September Creations
I must have sat down at least 10 times to write this blog post and was always being called away to last minute camping, or to the bees, getting the kids back to school, or something much more pressing such as jam making or the crazy idea that processing 30 pounds of tomatoes sounds like a good idea!
Yes I have many excises as to why it has been weeks since my last post!!
Having said that though, it has been a full start to the fall and I have been loving {mostly} every moment of it. My most recent foray was making Red Drums for the shop over at Red Moon designs and then I got to actually meet one of my customers when she dropped by to pick up a drum, which does not happen nearly as much as I would like, as we had a wonderful chat where she shared with me that thew drum was a celebration of her embracing her crone years as a gift to herself, and I was beyond happy to see the drum go to such loving hands. Then a day later a big commission came in to make 10 red drums for some local early childhood educators to use with the kids they work with. I was thrilled and happy for it, but my goddess do my red hands hurt!
Of course in between drums, my jewelry trays have been full with my new inspiration of creating a line called Ceremonial Jewelry and then I moved onto creating a ton of beautiful pieces with Picasso Jasper. Call I tell you how much I am in love with the earthiness of these stones, of the reds and browns they create, I could go on and on!!
“Picasso Jasper is a earth element stone and very grounding. For centuries people have used the unique markings in this stone as a way of divination and telling the future. Picasso Jasper allows us to tap into the ancient past of the earth and meditate deeply on own own inner knowing by connecting us to the earth.”
Yes, the weather has been wonderful and sunny, with cold evenings which are my favorite, as the smell in the air is so earthy and crisp, and it reminds me that it is time to pull our my Autumn recipies for pumpkin scones, soups and homemade chai.
And so I leave you with one last image of our outdoor shrine all decked out for last years Mabon, and send you many wishes for a sweet transition into fall…
Sweet Honey Harvest
This year we had the sweetest honey harvest ever!
Well actually it was our first honey harvest ever, as last year we left all of the honey for the bees, and the year before the bees that lived here belonged to Nao, who always gave us several jars, but the harvest always happened over at her place.
Yes this year I did the harvest all on my own and then invited the community over to our house to take part and share in the sweetness with us!
Everything kind of happened in several stages over the course of the past 2 weeks, starting with making sure that the honey was ready to be taken and then taking it over the course of several days, the last of it being taken about 4 days ago.
The bees, considering what they went through this year, many of the hives being swarm splits and queenless at certain points did amazingly well!
As you can see below there were many many frames full of fully capped honey for us to take, BUT having said that it is important to leave quite a bit of honey for the bees so they do not starve over the winter. This being my first year “robbing the bees” of their honey I had a bit of reading up to do to make sure that I did not take too much!
The first day I took only 4 frames, which weighed about 10 lbs per frame, heavier then you might expect! Chatting with the bees I explained what I was doing and thanked them for the sweetness that they would bring us over the winter months and leaving them sweet offerings.
Luckily last year when Nao moved to Honey Grove she sold me her small honey extractor so I was all set up for the harvest!
Our family gathered in the kitchen that first night and watched as liquid gold spun out of the frames and into the filtering bucket, where slowly it filtered through the netting and then, finally we were able to fill our first precious jars of honey!
It was truly magical and I felt very blessed to have my children be able to experience the crazy amazing phenomena and magic of what thousands of bees create!
A few days later I was able to gather several more frames of honey and then we invited the neighborhood community over. Have I ever mentioned that a LOT of children live on our block? It only took a few calls and we had a full kitchen of curious children excited about seeing honey and spinning the comb out!
Of course at this point we were all seasoned experts{*wink*}and were able to give a full demonstration of how it all worked and then let everyone have a try at combing the caps of the top of the honey to prepare it for the extractor.
I am not sure which was more fun for the kids having a crank on the extractor, or getting to fill up their own jars of honey!
The night was sticky, but finally when everyone had left and the floor was mopped for the thousandth time, I again had a wash of gratefulness, for I could see that much like the bees we all live in a community, sharing the same streets and caring for each others children and well being. Our neighborhood really is a thriving busy place and, one week later I was preparing my observation hive to take to our block party for all the kids to see.
Yes it has been a busy and sweet year for us! What has made your summer sweet?
Adventures at the Collage of the Melissae and the Goddess Temple
A few weeks ago my family and I drove down to California from where we live here in B.C, this trip has become a bit of an annual one, as both Sohrab’s brother and sister both live in the bay area, and it has become one we look forward to each summer.
This year though I had connected with Laura Ferguson the director of The Collage of the Melissae/Center for Sacred Beekeeping and wanted to actually met her in person and see what she has created over this past year.
Laura lives in Ashland and the center is located at a beautiful hot springs on the same land as the Goddess temple Ashland so I could not be more excited!
If you were to go to the web–site you would see that the model and syllabus says this: “The College of the Melissae offers a community-centered hands-on approach to beekeeping science, art, craft, culture and ceremony. Modeled after ancient village-based temple educational systems, the college will offer a multi-faceted curriculum that will train students to become proficient beekeepers as well as develop the skills to provide action-based magic and leadership in these changing times.
We intend to go beyond current beekeeping practices by delving into the Sacred and developing a deep resonant interaction with Apis Mellifera. Through collective envisioning and prayer we will celebrate and strengthen community and learn from one of Nature’s greatest emissaries, the Mysterious Honey Bee.”
The collage where the student beekeepers gather is in a dome shaped structure with a lovely wood floor and smells of the sweet heavenly smell of beeswax and honey.
This is a perfect place for their community to gather and learn, and I was spellbound and fully inspired by what they have created in such a short time!
Laura greeted me on the path to the goddess temple and the bee temple and took me deep into the gardens on the property, we spoke at length about our own ideas and philosophies on beekeeping and were delighted to realize that we both share the same out look with regards to sacred beekeeping–We need to meet the bees where they are, not the other way around!
Laura is a humble gentle woman with a HUGE amount of energy, which is good, because she is at the forefront of this new and exciting movement with regards to the honey bee and gathering community to bring awareness and support to the honey bee, as Colony Collapse has affected millions of bees and pollinators each year and it is getting worse!
Laura guided me up the hill and onto the sacred site where the students keep their bees, stopping at the base to ground and settle ourselves before entering the bee yard, which I appreciated because between the two of us the energy was high as we excitedly talked and shared. Once we got to the top and my eyes met the hives I was stilled and humbled as I heard the buzzing and happenings of the bees in the individual worlds of their hives.
Each student took the time to paint their boxes, creating beautiful pieces of art for the bees to live in. As we walked through the hives Laura explained the consciousness of each hive to me, and related it to be similar to the personality of the man or woman who was their beekeeper. I have long thought this to be true as my bees recognize me and reflect my moods back to me while I am in the hives. This makes me more aware of the state of mind and pushes me to “bee” more mindful in my life.
I was also struck by the acceptance of men into the structure of the collage, as typically spiritual melissae are woman only, but Laura has created both Bee priestesses and Priests as both men and women come together to work in a sacred manner with the bees. For in the end, no matter what you call us, all that really matters is that we are doing the work we feel called to do, and in my opinion if this helps the decline of the honey bee, I am all for it!
There are many exciting things to come at the collage, right now they have approx 15 hives{to my count} on the property, with more to come I am sure! Laura and I only had a precious hour to spend together before she had to run off to work, but we managed to cram it all in, parting ways with promises to keep in touch and to collaborate on the new on-line course that is developing. It is my hope to support the school in any way I can, offering some of the shamanic wisdom of the bees that I have learned from my ancestors over these past years and helping to spread the word of the work she is doing.
Once she left I wandered down to the Goddess Temple and the Red Tent tipi that is there and made offerings of copies of our Moon Mysteries book, prayers and other sweet things I had brought with me….
I will leave this post now with some of the photos I took of the Goddess temple, for really there are no words to describe the peaceful energy that resides there, nor my experience as I sat alone taking it all in–other then to say I left with a deep peace in my heart, and an inner fire in my belly to follow my heart and path as a priestess of the Melissae.
The Goddess Temple Ashland:
The Red Tent at the Goddess temple:
Shanti Uganda. Close to my heart, yet far away.
Today I would like to share something that has been close to my heart for many years now. As many of you who have been here before know my life’s path is always in service to the divine feminine and so what I want to share today will come as no surprise.
A short story: Sometime in 2006 Natalie Angell the director of Shanti Uganda walked into my home office which at the time was Mama Goddess Birth Shop headquarters and told me about the work she was doing in Uganda with women. Natalie shared with me her personal experiences and explained how high the mortality rate is for mothers and their babies. I had no idea that 1 in 22 women die during childbirth because of a severe shortage of doctors across Africa and access to care very limited in rural areas, and because of the lack of simple supplies such as soap and gloves.
Natalie asked me if I would be interested in donating some of the midwifery supplies I carried to these women.
Not only was I able, I had stacks of supplies that had been given to me by another women who had to go out of business suddenly due to the tragic death of her husband.
This woman would have been my major business competitor, and yet we became fast friends and she asked if I could pass these things on so that there was so me good that came of it all. I had boxes of sterile gloves and blue pads, I had umbilical cord clamps and the list goes on and on! Life seems to be like that, providing when we need!
Needless to say it all went to Shanti Uganda that year and I got more involved then I ever knew I would.
Natalie and I went on to create Birth Kits, these were small kits with all of the essential things that a woman needs to give birth and for postpartum, all packed into a large zip lock bag and sent with volunteers to Uganda over the next 3 years.
In that time Natalie spearheaded the purchase of land and built a Birth house that now services women who would normally have to get themselves Shanti Uganda also has 3 paid midwives and various programs for HIV women to generate their own income, the accomplishments are incredible for such a short time and the difference in these woman’s lives there are simply no words for!
The birth house went from this:
To this, in just under a year!
Since that time I have stayed involved with Shanti, and for the past 2 years I have been serving as an ambassador.This year however I find myself moving from that role and onto the Board of directors. This time I am more involved in Shanti Uganda’s everyday goings on, which has been an inspiration and I am finding that it is passionate and inspired work!
It is my hope that one day I will actually board an airplane and go there!
Here is where you, my community comes in, Shanti Uganda has launched an incredible new program called Birth Partners, allowing those of us who feel called to support a midwife in her work to be of use. The birth Partners program money–ALL OF IT, goes directly to paying our midwives and buying the supplies and running of the birth house, for the proper care of mothers as they give birth.
If you feel called to help out in any way I urge you to visit the Shanti web-site as they have necklaces and bags created by the HIV woman’s income generating program and of course if you become a Birth Partner there is a drop down menu where you can choose Red Moon musings and they will send you a beautiful necklace as well as a card with more information on it. The cost to becomes a birth partner is as little as $25 a month.
Because I am passionate about this work I am honored to say that my shop over at Red Moon designs will be donating a percentage of all my sales over the next year to the Birth Partners program.
As one last thing I would like to mention that if you feel called to actually go to Uganda there are 2 opportunities coming up this year! One to train as a birth Doula and one to Celebrant Uganda in a once n a lifetime trip!
Close to my heart yet so far away, Shanti Uganda is creating real change for the women they work with and one I just had to share!
Activating change one woman, one mother at a time!
Mid-Summer Lunasadh/Lammas Blessings
Summer is high and much harvesting has been happening, berries and corn, peaches and sweet nectarines and on and on….
Today I spent the day in the red wood forest in California, it was hot and foggy, lush and cold under the deep shadows of the trees. I made small offerings as I went of lavender and sage, crumbles of tobacco and small seeds for the wildlife that lives there, taking in the beauty of these majestic beings.
Next week when I get back back home it will be honey harvesting time and I am ready to immerse myself in the bees sticky sweet offerings. My feelings of gratitude are already widening and making me feel excited for this endeavor!
Crystals,Temples, Eggs, Sacred Jewelry and Honeycomb.
It has been full, full, full over here in the most wonderious ways! Summer kicked off with the bees expanding, the garden flourishing, chickens finally laying eggs, and my inspiration growing.
Of course I am in full on wedding season, writing ceremonies and watching moon eyes lovers commit themselves to each other. I was also honored to give a talk with my dear friends Madeleine and Suzanne from Lunapads with Kate Muker the mastermind behind Conscious Diva’s as she created a beautiful Red Tent event complete with red scarves and beautiful Henna done by my friend Nicole at Healing Body Art.
With all this ceremonial and goddess energy floating around I was able to channel it into a new line I am calling Ceremonial Jewelry designed with earth loving brides, priestesses and goddess women who are looking for a special piece to wear either to attend or facilitate their ceremonies. So far I have quite a few pieces up at the Shop!
This all came from the most recent batch of beads and crystals that I brought into the studio, just looking at them is inspiring enough sometimes!
Of course I wanted to photograph them on a real model before sharing them with the world, so my good friend and model Hanne brought along her daughter and we drove up to one of the most beautiful places I could think of, a Buddhist temple in the middle of the city. We made incense offerings and sat down for tea and some lunch and then headed out to the gardens to take out photos while the girls played, it was an enchanting afternoon.
Later that day we came home to eggs laid by Marty Mc-fly/aka Marty 2.0 {the first was a rooster} named by Zubin after Marty in the movie Back To The Future. Our first eggs came just a little over a week ago with squeals of delight coming from Zahra, I shot these photos just shortly after said eggs were found!
And yesterday I went into the hives to do a check, making sure they are healthy and to see how much honey there would be for harvest, which is only in two short weeks-*squee*, and this is what we saw!
I am always amazed by what theses little creatures can create!
Tomorrow we head out to drive from Vancouver to California, stopping along the way to visit the Goddess temple and Collage of the Mellisae in Ashland.
I am planning to meet Laura Ferguson the director there, and she has promised to give me the grand tour! Photos and a post on that adventure coming up!
BUZZZZZing off for now……..
Nikiah
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