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Halo Quin

~ Author, storyteller, witch

Tag Archives: Play

Letting go in the Process

23 Saturday Apr 2011

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

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Art Craft and Beauty, Beginnings, creativity, Heart, Honesty, Imperfection, inspirations, Journey, Magic, musings, Passion, Play, process, reasons, Strangeness of Life, Suggestions

Passion

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.

Continue reading →

Secret Tuesday Play Date

15 Tuesday Feb 2011

Posted by Haloquin in All Posts, Art Craft and Beauty, Following Delight

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

challenge, creativity, Enchanted, Feyhearted path, Living Life, Magic, Play

Courtesy of Mary-Ann Devine, the Secret Play Date runs every Tuesday.

Faced with this I remember my thoughts on Retreats, and Havi’s posts on Metaphor Mouse, and how I really enjoy pretty thigns and playing and making space for something different and…

And I remember how I’ve been thinking about how to frame what I’m doing in a way that makes it real and solid and sensical… so I decided to join in the secret play-date and play about that today!

What I’m working on:

My Vision/livelihood/business concept

How I worked on it today:

I built a den!

How it went:

First I started organising the corner I’ve designated as a place for art, study, writing and whatever other creative or magical pursuits I get up to… I’ve not managed to start using this corner yet since my desk and magic chair are *still* at my Mother’s house, so I’ve been working at the dining room table. Some sections of the cupboards are vaguely organised though, so its not completely shambolic!

In the process of organising I found my one set of ritual robes and decided that an enchanter’s corner deserves to be magically delineated… so I donned my pruple robes, lit some old incense (the smell of which transported me right back to the first few years of my magical path) and happily continued.

Comfort, luxury, beauty and organisation were my aims, so I dragged my sheepskin rug and a pillow in and ordered my space. Performing the same action (organising and unpacking) as a deliberately magical act is a marvellous thing, play makes everything more enchanting.

Next in my play-date was using the den-space: I indulged in some brainstorming over what phrase I’d prefer to use instead of ‘fledgling business’ and am hovering around, perhaps, ‘my craft’, which gives me space to hone it before I try and make it a livelihood!

Finally I played with my oil pastels, making swirls, feeling glowy.

I’ve been thinking about enchantment a lot, as my Pixie Kiss posts show, and performing everyday acts with magical intention is a good way to increase the enchantment in your life. I wonder what else I could be wearing robes and burning incense for? Maybe I could try setting up ornate, obvious magical space before I start writing each day and see how that affects things…

Its fun to set aside time to do something a bit different and, while organising a space isn’t quite the same as building a den, looking at it as though it were lead to a different experience and I reckon I’ll be looking on that corner more longingly now!

Knitting Socks

22 Thursday Jul 2010

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

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Determination, Friends, gratitude, Imperfection, learning, Play, Pride, process

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?

What is your Delight?

03 Wednesday Mar 2010

Posted by Haloquin in Following Delight

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Beginning, choice, Determination, growing things, Imperfection, Journey, Living Life, Play, Priorities

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?

The Blank Page

19 Friday Feb 2010

Posted by Haloquin in Creative Process

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Beginning, Creation, Fears, Imperfection, Journey, Play, process, Production

Its the beginnings that are the hardest, at least to start with. I find myself staring at a blank sheet of paper and wonder where to make the first mark, what will be the first sentance? What will be the first line? Getting past this is often hard, this pure white sheet of paper, perfect, unblemished, beautiful in the way only an unmarked page can be…

And then we fill the page with colour and lines and words and it moves from pure emptiness to a place full of life.

Here, in the overcoming of the blank page, something is created. In that hesitation I feel fear, my fear is that I will waste a page, waste an opportunity, waste the moment and make nothing but a mistaken mess. What if it turns out bad? What if I’m not good enough? What if, what if, what if…

And I breathe in the empty page, sit with the space for a moment, and empty out those doubts.

Whatever happens, its never a waste, it is fun, illuminating, inspiring, it helps to flesh out an idea, it is the process of exploring and beginning and is, above all, a chance to play.

That blank page becomes a playground, and while I’m always nervous about what will be built there, even if it is ultimately to be shredded, the cliche about the importance of the journey holds true. Every act of play is important.

I, personally, have often been so wrapped up in having to produce something, that I forget that production is not the point. Every time I sit down to make art, to write, to explore delight, I remind myself that to create is to play on the border of materia and immateria, the point where the physical world and the imagination kiss. Yes, there will often be something that is born of this meeting, but it need not be the focus of creation, and it certainly need not be ‘perfect’.

Perfectionism is where we are scared to get it wrong.

I wonder why beauty need be ‘right’?

I wonder why playtime is seen as a waste?

I wonder if we can sit with the empty page, take a breath, and dive right in with a smile…

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Meet Halo

Snow Pixie

Welcome to my world!

Halo Quin is an author, a storyteller, and a practicing witch with a lifelong relationship with the spirit realm (faeries, deities, and the primal powers of land, sea, and sky, specifically) who aims to share magic through experience. Halo lives in wild West Wales, right by the roiling sea, and loves to sing, dance, and otherwise enchant through performance. She also runs the local storytelling circle, and an ADHD resource centre, and ultimately encourages self-knowledge, self-acceptance, self-healing, and self-enchantment through everything she does... leading to:

Beauty ~ Magic ~ Delight

Re-enchanting the world, one story, one song, one spell, at a time.

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