Tag Archives: Living Life

Map Making Step 7 – Daily Practice

26 Wednesday Dec 2012

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Making Space and Time – Prioritising Enchantment

Since making my commitment I have lit a candle every day to honour the Queen of Faery and my chosen path. I have prayed for guidance on my path as an enchantress and made my first deliberate thought the intention to bring beauty, healing and delight to those around me.

Every time I do, I feel better. I feel the kiss of magic.

This is my second lesson;

Make space and time for enchantment.

After opening the day with a prayer to enchantment, over the following hours I find myself wondering what the most enchanting way of behaving in a situation is, how I can best embody ‘Enchantress’ in any given situation.

Often this happens after I’ve noticed myself being less than enchanting! Or when I’ve made an attempt but it was ignored, misunderstood or not noticed. When I berate myself for failure I feel worse, but when I recommit to my goals and make delight a priority I feel better in myself even when I don’t succeed in delighting anyone else.

My Third lesson, then;

Aim for enchantment, forgive yourself if you do not hit the moon!

Map Making Step 6 – Devotee of Delight

19 Wednesday Dec 2012

Posted by in Enchanted, Following Delight

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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.
In recent posts I’ve discussed each of these aspects, how an enchantress uses Glamourie and Honesty, a hint of what it means to be Fae, what beauty is and how this relates to Healing. Each of these is an aspect of enchantment, the magic of the Fae. Each one can be used in negative ways too, illusion and glamourie can be used to mislead, transformation is not always healing and Faery runs by its own, untamed laws.

As human beings who live within the world, with other human beings and dependent upon the land and those around us – however self-sufficient we can manage to become we still have to depend on good relations to allow us to stay in a specific space! – it is sensible to use these skills in positive ways, to work to heal and help ourselves and others, whether human or Fay. The majority of magic-workers understand this and the fact that everything is interconnected. The double-edged nature of enchantment – and all magic – means that we can protect and defend ourselves where necessary and the interconnected nature of all means that we will think carefully about what course of action to take. As a result I will be posting almost exclusively about the positive side of enchantment and trusting my readers to follow their own ethical codes.

An Enchantress is one who enchants.

As one who focusses on beauty, healing and joy, I am also a Devotee of Delight.

I am Enchantress and Devotee of Delight. When I remember these two things together I follow a healing, beautiful path.

Map Making Step 5 – An Enchantress… causes change

12 Wednesday Dec 2012

Posted by in Enchanted, Magic, Reflections

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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.

This week I’m looking at what it means that an Enchantress causes change and how that relates to healing. And Circe makes an appearance!

***

Circe
Tranforms
men into beasts
What she sees
their true nature
revealed.
Circe,
Do you know
How their time
Spent four-legged
Healed them
Once returned?

One of the most notable enchantresses in mythology named as such is Circe. She lived upon an island and had the power to transform humans into the animals they appeared to be. You could understand this as her revealing their true nature. Perhaps the men who she changed into pigs couldn’t see how greedy they were being when they tried to steal her treasure. You can guarantee that they understood this after their time with four legs!

Everything is change, constant change. If a key activity of enchantment is the creation of beauty then creating more beauty will include healing as healing is change that leads to wholeness and greater understanding.

An enchantress then heals by causing change. By sharing beauty and joy, by creating glamourie and mirroring those around her and through direct methods of healing she creates space for change and helps others to change themselves.

 

Map Making Step 2 – Commit

21 Wednesday Nov 2012

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As the moon swung into darkness I dreamed.

I dreamt of the sea, crashing against the shore.

I dreamt of emerald green forests on red cliffs.

A butterfly landed on my head and I heard music.

The song of the wild world.

I took a deep breath and I sang.

At the dark moon I made space for my enchanting, an altar to the Queen of Faery and Enchantment in my studio space.

As the moon turned bright I lit a candle and prayed that She would guide me along the path of enchantment and that I, in turn, could bring beauty, joy and healing to the worlds every day.

I felt her presence and her assent.

I dreamt of stairways through darkness and coridoors that moved, of hidden rooms and choosing life.

I felt the weight of mundanity. How to follow the magic while working retail? I walked through the dark, breathing, waiting, praying. How? Until the darkness lifted and I realised that even here were people to enchant, folks to offer laughter and to lighten the day for. I remembered my goal as someone who offers service to customers… I hope to bring a little joy to each heart that I encounter, to help them leave with a smile even if not what they came to buy.

I know I do not always succeed, but even at work there is space for joy. Everywhere there are people there can be enchantment.

Enchantress in Training; Lesson 1.

Commit to enchantment even where you don’t think it is possible. Try, wherever you can, to bring a little joy into the lives of those around you. Make this your offering to the Queen and a gift to those around you. Remember that you cannot please everyone and remember that every real smile makes the world a little happier.

Commit to enchantment.

Passing Over of a Tree Whisperer

27 Monday Aug 2012

Posted by in Reflections

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This week was my paternal grandfather’s funeral.

He held no fear of death and, by the time he went, he was ready for it.

The service was beautiful, he was – among many other things – the Church Warden for St. Bartholomew’s and a veteran of the RAF. The British Legion stood on ceremony, a British flag draped the coffin and the church community gathered round the family.

There were no cut flowers since he hated them, feeling they should be growing instead – a sentiment I can identify with wholeheartedly! I am sure he spoke the language of flowers and trees as they would thrive under his care. I remember when he tended the roses in my father’s garden. My step-mother was horrified, Grampy cut them right down to the ground that autumn… but come spring they grew even stronger and healthier and bigger than ever before.

Once, when I was small, he took me out onto the sea, pulling me behind him in the rubber dinghy we had for seaside holidays. As I floated, slowly sliding across the ocean surface, he gestured to the distant hills. “Sometimes,” he told me, “I can see through this world, into the other world. Death doesn’t scare me because I know that what lies beyond is beautiful, wonderful, an adventure.” I watched the hills as they shimmered with the power of his story and I have carried that moment with me ever since.

As he lay in the hospital and we stood beside him, knowing he wouldn’t wake up again, we said our goodbyes. And I knew he was near, not in the shell of who he was but standing tall and strong, ready for the shimmering world beyond those hills, ready to become a Guardian Angel for his great-grand-daughter, being born as he left this plane, and an Angel watching over all his family.

I am so grateful to my beautiful Grampy, the tree-whisperer, and whenever I step out into the green world now, I feel him near.

Love to you, Grampy, and love to all the family. We’re all thinking of you.

Photo - Hawthorn 1-8-12

Hawthorn, the tree of the dreamer… a doorway between the worlds… in honour of the man who dreamt of a better world and made it so, quietly, calmly and with a smile that could win over any heart.

A Song of Autumn

24 Tuesday Jul 2012

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

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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…

My Office in the Sunshine

14 Saturday Jul 2012

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

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My Office in the Sun

Ah! Life is Sweet!

Its a strange thing to find myself actually working from home. Taking my materials outside I craft in the sunshine and it is work. I am the owner of a business, fledgling as it is, a ‘Business-Woman’. This title I once felt I couldn’t claim for myself, I thought I was uncomfortable with the concept but I’ve realised this past month that the concept did not scare me, rather I felt like I wasn’t doing enough to accept the label for my own. As a registered, self-employed artist now I find the label fits comfortably and I’m excited to play with this new hat on!

Especially when it means I can justify sitting in the sunshine listening to the bees love the flowers!

A bumblebee loving a flower - picture

Why yes Mr. Bee, we can have a meeting now!

Strange how much it takes for us to feel justified doing the things we love…

Beading for a workshop - picture

The Tempest has snuck into every corner of my life… even my beading reflects a sea-theme.

My Beltane Quest

08 Friday Jun 2012

Posted by in Following Delight, Magic, Reflections

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The thread of fate weaves through the tapestry of life… like Ariadne’s thread leading you to your centre, to the heart of your life.

Beltane. The turning of the year from darkness to light.

A time of transformation, of beginnings, of springing into the future.

A time where that which you have dreamt over the long winter nights can enter the world…

It has been a magical month, Beltane coincides with May Day and this year May itself became the day on which the year turned!

It began with the full moon’s growing before May itself. A birthday party. Divination by the river… a call to sovereignty. My question was; how can I make a living doing what I love?

The answer; first you must be Queen.

Well, what do you do with an answer like that?

I committed to finding Sovereignty in my life, trusting that it would become clear. And so began my Beltane quest.

I wonder; what is the quest you are on right now? What is the quest waiting for you?

 

(Watch this space for the unfolding of the story…)

An Offering – Mini-Create with Care Workbook!

13 Sunday May 2012

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

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Create With Care Mini-Workbook

Click to sign-up to my list to receive the Mini-workbook…

Hello Folk!

You might have seen my recent post inspired by Creating With Care in which I talk about the reasons why creative folk would be best off respecting nature when we work. It can be tricky to work out how we are to do that however, so I’ve crafted a mini-workbook to help, which I offer here for your enjoyment 🙂

All you need to do is click the image in this post and you’ll be guided through a process which signs you up to my newsletter and delivers the link for you to download the mini-workbook all ready for you to print in colour or black and white, complete with tips and instructions to help you get the most out of it!

I’m excited to be able to offer this mini-book and I’d love to hear what you think 🙂

In Delight,,

~Halo x