Way Past 13 Moons

How to Surrender…

2011-02-18T14:49:00.001Z

This quote was posted at Green Witch Garden, Yahoo group. I found it very helpful, and I´m going to look up a recommended book on the subject:

Feeding Inner Demons, Ancient Wisdom for Resolving Inner Conflict by Tsultrim Allione

Whenever you feel yourself having a reaction of judgment, rejection, or resistance, imagine the opposite. Instead of seeing an adversary, view your partner as totally on your side. Don’t focus on what he or she has done to irritate you; reframe it as an act of pure love, brought into being to teach you the perfect lesson you need to learn at just that moment. This isn’t a mind game or a trick: at the level of spirit your beloved acts only from love, holding your highest good at heart.
Resistance is like a wall, holding back the flow of love. Love is the wave that brings forgiveness, kindness, and trust from the level of spirit. You can’t create these things. You can only tune in to them, which is why you need to remake your daily battles into opportunities for spirit. Every sliver of time opens onto the timeless. Can you allow yourself to slip through?
First and foremost, this is about seeing each other in a new light. Needs don’t just go away. On the other hand, projections of blame should go away; there isn’t any reason, except in your perception, to make each other feel wrong.
You must stop feeding the monster. This inner being who keeps screaming, ‘What about me?’ is a kind of monster, a distorted outgrowth of your ego.
Imagine the monster. The name of this beast is resistance. Now think of a situation where you absolutely didn’t want to go along with your spouse’s will. See this monster coming forward to defend you by putting up a wall of denial, a thousand reasons why you are right and your partner wrong, a ferocious display of withering disapproval.
How do you feel when this happens? Hard. Angry. Furious. Insecure. Empty. Alone. All are layers of the same response. On the surface the monster of resistance expresses anger and hardness, but this is only to protect the insecurity and loneliness lurking underneath. If you peel away the layers, you find that resistance is actually born of fear, and fear comes from having been deeply hurt in the past.
Adapted from The Path to Love, by Deepak Chopra (Three Rivers Press, 1997).

Still Alive…

2011-02-05T13:48:00.001Z

…I know, I know! I said I was going to blog more this year and I´ve completely stopped altogether!

So this quickie post is just to say that this is a sign that I am going through a period of personal changes and growth. This means that me attention is elsewhere and I am still being creative. I just don´t feel like posting about it on here at the moment.

Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible!

Finally, my 2010 photo retrospective…

2011-01-15T12:31:00.001Z

… I have plenty of time for blogging at the moment, but almost no motivation. I was so keen to blog daily this year and I even drew up a schedule, yet I can´t get going with it. Not sure why. I have quite a bit to blog about too, but still nothing is forthcoming. I do really have a problem with my online life from time to time!

Today, just an simple post to ease me back into my blog; I made a collage, using Picasa, of my favourite photos from 2010. Some of the pictures came out tiny, so you will have to click on the picture to enlarge it.

Online Tarot Reading using Diary of a Broken Soul…

2011-01-04T09:00:00.001Z

…I wonder what your opinion is of free online tarot readings? Sometimes, I find them very useful and I wanted to share this website which, in my opinion, is an excellent resource. I love the deck Diary of a Broken Soul, created by Ash Abdullah, and would like to get my hands on a copy (one day!). The link to the free readings is here, and to the complete deck, here.
Recently, I did a reading for myself using the Self-Actualisation Pyramid. It was scarily accurate. What follows is the card layout, copied from the website:

Basically there is the main pyramid in the center, and two smaller pyramids each side. One is inverted.
Positions 1 – 3 represent where you have come from, or what has made you/shaped you on the various levels. Can be from environment, upbringing, schooling etc. A look at the past, but with more objectivity than is usually given when using tarot cards.
Positions 4 – 5 represent “who you are now”. May or may not make pleasant reading but hey, this is what this is about right?
Position 6 represents “who you could be”. Again it might or might not look good, but you can learn from that and change who you are now accordingly. (This is a bit like how Scrooge did things in a Christmas Carol)
Positions 7-8 are your strengths. The light you have which can be bought to the forefront. What carries you and should not be hidden or unacknowledged.
Position 9 represents what you should be giving to yourself or creating within.
Position 10 – 11 represent personal areas for development or weaknesses. Again might not make good reading but if you look at your strengths first you will be able to see a balance is there and you can choose to focus on one side or the other… your choice. This is where you could really see how your shadow side comes into play.
Position 12 represents what you should be offering externally, or what you can bring to your world or others who inhabit that world.

The question I asked “Was where could the creative path lead me?” and the cards I drew were as follows:

9 of Diamonds
8 of Clubs
XII The Hanged One
VII The Charioteer
King of Hearts
V The Soothsayer
Queen of Spades
10 of Spades
XX Redemption
XI Strength
XVI The Tower
5 of Hearts

The first three cards, where I´ve come from, made perfect sense to me. Some of the cards where a little uncomfortable though. This is a shadow deck after all, and dealing with our shadows can make us feel that way. I was particularly squirmy to draw Strength as a weakness – the meaning attributed to this card includes the sentence; “The seeker as Strength advises us to explore aspects within that drives us to manipulate, control or influence people or situations without consideration.” This was a direct echo of something that had been said to me the same day – ouch!
Position 12 was particularly interesting to me as well; “Uncertainty when faced with something that cannot be perceived with full clarity. The need to either take the risk or to look for other alternatives, otherwise there is real risk no progress at all can be made. Tentative steps towards taking a look at the face or façade you may have portrayed to yourself or others, understanding what is seen may lead to discomfort or a change in outlook.”

Witches Way– Seeds and Stuff…

2011-01-03T09:00:00.002Z

…I´m the kind of person who loves to pick stuff up from nature, that I´m sure I am going to definitely need at some point. Only trouble is, I tend to mix these things together and then can´t identify what is what.

Like these seeds in the pot, all mixed together! Hence, what I wrote on the bag. I thought that I may try planting these seeds in the spring and just take pot-luck on what comes up, and I labelled the bag with what I could remember.
By the way, check out the dusty, but rather magickal, tin on the right. Full of dried amanitas actually!

Contrasts from my Music Library…

2011-01-02T09:00:00.011Z

…Like most people I know, I have wildly varying genres of music stored in my iTunes library. I thought it would be fun, once a week, to post a couple of tracks, using YouTube videos, from contrasting genres. This week, two artists beginning with “A” – I guess the only thing they have in common!

First, a bit of Bollywood with Aishwarya Rai and Nimbooda

Secondly, a bit of psychill, beautifully chilled out music by Aes Dana, Leylines:

Photo Round-up– Winter Sky

2011-01-01T09:00:00.004Z

I love winter skies with subtle shades of grey. I should be happy if I could capture a sky like this with paints!

Raven Totem part 2…

2010-12-28T21:07:00.001Z

…I decided to split this post into two because I wanted to post the complete entry for Raven (Bran) from my Druid Animal Oracle by Philip Carr and Stephanie Gomm. So this is exactly what I am working on personally at the moment.

By the way, this will be the last post from me until 2011.

Healing, Initiation, Protection

The card shows a raven perched on the bare winter branches of a beech tree that grows beside an ancient mound. This is the White Mount, in which is buried the head of Bran the Blessed, and on which in later times will be raised the Tower of London.

Bran offers initiation, protection and the gift of prophecy. What is meant by initiation in practice may be as formal as actually under-going an initiation ceremony, or as informal as, for example, being initiated into the mysteries of a new post or profession. It marks the death of one thing, which gives way to the birth of another. The power of the raven can also bring you the very deepest form of healing, which is achieved through a process known as “the resolution of the opposites” – giving you the possibility of resolving conflicts that have long lain buried in your unconscious or perhaps in your past.

Bran reversed, this card suggest that you should become aware of the forces of destruction that exist in your life and in the world. However much we might wish that destruction did not occur, we know that without destruction there cannot be construction and re-creation. The raven speaks of the knowledge of the dark and difficult aspects of life, which it is hard for us to understand. Sometimes we, or our lives, must go through a process of disintegration and darkness, in order to emerge into the greater light of a new morning. To a great extent our fear of the dark is worse than whatever it is that we find there. Drawing this card reversed may mean that we can now come to terms with our own destructiveness – a rage that has perhaps been buried for years – knowing that we have the protection of the Goddess. Deeper still, it may mean that we can come to a resolution of the conflict of opposites – experiencing the reality that in darkness there is light, and in light darkness.

The Tradition of the RAVEN

I have fled in the shape of a raven of prophetic speech – Taliesin

During the Second World War, the Tower of London was bombed. The ravens which had lived there for centuries flew away. Winston Churchill, who had been initiated into a Druid Order in 1908, immediately ordered their replacement with young ravens brought from north Wales and the wilds of northwest Scotland. But a first reading of the old tales that mention the raven suggest that it is a bird of ill-omen – bringing the fear of war, death and destruction. To understand Churchill´s reasoning, we must turn to the tale of Bran the Blessed, in which the superhuman Bran (whose name means “Raven” or “Crow”) asks that his head be cut off and buried on the White Mount in London, facing the direction of France. As long as the head remained buried it would protect the kingdom. The Tower of London was later raised on the site of the White Mount, and the totem power was transferred from the buried raven-god´s head to the presence of actual ravens in the Tower to ensure the kingdom´s safety.

Not only Caer Llundain, London, but also Lyons in France had the raven as its totem bird, and both cities were dedicated to the god Lugh, or Lud, who himself is associated with ravens. This god of Light was warned of the approach of his enemies, the Fomorians, by ravens before the second battle of Magh Tuiredh. The Old English epic Beowulf portrays the raven as the morning bird of joy and light, having helped Beowulf to victory. There is also a tradition that Arthur became a raven after his death, and in Somerset it was the custom to doff your hat to a raven as a mark of respect, for this very reason.

Churchill was clearly aware of the importance of the raven as one of the primary totem beasts of Britain. He must have known that ravens are sacred birds whose presence invokes protection. They will warn the forces of light of impending attach – as they did Beowulf and Lugh. And they will also strike fear into the hearts of the enemy. For this reason the Celts used the image of the raven on their armour – the most striking example of which is a battle-helmet found in Romania, surmounted by a large figure of raven with hinged wings. As the warrior rushed forward, the wings would have flapped, striking terror into his foe – or at least distracting him at a vital moment.

“VERY BLACK IS THE RAVEN, QUICK THE ARROW FROM THE BOW” Triads

Although the Irish war-goddesses the Badbh and the Morrigan are said to have often appeared on battlefields as ravens – causing fear and havoc among the warriors – a more accurate translation of the name of their totem bird is the hooded or scald-crow. This bird, and its close relative the raven, are scavengers who would certainly have been attracted to battlefields, and the message of their presence before the confronting armies would have been that in war no one wins except death itself.

As the bride of the Goddess in her death aspect, the crow or raven symbolizes the forces of destruction, of katabolism, which are as necessary to the continuation of life as the forces of creation and anabolism. Because of our fear of death and bloodshed, and because of the conflation of the two birds, the folklore and traditions surrounding the raven portray an ambiguous relationship to this natural but painful aspect of life. There is evidence that the fear and rejection of the raven are related not only to its association with death, but also to its association with the Goddess. Raven-women appear throughout Celtic and Arthurian literature, and the “raven knowledge” of the Druids was clearly a gift of the Goddess given to the Ovates, or Druid seers, which entailed an ability to see into the future and the past, and beyond the veil of death.

The raven as a bird of death or the Underworld was clearly recognised by the burying of ravens with wings outspread at the bottom of pits – such as at Danebury in Hampshire. These ritual pits or shafts symbolized the connection between this world and the Underworld, and the raven was a messenger between the two.

The Raven as a Bird of Healing

By being able to travel from this world to the next, the raven symbolizes also the power of healing – but the type of healing that comes about through a radical confrontation with the unconscious, with the hidden, with the Shadow, and with the darker, potentially destructive aspects of the psyche. The raven´s association with death becomes an association with depth and thus with depth psychology and the transformative powers of initiation – for such a moment marks to a greater or lesser extent the death of the old self, and the rebirth of a new self.

This therapeutic association of the raven explains the occurrence of raven images at some of the Celtic healing sanctuaries, and on Romano-Celtic iconography depicting beneficent divinities.

The raven´s connection with healing is reinforced when we consider it as a bird of prophecy and divination, integral facets of the healer´s art. The raven could travel to the darkest regions of the Underworld to bring back visions and oracular instructions for the seeker and healer.

The raven has been seen as an oracle for thousands of years. The early Irish Druids divined according to their flight and cries, and as late as 1694 it was reported that a Herefordshire raven uttered a prophecy three times.

Raven Totem…

2010-12-27T20:18:00.001Z

…I love synchronicity and was thrilled when Gypsy Magic posted Raven Power for Winter Solstice, as Raven is my Winter Solstice card from my Wheel of the Year, Samhain reading. It sent me on a search through my own books to find out what else I could find out about the Raven totem.

The following is from Hallowquest by Caitlín and John Matthews:

The raven is alter-ego and totem of the Goddesses Badbh, Macha and Nemhainn who form the triple-aspected goddess of battle, the Morrighan. This carrion bird figures largely in Celto-Arthurian literature as the taker of the slain, for whom the battlefield is the larder. This katabolic function of the Goddess is little understood, but she assimilates death and transforms it into new life. The raven is also the totemistic messenger of the Goddess to her champion, if the mythos of Lugh is anything to go by. The parallels between this association of ravens with Lugh and that of ravens with Odin is remarkably similar. In The Dream of Rhonabury, Owain ap Urien is aided by ravens in his gaming-board combat with Arthur.

From Dancing with the Wheel by Sun Bear comes the following about Raven, which is associated with the Ducks Fly Moon (September 23 to October 23):

From the Raven they will gain understanding of their relationships with groups, and their ability to soar and dive. This is the position in which you can learn what balance truly is, even if you need to experience discomfort in order to do so. People experiencing the Ducks Fly Moon can rapidly go from one idea, concept, or mood to its opposite. This positions can teach how to show physical affection and how to be comfortable both in earth and sky. People experiencing the raven energy must be careful not to be totally indecisive, and so changeable they confuse even themselves.

The raven is usually an all-black bird with a wedge-shaped tail that is often mistaken for the smaller crow. The raven is as large as a red hawk. although ravens are found all over the world, in the United States they are most often found in the west. Their song is a loud croak.

Sometimes aggressive, ravens are most often wary. They are intelligent birds who know how to drop shellfish from the air in order to break the shells. They are omnivorous and capable of riding the winds with as much enjoyment as their hawk brothers. Ravens are both group oriented and very defensive of their territory. Some ravens pair for life. It is said these birds have tribal councils.

To Native peoples, ravens are considered birds of balance between man and nature. Almost all tribes have a legend about the raven explaining why he is black. In all of these legends the raven begins as a white bird whose colour was change whether as a punishment for wrongdoing or because of danger undertaken in an effort to help man. This duality in the legends indicates the duality Native people feel about the raven. To some, the raven is a bad omen; to other, a good one. The Pueblo peoples connect the raven with the kachina spirits. Ravens have been given credit both with bringing the dark clouds that yield the rain and with holding them away.

The colour associated with raven and the Ducks Fly Moon … is the brown of the earth in autumn, a rich brown with tones of red. It is a brown that draws your attention to the earth, a brown that helps you to realise your connection with the Great Mother. It is a colour with many shades that evoke many moods. Having brown around you can help you to increase your earth connection and your stability to the point that allows you to safely reach to the realms beyond. It can also increase your environmental consciousness.

This passage is from Spiral Dance by Starhawk:

When Raven, Trickster/Creator of the Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest, behaves with greed and gluttony, he is not telling men of the tribe how they are supposed to act but that the wild force in nature that breaks the patterns is in itself a creative force.

And often the God is the Trickster, the Raven, the fool of the Tarot, Elegba of the Yoruba who opens the gate, Br´ er Rabbit, Coyote of the Southwest whose tricks bring many gifts to the people.

Finally, from Rainbow Medicine by Wolf Moondance:

If you think the ways of the King Coyote are rough, then listen to the stories of the Raven. The Raven speaks of how he escorted the dark away from the rainbow, away from the place that held the light. And each day the beautiful colours came. Listen to the story of the Raven. The Morning Star, the evil one, was taken away and was put in a dark place where there were no more colours – a place of lessons, where you walk now, called Earth. Listen to the Raven. It knows.

At that moment a huge black raven lands on the shoulder of Grandfather Bear Heart. “You listen to the Raven, the medicine of the west, the teacher of magic and knowledge of the void – the keeper of the story. This Raven protects the truth. You always know when there´s sacred truth around, for the Raven will be there to guide the way. The most precious stories and truths are always guarded by the Raven.

Weekly Photo Roundup…

2010-12-25T11:11:00.001Z

….I decided to make my photos part of a regular schedule of postings next year, so here is the first one:

In front of our cottage, we have a fire pit. In summer, fires cause havoc and much environmental damage in Portugal, so it is vital for any fires that one lights, to be safely contained.

This picture shows the fire pit in use, as it was intended:

This one, taken just a few days later, shows the effect of torrential rain on our pit. At least someone appreciated it!:

Last night, the pit was still too wet to use, so S. used our brazier instead. I love the movement of the flames and will probably use these pictures to practise drawing fire:

The next is a bit of a weird one; let it be a warning that if you stick your nose in my face when I´m holding a camera, I may colour it yellow and post it on my blog!:

Persimmons, Sharon Fruit or, as they are known in Portugal, Diasporas make wonderfully ornamental trees in the winter, when then brightly coloured fruit stands out from otherwise bare trees. This one, nicely situated by a traditional well, caught my eye when I was out the other day:

I was also attracted to the Hawthorne berries, as are the local bird population:

These last pictures are in the series “Play of Light” that I have been working on:

These final two are my favourites actually. I was amazed to be able to capture the light on the raindrops through the curtain in the way I was actually seeing it. The first one looks like tiny stars and the second, out of focus, breaks the light into almost geometric shapes:

Osho Zen Tarot Reading…

2010-12-24T19:42:00.001Z

…I know I decided a few months back to move all tarot related posts onto my Hallowquest blog. Now I am going back on that decision because I am looking to simplify in several areas in 2011. So reluctantly, I have decided to let my other blog lapse. I wasn´t updating it very often anyway.

I now plan to follow the example of many other bloggers and have a different type of post on each day of the week. And once a week, I will post a tarot or other divination-related item. There´s a commitment!!!

The picture below, shows my workings on my latest tarot reading:

I was listening to the Osho Laughing Drums album and totally loving it. I was feeling a great rise of energy and was dancing around the room. In fact, I defy anyone to listen to this spontaneous drumming meditation and not dance!!! It inspired me to get out the Osho Zen cards for a quick reading.

I used the layout format that I discovered in the Hallowquest book by Caitlín and John Matthews. It´s very simple and effective for a daily reading. All it is is a Major Arcana card provides the Teacher, a court card is the Guide and a Minor Arcana is the current Lesson. I actually drew just the 3 of Fire but, as I am still having difficulties in understanding the difference between the 2 and 3, I fished out the 2 as well and put them side by side.

I saw that the Master card, number 22 (and unique to this deck), showed me that I had an opportunity for a breakthrough in a number of issues that I am dealing with. Osho says about this card that by following the Master, we have the chance to get out of the loop that sees us going around the same scenarios in life, over and over again. I felt the Fire energy, raised by my dancing and also the shift of energy because S. and I were having a big clean-up of our living space, ready for a Solstice party with friends. I felt that as the dust was settling (literally) I was offered a new perspective on my life.

As soon as I saw the Playfulness card (Knight of Wands equivalent), I thought of Otter from my Samhain reading – ´nuff said!

The 3 of Fire shows a woman “Experiencing” life. Compared with the 2 it shows the “Possibilities” of things we could experience. For the 2, I wrote “Creativity, this is my Domain and I Love It!” and for the 3, I wrote “Living the Dream”. With this deck, can see a clear difference between the two cards, that I still find difficult in the classic RWS. It is my determination, that I will get these two cards next year, if it is the only tarot study I do!!!

BTW, I will get around to posting shorting details of my “Possibilities” Journal (aka Ideas Journal), that I have now embellished. It has the 2 of Fire on the front cover and 3 of Fire on the back cover.

Mini-art Update…

2010-12-22T18:43:00.001Z

…Here are the Flippers pages that I have created so far:

The first one was inspired by music that I was listening to; For Children to Play by Spyweirdos. It´s really messy (thankfully, I managed to disguise the hole I made in the paper!) but hey! get over it. I´m having fun!

This one evolved from some tiny scraps of card that I´d torn up and were going to throw away.

A haiku dedicated to my friend, who I swim with twice a week.

A quote from my only “exercise” book, although really it´s more about a way of life. This is about Chi Kung, which I have recently started to re-introduce into my daily practise.

The first of a number of pages that use words from packaging. This one from a wholefood bag. Life is Beautiful is the translation of a vida é bela, in Portuguese.

A bit hard to read, this says “…Steal the fire from the gods and remake the innerverse in the image of the outerverse…” This page because I am working with the Wands (fire) in my tarot study.

Another packaging page. Cem Porcento means 100% and I was really having one hundred per cent fun!

The “6mins” is a tag from a tea bag. It is a reminder to myself to take care of my needs and that all I need to do is take a series of short time periods throughout the day, to carry out little creativity and self-loving exercises i.e. flossing (!!!), Chi Kung, and mini-art.

Yet another packaging page. I love the way these little clippings jump out at me from a piece of package that I was just going to put into the bin! They make the page for the day virtually create itself.

This last one is from my favourite witchcraft book. Montol is the Cornish word for Winter Solstice and this is a chant from a Montol ritual.

Solstice Blessings to you all!

“Possibilities” Round-Up…

2010-12-22T12:14:00.001Z

…I have been toying with the idea of changing this blog, so that, instead of being completely random entries, I would follow the format of some other bloggers and have regular slots for different kinds of posts. The reason behind this is that I am seeking more organisation in my life and am working on my very poor planning skills next year. Having a regular posting schedule gives me a structure to work with and goals to aim for. I intend that it will also have the benefit of making my posts a little more interesting. Well, we´ll see.

My intention for one regular post, would be to round up the creative ideas that I´ve been jotting down. I´ve titled this “Possibilities” rather than “Ideas” because of the Osho Zen Tarot, Two of Fire (Wands), a card that I have been working with. I don´t want to take this post off on too much of a tangent by explaining the significance of this card to me right now, I will put that into another post very soon.

If you are anything like me, you will have far more ideas for projects, “to do” lists, things to make etc. than you could ever actually complete. I may actually do only a fraction of those things on my list below. If any of my readers feel inspired enough by one of my ideas to actually create something with it, I would be delighted. It would be lovely if you do, that you share a link with me to a post showing what you did with it.

The period from Samhain to Solstice has been a massively creative time for me and I have felt it necessary to carry a notebook with me everywhere, to try to capture as much as possible of what is in my head. So here goes with the list:

Create a piece dedicated to the Goddess Freya, who I´ve decided is my personal, Patron of Arts! I have a page from an old journal that I´d like to start with. It has, in small letters at the top of the page “What would it mean to have Freya as a Patron?” Then I wrote, very large, in the centre of the page, FREYA, in a fancy, curly script that I was experimenting.with. I would like to work some meaning into this by turning it into a very colourful and creative piece.
Make a “Labyrinth” art journal. I was looking for a topic suitable for my first altered book journal and, as I am really into labyrinths and already know a fair bit on the subject, I thought this would make an excellent theme.
Remember Sesame Street? Of course you do! The programme used to be “brought to you by…” a letter of the alphabet and a number. This was a spring-board for me to take a letter (in my case ´L´ ) and list loads of L-words and L-entries from my various A-Z reference books. It was great fun and I thought would be another interesting theme for an art journal.
Make my own planner calendar pages. This is because planner inserts are now really expensive and they are so boring too. This is a project that I am going to do in the run up to New Year, as I currently have no 2011 calendar ready to use.
I want to make a planner for myself using those Flipper pages that I have been creating the mini-art on. I thought that if I had three sets of cards, one would form the diary, one my addresses and stored information, and the third would be for me to jot down ideas. I would have to make a custom, three-ring binder for this, which may be a little ambitious.
Make a small booklet on Healthy Eating Ideas, especially those suitable for a busy lifestyle and include my own recipe ideas. This is an idea for a gift for my son and daughter-in-law.

That´s the round of for now. I´ll finish with a picture of an accordion book project that I made into a birthday card for my son. It´s too personal to show you the finished article but what I did was cut out photos from his childhood to stick on the right-hand page, and put some witty, appropriate words on the left-hand page. I finished with a reminder to him to “Stop and smell the flowers!” and this page had a cute picture of him as a toddler, holding and smelling an enormous tulip. I was very pleased with the finished article as I had never done anything like this before.

“Mini” Flippers Art Journal Project …

2010-12-19T21:39:00.001Z

…one thing that an enforced break from the internet (due to local “technical difficulties!) allows, is plenty more time for creative work. I have been very busy in a number of areas. Mainly, trying to forward plan a little around what I want to do and what I intend to get out of 2011. Planning has always been a weak area for me but I intend to finally lick this problem next year.

Those of you who have been loyal enough to hang on whilst I get myself back to blogging, may be curious to see whether I did start to do anything with the Flippers Study Cards, that I wrote about here. Well yes, I certainly have and they have ensured that I am doing something artsy-craftsy every single day. There are two months worth of cards on one ring and I have two of them, so enough to keep me going, well into the new year.

The idea was the sort familiar to many of you who tend to let your journals evolve through spontaneity i.e. I had no idea that I was going to end up doing this when I decided to create something. Check out the picture below, which shows the spring-board for the idea.

I decided to get a bit of board I had in my card stash and the intention was to experiment on it with my water-colour pencils. Then, the music I was listening to on the headphones (Spyweirdos – For Children To Play), totally got into my head and distracted me from that intention. I started to think the phrase “ever expanding universe” and decided to use a stencil I have to draw some spirals. Then I thought that I would stick on the bit of red card in the right corner and…

…that´s where I got stuck in a way I hadn´t intended. I didn´t have any glue, so what did I have to hand to fasten the piece to the board? I started riffling through the stationery drawer where I was sat and eventually I found loads of things that I could have used. The first thing I found however was these Flippers, that I had bought to help me learn standard Tarot card meanings and had never used. I thought to myself that the ring would be a way of making a join between the two cards. Only then did I realised that the cards were like a miniature journal, their blank pages calling to me to expand outside my usual way of thinking and doing things.

After some more experimentation with other stationery objects that I found, I realised that the limitation imposed on me by not having glue and the limitation I had imposed on myself, by not wanting to get up, had forced me to find new uses for things like airmail stickers, photo stickers, bluetak, an elastic band and an unwanted parcel decoration. I was fired up and this is when I wrote “You Have Everyting (freudian slip!) That You Need … Clearly”.

I decided to colour all the cards with my watercolour pencils, as a background for whatever I might like to put on top of it. The picture below shows all the cards after painting.

And the next one shows some of my favourites and the first page I completed.

And here are some more of the painted pages and a completed one that says it all!

Been having fun with these...

2010-12-13T21:03:00.001Z

FLIPPERS -PINK PORCUPINE - Blank Study Cards

Sorry, you can´t really count this as a post - it´s just to let you know that I´m alive really! Having those dreaded PC and internet problems, so service is intermittent to say the least.

Whilst it´s being sorted out, I have been occupied with these cute little study cards on a key ring. I decided to make a miniature art journal with it, using the theme of Limitation, Using What I Have and I Have Everything That I Need. It´s been fun. Hopefully, I will be able to post about it properly very soon.

Clouds…

2010-12-05T11:33:00.001Z

…I love taking pictures of the sky. Since living here on the quinta, I really notice the changing moods. I thought I would put these up as I having been working on my art journal for a few days. I have been busy finishing some knitting for a Solstice gift. With that out of the way, I can start planning for our Solstice party!

Beautiful Ice…

2010-12-03T19:54:00.001Z

…I love the patterns in this piece of ice with the sunlight shining through.

Five Faces of Billy Boy…

2010-12-01T15:28:00.001Z

…does anyone remember Fry´s Five Boys Chocolate? The wrapper was printed with five pictures of a boy in different emotional states, from being very unhappy to being over-joyed at receiving the chocolate bar. I forget the details, but when I took the following pictures of our little dog today, I thought I could try something similar, just for fun. I had (once again) managed to magic trick away his favourite thing in life – his ball. He studies me so hard and he knows I´ve just played a trick on him. Mostly, he is so sharp that I can´t do it these days but today I managed to palm the ball up a long sleeve, right in front of his eyes. So the first picture would be:

Shock! She did it again!

Disgusted, that she could pull that old trick again.

Disinterested- it may amuse you but not me!

Pleading – you have still got it haven´t you?

I hate you & until you return it I am not speaking to you at all!

Most recent Journal Pages…

2010-11-30T18:48:00.001Z

…I´d thought I would just say a little about each page – what worked the way I wanted it to and what didn´t. Just bear in mind that I am just beginning and experimenting with beginner´s wild abandon and also that I have not been out and purchased either new paper or new materials. I am working with the bits and pieces I have collected over the years, which is by no means specialist. This is really stretching the old creative muscle (where is that exactly?) and it is a good excuse for me not worrying about what I might otherwise have called, “mistakes”.

The Asphyx

As soon as I saw this old Psychic TV poster, I wanted to try working in sepia tones. The brown in the top left is my freehand drawing, copied from a pattern on my hot water bottle (inspiration, really is everywhere lol). I do like the effect of sticking down the little bits from my old journals where the binder fastened the paper. However, it was a royal pain to do because I am very messy with glue and I don´t even have the right sort. Originally, I was going to use a marker and write in the little boxes but then I decided to try and write tiny on the white parts (stained with tea). The bits I stuck down was sawdust from the firewood I was helping S. to saw up that day. It wasn´t a great success with the glue I have as it is dropping everywhere.

Cosmic

The inspiration for this one came because I wanted to look up Cosmic Tarot pictures on google but by accident, I typed just Cosmic. I got some wonderful images with great titles such as Cosmic Rays, Cosmic Harmony, Cosmic Evolution and Cosmic Belt. I decided to use this printout as the background. The silver foil was a tiny bit I was going to throw out, I was pleased how it took on the purple colour. I also liked the old pill packet in the top left. I squirted some rather thick, old glitter glue in each section and I fancied it looked like cosmic space pills!

Let Go

This one has a printout from Effy Wild on the Wild Precious blog. It was so inspirational when I read it yesterday and I have been writing variations on this theme in my journals for a while. It captured my mood perfectly. I did this one quite a lot quicker. The larger ones are taking me hours and I do hope I will get quicker with practising more. The border is old journals cut up and coloured with my Ferby pencils – the one bit of my art equipment that I can recommend.

Blue / Orange Colour Breathing

Unfortunately, the photo does not show the colour orange much. The right-hand background is a print of marigolds from my garden and is much more vivid then it looks. The border is coloured shapes from old journals. I spent ages last night with felt tips and Ferby pencils, colouring in random cut-ups. You can see the result below. I like the blend of shapes and colours in today´s journal page and, as the text says, I was pleased with the colour effects.

Inspiration from the Grocers Manuel…

2010-11-28T20:26:00.001Z

…I can´t make up my mind just yet, what exactly I should do with my Father´s course-book. Cutting it up may be traumatic. So would taking gesso to the pages and making an altered book from it. The book is so thick that I would have to cut out loads of pages. I´m not sure if that is a feasible idea.

I did wonder if other art journallers would be interested in doing a swop of some of these pages for some of their trading material. Just a thought…

Here are a few scans of the book. The first one, I tried altering to black and white but it didn´t improve readability. I´m afraid my scanner / printer is a bit basic for this sort of thing.

More Great Improvisation from dh…

2010-11-28T14:37:00.001Z

…following on from yesterdays success with the rubber mallet biscuit crusher – S. baled me out on my knitting project when I realised I needed a second stitch holder and didn´t have one. I told him I need something smooth and flexible, about the same thickness as a knitting needle. He came up with some strimmer cord, which was a great solution. I tied a double knot in each one, which was a a little tricky. I fastened the two loops together with a safety pin, just to keep the cord out of the way. The great thing about it was that I found it easy to thread stitches back on the needle, as I could untie either end. Great bit of improvisation!

Man in the Kitchen!…

2010-11-27T16:04:00.001Z

…let a man loose in your kitchen and look what happens. Not for him my, supposedly, “built for purpose” kitchen equipment. S. wanted to make a cheesecake with only minor supervision from yours truly.

When faced with my method of crushing biscuits (a few at a time in a strong plastic bag, then crushed with a rolling pin), that was far too slow and girlie. He goes out to his tool shed and comes back with a rubber mallet. And you know what…

…it did a damn fine job. Rubber mallet is now officially added to “kitchen equipment”.

Journal Page Speaks for itself…

2010-11-26T13:49:00.001Z

Art Journal pages…

2010-11-25T09:52:00.001Z

…this is the first one I tried using my newly developing style. I apologise for the quality. I could not scan it because I made it on larger than A4 paper. The green and white circle in the centre says “Recycle”, as my main discovery was that, by editing my old journals, I have plenty of material to create something new and more “current me”.

The red background came from the cover of my Dad´s old Grocer´s Manual which inspired me a couple of days ago. I think I would like to try an altered book project with it sometime but, as it has sentimental value and is a very thick tome, I will have to practice on something smaller first.

One acknowledgement I must give is to Teesha´s Circus because when I saw one particular page from her own art journal, here, I had to take out my materials and getting cracking straight away. The observant among you will spot that I cut out and recycled part of her border and a couple of her phrases which I think fitted well. Thank you Teesha.

I feel a great creative surge at the moment and I had to write a list of projects “to do” to stop me firing off in too many directions. Now I have the ideas written down, I can concentrate on the run up to Yule, which always seems to advance at super speed once my birthday is out of the way.

The next page is the one I did yesterday. I like the light / dark contrast between the two pages.

I especially like the way the few lines from an old journal I pasted in the bottom left corner, ended up looking like an alien hand when I drew I line around it. I emphasised this with a quote from a Younger Brother track, The Finger:

Mother Henna–dealing with Money Gremlins…

2010-11-24T19:41:00.001Z

…I was so impressed when I read this blog, that echoes the crazy thought processes in my own mind relating to money, success and my right to those things. Here is Mother Henna´s inspiring journal page:

and here is the link to the complete article:

Otter Guides…

2010-11-23T15:21:00.001Z

…prospective Art Journaller.

Since drawing the Otter card at Samhain, I´ve been wondering how and when I would feel her influence. Now I definitely feel it. I am bursting with creative inspiration and I´m really keen to develop my own style of art journal.

I have been checking out some really inspirational stuff at Daisy Yellow and Teesha´s Circus and also Mother Henna and Jamie Ridler. I have to resist the urge to go on a spending binge for new materials and trust that I have everything I need to start right here. It´s part of the process of celebrating my abundance.

The picture above, with Otter, is the front page of my Father´s text book from when he studied as a grocer. It is from 1950, before I was born. Like many old, yet not valuable books, it is full of interesting ephemera and odd facts. I have been toying with throwing it out for a long time, but held back purely because of my Dad´s signature inside the cover. It seemed too personal to him and I have precious little left of his things. Now I just realised that it would make excellent material for my new journal. It justifies me hanging on to it and I know Dad wouldn´t have minded me cutting it up, provided I was creating something new from it.

I want to have a go with some wacky writing directly onto this photocopy as soon as I´ve finished my chores for the day.

Tonight´s Abundance Altar..

2010-11-19T20:53:00.001Z

…working on healing some personal issues I have with abundance and my relationship to money.

Dr. Rick Strassman interview – “DMT: The Spirit Molecule” – #095 - Gnostic Media

2010-11-19T13:39:00.000Z

I really found the discussion about links between entheogen / psychedelics and the chakras, involving the chakras and ancient beliefs. If anyone has the time, do check out this fascinating podcast and I would really love to know what you think about this possibility:

Dr. Rick Strassman interview – “DMT: The Spirit Molecule” – #095 - Gnostic Media

Birthday Incense for this Scorpio…

2010-11-17T16:46:00.001Z

…here are some of the ingredients for a special birthday “Essence of Self” incense that I started making on my birthday last year. If anybody is interested in more information about this, let me know.

Kermode prepares his best/worst films of 2010…

2010-11-16T19:11:00.001Z

Luscious Purple Olives…

2010-11-15T13:57:00.001Z

…I just picked my favourite olive tree, that bears these enormous, purple-black kalamata fruits. They look good enough to eat straight away, however, anyone who has ever tried olives straight from the tree will confirm that they are extremely bitter and inedible.

Before they are ready for the table, they must be “cured” or “sweetened” as the Portuguese say. There are many ways of doing this and here, it is traditional to cut a couple of slashes in the fruits with a sharp knife, before submerging them in clean water. Personally, it would be a shame to cut these perfect olives and, as the reason for doing so is just to speed up the curing process, I don´t think it is essential. I already have some green-purple-black kalamata olives curing that I did cut, and those should be ready first.

Most important to the curing procedure is to change the water regularly; at least as often as the water becomes scummy. The scum is the bitter properties that must be removed. One tip we were given is to leave the lid off the barrels in the rainy season and let the rainwater keep the water fresh.

Although many people add salt during curing, the way we were shown uses just plain water. You need to keep tasting the olives every week or so after the first month to see how they are progressing. The aim is to have some ready for the table by the end of the year.

We only add salt to a small quantity of cured fruits at a time but they could all be salted and have flavours added too e.g. piri-piri, lemon rind, garlic or oregano. Personally, I enjoy them plain.

Touching Story: Death of a Portuguese Legend…

2010-11-15T11:04:00.001Z

…O Snr do Adeus, a lonely man who waved at passers-by in Lisboa and became a well-known figure in Portugal, died last week. Car horns were sounded all over the country, even in our rural neck of the woods, in honour and rememberence.

Here is a sweet video of Senhor do Adeus, standing and waving on his favourite corner, where there is now a movement in favour of erecting a statue to him.

Here is a some more biographical information, from the Expats Portugal website here:

For many years he stood in different corners in Lisbon, in the evenings and through the night, waving goodbye and blowing kisses to cars passing by.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiVISmYe_1Q

born to a rich family, he studied law and philosophy but dropped out because "it was too boring". Only son, he travelled the world with his mother. When she died, he found himself alone in the world. To escape his loneliness, he started waving to people in passing cars. When people started waving back, he made his mission in the world to give people a moment of hapiness and human contact by waving and blowing kisses at them.

He told a journalist: "[loneliness] is a wicked lady that chases me through the empy walls of my house. To escape, I come here [his favorite corner in a major Lisbon avenue]. This is my way of communicating, of feeling people"
a few hundred people staged spontaneous memorial services by standing in corners and waving at passing cars.

He achieved his life dream of becoming an actor by taking part in the first portuguese zombie movie, a short film named I'll see you in my dreams, where he played a Criswell spoof.

His friends created a Facebook page in his memory, who already has over 14000 fans: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/page...2920264127

A petition has been started, asking City Hall to place a commemorative statue in his favorite corner: http://www.petitiononline.com/ADEUS/petition.html

A very late entry for Day of the Dead...

2010-11-13T19:10:00.000Z

...I knew that somewhere I had drawn my own Day of the Dead skull in my journal. (Besides the point that I drew it in May last year!)

I rather like it in a quirky way and it would be a good starting point for some more creative work - next Samhain!!

St Anthony…Patron Saint of our Home…

2010-11-13T18:39:00.001Z

…this plaque is on the outside of our home in Portugal. There is more information about this saint on the LuckyMojo site here.

The main thing this saint is known for, is helping to recover lost objects. There are a couple of prayers / pleas to this saint on the LuckyMojo article, but my favourite is one of the simplest:

St. Anthony, St. Anthony
Please come down
Something is lost
And can't be found

The actual reason we put this saint on the outside of our building, was in remembrance of Snr. António, who we bought the quinta from in 2003.

Journal Scan–“on Waking” thought…

2010-11-12T17:42:00.002Z

…First of a series of regular scans from my journal; tarot/oracle related on my Hallowquest blog and anything else on here.

~~Mind~~ My mind talks rubbish – listen to my heart.

See what I mean ;-(

Struggling to stay in the Moment…

2010-11-12T15:51:00.001Z

…I do WANT to communicate and I DO want the quality of the communication to be worth the time someone might take to read it.

And this is where the Inner Critic Kicks In – like a physical blow – knocking my SELF confidence and reminding me of the futility of it all. All this communication is really another cry from the EGO – struggling to be heard as an individual.

Look at me - I´m different, I´m special, I´m creative, I´m loved ---

Not

i´m being laughed at , i´m stupid, i´m worthless

Anyhow, enough to this self indulgent stuff and a reminder first to my self with a little more Stream of Consciousness stuff. (Should have put it on my Hallowquest blog really, as I went off on a tarot thought wave – never mind.)

Come back into the BODY to ground yourself from time to time. Come back in FULLY – feel yourself entering your body. Become yourSELF.

At these times of being fully in your body, use all your senses to examine your physical environment fully (Pentacles); check on your Emotional balance (Libra) – aim for CALM awareness – anger may rise, or joy, or fear – let them pass – they are just Emotions – not I (Cups); how is your Energy, are you tired or Energised (Wands); finally watch your Thoughts (Swords) – literally Observe them, as what they are – products of the EGO – Observe and get beyond them to the true SELF.
Come back into the BODY to ground yourself from time to time. Come back in FULLY – feel yourself entering your body. Become yourSELF.

…and second, of the amazing Psychic TV in 1982, with Ov Power from force the hand of chance.

And check out the album cover – my late entry for the Day of the Dead (scroll down a bit) haha

Rune work: a few lines on Pertra reversed...

2010-11-09T21:55:00.000Z

...a note from a previous journal seems relevant today:

Pertra (reversed)

Concentrate on your own life, your requirements for growth.

Don't focus on outcomes or on past achievements or you loose the "true present" - the only time in which self-change is realised.

GM posing with Toad…

2010-11-08T18:09:00.001Z

…both unconcerned about each other.

I thought this was a particularly handsome toad. Check its´ markings:

More work with my Dark Moon Altar…

2010-11-07T19:28:00.001Z

…things on my altar tend to get moved around as I work with the energy I am experiencing, in an intuitive way.

Work in Progress on a Spell, Prosperity Oil and Scorpio Space Aroma from Starchild in Glastonbury.

Kali with Lady Nada, Aura Soma Quintessence.

Dr. Usui, Reiki Healing Requests envelope & Witches´ Protection Bottle

Porcelain doll represents healing the past: inner child relationship with my parents. Also, protective owl guardians from Cornwall, my I-Ching box and magickal box.

A magickal working between my Rosalite and Green Quartz crystal to aid me with “balance” and “letting go”. On a base of 8, inward pointing, single terminated quartz (8 for the Wheel of the Year and the Spider Woman), rests a coil of copper wire (Nathair, the Adder, representing Self). On top of that is a broken spoon, blackened with candle soot, containing a drop of Prosperity Oil, a drop of Scorpio Space Aroma and a drop of Lady Nada Quintessence. As well as being a potent magickal potion, the glossy oils against the sooty base, form an excellent Dark Mirror for scrying.

Dark Moon in Scorpio and Hekate Power is Rising…

2010-11-06T12:54:00.001Z

this is where I want to be

this is where I´m needed

…Kate Bush, Never Be Mine: lyrics hitting right home.

I must NOT hold on - to a specific outcome. This is a KEY.

Trust In The Plan

Hekate, Dark Moon in Scorpio and this Scorpion is flexing her tail ready for the sting.

A very strong magickal feeling in the air with the potential for very potent change.

This is why it is so important that I take control of the message from my previous post about being careful what I wish for!!!!!!!!!

Floating, bumping noses… …illuminous

sings Syd Barrett in the background. Everything becomes significant just for a moment and then I learn to follow the rhythm of

let go, let go, LET GO!!!

Klangstrhaller Projekt raising the ~~tempto~~ Tempo calling me back to what I was doing before the computer seduced me once again hahaha…

Mark Kermode on Dougal and the Blue Cat

2010-11-04T12:26:00.001Z

Hekate Star - Hymn to Hekate, by Magin Rose

2010-11-02T21:04:00.000Z

Where to from here?...

2010-11-02T19:26:00.000Z

...or Be Careful What You Wish For!

Since Samhain I have been doing some serious thinking. This has not been the manic monkey-mind style of unfocused thinking that is my usual style but really THINKING about what I want from the rest of my life. I still cannot give an answer on that one, even though I can feel mySelf more in charge of my mind, rather than the other way around. I forget that, just like my computer, my mind is a tool that has practical and useful purposes. More often than not, my mind is in endless, egoistic and emotional turmoil, working against me, rather than for me.

I don't think I'm alone on that one!

Once, I wrote in my journal:

'"If I'm creating it all...

...WHY?"

This afternoon I experienced somewhat of a breakthrough moment. I was sitting in the sun, deciding what my next move should be in the immediate sense, and where do I want to go from here in my life. I realised that whatever action I took next, in the NOW, would make either a large or a small change to where I ended up in my life. This is not rocket science and I have read similar advice in self help books for many years. However, this time I felt the reality of this and saw very clearly that decisions I have pending will either make it more likely that I will stay where I am or, they will take me nearer to a move away from the quinta.

For example, purchasing a new washing machine, upgrading the plumbing and planting more trees are decisions that would increase the likelihood of me staying put; keeping in touch with friends who have offered to house-sit raises the chances of travel; upgrading the campervan and marketing our property are necessary steps if I want to move away and do something else. Once a realisation like that becomes clear, there is no way I can go back to being a victim of circumstance. I am creating it all and I must therefore be very careful that I do know WHY!

At the moment, I am looking around at the people I know best, and deciding whose life-style I most admire. This is not because I intend to imitate someone else's life, but because I am currently so far out of touch with my true desires. I need some pointers and some people provide better creative inspiration that others. This brings me around to recommending a podcast that made me want to scream create, create, create'. Do listen to the inspiring Mother Henna, talking with Jamie Ridler on Creative Living with Jamie. Mother Henna managed to turn every woman's nightmare, the death of a baby, into creative expression that clearly permeates her whole life. I was lifted by this podcast, which touched on many issues that are on my mind at the moment. Thank you ladies for doing what you do and leaving signposts for others to follow your trail.

Mother Henna's website is here and her moving blog is here. I've been following the work of Jamie Ridler for over a year, when I came across her explorations with the book "Wreck This Journal" by Keri Smith. Here is her video that explains what that was about:

Jamie's Adventures through Wreck this Journal from Jamie Ridler on Vimeo.

I'm going to listen to the podcast again and probably again after that, until I start to convince myself that I too can have a creative life. After all, I have been living away from the mainstream for over ten years now and I believe it's too late to turn my back on that. I have to use what I have and create something wonderful from it - it's what the Goddess wants us all to do with our lives.

Samhain Collage & Altar…

2010-10-31T20:58:00.001Z

…Samhain blessings! May the pagan new year be kind to you.

Beginners Guide to the Bagua

2010-10-29T19:12:00.000+01:00

BAGUA

This is a powerpoint presentation that I created 12 years ago, after undertaking some beginners study in feng shui. It is a basic guide that gives an overview of one of the key elements of this practice namely, the bagua. This is an overlay that you can use on a plan of your house (as in the example), your desk, your garden, your altar, in fact any space that you like. For more detailed information, check out a good feng shui website, such as this one at Feng Shui Palace.

Lady Nada Fetish…

2010-10-27T17:19:00.001+01:00

…fe tish: noun

An object that is believed to have magical or spiritual powers, especially such an object associated with animistic or shamanistic religious practices.

I like to make little magical objects out of things I have lying around. Then I like to pass them on to someone else. This one is destined for a friend tomorrow.

Play of Light…

2010-10-26T17:43:00.001+01:00

…experimenting with my camera and exploring the varieties of light around my place today:

Focus & Distractions…

2010-10-25T21:00:00.001+01:00

guides focus with love

multi-dimensional eyes

see no distractions

Starhawk´s Chant for Samhain…

2010-10-25T16:20:00.001+01:00

A year of beauty. A year of plenty.
A year of planting. A year of harvest.
A year of forests. A year of healing.
A year of vision. A year of passion.
A year of rebirth.
This year may we renew the earth.
This year may we renew the earth.
Let it begin with each step we take.
And let it begin with each change we make.
And let it begin with each chain we break.
And let it begin every time we awake.
- Starhawk

Discovered at Green Witch Garden.

11:11 + Terence Mckenna on the end of history…

2010-10-25T14:11:00.001+01:00

The Growing Transparency, that’s a good idea for what the end of history is. It’s that everything becomes clearer and clearer and clearer. And as it becomes clearer boundaries disintegrate, and everything is seen to be of the same stuff.

Psychedelic Salon podcast 248

I experienced an 11:11 this morning. The first time that has happened for a long while, so it made me sit up and take notice. I wanted to offer some explanation to anyone who may be interested, so I did a google search to look for the best definition and it threw up something very interesting:

NVisible: Solara & the 11:11

I really have no idea what this is all about and I think I will leave it until later to do some more research. The veil is certainly getting very thin now in the run up to Samhain.

For now, I will finish with this youtube video by Pastelmoon, which offers simple and unbiased information on the subject:

We could all be Shamans…

2010-10-25T13:17:00.001+01:00

…thanks Terence, for all the maps and sign-posts. The rest of us are still here, trying to leave our own signposts for those who may be looking for the same path.

Need a Wider “Colour” Vocabulary…

2010-10-23T15:59:00.001+01:00

…to describe the colour of my Quince & Rosemary Jelly. My picture has captured it as too golden or amber. It actually seems to have more a salmon-pink tone, although the amber comes through too. The French describe their ´Confiture de Coing´ as being “rose orangé” which I like best.

:: View topic - A deeply catholic country...

2010-10-23T10:19:00.000+01:00

:: View topic - A deeply catholic country...

Interesting discussion on Catholism in Portugal; apparently, the Portuguese are not as devout as they might first seem!

Air, Fire, Water, Earth…

2010-10-22T13:54:00.001+01:00

Improvised Altar for the Emperor…

2010-10-21T20:35:00.001+01:00

…set up whilst I was studying the Emperor card this afternoon:

Something about Necessity Being the Mother of Invention!…

2010-10-21T20:31:00.001+01:00

…anyone who has ever tried to make jelly preserves without the proper equipment, will probably empathise with my predicament this evening as I tried to make quince jelly without either jelly bag or stand. In the time honoured tradition, I ended up tying cotton napkins to stool legs and all this without attracting the attention of my very tidy husband, who can spy a spillage at ten paces!

Volte Sempre!…

2010-10-20T11:02:00.001+01:00

…one of my favourite phrases in Portuguese. It translates literally as “come back always!” and it said to someone when they leave your place, as a show that they are always welcome to return. It´s very friendly, even when printed on these serviettes in a little café:

Altar Candle with Otherworld Eyes…

2010-10-19T16:29:00.001+01:00

…on my altar last night, my new web candle started to burn out these amazing eyes! My altar, gradually getting clearer ready for Samhain.

Caught Napping!…

2010-10-19T16:20:00.001+01:00

…taking a chill break after planting the remaining cabbages. The horta at last looking more like it should do!

Relaxing weekend in Fundão…

2010-10-18T17:18:00.001+01:00

Feeling good after a restful weekend with friends in Fundão. Good company, a perfectly barbequed trout, some vintage home made wine, something to vape and all in a wonderful location, with sunny, open views to the mountains of Serra da Gardunha. OK, we were woken early on Sunday morning by a tractor ploughing around our camper but better that than the hunters shooting too close. The tractor driver went within a foot of our vehicle and even churned the land right in front which made it soft and tricky to get out – how portuguese not to think about such things!

Last night we left our friends and stayed at the campismo, which was completely dead and very restful. Bill enjoyed the time playing with the guards´ dog and running through the woods, alternating with plenty of relaxation:

The dappled sunlight through the oak trees made me want to take inconsequential pictures, just to explore the effects. I particularly love the colour of the heather that S. picked for me and the colours of my phone case:

This morning, we walked down to Fundão´s Monday market and bought cabbage plants, an apricot tree and some spring bulbs. I have put in half of the cabbages but needed a break. As well as the rest of the gardening jobs to finish, I have some quinces, apples, tomatoes, chillies and chestnuts to process but that will definitely not be today, or I´ll never get around to cooking dinner.

Our camper is still not right but we hope that this time it is only something minor. Some vehicles turn out to give such a deal of problems but I suppose that being over 20 years old, it is not surprising!

The neighbours new goats…

2010-10-15T19:42:00.001+01:00

…are very tame and sweet natured. However, they are far too interested in the veggies growing our side of the fence and seem determined to find a way through!

“Wise Woman” – a bit of Blackadder…

2010-10-14T20:43:00.001+01:00

…a favourite clip from Blackadder 2:

Personal remembrance…

2010-10-14T12:28:00.001+01:00

…today would have been my parents´ 58th wedding anniversary. I sometimes forget my Mum´s birthdate and frequently forget my Dad´s but the proximity of their anniversary to Samhain makes it a good time for me to remember them both. Mum passed over almost 4 years ago and Dad has been gone 28 years.

Here they are on their wedding day in St. Blazey, Cornwall, their picture draped in the Cornish tartan.

And here is my favourite picture of them both together. It would have been at an International Stores, Dinner and Dance, probably in Torquay, Devon. They both look so happy.

Changing perceptions of witches…

2010-10-13T12:18:00.001+01:00

The following is reproduced from Green Witch Garden, with the permission of the author, who does not wish to be named:

Some witches are heartily dismayed by the image of the green faced snaggle toothed Walt Disney style witch... and some get downright angry at other witches for even wearing a pointy hat. I agree that there is an unfortunate image (thanks to Disney)... but why not work in small ways to change that. After all, none of us are ugly nor evil.

Most of us look like everyone else in our community: tall, short, thin, fat, in all hair and skin colors. We work. We shop . We work at food pantries and contribute to charities. We have children and grandchildren . And because of our beliefs we are most often trustworthy and valued members of our community.

Most of us probably have a pointy hat or two ...we all know it is a symbol for the cone of power... but I love them because they are beautiful and they remind me that I am special sometimes when I forget. I have a whole collection of them for every season. I use them as seasonal decor in the house most of the time (too pretty to hide in the closet) and wear them at private events ; but Halloween is the only time of the year when you can wear one in public and get a smile. So why not show the public that witches don't have to be green and disfigured.

When the winetouring witches (pictured at the top of this post) knocked on the door of a local vintner, he didn't miss a beat. He said in mock dismay "have you come to spoil the wine?" and we said "No, we've come to bless it" (and we had a prepared blessing to give at each winery). It was great fun and now the wineries look forward to our visit each year.

Sometimes we walk the streets (or go to Halloween Trunk Shows) on Halloween with a basket of GOOD apples and give them to the children who are with their parents, exchanging holiday wishes. (this works in small towns... maybe not in the city). You don't have to come out of the closet, just offer an alternative image of what witches really can be.

It is a small step to changing perceptions...

Some Beautiful Portals of my own...

2010-10-12T22:26:00.001+01:00

...inspired by this blog to post some of my favourite portal pictures of 2010 from my own photo library:

13 Moons Birthdate Decoder…

2010-10-12T20:39:00.001+01:00

…a very simple to use website that will tell you your 13 Moons* sign and associated oracle: http://www.tortuga.com/eng/decode/decodekin.php

Whilst I have never been into the Mayan calendar and have no idea how it works, I have brushed up against it since my first Boom Festival in 2004. I remember sitting at the back of a talk in the Liminal Village (unfortunately, I forgot the speaker´s name) and being fascinated by the complexity of this oracle. Many times I have considered buying a 13 Moons calendar but held back because I wasn't prepared to do the work, making it no point really.

I fell upon this site and decided to find out my own sign, I suppose I will have to explore the subject, at least on a superficial level. What this reading means to me, I am still in the dark about but if I discover anything interesting, I expect will post about it sometime. Perhaps this means something to you already. Here is my birth date reading; I am a Blue Spectral Night apparently, which sounds fabulous:

*btw, the title of this blog has nothing to do with the Mayan calendar. I should explain that to you one day!

Animal Cards altar…

2010-10-09T08:33:00.001+01:00

…another place where I sometimes create an altar, is on the shelf with our Buddha from Darjeeling. Last night, with the Swan Druid Animal and Coyote Medicine cards.

Lovely amber resin...

2010-10-07T19:55:00.000+01:00

...our gingeira tree (portuguese wild cherry) is exuding resin, which I understand is a sign that it is under stress. Probably the summer drought. Sad, but it does look very beautiful and a bonus is that it can be collected and used in incense blends.

Veggie Risotto with Lentils…

2010-10-07T17:44:00.002+01:00

…happy accident recipes are the best kind, don´t you agree? I needed a cup of risotto rice last night and only had two-thirds of a cup. So I topped up with red lentils (one of my favourites) and it worked out brilliantly – tasty, not to say colourful.

If you want to try it, here is the recipe:

2/3 cup of risotto rice
1/3 cup of red lentils
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 courgette, chopped
1/2 red pepper, chopped
2 fat cloves of garlic, crushed
3 piri-piri chillies (tiny, hot and sweet), chopped
salt, pepper and herb seasoning of your choice (I make my own seasoning mix with dried herbs from my garden)

Soften the onion a little first in the olive oil. Sprinkling the salt over it, helps it to soften better. Add the courgette, red pepper and chillies; cook for a couple of minutes. Add the garlic last as it can burn quickly.
Then stir in the rice and lentils and stir around for a minute or two. Cover with 2 cups of boiling water, bring back to the boil, then reduce the heat to minimum. Leave uncovered whilst cooking and give the occasional stir so the rice and lentils cook evenly. Be careful not to let it dry out before it is cooked through and add a little more water if necessary.
It should all be cooked through in about 20 minutes and that´s it. I served it with some bright green cabbage from our garden and some creamy goat´s cheese. If you have some proper vegetable stock (not stock cube) that would be even better than plain water, but you may have to reduce the salt. A drop of white wine in the stock would have been great too, if I´d had some.
Here is a picture of piri-piri chillies in our horta:

Blogger error message...

2010-10-07T14:38:00.000+01:00

I hit a limit trying to post a previous blog because I used too many labels. Blogger´s limit is 200 characters.

More on that Kali Journal...

2010-10-06T16:45:00.001+01:00

…After I had problems publishing my post on the editing process yesterday, I decided to edit my edit! I thought publishing 2,000 words on my journal was too self indulgent, so I have cut the original down quite a bit. Hopefully, what I have left will be interesting to someone.
NB: »PP means create a Plinky Prompt; »T means a tarot entry that at some point I will post on my Hallowquest blog; »D means a dream analysis that I plan to post on Dreamcatcher and **is something I may post on here in future.

I write, post-Boom Festival, about “Big Mistakes of my Life, aka Turning Points”. Then I turn them around so that they do not seem like mistakes after all. (This seems like a Hallowquest exercise, although I didn´t identify it.).

Detailed “Full Moon” dream analysis, called “The Templars”. »D

I list my hopes for the forthcoming year, according to the 4 tarot suits.»»T

I attempt a family tree to honour the ancestors. I think that may have been because 2yrs on from Mum´s death, I was aware that there was no record on her side of the family.

I asked “What would it mean to have Freya as a Patron?”. In the centre of the page, in letters 3cm high, I wrote Freya´s name in an original, stylised font. This meant that I realised that working with the Freya archetype was likely to stimulate my creativity.

Mind-map following a magickal afternoon session in the neighbouring olive grove. I created a Rainbow Serpent wand, that I ended up giving away.

I reflect back to the work in the olive grove – seeing connections and researching information to link this to. I also mention my best friends´ news of a new Mr Right and send her positive vibes for everything to work out as she dreams.

Did a biorhythm reading, showing the intellectual cycle at peak high and the emotional and physical cycles at peak low. I hadn´t liked drawing the Cosmic Tribe 2 of Cups, which I had called “sickly“. I talked myself into relaxing and noted a woman I called The Watcher, in the distance. I observed my Inner Critic at work on my observations and on a drawing I had done of an olive tree. I was hearing a hymn in my head that I associate with my best friend and I made a link to it with the tarot Emperor (King Arthur).

I write a commentary on the G20 summit and observe that in Portugal they put gelatine in cream, that makes it unsuitable for vegetarians. I notice my “growing political awareness”. I refer back to the 4 elements, magickal work that I had done at the Boom Festival the previous August. I had built a mini labyrinth outside my tent, for meditation, yet I wrote nothing about that Boom experience at the time.

A mind-map of recent creativity, Kali yantra, Hawthorne wand, orange fetish for prosperity and green man.

Tarot reading following a visit from friends. Well sketched cards but no analysis!

Child-like mind-map around a large sun, reminding me to “Breathe out/in” when stoned. Also observed “Clinging to the Past = 5 of Cups”.

Followed by a messy, but useful, creative interpretation of the Osho 5 of Cups. »T Drew a common symbol in my journals; a key, this one elaborate and golden.

Mind-map in pencil, with the central figure, bent, back against a hill. A large boulder, marked “Resisting Change” is rolling against the figure, who is about to be flattened.

I note that I “properly tend my altar for the first time”.

Working with “Undoing Yourself” by Christopher Hyatt and the theme of ego death. Sketch of a stylised skull, with amanita mushroom at the third eye.

Five pages of work, where I set myself an “EXAM in SELF-HEALING”. Trying to integrate recent learning. Comment about my son using “manipulation to get me to face up to my high blood pressure”. I had started medication at about this time.

Still in the same creative flow and learning to manage the energy. Questioning whether I could really handle psychedelics and ego death. My mind tries to assert itself over the creative loss-of-control. I observe this as conflict. I note the “need to break through the physical barrier”. I had similar thoughts at the start of summer this year.

Common theme of Facing Fears, expressed in rabbit doodle.

Influenced by Shamanic Freedom Radio, episode 23 where Opaquelens says “They spank the bottoms of the complacent”. I don´t know what this referred to but it amuses me.

Paranoid stone – fear of extinction. Suggests ego was losing control. Once again a rabbit doodle. Good advice to “Count to 11 from now on ! for the sake of your heart and BP”. Funny spoonerism “extracted by externals” instead of distracted. Definitely feeling “in the magickal”. Talk of Hecate.

Labyrinth drawing, with text following the path inward. More evidence that my mind was afraid that I was close to death of ego “BEGGING begging not to be forgotten” and “WE ARE AFRAID TO BECOME (1)”.

More about “HEC8” and Kali; more on ego death “CUTTING CONNECTION TO EARTH” and more on magick, “For once you write SO MOTE IT BE, SO IT IS”. Also, my writing indicates an awareness of ego being separate from my soul, as in, “Writing spells, did we? Careless, we is too”.

Wrote with left hand, “ther is no lif after death!”.

Journal ends with mention of Hecate again and the crone phase, Persephone, “reality check; NOW, present, un-selfish”.

Shameless self promotion :D…

2010-10-06T14:55:00.000+01:00

I just made a few tweaks to my YouTube channel. I think it looks better being more uncluttered.

Kali Journal Edit Completed...

2010-10-05T21:12:00.001+01:00

…The first journal edit is completed. I enjoyed doing it immensely and that surprised me. I expected that cutting out great chunks from my creative output would be painful but it was easily compared to weeding i.e. your flowers look so much better once you´ve done it!
I decided to share the editing comments, even though they are personal. If just one person finds them useful, then it will be worth it. The comments are both to record a Timeline of events and the insights I was making.

I then typed a 2,000 word document that I have tried to publish via Windows Live Writer, but it won´t let me do it!! I get a server error, 400 bad request. It will have to be tomorrow now before I can attempt to sort this out. Sorry

Portugal's Forests Losing Ability to Capture Carbon - IPS ipsnews.net

2010-10-04T22:59:00.000+01:00

Portugal's Forests Losing Ability to Capture Carbon - IPS ipsnews.net

Journal editing & life cut-ups…

2010-10-04T16:45:00.003+01:00

…It has been an objective of mine to edit my journals and reduce the paper clutter of my life. I reason, that if I don´t do this, my poor son or husband will have to when I´m dead and I want to make that task as smooth as possible for them.
I have a storage box of journals and 3 remaining scrapbooks (having already edited the rest of those last year). It is my clear intention that the journals should not and will not spill out of that box to create clutter somewhere else in our small place. The box is already full, with journals dating back to the end of the 90s, so I decided to act!
Yesterday, I took the few clippings that were still relevant from the last 3 scrapbooks and destroyed the rest. That turned out to be an easy exercise, as I have been building up in stages, rather than plunge straight in. That gave me the confidence today to start with editing a journal.
I decided to start with one from 2008-2009, with a Kali cover (I give all my journals a unique cover, to set the intention and direction for the whole book). I choose this one because I had written it in a cheap notebook, rather than the £10 a throw art books that I have an expensive penchant for!!
I wrote the following “rules” comments before I started:

A pedantic editing style will bore me totally and the task will become abandoned. I have to keep it fresh. I will keep whole pages, if they look attractive and contain meaningful and relevant content. I will otherwise cut the gems from the rubbish. “Gems” can be grouped by date, or by type: e.g. tarot (which can go into the ´also badly needing an edit!´, tarot folder), insights, mind maps, dreams, life stories etc. Unfinished thoughts that are nonetheless inspiring, can be clipped out and stuck at the top of a blank, ruled page, to be used like Sanna´s “Plinky Prompts” for future writing. When I am stuck for something to write about, these prompts will give me useful topics to journal.

The picture below shows the Kali cover (I decided to keep the covers in their own section to remind me of what my focus was at the time) and the Plinky Prompts wallet, awaiting further work. I also wrote a Timeline for the journal, briefly noting what I was up to myself, the wider picture, any emotions I expressed, insights I had and any observations I made while editing. A whole A4 notebook has been written up in 4 sides on the Timeline.

I also decided to share the random-play soundtrack that I was listening to while editing:

I hope you find this useful. Feel free to use any of these ideas if you like them.

The Veil is Getting Thinner…

2010-10-04T15:46:00.001+01:00

This poem was posted on the excellent blog Our Scented Cottage. I looked for the name of the poet but according to another great link: Earth Spirit Pagans - Samhain 2008 pdf, he or she is unknown. Anyone want to claim authorship?

The Veil is Getting Thinner

As I went out walking this fall afternoon,
I heard a whisper whispering.
I heard a whisper whispering,
Upon this fine fall day...

As I went out walking this fall afternoon,
I heard a laugh a' laughing.
I heard a laugh a' laughing,
Upon this fine fall day...

I heard this whisper and I wondered,
I heard this laugh and then I knew.
The time is getting near my friends,
The time that I hold dear my friends,
The veil is getting thin my friends,
And strange things will pass through.

Ernst Fuchs declares The Apocalypse Chapel in Klagenfurt completed

2010-10-04T14:10:00.000+01:00

After 20 years of work, Ernst Fuchs has finished the murals in The Apocalypse Chapel, Klagenfurt, Austria.
http://www.kleinezeitung.at/kaernten/klagenfurt/klagenfurt/2500478/fuchskapelle-klagenfurt-eroeffnet.story ( In German)
Professor Ernst Fuchs, born 13th Febuary, 1930, in Vienna, is one of the most important representatives of the Vienna School of Fantastic Realism. This movement is not a trend of the times, but is a manifestation of the enduring thread of sacred art. Ernst Fuchs has been responsible for inspiring further generations of artists to pursue the challenge of representing their gnosis through painting.

Ernst Fuchs
The Apocalypse Chapel in Klagenfurt was commissioned by Monseignor Marcus Mairitsch. Ernst Fuchs has slowly developed a world of incredible and powerful imagery upon its walls, depicting John’s Book of Revelation. Approximately 160 square meters of oil painting greet the viewer here, beautiful views into the world of the unconscious and archetypal, the sublime heights and depths of our world.
“How long I’ve been working on it? I think now it is 22 years.” says Fuchs. “It is my masterpiece.” Fuchs says of the chapel mural and the “Last Supper” also hanging there, “I had resigned myself to the thought that I would complete them both that so too my life would come to an end; or rather a new life would begin. There is no death. … An end is always the beginning of something entirely new.”

Links
The Chapel of St.Egid, Klagenfurt
http://st-egid-klagenfurt.at/kunst-und-kultur/ernst-fuchs-in-st-egid/
Laurence Caruana’s Homepage
www.lcaruana.com/webtext/klagenfurt.html
Peter Gric’s Fantastic Visions
http://fantasticvisions.net/blog/2010/02/15/ernst-fuchs-80th-birthday/

New altar; new lives…

2010-10-03T22:02:00.001+01:00

…for two special LGS girls!!!!!!!!!!

Chez Nous - a day in the life of...

2010-10-02T21:50:00.000+01:00

...some views of our place, taken this afternoon. Billy is rapidly becoming one of those dogs who loves to pose for a picture!

Even the smallest patch of sunshine…

2010-10-02T15:56:00.001+01:00

… will be found out by a cat. Here is GM letting the sun show him at his most handsome.

And just for fun, here is a link to some kitty porn: http://funnycrave.com/20-pictures-of-kitty-porn/14779/

Signs of Autumn…

2010-10-02T12:46:00.001+01:00

…woke to the first mellow mist of the season this morning, although the sun burnt it off very quickly.

His Holiness the Karmapa…

2010-10-02T10:40:00.001+01:00

Thanks Phong for the inspiration and the link to this one.

The Witch In You…

2010-10-01T15:59:00.001+01:00

…this article is not original work. It is copied from the site www.peacefulpaths.com. I thought it was worth a wider audience.

As a child, did you ever make mud pies, but knew that your concoction wasn't quite right until you added that special blade of grass or flower or berry on top?
"Then you know the care a witch puts into his/her brew and the painstaking importance of every last magickal ingredient in his/her spell".

As an adult, have you ever prepared a meal for others and paid careful attention to the ingredients that you were using because you wanted it taste scrumptious along with being healthy?
"Then you have practiced a bit of kitchen witchery".

Have you ever looked up into the sky and seen clouds that resembled an animal or a person's face or some other object?
"Then you have divined like a witch".

Have you ever as a child (or even as an adult <g>) attempted to make one of those clouds disappear through the sheer power of your mind?
"Then you have practiced a little weather magick".

Have you ever spoken to your pet as if they were human, or known what they wanted by simply observing their actions or the look in their eyes?
"Then you have begun to communicate as a witch does with a familiar".

Have you ever felt sad and cried when something or someone you didn't even know got hurt or died?
"Then you have experienced one of the many feelings of the empathic witch".

Have you ever had a fortunate "coincidence" happen to you, or a project that seems to have flowed flawlessly, or written a book that feels as if it wrote itself?
"Then you've been introduced to synchronicity and the witch's secret of aligning with the Universe".

Have you ever had everything go wrong, or struggled to write even a simple sentence, or felt strangely down and out-of-sorts for no reason?
"Then you know the first step of the witch's secret of how s/he knows s/he is *not* aligned with the Universe".

Have you ever spoken a quick prayer for your safety or the safety of others?
"Then you have practiced one part of a witch's protection spell".

Have you ever wished it would stop raining and then the sun made a sudden appearance, or ever wished someone would just go away...and they did?
"Then you have touched on the powers of a witch".

Have you ever been attracted to or studied ancient mythology and become familiar with names such as Zeus, Artemis, Aphrodite... Diana, Jupiter, Venus... Isis, Horus, Bast... Freya, Odin, Thor... Brigid, Cerridwen, or Lugh?
"Then you know something of a witch's pantheon and who s/he might be consorting with".

Have you ever woken up refreshed and said "hello" or "good morning" to the sun?
"Then you have hailed and honored one of the many witch's Gods".

Have you ever gotten so angry that unwittingly whatever you were holding in your hand broke... felt your pulse quicken during a scary movie... found something so funny that you couldn't stop laughing at until your sides hurt... or been on the tail-end of a "whip" at the roller skating rink?
"Then you have experienced a wee dose of raised energy".

Have you ever planted a garden and firmly patted the rich dark soil around a seedling, sat by the heat of a fire and wondered what fire actually was, gone swimming in the ocean and felt its undertow grab at your feet, or listened to the howls of the wind before a storm?
"Then you have played with aspects of the Elements a witch works with".

Have you ever "wow"ed at a sunset or sunrise, the largeness of the moon as it crests the horizon, the wrath of the ocean waves during a storm, or.. (insert your own "wow" moment here)..?
"Then you have felt what a witch feels all the time".

Have you ever daydreamed of making love in the grass under a full moon, or in a field of lavender under a blazing sun, or in the water of a pristine lake under a canopy of twinkling stars, or on the beach in the rain during a thunderstorm?
"Then you have dreamed of what a witch does".

Have you ever sunk your teeth into a ripe peach or melon, savored the flavor of mint or butter pecan ice cream, or enjoyed a slice of freshly-baked apple cinnamon pie?
"Then you have tasted the sweetness of a witch's Goddess"

.
Have you ever marveled over how the crystals grew inside that geode, or over the intricacies of a seashell's form, or over the infinite pattern of a fractal, or over the face that looks back at you in the mirror?
"Then you have glimpsed the Goddess/God in you".

I know I´m lucky...

2010-10-01T11:53:00.001+01:00

…to live in a place where I can be swimming in a beautiful lake like this into autumn. Yes, the water was a bit chilly yesterday but the air temperature was about 25 deg. C and very pleasant for my friend and I to dry off and relax on a rock after our swim.

I like this haiku game…

2010-09-30T12:02:00.001+01:00

Here are my first ever haiku poems. Inspired by my friend Sanna´s blog to have a go at writing them:

Old internet friends

Are like ghosts in the machine

Why not keep in touch?

Mulberry tree shade

Helps me focus on my task

Writing haiku lines

Got to love this guy…

2010-09-30T11:20:00.001+01:00

Pinched from Ferns and Moss – a great site.

A to Z of me…

2010-09-29T21:24:00.001+01:00

Animal lover, Ailurophile, Aromatherapist, Altar maker

Blogger, Boom Festie, Bookworm

Cornish, Celtic, Crafter, Cook, Chutney maker

Dowser, Dreamcatcher

Emigrant, Earthy

Film addict, Fetish maker, Five-Rhythms dancer

Gretna Green marriage, Glasses wearer, Grammar school educated

Herbalist, Hallowquest student, Hypertensive

Indiaphile, IT escapee

Journal writer, Jungian

Kernewes, Kaftan wearer, Kali devotee, Kombucha maker

Labyrinth builder, Low-impact living

Mother, Mind-mapper, Masseuse, Midlife

Née Crocker, Navel gazing, Nepali daughter-in-law

Organic gardener, Olive farmer

Pipe Puffer, Pagan, Psybient and Progressive trance, Pratchett fan

Quinta dweller, Queen of Cups

Reiki practitioner, Rune crafter

Scorpio, Solar powered, Swims in lakes, Snake totem, Stubborn

Tarot reader, Tea blender

Unemployed

Vegetarian, Vapefiend, Vipera

Witch (not Wiccan!), World Music lover

X-pat in Portugal

Yeast baker, Yule please, not Christmas!

Zaftig figure

Autumn clean-up...

2010-09-28T20:23:00.000+01:00

... sudden burst of energy drives me to tidy and clean my dresser. Now we can eat off the plates and glasses, rather than write our names in them!!! To read where this energy burst came from, check out this post.

I love wifi…

2010-09-27T16:47:00.001+01:00

…still getting used to the novelty of being able to sit outside in the fresh air, under our beautiful mulberry tree, and use the net at the same time!

Future tarot posts…

2010-09-26T18:32:00.001+01:00

…in future, I will be posting anything to do with tarot on my Hallowquest blog. This is regardless of whether the post is related to the Arthurian deck or the Hallowquest course by the same authors, John and Caitlín Matthews. This is purely to make it easier for me to track all my readings and tarot study in one place. If tarot is your thing, you are most welcome to check out my postings there.

My Saturn return dates…

2010-09-26T17:47:00.001+01:00

… found this great site for calculating Saturn return, which I have been hearing about recently. Now I just have to work out the significance of this information for me.

Just for fun…

2010-09-23T11:11:00.001+01:00

…a picture of my little sweetie Billy, looking sharp.

Does anyone queue any more?

2010-09-23T11:03:00.001+01:00

I posed this question last night when I contemplated how easy it is these days to watch virtually any film you want, via DVD or the internet. Gone are the days, it seems to me, when people were prepared to queue around the block, even in inclement weather, to see a long anticipated film. These days, the feeling of anticipation is gone for me. I only have to think of a film and it is within easy reach to view whenever suits me.

I think the last time I queued around the block, would have been to see the Director´s Cut of Close Encounters of the Third Kind. That would have been in 1980 or 1981 I guess. Going out to the “pictures” used to be a great treat, whereas watching films these days is something I just take for granted.

Prophetic words of William Burroughs...

2010-09-12T12:21:00.001+01:00

...Drugstore Cowboy 1989.

Moments that make life shine ...

2010-09-10T21:10:00.000+01:00

... I´m always on the look-out for little games to play to while away the tedium of jobs that have to be done routinely, such as watering the veg. This evening, I was planning on giving an empty raised bed a good soak, so I can plant garlic in it tomorrow. This bed has clay pipes stood in it, to enable water to reach the base of the bed.

I started to fill one of the pipes with water and up popped three of these tiny kermits, only about the length of the first joint of my thumb. They are so cute.

I carried on spraying with the hose and they jumped out synchronistically, in three different directions, and up popped a fourth frog... then another... then another! In all, eight little kermits had been lurking in the pipe. I enjoyed watching them hop off and it made the chore pass in no time.

As I didn´t happen to have the camera with me at the time, the above photos is from my own "archives". Taken in 2007, this little green jewel was bold enough to be photographed sitting on my arm.

The Dance...

2010-09-10T11:44:00.003+01:00

...dedicated to Christian and Gabrielle Roth:

"Dancing is surely the most basic and relevant of all forms of expression. Nothing else can so effectively give outward form to an inner experience. Poetry and music exist in time. Painting and architecture are a part of space. But only the dance lives at once in both space and time. In it the creator and the thing created, the artist and the expression, are one. Each participates completely in the other. there could be no better metaphor for an understanding of the mechanics of the cosmos.

We begin to realize that our universe is in a sense brought into being by the particpation of those involved in it. It is a dance, for participation is its organizing priciple. This is the important new concept of quantum mechanics. It takes the place in our understanding of the old notion of observation, of watching without getting involved. Quantum theory says it can´t be done. That spectators can sit in their rigid row as long as they like, but there will never be a performance unless at least one of them takes part. And conversely, that it needs only one participant, because that one is the essence of all people and the quintessence of the cosmos."

Lyall Watson
Gifts of Unknown Things
1976

Phadroid...

2010-09-08T10:17:00.001+01:00

Who is The Dreamcatcher?

2010-09-07T22:30:00.000+01:00

Stone carved crux…

2010-09-07T22:15:00.001+01:00

Really observing the carving on our rock – this cross, confirmed to be “antiquidade” – predating the still worshipped Catholicism by centuries – linking the Cornish Celtic Christians and their roots in the ancient granite rocks of my homeland, with these Mother worshipping, outwardly Catholic, proud Lusitanians.

Influences...

2010-09-07T21:01:00.008+01:00

Jamie Sams´ Medicine Cards Whale
Nossa Senhora das Graças
Cosmic Tribe 2 of Wands
Leon Petulengro The Roots of Health
Lyall Watson Gifts of Unknown Things
Sensient The Space Between
Koh-Do Bois de Rose
Si Innersense