I’m also very excited to announce a brand new and a very different Essence. It’s neither a Bush Essence nor a White Light Essence, but instead something exceptionally unique …                  the Antarctic Essence.

I have just returned from an extensive trip to many regions of Chile and Argentina that also included an 11 day sea voyage to Antarctica. To reach Antarctica entailed two and a half days of sailing, on a Swedish ‘icebreaker’ converted to a passenger ship, across what’s known as the Drake Passage, one of the most treacherous and rough bodies of water in the world.

The day my wife Jane, daughter Grace and I boarded our ship at Ushuaia, on the southern-most tip of Argentina, there was a Force Ten gale blowing – I experienced many such strong winds later on in the trip whilst trekking in Patagonia. We all had our luggage on trolleys and as we tried to force our way against the wind up the wharf, an extra strong gust blew Jane’s woollen hat and gloves from the top of her trolley into the water. My rush to the wharf’s edge to see if they were retrievable was abruptly halted by Grace’s scream to intercept my own unattended trolley which the gale was blowing towards the water. I only just stopped it.

Our ship had docked earlier that morning at the completion of its previous Antarctic journey and had experienced extremely rough conditions … with apparently many a passenger leaving with a green colouration. The Drake Passage is constantly beset by strong westerly winds and low pressure systems. I would estimate that at least half of the 80 odd passengers on board were seasick as we battled through the six to ten metre swells. There were certainly many new stains on the carpet of the two-passenger cabin decks. Grace wasn’t seen during those two days, and many others had a similar fate. To think that I used to complain about the challenges, time, cost and difficulty of actually getting to places and preparing some of the White Light Essences … such as the making of the Earth Essence from the cave in Bhubaneswah, in far northern India or having to make the perilous climb up the sheer face of Putucusi Mountain in Peru order to get to the top to make the Angelic Essence! It was a great relief to reach the calmer waters that the landmass of Antarctica provides.

We had five days scheduled for landings in Antarctica, though the weather was so bad on the fifth day  that both landings were abandoned. The one thing about Antarctica that you learn quickly is how suddenly and drastically the weather can change. Of the other four days, two were quite fantastic; blue skies, little wind and temperatures above zero. In some years there may be only five days like this over the whole southern summer, which lasts from November to March. We were very fortunate to experience two such perfect days. I had a strong feeling there was a possibility of an Essence being made on this expedition so I had all the necessary equipment with me. On board I received the message that ‘the remedy had to be made on the actual mainland’, which in our case meant it would have to be on one of our landings on the Antarctic Peninsula, as opposed to any of the islands we visited offshore.

The brilliance of Antarctica’s white ice is stunning and intense. In the glacial ice and older floating icebergs there is a tinge of beautiful azure blue as the ice only reflects blue light, the other colours of the spectrum being absorbed. I was guided to use this ancient ice, which was at least 20,000 years old, as water to prepare the remedy. From discussing our future landings with our expedition leader, it was apparent to me that the only possibility for making the Essence would be at Cierva Cove. It’s important in making my Essences that other people not be present, as their thought forms can impair the remedy. Our other landings would not allow me the opportunity to move to an isolated space away from the other passengers and crew. I can never remember being more excited and yet also anxious about the prospect of making a remedy. The night before, I triple – or probably quadruple – checked all the equipment I would need and could hardly sleep.

The Cierva Cove landing was the first for the day – we usually did one in the morning after breakfast, and one after lunch. The landings are made in smaller rubber inflated Zodiac boats with a driver and ten passengers. I was down at the landing bay, first in line, 45 minutes before the scheduled departure as I knew that in order to have enough time to complete the Essence I’d have to go out on the first Zodiac and come back on the last. Even the appearance near the landing of the only two flowers that can be found in Antarctica, one a tussocky grass, and the other belonging to the carnation family, barely held me up as I quickly and purposefully set off in search of an isolated location to prepare the Essence. I had to move carefully too, as I encountered a lot of moss and lichen as I travelled inland away from the cove. It’s important not to tread on these life forms as they’re incredibly slow growing and one careless step can wipe out a hundred years or more of growth. So it was challenging trying to get to a destination as there’d be much backtracking needed to get to where I wanted to be as I would often run out of stepping rock. Unfortunately there were two passengers, with very expensive and elaborate camera equipment, who also seemed to have it in mind to get to an isolated area for their photographic agenda. This forced me to go further than I had hoped away from the Zodiac landing. Fortunately our English expedition leader, whose mother is an osteopath, was very sympathetic, helpful and open to me preparing the Essence and was aware that I needed to be away from the others, which for safety reasons is not encouraged at all.

Eventually my spot was chosen for me when I was stopped in my tracks by a number of skua’s starting to harangue and swoop down at me. They are mean, large, ugly and aggressive birds at the best of times and obviously they thought I was getting too close to their nesting area. As I sat quietly on a rock platform overlooking the bay and regathered my composure after the skuas’ greeting, I was overtaken by the deafening silence, tremendous calm and quietude, not to mention the intensity of the elements and Nature present there. I quickly entered a deep state of peace and tranquillity unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before. Antarctica is an amazing place to find yourself in, and a tremendous privilege as very few people have been there, let alone being in the position of being able to make an Essence available to everyone, which encapsulates this unique continent. As I sat meditating, my solitude would from time to time be shattered by the explosive shattering of ice as large shards of an iceberg would calf into the cold waters of the cove.

Over time I would see the ice split up and slowly drift with the currents filling the cove. As the Essence progressed I became a little alarmed as a snowstorm started, developing on the horizon and gradually made its way across to where I was, making visibility very difficult and myself and my rock very cold. It left me wondering whether I’d be able to make my way back to the landing zone. I should always know that I’m very guided and protected in making the Essences and fortunately there was always just enough visibility to keep the landing area in sight constantly.

The conditions started to slightly improve as I began making my way back down, holding on very tightly to my Mother Tincture and crouching very low to the ground due to the aggressive and somewhat scary attention of the skuas once again. I made it down to the Zodiac at the final moment before it left.

Later that night on the boat they showed a documentary on Antarctica by David Attenborough where he too was swooped on in the same manner by skuas! The scary part is that they fly straight at you with their long, close to metre-wide wingspan, at eye level and only veer off at the last moment, just narrowly missing your head.

Before the Essence and I were safely on board, there was one wonderful and fitting finale to this adventure. A ten metre Minke whale was in a very inquisitive, friendly and playful mood and had been frolicking with the Zodiacs as they made their return to their ship. With ours he seemed to spend a particularly long time, diving under, up, going from one side to the other, then surfacing to look at us, from just a few feet away with his big doleful eyes, then breaching and rolling on his belly, putting on a wonderful show for us. Thankfully our Zodiac driver was quite happy to stay with this beautiful minke rather than return quickly to the ship.

During the voyage we also had close encounters with pods of both humpback and orca whales, not to mention the numerous species of birds that can be found in Antarctica and the thousands upon thousands of penguins. We encountered four different penguin species – Gentoo, Macaroni, Adelie and Chinstrap – on our various landings. There were also many different types of seals, from the huge bull elephant seals to the innocent puppy faced Weddel seals to the sleek lethal leopard seals. One of these tried to attack one of the Zodiac drivers who narrowly escaped at full throttle. The leopard seals can be up to 4 metres long and if you’ve seen the movie March of the Emperors, you’ll know what a finely tuned killing machine they are – not a creature to tangle with.

Qualities of Antarctic Essence

 Antarctic Essence allows you to be aware of what is really necessary in your life and in the situations that you are encountering. This is one of the key aspects of the Essence and also to feel tremendous calm, peace and stillness within yourself … to help let fall away those things that are not essential to you and taking you away from that inner peace and being at one with nature. The purity of Antarctica helps you to find your own pure essence – the very core of yourself – and to let go of whatever takes you from this timeless, clear-centred part of yourself. It allows you to go deeply into things and not get distracted; to see the core of things and what’s important. If you are too distracted it will help to pull you back into harmony. The other key aspect of the Antarctic Essence is that it will reveal to you aspects of yourself that are very deep and hidden –what are referred to sometimes as ‘old dark crystals’. This Essence will bring the light to them and dissolve these old patterns and beliefs (which may have been formed in ancient times or may be early beliefs developed this lifetime). Their dissolution will help you to trust Spirit, to trust your path and to show you the necessary new steps. The Antarctic Essence can also help you to connect to the wisdom of the Ancients as well as your own ancient past and the communication of anything needed from that time. It helps you find the patience to be very still, which will help you to trust the unfolding of your life and direction with openness to these new revelations and willingness to seek and follow them. It even helps when dealing with major change. There’s a deep stillness that can come with trust in life, nature and God which when achieved will help you find your own peace and stillness, and allow you to be able to stay in this state more readily. This Essence can help in the clarity of both your vision for what is necessary and essential in your life, as well as your communication.