A New Name?

Those who have known me a while know I reclaimed my name, Shantel, a few years back.

Yet at retreat the ladies who I hadn’t met had trouble relating me with my name they told me. And I’ve noticed recently I’ve been Shannii again as much as Shantel.

During my magical visit to Avebury we spoke with and asked for messages from the Trees and the Wind.

That night in ceremony we created a potent healing elixir for ourselves and shared what insights we had received. 

And then my birth name did not exist. It could not be spoken in that moment. I was referred to as the lady with the purple hair instead of my name. There was one name only that was spoken aloud.

Ayeishta.

I have said for numerous years I felt another name somewhere for me. No idea what that meant but I felt it. I wondered if it was one of those weird spiritual things that wasn’t true because so many people start down the path and then all of a sudden change their name. Was I just following the trend around me?

Recently I have said I want to change my last name on my birth certificate to remove the attachment that surname created. 

Maybe this name is that replacement?

I spent a week in ‘The worlds largest open air asylum’ as it was lovingly referred to by a local, or, as we all know it – Glastonbury 🤣

And this is one of the pieces I came away with.

There are some that would say an asylum would suit me. If it’s Glastonbury then I’m in 💁🏽‍♀️🤣

All I know is what I feel and what I feel is peace. Choosing that word for this year has bought a lot of ‘not peace’ yet I didn’t expect to feel it already. Who knows where I will go from here.

I’m not saying I’m not Shantel or Shannii and to not call me those names either. But there is something new here too. I am integrating. We will see where I am led.

💜 When I sat with the name this is what I wrote:

I am Ayeishta; a sacred seer on a path of freedom.

I will always explore, awaken, and guide through insight and experience.

My life is and always has been my message. My love is and always has been my power.

And my truth is, does and has always set others free.

I am chosen by spirit and beloved of the divine and I see with clarity as I walk with love and I live with purpose.

I am She who walks with sacred vision.

I am not and never was here to walk the straight road.

I was born to explore and adventure on many paths but not get lost and even so, in the chaos, I can see clearly. I am presence in the face of chaos. 

Where others may fear change, I will always see its purpose. Where others seek control, I will offer freedom through insight. Where others bypass pain, I am confronting in nature. 

Where others look outward for answers, I will guide them inward with truth and love and with the power of what I see. I am the wairua/soul who lives my wisdom. 

I am a gentle soul and a fierce protector. I am sea and sky and tradition and transformation. 

I choose to dance through life with grace and courage and always looking for the music in every seemingly soundless space.

I am here to awaken others but not by preaching. I do it instead by embodying my freedom and by trusting my vision and always living it with courage as the woman that I have grown to be. 

As the Wind said to me – I already know 💜

Xo S