Category Archives: Following Delight

Iron Pentacle Workshop – Announcement

28 Thursday Oct 2010

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My dear friend and I are running an Iron Pentacle Workshop next February… below is the announcement we’ve sent out.

I’ve personally been working with this tool for a good few years now, and I’m still uncovering fascinating discoveries everytime I muse on it. Running this workshop, from organising to actually teaching it is going to be a real challenge for me, one that I am looking forward to with great excitement.

I’d love to hear your experiences of taking something you’ve been learning to the next level… for me, on the Iron Pentacle, this is introducing others to it. For you it might be performing an instrument you’ve been learning in front of an audience, or speaking a language you’ve been studying in its own country… whatever it is, we take these steps, where we’ve worked on something for long enough that we’re ready to expand. And its scary. And thrilling.

I’m excited, I’d love for you to join us. And I’d love to hear your experiences in similar situations… here is the announcement, and I hope you’ll join me in the comments below…

We would like to invite you to join us for a weekend intensive on the Iron
Pentacle in Glastonbury on 4th-6th February 2011 With Raven Edgewalker and Halo
The Iron Pentacle is one of the core Reclaiming and Feri tools for
self-transformation.
It’s points – Sex, Self, Passion, Pride and Power are our birthright as free
human beings. Through our work with the Iron Pentacle we can learn to claim
these and integrate them into our lives. This workshop offers an intensive
introduction to the Iron Pentacle, and the work of integration is the work of a
lifetime. During this workshop we will use ritual, trance, energy work,
self-awareness, communication and group-work to work on areas where growth and
balance are required and learn tools to take this work out into your daily
lives.

This workshop is an intermediate workshop, Iron pentacle work can be challenging
and we will not be spending time teaching basic magical skills. It is open to
anyone who has taken one or more reclaiming core class, workshop or camp or who
has equivalent experience in other traditions. If you would like more
information or to request a registration form please contact Raven at
greenwomancrafts@gmail.com or Halo at craftyhalo@gmail.com

We will start work on 6pm on Friday with Ritual and will close on Sunday at 4pm

Cost: Sliding scale £80 – £120 a £40 non-refundable deposit it required to hold
your place with the balance being due on 10th January 2011. We anticipate this
workshop filling to capacity.

This is a non-residential workshop. For people coming from afar there are a wide
range of accommodation options in and around the Glastonbury area. Some useful
links will be sent out with the registration form.

We invite you to bring vegetarian food to share, there are also many cafes and
restaurants close to the venue.

Location: Glastonbury, Somerset – address and directions will be given on
receipt of deposit.

Teachers

Raven Edgewalker
Raven, is a British Witch who has been teaching in the Reclaiming tradition for
over ten years, she is an initiate in both the Reclaiming and Anderson Feri
traditions. She loves to travel and has been honored to have taught classes,
workshops and WitchCamps in the UK, Germany, US, Finland and Israel. Raven is
a self-employed artist and crafts-person, a teacher, jack-of-all-trades, a poet,
writer and recovering academic. She has a deep love of the natural world and
works closely with the land and the magic of connections. Raven believes that
the most important tool she can share as a teacher is that of personal practice
– a practice will flow through daily life and connect and reconnect us to the
divine with each breath.

Halo
Is Fascinated by the Fey and dreams of delight. An artist, philosopher and
Witch, Halo is enchanted by the world and committed to filling it with beauty
and joy wherever possible. To this end she turns her gaze towards magic,
questions whatever she can find, and invites you to join her in weaving a witchy
web of wonder!

Exhibitionism

02 Saturday Oct 2010

Posted by in Art Craft and Beauty, Following Delight

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Hanging paintings on a public wall feels a little like exposing my heart to the world.

Knowing that, Monday lunchtime, office workers will file into the canteen past my pictures, lovingly crafted but still revealing the inadequacies of my skill, the limitations of time and materials and money and…

Today I hung 5 of my paintings in a corridor of the NPower HQ in Swindon, alongside other artworks, by other members of the Swindon Artists’ Forum.

I expected to feel shy and inadequate seeing my work alongside such glories as I know the other artists create, but it seems I’ve come a long way. I didn’t feel embarressed. I could see the differences in style, and still appreciate what I’d made.

I’m actually proud of my art! How awesome is that?

And still, theres a little knot of uncomfortable-ness at the thought that people will pass these pictures, will pass judgement on them, and therefore on me. Art comes from a very deep rooted place in my heart. Even when it looks like doodles to passers by…

I’m excited. Its wonderful to be able to share these, and I hope hope hope that my pictures will brighten someone’s day along the way. And, if someone buys one, then so much the better (that is the only way I’ll find out if anyone likes one, after all! Unless someone makes the effort to send me an email just to say I’ve made something beautiful, which is possible.)

And I’m scared.

And thats ok.

For those of you who don’t work in that particular building, here are the pictures I took to commemorate this momentous occasion with:

Paintings Ready To Go 02-10-10

Paintings Ready To Go 02-10-10

The Corridor at NPower 02-10-10

The Corridor at NPower 02-10-10

NPower Exhibition 2 02-10-10

2 Paintings at NPower 02-10-10

NPower Exhibition 3 02-10-10

3 Paintings at NPower 02-10-10

Feathered Wings of the Heart

20 Friday Aug 2010

Posted by in Following Delight, Magic

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A freind of mine has started a blog about following spirit, and he writes beautifully! I encourage you to go and have a read… Revolve Your Spirit

His post today has inspired me to respond… if you know me, or have been following the Fey Hearted blog, you probably have seen that my Book  about finding your Faery Heart has reached completion, and is currently in the process of being born into the world in a special edition of 13 hardback books, each individually embellished by myself (when they finally arrive!).

Gwydion has written eloquently about how our wings will carry us to Spirit,to Heaven, to God Herself, and today he described how these wings must be grounded in our hearts. Our wings must be our own, our own colours, grown from our own desires, our own path.

And this makes me wonder, how is it that people who don’t know their own hearts can grow their wings again?

We are angels on earth, fallen, I agree.

But how is it that we might come to remember this?

For myself, it helped that my mother always told me to be true to myself… but the recognition that we could be more than simply office or factory workers, buried under the weight of grey streets and regimented work came from seeing people who did not live like that. Artists, street performers, tarot readers… people who danced at work, rather than trudged.

These examples of colour opened my eyes.

And then there were books… people wrote about their beliefs, their experiences, their hopes and dreams and worlds beyond this one.

I started with fantasy and could not believe that 9 to 5 was the only way to live.

And then, I found The Craft. A path which did not involve subservience to what is meant to be, but delight in all that is.

I found a map, well, in truth, a collection of fragments of maps which I found links between… have you ever noticed how all the maps of the multiverse have the same landmarks? And every map has your self at the heart?

So that is where I started, spiralling into my heart.

My point? If you live from your heart, as best you can at this moment, others will see.

If others see, they will also see, they can choose to do this too.

Be your Self, and others will see that they, too, can be their Selves.

One reason for my Faery Hearted Book is so that others with a heart like mine might find inspiration from its pages to let their heart shine too, just as others have inspired me.

I’m curious: where is your inspiration? In what ways are you living your life that you hope will inspire people to live well?

Knitting Socks

22 Thursday Jul 2010

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

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and lacey things…

I decided to teach myself to knit. I had somewhat of a headstart because relatives had shown me the basics when I was small, but having forgotten most of the details (apart from that it involved looping string through other loops until the long, thin, twisted fibres magically transformed themselves into something wide and flat and warm) I figured that it counted as teaching myself.

The basics were easy, though I was grateful for the fluffiness of the wool which hid some of the early inconsistencies (i.e.: holes and unintended increasing and decreasing).

I knitted bags full of squares using one stitch; knit. Knit knit knit. Turn. Knit knit knit.

I chose the most beautiful balls of colourful wool and knitted each whole ball into a colourful patch, though I had little clue what I would do with them. It was still fun. (These are now half a blanket, it needs resewing properly, but is really funky.)

I knitted scarves, similar principle, knit knit knit, turn, knit knit knit… until you have something long enough to wrap around you and fluffy enough to look pretty. (And done when you’ve made something longer than it is wide, an easily finished project is always a good place to start for me!)

And then I began to wonder what else I could do.

I bought a book. Stitch and Bitch.

Really rather useful. This taught me how to pearl! A new stitch! And it had instructions for picking up dropped stitches, and shared details on how this alchemical process of knitting works. I chose two patterns, bought some wool and spent 18 months knitting a rucksack and a hoody (without a hood, so I guess its just a jumper.)

And then…

I saw a friend knitting socks. I’d heard that they were difficult, she made them look easy. I imagined wearing warm, colourful creations on my feet… and I asked her how she made the heel work.

And then I forgot everything she’d told me. Darn.

Still determined, I found a heelless sock pattern, some chunky red wool, and I made my very own pair of socks!!!

My first Sock! Heelless!

They are too big, and the pattern makes them uncomfortable to wear in shoes… but they’re mine, and they make wonderful slippers! And, to top it off, they remind me of how inspiring my friends can be. Thanks WD!

I’ve learnt that the best way to learn something is just to do it, to pick a pattern and try it out. If it turns out wonky, then I’ve still learnt something!

What have you been putting off? What could you just have a go at?

Now, I’m learning how to make knitting lacey. I undid the first inch five times before it started to make sense (under the patient guidance of the same sock-knitting friend) There are less mistakes with every inch I do, and at the end I’ll have a pretty blue top… even if it is three sizes too small!!!

Lacey Top in Progress

Oh, and one last thing, every time I look over how far I’ve come with these things, I can see how much I’ve learnt, how much my skills have improved (before I started this pattern I’d never knitted holes on purpose before!) I am filled with pride. I know it won’t be perfect, and the mistakes and visible improvement and clear markers of what I am proud of: the fact that I’ve set out to learn something, and I have! Mixed with the pride is profound gratitude; gratitude that I have these opportunities, gratitude for friends that help, gratitude for time to learn, gratitude for everything that gives me the opportunity to learn almost any skill I choose to.

Pride and gratitude. A really good feeling.

What are you proud of? What do you wish you were proud of?

Creation is like a sun shining from the heart…

17 Saturday Apr 2010

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

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Creation is a Sun

The sunlight soothes my skin, scent of a green, green land playing in the air.

A bee bumbles past as I lay lazily, brush in hand, stroking the paper into colours.

Words come, unbidden, as the image emerges and my pen pours ink onto the page, spelling out the words, the spell, to capture the feeling.

How words and images reflect each other, like twins, Dionysian movement, Apolline images, dancing together.

I am reminded of Blake, who I have often strived to follow, inspired by the seamless blend of pigment and print.

Walkers wander past, voices loud against the hush of the slow summer which sneaks into my valley. Traffic in the distance, not so far from here, but still worlds away, does not burst the bubble of my beauty-brushed-blessed-being-of-the-moment.

I am here, bathed in light, warming in the sun, warmed from the sun within which feeds on the fuel that is joy. Joy, like a sun in my heart, shining in the light of the sun in the sky, overflowing through my hands and onto the page.

How can I share this moment with you?

I breathe up, a prayer of delight, of gratitude, of beauty.

I talk of sun and warm and light, of joy overflowing and green green grass… and still I wonder, can you feel it?

Can you feel the heat, the flames like liquid gold, pouring out from my heart into beauty, being fed by beauty, a circle of love for the world?

My heart opens and love pours out.

Originally posted on blogspot.

Squidmonsters and kittens

17 Wednesday Mar 2010

Posted by in Following Delight

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~ A Templesmith inspired meander…

On the hive-brain that is Twitter I once asked Ben Templesmith this:

Out of curiousity… I love your style but squirm at the subject,

have you ever drawn, say, a kitten? (Without tentacles?)

And his response was:

Nope, I don’t draw nice things generally. It’s the bad stuff

that happens in life that defines us after all, not the banal/cutesy

While I really appreciate his taking time to respond, and the limited space of Twitter… I disagreed:

Really? Only the bad stuff that defines us?

I can understand not banal/cutesy, but ruling out good/beautiful/happy as defining?

And that’s where this post comes in, I’ll not get into the argument that kittens are not necessarily merely banal/cutesy, though they can be, but I will present another perspective.

Both kinds of life experiences define us.

Its too often that I’ve come across people who feel that they are shaped primarily by the bad stuff in their life. Yes, that has an effect on who you are and how you interact with the world, but so do events like winning awards, having children, getting happily married and living past your golden wedding anniversary together, and on a smaller level, even experiencing a beautiful sunset can set the tone for an evening, a night, or a whole week.

When we can be defined by both the joy and the sorrow in our hearts, why only settle for one half of the equation?

What is your Delight?

03 Wednesday Mar 2010

Posted by in Following Delight

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I know you’ve got time,
But what are you waiting for?
 ~The Feeling

Every now and then it hits me: life is short. Life is wonderful and amazing and full of so many things to play with… and it is short.

I have so many projects on the go that its a rare day I find time for all of them, but they are all in pursuit of the same thing, the exploration of delight.

If I see something I want to do, I have started to just say yes. If I can find the time and the money to do something I’d love to (and if I really want to, I can) then I will. Which is why I have a billion projects or so! There is a pattern, as I said, all my projects are part of one project, one goal in life.

My game is Delight, what’s yours?

What would you do if you had the time and the money to pursue your game?

What makes your heart sing?

I write, study philosophy, make art, learn new crafts, travel, walk in the woods, play with my rabbit, grow roses, learn languages, play with poi, meet friends, perform amatuer dramatics, sing in the bath…

What makes you happy? What is it you wish you were doing? And how can you do it with the resources you have right now??? I’d love to have a garden and am in temporary rented accomodation, so I’m keeping roses in a fish-tank, and growing herbs in another. I’d love to travel more, so I put aside a little cash every paycheck and save up for interesting events. I carry a sketchbook and a journal with me everywhere. What little things can you do to follow your dreams? How do all these things fit together into a pattern?

What is your game, your delight?

Starting this site is a recognition for me of my over-arching game, my opening to delight.

What are you waiting for?

On Growing Roses and Losing Spider Plants

23 Tuesday Feb 2010

Posted by in Following Delight, Herbology

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For a long time I thought I could never keep plants. I kept spider plants, renowned for being impossible to kill, and they all died. I bought hardy plants specifically for the conditions in my bedroom, and still they died.

I gave up.

And then the dreams began. For the past few years I have been daydreaming of growing a beautiful garden. A place where the flowers smell gorgeous and transform themselves into fruit when the autumn comes. A place where the greenery is lush and deep and soothing to the spirit. A place to rest and work and play, for visitors, friends, and my family.

And I despaired! How could I ever grow this magnificent place of wonder if I couldn’t even keep a spider plant alive!

Last February, at Imbolc, when snow covered the ground, a friend gave me a bright bunch of daffodils. The flowers were like sunshine in the cold, cheering, comforting, and inspiring. I loved it and toyed with the idea of always keeping cut flowers on my windowsill.

And again, the plants in my care died. But this time they were cut flowers, so I was expecting it. And this time I decided to try again, but, flowers are so much nicer, I thought, when they are alive and growing and not about to die a week later. I chose life, I chose flowers that would keep blooming, that would stay alive, that would not have been hacked from the ground…

I went to the florists and found two blooming roses, one red and one yellow.

And they came home with me, as I danced through the snow, determined to look after these small pieces of life and light and hope for the summer.

They almost died within days. And I did not give up.

By some miracle (known as knowledgeable friends) I was guided in repotting them and I instigated a solid routine of care appropriate to roses.

Over a year later, my roses are still blossoming with hopes of summer and memories of warmth. They have grown to three times the size and are healthier than I ever expected them to be.

My dream of a wondrous garden seems that much closer now and I am collecting seeds to make a window box of herbs and flowers this spring. It seems that, with a little bit of determination, even I can grow a rose garden!!!

There are many things I thought I could never do because I have not managed it so far… and yet, every time I see my roses I am reminded that just because I failed at something once, it doesn’t mean I can’t do it, just that I didn’t do it then.  In the past I have given up on things when I couldn’t do them first time round, when they didn’t come easily. Now I’ve learnt that often, I need to learn at least a little more than what can be picked up in the first few minutes before I can do something properly, and I have also learnt that this is ok. Oh, and, that I can keep beautiful plants!