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Halo's Journal

~ Enchantment, Philosophy & Fairies – Magic and the mundane, kissing.

Halo's Journal

Category Archives: Art Craft and Beauty

The Wildness of Weeds

14 Saturday Nov 2020

Posted by Haloquin in Art Craft and Beauty, Enchanted, Following Delight, Magic, Poetry

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Tags

Bardic, daily practice, Druidry, learn witchcraft, Magic, Neopagan, Pagan, paganism, Poetry, Ritual, Witch, witchcraft

Let me be wild and free,
not the wildness of wolves,
but the wildness of weeds.
The tenacity of swallows,
the dancing of bees,
the blossoming hawthorn,
the sunlit sea.
Let me be wild
and let me be free.
Not the wildness of storms,
but the wildness of me.

~By Haloquin
First published in Touchstone, OBOD's community magazine.

Stepping outside of the known into magic, into the wildness of that which is untamed, is the path of a witch. There are paths of magic which are tightly controlled, where precise words must be said at precise times, and there are paths where one follows the ebb and flow of the moon, the tides, the whispering winds. Both paths have benefits. A formulaic ritual gives structure and consistency, it gives guidelines for when one lacks energy to innovate, or the self confidence to trust the tug of intuition. It carries the magic of repetition and trains the mind to follow set pathways which have a history of working. The wilder paths, however, take self-trust, and teach it. They require listening, but that means you are always seeking the path of least resistance. They weave into your everyday life and movements until you are crafting magic with every step, every breath, every word.

This is true in so much of life. There are structured ways of doing things, and more intuitive ways. Cooking, dancing, making music, making love. Even answering emails, planning your day, going to sleep. Often a balance between the two makes for the best life. Structure as a container and foundation – deliberate and daily checking in with the magic through prayer, meditation, ritual, offerings – and honing one’s intuition and the courage to follow it – paying attention to the niggling feeling in the gut, the pulling and longing in the heart, the flow of life and making a wish on the first star of the evening – combine together to build the skills you need to live a magical life, and the habit of thinking to use them, along with the freedom to step outside the expectations of the everyday and into an enchanted way of being… 

What is it that you do, or could do, every day to remind yourself of the magic in your life? To start bringing it to your attention more fully? What container can you build yourself to encourage the wildness of magic which brings the possibility of miraculous transformation?

In case you’re stuck, here are some ideas:

* Step outside at bedtime and make a wish on the first star you see

* Spend a few minutes each day paying attention to your breathing, whilst sitting still or whilst walking. Your breathing is where you connect to the world. Where the edges of yourself opens to the energy around you.

* Stop and hug or say hi to your favourite tree every time you walk past it, or at least the first time each day that you do so. Remind yourself that trees are alive and respond to us.

* Sing a little song to your houseplants. They can hear us.

* Pick a prayer to whichever god/s or spirit/s most appeal to you. This could even be your Divine Spirit. Ask for their blessing on your day each morning. 

* Tell the trees your dreams. Let the spirits know that you remember that you are a spirit being walking between this world and the dream world. Remind yourself of this often.

* Feed the birds. Each time you do it, dedicate the action to the spirits of the air.

* Begin to notice when the world feels brighter, more alive, enchanted…

Above all else, make it playful.  Dance with the world and the world will dance with you.

Originally posted on Patreon. Thank you to my Patrons for your support! If you like what I write then please do consider supporting me as a Patron here. Your support means I can write more for you! And you get the posts early… *tempts*

You can also tip me via ko-fi, it all helps!

You can also Follow the blog, Share this post, and find me on Twitter to join in the conversation for free!

Over to you in the comments. What will you do to invite that magic and wonder deeper into your life?

(Comments are moderated for spam so may take a day or two to appear.)

Make your Own Oracle

23 Sunday Mar 2014

Posted by Haloquin in Art Craft and Beauty

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Tags

how to make your own oracle, Magic, oracle, oracle cards, Tarot

Healing Hearts will be the second oracle deck I’ve published, the third deck I’ve made for myself and the seventh oracle system I’ve created!

When I mention that I make oracles to people they often say “I’ve always wanted to make a deck of my own!” So this time I thought I could share the process I go through and give anyone who has been thinking about making one themselves a peak into how easy it can be! Complete with tips and instructions  for making your own and Interviews with people who have done so…

Read the full post and more here.

Healing Hearts Oracle!

19 Wednesday Mar 2014

Posted by Haloquin in Art Craft and Beauty, Creative Process, Following Delight, Magic

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I’ve just launched a fundraiser for my latest project! Please help if you can by contributing (and getting shinies!) and spreading the word! 

The short version:

Healing Hearts is a 50 card deck of deities including male, female and third/other gendered deities to heal the divine in all of us. (And to fundraise for kickstarting my Undercover Enchantress in Academia career!)

 

Click here for the campaign!

The longer story:

The Enchantress shares three moments:

Paint dripped down the page as I stepped back, to see a face of the divine peering back at me. It spoke.

Cards fell from fingers, faces of the feminine divine laid out before us as we heard their words spoken with reverence. I wondered where the masculine was.

The Green Goddess, the Horned God and the Sacred Earth spoke to us from their seats through our Priest and Priestesses. They called us to honour our hearts and the hearts of those around us.

Image and word in cards combine. The divine ones speak to us. In many forms they gift us with their guidance. Their stories light our way, bring healing to our hearts. Their many, many forms and faces reach out to us and stand before us as role models for our lives, as guides to the Sacred in our own Hearts, showing us where their powers reside in us and in the world.

And so a work of art in honour, in service to the gods and in service to the divine heart of each of us, is begun.

An Oracle deck – a work of art that is handled, spoken to, listened to – and a book of their stories and rituals together to bring the gods in their many forms, male, female, androgyne, into our lives. They come to show us that we too are sacred and that all the people of the world, regardless of sex or gender or race, are divine too.

Healing Hearts is an Oracle Deck which includes male, female and third-gendered deities from cultures all over the world, to allow us to meet the divine in its many faces and heal our relationship to the divine masculine, feminine and androgyne in our lives, within and without.

It is also a detailed book detailing the stories and history of each deity within the deck with rituals and devotionals to help you listen to their words directly, useful when paired with the deck but equally helpful on its own for those that prefer books to decks. In order to make this really awesome I’ve asked my friend Pawl to help with the research!

And finally it is part of A World Enchanted, the home of myself (Halo), and thus is supporting my pursuit of a PhD in philosophy of art and enchantment in order to bring the importance of magic into an academic, philosophical framework. Enchantment requires living as part of the natural world, not above it, and by welcoming the many forms of the divine into the world through art I am helping to open the possibility for more individuals to recognise their place within the circle.

Click here for the campaign!

Oracles and Completion

28 Friday Dec 2012

Posted by Haloquin in Art Craft and Beauty, Enchanted, Faery, Reflections

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Art Craft and Beauty, challenge, Completion, creativity, Faery, Faery Queen, Feyhearted path, Heart, Honesty, Imperfection, Journey, Magic, musings, oracle cards, process, project, Strangeness of Life, Tools

Not so long ago a parcel arrived in the post. It was addressed to A World Enchanted. I was so excited! I spent months putting together a deck of Oracle cards and for almost a year I’ve been using one I printed myself… now I have a professionally printed deck and three to sell!

My Oracle Deck!

The Completed Deck!

I’m really proud of my work and the printed cards are beautiful. It works perfectly for uncovering what is in your heart and the heart of the world and the simple readings I did for others were very well received.

And somehow I’ve completely avoided posting about them here. I haven’t put the 3 decks I have for sale in my shop, I haven’t told you about them properly, I haven’t done anything with them beyond using them for myself.

Why?

Despite how it may appear, I struggle with being visible. I struggle with putting my work out there and allowing it to be seen. I struggle with completing projects and releasing them into the world. Artworks contain such a part of the artist’s spirit that an entire deck of my art makes me very visible and so, sharing them, I feel very vulnerable.

This New Year I am considering ‘Wholeness’ as my word for 2013. A word that includes the concept of completion and of being whole in myself. A word that speaks of safety, strength and holiness. Sacred Completion. A guiding light to help me overcome this block and share more beauty with you.

And today I am posting my Oracle Decks in my shop. There is more to do to complete this project than put the information up, however. I need to spread the word. I need to share this beauty, be seen, be known. So here I write and contemplate where to share with others what I have done!

Oracle Deck Set for sale

The FeyHearted Oracle and Guidebook!

Here is the page on A World Enchanted for the FeyHearted Oracle Deck for your enjoyment. If you feel called I would love for you to share this page with your friends and anyone you think might enjoy the deck!

May you find it easy to complete the things you wish to do and share your gifts with the world!

Remembering – Faery Vision

09 Sunday Dec 2012

Posted by Haloquin in Art Craft and Beauty, Enchanted, Faery

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Tags

Art Craft and Beauty, Devotional, Faery, inspirations, Magic, process, Stories

(Originally posted April 2009)

On the Spring Equinox I walked up to the edge of the woods near my home town and sat on the moss there.

In this liminal space I sang to the Fey, left offerings and asked the Faery Queen to open my senses to the Faery World.

“How,” I asked her, “how can I open to the Faery World, open to beauty and joy and the heart of things, myself?”

And I had the image of the little bottle from Alice in Wonderland with a label saying ‘Drink Me.’

Words followed the image;
“Open, drink the world in, breathe deep and let yourself see.”

And so I did.

The Journey

Map Making Step 4 – An Enchantress… brings Beauty

05 Wednesday Dec 2012

Posted by Haloquin in Art Craft and Beauty, Enchanted, Faery

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Tags

beauty, creativity, Faery, Feyhearted path, Imperfection, inspirations, Journey, musings, process

An Enchantress is… One who enchants;
One who brings beauty, healing and delight to those around her.

One who works magic of the Fae.
One who brings beauty to the world.
One who causes change.

Last post I considered what working the magic of the Fae might mean, here we look at beauty.

Beauty is generally considered to be subjective. It is an aesthetic principle of what is pleasing to the senses. As such, when this is the goal of the Enchantress, She will strive to make the world more sensually pleasant to exist within. This doesn’t mean avoiding the unpleasant however, it means engaging with what needs to be done to create beauty in the long term.

One implication of enchantment for beauty is the use of illusion, of Glamourie. If we make the world more beautiful we could use illusion to do so. Here, then, is a question of ethics to be addressed here; how ethical is it to use illusion and can this help heal others? Aside from this, a fundamental position to take when working with the Fae is utter honesty in order to foster trust within yourself and with the spirits. We could use Glamourie to create the illusion that something is worth more than it is, as in the fairy tales of leaves enchanted to look like gold, and thus trick others into getting the rough end of the deal. This doesn’t help in the long term however as one’s relationships are what helps one through life and if you screw over your neighbour today they won’t help you tomorrow!

So how can illusion and honesty go hand in hand?

A glamour can be used to present oneself in a positive light – just as when you wear a suit for a job interview which you could fulfil, this doesn’t show who you are but it does allow you to get the position from which you can do the job well.

Illusions can be used to guide folk to realisations, to illuminate the truth and reflect back their realities. Just as when a painting inspires it’s audience to re-evaluate their world, an illusion can help someone to rethink their perceptions. A good costume, for example, can act as an illusion and can, at the very least, make folk smile.

Ultimately, however, the Fae are considered to be illusions by many in our world. In dealing with them and their stories and imageries we are creating what would be considered to be an illusion in order to illuminate the greater truth; that all is connected, the world is alive and magic is real.

The Empowerment Button

22 Saturday Sep 2012

Posted by Haloquin in Art Craft and Beauty

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Tags

Art Craft and Beauty, Beads, Buttons, Empowerment, inspirations, Jewellery Making, process

Back in July I ran a jewellery making workshop. In the summer month following it one of the ladies who came began making jewellery herself. Boxes of it!

This month she returned for a new workshop, using buttons…

Not only did her presence affirm that the previous workshop had been enjoyable – for which I am relieved! – she brought pictures of her new venture.

It seems such a little thing to share a skill you love but, for her, my sharing opened a door. She has been unable to work for months now and will likely not be able to go back to her job due to a long-term illness and yet she has found something that can give her pleasure and perhaps offer her a way to work for herself.

Something as simple as a button or a bead with a little knowledge and wire can be so empowering and I am honoured to have had the chance to help her to change her life.

Thank you, Universe, for giving me that opportunity. I hope that my offerings can empower more people in the future. Even if they don’t, that one success made all I’ve done with AWE worthwhile and proved to me that creativity is healing, empowering and important.

I also remember the lady who came, doubting she would make anything, with the echoes in her ears of derisive laughter from her work colleagues at the thought… she left with a beautiful necklace which she wore with pride. We have so much in us that we don’t know about and creativity can allow that to come out in ways that heal us.

I suppose the question is, how else can I offer my talents to the world in such a way that might help people? I thought I was just making money to get by but running these classes not only supported me, it empowered another… so, what if we all chose work that supported us and empowered those around us?

Another way of putting it; how can our work become an empowerment button?

World Tree

10 Friday Aug 2012

Posted by Haloquin in Art Craft and Beauty

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Tags

Art Craft and Beauty, Festivals Series, Painting, process

World Tree painting in progress

The darkness takes shape…

The darkness between stars has form and function. It holds the worlds we move within in its branches, weaving time and matter into lives, holding wyrd in pace in the tapestry of space. In the darkness, light is born.

World Tree painting - photo

The light is born out of darkness, the stars are held in the black velvet of space.

Stargazing Winter Hare

31 Tuesday Jul 2012

Posted by Haloquin in Art Craft and Beauty

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Tags

Art Craft and Beauty, cosmos, Hare, Magic, Painting, process, stars

A Stargazing Hare - painting

Winter Solstice

The cosmos opens above our heads, shining light in the darkness as we gaze at the possibilities and dream.

A Song of Autumn

24 Tuesday Jul 2012

Posted by Haloquin in Art Craft and Beauty, Creative Process, Following Delight

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Tags

Art Craft and Beauty, creativity, inspirations, Journalling, Journey, Living Life, Magic, musings, Ocean, Painting, process, Whale

The song begins, calling the sun to leave.

I begin with blobs of colour, a canvas and a sense for the atmosphere I am searching for. My brush spreads the paint, thick and textured, across the woven surface. A space emerges, like an ocean from the pearl-white ground.

Sun on the waves…

As the sun sets in the distance, mimicking the turn to the darkness we know will come again, a song hums through the waves and carries our thoughts into the depths.

A song from the depths, returning to the deep…

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And for the over 18s… My alter-ego, Ms Quin, writes erotica, kinky poetry, on sacred sexuality and the like. You can explore some of Her writings and poetry readings, and find her sexy book of poetry via links at Twisted Ms Quin.

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