28 Saturday Apr 2012
Posted in All Posts, Art Craft and Beauty, Creative Process, Magic, Philosophy
Tags
Perhaps painting is a prayer.
A prayer as a conversation with the divine… sometimes one-sided, sometimes where understanding flows thick and tangible between those present.
Once released into the world it becomes an invocation… invoking into those that view it the feelings found by the artist in dialogue with the divine.
A blessing or a curse.
Through what do you pray?
And what do you invoke into the world?
27 Tuesday Dec 2011
Posted in All Posts, Magic, Reflections
Tags
challenge, Fear, Living Life, Magic, Ocean, Power, process, Strangeness of Life
I’m learning what it means to hold an ocean inside me.
Light shines from the depths
For so long I ran from water – fearing the depths of the ocean which engulfs, the river which sweeps away, the floods which drown. I knew its power, this water, I turned from it not because I thought it held no power but because I feared it because I knew its power.
Now I come to learn that I hold an Ocean within me. How can you hold an ocean within you and not break?
Trying to keep it contained lead to cracks through which it seeped.
I tried to build a relationship with Water outside of myself. This did not work. What I’ve come to realise is that what I ran from was what I carried within me. You cannot run from what you hold inside.
I feared that it would break me. If I had not begun the process of accepting it… it would have done.
Slowly I feel my way through holding an ocean within my self. Slowly, like the turning of the tides, I come to find the depths within my core, the power and the freedom there. Simply acknowledging that Water is so much a part of Me relaxed something clenched so tightly. Relaxing into my own nature, a source of perhaps my greatest power, allows me to hold it without breaking.
I will not be washed away as long as I remember that I AM the Water.
I have run from the things that hold power for me so often.
What do you run from? Which of those things hold power for you?
24 Saturday Dec 2011
Posted in All Posts, Following Delight, Magic, Reflections
Tags
Ancestors, challenge, Devotion, Food, gratitude, Living Life, Magic, process, Ritual, Solstice, Winter
From now on, the days get longer, even while the world gets colder.
This has been a busy season, and yet… I have been saying ‘No’. I have been slowing down with the season. I have been seeking the stillness. Returning to roots; food and fire, hearth and home.
Turning inwards and outwards at the same time. Learning about the Runes, seeking my ancestors, discovering how I have grown.
I spent last weekend with some of my living family, last night with my friends. Between the two, however, it was time to Feast with the Dead.
Prompted by Ms. Dirty’s Midwinter Madness (Magic, I mean Magic!) challenge to feed your ancestors something that they’d actually recognise I finally did a bit more concrete digging around who my ancestors were… found out more about where they were from than what they were like: Poland, Normandy-via-Essex-via-Kansas/Mass., South Wales, London… a thread of Germany in there. Mostly Northern Europe really.
In looking for traditions, well, I didn’t find very much that I was certain of. I didn’t dig as deeply as I’d have liked to either mind. Many of them were Christian and, though I’m not quite sure which flavour, I figured a Nativity scene would probably be appreciated.
Candles and cooking seemed like the best way to go.
I acquired a piece of red cloth to use as a tablecloth and to, most likely, embroider as an ongoing ancestor-connection project later/over the years.
I found the recipe for rock-cakes my Great-Nana used to make.
I researched Polish foods and created a recipe for stew which fitted.
I bought milk to make mac’n’cheese.
I cleaned house and lit a fire in the hearth.
Lighting a candle for Hella who has been a long time presence in my life, and candles for the gods of my traditions and of my ancestors, I set out a cup and biscuits and invited those that wanted to join me in the kitchen to tea.
While cooking I felt them near; bustly, strong, female presences. Making food that nourishes is important work.
My partner and I sat down to eat with a place set for my ancestors, but, until I sat alone with a cuppa and a rock-cake and let my mind still I didn’t feel them clearly as I had in the kitchen. You have to listen to hear, of course.
An acknowledgement.
Recognition that they cannot do other than be part of my foundation, cannot do other than support me – though they could rock that foundation if I don’t act with honour.
A reminder to trust my instincts.
A sense of caring.
I left food out overnight for them to help themselves.
In the morning, I was surprised to see the teacup was still full of tea. Seemed to me that, really, it should have been empty…
15 Wednesday Jun 2011
Posted in All Posts, Magic, Reflections
Tags
Nature is amazing.
My brain fizzes, like a storm approaches…
Something is coming, something is changing, something shifts in the crisp air…
Tomorrow I may drag my feet through a workaday day. Tomorrow may just be like many of the days that came before.
Or it may be subtly different.
Whats coming, whats changing?
The longest day draws near, the tides are changing…
Can you feel it?
Can you feel the potential? Like a storm in the air?
Can you feel the dark light, revealing, disclosing, uncovering something precious?
Possibilities…under a red moon’s light…
My brain fizzes and sparks, the magic of the internet means I can see the reason... a red moon, full and eclipsed, revealing and hidden...
26 Thursday May 2011
Posted in All Posts, Creative Process, Following Delight, Philosophy, Reflections
Tags
choice, creativity, Determination, gratitude, Heart, Honesty, Imperfection, inspirations, Intent, learning, Living Life, musings, Philosophy, Strangeness of Life
Many things make up who we are - what do you share and what do you keep precious from the world? When do you ignore the 'sensible' and leap into what you love?
How often have I tried to hide?
I know it would be safer to keep my head down, to keep my lunacy separate from the rational academia in which I’m slowly-slowly carving a place for myself, and yet I also know that to hide is to deny myself.
So I shut my eyes and I leap.
I see a scary thing ahead, and I take a deep breath and tell my Sensible Self to close her eyes… and then the moon-kissed heart of me steps off the cliff and trusts the wind to carry her.
It’s never dropped me yet.
I know as well as you do the risks of being seen as crazy – it’s a not-so-secret fear of mine, you know? – if they see me and dismiss me I’ll be left out in the cold. If they think I’m crazy they’ll turn me away… I’ll lose friends and opportunities and it’ll all be for nothing.
So says my Sensible Self. She has good reason to believe these things, and yet I know that even if the worst happens, the Wind will not drop me. At least, he will not drop me far!
I’ve friends who have seen me star-struck and moon-kissed and standing on edges. I’ve friends who’ve stood beside me as I’ve opened doors and boxes which Sensible Me says would be better left closed. In leaping I’ve found people who encourage me to fly, even in the most unexpected places.
Those who shake their heads and sigh do not need to know my heart, but as long as I follow it, the Wind will carry me when the ground falls out beneath my feet. Those that know what flying means will soar with me, even if they ride another breeze.
And only those that understand dreams of flight are worth sharing my secrets with. Only those who already share a spark will understand what I say.
And so I come full circle.
No longer do I hide, but neither do I need to tell everyone I meet my deepest, brightest secrets. That those lights guide me is no reason to announce it to the world.
My dreams, my passions, my obsessions filter into my academic work, and you’d be amazed at how often people ignore the bits they do not understand. It’s not easy to have a touch of the irrational in a world of rationality, but they feed each other and both grow stronger from it.
I am me. Every day I learn to be more me, I am always becoming, and I do not hide…
But I do keep secrets.
***
For more musings delivered to your inbox weekly subscribe to my newsletter here.
23 Saturday Apr 2011
Posted in All Posts, Art Craft and Beauty, Creative Process, Magic
Tags
Art Craft and Beauty, Beginnings, creativity, Heart, Honesty, Imperfection, inspirations, Journey, Magic, musings, Passion, Play, process, reasons, Strangeness of Life, Suggestions
How play helped me to release perfectionism and be happier with my art!
I’m an artist! Yay!
I make pictures and share them with people…
And I get sad that they are never quite what was in my head.
21 Thursday Apr 2011
Tags
Completion, Feri, Iron Pentacle, Living Life, Magic, musings, Pearl Pentacle, Reclaiming, Suggestions, Tools
Iron and Pearl together...
“That which is Below corresponds to that which is Above, and that which is Above, corresponds to that which is Below, to accomplish the miracles of the One Thing”
~ The Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus
Life: A balance of self in community.
Iron: The foundation of living.
Pearl: The levels of connection.
Working with these energies can uncover blocks within yourself, polish smooth the rough edges and bring some more rust to the surface to be cleaned away. If we work to heal ourselves, we are working to heal a part of the world. In healing ourselves we heal our community, our relationships, our lives, the world.
12 Tuesday Apr 2011
Posted in All Posts, Art Craft and Beauty, Faery, Magic, Reflections
Wealth Faery
Bottom line; I’m skint.
And I believe in magic.
So I’ve created a spell… in a piece of art.
In creating this artwork I mused on the nature of wealth, and She showed me the simple truth that clinging too tight does not allow money to flow. Money is like water, it flows in and out, there are times of drought and times of flood and times when it all balances… but it can’t be held too tightly.
This picture needs to flow.
11 Monday Apr 2011
Tags
Art Craft and Beauty, challenge, choice, Devotional, Heart, inspirations, Iron Pentacle, Journey, Living Life, Magic, musings, Pearl Pentacle, Suggestions, Tools
Wisdom
When we are free, what will we do?
When we stand in our passion, what will we choose?
With all the choices of the world before us, to what do we say yes, and no?
A deep understanding of the flow of our feelings, our passions, our emotions and our loves, leads us to something precious… Wisdom.
There is a time for yes, and a time for no.
A time to dance, and a time to sleep.
A time to reach out, and a time to curl up small.
These moments, these choices, are not dictated by the outside world or by our intellect; they are the choices of our hearts.
Are you living the life that feels right to you?
Are you making the choices that are true to your heart as well as your thoughts and words?
Are you saying yes when you choose to, and no when you need to?
What would life look like if the answer to these questions was ‘Yes!’?
I am passionate about many things, things that feed my heart and soul, things that flash a grin upon my face and draw me out to dance in the sunshine with joy. And sometimes I say no to them, through fear, or the life I’ve crafted which isn’t quite right, or some other choice I make that isn’t in tune with my heart but makes sense elsewise… but when I say yes, my world is set alight, my heart blazes and I fly.
What makes you fly?
What do you need to do to craft your life into something that allows you the space you need to light up your world?
When do you need to say yes, and when, no?
This is the sixth post of seven on the Pearl Pentacle, part of my Pentacles series, which started with the Iron Pentacle. I’ll be posting on the points of the Pearl Pentacle for the next few Magical Mondays.
09 Saturday Apr 2011
Posted in All Posts, Faery, Magic, Reflections
So, I’m having a rest from posting much on the Feyhearted Path while I gather together my thoughts and energies for the next project (which is forming on paper and looks to be stunning!) and I thought I’d just touch base with you all and share some musings and some fairy finds.
Firstly, the issue of sparklefluff.
