Home, Resilience & Trusting Your Intuition

I’m very excited to be sharing the first piece in a new series I’ve created called Wild Wisdom, Conversations with Nature.

This series is an invitation to slow down, pay attention, and reconnect with the quiet intelligence of the natural world. Each week, I’ll be sharing insights, reflections and intuitive downloads that come to me through animals, plants, seasons and rhythms and, importantly, translating that wisdom into something practical and usable in everyday life.

Because for me, shamanic wisdom isn’t just something we visit in meditation or ceremony. It’s something we live. It’s how we move through work, relationships, uncertainty, change and choice.

Find the accompanying vlog for this series HERE.

Listening to what shows up

This first Wild Wisdom piece unfolded completely intuitively.

I had a loose idea of what I might speak about, and then I went out for my usual morning walk. As I rounded the block, I was suddenly surrounded by swallows — about a dozen of them, flying low, circling, darting close. This isn’t something I normally see on that route, and it felt unmistakably like a moment of invitation.

When nature gets your attention like that, it’s worth listening.

So the barn swallow became the first teacher in this series.

Why barn swallows?

Barn swallows are extraordinary little birds. Despite their tiny size, they migrate vast distances every year; travelling roughly 10,000 kilometres between Europe and South Africa, twice annually. They arrive in the UK in spring to breed, returning to the same nests year after year, and then head back to Africa to winter in warmer climates where they rest, recover and moult.

They flock together, pair bond, trust their timing, and somehow — without overthinking — always find their way home.

They are also deeply personal for me.

I’m British, but I’ve lived in South Africa since 2009. I’ve always felt as though I have two homes. My family is in the UK, my roots are there, and yet South Africa is where my life is now — my home, my work, my animals, my day-to-day world.

Barn swallows mirror that experience so beautifully. They belong to more than one place. They know when it’s time to go, and when it’s time to return.

My dad has barn swallows that nest next door to his house in the UK, and we often find ourselves wondering whether those same birds ever pass through South Africa. Whether, somewhere along the way, our paths unknowingly cross. I love that thought.

What swallow medicine teaches us

In shamanic terms, when we speak about medicine, we’re asking: what does this being have to teach us? What wisdom does it carry that might help us live more well, more consciously, more aligned?

For me, swallow medicine brings several powerful themes.

Home is the first.
Where is home for you right now? Is it a place, a feeling, a relationship, a sense of belonging — or something you’re still defining?

Resilience is another.
Barn swallows travel around 20,000 kilometres every year. For something so small, that requires extraordinary stamina, preparation and perseverance. It invites us to reflect on where we are already resilient — perhaps more than we give ourselves credit for — and where we might need to build greater inner strength.

Cycles and timing are central to their lives.
Swallows respond to changes in daylight, seasons and environmental cues. They move when it’s time to move, and rest when it’s time to rest. As humans, we’ve largely lost this attunement, often pushing ourselves through seasons that are calling for pause or restoration. Swallow medicine reminds us to listen more closely to our own natural rhythms.

Trusting your inner compass may be the most potent lesson of all.
Swallows don’t overthink their migration. They trust that they know the way — guided by memory, the earth’s magnetic field, the sun, moon and stars. They set off, and they figure it out as they go.

There’s a quiet but powerful invitation here:
Where might you trust yourself more?
Where do you already know the way, even if your mind is full of doubt?

Community and cooperation also show up strongly.
When birds flock, there is no single leader. Each one is tuned into the others, responding intuitively so the whole group moves as one. It’s a beautiful example of harmony, responsiveness and collective intelligence — and a reminder that we are not meant to do everything alone.

And finally, preparation.
Before their long journey, swallows gather, feed, rest and build strength. This is resilience in action. Preparation doesn’t mean bracing or controlling — it means tending to ourselves so that when life throws its inevitable challenges our way, we’re less easily knocked off course.

Nature as a nervous system ally

One of the things I love most about spending time with the natural world is how deeply regulating it is for the nervous system.

Nature is cyclical. It has routines. Birds arrive at similar times each day. Evening song fades in a familiar order. As the last robins finish singing, the bats emerge. These patterns happen whether we notice them or not — but when we do notice, something settles inside us.

In a world that often feels uncertain and overwhelming, nature offers continuity. Paying attention to the small, repeating rhythms around you can create a surprising sense of safety and steadiness.

Questions to sit with

If barn swallow medicine is speaking to you, I invite you to reflect on these questions:

• Where is home for you, and what does home mean right now?
• Where could you develop more resilience — and where are you already resilient?
• How might you prepare better for life’s inevitable challenges, big or small?
• Where do you not trust yourself, even though you do know the way?
• How can you live in greater reciprocity with the natural world around you?

You might journal on these, walk with them, or simply let them percolate quietly in the background.

A final invitation

As this series unfolds, I encourage you to start paying attention.

What animals, birds or symbols keep showing up for you? Are you seeing swallows where you live? In the Northern Hemisphere they’ll soon be arriving; in the Southern Hemisphere they’re beginning to prepare for departure.

Nature is always communicating — through patterns, synchronicities and quiet nudges. When we listen, life often becomes a little clearer, a little calmer, and a little more meaningful.

If you’d like to explore this work more deeply, I offer power animal retrievals, soul retrievals, conscious femininity coaching and nervous system support. You can get in touch with me HERE.

This is just the beginning of Wild Wisdom. I don’t know what will come through next — and that feels exactly right.