stressors. We can fight, flight, fawn, freeze or, as I’m learning more about, I can simply remove my energy as a conscious choice instead of a visceral reaction rooted in learned reflexive coping. There’s something quite soothing in knowing where my boundaries lie. I’m learning that not every storm that blows, needs or deserves my energy.

  • How AI and my Natal Chart Revealed Me as the Secretary of Ancestral Trauma

    How AI and my Natal Chart Revealed Me as the Secretary of Ancestral Trauma

    When I uploaded my natal chart to an AI, I just wanted to know if my side quests had a point, or if I was just avoiding actual study. Herbal medicine was supposed to be my new path—but instead of snoring through anatomy videos, I was decoding dreams that kept dragging me deeper into my family’s “definitely don’t open this box” history.

    Apparently, I’m the fixer. No, not the chosen one—just the gobby, nosy one who won’t shut up until a queue of dead ancestors gets their closure. I’m the one who doesn’t clutch her pearls (or even blink) when she learns why Great-Uncle Jimmy may have been committed. And so, my ability to keep my eyeballs open while they’re on fire got me the job.

    My chart didn’t just offer clarity. It handed me a hand grenade and a shovel. Suddenly, my dreams, intuition, and late-night archive diving all started to make uncanny sense.

    I never knew much about astrology. I liked it in the casual, “Taurus is stubborn” kind of way. But now? Now I was hooked. It felt like someone had blown the lid off a chest—and its contents had my name all over it.


    My Uncle Bought Me Scabs in a Box

    Looking at the output, I started picking through the threads AI threw at me. Scorpio rising? Ruled by the eighth house—the house of death, rebirth, sex, and secrets.

    Why, of course I’d been obsessed with the macabre since childhood. My uncle sealed that when he got my cousin a Fame make-up kit and me a latex scab set. Though all I really wanted was her red eyeshadow.


    Wednesday’s Child Is Full of Woe… and Fire

    It had been there since birth—the internal fire. I was a sleepless baby who bawled like I was demanding a refund for being born.

    Apparently, Wednesday’s child is full of woe. No one told my parents they’d been handed a miniature Witchiepoo with fight-or-flight as the only settings.

    As I got older, the urgency kicked in. The need to do everything now. The boredom that makes you bite your fingernails to the bone.

    That was my Moon in Aries—a box of fireworks and touch paper for a fuse.


    Pluto, Queen of the Chart

    At the cusp of the tenth house—career, public life, legacy—sat Pluto. There she was, filing her nails on my Midheaven like she owned it. And tbh, she did.

    Pluto: planet of transformation, death, rebirth, power, control—in my mind’s eye, a chain-smoking trans femme: fabulous gown, looking down with a steely stare and perfect makeup.

    The more I studied, the more I realised she wasn’t suggesting transformation—she demanded it. And if I ran away? She’d haul my ass back into line.

    Pluto made sure I had the hots for secrets, and life events that change your soul forever.

    My chart didn’t whisper a calling—it kicked the door in shouting, “Who wants a revolution?” Hence, I’m a girl you can kick to the floor, and I’ll come back sharper. Go Pluto.


    My Soul’s Purpose Made Me Poop a Bit

    The North Node is your soul’s purpose. Mine sat in that same tenth house, demanding I be public, fair, and collaborative in my work. Cue deep breath.

    Ha! Like, have you met me? Because:
    A) balancing anything is a real challenge for me, and
    B) being all out in public? Yeah, that’ll start a hot sweat.

    My life’s work? It tracked perfectly with what I find most challenging.


    House Party in the House No One Wants to Hang Out In

    A stellium is three or more planets in one house—a celestial hot pot. I had Mars, Jupiter, and Lilith all crammed into the eighth house. The house of death, rebirth, sex, and secrets.

    As if Mars the activator and Lilith the dark side weren’t intense enough, Jupiter made them both bigger, bolder, and impossible to ignore.

    My stellium was like trying to ignore someone talking loudly about their sex life in a sauna. 


    Madman Sends Texts From the Attic

    The fun didn’t stop there. Next up was Uranus—the cosmic weirdo. Wherever it shows up in a chart, it brings disruption.

    Mine was in the twelfth house, the celestial haunted attic.

    This basically meant I had Dr. Frankenstein upstairs, sending me intuitive Morse code via electric surges, sudden flashes of insight, and trauma dumping on me in my dreams. Those same dreams and gut punches that had suddenly become impossible to ignore.


    Death Doula. Wanted

    Basically, my chart was like:

    Hya luv, just letting you know you’re a shadow worker.

    But not just for you—for others too. Oh, and all that dirt digging you’ve been doing? It’s not a side quest; it’s the main event. Just one last thing… you need to do it all out loud, in public or it doesn’t count. OK, ta-ra!

    Reading the information was validating, to say the least—and whilst it was exactly what I was looking for, I was stunned at how eerily it made sense.

    The list went on.


    Hallucinating with Neptune

    Neptune represents dreams, spirituality, and intuition. Here it was, busting moves with Scorpio in my rising.

    This meant I’m dreamy, spiritual, drawn to the unseen, sensitive to my environment—but also susceptible to others projecting onto me.

    That reminded me of the times I’ve often been profiled, one of which resulted in my child not being diagnosed with ADHD until adulthood.


    Communicating or Excavating? Meh. Same Thing

    I found that Mercury, the planet of communication, sat opposite Pluto.

    The synopsis: I don’t do light chat. My brain doesn’t think; it interrogates. It’s either “let’s trauma bond” or “let’s nope.”

    I’m there, naming the thing no one wants to talk about.

    Great when your school drops its accreditation and you send twenty questions wanting to know the ins and outs of why.

    Not so great when your nephew doesn’t want to discuss his circumcision in detail.


    The Weirdo Upstairs Tangos with Fire

    Mars squared with Uranus meant these two aspects were in a challenging alignment, giving me a disruptive, electric signature.

    This may have been what my auntie meant when she nicknamed me “Miss Electric” aged nine—and why, when I had one of my dream downloads, I immediately started to dig into it like it paid my rent.


    Emotional Radio. No Volume Control

    Another tense alignment: Moon squared with Jupiter.

    What it meant? Big passion, enthusiasm, drive. Everything, just… big.

    Cue, my emotions having no volume—so I cry my balls out watching commercials and explode at traffic wardens when they’re trying to give me a ticket whilst I’m paying at the meter.


    Closing the Ancestral Loops

    The balsamic Moon. I was here to close out all the unfinished business of previous lives… the queue of ancestors who’d dragged me here, plus anyone up for rooting about in their drawer of secrets, apparently.

    My chart? A loop of death, rebirth, transformation, and shadow work. You’d think I was about to take off. But no, I got a Sun in Taurus in my 6th house. How kind!

    Thankfully I had a hearty dose of earthy stubbornness to keep me anchored in the house of work, daily habits, and service.

    Here, my herbal work rose, like a dandelion through the concrete. I wasn’t meant to drift off into la la land—thank the Lord—I was here to root it all into earth.


    I came looking for clarity; I got handed a job description. My herbal work, my volunteering, my dream journals, the ancestral baggage—they weren’t side quests.
    They were the whole flipping point.

    Apparently, this is my work. WTF.

  • Seeds in the Attic

    Seeds in the Attic

    The Dream

    The attic.
    Dark,
    cold.
    I lift
    the corner
    of a rug.

    Seed trays
    underneath.
    I look at
    the seedlings—
    struggling.

    Belladonna
    I think.
    But no.

    On closer
    inspection
    they’re ribes
    afterall.

    The Meaning

    attic
    A higher space of insight and memory.

    seed trays
    Hidden, forgotten growth. At first I mistake it for poison, but on closer look—it’s food. What I feared was dangerous is simply misunderstood.

    What Lingers…

    What if fear clouds what’s simply waiting to nourish?

    What if curiosity is all it takes to turn poison into fruit?


    Marginalia

    In The Attic, the Shite, and the Kettle, I’m desperate to get into the attic. It’s painful work. In How the Fuck Do I Water This Fig? I tend to what’s growing out of the ceiling, regardless.

    Now, with access to the attic, I’m reassured: not everything is as frightful as I expected. The attic might even have something useful to share.
    It reminds me how often people who’ve lived through torrid experience become lanterns for others in that same place. Trauma can be a site — not to remain trapped in, but to guide others through.