Goddess Counselling

31/01/2026

This is Cicely Mary Barker's snow drop fairy from the Flower Fairies series. I grew up with these images on china plates in the house.

I've been looking into images, stories and poems related to Imbolc for the workshop I ran this week.

One of the myths around snowdrops are that an Angel changed snowflakes into snowdrops to cheer Eve up after she was banished from the garden of Eden.

There's a lovely poem about it by Robert Wilson. There last few lines are:

And thus the snowdrop, like the bow
That spans the cloudy sky,
Becomes a symbol whence we know
That brighter days are nigh;

I hope you have a lovely Imbolc if you're celebrating 🌱

20/01/2026

It's not really an Imbolc picture but I'm reaquainting myself with winter after leaving my brief sojourn in summer in New Zealand. This is snorkeling at Poor Knight's Island just before I came face to face with a (harmless) jellyfish 🪼😬

I've seen been back swimming at Stoney Cove in Leicester at 6°C 🥶

Soon we are to embrace Imbolc here in the Northern hemisphere and I wanted to let you know / remind you that I'm doing an Imbolc workshop on the Tariki platform on Thurs 29th Jan 1-3 online and you're all welcome. We'll be welcoming in the Maiden energy of the year and bring fresh energy to our projects.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/an-imbolc-celebration-with-charlotte-venkatraman-tickets-1096147559859?aff=ebdsoporgprofile

31/12/2025

I am spending the transition into 2026 in New Zealand visiting friends. The respect and love for nature here has really been apparent, woven into daily life in a way that I wish England was.

I'm meeting trees, swimming, eating, talking with the sea 🌊

For me, January is not the new year, but if you're celebrating, I hope you have a nice time. I'm enjoying the sunny interlude before coming back to wait for snowdrops 🩵

21/12/2025

12/12/2025

All dressed up to film my solo for the online show in Feb 2026.

It was raining in the Lake District (shock) and we filmed by derwentwater. We drew a few odd looks and a couple of comments about my white skirt being caked in mud!

Annie Lennox's words have been ringing in my head since the early 90s when I was an intense teenager. Glad to get them into dance now🌹

🥀 Once I had a rarest rose
That ever deigned to bloom
Cruel winter chilled the bud
And stole my flower too soon ....🥀

I'll add a link for the online show when it comes out ❤️

lovesongforavampire

30/11/2025

A few winter pics from cold, sunny Leicester over the last few days.

Ayelstone meadows had it's best face on with beautiful sunlight, clear waters, serene swans and balls of mistletoe.

The waxing Aries moon has already risen today as the sun sinks.

And Stoney Cove is sinking a train into the quarry, which I am very much excited by 😁 (I'm a lover of old trains and of outdoor swimming)

Happy winter for those of us in the northern hemisphere as we slowly make our way to the Solstice.

16/11/2025

I love colouring books. I've been slowly doing this one for about 8 years now.

It helps me sit still through long films and online meetings. It also helps me practice shading and using watercolour pencils techniques.

This one is part of an 'art for mindfulness' series, which has short quotes on the opposite page. The one for the first photo is:

'A bird does not sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song.'

Anybody else a fan of colouring books? Or wish you could get into them?

10/11/2025

This little cluster of 3 trees is in a somewhat mundane area in Leicester. I have been visiting them since I moved to the area in 2004.

I've come to think of them as the 3 sisters, or the 3 witches. I found them when I felt lost in a career that didn't suit me and have been back to visit in a variety of states. I now greet them with more casual familiarity.

They're always welcoming and have much knowledge to share, with occasional sharp wit and reprimand.

It occurred to me that I'd never sketched them, so these pictures are a prelude to that.

The 3rd pic tries to capture the snug feeling of standing within their circle and looking up. The 4th pic gave me the impression they were holding hands.

🌳

31/10/2025

I'm taking the opportunity of the time of year to cleanse some spiritual tools that I use. It's a good 'dark' time of year ritual, now we're entering the winter months here in the UK at Samhain.

The sword or athame you see in the picture is partly to symbolise the air element - clarity, communication.

For me, this particular 'wavy blade' or 'flame blade' appeared to me in a dream. I hadn't know they existed before. I had been telling a friend about the dream and it turns out they had one! It has much associated symbolism but my favourite is the serpentine kind - of change, divination, early dark Goddesses and truth telling.

The other item is a carved stone brought back from Peru with a moon engraved on it. They are called 'kuyas chumpi' and are used to work energetically with the body. In my case, I use it for female, lunar, hidden energies.

The charging plate they're resting on is selenite crystal.

What're your Samhain rituals this year?

Wishing you a shadowy Samhain 🖤🩶🤍

24/10/2025

I went to the pub for sketching and wine with a friend 🧡

I was struck by the beauty and sadness of the final rose before the cold weather started to turn it.

I'm fairly pleased with how it turned out, I think I might be learning something finally 🙃

It's watercolour pencils on paper.

13/10/2025

Autumn leaf prints with water-based ink 🍂🍁🍃

It's a lovely witchy activity for this time of year - walking around that park looking for complete dryish leaves ... getting the inks out ... covering the leaf in ink then rubbing it on the back with a spoon.

I then touched it up with a bit of dark grey pen ink.

I'm slowly trying to fill the multimedia sketch book that I bought in lockdown! 🙃 and of course continue my tree obsession..

🍂

28/09/2025

Listening to long Meg's wisdom.

She tells me that she knows how to keep my feet anchored to earth, stop me flying away. She made a long, dark plait of hair, deep into the ground.

She spoke to me with the voice of a grandmother, clear and firm and loving.

Long Meg and her daughters, is a stone circle near Penrith in Cumbria. Legend has it that a bad man cast a spell, but she had the last laugh - enduring for more than 5000 years and counting.