Pumpkins and Toadstools

I've Moved ~ Reminder

2011-03-17T08:39:00.000-07:00

I've moved! My new blog can be found here:

Blog Button Offer

2011-03-14T09:21:00.000-07:00

I'm on my way round to all of the blogs I follow to pick up blog buttons for my site (those that I can access at least as I'm still having problems loading some blogger sites). One thing I have noticed is that lots of you don't have blog buttons for your lovely blogs so I have decided to offer those of you that do not something special.

~~If you would like a blog button made for your blog ~ and you don't already have one ~ comment here (including your email address in the comment) or send me an email to~~ ~~rhedyn@live.co.uk~~ and I will make you one. This will include a scroll section below for people to get the code for your blog as well and I'll even include instructions for putting it onto your blog for those of you who don't know how!

~~This offer is open to the first 10 people to ask for one so hurry! (I will edit this post once I have 10 buttons lined up so if I haven't updated I still have space in the offer)~~

EDIT: The offer has now ended, thanks to everyone who asked for a new blog button...I hope you all like the designs.

New Blog Button

2011-03-13T12:13:00.000-07:00

To go with my new found blog and part of my move here is my new blog button, which will direct all to my new site. Please pick it up to replace my old Pumpkins and Toadstools one. Thank you everyone!

<div align="center"><a href="http://michelwatson.wordpress.com/" title="Michel Watson" target="_blank"><img src="http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p82/michelwatson/Blog%20Imagery/blogbuttonresize.png" alt="Michel Watson" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Makeovers and Moving.

2011-03-10T14:08:00.000-08:00

A lot has been going on this year so far, some good...some bad, but one thing is certain to me right now and that is the need for change. Pumpkins and Toadstools has run it's course. As an artist I want to work under my own name now and I feel it is time for a makeover. This has become two fold.

My artist's facebook page has now changed to Michel Watson please follow me there, especially if you already were on the Pumpkins and Toadstools one. I would have kept the original page but fb wouldn't let me change it's name.

The second change is that my blog is moving to wordpress. Call me a traitor if you will *laughs* but I have been having so many issues with blogger (being unable to post, losing posts when I publish them etc) that I have finally made the switch. Please, please come visit me over there. I don't want to lose touch with all my blogging friends ~ yes that means you guys and girls ~ but it really is time for a big change for me. My new blog can be found here.

I'm going to be expanding my work, as well as painting and crafting as always I hope to finally add in a few exerpts from my writing now that I am more seriously concentrating on the novel I started for Nano last year. I would love to share it with you and hear your feedback as well as for my art work.

So, while I am not going to be around here haunting much anymore I will still be online. I wish you all the best and hope to see you around in cyberspace.

Love and Light x

Happiness

2011-02-12T03:33:00.000-08:00

A long while ago I bought a set of Dharma Cards which are these really beautiful photographic cards based on some of the main wisdoms of Buddha. Until today I have been too imbalanced to even attempt to use them, but the call of my shrine has been strong this morning so I lit the candles and incense and picked out the one that felt right.

Given all the problems I have had of late with my mood and depressive slumps it was very fitting that the card that made itself known to me was Happiness.

This is what it says:

Let us live happily then,
free from the bondage of hate!

Let us live happily then,
free from the disease of misery!

Let us live happily then,
free from the craving of desire!

Let us live happily then,
though we call nothing our own!

We shall be like the gods,
feeding on happiness.

Above all else perhaps it is the associated message and explanation in the book that really hit home (I will just include the parts that were specifically true as the passage is long), one that I will be sharing with a few people that I know of that are going through the same thing:

Buddha encourages happiness. He encourages you to taste the freedom that arises when you are no longer a slave to the pulls of your mind. As things are now, your mind goes on swinging from one extreme to another, like a pendulum. First you love, then you hate; one minute you are happy, then the next you are sad. Become aware and follow the middle path. Don't be thrown from one extreme to another. Be watchful and choose to be a witness. Then you will find happiness. Then you will no longer be curtailed by your mind.

Silence is Golden

2011-02-11T09:30:00.000-08:00

Wow...it's been a long while since my last post and you may be wondering why. It has, quite frankly been a tough couple of months. I found myself sinking into a depressive swing (the first one I've had in years) and it has really knocked me for six. Now, thankfully I can feel myself coming out of it, I only hope that it will continue to get better and I will be clear of it for now.

I am tentatively back in the blogging sphere and I really hope that I stay here again. I've missed you guys so much, but really, when this hits I can't very well do anything that isn't absolutely necessary. I have just about scraped through and I look forward to catching up with you all again.

Blessings x

Christmas Cards

2010-12-06T02:08:00.000-08:00

Whoo! We had snow...and got snowed in and once again I have been ill with migraines and then a pesky cold that's been going between me and the kids, but eventually I managed to make my Christmas cards this year using a free decoupage set I procured earlier in the year. Generally, as all my family aren't pagan I send Christmas cards and make handmade gifts and decorations for Yule. The novelty of it for me is having a Pagan bloke, who always gets the brunt of my creative endeavours for the sabbats, when I am able that is, not that he complains about it...much *chuckles* This year I'm determined to finish the altar cloth I started for him before embarking on NaNo as his Yule gift...pictures will be posted once it's complete, of course :)

For now here's the Christmas cards. The cards themselves are white, but I was forced to take them in the evening in not so great lighting so they appear a little off and dark, but you get the idea:

They all have raised areas and some have sparkly bits...not that you can see all that well but I'm going to upload the close ups of each card to the Pumpkins and Toadstools Facebook Page so feel free to take a look.

In other news, it's Beth's nativity play this week and she has an actual role with lines to learn. Truthfully, I'm actually quite nervous for her. Me and mum will be going to see it tomorrow so I'll try to get some decent pictures to show you all as I daresay I will be one proud mummy :)

I hope the run up to Yule and Christmas is going well for you all x

NaNoWriMo 2010 - Update

2010-11-26T02:23:00.000-08:00

Well it has been a busy month, but I'm happy to say I've completed NaNo and finished early! I'm officially a winner and I'm very proud of what I've managed to accomplish, even if my novel is only half finished...it kind of took on a life of its own but I'm really enjoying writing it and hope to finish it over the next couple of months at a more leisurely pace. It has made me realise that writing is something that I could do professionally, not just as a hobby...that I have the creativity, ideas and staying power to write constantly and create a novel out of it. It has made me see just what I can accomplish in such a short space of time and I can't wait to try again next year!

Hopefully, now that the rush of writing has subsided, I will be around a little more instead of up to my ears in my novel!

Testing Time.

2010-11-17T09:25:00.000-08:00

A fair while ago my oracle cards told me I was approaching a big test in my life, a time of learning and growth to prepare me and test me for the next approaching phase. As often is the case I wondered what this could possibly mean, what kind of test I would be facing, indeed whether or not I would even recognise it when it came. My presence here in my blog has been low, my online presence generally has been too. I stopped creating art and got swept up in something that appealed to me greatly but also taught me so, so much. Last week it came to an end, both to my upset and my relief and now that the worst is past I feel able to look upon the past few months more objectively.

I have been forced to look and search deep within myself to find things that I lost a long time ago, things that I had forgotten and pushed aside, and made to relearn them. So what are these revelations that I have learnt this last little while in my reflective absence?

I have learnt and accepted that I am a beautiful person inside and out, who is wanted, cherished and loved by many, even at the times I feel most alone and un-loveable. I have learnt that I need to love and cherish myself more on all levels and stop being so self critical. I have learnt that fear is a waste of time and energy and while I may feel it I must not let it control me. I have learnt that love is the most powerful and precious thing in the world and even those experiences of it that don't end well enrich us. I have learnt that the guilt I allow myself to carry is ridiculous, particularly when it relates to other people and how they feel. Most importantly I have learnt that this knowledge is easily lost and as such must be kept close and realised constantly, which is why I decided to write this post in the end (at the risk of sounding worryingly 'emo', particularly with the following poem).

For the one who found what I had lost:

I stand at the ocean's shore
Hands clasped by my side
Out here by the open water
There is no place to hide.
I mourn with every passing breath
For what we had and lost
And yet I know what I must do
It is a heavy cost.
My heart does cherish what you gave
It holds it close and dear,
I worry I will lose it
But I really shouldn't fear.
So while I weep and fill the sea
With my own shed salty tears,
I know what you found will still remain
Throughout the coming years.

Rest assured all is well, nothing bad or drastic has happened. As always, when I have a time of such reflection I become rather sombre and serious and, it may be said, sound a little dark. The universe has a strange way sometimes of teaching its lessons and Pan has a cruel sense of humour but what matters is I have learnt and grown and find myself standing proud as I wait for whatever it next sends my way.

Oat and Raisin Cookies

2010-10-25T11:06:00.001-07:00

4oz plain flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
4oz butter
4oz caster sugar
3 1/2oz light brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
3oz oats
6oz raisins/sultanas

Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy then add the egg and vanilla. Beat thoroughly.

Mix in the flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and salt until well combined.

Add the oats and raisins mixing thoroughly.

Drop heaped spoonfuls onto greased baking sheets (mixture should make around 18 - 20 cookies).

Bake in a preheated oven, gas mark 4/180C/350F for about 15 minutes until just firm at the edges.

It's very easy to over bake these cookies. They should be baked until just firm at the edges, still pale and appearing underdone in the middle.

This will keep them chewy when they cool. Enjoy

Ketra

2010-10-25T10:40:00.000-07:00

Just because I really needed to get some of my ideas out visually for this NaNo story I found myself drawing this lady, the heroine for my novel attempt, Ketra. She's very roughly drawn in pencil. If I'm feeling brave I'll neaten her up and add some colour but I wanted to share her now that I have just finished the sketch. Planning for the story is going surprisingly well...I know the basic structure of my plot from start to finish, the main characters and their backgrounds. So far so good.

NaNoWriMo 2010

2010-10-21T12:15:00.000-07:00

In the knowledge that I have been writing like crazy at the moment for RPs on E and short stories and scenes I have decided to take up a challenge. A friend of mine introduced me to the National Novel Writing Month where, for the month of November, you are challenged to write a 50,000 word novel. Madness, you may say, but it is something I am going to try to do for the fun of it this year. I have an idea that has been percolating for a long time, well several in fact, and this seems like the perfect opportunity to really crack on with one of them and motivate myself to churn out the story.

If you're interested in taking part then please do, come and sign up at the NaNoWriMo site and add me as a writing buddy. I'm registered under the name Rhedyn and it's be great to find some more people to do the challenge alongside. I'll try to write some regular updates here about my progress and maybe a few snippets of my work in progress too for you all to take a gander. I'm pretty excited about getting the idea down now that I have decided to do it. As per the rules I'm not allowed to start writing it until the 1st November so for now I'm having to concentrate on planning it. Let's just hope I don't lose my enthusiasm for my concept by the time the start date rolls around!

Halfway Point

2010-10-20T01:37:00.000-07:00

Ma'at has made it to the halfway point now. She's not going to be ready for the Christmas present I had intended her for, but my man's birthday is in March so that is my next aim. I've really enjoyed stitching her so far and I just love the colouring of the whole piece. Hopefully he will love her just as much when she's finished and given to him.

Never Ending...

2010-10-05T09:40:00.000-07:00

Gosh it has been a busy old while since my last post...non-stop in fact. After a rather lazy and unmotivated time for a few days where nothing really felt right and I had no motivation to do anything I suddenly feel like I have been thrust full pelt into a whirlwind where every area of my life seems to be taking off... a lot of it without me. I've gone from bumbling along at my own pace to racing along in an attempt to catch up!

My oracle cards have helped, they've helped me to understand what has been and indeed still is going on... it is, I can say, a good thing but it's exhausting, busy and seemingly never-ending. I finally came up with a very simple new design for a Samhain card which I'll post about later... hopefully I'll add a couple more to my portfolio if I ever manage to turn my ideas into reality. I have also been working bit by bit on my portrait of Pan and Arianrhod, though I'm at a bit of a loss as to what to do with their faces. I'm hoping they're going to guide me when he time comes because I don't know what's best to do and I certainly don't want to ruin the piece by making a sham of their features... I guess we shall see as I go.

Ma'at is coming along well. I'm almost halfway through her now and will share my progress when I've hit the halfway mark. I'm really very pleased with her thus far, though I don't think she'll be ready for Christmas now so I expect she will become my man's birthday present instead. I've also been making him a new altar cloth out of a lovely mink brown faux suede.

Both the kids are well and coming on leaps and bounds. Beth is back at school and doing so well... I'm so proud of her. Ethan is still not walking but his personality is really starting to come into it's own and I introduced him to my good friend Mr Potty for the first time today. What surprised both me and my mum, who was there at the time, was that he sat on it without screaming for a good 20 minutes watching the TV and reading books... dare I say he even seemed to enjoy it...? So with any luck potty training shouldn't be as much of an issue as I was thinking it could be with him *fingers crossed*.

Mabon passed well and without issue. We didn't really do much out of the house for it. My man had to have his dog put down which was a sad time all round. Beth did an entry in her autumn scrapbook which I blogged about here on the Pagan Parenting Resource Blog where I am a contributor. Please check it out as it has a lot of wonderful ideas for introducing children to Paganism, spirituality and celebrating the seasons etc in interesting, fun ways with ideas and activities to inspire all you mums and dads.

Anyway, that's a quick update from me amidst the busy craziness of life at the moment. I still haven't managed to get round to doing all the things here that I planned to, but then some things have to go on the back burner at the moment and unfortunately my blogging activities have been one of them. I hope everyone is doing well and is having a wonderful Autumn. I do so love the energy of this season and what it brings into my life. It makes me feel truly blessed and I hope that you are all feeling the same.

Blessings x

Rhiannon

2010-09-17T05:18:00.000-07:00

I started this painting a few weeks ago before the infliction of my most recent spate of illness and finally, I finished her. It wasn't until last night when I did so that I discovered her name, Rhiannon.

Oracle Card Book

2010-09-09T11:09:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned a couple of posts ago, I like to create my own books for my card sets, where I have my own notes about each image and it's symbolism as I become familiar with them. It has taken me a long time to find a suitable notebook for my faery oracle cards, but finally after much searching and waiting (as I didn't want to pay the full price for the book I discovered) I finally brought this one, ready to customise:

Before and after pics of the cover:

Some handmade paper and a few stamps later and the front was much better having covered that honey loving bear...

Before and after pics of the inside:

Unfortunately Winnie was also a feature of each page inside, though it was nothing some brown paper and stamps couldn't fix. The downside to this is that the book is massive now because of the added paper but I usually add annotated copies of the card pictures anyway so it was bound to happen sooner or later. The card title will go at the top and the number between the two leaves in the bottom left corner.

Where Have I Been?

2010-09-08T05:54:00.000-07:00

The short answer to that little question is ill. I've been in a lot of pain with kidney problems, compacted with a gastric virus and three (yes THREE) periods in the space of two weeks. It has, I can easily say, not been fun and the pain has been so bad I've barely been able to sit up to the computer let alone actually concentrate on writing blog posts or anything. Still, this week I have begun feeling much better and I have a lot of stuff and ideas to share as well as some news and new projects I am involved with, all of which (plus the posts I promised a while ago and never got round to writing) on the way.

I hope you have all been well in my absence and I look forward to doing the rounds to see what you have all been up to while I've been AFK.

Blessings to you all x

Madness Ensues

2010-08-21T02:39:00.000-07:00

So here I am again, attempting to catch up with my blogging as it has unfortunately found its way to the bottom of my to-do list. I had blogger open all day yesterday and I was willing myself to write but nothing came out... I was too enthralled by a conversation I was having on msn and the other ideas and inspirations that were whirling around in my mind. I blame no-one but myself, of course, but I am taking the time today to write at least one post to keep you all up to date on what has been going on here.

First of all I want to say a very big thank you to the lovely Melissa over at A Witch Trying for giving me a beautiful blogger award. I know it has taken me a fair while to respond and I apologize for that, it really did make my day to receive it.

As those of you who are my facebook buddies will know I dyed my hair a few days ago, opting once again for a shade of purple, this time with a built in lightener in it in the hope that it would take better to my hair. As you can see it worked really well and I think I will keep it like this for a while:

I finally managed to get hold of a small journal as a record book for my oracle cards. I like to create my own annotated books with my feelings and intuitions for my cards. I did it for my tarot years ago (it really worked well and helped me to connect more fully with the energy of each card and it's symbolism) and decided it was time to do so for my faery cards... I'll post separately about how I've been customising it though and add some pictures.

I have been writing a lot and dreaming almost constantly, new stories and scenes have been popping into my head at night and inspiring me in every sense though I have had trouble knowing where to start with them. Perhaps, if I don't get too shy over it I will share one of my less 'adult' ones with you all, but I will have to see about that once I have really worked the idea through.

I hope to begin making cards again and have been gradually formulating some new designs for the coming autumn. Since it is a time of new beginnings I hope to be selling on ebay again if nothing else in the run up to Samhain, but we shall see how things go.

And so it is nearly the end of the summer holidays... a mere couple of weeks left before Beth goes back to school, though I am less than sure where the time has gone. Ethan is in a near constant state of grumpiness at the moment, which is a trial, though I think it is frustration because he wants to do walk but still will not do it. He has been waking up at around midnight every night screaming for me to change his nappy too. I noticed this morning that he has two of his back teeth peeking through the gums so I believe this is what is also contributing to his constant mood.

So that is the long and short of what has been happening here... It has been hectic, draining and mad but certainly not bad, especially now that my strange lulling mood has disappeared and made room for some more pleasant times and the regrowth of my inspiration and creativity.

Lammas Blessings

2010-08-04T11:25:00.000-07:00

Here's hoping that you all had an enjoyable and blessed Lammas over the weekend. I just got back today from my few days away with the boyfriend, and very enjoyable it was too. In one way it has made me feel more impatient for us moving in together and in another it has ensured me that it will happen in it's own good time. Of coursed, I missed the kids like mad, though it is nice to have the time without them so that I could do what I wanted.

So what did I get up to? I hear you ask. Well not all that much really. After a bit of shopping in Hobbycraft on the Saturday afternoon we went to Bluewater to have a meal out and watch Inception at the Cinema. Despite my general dislike for films starring Leonardo DiCaprio, I actually really enjoyed it.

Sunday we went to Eastbourne to check out the Lammas Festival they had advertised. Well, it wasn't so much a festival as a Fayre, but we still had a good day. We were told that on the Saturday they had had a parade which probably would have been better to see but we didn't know about it and still had a nice day, complete with fish and chips and yummy ice cream :)

On Monday we went swimming in the morning and I realised how disastrously unfit I am by only managing 6 lengths of the pool. It was a 25 metre pool but still, it was a rather pathetic attempt on my part. We then went shopping in town, predominantly for a birthday present for my brother, came back empty handed and a little annoyed, though we did get some films from blockbuster to watch that night, so I guess we weren't entirely empty handed on our return.

Tuesday was an extremely lazy day for me. The man's house was empty as all were at work and I pretty much spent the whole day playing WoW, true geek style, moving from my chair only to get snacks, drinks, pee and let the dog out, lol.

Then came today and the inevitable home coming. Kisses and cuddles all round from the kids... even Ethan kept plastering me with sloppy baby kisses, which was both gross and lovely at the same time. And so now it's back to the grindstone, at least until the end of August when I happily get another few days off with my man. With any luck we'll get to go away somewhere, but really I couldn't care less as long as we get to spend the time together. Soppy I know, but I'm grabbing and savouring the time while we've got it as in a few months he'll be even busier at work and I'll see him less and less. Such is the way of the world.

So I hope you have all had a wonderful Sabbat. Many blessing to you all and a big quick thank you to Serenity Athenina at The Domestic Witch for passing on a Sunshine Award to me. It is very much appreciated.

BB )O(

Chunky Chocolate Cookies

2010-07-29T14:40:00.000-07:00

I'm finally getting around to posting this recipe. I'll also add my oat and raisin cookie recipe some time next week when I come back form my few days of blissful peace and quiet. For now I leave you with this though:

4oz (115g) unsalted butter

4oz (115g) light muscovado sugar

1 egg

1tsp (5ml) vanilla essence

5oz (150g) self-raising flour

3oz (75g) porridge oats

8oz (200g) roughly chopped chocolate.

Preheat the oven to gas mark 5 (190C/375F)

Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl until smooth and fluffy.

Add the egg and vanilla and mix in well.

Fold in the flour then add the oats and chocolate and stir until evenly mixed.

Spoon onto greased baking sheets and bake for 15-20 minutes or until beginning to turn pale golden in colour.

Transfer to cool on a wire rack and enjoy.

Tips:

The mix makes 18 -20 cookies, I always make 18 over two baking sheet with 9 blobs of cookie mix on each as I find this works best. I also use grease proof baking paper instead of greasing the trays as it's easier all round.

When I bake them I do one tray at a time in the top of the preheated oven as I find they cook better this way. I also recommend keeping your eye to them until you get a good idea how long they will take in your oven... they are very easy to burn if you leave them just marginally too long... burnt cookies = bad times :-(

I have played around using salted butter and different types of brown sugar. There is really little difference in the results, the main one being that if you use light brown sugar instead of muscovado the colouring of the cookies will be lighter.

Chocolate... the most important ingredient. The picture above is of the last batch I made, which are white chocolate as an experiment as I've never made them before. I usually make milk chocolate ones, which I do think taste a little better but only in that they're not quite as sickly as the white chocolate ones. A good medium is to mix the chocolate so you have 100g each of white and milk chocolate in there for a double chocolate cookie. As for the type of chocolate. I use the cheapest I can get hold of, it really makes no difference in the finished product and I begrudge paying a tonne of money on expensive chocolate when it's not necessary.

I hope you all enjoy the recipe :-)

Pretty, Pretty, Pictures

2010-07-28T15:21:00.000-07:00

Just a few inspiring pictures taken today in my garden.

I'm hoping to make some new paintings based on them :)

Not Dead Yet...

2010-07-28T03:30:00.000-07:00

So it's been fairly hectic here with the end of the school year and the start of the summer holidays. I've been writing like crazy and attempting to get some art done, though a lot of it has taken to the back burner so to speak.

The wheel has been turning and I've picked up a summer cold :( I hadn't been sleeping to well as subconsciously I've had a lot on my mind... things that I wish I could rant about here but, being that this blog is so open and available to people I know I cannot bring myself to share them. And so life has continued and despite my lack of blogging presence I am able to reassure that I am still here and very much alive and kicking.

I have been quite reflective over the past couple of weeks as cycles have come to an end and others have begun all around me. It has been a time of learning for me, of dashing the false visions I have had of some people and making me see them for who they are. I realised that when an argument ensues between yourself and someone you love dearly; a boyfriend/girlfriend, relation or friend, particularly for the first time you learn something about yourself as well as seeing that the person in question isn't as perfect and without fault as you had previously thought. It is a good thing, of course, to get rid of such notions and see the truth but still, it hurts.

Then I come to this week and a strange melancholy sets in. I feel rather sad today as I think I hurt someone unintentionally last night. A new friend who I was joking around with online while we were playing WoW. It reminded me why I prefer it when people I meet in online games don't know I am a woman, as I find myself being faced with a situation where I'm being chatted up and I have to lay down some boundaries and make it known I'm not interested in that way. I'm a naturally flirty person, perhaps that is one of my biggest faults with people I don't know, though others in our guild are just like that too and don't seem to be running the same issues... Then suddenly their manner changes with me... I can feel it from them when they type and I sigh, knowing that I have just ruined another budding friendship. They make a point of pointing out that I didn't say I had a boyfriend... wtf? First of all it's none of your business... second of all it's no secret, I've not hidden it and have in fact made it clear in our guild before now that I am with someone... and third of all you didn't ask! But was it truly me that did that.,.. that ruined things? Is it my fault that he wanted something that I wasn't willing to enter into? I think not, and yet I still feel guilty for causing him pain. I know, I know... I'm stupid and too soft. Maybe I should just put a stop to my attempts at socializing with new people online... *sigh*

I don't know, people in general confuse me something rotten sometimes. They show love with hate, they assume friendship has to lead somewhere else, they hurt for the sake of being spiteful and gaining points and they run away when things turn around and bite them on the ass.

As you can see I'm in a weird old mood today... I think I need to ground myself and stop thinking about others for today... get a little housework done (or a lot considering the state of my house right now) and look forward to the weekend when I go to my man's house for a child free few days to recharge my flagging batteries.

Incognito

2010-07-24T10:27:00.000-07:00

Just a quickie... I know I've been neglecting my blog again, I've just been so damn busy :s

Finished ~I think~ this painting today. It's oil and wax on canvas and is called Incognito.

Will return soon with a catch up post... it has been a tumultuous few weeks one way or another and I am long over due a good old rant... or two... or three...

BOS Pages

2010-07-09T08:29:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of a few of my completed BOS pages. My book tends to have a scrapbook/sketchbook feel to it as I love to incorporate all of my artistic ideas and inspirations into the pages:

Deities title page

Faery Runes Page

Deity Jar Spell Page

Imbolc Page 1

Pumpkin and Toadstools Blog Recommendations

2010-07-09T08:16:00.000-07:00

OK guys just ignore this post for now... it's where I'm going to put all the blog buttons when I come visit everyone :P

Comings and Goings

2010-07-09T02:59:00.000-07:00

For the last couple of months I've found myself ridiculously inspired and creative, which has been a good thing except it has left me with little time to blog. I've had the itch to finally work on some pages of my BOS which I'll be photographing soon to share. I've been loosing most of my inspiration at the moment through writing and RP so my paintings have been a little on hold but it has been a welcome change and has certainly kept the grey matter from getting bored.

That said I made another card, this time for my cousins birthday... beer themed of course ;) but I tried to go for something a little different with some cheap embellishments I managed to pick up:

I have also been busy building my website... there's not all that much to show right now, though I do have a sneaky peek screenshot to share:

So far so good, it's just taking a while to get the basics down but when I'm motivated to do it I do manage to get a fair bit done.

Hrm, so what else has been going on here? I've finally been able to harvest this years lavender. Ethan had his paediatricians appointment, which I had been dreading. It was an hour of sheer hell as he wouldn't stop screaming and writhing while the doctor kept telling me to keep him quiet so he could do his 'tests'. I went away both angry and upset from the whole experience, particularly when he told me that his weight had been plotted wrong on the graph in the first place and as far as he was concerned there was nothing wrong with him. Well I could have told him that in the first place *sigh* but at least it is over for now.

Oooooh, and as a side point I moved Ethan into a big boy bed... the bottom bunk in Beth's room and so far so good. He's settled in nicely *touches wood* and has been in there for a couple of weeks now so I can finally get rid of the old cot. He also surprised me the other day where bold as brass he stood up in the front room! No walking as yet but he can pull himself up and stand when he can be bothered. He won't co-operate if you try to get him to do it, but at least I do know he is capable now.

The end of the school term is drawing to a close, which means I will be having to start thinking up 'keeping Beth amused' activities galore. On the plus side I'm looking forward to a couple of breaks in the next month or so, one at the end of July and one at the end of August, both of which I will hopefully be able to spend with the man... work permitting :)

Midsummer pretty much went by unnoticed over the actual Sabbat as I was just drained. The following weekend, however, I did make some pretty wards for the garden both for protection and to celebrate. Since then my third eye has been working overtime again and I've been having quite a bit of spirit activity going on in my house again, particularly over the last full moon. In fact there has been so much that I have been looking at getting a spirit board, the problem being that I cannot find the one I want that I saw online a while ago. It was a deep blue board with runes down the sides and a moon in the centre particularly designed for Arianrhod, my patron Goddess. Well honestly, you'd think I'd have imagined it as I just can't find it anywhere now... don't you just hate it when that happens!?

Anywhooo, that's enough from me for now. I had best get on with what needs to be done for the day while Ethan is being content and happy to play on his own... it doesn't happen often at the moment! BB.

Good News...

2010-07-08T01:58:00.000-07:00

... well it is to me anyway, though it's nothing important.

A few weeks ago I entered my first writing contest with a short story in support of Elliquiy Adult Role Playing Forum of which I recently became a member. Last Sunday I found out I had won First Prize in the contest... I didn't win anything a such for myself, other than the recognition that I had written a good story though a $50 donation towards the running of the site was made in my name and I have been ecstatically happy about it. I've been roleplaying for years but this is the first time I've pushed myself to submit a story for a contest where it will be read, critiqued and judged against others who were all very well written and in my opinion better than my own, so to be recognised and actually win something was really a big deal for me... Anywhooo, just thought I'd share :)

Lyminge Forest

2010-07-02T02:15:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday it was boiling hot here but we decided we wanted to go and do something with the kids just to get out of the house. That's when Lyminge Forest popped into my head, though I had never been there before or heard of the place previously. A little research on the general direction to aim for, a picnic lunch made and packed and we set off in the car.

We found it relatively easily and it proved to be a thoroughly enjoyable day though a little difficult at times with the buggy but we made it eventually. We found a nice little spot to sit and have lunch in the multitude of shade and took some lovely pictures... even Beth had a go with my camera and managed to snap a nice one of me, the man and Ethan as well as some random ones. At one point, when I was seeing to Ethan they seemed to be playing a game of get as close to the camera as possible and take random crazy photos but hey, they had fun and it was a definite surprise when I got home and looked through the piccies, lol.

All in all it was a really nice day, though I'm now itching to go back to explore properly without the kids too... who knows, maybe one day I'll get the opportunity.

School Happenings

2010-07-02T01:57:00.000-07:00

It has been busy round here with School stuff for Beth. Half the time they have so much crammed into each week as we near the summer holidays I don't know whether I'm coming or going. As well as Discos, school trips and a multitude of special days I've had a sports day to go to and a recent talent show which was on yesterday afternoon. Beth has always been an entertainer of sorts, me and mum always used to joke about how she'd be playing the main roles in the plays and doing the talent shows because she loves being the centre of all the attention for a while.

I managed to get a few pictures from the sports day, though not of the first race (which she came third in). It was so funny to watch them being the youngest class in the school as they all stop just short of the ribbon like they don't want to break it by running into it, though they all seemed to have fun, as did I when Ethan wasn't screaming in his buggy out of protest for being made to come along too.

These next ones are from the talent show where she was in a small group doing a dance routine to a jungle themed song... hence the animals mask:

Unfortunately once again Ethan was less than pleased about having to go, though he managed to hold off the screaming until Beth's act was done (theirs was the first one) after that I had to spend the rest of the hour walking him around in circles until he fell asleep.

Blog Awards Archive

2010-07-02T01:33:00.000-07:00

As a part of my blog revamp/organisation I'm going to put all of my blog awards past, present and future in this post and link to it above as I've been finding my page has been getting a little confusing and cluttered... I like things to look at least partially organized, lol. I will, of course, continue to dedicate a post to each as it is received and say thank you etc but will display them all here in no particular order:

from Marci at Our Frugal Pagan Home

from Rue at Rue and Hyssop

from Mags at Pagan Culture

from Aelwyn at Hedgewitch Hollow

from His Precious at Pagan In The Rough

from Mags at Pagan Culture

from SunTiger

from Melissa aka Equidae at The Lotus Pages

from Diandra at Short Stories and Mad Rants

from A Witch Trying at What I'm Thinking Today

from Diandra at Short Stories and Mad Rants

from Serenity Athenina at The Domestic Witch

from Loopy at Wandering Along Loopy's Life Path

from Nellie at A Bit Of Gardening Spirit

New Blog Button

2010-06-30T04:27:00.000-07:00

As a part of my revamp I have thrown together a quick new blog button... the old one just didn't fit with the change in theme. Please feel free to grab it and use it *points to the right* ...it will appear as it does on the right not as above with the white border around it... I'm not sure how to get rid of that with this template which seems to like to shove a white border around all of the pictures I add to my posts, but you can be sure that if there's a way I will find it... eventually :)

As you can see I have removed all the blog buttons I had displayed... I will be adding them all again in a more organized fashion soon, along with my awards, links etc. Hopefully I'll get some done today, if not in the next few. As I do the rounds through my reading list I will be picking up buttons and adding them together in one big post so I can display all the ones for my favourite blogs in one place (it was just getting so cluttered on my side bar) I also noticed that a couple were dead or linking to old pages etc where people had moved so I thought the easiest way to sort them all out would be to go from scratch.

Blogging Break

2010-06-30T02:56:00.000-07:00

It seems I have taken an unintentional blogging break over this last month... I didn't realise how long it had been since my last post. It has been pretty hectic here, with the school doing so many activities etc for the kids now it's the final term of the year as well as all the other stuff I have had going on. All of it, I hasten to add, has been enjoyable, though has sapped my time away and left me forgetting to blog and even read those that I am following.

I think it is probably high time I got to work and revamped my beloved blog as well... it is perhaps looking a little worse for wares and rough around the edges... *sigh* yet another thing to add to my extremely long list of things to do! Watch this space!

I will rectify all of this asap my friends. I hope you have all been well since I have been away. BB.

Cards, Cushions and Cross Stitch

2010-06-15T10:01:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update with some piccies of what I've been working on crafts wise at the moment.

First there have been some cards, a Father's Day card for my Dad, a birthday card for one of the July b-days I have coming up and an 80th birthday card for my Grandad who's b-day is in September:

Eeyore finally became the cushion I was planning for him, thanks to an old pair of jeans, some ribbon, felt and a few beads:

And finally here is my current progress on the Ma'at cross stitch I started a while back. It's been pretty slow going again as I have reached an area that is just full of constant colour changes, but it is still coming along slowly but surely:

I have also been working hard on the building of my website and will be taking a screen shot or two to share with you guys soon. It'll be a while yet before it's up and running but a few sneaky peeks won't hurt :)

Garden Pictures

2010-06-10T08:05:00.000-07:00

My garden has finally been springing to life once again... quite a bit later than usual what with the constant periods of cold we had right through spring, but better late than never. I was inspired to share some pictures with you guys after the opening of the first summer rose in my garden:

I have several rose bushes out the front, all of different colours, but these yellow ones are always the most spectacular because of their size and the pinky tinge around the edges of the petals. Unfortunately the blooms don't last all that long *sigh* but I always manage to find plenty of uses for the petals ;)

You may remember a little while ago I mentioned that I bought some herb plants from the garden centre. Well here they are, growing strong. The sage I have already harvested twice, making so far 5 smudge sticks once it had recovered... it needed quite a fair bit of tlc when I bought it, but as you can see it is thriving. The rosemary is doing well, but then it always does for me, it's one of those plants I never have a problem with, and the silvery one on the right is my curry plant, which is just beginning to flower :)

These are the nasturtium seeds we planted ages ago... well two of the pots. These are the ones I planted, unfortunately the ones Beth planted haven't been doing so well, though they've all been treated the same way. Again, the weather has really slowed down their development, but they are finally getting stronger so hopefully we will have some flowers soon.

Last but not least I thought I would include a picture of the pretty crawling purple flowers I get growing around the base of the house every year before I have to rip them out as per my landlords instruction so that they don't damage the already weakened walls, *sigh* it really is a shame but I can see why it needs to be done.

Working Hard

2010-06-10T07:50:00.000-07:00

It's been so busy here as I have been well and truely inspired to create as well as write. I've finally been making some new cards... one's for my family so far but hopefully will soon have some sellable designs for coming sabbats, birthdays etc. I've been stitching a little Eeyore kit I got in a magazine which I intend to turn into a cushion using some old denim from a pair of knackered jeans and I've been cracking on with my Ma'at stitching project and my god/goddess painting... pictures of all of these will be following shortly!

I also decided it was time to try out a new craft. This time round it has been crochet, something which I have been itching to try for quite some time but just haven't had the foggiest idea where to start. Then yesterday, when I was at the local supermarket I spied a magazine which had another free gift. This was a crochet magazine and it came with a hook and 6 balls of brightly coloured yarn, so I decided it was about time to give it a go.

I have to admit, I was pretty dumbfounded at first as the written instructions and pictures were pretty hard to follow and decipher, and that's before we even touch on the pattern codes, but a few youtube tutorials later and several hours practicing the basic stitches and I felt ready to try actually making something!

That's what I spent this morning doing, and thoroughly enjoyable it was too. I made this simple flower cuff/bracelet for Beth as my first project:

Even if I do say so myself, I'm very pleased with the results and have already planned my next (rather more ambitious) attempt :)

Only Me...

2010-06-05T05:51:00.000-07:00

Well hello again folks, seems like an age since my last post... I mean it has been a while as I've been ridiculously busy, but still. There's really not much to talk about from my end. It's been the half term so mum had the kids for a few days and I spent them with the boyfriend, literally doing absolutely nothing and catching up on sleep. I would just like to take this opportunity to say that lazy days rule!

Over the last week or so I have noticed I've been becoming more receptive again, after such a long time of being partially shut down, so my creativity and inspiration has been soaring, particularly with my writing at the moment leading me to begin RPing properly again and dig out all the stories I began writing last year and put to one side.

My main project for the week has been a deity jar in which to place all my worries, spells and the things that are generally on my mind at the moment. I find this a very good way of releasing my concerns to the gods until they are realised.

On the inside of the decorative covering is a spell verse I wrote for the jar and I gave it it's first go the other day... and might I say it works a treat. One of the things I put in there (there were two in total) had been getting to me really badly over the last little while, bringing on quite a dark mood at times. I decided to dedicate it specifically to my patron Goddess as it really is a difficult and important issue to me. So I lit up my alter and did a little working. Imagine my surprise when this happened to my Goddess candle immediately afterwards:

As you can see my white Goddess candle began weeping pink wax! You can see why in the close up below, though it is a tad out of focus... It seems the wick only had been dipped in red wax, though you couldn't see that that was the case from the whole candle, it had only happened from half way down.

Needless to say I found this quite strange and an odd kind of coincidence... I may add here that I don't believe in coincidences so strange kind of sign it is. Looking into the candle I knew, just knew that my friend in New Zealand was in labour. A few hours later and there's a post on fb to say she's had a beautiful baby girl so big congratulations to her and her husband!

Finally, yesterday I began my 'spring' clean as I began thoroughly sorting out the whole house, cupboard by cupboard and ruthlessly throwing things away. I normally do this in the spring but the odd feelings earlier this year and general cold weather just didn't motivate. Now that I can fling all the windows open and enjoy all the natural light flowing into the house I began, one room at a time, sage smudge stick in hand, cleansing and warding as I go. It always helps to clear my mind when I get my physical things organised, plus the house really did need (and still does in some places) a thoroughly good spiritual clear out.

Whenever I do this I always begin with my downstairs altar as it's the hub of my daily practice and sort of connects energetically with the whole house (just ignore the big red van in the background, the neighbours were having some work done yesterday and the drive to our houses runs right alongside the front of my house).

Anywho... sorry I've been away for such a while. I have quite a bit of work to share with you as it's completed in the near future, as well as some progress reports on my painting and cross stitch projects.

Blessings to you all x

Hacked...

2010-05-25T04:47:00.000-07:00

Ok, so what with the weather being so much better last week I didn't really get round to catching up on my blog posts ~naughty michel~ but I will do soon I promise :)

As you can see from the post title, my email account was hacked yesterday so I've been spending my time trying to sort all that out. They seem to have done it for the simple purpose of accessing my World of Warcraft account, but I am happy to say that Blizzard were very fast and helpful restoring my account to me within 24 hours of my contact with them (I was expecting it to take weeks truth be told) of course I have also had to change all my passwords for my accounts and am in the throes of switching things over to my new gmail account.

This blog has been done now, though in order for me to switch over the Pagan Artist Network blog I will need the admin to invite me as an author with this account... so if you're reading this I would appreciate you re-inviting me with this profile and deleting my other profile from the authors list, just in case... Also, I'm not currently following anyone's blogs with this account, I will get round to adding you all again one by one once everything's sorted out, then I'll be doing the rounds for a catch up.

Phew! I can't tell you how angry I was yesterday that this had happened and annoyed that it was just one big headache for me to sort out... at least it was made relatively painless by the fast response from Blizzards support staff. So that has been the current highlight of my week! *sigh* now I'm really looking forward to the weekend....

Howletts Trip.

2010-05-17T06:08:00.000-07:00

Here are the pictures from our day out at Howletts zoo yesterday... I've picked out a couple of my favourites to share and all the rest are in a slide show a little further down. We were really blessed before we left to get some great views of the tigers (my favourites), they were right up front near the glass viewing bit interacting with us, jumping up on the glass etc. As you can see, one took a particular liking to Beth and her toy lion:

Ok, so this next one isn't what you would typically expect to see at a zoo... according to Beth it's not a rooster, it's a boy chicken... needless to say that serious bit of information from her had us cracking up:

What was really amazing was how some of the animals really posed for the camera while others turned away the second they saw it. It was fascinating to watch. One particular grey monkey was sitting nicely holding eye contact with me for ages but the second I pulled out my camera he turned his back on me only to face me again when I put it away. It really made me think about this whole current debate on the animal privacy issue that has been in the news over the last little while. I didn't take a picture of the little guy in question as it was obvious he didn't want me too but these cheeky chappies were only too happy to oblige instead:

Similarly these gorilla acted in the same way to protect the tiny baby being nursed by the one on the right in the picture. They shielded the gorgeous little baby from camera view the whole time but were quite happy for us to watch without cameras:

Finally here's a couple of my own cheeky monkeys :) the rest of the photos are in the slideshow, there are just too many for me to add them all separately, lol:

A Long Old Week...

2010-05-16T14:14:00.000-07:00

Last week was a mixed bag for us. I haven't been online all that much because my old computer has been playing me around left right and centre. I finally had to bite the bullet and order a new one which my lovely man built for me on Thursday night and yay! it works brilliantly, so this week will be all about me catching up on my posts... I have a whole list of them to do, lol.

Beth was sick again last week really from Tuesday through to Friday, we had several painful nights where she woke in the night and vomited so I had to clean her up and move her into my room so as not to disturb the little man... Then of course it was clean the bed, sheets, duvet and mattress the next day. Not a lot of fun I can tell you. She is feeling much better now so I'm hoping that it was just a little tummy bug *touches wood* neither me or Ethan seem to have picked it up.

I've still been having headaches, I think that this week they have been hormone related and on the days where my hormones haven't been playing 'make michel loopy' my wisdom tooth has been pushing through which has triggered them off anyways. Coupled with the disturbed nights sleep and I have been like a bear with a sore head!

My worst day was Saturday when I felt like I could have exploded at any minute with Beth who was being incredibly challenging and really quite spiteful towards me... a little trick she seems to have picked up from school :( some supportive words from my man and a good long soak in a hot bath (well I kinda fell asleep in there and woke up three hours later, lol) and I was feeling at least a little better in the run up to today.

Urging myself forward with the housework this morning (the kids pretty much trashed the place on Saturday by the time I had really just had it) my man texts to see if we wanted a day out at the zoo. So, a bit of a last minute jobby, we packed the kids in his car with a rushed picnic lunch, buggy, changing bag and Rebecah, Beth's toy lion and off we went. We had a really great day, despite the overcast and slightly drizzly weather and I have loads of pictures to share, probably tomorrow, as I think I'm about ready to drop right now.

Hope you have all had good a weekend... I look forward to catching up with everyone this week now that I'm around and about properly again x

Edit: Ooooh and I forgot to say that I had some really good news too! I passed level 2 of my healing course so I'm now moving onto the Master Level following my attunement on Monday evening, which I'm really looking forward to. It feels like I've been plowing through level 2 for the longest time what with my dodgy second pregnancy and then all the stress and issues from last year, but I got there in the end :)

Here at Last!

2010-05-07T08:50:00.000-07:00

For the sabbats I like to do something for myself whether it be buy or make myself a gift or do something as a treat. For Beltane I decided to buy myself a new leather BOS, specifically the one I've had my eye on for months but haven't been able to afford... well not with a clear conscience anyways. Finally a few weeks ago I realise this was a possibility now and I ordered it and YAY! It came this morning.

I bought it from my favourite journal makers who hand make the most beautiful books and sell them on eBay. They are Earthworks Journals and I would recommend them to anyone whose wants to buy a really beautiful new journal. They make permanently bound and binder style books full of fantastic quality recycled paper (that can take proper ink without bleeding) and they have loads of different designs and sizes to choose from and will even try to design something specific for you. Anywho... enough of the writing, I'll let the pictures speak for themselves:

As you can see, I chose a binder style book with a large celtic knotwork design on the front. I've had a permanently bound book from them before a few years ago and while lovely I have learnt that I have a need to be able to remove pages and move them around depending on my mood or if I change my mind about how I want all my stuff organised, lol. This one is A5 in size, which is just right for me... they make larger and smaller ones too. I was really torn between this one and their tree of life design but this one won out in the end and I'm just sooo pleased with it :) well worth the money and the wait! Now to crack on, get creative and fill it!

Getting Creative

2010-05-06T14:50:00.000-07:00

Here's the latest of my 'Balance' painting, as you can see I started building up the first paint layers on the faces and Arianrhod's cloak. The 'leafy' hair of Pan will come further forward then the white areas and over the chin in a beard as well as overlapping in single bits over her cloak. I'm pretty pleased with it so far.

This is my fairy door, made out of recycled cardboard and odds and sods from my craft box. Painted in acryllics it has a wooden bead door knob, some of the wired craft ivy I had lying around and three little felt and bead flowers. The sign on the door says WELCOME in gold faery runes, though you can't see it all that well in this picture. I'm really pleased with it and I'm hoping to make more to sell in the near future :)

Finally I thought I'd share the lavender sleep pillow I made too. It has a little loop for hanging and is that pretty mottled blue velvet I bought from Glastonbury. It's filled with fluffy stuff and lavender (though I probably could have done with adding a little more padding to it) and has a big old painted button on the front.

So it's been a productive week thus far.. my sinuses are still playing up, but at least I've been able to get stuff done as well as my headache hasn't been too bad :)

Bara Brith

2010-05-06T14:20:00.000-07:00

12oz sultanas
8oz dark brown soft sugar
1/2 pint hot tea
10oz self raising flour
1 beaten egg

Mix together the sultanas, sugar and hot tea and leave to soak for at least 8 hours (I tend to leave it overnight). Stir in the other ingredients, transfer to a loaf tin and bake on gas mark 4 for 1 - 1 1/2 hours.

Enjoy! Tastes especially good, in my opinion, with a helping of proper salted butter on top! Yummy!

Jack in the Green

2010-05-04T07:35:00.000-07:00

We had a great day yesterday despite the other half having the manflu and my still torn status as to whether or not to take the kids with us. We dropped the kids off with their dad when we changed trains at Ashford and thank god we did. As much as I know Beth would have loved it it would have been sheer hell with the buggy there as it was just so busy. When we found where the parade was heading we managed to find a spot away from the main crowd down a small alley that it would pass through (if we had stayed in the crowd we just wouldn't have seen anything, there were just too many people). Where we were, though down this little alley did mean that the parade came right in front of us, so I managed to get some decent photos as it passed... well when my camera wasn't playing me around, lol.

As you can see, it was a little grey out and we did get caught in a brief shower but luckily it was very brief and, though a bit chilly at times through the day, it was the best day weather-wise of the weekend. We even managed to sit out on the beach in the sun for a bit... a bit too chilly for ice cream though.

All in all it was a very enjoyable day and I really hope we get to go back next year :)

Blessed Beltane!

2010-05-02T07:30:00.000-07:00

Whooo, this is one of my favourite festivals because it's so energetic, sexy and the real start of the Faery Magick Season :) I'm still suffering with my sinus' and therefore my headaches and ear problems but that hasn't stopped me from cracking on with a good cleanup of the house and a few Beltane activities. Of course I'm still having to be careful as not to incapacitate myself and by the later part of the evening I've been having a lot of pressure in my head and eyes with a few visual problems but this tends to happen when I'm tired and/or have been a little guilty of overdoing it. I've also been having quite a bit of trouble with my third eye... I just can't shut it down properly which is only exacerbating my now annoying head problems *sigh*

But onto more fun things.... A lot of this I'll post about in more detail when I have pictures to share but I thought I'd just mention them now, otherwise they'll be there cluttering up my mind for days! I've been making a faery door for my altar out of recycled card and bits from my craft box, a rose petal filled funky flower for my nature bowl, a lavender sleep pillow for my man as a little Beltane gift since I know he has quite a bit of trouble sleeping at the moment and I've got a couple of paintings on the go. The first is an abstract piece that I will share when I've finished it. It is called 'Incognito' and sort of named itself before I even started painting it.

This is the second one I'm working on, which I blogged about on the P.A.N blog the other day. It's called 'Balance' and is my view of my patrons Pan and Arianrhod. I wrote a bit more about it over on the other blog so if you're interested please do check it out... I will of course be adding updates and/or a picture of the finished piece when it is complete.

Today I have been cleaning some more (it took me an hour and a half yesterday to do the kids bedroom... not something I want to repeat again any time soon) and baking which has been wonderfully grounding for my third eye troubles. I promised Beth I would make chocolate cupcakes with her to take to her dad's house tomorrow when she goes to see him, and I wanted to make some Bara Brith, which is this scrumptious Welsh tea bread. When I've got a picture of the finished article I'll post the recipe. It's one of my favourite things to make as it's so yummy and super easy. It's one of those things that always speaks to me of the bounty of mother earth and the spring/summer festivals.

I hope you have all had/are having a fantastic bank holiday weekend and very blessed Beltane. I'm crossing my fingers for some improved weather for our Hastings trip tomorrow.... I love the rain, but lets face it, I want to see the Jack in the Green parade and that would be better with some sunshine... but we'll see what tomorrow brings I guess.

Pagan Artists Network... the Blog.

2010-04-30T13:17:00.000-07:00

From the off this post is some shameless advertising for the blog version of Pagan Artists Network, the ning group that I have been a member of for a while now.

For those of you that would like to see some fantastic Pagan arts and crafts, some which is created for sale, some which is just for fun then please do stop on by and check it out.

There are some wonderfully talented and friendly people over there and some beautiful work to be inspired by, so I order you to go look... right now! lol

Pagan Artists Network - the blog

Neverending

2010-04-28T07:59:00.000-07:00

While a few things have been sorted more just keep cropping up on the health side right now... why, why, why won't it all just go away? It's the reason I haven't been around too much online, I've just not been able to devote much time to the computer as it triggers my headaches off.

I went back to the doctors earlier in the week and after her initial disbelief in my statement that my coil wasn't in place any longer she did check. Lo and behold it had come partially out so she removed it, told me that this had never happened before with one of her fitted coils and asked me what I wanted to do next? Well, how was I supposed to know? Thankfully my doctor is good and does listen to my concerns so she suggested I try this pill that works just like the coil (accept that instead of leaving it in for 5 years I have to take it every day). So that is what I am on for now for the next three months before I go back and have a review.

On the downside I still have a lot of pressure in my head from this cold and the blocked sinus' it's causing me. My wisdom tooth has also been playing my around so my whole jaw and ear area is sore not to mention I still have that neverending headache, which is only made worse because of the pressure. It's made everything impossible as anything I want to do... painting, cross-stitch, computer stuff etc... just makes my headache come back. Then a couple of days ago I started getting this pain in the muscles at the base of my skull/top of my neck on the side that I have the tooth ache. It's in a really painful and annoying place that I can't get too properly to massage so it's been hot compresses, olbas oil and painkillers for me. I just want the pain to go away now as the whole area is stiff, difficult to move and generally depressing :( I really hope it gets better soon so I can enjoy our trip to Hastings on Monday without having to be popping ibuprofen all day and grimacing when I move, especially now that the kids will be with their dad that day so me and my man get to go without them. As much as I know Beth in particular would enjoy it it will be nice to spend the time with him on my own.

To cap it all off this week my tv also died, which is pretty disastrous in this house as the kids were not happy and being as that about all I can do when my head gets painful is lay down and have the tv on it's been rather dull here. Thankfully my lovely man and his brother brought down a spare tv for us yesterday evening, saving the day once again.

I haven't even started thinking about Beltane this weekend... no plans have been made so I'll just have to see what I'm up to when it rolls around, I'm hoping that I'll feel at least a bit better by then so I can celebrate in some way properly... Beltane is one of my favourite festivals, I will be sorely disappointed if I can't really do anything much for it because of feeling ill again :(

A Quick Update

2010-04-24T05:30:00.000-07:00

With Beth back at school, my cold on the way out and most of the downstairs tidied up out came my inspiration as a few ideas started kicking about over the last day or so... hopefully it will continue and I'll be able to really crack on and get a decent amount of work done.

There have, as always with us at the moment, been issues though. For a start Ethan has been cranky as hell and waking in the night with, what I'm guessing, is teething pains. Poor Beth, who shares a room with him has been through the ringer.. in fact the other night for the first time ever she slept in with me for the night after he woke up screaming blue murder. He did finally settle when I changed his nappy and gave him some medicine but we had a similar thing last night too though the worst of it was concentrated around when I put him to bed. I confess, part of this is probably my fault too as I had been tweeking his routine a little to work better around school runs and stuff and with the hope that he would settle down better at night when I put him to bed... doesn't look like it's working though so I'm going to see how he goes today back in his 'old' routine. If it improves at least I'll know that this is what's right for him.

It's also going to be a visit to the doctors again for me :( looks like my coil isn't in place properly so I'm going to have to have it removed and a new one put it... oh the joy... not so much looking forward to that but we'll see what the doctor says when I see her next week. I'm willing to give it another try as I do think it will work the best for me, but if it expels or partially expels again I'm going to have to rethink my options... which are decidedly few and far between. I don't really know that there's that much left open to me... it's just been a total nightmare this whole contraceptive issue.

That's about it here, it's been pretty quite otherwise. Me and my man are hoping to take the kids to the Hastings Jack in the Green Festival this year on Monday 3rd May. It looks like it'll be pretty good, I've never been and we all want to go so with any luck... health and work permitting... that's the plan for the bank holiday next weekend.

Have a good weekend guys x

Ahhh... A Bit of Quiet...

2010-04-21T08:25:00.000-07:00

The Easter holidays are over and Beth is finally back at school... don't get me wrong, I love having her home and spending time with her but the way we've been feeling these last few weeks has meant my patience has been wearing pretty thin and the holidays felt a lot longer than 2 weeks. Needless to say with the new found relative peace and quiet this end came the dreaded head cold which has hit me and the little guy pretty hard. It's the first one I've had in years... you really forget how miserable they can make you feel.

Feeling a little perkier today having got a semi-decent nights sleep last night despite my inability to breathe and the fact I practically doused my quilt cover in Olbas Oil to help with this, I had a good old clean up of the front room and set up another little meditative shrine... well it's been there a little while and needed a good clean off, but it felt nice to light a candle and some incense and have a moment with my balancing stones. The poinsettia on the left is the one my mum brought me at the beginning of December for over Christmas... much to everyone's amazement it is still going strong, though I've probably jinxed it now that I've written about it here, lol.

The black 'tray' was my little zen garden, the problem I had with it was that it was a massive temptation to inquisitive fingers... even my rather mature and sensible 5 year old couldn't resist a play. Sick of constantly having to clear up the spilt sand, not to mention having my displays wrecked I removed the sand, turned it upside down and created a little meditative shrine for my front room instead. The nice thing about it all being on this tray too is that I can just pick it up and move it to where I want to sit with it. As you can see it's simple with a representation of the elements and a collection of crystals. There are 5 clear quartz which direct energy to the two central stones; a large piece of jet and a large moonstone which represent the male and female aspects. They are really good for helping to balance the energies in your body. You hold the black stone in your left hand and the white in your right when you meditate, which is a good practice for me as I like to hold things to rub and feel when I do exercises like that. I think it's just my tactile nature but even if I'm meditating out and about I always find it helpful and powerful to hold something whether it be a crystal, palm stone or pendant that I've brought along or something I've picked up from the area. When I go to the seafront this usually happens to be a hag stone that I've found in the area I've picked to sit.

Hopefully with our routine returning to normal again I will be able to crack on with the building of my website and get some more paintings and work done as I've been having that creative bubbling once again... that is once I've sorted out all of my stuff. My materials are in a bit of a disarray right now, but it won't take me long to get them resorted. I also need to re-pot some of my herbs and tend to the garden which has been rather neglected over the last year *sigh* so much to do!

Better Late Than Never

2010-04-14T08:01:00.001-07:00

We finally got around to making the spring themed biscuits I've been meaning to bake since Ostara, lol. It is what we did this morning after a bit of a lay in, a leisurely breakfast and some playtime with Ethan. Once the little man was having a rest before lunch me and Beth set to work. This is the recipe we used:

2 oz butter

2 oz sugar (I used light brown soft sugar)

1 1/2 tbsp golden syrup

6 oz self raising flour

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp mixed spice (you could just add extra ginger though)

milk (you need very little of this, just add it a tbsp at a time to bind your mixture into a dough to roll out)

Cream together the butter and sugar then add the syrup, flour, spices and milk to create a dough. Roll out, cut into shapes and bake at gas mark 4 for about 5-10 mins until they are slightly browned (just be careful as they can turn from brown to black really quickly, lol)

Of the batch we made I then separated a few for Beth to decorate this afternoon with Rebecah (her lion helper):

And yes, she is wearing a dressing gown over her outfit... why? you may well ask... well she seems to have a thing for her dressing gown at the moment, it goes on on top of everything she wears!

Last night, as well as continuing my cross stitching project I also made these bracelets. The top four are elemental ones and the bottom one is a lunar/goddess one with a silver spiral charm that you can't really see very well in the picture.

Hope you all have a good evening with the new moon. Wishing you all a very happy and productive month to come x

Releasing Ceremony.

2010-04-13T11:34:00.000-07:00

With it being the new moon tomorrow and what with all the stuff that has been going on I have decided that, as well as renewing my wards and house protections (which I've been preparing oil for for the past month) I'm going to hold a releasing ceremony. Certainly now that I know that that is one of the things that is happening I figured it would be a good idea to help facilitate the transitions and process of letting go. I wrote this rite today when the idea popped into my head, the wording may change during the act as I tend to ad lib quite a bit, lol, but you get the idea....

Write down all the things in your life that you recognise you need to release whether they be habits, perceptions, frames of mind, feelings.... whatever they are.... on a plain piece of paper.

Build a small fire outside (mine will be in my cauldron... little barbecue buckets work well too, or if you're doing it indoors a candle by an open window could be used)

Read through your list and really look at and understand each point, call up the feelings and see what each thing on the list is doing to you and how it is negatively affecting you.

Now burn the paper and watch as the fire releases each thing in your life and the smoke carries them to the universe to be taken care of. I wrote a chant/some wording that I will be using as I do this which is more tailored to what I know I need to release:

Past worries, issues, guilt and fear

Unhealthy and bound to me I release with cheer

In fire you burn and air you rise

My past be gone bringing truth not lies

To father sky and mother earth

I send these things for my rebirth

By earth and fire, water and air

My life I cleanse, my spirit I share.

Time For Some Fun

2010-04-12T07:12:00.000-07:00

So far the Easter Holidays have been pretty terrible here as you are all well aware. With the kids being ill and me not feeling all that great it's been a rocky week which all seemed to come to a head over the weekend when I felt very down and in desperate need of a big hug from my man who I've barely seen over the last few weeks because of work :(

The good news is I was feeling quite a bit better this morning having found a great deal of peace and strength through my meditation last night. Laying in bed this morning... still not at a stage where I really wanted to get up but wanting to make the best of the day I decided there were two things we were going to do today.

The first was go and buy some flower seeds to grow. Bethany asked me yesterday if we could do this as she wanted to grow her very own plants being a peeved that I have so many potted herbs that aren't quite as pretty as she would like. So off we went to buy some seeds... of course we had to get the ones that she insisted on but she picked some rather lovely mixed Nasturtium which we planted up after lunch when the little man was in bed. There are four pots, two are mine and two are Beths, and in true Beth fashion she wants us to have a contest to see whose grow the best... lets just hope for my sake hers do, lol.

The second thing I decided on was to get a scrapbook to do with the kids as a childrens project and to fill up with seasonal pictures and themes as I gradually begin to introduce them to the wheel of the year. I knew it would be something she would enjoy as she loves to create and make. I did try this a week ago, I bought her a scrapbook, explained what it was for and made the mistake of letting her just use it. Needless to say she was thrilled and had the thing filled with random scribblings and nothing in particular within a couple of hours. So with this one I again explained what it was for and told her that I would be keeping hold of it to fill up a page or two at a time with different themes. She wasn't too happy but after an initial upset we sat down and did some of it for an hour or so. By the end we had successfully filled three pages and I think she gets the idea of what the book is for.... ish.

The first page has a lovely picture, that Beth spent a lot of time doing this morning, of herself. I was trying to explain to her that we put special things and pictures in that we work hard doing and really want to keep safe not just everything we draw... if we did that in our house we'd need a new book everyday :s

The next couple of pages we went for a flowers theme, seeing as how we were planting flower seeds today. As well as the packet from the seeds that we planted Beth stuck in some fabric flowers, a pressed flower and made some pictures with a set of sticky coloured shapes I had. The picture on the right is of Bethany stroking a cat, picking a flower and looking at a rainbow and butterflies, lol. She kind of got the idea eventually though she has since brought through to me a tonne of drawings with the inevitable question of "can we put this into the scrapbook too", lol.

She's also not too keen on the idea of me and Ethan putting things into it either as she wants it to be her book, but she'll just have to get used to that as the whole idea is that this is a family project that we can all contribute towards and I can use to help to get the kids involved with the seasons and themes of the year.

All in all a productive day so far, Ethan has been less screechy too and happy for the first time in a week to crawl around and play instead of being attached to my hip wanting to cuddle, which has been a welcome relief and left me able to get on with bits around the house without the feeling of being stabbed in the head because he is screaming so loudly at me all the time.

Strangeness Going Around? (Part 2)

2010-04-12T03:59:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I wrote a post about the strangeness that many of us have been picking up on of late and the impacts that it seems to be having at the moment. First off I want to say thanks to everyone who has shared their experiences so far, it is good to know that we are all in this together.

Last night I meditated and asked for some kind of understanding as to what was going on before I went to bed for another tumultuous nights sleep. I then mentioned how I'd been feeling to my man this morning and he linked me to this very interesting read attributing this phenomenon to the astrology of 2010. If you're interested/wondering about what has been going on this year then click here to have a read.... it certainly explains quite a lot.

I for one have known I've been in a massive transitional time this year, it's what my cards have been constantly telling me, that I am changing and developing at a massive rate. Last year cut out of my life all the things that were detrimental to me and introduced some catalysts that seemed to kick start this process and I think now... well now I seem to be smack bang in the middle of the big upheavel.

Let me know what you think about the artical, particularly the part about The Cardinal and Mutable Cross. It states that those with sun or moon signs within the 'crosshairs of the alignment' (which it explains about earlier in this section) are the ones who will feel the full force of this time and "will go through rapid, creative, and dynamic personal changes."

This whole part of the essay makes a lot of sense to me, both my sun and moon signs are in Capricorn and as I said yesterday I do feel as though all this stuff and baggage that has been hanging on to me is being forced away bit by bit to make way for the new, and some pretty big changes in all areas of my life. Could this all be the physical manifestations of some massive life changes and development for us all? I'm beginning to think that yes it could.

Strangeness Going Around?

2010-04-11T03:01:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine on Facebook asked an interesting question the other day to all his Pagan friends. I saw it today and thought it was quite an interesting theory as I know that so many of us have been going through illness and bouts of sadness and depression that are uncharacteristic and hard to shift.

He wanted to know how many of us had been feeling the same thing as he has been ill for a while now when he normally doesn't get that ill in the first place. He has been plagued by headaches, which has been something I cannot shift either at the moment and generally doesn't feel right. I too, along with many others who responded have been weak to illness, full of headaches that just don't shift through relaxation and have had other health issues. The majority of us have also been getting waves of sadness and depression, my own seem to relate to worries I have had about the past and guilt. Which is ridiculous, because I have nothing to feel guilty about and there's nothing that I am consciously holding onto from the past, though I obviously seem to be trying to let go of a lot of this stuff. But why now? and why does it seem to be happening to so many of us?

For those who are not plagued by illness or sadness of some type or another it's instead generally bad/not nice things happening around them for no real reason. The people that responded feel that they are fighting something away right now, but don't know what or why... which is just how I feel at the moment too. We all feel foggy in the head, disconnected in many ways and just generally not right.

My friend felt that this is a result of some kind of negativity being pushed on us as a whole from somewhere, that we are all sharing as a connected group of people. Another person suggested a different theory:

it's our own "negative" stuff which is being pushed out...we're putting ourselves in situations which push our buttons so to speak and we are getting rid of old behaviours which no longer serve us well...and because it's in most parts of our lives, it can seem a bit full on and we need to retreat to rest, process all these energies of transformation and transmutation. it's a big letting go of "old" to make way for "new" energy. we need to be extra vigilant now about who we spend our time with and ensuring we do what WE want first, as opposed to doing what others want. take charge of our spaces, strengthen those boundaries.
try and pamper yourselves a little... i know a lot of things seem "boring" when we are in this foggy headed state, in a lull, but enjoy salt baths with esential oils, utilise the crystals, selenite & amethyst in particular, invoke the violet flame and work with St Germaine to help transmute any "fears", catch up with friends or inspiring people once a week, go for a coffee, shop, dance, whatever puts a smile on your dial :)))) i feel this will last for awhile yet and we just have to be gentle on ourselves. if you don't feel like doing something...don't...and feel good about that. means you need to rest. don't beat yourself up...go easy, be gentle xxxx

another person suggested that perhaps this is all in preparation for the whole 2012 arrival?

Who knows... I don't feel like I'm being 'attacked' by something/someone, but then I wouldn't so much unless it was directed at me personally, which I don't believe it is.

I wanted to share this with you all, to see what you thought about it and if it's happening to you and also to show that if it is you are not alone, there are a lot of us that are recognising this right now and together we can get through it. Hopefully it will pass soon, or it's purpose will become apparent in time. Stay strong my friends, love and light to you all x

Sunny on the inside :s

2010-04-08T14:36:00.000-07:00

We've had some lovely weather here, warm, bright and sunny... unfortunately for me I haven't been able to get out and enjoy it as this pesky virus is still swarming around our house. It's hit us all now, Ethan has been rough with it over the last few days and today's latest casualty was Beth.... she doesn't seem to have it as badly as the little man though *touches wood* so hopefully she's just picked up the 'tail end' of it from him. So most of my day today has involved the constant cleaning and disinfecting of the house as one of the kids has been vomiting everywhere while the other one has been pooing everywhere... and trust me when I say that no nappy can hold the kind of stuff the poor little man has been producing over the last day or so. Top that off with the fact he is teething and has chronic nappy rash right now and I'm sure you can imagine that there's been little fun here all in all :(

The good news is that my mum surprised me with a visit this afternoon for a couple of hours which did lighten the load and give me a little respite from it all. And the wonders of the internet have managed to keep me sane at least... I seriously wonder what I would do if I didn't have access to it... it doesn't bare thinking about :s

Healing thoughts would be very much appreciated my friends and hopefully we will be able to kick this horrid illness out of our family once and for all x

Progress

2010-04-07T06:24:00.001-07:00

Here's the first section complete....The colouring looks much nicer in this picture as it's a lot brighter today so the light is better :)

First Look

2010-03-30T12:17:00.000-07:00

First look at the new cross stitch kit.... this is what I've done of the design which will eventually be a large portrait of Maat for my man. It's going to be his christmas pressie, and believe me it's probably going to take me that long to get it finished and then framed, but I'm really pleased with it so far. As I complete sections I'll picture them so you can see how it's going. This is definitely my most ambitious project so far but I'm really enjoying it and have been itching to start it since I ordered it.

The artwork the kit is based on is by J.P Wagner and the kit is available from Colray Crafts.

Disaster Strikes

2010-03-30T05:04:00.000-07:00

Well, disastrous as in I have been pretty much incapacitated for the last few days. Having had my 'device' fitted and having been on a contraceptive pill for two weeks (and those things really don't agree with me in any way) I began having more funny turns last week. Not only could I not shift this migraine that had been plaguing me on and off for days but I began to recognise the signs of bouts of depression rearing their ugly head again in my life. I've only ever suffered with this when I'm under hormonal pressure, such as from the pill and post natal. Thinking to myself that I only had to stick it for a few more days I persevered but still it got worse.

I stopped taking the pill last Wednesday but it didn't help... the depression stopped but I was otherwise feeling really ill, until on the Thursday I phoned my mum at 7am in tears because I knew I wouldn't be able to look after the kids. Cursing myself, thinking that this coil was the reason for such a dramatic turn in my health I managed to stumble to the doctors and be seen.... turns out it wasn't the coil after all, but being around so many sick people in the last couple of weeks meant that I had picked up a virus that was affecting my inner ear, making me dizzy, faint, nauseous (I hadn't eaten in 3 days by this point), headache ridden and unable to do really anything other than lie down. I was told I had a type of vertigo!

Now I though, for some reason, that this was something to do with heights or something, but no... it's a condition of the inner ear where you can't balance yourself properly, pretty much rendering a person useless if they try to do anything other than lie flat on their back, and by Thursday even this was painful and horrible feeling. A course of tablets later (which I'm finishing up today) and I must say that I'm feeling nearly back to myself... as you can see I've even managed to get online for the first time in days, which feels miraculous right now when I think about how awful I felt even lifting my head off the bed a few days ago.

Needless to say I won't be taking my health for granted (like I kinda had been this last month or so) again. You only really appreciate all you can and do do when you are faced with a predicament like that when you just can't do it. My headache lifted yesterday and sitting in the bath last night listening to the deep rumbles of thunder outside helped to lift my spirits... as did my cross stitch kit, which I finally managed to work on some more after my bath. *touches wood* hopefully now I can start getting back to my normal healthy self slowly but surely and while I'm still going slowly and getting plenty of rest it feels damn good to be back on my feet and able to fend for myself.

Spring is....

2010-03-21T12:08:00.000-07:00

....here at last!

Ok, technically I've counted it as spring for a little while now, since the weather got a bit milder and the first spring flowers began peeking their heads up from the earth, but still Happy Ostara everyone!

I've had a mixed weekend and haven't really managed to do any of the things I was planning, but there is still time tomorrow to make and decorate some biscuits using the new cutters I found in a pound shop. I'll post some pics if I get round to it. As it happens I've been having to take it very easy these last couple of days, but don't worry all is ok. Male readers may not want to continue reading from here on... nothing gross or rude guys but I am discussing women's issues :p

I had a doctors appointment yesterday morning to have a contraceptive coil fitted. I've been trying to get this done for nearly a year, having decided this was the way to go for me after Ethan's birth. I'm a migraine sufferer you see, and as such my choices are a little limited, as hormonal contraceptives generally make my headaches worse and/or more frequent. However, with this coil the hormones are mainly localised, so should work out the best option. Anyways, so I went along and had this thing fitted... not the most pleasant experience in the world, but the worst of it was the cramping I had when I got home. It finally settled down, but I've been a little delicate for the last couple of days.

It's quite ironic really when you think about it... going to sort out my long term contraceptive at a time when we are celebrating fertility and the creation and growth of new life, lol. Thankfully it is now done, the cramping is over and all being well *touches wood* it'll have me sorted for the next 5 years and should help alleviate my migraines and heavy painful periods.

So I've not really been all that into celebrating in the usual way, though I have had a few moments at my altar, which I decorated before the weekend anyway. I have also been occupying myself with a new cross stitch kit that I ordered about a month ago. It was due to arrive last week, and I was getting a bit peeved that it hadn't turned up yet... unsurprisingly it arrived the day of my coil fitting while I was at the doctors... a welcome surprise to cheer me up and give me something to do and think about while I was sofa bound with a hot water bottle hugging my stomach. It is quite a bit more complicated than I had first thought, but I do like a challenge, and as I get sections of it done I'll take some pictures to show you it's progression :)

I hope you have all had an enjoyable time welcoming Ostara whatever you have been up to.

Blessings x

5 things...

2010-03-18T13:40:00.000-07:00

...you should ~try~ not to do:

1. go to sleep on an argument - trust me when I say this is never a good idea, you don't sleep well and the whole thing hits you twice as hard when you wake up in the morning and remember what happened the night before. Which leads me quite nicely onto...

2. regret the past - regretting the way you acted/the things you said in your past is futile, it cannot be changed (unless of course you have a nifty time machine in which case why would you be sitting around regretting things anyway?)

3. worry about the future - a tricky one I know, but again it's pretty pointless. If you're worrying about something you can control/change or act towards/against then do what you can and have faith it will turn out for the best whichever way it goes.... if you can't do anything then *shrugs* worrying about it isn't going to change or solve anything

4. ignore your intuition - gut instinct/intuition/psychic sense, whatever you want to call it we all have it to some degree and I have learnt from personal experience to never ignore it... all of the worst decisions and mistakes I have made have been down to me not listening to it, and while I don't regret my decisions, as they made me who I am, I do accept that I could have saved a lot of energy and worrying had I just taken heed of it's wisdom

5. forget to tell the people you care about that you love them - never, ever, ever do this as you never know when you'll be unable to tell or show them again. Things change so quickly in life, love is precious and is there to be shared.

Blogtastic!

2010-03-18T03:35:00.000-07:00

Wow, looks like it's that time again, when some new blog awards are doing the rounds and I'm very proud and happy to say that I've been awarded a couple, so many thanks go out to those who awarded the latest ones to me. They are really appreciated and I'm so glad to know that you are all enjoying my blog... it means a lot :)

First up is this one from Melissa aka Equidae over at The Lotus Pages, who was also rightfully given this blogger buddy award. I certainly know that she has been a fab blogger buddy to me, but obviously I can't give the award straight back to her, lol... that would be cheating. Thankyou so much for the award!

Now I'm a rebel, what can I say :) so I'm not going to be passing this on to the full 10 people you're supposed to... I always feel really obligated to pass them on when I accept them, but sometimes I just don't have the time to find the number of reciprocants to give it to in return.... gawd, that sounds really lazy, but half the time I'm barely able to keep up with my own posting :s so I'm giving myself a rule that in the future I will pass these awards on to 3 others unless I decide otherwise.

So without further ado... I'm presenting this Blogger Buddy Award to:

Joxy at Free Range Family

Bridgett at her new look, new name blog Peek-A-Boo

Rue at Rue and Hyssop

Then came these little package of awards, given to me by Diandra at Short Stories and Mad Rants. So a big thank you to her...

Apparently the rules are to write a lucky fact about yourself, three things that brighten up your day and to pass the award on to your lucky number of people.

A lucky fact about myself: my lucky number is 13, and I love Friday the thirteenths, especially the ones that are my birthday, yep that's right, I was born on the 13th January, which just one of the reasons that 13 is my lucky number.

For the record though I'm not going to be passing this on to 13 people, lol *points to earlier explanation and shrugs* but hey, take away the 1 and you have a 3! Now that's what I call lucky!

Three of the best things that brighten up my day are:

1. Big spontaneous kisses and cuddles from my kiddies! How can that not brighten my day?

2. Waking up next to my man when we're actually able to see each other... yeah I know, I know, that's sickeningly soppy and very unlike me, but what can I say? It does get my day off to a good start :)

3. Carbohydrates.... yep, some people are chocolate fiends, others love sweets, for me it's carbohydrates, particularly of the cheesey (if I fancy something savoury) or fruit bun/cake variety (if I fancy something sweet).

And now for the 3 people I'm passing this joint award on to. I've decided to give them to new-to-my-radar blogs that I have only recently-ish discovered to spread a bit of blogging sunshine to them all:

Eoforhild at Planted in the Earth, Reaching for the Moon.

Tamara at Over The Homespun Hedge

Tracy at Witch Path To Take

A big congrats to everyone I've given these awards to. Please take them and display them with pride. Pass them on if you wish, but don't feel obliged to like I end up doing. I've given them out to you because you deserve them, not because I want you to feel a duty to pass them on :)

Love and light to you all x

Sickness and Seaside Scavenging

2010-03-16T07:10:00.000-07:00

Sunday was Mother's Day, and having gotten back that morning from visiting my sicky man I was at a bit of a loss as to what to do with myself. Normally I spend my Sundays with him while the kids are out with their dad for the day. Well the kids were out, and obviously he was still at home recovering from a nasty tummy virus that struck at the end of last week. Not nice at the best of times, but especially not nice when it's your birthday, hence my weekend stop over visit.

So what was I going to do with myself I wondered? There were a few options but in the end I decided to take a walk down to the beach and have a little scavenge. I've been meaning to do this for a few weeks now, but it's impossible with Ethan, as the beach I wanted to go to is a pebble one and he has to travel in his buggy thanks to his lack of a will to learn to walk :s I also knew I wanted to sit and have a meditation session down there... again not practical with a kiddy around. So off I trotted, I realised once I was halfway there that I forgot my camera, else there would have been some pics too.

It was warm and pleasant with the sun peeking out every now and again to glisten golden light over the rather calm sea. Once I got down there I found a big rock and sat with the sea lapping around my feet. It was beautiful and very calming... it's just a shame I don't get the chance to do it more often as I know if I ever move away from the sea I will really miss being so close by.

Sitting there on that rock, wishing I had something to hold onto as I meditated a hag stone caught my eye. I love finding hag stones, they're very powerful goddess symbols, gifts from the Lady herself and I usually find one whenever I go to the beach for a working. Picking it up I used it as a meditation aid, tracing the hole with my thumb and feeling my energy pour into the worn stone. I new I would find the other things I was hoping to discover while I was here. Sure enough, a few feet up the beach from where I found the stone were these little beauties, the pebbles are going to be for making talismans, I already know what they will have on them and I'll be sure to take photos of them when they're finished. The long thin piece of driftwood I'm going to use for a runic talisman, while the other two pieces will be drawn/painted on... though I'm not sure what yet.

Wandering back up the path home I then found the rather sorry looking purple crocus that had been picked and dumped on the concrete. I decided to bring it home and press it so that it would have a new home in my BOS... it will look perfect on my Faery Rune page.

When the kids finally got home I had a very welcome hug from my little girl, a bunch of flowers and a bag of handmade pressies that she had made with nanny while I was away. There was a lovely card, a big paper sash with 'World's Best Mum' on it (hand coloured by Beth) and a necklace that they had made by raiding my jewellery making stuff, lol.... happy days :)

A belated Happy Mother's Day to all you mummies out there, I hope your days were as good as mine.

Mystery Revealed...

2010-03-11T07:37:00.000-08:00

Well it's a bit later than a 'couple of days' but I have been busy this last week. I thought it was indeed time to tell you who inspired my latest painting. First off a big thanks to all of you who commented and gave your impressions of the work.

Eoforhild and Leda Dylluan came the closest as their thoughts that it was a birds head with the moon as an eye and/or relating to light and air were pretty spot on. It is in fact a portrait of the Egyptian God Horus, of both the sky and the sun. The 'eye' in the painting is gold (though it does look more silver in my photograph because of the flash) and represents the sun. His head is that of a falcon, which is the first thing that my man picked up on when he saw the painting.

I am happy to say that he is indeed finished and drying ready to wing his way to my man's house as his birthday present :) now I've just got to see who or what is going to inspire my next work. Blessings x

Divine Inspiration

2010-03-04T08:01:00.001-08:00

Okay, here he is. I think he's pretty much finished now... I'm taking a couple of days away from the painting with the intention to have a final feel for the energy tomorrow but I'm happy that it is what he wants and the compulsion to work with it more now is all but gone.

I had to use a flash to pick up some of the colouring and detail, particularly in the background, for you to see, though as usual it looks much better and richer in the flesh. So what do you think? If you want to take a stab at guessing the pantheon and/or God it is of then please pop your ideas in the comments and I'll tell you all who he is in a couple of days time. Also if you want to comment just on the painting itself then please do.

Blessings x

A Little Experiment... Please Help :)

2010-03-01T04:21:00.000-08:00

I was painting the other day... a kind of experimental piece to get me back onto the painting 'frequency' when I was visited by a deity. This is not unusual for me, I feel the presences of the deities I work with around me at different points for different reasons as well as that of my guides. What was strange is that this was one I have never really worked with before, in actual fact it was one from the pantheon that my man works with.

Strange enough as that is, I also knew with certainty that he had been working with his deities the day prior and that this visitation was as a result of it. Along with a rather nifty chant going round and round in my head of deity and angelic names I took out a new canvas and began to sketch what was asked of me.

Now there's a reason why I'm being so cryptic... the painting won't take long to be finished, it's just coming together so nicely as he (and 'he' is the only information I'm giving on said deity) knows exactly what he wants me to do, and when I post up a picture of it I would really like to conduct a little experiment. I would like you, my lovely bloggers, to tell me what you think of it and see if you can tell which God inspired it... just for fun of course :)

Stanton Drew Stone Circles

2010-02-25T05:31:00.001-08:00

Shortly after our visit to the Tor we were having a chat with the people we were staying with and talking about the amazing energy experiences we had been having for the last few days. They then told us about a little known site near Bristol that was well worth a visit; Stanton Drew Stone Circles.

Set aback in a large field it is accessed by a little gate with an honesty box for the £1 donation asked for entrance. Sharing the field with a few sheep the stones are obviously ancient and span over a pretty large area. The best thing was the place was deserted apart from a few other visitors who were scattered over the site, you could really take your time and explore, touch the stones and feel their energy and that of the land.

I was immediately drawn to the Northeast Circle (there's a picture of the layout of the stones at the above link in the first paragraph, and photographed in the above picture), the energy was far more concentrated here and it was obvious as we explored that people come to this particular area to do rites and workings.

This one (above) really grabbed my attention in the North east Circle, and when I investigated I found small crystals, herbs and candle remnants placed within the crevaces of the stone.

This cluster also seemed important, drawing my attention and I felt a fair bit of power eminating from the 'valley' running down the centre of the cluster, pictured above.

We stayed for quite a while looking around this very peaceful site and would have stayed longer had it not been so very cold that day, it would have been very easy to spend a good few hours there just sitting, connecting with the land and taking some time for quiet reflection. Indeed the people who told us about the place said that when they stumbled upon it they spent the best part of 2 hours there, who knows, with any luck if we return one day it will be warmer and more pleasant for spending a greater amount of time there.

The evening after our travels here, which was the last place on our itinery that we did visit (we had planned to attempt to find Gog and Magog before we left the next day but lets just say that neither of us are morning people) I had a peculiar experience for an hour in the flat, my third eye was tingling like crazy and I was completely spaced for a good hour. In that time I decided to read my Faery Oracle Cards, which gave me a wonderful reading relating to the whole experience of the holiday, what I had and could draw from it and where it would lead me soon enough. Sure as anything it's advice and predictions have been coming true over these last few days as things have been falling into place for me once again.

My man told me before we went away that once I really reconnected and 'found my mojo again' the things that had been worrying me and getting to me wouldn't seem so bad. Of course, I knew this to be true, it always is, but sometimes when you lose sight of the bigger picture and your place in it darkness can settle in your heart. Thanks to our trip to Glastonbury, it's community and energy, the sites we visited and felt and of course the time we spent together I can now truely say that I feel balanced again. Reading back over my last pre-holiday posts I can see them and how I was feeling for what they really were, I can accept it, push it to one side and confidently get on with living instead of fretting.

Glastonbury Tor

2010-02-21T06:47:00.000-08:00

Steeped in myth and legends relating to Celtic deities, the Fey and the Arthurian legends to name but a few, Glastonbury Tor is probably the best known icon of the town. Sitting atop a steep hill and overlooking the countryside for miles around it provides a beautiful vantage point for admiring both the views and the very individual energies of the area. Deep within the hill the ley lines cross once more and water flows freely.

We decided to climb to the Tor to watch the sunset on the Monday, which happened to be Lupercalia (the festival of Pan, my patron God, which made it all the more special for me). While the weather had been nicer on the Sunday when we visited the Abbey and Chalice Well Gardens, it felt right to do this on the Monday and despite all the clouds it was still a wonderful experience.

Eventually, as the sun began to lower it peeked out of the clouds briefly to dazzle and shine a patchwork of golden light over the countryside below, though the photos don't really do it justice, but then isn't that always the way...

There is far too much folklore and mystery relating to the Tor for me to write about it now. In fact I would probably end up writing a full essay on the topic if I let myself, so I have included a couple of links at the begining of the post that has a comprehensive overview of the stories and beliefs surrounding this mysterious icon. If you are interested in the history and folklore of the place then please do take the time to have a look as it makes for a very interesting read.

White Spring

2010-02-20T08:08:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of White Spring for two reasons, the first being that you are asked not to take any and the second being that even if we had been permitted to it was so dark in there it wouldn't have been worth it.

The White Spring is an old Victorian Reservoir that has been converted into a sacred temple space where the chalky water of the Tor flows through and is collected. It is the balance to the Chalice Well Gardens, the two positioned around the corner from each other one iron, one chalk... one 'male', one 'female'.

Walking in it took a while for my eyes to adjust to the depth of the dark. The room was relatively small and the sound of water flowing through was all encompassing and yet very relaxing. In the centre of the room was a large circular stone pool where you could get in and bathe. Water flowed down alleys in the stone floor and as you can imagine it was very slippery and wet footing.

The edges of the room were lit with candles, a rough guide to help you traverse the walkways around either side of the pool where there was rough seating and small shrines for prayer and meditation. To the left as you walk in the main entrance was a large board painting/picture of Brigid. As I'm writing this I'm actually looking for a copy of the picture that was in the shrine to link to and can't find one online. Strangely enough a couple of weeks before leaving I came across a picture of her that I used in my BOS when writing about Imbolc, I have just realised it is the exact same picture that was in the shrine so I'll scan it up to share:

It's not the best quality I'm afraid but it will have to do :)

Anyways, just to the side of this portrait of Brigid was a little walk-in alcove that housed the main shrine and by the gods the energy in there packed a punch! If we had realised we would have planned going there first and the the Chalice Well just to help 'come down' from the experience of being slapped with energy, lol. It was crazy, my hands were immediately tingling and hot, swelling up just like they do when I heal and again it took me ages to ground myself. I find this happens a lot with my hands, especially since I have been healing as I've trained them to be particularly sensitive to differences in the energies I come into contact with.

I think it would be very interesting to experience the energies here at another time of the year as well, we quite fortuitously visited this Brigid Shrine, unknowing that it was dedicated to her, at 'her time' of the year it being just a scant few days since Imbolc so it is perhaps unsurprising that the energies were so strong an experience.

The White Spring is opened and run by volunteers so it's pot luck really as to whether or not it is open when you walk by. We were lucky and managed to get in to see it, but we tried every day after to go back and experience it again but found it closed each subsequent time. Just like with the Chalice Well Gardens you could drink the water, in fact there was a tap outside for you to come and fill a bottle up regardless of whether the place was open or not.

Glastonbury Abbey

2010-02-20T07:25:00.000-08:00

Ah... Glastonbury Abbey, other than Stonehenge this was the most 'touristy' place we visited. It is situated in the middle of town, the entrance being down the bottom of the main highstreet and like the Chalice well Gardens it is just hidden away. For such a big place you wouldn't even know it was there until you get in past the entrance building and are struck by clusters of stone and the surrounding massive green parklands.

Even though it's all in ruins the place and grounds are just immense and very peaceful. This is also another site where the two leylines cross and you can really feel the power eminating from the vacinity around the spot shown in the below picture. The large fenced off area visible is where the main altar was situated and roughly where the people closest are standing is the site where the bodies of Arthur and Guinevere were said to be buried. Between these two points is where the lines cross.

This smaller building is where the food was stored and prepared, there was a cool educational walkaroundy bit in here with examples of recipes that they would have eaten. This felt very familiar to me, the style of cooking and food available, as did the herb garden in the grounds... past life familiar? Possibly, it's hard to describe only that I felt like I had done it before, kind of like de-ja-vu I guess only not...

(above) the remains of another small chapel to the side of the main altar space.

There were remnants of wax and candles down by this pictured stone altar (above) when we went down there along with a sign. This area is obviously used for ceremonies and rites by those who gain 'written permission' from those who have guardianship over the whole site.

I always find it astounding to see the work and detail of the stonework that went into these places, even as ruins you can still appreciate and imagine the grandeur and beauty of the building and what it would have looked like in its prime.

Chalice Well Gardens

2010-02-19T06:45:00.000-08:00

This was one of my favourite places to visit, and the photographs kinda speak for themselves. The Chalice Well Gardens span over 4 acres and even in February were very beautiful. A healing stream running from the Tor goes through here and the whole space is designed as a place for meditation, quiet reflection, prayer and healing. The energy here was powerful but very soothing and mellow, it would have been so very easy to spend a whole day here just lost in peace. There are focal points and shrines throughout the Gardens making for a beautiful, natural and highly spiritual experience. The photographs start at the bottom of the garden and work up, following the water source back to where it enters the gardens.

The design of this waterway at the very bottom of the gardens had the water moving around these kidney shaped bowls mimicing the motion of the tide as the water swirled down and around the bowl before pulling back into the centre and dropping down to the next level.

We think this is a covered well and is just on the higher ground above the previously pictured water feature. What is curious is the position of the structure, you can't really see it properly from here, but it is directly central in between these two ancient trees.

Further up the levels is this small waterfall which continues to the right into a healing pool that you can bathe in. The orange colouring of the waterway is made from natural deposits of iron present in the water, it has not been in this colour. The rusty hue really stands out drawing attention to the water and it's journey through the garden, I can only imagine what it would look like in the Summer, surrounded by the vibrant greens of full growth.

Dotted over the place were benches and little cubby holes, huts and swings with prayers and meditative phrases and inspirations within, each places off the main walkways and in view of the focal point of the part of the garden you are in.

This part of the stream is where you could sit and drink the healing waters. They were surprisingly warm, extremely clear and pure and you could really taste the high iron concentration (I think I could have really done with bottles of this stuff to drink during my last prtegnancy when I was diagnosed with Anaemia... it certainly would have beat the horrible iron tablets I had to take every day, and their side effects, lol).

The Holy Chalice Well

We were also lucky enough to spot this little fellow as we wandered quietly round... well technically my man found him, but I did snap this picture :)

This is the Gardens main shrine where you can light candles.

All in all, definitely worth a visit if you go to Glastonbury. The energy in the place was astounding and though it was a very cold day that we went it was very warm in the garden itself and peaceful. You could easily forget you were on a main road and near town as the sounds from outside the garden walls were just non-existent within.

Chalice Well Aerial Map and Virtual Tour

Glastonbury High Street

2010-02-19T05:27:00.000-08:00

The biggest thing I noticed when we ventured into the town after arriving on the Saturday afternoon was the energy. I later discovered that two ley lines, one 'male' and one 'female' run parallel here snaking and crisscrossing over each other in three points in this one area. Both myself and my partner are pretty sensitive to energies and it took us a good hour once we got back just to 'come down' from the spacey feeling from walking around the town. Needless to say it was easier to manage on subsequent trips out once we knew what to expect.

I didn't take any pictures in the town but have some links to weave into the mix to give you some more information about what was there. Other than the strange buzz of energy around the place the next most noticeable thing was the crazy number of witchy/pagan/new age shops that abounded. Practically every other store was one of these and those that weren't were all local run small businesses which was lovely. All the shop keepers obviously got on well together and it had a real community feel about it, like a village feel only on a slightly larger scale.

The main street was filled with little alleyways and crevaces of hidden shops and places to find. The windows and streets were lined with posters and advertisements for spiritual practices, healings, regressions, fayres and psychics among others. It was like walking into a spiritual magazine and there was just so much to take in I think I could have been there a good couple of weeks and still found new things to find.

Needless to say, with the type of shops alone, we were in our element and it was agreed that we wouldn't actually venture into the shops until we were closer to going home else we would have ended up spending a fortune between us. In the end we had two trips, scoping the shops out on the Monday and then returning on the Tuesday to actually buy anything we wanted, and I was very good, though I saw an astronomical amount that I wanted I only indulged on this beautiful fleecey jumper/coat which is knee length and has a fab pixie hood:

I could have quite happily bought one of everything from this shop as they had such brilliant clothing!

We also found a fabric shop and brought a metre of this lovely blue mottled velvet fabric so I can make my man a bag for his tarot cards. I'm not sure what I'll use the rest for yet, we'll see what I get inclined to do with it:

Within the town, through one of the little alleyways is a courtyard containing the Goddess Temple and an array of little shops; crystal and book shops and an alchemy store to name but a few. We visited the Temple, of course, though I have no photos to share, but it was very serene, a nice calming space designed for people to enter, sit at the altars in the thick haze of sweet incense burning within and commune with the Goddess. I always think it's a bit of a shame that there aren't usually God temples to visit, or even better a place balanced in it's male female energy. Of course I can understand that many on this path are more Goddess orientated, but sometimes it feels like the God gets a little left out when really this path is, at least to me, about balance.

Also in the middle of the town itself is St John's Church, a massive building that has a sort of Cathedral-esq look about it, what was curious about it was the little labyrith near the gate in the Church grounds. It wasn't easy to get a picture of it from the road that looked half decent so if you click here you will see this aerial view of it taken when it was first completed. I think it just illustrates how spiritually accepting and, for want of a better word and I don't mean this in a derrogatory sense, just strange and unique the place is.

I think this is the first town I visited that had no 'chavs' or 'teen hooligans' lurking around on the streets. Everyone was alternatively dressed, either goths, hippies or 'other' lol, so I felt very at home. And I am happy to say that the people of Glastonbury know the value of and share my enthusiasm for the colour purple! It was literally everywhere and we even saw a deep, fantastic, purple Beetle car!

Finally I'm going to add in this picture here too, technically it wasn't in the town it was just outside of it and down a little road. The people we were staying with were giving us directions for walking from the Torr into town on the 'scenic route' and mentioned these massive chimes outside a retreat nearby that you could set off on the way past. Being curious we decided to try and find them, it turns out they were big Tibetan Prayer Wheels and they looked really cool so we took a photo to share:

Hillside

2010-02-18T07:48:00.000-08:00

With Stonehenge visited and a previous stop for refreshments and toilet breaks at a service station we were off again. I find it very easy to 'zone out' when I travel so I really didn't have a clue where we were going, even though the sat nav was on with our destination on the screen and of course an abundance of road signs, that rather impressively I didn't look at, it wasn't until we neared the town and the imposing figure of the Tor that I was told that Glastonbury was our heading.

Having never been here before, or even close by I was intrigued to get a feel for the place myself having heard so much about it and knowing it's reputation as a 'spiritual hubb', though such places can be overhyped I knew it would be an interesting experience regardless.

The next mission, however, was finding the place we were staying... with the crazy sat nav lady telling us to turn here there and everywhere down ridiculously thin roads and lanes that were two way, but should probably have been one way and then telling us we had arrived when we blatantly hadn't it was a tad confusing but we got there eventually.

We stayed at Hillside which is a B&B with self contained accomodation to rent as well. It's run by a really friendly family who made us feel incredibly welcome, giving us a key to the main house as well as to our place. We rented the Hillside Flat which was ample room for the two of us and could be accessed through the main house or by it's own access round the side of the main house.

The main building is situated a short walk from the High Street (perhaps 10 minutes if you are walking at a leisurely pace), less than that to the Chalice Well Gardens and White Spring, and it is right at the base of the Tor, so a quick walk down the road and you are onto one of the footpaths that take you up there and give you access to the surrounding fields and scenic walks around the countryside and back into town.

We were self catering, though my mans computer know how and helpful nature in fixing the owners laptop scored us a free breakfast one morning, and boy was it a good breakfast! I could barely move after eating it but it was lovely :)

The couple were fantastic, offering us drinks when we went into the main house to visit, recommending places to visit, including the little known Stanton Drew Stone Circles and treating us like members of the family not just guests who are renting the flat in their property. As you can probably tell I cannot rate this place highly enough and would really recommend staying with them if you ever go to Glastonbury yourselves, you won't be disappointed :)

Stonehenge

2010-02-18T07:19:00.000-08:00

We left late morning, in the car, to venture to our destination (which until I arrived at Glastonbury was a complete surprise). I'm not the best car traveller, I tend to get sick and feel generally ill, but all things considered the journey wasn't too bad. On the way to Glastonbury we stopped off at Stonehenge, mainly because I had never visited the place and it was certainly an interesting experience.

As you can see from the above picture there are signs around and a rope barrier holding visitors away from the main site, though you can book in, with plenty of notice, to get permission to go into the circle which I'm sure would be well worth it. I can fully understand why visitors are kept back though. The sheer numbers of visitors coming and going was madness, even for early February! This also made it very difficult to feel able to connect with the energy of the site (not forgetting that it was bloody freezing out there too), surrounded by tourists, constantly being asked to take photos of people and being confined to a walkway around the site but I am still glad that I went.

While meditation and physical contact may not have been an option here it was still possible to get a feel for the energy of the place and it's spiritual guardianship. This is something I always tend to do when I visit places as all natural sites have spirit guardians and it's just courtesy to petition to them for permission to visit and feel for them... it is always amazing to me how at one they feel with the place in question and how fitting the form is that they take on when dealing with us.

Ideally, as I think we would all agree, I would love to visit this place alone or in a very small group of like minded people and have full access to the place to sit and really connect with it, but alas that is unlikely to happen, it is just too well known, but that is why our last stop at Stanton Drew Stone Circles was such a nice experience but you will hear more about that one later.

Stonehenge links for some interesting reading:

Wikipedia

Stonehenge.co.uk

Holidaaaaay!

2010-02-18T06:53:00.000-08:00

Phew, what a few days away! I'm not entirely sure where to begin with this mammoth write up about my 'pagan inclined' holiday. I'm going to try to do this in some kind of order where possible, so first here's a list of all the places I'm going to write about that we visited (this is for my benefit as much as yours guys, or I'm likely to get all confused, lol). I think I'm going to approach this in the order we visited them, that seems to make the most sense:

Stonehenge
Hillside (the place we stayed, which quite frankly deserves a post of its own)
Glastonbury High Street
Chalice Well Gardens
Glastonbury Abbey
White Spring
Glastonbury Tor
Stanton Drew Stone Circle

Unfortunately we didn't even get to go to all the places we wanted to, such as Gog and Magog, Wearyall Hill and St Bride's Mound to name but a few, but hopefully we will go back soon to reinvestigate. I'm very thankful that we went when we did all things considered. The original plan of just a 2 night stay (one full day there) would have been terribly unsatisfying as we would have barely been able to go anywhere other than the High Street :s so I guess there was a reason for all that snow stopping us the last two times after all!

But before all that there was one place that I just had to share. This road had me giggling childishly for days on and off just because it has such a random name... so bask in the classiness of LEG OF MUTTON ROAD! (I took a picture of the road name just to prove, more to myself than anyone else mind you, that I didn't imagine or misread it, lol):

Just Got Back

2010-02-17T08:43:00.000-08:00

I'm happy to say I finally got to go on my holiday, despite the unexpected snow last week. I got back home a couple of hours ago after bit of a nightmare drive with a crazy hour long diversion that wasn't properly signposted.... grrrr.... but back safe and sound now!

I have tons to share with you guys, pictures and stories, we had such a fantastic time in Glastonbury! What an amazing place, full of such friendly and spiritually minded people. It was pretty mind blowing! I'm going to do posts to cover all the different places we visited, one at a time as there's just so much to write about.

Now I'm feeling very connected and relaxed, back in touch with my 'mojo' once again, and really it's impossible not to be after going to such an 'energetic' place.

I also wanted to say another big thankyou for all the messsages of support over these last couple of weeks. You've all really helped me once again and I feel so blessed to have found such a wonderful and caring blogging community. I hope you will enjoy reading about my holiday adventures.

Love and light to you all x

The Dreaded Check... and stuff :/

2010-02-10T01:02:00.000-08:00

We had a lovely Imbolc, though I haven't had a chance to share since then. We really didn't get up to much though I did plant some herb seeds for my kitchen, which are sprouting nicely and of course I decorated my altar, which I think always looks so pretty at this time of the year with all the candles to make it shine :)

Then came the rest of the week... by last Friday (and if you're male you might not want to read on or just pretend like you don't know what I'm talking about) I hit my Moontime. Now my psychic tinglings have been working overtime these last couple of weeks, whether it was down to the full moon, the Sabbat, my awaiting period or a mixture of the three I don't know but it has been a little crazy. Of course now that my body has settled down from having Ethan I returned this month to migraine central having one Sunday night and one Monday afternoon. Even now I can feel it hasn't completely lifted and have been having to take it very slow.

This has been compounded by some news I received that stressed me out and of course that thing I had been dreading.... Ethan's developmental check. Yes, it was on Monday morning, smack bang in the middle of my two migraines so I was, as you can imagine, feeling pretty delicate anyway. By the time it was finished I really felt like I was doing a terrible job with him and I found myself crying on the way home. The long and short of it was that they told me they are concerned with his lack of mobility and the fact that he is 'underweight' for his height compared to what his birth weight was.... oh and that they'd be 'checking up on me'! Apparently I'm not feeding him enough! Even though I have to stop him from eating so he doesn't make himself sick! So now I've been told I have to get a doctor involved to make sure there's no underlying medical cause to his lack of weight. I'd just like to add tat this point that he's certainly not lacking in energy he just hasn't podged up like most kiddies his age. Just about the only saving grace was that I know I'm doing just what I did with my daughter and she turned out fine, but it was pretty downheartening to have two women telling me what I should be doing with my son like I have no idea and then looking at me like I'm a liar when I'm saying that I am doing all those things! Grrrr.... as you can see I've moved past the upset phase and into the angry phase!

And so we come to today, Wednesday *sighs* and I'm sitting here having been counting the sleeps until my holiday starts on Saturday for like the last two weeks (only 3 to go now!) and what do I see when I wake up this morning? Snow! SNOW! The last two times we've tried to go away - due to leave on the Saturday - the Wednesday prior has brought snow which has, for some reason, stopped us from going! I am assured that this time round, snow or no snow, I will get to go... and once again I must stress how badly I'm in need of this break before my head explodes from having to deal with both my own problems and those going on around me! So fingers crossed it will still go ahead, I'm charging my camera batteries eagerly so I can take plenty of pictures to share when I go, and I'm not taking "we can't go" as a viable response this weekend! Lol.

Gift From The Fey

2010-01-31T07:47:00.001-08:00

If there's one thing I've learnt from working with Faeries over the years it is that they always make their presence known and felt when it is needed and/or least expected.

It was as I was reading my Faery Oracle cards and putting the finishing touches to a long awaited silk bag for them that a curious thing happened to me. Earlier today I had napped and dreamt of them and they chided me for my current less than playful mood and self-inflicted distance from their energy of late so I knew it was time to find peace and happiness with them once again.

As I returned to them through my cards and idle light hearted chatter from the comfort of my front room sofa, a single drop of water landed on the back of my wrist from above. I instinctively looked up expecting to see the start of a leak in the ceiling, but nothing was there. I cautiously sniffed the drop and was surprised to smell the scent of fresh spring flowers and grasses. A little taken aback I had the absolute urge to taste the drop. As I licked it from my wrist the sound of faery laughter rang in my mind, the water was sweet, it tasted like the drop of moisture you can get from a honeysuckle flower when they are freshly bloomed.

It was a gift from the Fey, an acknowledgement of my return to them and a welcome to a kindred spirit. So my dear friends remember this, the Faeries are all around us waiting for our playful acknowledgement and if we care to listen (for they do so love us to listen) they will show themselves with love and the bell like music of their laughter and song.

Birthday Boy!

2010-01-29T03:35:00.001-08:00

The 20th of January brought along my little man's first birthday. Unfortunately I don't have a nice picture of him with his cake as he insisted on screaming through the event and writhing in his chair while Beth happily sat there, blew out the candle and devoured most of it. He was more content munching on this plain cracker, but hey ho... it was his birthday after all. Really the only reason we had a little party for Ethan was because of Beth and her insistance, Gods know he had no idea what was going on.

And here he is again playing on the floor. He has a developmental check in a couple of weeks which I'm actually quit worried about as he seems to be a bit of a late bloomer :s It doesn't bother me, but I dread the health visitor criticising my abilities as a mum or making out there's something wrong with my boy. I know my son just as I know my daughter and I'm certain there is nothing wrong, I hate to say it but he truely is just lazy. For example, he can sit up on his own, but he doesn't do it, instead he flings himself backwards on purpose to lay down. He's not crawling properly yet but does push himself around backwards and he won't even contemplate attempting to stand. Beth was walking around by now like a pro. I don't know, I'm told this can happen with boys and especially with second children and it is true that even when I tell her not to Beth does do a lot of stuff for him so he hasn't had to really try.

The good news is, however, that aside from when he's grumpy from teething he is happy, alert and very chatty mimicking the sounds I make and trying to copy some simple words when I talk to him. I think it's just me over worrying again as I've been a little down recently, stewing on the fact that I don't feel like I'm doing very well, even though I know in my heart I'm doing everything I can. It's just so damn hard day in day out on your own... I am in sore and desperate need for my holiday I think, a little time away for myself and my sanity is what I need for my body, mind and soul... Roll on February!

Retail Therapy

2010-01-29T03:16:00.000-08:00

Following the rather rubbishness that was my birthday, I decided a little retail therapy was in order with my birthday money. Now I'm not one for wandering round the shops, clothes shopping or generally browsing (unless we are talking about an inexhaustable amount of pagan and/or alternative shops), in fact it's safe to say I detest shopping, especially for clothes. Luckily I knew exactly what I wanted to buy with some of my money and it's something I've had my eye on for a while in a local crystal shop down here. With the kids off with their father for the day and my time my own I wandered in to find the item.

I had seen it a couple of weeks ago but didn't have the money to buy it. I had tried to put it to the back of my mind, thinking that if it was still there when I had the money it was meant to be mine, then as always with the 'spiritual' items I'm supposed to have I began feeling that indescribable pull to return and buy it. 'It' was this beautiful giant cast iron cauldron:

As you can see it's massive and extremely heavy, I've been after a large one for ages as I have a smaller one that I use all the time for burning spell papers in etc, it has been adequate, but I really need a bigger one... they cost a small fortune, however, so imagine my surprise when I find this one in a local shop for just £29.99! Needless to say, it is now mine :)

Before I bought it I felt another pull in the shop but couldn't distinguish what I was meant to be looking for so I started searching, following the tug on my heart until I found this in the counter display:

It is a Tibetan Singing Bowl, and just the other week I had been telling my partner how I'd been looking for the 'right one' for ages. I had wanted to buy a bell or something for space clearing and meditation but while I was healing last year felt a singing bowl would be better and very good for the energy healing work I do. Again though as I looked into purchasing one I found they were expensive and it never felt quite right. So here I found this one which is of a medium size with a cushion and it's box marked up at around £20. Knowing that this is 'the one' I decided to buy it too, only to find myself being given a further 20% off because of a slight bit of damage on the box, only further proving to me that it was meant to be.

This all worked to more than make up for my birthday blues. I usually find that the items I am supposed to have for my practice find me like this, I get a pull towards them that just means I can't not get them. They turn up in the most random of places when I'm not actively looking for them, but they just feel right... you know?

Rain = Happier Me

2010-01-14T01:22:00.000-08:00

Finally we have rain, lots and lots of rain, and believe me I have never been so glad to see it. It has done what nothing else much has managed these last few days and cheered me up. Above you will see what is left of Beth's snowman Mr Chilly, she was rather sad to see him go but I must admit it brought a smile to my face to open the front door and be greeted by the only bit of remaining snow visible. Now you may well be calling me a 'snow scrooge' at this point, and normally I would agree but I really have had my fill of the snow for now... the two bad lots to hit Kent have been strategically placed over both of my planned breaks and have left us isolated from my family and partner over some very trying and important events.

I didn't get my proper weekend away over saturday, sunday and monday because of the snow :( which put me into a bad mood from the off. We did go to Maidstone and I still got a good day or so without the children but I was so looking forward to my surprise. By the time we got back on Monday my bad mood had settled in and nothing was going to change it, I just couldn't shake it, especially when I was told that my birthday would be pretty pants too (and that is when psychic abilities really suck, when they tell you things to give you fair warning but it kinda puts a whole dampner into an event). Try as I might I did approach the day in an attempt to enjoy it, I hoped for the best and didn't voice my knowledge in the futile attempt that it was faulty or not really going to be that bad but lo and behold my plans for the evening were once again scuppered by forces outside of my control. Apparently in order to truely embrace the new life, love and happiness that is coming my way I need to be tested and purified and this was my last big test. So I spent my birthday, which was yesterday alone... it wasn't much fun but hey, that's life and thankfully I had plenty of love and birthday wishes from my friends and family to keep me going.

Then this morning came the rain and I smiled. The snow and ice has gone with it and I couldn't be happier that it has signalled to me an end to this thoroughly testing time that has been this last lunar month.

My surprise weekend was rebooked for February, the good news is that we will get to go away from Saturday 13th until Wednesday the 17th so it'll be more like a proper holiday. Plus it will now be a joint Christmas, birthday and Valentine's gift so I am now looking forward to it once again and am hoping that the old adage that good things come to those that wait, proves to be very true ;)

*****

I'm also going to be making more of an effort to keep caught up with my blog reading. Sorry I haven't been visiting you all over the last little while, I am going to try a lot harder this year. I think I may have to set aside a day or two a week for catching up with everyone, so apologies. Feel free to chide me for my absence and be forewarned that I will be hopping on my broom and whizzing over for visits very soon. If for some reason I'm not following your blog, and sometimes a few manage to slip the net especially recently, please do leave a link in the comments section below and I will fly on over to be nosey. Blessings x

Snow, snow...

2010-01-07T04:59:00.000-08:00

...go away, come again another day (preferably AFTER next monday!)

Now normally the snow wouldn't bother me, in fact I would be one of the first to get excited and sit at my window just looking at the pretty white covering and how it so drastically changes the look of everything giving even the most mundane of objects a calm, magical look. Right at this moment in time, however, I would very much like it to go away.

You see I'm supposed to be going on a weekend break for my birthday on Saturday but if it stays like this it's pretty guaranteed that it won't be happening :( The first lot of snow we had before Christmas, though it didn't actually really hit us in Folkestone meant I couldn't have my pre-Christmas weekend break... and now, like a bad joke it is back just days before my next planned break! So I'm asking, hoping and praying that it will disappear so my babysitter can get down and so my partner can get here, pick me up and drive us to our surprise destination with minimal problems for a relaxing break... will it happen? Well if I'm online and updating my facebook and twitter status' in a foul mood you'll know it didn't.

That said, I can still appreciate the beauty of the weather. Having dropped Beth off at school this morning (yes her school was one of the few open ones around here much to her dismay), I found myself walking to one of the places I like to go to observe the seasons, it's an old church and graveyard in town that's just so peaceful and pretty it draws me there every now and then to view the first snowdrops and crocus' of Spring, the lush grass and brightness of Summer or the rich colours and activity in Autumn. One thing I had not seen until today was it covered in snow (we really don't get much snow like this down here, I've lived her 5 or 6 years now and it hasn't layed like this since I moved here) so I found myself there with my camera and barely enough battery life in there for these shots:

For those of you who have snow I hope it doesn't cause you too many problems and for those of you that have none... feel free to come and take some of mine :)

Blessings x

Happy New Year

2010-01-04T08:45:00.000-08:00

Once again belated well wishes to you all.

We took a last minute trip for New Year to see our family and though we got back on Saturday once again I've had a lot on and I've only just had the chance to wish you all a Happy New Year. All in all I did little for the blue moon in the end, but I did what I had planned charging my water and finishing my divination set. I also did a little card spread with my oracle cards which was full of good omens for 2010, the most potent happiness card I have cropping up at the end. This card and it's symbolism ALWAYS comes into play just before big milestones or turning points in my life, but then I guess I already knew that because I've been harping on about the New Year for bloody ages, lol.

I probably should have ironed the casting cloth before photographing it :s but you get the idea... It's embroidered with a pentacle and the alchemical symbols for the elements. At the top in a matching drawstring bag with suede pulls and my 9 items are placed on the cloth. They are; a green plastic tortoise toy, an old key, a rather battered penny, a hag stone, a silver ivy/flower/butterfly decoration, a wishbone, a dried rosehip from my garden, an acorn in it's cup and a snow quartz. Each item has a personal meaning to me and I received instructions on how to best use the set through dreams when I began actively connecting with Arianrhod a little while ago... it will be very interesting to see the kind of results I get from using the set for divining... I'll keep you all posted when I try it out, I'm just waiting for the right time now... it's close but not quite yet.

The Lavender Fairy

2009-12-28T03:51:00.000-08:00

You may remember that back in September I posted pictures of all my finished DMC Flower Fairies Cross Stitch Kits to date. I also had this one unfinished, and as you can see now she is finished... so I introduce to you the Lavender Fairy. I have a couple of charts for some more small fairies from the collection which I will do next year, but this one has been awaiting my attention for ages. Truth be told, I was putting off finishing it, mainly because I had so many french knots to add to the design, all the lavender flowers and the centre of her dress is made up of these:

Now as much of a fiddly pain in the ass they were to stitch I have to say that they do look really good and the end result is well worth the annoyance that I went through. Now I just need to find a set of different sized matching frames for all my fairies so I can display them as at the moment they are just in a big pile in my stitching box, which is such a waste, especially considering how much time and work went into making them.

Bring on the New Year

2009-12-28T03:37:00.001-08:00

Wow, what a fantastic week we have had. I can't remember the last time I had such a happy festive season. We were truely blessed to have such wonderful gifts and the love and company of those we love so close to us. It was the first year in a long time I spent with my mum, dad and brother and we all had such a good day.

I hope you all had a wondeful time too, full of as much light, love and blessings as we did here :)

My projects have all been going well. I only have the casting cloth for my divinatory set left to finish now ready to charge on the 31st. All my other waiting projects are done, and with a new table eisel, oil paints and a glass painting set I have tons of new ideas assaulting me ready for the 2010, a collection of candle holders being the one I am thus far particularly looking forward to as it has been on my mind to do for ages.

I'm so excited for the new year, more so, I think, than I was even for Yule and Christmas etc. It's going to be a good year! I can feel it and I am literally bursting at the seams to get it underway. It's also my birthday on the 13th January, and with the promise of a kid free weekend away from the 9th to the 11th I'm looking forward to it like an excited child. A week later it is then Ethan's 1st birthday too, so we have loads more celebrations to welcome in the new year.

Yule Incense

2009-12-21T08:36:00.000-08:00

2 parts frankincense resin

2 parts myrrh resin

1 part mistletoe

1 part clove (whole)

1 part cinnamon

This recipe is the one I used for Yule this year, it burns well as an incense but could be used as a non-burning offering, added to salt dough for decorations or used for all manner of seasonal projects. It is not, however, suitable for youngsters to handle, so if adding it to a salt dough mix or such be sure not to let kids work with it, and as with all herbal work, wash your hands thoroughly after handling the herbs, particularly before working with anything that will be ingested.

Yule Blessings

2009-12-21T07:21:00.000-08:00

A very blessed Solstice to all of you whatever hemisphere you live in :)
For us, it's Yule, so here are a few pictures and ideas for celebrating the Winter Solstice. After the hectic throng of Beth's birthday I have a day to relax and make last minute preparations for Yule. We decorate the house and tree around now, waiting until after the 19th so Beth can have birthday decorations up. Putting up the decorations, for me, always heralds the start of the celebrations and really gets me into the festive mood.

I'm a big fan of making pot pourri and using it as a table decoration, I tend to make different ones throughout the year with natural objects, herbs and scents for the season. For the spicey smells one of my favourites is the winter one, packed with cinnamon, oranges, apples as well as pine, orange and sandalwood oils it smells rich and delicious. I added a few red glass nuggets for decoration too, and they look lovely when they reflect the light from the candles I use in the mix.

Sat on a fake wreath I acquired from my nan's decorations when she passed away we have our table centrepiece with a big red cranberry scented pillar candle in the middle. Yum!

The orange slices I have been drying for the last couple of weeks are ready and threaded up with some orange embroidery thread, ready to hang on the tree. They make beautiful natural decorations as do bundles of cinnamon sticks wrapped with red ribbon. I break the sticks in half and then use three sticks in a bundle, a pack made about 10 decorations I think. Cinnamon is wonderful for attracting prosperity and abundance into the home, and the smell always reminds me of Yule and snug winter nights curled up in the warmth at home.

Here's our tree, as you can see I like trees with a mish mash of colours and decorations on them, there's no rhyme or reason to it, and I've never been one for meticulously planned/themed trees. I prefer multi-coloured lights and homemade decorations, some that I've made over the years, and others that Beth has made, really make it all the more special to our family ane 'homey' :)

I also made some herbal decorations out of salt dough and a mix of herbs as I detailed in one of my earlier posts in the year. I used mistletoe, juniper berries and cinnamon to encourage love, health and prosperity into the house cut into powerful stars. I like to call these wish stars as I fill them with wishes for both the Solstice and the coming New Year. I then hang them out in the garden for the New Year to dcompose and return them to the Earth and release their power. With older children you can give them a star of their own to hold and make a wish on before hanging it on the tree, which is a simple way to introduce kids indirectly to the use of seasonal magick... and who doesn't like to make wishes?

And here's my altar (a close up above and a wider picture below), the golden reindeer (which personally I think looks more like a stag, specifically the stag in my cross stitch pictured here - which is really why I brought it) is a new addition to my decorations this year. Wrapped around it's neck and body is a string of prayer beads I made the other day too. Originally I planned to make it in white, red and black for the triple goddess with two clear quarts points, one on either end. As I was making it however, I ended up adding some off white and dark green beads too, spaced with small hematites and little silver spacers so by the end it had a distinctly seasonal feel to it. I guess that just shows how connected I am to the season at the moment :) I love prayer beads, I used to have a proper rosary that I bought in Paris when me and my mum went there for a weekend when I was about 13. I'm not sure what happened to it, but I realised I really did miss the aid of the beads, they're so handy for chants, spell craft and prayer and ideal for taking around with you daily or if you're going away for a few days and can't/don't want to take a full travel altar kit with you... after all it's not always that practical.

The pink tealight holder may look a little out of place, but Beth made it and it is her candle which she like to keep here with my altar to light up and in the small linen bag on the left are the objects to my divinatory set, barring the casting cloth which I'm still stitching. I will reveal them neare to or just into the new year, as I intend to use the power of the blue moon to charge and bless the set.

Usually, though I didn't do it this year because I forgot, I like to buy a chocolate Yule log too and do a little blessing with this. It's particularly good and sneaky for blessing any visitors you may have at this time too. I place in the log a gold birthday candle for each member of the household and one extra to represent any visitors. Light each candle and bless the Yule log to bring peace, happiness and love (or whatever you wish for the season) to those within your household and visitors to your home. Once the candles have burned down, give each member a slice of the log to eat and share it with your visitors remembering to leave a piece on your altar as an offering to the spirits of the home and hearth who help to bring peace, love and happiness into your daily lives.

Finally I remembered to collect up an nice jug full of snow and bring it inside. Snow makes excellent ritual water, as does rain. We haven't had much snow here, unlike some places over the last few days, but there was enough to collect a decent amount. Again, this is in preparation for the blue moon, as I will take the opportunity to create a new batch of extra potent moon water, I think snow water is ideal for this task thanks to it being collected from directly from nature itself and it's beautiful white colour reflective and beautiful, just like the moon herself.

Phew! I think that's about it from me for now. Again I hope you have all had a very blessed Solstice wherever you are and that the light and love of the Lord and Lady shine down on you.

Birthday Girl!

2009-12-21T07:09:00.000-08:00

The first event in our hectic festive week is Beth's Birthday on the 19th December. This year she turned five... Here she is, the birthday girl in her new red princess dress, which she got for her birthday and has now been wearing solidly for 3 days! :s You can probably guess from that fact that she loves it.

As is usually the case with kids birthdays it was stressful and quite frankly I was glad when it was over. The snow meant that my mum couldn't make it down as they were pretty much snowed in for the weekend in Maidstone, which was disappointing probably more so for me than Beth, but the main thing was that she had a really good day.

Cards Made....

2009-12-14T07:23:00.000-08:00

...this year I've opted for a simple cross stitched present design with a little gold bow on top bordered with some frayed handmade paper, simple, modern and full of those beautiful Yule colours of red, green and gold. Another job to cross off the neverending list.

I hope all your preparations for Yule, Christmas and the New Year are going well too.

Calender Complete

2009-12-13T06:57:00.000-08:00

Another waiting project done! All 24 advent calender pictures are now finally complete. Who knows, in the future I may add some extra decoration/embroidery or some such to the calender itself (such is the beauty of making something like this to use and alter as you see fit) but for now, I can happily say that 3 years of making is finally over and the advent calender is finished!

Only a couple more lingering jobs left to do before the new year, and I'm quite determined to begin 2010 with no out-standing projects 'hanging over my head'.

Calling All You Arty Types

2009-12-10T14:18:00.000-08:00

Having been looking around and following a few new blogs I stumbled across Mother Moon's Message, where I found a button link to a very new site called the Pagan Artist's Network, which I joined. It's a quiet place to meet and socialize in a Pagan artistic community where you can share your work and find like minded souls. Having applied and been accepted as a member I thought I would mention them and hopefully some of you crafty souls might like to join too.

I will be creating my profile soon and hope to see you there as well.

Be sure to let me know if you join and I'll look out for you.

Blessings x

Fey Altar Refurb!

2009-12-08T07:13:00.001-08:00

About time I had a reshuffle of my bedroom altar, you always know when it's time because the energy just doesn't feel right and I for one find I don't want to spend time there. A few days ago I finally bought my Pan statue, as found in a little shop in town, amazing enough considering our town isn't exactly full of stuff. You can just about see him there on the left, next to the oddly phallic plant I bought today for him. The intention was to just get a nice little houseplant but the one he guided me to has a errr... appendage hanging from the middle of the raised trunk bit. Very fitting for him I must say and rather unsurprising that he would want such a representation.

I removed a lot of my small faeries leaving just a couple of different statues, my crystals and cauldron etc and adding a large selenite crystal and ivy plant for the Lady's presence. I do tend to use this altar for my work with Pan and the fey as well as my meditation and journey work but I have a thing about balance in the energies everywhere, especially on my altars. I can't help but have a sense of symmetry both in the look and feel of my spaces.

Anywhoo, just thought I would share it with you all. The more regular use of my oracle cards as one of my goals is going well, so well in fact that my 'bonding' with them has me creating my own divination set. I've been meaning to do this for a while, I've had a couple of items set aside that speak to my psychic senses, hidden away awaiting this project. Having found the rest of my items yesterday and today I'm going to create a drawstring bag and casting cloth for them then give them a go... I already feel well connected and eager to use them, I'll post some pics and a little description of the set when I'm done :)

*****

Another sidenote (I seem to be adding these a lot at the moment): I've actually been onto and updated my myspace page, so if you're on there feel free to add me or leave me a link to your page in my comments and I'll add you xxx

Sculpting on the Full Moon

2009-12-03T07:35:00.000-08:00

It cannot have escaped your notice, my witchy friends, that it was the full moon last night but what many of you may not have known is that yesterday was also the festival of the Welsh Goddess Arianrhod, who has recently sort of become my patron Goddess. Now, I have always steered clear of subscribing to a main pantheon, being eclectic and connecting with the deities I have been called to for different works, excepting the Hindu Goddess Kali who guided me through my 'early years' in the craft, but even that was a temporary partnership.

Anywhooo, having finally accepted this calling I decided that last night would be the perfect time to connect with her. I felt the urge to get out the clay and create something and this is what I made. As an artist I'm usually pretty abstract, creating loose and fluid forms relating to the energy I connect with, simple, beautiful and usually naturally curvaceous. All of my work, including my paintings tend to subscribe to this. It is a Goddess representation with a shallow integrated offering bowl at the base, a large inset moonstone and spiral detail above. The only wonder I have now for when it dries fully is whether to paint all or part of it, maybe just the spiral (?), in silver. We shall see.

*****

It is also worth noting that there is a second full moon on the 31st December. It is, of course special enough to work with the power of a blue moon when it comes around, but what a way to ring in the New Year! I hope this is a powerful herald of good things for 2010 after so many of those I know have had such a tumultuous and difficult year. It seems that 2009 has marked the end and new beginnings of many cycles that certainly in my experience have been both unavoidable and 'meant to be'. The Wheel has been turning, milestones have been reached and fate has definitely had a large hand to play in my life and the lives of those around me this year.

Project Complete!

2009-12-02T05:57:00.000-08:00

As you may remember, in April I began a project to make my own dress... something that I've never done before, thought would be a challenge and hell, I just wanted to see if I could do it. Well, I finally finished it last night and, if I do say so myself, I'm pretty pleased with the results, especially considering this is a first attempt and has all been hand-stitched as I don't own a sewing machine.

I'm not sure I would do it again.... at least not by hand, but then the fancy will probably take me at some point in the future and I'll end up starting all over again when I've forgotten just how much work it involved, lol.

Blessings x

Preparing For The 'Festive Season'

2009-12-01T08:48:00.000-08:00

I seem to say this all the time but December is a crazy busy time for us, more so this year I think than any other as I have quite a bit of 'me time' too when mum is coming to babysit the kids so I can go out and do non-child related things! It's Beths birthday on the 19th, which is fast approaching and she will be 5 this year! I just can't believe how the time has flown by!

A few days later of course it's Yule, which is when I tend to decorate my house and I make wish stars for the tree which I'll blog about a bit nearer the time :) Then it's Christmas, and this year I have my mum, dad and brother coming over for lunch... it'll be the first Christmas in years that I have actually had dinner with them so I'm really looking forward to it.

The good news is there's plenty to keep me busy so the cold and dark winter days fly by, though I still have a really hard time getting up in the mornings.... I'm not a morning person at the best of times, and when I'm all warm and cozy in bed and it's all dark and cold outside it makes it even harder :( That said, I do actually really like this season and the anticipation of the bursting of new life in spring that comes with every passing day.

So I finally dug out my ongoing project yesterday.... the advent calender. This'll be the third year I have been making it, and I'm determined to have it finished by the end of the month. It has been a mammoth project, particularly seeing as how I haven't had a huge amount of time to spend on it and I really can't abide doing Christmas related activities at any other time of the year:

The first year was taken up making the base, stitching on the green felt pockets and cross stitching the gold numbers too. The second year I began making the pictures for each day:

They are all cross stitched and attatched to a piece of red felt to be pinned over the numbered day as we arrive there. I managed to do all but 8 of them last year so that is my job this year... to do the final 8 pictures for the last few days on the calender. Each picture is completely different and include cartoon animals, carol singers, angels, faeries, santas, reindeer and snowmen stylised the same as the one shown above so they all match each other.

My other preparations so far also include the drying of oranges. I like to make dried orange slices to hang on the tree as sun symbol decorations and they look really pretty when the lights of the tree shine through the slightly transparent dried fruit flesh. I also dried a pile of cut orange peel for use in another seasonal pot pourri or table decoration later on in the month. I'm not sure which yet.

*****

Oooooh, and I weighed myself today.... I've lost 6lb! over 2 weeks, that's 3lb a week which is bang on target and quite surprising seeing as how I haven't been doing the exercise I should be because I've been a feeling a little sqwiffy... so far so good :)

Sealing and Protection Oil

2009-12-01T08:28:00.000-08:00

1 tsp fresh or dried rosemary

1 tsp salt crystals

3 whole cloves

50 ml carrier oil (such as sweet almond)

Place all the ingredients in a clean jar or container and mix with intent. Leave to infuse in a light, preferably sunny spot for at least nine days. Strain into a clean glass bottle, label and date.

Use this oil to seal around your doors, windows and any passages to the outside from you house such as drains etc once you have cleansed your space.

I like to leave herbs and/or crystals in my readied oils also so I have added the three cloves and a small dried sprig of rosemary to the bottle, but this isn't necessary.

Out With The Old

2009-11-24T03:09:00.000-08:00

I always have a bit of a declutter before the festiver season sets in, particularly as far as the kids toys are concerned. Beth's birthday is less than a week before Christmas so we have to make room for all the new stuff she alone is going to get. This year I've really felt the need to go a bit deeper. We as a family have been through a massively emotional time this year, and while things have pretty much righted themselves now I realized that really the house needs a bit of TLC too.

I think it's easy to forget how the energies of the houses we live in get affected by our day to day lives, particularly when a lot has been going on keeping us busy and leaving negative and emotional prints all over the place. Now in order to do this properly I have to clean from top to bottom and I'm not just talking about surface cleaning, but sorting out every cupboard, drawer, closet, nook and cranny too. I'm one of those people that can't just forget that the mess and disorganized clutter is there just because it's hidden away in a drawer or such (men seem to be much better at doing this :p) and I find that when there is this kind of a jumble all over the house my mind and life get a bit jumbled and unclear too.

So it began last Thursday and I finally finished up yesterday, all set to begin the spiritual cleaning soon. Yes it took me five days! to get through the house thoroughly, but already it feels so much better, even Beths room, which I haven't been able to actually traverse without tripping up or stepping on something and hurting myself in months, is tidy! I really should have taken some before and after pics... nevermind.

Side note here too: those queens of clean Kim and Aggie on How Clean is Your House came through again... How you may well ask? Well, quite a while ago I saw they recommended the use of cheap hairspray to get rid of crayon on the walls. Hairspray? I wondered, surely that won't work... up until recently I didn't have a reason to try it out, however, I discovered Beth has been practicing writing her numbers in blue crayon on her bedroom walls. It is a bugger to get that stuff off, so I resorted finally to the hairspray tip, and it only bloody worked! I couldn't believe it... so if you need to get rid of any crayon scribbling from your walls use cheap hairspray, just spray it on and use some tissue and a bit of elbow grease to rub it straight off.

Anyways, back to the point....

My nicely physically and energetically clean house will then be followed by a new protection and warding, all of which I have shamefully become lax with over the last few months, so it's really no wonder that it has taken us so long to get back on track is it...

I love so much connecting with the energies of my house and hearth, something that is such a big part of my practice as domestic witchcraft is so integral in my life. It is so important to nurture and create not just a physically healthy atmosphere but also a spiritually healthy atmosphere in the one place you should be able to relax, unwind and really be yourself.... your home.

Pay attention to doing this on a daily basis and things begin to just click into place. A simple prayer or a few minutes feeling for your hearth energies maybe accompanied by the lighting of a candle is all you need. Just connecting to those earthy home energies and firey hearth energies is always such a boost to me, it lifts my spirits, gives me energy and motivation to approach all the domestic jobs that all too often I don't really want to do and pummels me with creativity.

When you are spiritually sound and content life is so much happier all round and right now that is the place I find myself. Blessings x

New Moon Musings....

2009-11-16T05:30:00.000-08:00

It's that time again! It's the new moon and this months 'idea' my end is to try to shift some more of this baby weight before the festive season arrives. I've still got a fair bit that I want to get rid of and today is the day that me and my mum arranged, a few weeks ago, to attempt it. We usually do these things together to motivate each other.... it worked last time before I fell pregnant with Ethan so here's hoping I'll have some success again. I will of course keep you all posted with how well, if at all it is going.

*****

At this time of year I tend to make a few spiritual goals either on or just after Samhain, like your average New Years resolutions only they're based on my spiritual practices. I've been thinking about it for a few weeks but have finally found the motivation and clarification to organize my thoughts and set them. They may be learning/practicing a new type of divination or researching a particular pantheon of interest or completing a certain section in my BOS.... well you get the idea :)

This year I have three that I intend to work with... the first is to finish my healing course completely, which will hopefully be easily acheivable. I had to stop my studies and practicing while I was pregnant with Ethan as I was just so ill but finally over this last month (a good 20 months later) I've found things clicking into place and the course work I had outstanding for level 2 is nearly complete and ready for evaluation. Then next year I can really set to working on my Masters level and I don't want it to be hanging around waiting to finish like I had to for level 2.

My second is to make a real effort to use my oracle cards and runes more often. I used to use them all the time, the cards in particular, but I have been a bit lax with it of late and rather unhappily find myself getting a little disconnected with my beloved tools.

And the third is to push myself to continue practicing scrying with my crystal ball. Now this I really enjoyed doing as part of my meditation but I often found myself getting frustrated because it was always a bit ummm... temperamental. The long and short is that I'm not all that good at it, but then that's really because I don't/haven't been practicing much.... I have no-one to blame but myself. So following a good cleansing and attunement I have begun once more. My aim is to scry every dark moon, as I did last night... I have found that this seems to be my most receptive time and so far so good, I actually had some results yesterday :)

As you can see there is a main divinatory theme to my goals this year, I find that happens a lot. A couple of years ago it was a whole research theme where there were a couple of different areas I felt inexplicably drawn to collect information and images about. Last year started as a rest year which then turned into a spiritual social theme as I began blogging and connecting with new people, and indeed, felt drawn to do so.

Not all of them come to fruition, but usually at least one of mine does get completed. I often add or change them during the year, but it gives me something to work towards in my strange and rather persistant love of gaining knowledge and skills. It is one of the things I love so much about this path, the neverending stream of things to learn about both within and without myself.

So I ask you to think about your journey right now, is there something that seems to be calling you? A skill or theme you feel pulled to learn about? A deity you're being drawn to? An idea you can't shake from your mind because you're being called to it? If so why not make it your spiritual goal for the year and see how it changes and benefits your path...

Blessings x

*****

Note: For anyone who's been trying to follow my Twitter link; it is now working again!

Untitled Painting.

2009-11-12T08:29:00.000-08:00

The latest painting that I finished yesterday morning. It's a little difficult to see the full range of colours and marks from the photo but it is possible to see some of the scratching in. This method, which I usually use on my work, has a better impact when used with oils, but I'm not too disappointed with these results in acryllic.

Butternut Squash Bread

2009-11-11T05:40:00.000-08:00

This recipe is for a really thick and sweet bread that I have found babies in particular really enjoy. It can be made with most bake-able vegetables, my favourites being butternut squash, pumpkin and sweet potato:

1 small/medium butternut squash (or equivalent amount of other veg of choice)

300g plain flour (to start but more to add depending on how much veg. flesh you have to use)

2 tsp baking powder

2 tbsp olive oil

65ml cold water

You can also add different herbs to taste or for magickal purposes. The beauty about this recipe is that it's quite forgiving and open to huge amounts of tweaking :)

Bake the butternut squash (or whatever you are using), leave to cool and then scoop out the flesh and mash. Add the other ingredients and knead together adding more flour to lessen the stickiness of the dough if it is needed. Sometimes the flesh you use can add a lot of extra fluid so I just add more flour to counteract this. Shape into a round loaf or rolls. Again, if your dough is quite wet still I would recommend making rolls or two smaller loaves. Score a cross or lines into the top of the loaf and bake on gas mark 6 for 30 - 35 mins or until hollow sounding.

Enjoy x

Uses for....

2009-11-11T05:05:00.000-08:00

....Pumpkin Seeds.

What can you do with all those left over pumpkin seeds from the Halloween/Samhain celebrations? Well here are a few ideas:

Roasted Seeds - Make a tasty snack by roasting the seeds on a low heat tossed in a little melted butter and some salt.... yummy. My daughter loves them plain like this but you could also add sweet or savoury spices for a bit of variety, or make a caramel to toss them in once they're done. Roast them on a low heat gas mark 2 - 3 for a good 30 - 40 mins checking them every 10 mins or so to make sure they don't burn.

Seed pictures.... make pictures with them! Once clean and dry they make great craft materials for pictures, just add glue, paint and whatever takes your fancy. This isn't just something for the kids to do either... it's great fun and they can be used to make seasonal decorative pictures, mosaics or mandalas... the possibilities are endless!

Dry them for use all year round; clean them up and leave them somewhere warm to dry out like an airing cupboard then store in a jar or container in your herb store :)

When they're clean and dry you can paint them. This tends to work best when they have been completely dried out as the paint holds better to them. Why not string the painted ones up to make decorations for next year or for the fast approaching festive season?

If you're opting for stringing them up then you could also make jewellery with them with the kids. Use pretty painted seeds for fun necklaces and bracelets, or thread roasted seeds to make edible items.

Well these are just a few ideas, if you have any other uses for those pesky pumpkin seeds then please do tell, I'd love to hear them :D

Playing Catch Up.

2009-11-04T07:32:00.000-08:00

I know it's a bit late, but I hope you all had a wonderful and blessed Samhain. I had a lovely time, though I was ill over the weekend with a tummy bug type thing, but it was still an enjoyable and magickal time for us. I have now fully recovered and have finally gotten round to tackling the backlog of online work I have to deal with :)

I thought I would share a few pics from our celebrations and later I'll be adding some other bits about ideas for using up all those leftover pumpkin seeds and a recipe for some butternut squash/pumkin bread.

I always carve at least two pumkins. A smaller one for my shrine and a larger family one, which Beth decides on a design for... and believe me she is very particular about what she wants

Beth dressed up as a witch this year, it's the first year we have moved away from the fairy themed costume, though the fact that I managed to get her a pink witches costume swung the deal, lol.