Dragonfly Healing

19/08/2026

So I've been a bit quiet on here lately. Hunkered down in the last stretch of Winter, finalising "The Wise Ones" while dealing with life's ups and downs like the seasons. I never realised how much work and complexity goes into writing and publishing a book. But I think we are finally getting there. Last week was World Elephant Day and I thought this would be a great time to share one of the images and a few lines and ideas of the book.

Somewhere in the African bushveld, a little elephant named Eloise sat alone by a river, feeling invisible. She asked too many questions. She didn't fit in with her herd and she felt small and unseen, unsure if she mattered at all.

And then, one full-moon night, she heard a voice — Luna, Grandmother Moon whisper to her:

"You are absolutely perfect just as you are. No matter what phase you're in."

Eloise went on to cross a river she was told never to cross, meet friends as different as she was, and discover that the wisdom she was searching for had been inside her all along.

Elephants carry so much of what this day is about — memory, family, gentleness, strength. But Eloise's story reminds me of something deeper too: that even the biggest, most magnificent creatures can feel small and unseen sometimes. And that being different was never the problem. It was always the gift.

So today here's Eloise's message for you, wherever you are in your own herd:

You don't have to fit in to belong. You are perfect in whatever phase you're in.

"The Wise Ones - Magical Messages from the African Bushveld" by Larissa Mulder-Barnett, illustrations by Elli Wahl. Coming soon!
🌙🐘

14/08/2026

A reminder that all emotions have purpose 🩵 so useful for children to learn this instead of thinking there are “negative emotions” they should not feel.

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Comment ‘Emotions’ and like this post 👍

JOY - Helps you enjoy the good moments.
SADNESS - Helps you heal and feel deeply.
ANGER -Helps you stand up for what's wrong.
FEAR - Helps you stay alert and safe.
DISGUST - Helps you protect your wellbeing.
ANXIETY - Tries to prepare you for the what-ifs.
ENVY - Shows you what you truly want.
ENNUI -Shows boredom, so you seek meaning.
EMBARRASSMENT - Helps you stay connected and learn with others.

28/07/2026

Tomorrow the sky reaches its fullest light — a Full Moon in Aquarius.

This moon asks you to step back far enough to notice the patterns you've been too close to recognise, the structures you've outgrown. The silence you've been keeping to stay comfortable for everyone but yourself.

Full moons are a culmination — the moment everything the last cycle has been building toward comes into the light. And this one, in the sign of the truth-teller and the visionary, is asking something specific of you: where have you been shrinking yourself to belong?

Aquarius energy is community-minded, but it is not people-pleasing. It knows the difference between connection and self-abandonment — between being held and being hidden.

A simple full moon ritual:

Light a candle. Write down one belief, role or relationship pattern you are ready to release — something that has asked for your silence in exchange for safety.

Read it once, out loud, to yourself.

Then let it go — burn it, bury it, or simply close the page.

You don't have to overhaul your life under this moon. You just have to tell yourself the truth about one thing.

That's enough. That's how the letting go begins. 🌿

28/07/2026

27/05/2026

Introducing Happy Hair Mist 🌿

A natural lice preventative and deterrent spray, handmade with love right here in White River. It contains all natural ingredients and smells delicious.

Every bottle contains a blend of four carefully chosen essential oils — including tea tree, one of the most well-researched natural lice deterrents available — carried in a lightweight coconut oil base that conditions without greasiness.

Safe, effective, and gentle enough for daily use.

✔ Safe for children aged 6 and above
✔ Pure essential oils — nothing synthetic, nothing harsh
✔ Handmade in small batches in White River, Mpumalanga
R125 per bottle 💛
📩 DM me to order or call/WhatsApp: 074 149 0309
🌐 www.dragonflyconnection.com

05/05/2026

Sometimes wisdom arrives on wings...

And it occurs to her:

"If a tiny dragonfly can be that perfectly made... maybe I am also perfectly made. Maybe there is something watching out for us all."

Where do you find your reminders? What tiny, beautiful thing calls you back to yourself?

The Wise Ones: Magical Messages from the African Bushveld — coming soon.

23/04/2026

Today is World Book Day — and today, I finally get to tell you about mine!
Deep in the South African bushveld, where the moon rises like a pearl over the acacia trees and dragonflies dance above the river like tiny flying jewels, a young elephant named Eloise sits alone.
She asks too many questions. She doesn't fit in. Her brother is cruel, her mother too busy, and the other young elephants just want to play games she doesn't understand. She feels invisible. Broken. Like she is too much and not enough, all at the same time.
But the wind is whispering. And the dragonflies are waiting.
What begins as one brave step across a forbidden river becomes a journey that changes everything. Guided by four ancient Wise Ones — Sophia the great Baobab Mother, Luna the Moon Goddess, Aurora the Sun Angel, and the Wind itself — Eloise discovers a truth that was inside her all along. Along the way she finds friends who know exactly what it feels like to not belong. None of them fit in. Together, they belong.
The Wise Ones: Magical Messages from the African Bushveld is a story about the magic that lives inside all of us — in the questions we're afraid to ask, in the parts of ourselves we've been taught to hide, in the wisdom that has been whispering to us our whole lives.
All we have to do is listen.
✍️ Written by Larissa Mulder-Barnett | 🎨 Illustrated by Elli Wahl

01/04/2026

The Full Pink Moon rises tonight in Libra. 🌕
She has one question for all of us:
Where are you overgiving — and where have you forgotten how to receive?
For those of us who learned early that love had to be earned, receiving can feel unsafe. This moon is here to gently, lovingly challenge that.
Here in the southern hemisphere, autumn is already doing her quiet work — the leaves are letting go, the light is softening, and something in us knows it is time to turn inward. This full moon is asking us to do the same.
Release what has been heavy.
Release what has not been reciprocal.
Release the version of yourself that kept shrinking to keep the peace.
You are allowed to be held.
You are allowed to rest.
You are allowed to receive. 🌿
Let the full moon do what full moons do — illuminate what you have been carrying in the dark, so you can finally set it down.

25/03/2026

REIKI + AROMATHERAPY — HEALING FOR BODY, MIND & SOUL

With our hectic modern lifestyles, our bodies easily fall out of balance. A mindful self-care routine can change everything — and that's exactly why I created the Dragonfly range of hand-blended, Reiki energy infused aromatherapy massage oils.

🧘 NERVOUS SYSTEM SUPPORT:
Look for Lavender, Frankincense, Vetivert, Bergamot & Chamomile — all found across our blends — when you need to calm, ground and restore.

🌈 OUR CHAKRA OIL BLENDS:
🔴 Root – Cedarwood, Patchouli, Frankincense, Vetivert & Black Pepper
🟠 Sacral – Bergamot, Ylang-Ylang, Clary Sage, Cardamom & Sandalwood
🟡 Solar Plexus – Chamomile, Rosemary, Juniper, Lemon & Lavender
💚 Heart – Rose, Pine, Ylang-Ylang & Lavender
💙 Throat – Chamomile, Frankincense, Rosemary, Eucalyptus & Peppermint
💜 Third Eye – Jasmine, Sandalwood, Neroli, Vanilla, Myrrh & Grapefruit
🤍 Crown – Frankincense, Vetivert, Rose, Neroli & Sandalwood
💛 Love Blend – Ylang-Ylang, Cardamom, Clary Sage, Rose & Mandarin

Use during a Reiki session, as a massage oil, or as part of your daily ritual.

🌟 Ready to align your chakras?
👉 www.dragonflyconnection.com/aromatherapyandmassageoils

Your healing journey starts here.

20/03/2026

Last week I shared something I had been sitting with for a long time.

And honestly? I wasn't sure what was going to happen when I hit post.

What did happen — most of it — was extraordinary. So many of you reached out, privately and publicly, with such love and such kindness. Messages from people I know well, and from complete strangers, telling me that something in what I wrote gave them permission to feel their own feelings. That they had finally been able to name something they had been carrying for years. That they felt less alone.

That is exactly why I wrote it. And I am so grateful.

— ✦ —

I also want to be honest about what else happened — because this is a space for honesty.

There were a few private messages that were unkind. And there have been some difficult conversations with people in my own life who read the piece as an attack on my past rather than as an act of healing for my future.

I have sat with that. I have felt it. And I have come back to this:

Brené Brown has a quote she borrows from Theodore Roosevelt that goes something like this — "if you are not in the arena getting your ass kicked, your feedback is not something I need to consider."

The people in my life who are doing the work — who are willing to look honestly at themselves, to sit with discomfort, to choose growth over comfort — those people understood what I wrote. Because they know what it costs.

Sharing your healing story is not a performance. It is not a takedown. It is not a weapon. It is an act of courage — one that asks a great deal and offers everything.

The people who are not in the arena — who are watching from the cheap seats, sending private messages they would never say out loud, or deciding that my healing is somehow an accusation — I say this with love: that is about you, not about me.

— ✦ —

I am not going to stop telling my truth. Not because I am brave, but because the silence cost me too much for too long.

And if my truth helps even one person feel less alone in theirs — then every difficult conversation, every unkind message, every friendship that requires renegotiation, is worth it.

— ✦ —

If something in last week's post landed for you — if you recognised yourself in the exhaustion, the hypervigilance, the not-quite-feeling-safe-in-your-own-body — I want you to know that there is a path through it.

Not a perfect one. Not a fast one. But a real one.

Reiki, therapeutic aromatherapy, and honest, compassionate conversation are what I offer at Dragonfly Healing. A space where you do not have to perform wellness or pretend to be further along than you are. A space where your nervous system can finally begin to understand that it is safe to rest.

You don't have to keep surviving alone. 💛

📩 DM me, or visit www.dragonflyconnection.com
📍 In person in White River, Mpumalanga | Distance Reiki available worldwide