Tag Archives: Journalling

After the Tower, The Star Rises

13 Wednesday Dec 2017

Posted by in Enchanted, Magic, Poetry, Reflections

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Two violet booklets with a butterfly emerging from a crysalis depicted on the cover, on a wooden surface. Title: "Showing My Hand: a Poet's Tarot, by Halo Quin".

XVII: Star

Tell me,
my dreams,
which of you are true?
Which celestial spark points North
and leads me to my cave,
my court,
my stage?
And which is the lighthouse,
warning of the shallows
where sirens live?
Where do the rivers
of sleep lead?

 

 

In the spring of this year, I fell apart.

Some wonderful things happened. Some hard. I railed against the limitations I felt caged by. I explored ways of finding and making space.

The wheel turned, and everything changed. And nothing changed.

A birds-eye view of a lit, large cream candle, lighting a stainless steel pen and a journal page with a quote "the best way to predict the future is to create it." and a purple ribbon bookmark.The trick to magical manifestation, I have always found, is to be clear on what you truly desire. When everything you’re holding together begins to fall apart, struck by lightning perhaps, you can no longer ignore the cracks. When beautiful things appear in your life they highlight the parts you’ve allowed to become stagnant.

 

Under the light of the stars, I find my clarity. I have stories to share, of how I became an accidental published poet, and discovered I’ve always been a Bard. I joined an Order, which makes me chuckle, and I’ve learned that I really am wired differently to the majority of people. And finally, finally, I can see a path ahead for my studies. I’ve wandered for several years without direction, buried under the weight of my thesis despite my gratitude for the opportunity. And now, perhaps, I’ve chosen a destination…

 

An altar lit by a bright lantern-candle in the dark, outside, with apples and drinking cup barely visible.And I’ve found a way to dance again! I can no longer dance for hours every week in ATS Belly Dance, but I can strap my knees and back up (corsetry is surprisingly useful for this!), indulge in some spirits, and relax into freeform dancing as long as I listen to my body.

There is light in the darkness, always, and always more tales to tell.

 

 

Dreaming Big before 30!

24 Sunday Aug 2014

Posted by in Creative Process, Following Delight

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , ,

This summer I moved house, got married and turned 29. Before this I presented my first aesthetics paper in a conference outside of my home-uni, in Hungary no less, had two philosophy pieces accepted for publication, three pieces of pagan related writing accepted for anthologies, and sold some art.

It’s been an exciting year. Re-enchantment really works!

Given that it’s my last year as a twenty-something I’ve decided to celebrate by setting myself some big challenges (because I enjoy making things happen) and attempting to match this year for excitement (which may be a tall order!) and I know they’re more likely to happen if I hold myself accountable, so…

Goals before I turn 30:

Publish 3 more pieces of philosophical writing

Finish the bulk of my PhD first draft (that’s about 50,000 words to write)

Visit 3 new places (preferably abroad)

Exhibit artworks twice (UPDATE: 1/2 done 27/09/14 – Art exhibition ‘A River of Animals‘ at the Confucius Institute in Lampeter’s 10th anniversary)

COMPLETED! Perform twice in public – storytelling, singing or something else! (UPDATE: 1/2 done 27/09/14 – Storytelling ‘A River of Animals’ at the Confucius Institute in Lampeter’s 10th anniversary UPDATE: 2/2 DONE! Dancing with Tribal Unity Wales at Lampeter World Dance Festival on Friday 17th October!)

Share my Fae work somehow – perhaps in a devotional book, a workshop or a talk?

Create a second Oracle Deck – Healing Hearts (which I’ve committed to anyway)

Learn to play 3 songs on the guitar that I can also sing to

They sound like a stretch, but an achievable one.

My plan to succeed? To combine projects. I’ve applied to perform animal stories at a local event where they would also exhibit some artworks. The Healing Hearts project will come with both stories to perform and art to exhibit, and writing my thesis leads to philosophical diversions which can be submitted for publication. And hopefully I can find places to perform, speak or present philosophy that I’ve never been to before. The guitar learning is just for fun 😉

So, who would like to exhibit some beautiful deity artworks? Who would like to host a storytelling evening? And who wants to hire me to talk to your group about faeries, enchantment and making life magic? Or do you know someone else who might want to host my work?

And who wants to share their goals? Who has a big dream (or three) for the next year and would like their declaration of intent witnessed? Comment below!

A Song of Autumn

24 Tuesday Jul 2012

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

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , ,

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…

Musings on Queenship

12 Tuesday Jun 2012

Posted by in Faery, Following Delight, Magic, Philosophy, Queenship, Reflections

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I was challenged, given a quest, to become Queen of my life. First I want to know what that means… so I asked. What does it mean to be queen? A Queen, but not to hold power over other people… to be sovereign in one’s own life, I suppose…

My studio. My temple. My Throne? Where I make magic, where life is understood, where change begins. Art allows me to be fully myself. When I paint, I come home. If being Queen is having sovereignty over one’s life, then this must be the heart of my realm.

What would it mean to be Queen?

Queen of my life? My heart, my art?

A Queen rules her realm

My realm is my self

A self, a realm, a life.

To rule

To lead

To protect

To hold within all that belongs to one…

I rule my self.

Queen of my life, my heart, my art.

There is space for what I love

And I am responsible for making what I wish come true.

No waiting for another.

I am Queen of my life.

Whatever I wish

I must command it so.

No other may

No other can

In my realm

I am the sun, the moon, the stars

And each who I encounter is sovereign in their realm,

As I am in mine.

I rule my self.

Queen of my life, my heart, my art.

I hold the power of my realm

Only I

I choose

I cause

I create

Enchanted Empowerment – Genesis

20 Friday May 2011

Posted by in Creative Process, Following Delight, Philosophy

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Purple Flying Fish

Enchantment and empowerment work together to transform our lives into something extraordinary!

You may have noticed a sudden invasion of flying fish on this site…

They are, in fact, a Sign!

A little while ago I was rolling the sense of enchantment on my tongue, wondering what was missing. I am a devotee of delight, constantly seeking to re-enchant my life and the world around me (though I’ll be the first to admit that its an ongoing saga, a work in progress for certain!) and yet there was something missing in my writings, something with backbone, something to give the enchantment strength… and so it came together in my mind!

The missing link was power; the power that rises from within, the power of choice, the power to shape our lives in the ways we choose.

As soon as the word ’empowerment’ clicked in my mind I understood: we need power to make our dreams come true, and we need to tap into the wonder of enchantment to shape our dreams in enchanting ways that feed our heart and souls.

And so the concept of ‘Enchanted Empowerment‘ was born!

This is so huge a concept that I felt the need to start at the beginning, and a week-long outline expanded into 6 months! I began, then, with Compass Building. Starting with where we are, Here and Now, a return to centre. Month one stands alone as a foundation for enchanted empowerment, and it will be built on further… first spiralling outward to the points of the compass, and then in creating a map to our dreams!

I don’t know where the flying fish came from, but once they appeared they’ve followed me since.

And they really do make me smile…

For more information on the course, and to sign up check out the page for month one here.

And for a weekly email of musings and updates sign up here!

Whimsy

13 Friday May 2011

Posted by in Art Craft and Beauty

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , ,

Dancing in the Stars

Whatever’s wrong with whimsical?
With just-a-little-twee?
Its whimsy lightens up our heart
And makes the world happy.

Much as I adore the night,
And dancing with the moon,
Its whimsy that lives in my soul
Winking from my dreams at noon!

~Haloquin, Friday 13th May 2011

Pearl Pentacle – Liberty

04 Monday Apr 2011

Posted by in All Posts, Magic, Pentacles

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Pearl - Liberty Painting

Choose your limits

Everything that you do requires power. Power is the ability to make things happen.~ Hiro Boga

And when you claim your power to make things happen, you gain liberty…

Standing strong in yourself, with power in your heart, you see the way open before your eyes.

You know you are capable of choice, of action, and your ability to choose your path means you are free, free to choose your own responsibilities, free to be yourself, free to choose when to say yes and when to say no.

When you claim your power for yourself, you are at liberty to decide to manifest your own destiny, or not.

When liberty rises, you choose.

And there are limitations, we are not infinite beings, we are embodied, we are finite, we are living with limitations and obligations…

But these do not change the fact that we are free to choose how we respond to them, how we live within them.

That the world is only so big does not mean we are not free, it only means that we have only a certain amount of land to walk upon… and we are free to choose whether we start walking, or whether we stay put.

You have the power to choose your own path, you are free to walk the way you choose.

The path may only be two feet wide, but you choose to look up as you walk, or down at your feet, or to sit by the side and refuse to move at all.

Claim your power, your ability to act and choose within whatever limits may exist, and feel the freedom that rises within.

As Epictetus, a Greek Philosopher and slave, insisted, there are certain things we do not have control over, but in those areas where we do, we are free. As such, even he, a slave, felt himself to be free.

Liberty is possible when we accept our own power, and where we are powerless, and we then begin to choose.

 

What do you choose?

 

This is the fifth 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.

 

Pearl Pentacle – Knowledge

28 Monday Mar 2011

Posted by in All Posts, Magic, Pentacles, Reflections

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Knowing

Knowing

What do I know?

What are my skills?

What have I learned in my time incarnated?

 

We all know something so well we forget others may not understand it.

We all have skills we have learnt to help us survive.

When we begin to know ourselves, we begin to know what we know… Who we are includes our skills and knowledge, and who we are is expressed through that which we have invested much energy learning about. We are, in the world, what we do; our actions are a true reflection of what and who we are… Even when we wish we were different.

 

What do you know?

How do you express that knowledge?

When you act from what you know you express that part of yourself in the world. Only you can share that knowledge, those skills, that understanding in that way.

Know what you know, and know how you express your knowledge, and you will know who you are… And, perhaps, what you need to change in your expression in order to become the best you that you can be.

 

Know your self.

 

Know your skills.

 

Know your role in your world…

Pearl Pentacle – Introduction

28 Monday Feb 2011

Posted by in All Posts, Magic, Pentacles

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Earlier this month I wrote a series of posts on the Iron Pentacle, a meditational  tool for self-discovery and transformation used within the Reclaiming tradition. The Iron Pentacle, and its partner, the Pearl Pentacle, came from the Feri tradition, and have evolved within Reclaiming to become something slightly different.

I spoke of Iron, now it is time for Pearl…

The Iron pentacle is the foundation of self, the work of a lifetime.

The Pearl pentacle is what happens when you are strong and balanced in yourself; healthy relationships and communities arise. Pearl is, therefore, the work of many lifetimes.*

Energetically Pearl is what happens when the energies of Iron come into balance and vibrate up, expanding from a self-centric to a community-centric relationship with the world. Conceptually, Pearl is what happens when you take the ideas of Iron and imagine them expressed in community and in the world in a healthy way.

The point of Pearl grow out of the points of Iron…

Sex becomes Love

Pride becomes Law

Self becomes Knowledge

Power becomes Liberty

Passion becomes Wisdom

We need a strong sense of Iron in order to act through Pearl… if you do not have a clear, clean access to lifeforce, you cannot express it in support of others and connect healthily. If you do not have an sense of your place in the world, you cannot understand the natural Law which places all things in relationship, in the flow of cause and effect. If you have no knowledge of yourself you cannot know the world… and so on.

Continue reading →

Retreats

08 Tuesday Feb 2011

Posted by in All Posts, Art Craft and Beauty, Creative Process, Philosophy

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , ,

Every time I come across mention of a creative retreat, I wish I was on one.

People talk of meeting other writers and spending a block of time just writing together, sharing stories and ideas and support, challenging each other and being there for each other. This appeals to me.

People talk of getting together with other artists to carve out a precious piece of time dedicated to creating art, honing skills, and immersing themselves in the creative process. This, too, appeals to me.

I love working with other people around, also working on the same kind of thing. Going on the university run Philosophy conference sets aside time in a beautiful place dedicated to just doing Philosophy and inspiring each other, and means that all sorts of things happen in writing and sparking ideas.

Maybe, then, instead of trying to set aside time to study each day I can plan a ‘private conference’ for myself, where I listen to philosophical podcasts, hunt down articles and offer up ideas for comment soemwhere like Facebook. Perhaps doing this will inspire me to dive back into my studies, and interacting with others will help me keep motivated?

Perhaps I could invite others over for creative afternoons, even if we just connect through Skype and blogs and Facebook? And perhaps, if no-one else is available, I can allow myself time for specific projects that I can get excited about in the anticipation-soaked wait… so half the reason, the retreat side of retreating, can at least be pressent.

I could join in on Play-date Tuesday, or workless Wednesday.

I could join the One World, One Heart giveaway to focus myself.

I could solicit interest here and now… Anyone up for getting together sometime? Either digitally or, even better, in person? Bring your creative project and I’ll bring mine, we can picnic in a park or make forts in a living room! Any other philosophy students out there? We can share interesting online talks, share summaries of our current pieces for inspiration and support, maybe even *gasp* get some discussion going?

Anyone else interested?

In the meantime, I’m going to experiment with reframing ‘study-sessions’ into ‘private conferences’ or retreats and see if I can get back into my studies by imagining they’re as fun as they are!

(I enjoy my studies while doing them, its getting started that I’m struggling with… bribery, time-limits, and making a schedule hasn’t helped so far, lets see if making a game of it will!)