Herbal Witch-Crafting, Beeswax and lessons from my neck!
These past few weeks have brought with them the flutter of fire in the belly inspiration, and I knew I had to go where the muse called.
You see this was not an easy task at first, because I have been riding a month long writing phase, full of divine inspiration and the excitement that a new project brings, and it was this, that had to be set down to let other things to flow through.
Read More»Making a Fairy House
This week Zahra and I got it into our heads to make a fairy house, but firstly let me say that making a fairy house is very serious business and should not be taken lightly.
The fae have very specific needs and this must not be overlooked when taking upon oneself the task of inviting them into a home you have build yourself, otherwise you may find yourself missing important items around the house, waking up with knotty hair or worse!
The first thing we had to do was gather together all the best things that fairies like. This was an easy task as the kids bring in all sorts of pine cones and goodies from our weekly walks in the forest. Then I had an idea to bring up to the deck an old stump we had in the garden to put the house on top of, which worked like a charm!
Then we tied together a triangle structure with sticks and string and then glued bark all over it, most of which came from the old stump.
Then of course we had to add moss and make little mushrooms and ladybugs and a table, and a swing……
It really is in the small details, like a ladder to get in and out from, a hidden nest at the back, and berries for the fairies to eat, but most importantly, lets not forget to write them a note to let them know that the house is for them!
And when it is all done place it in the garden just by the offering shrine and tucked behind the bees for good luck!
And now we wait for the magic to happen!
Welcome Fairies!
Old Spider Woman
Old spider woman
Quietly makes her way up to the top of the hill
in the time of the red moon.
Painting by Susan Seddon-Boulet
Once there
she sits quietly weaving,
and singing her songs through the skin of her drum,
and she cries out to the hearts of her daughters.
Daughters she says,
join me
gather all of the strings of your life together
and bring them to the meeting place,
at the top of the mountain, when the moon is high.
And together we shall weave and sing,
and dance our stories
until all the healing is complete.
By Nikiah Seeds
unfinished, just begun, done……
I have been working on some lovely projects over here this week, and I have been working back and forth between rooms, lovingly looking at one project, touching up another and finishing yet another….
New Bear Medicine Necklace and Coyote Medicine Necklace finished this week...
This way of working has been transformational since I moved into my new craft room, as the same piece I left off with the day before, does not always call me when I wake up in the morning, so I need to move on, in order to listen to what is coming through in that moment…
It may mean that something that only needs a clasp does not get finished for a week or so, or something that is half finished and needs to be done in a timely manner gets left{like soaking rattle skins in dye for three days} only to be discovered that they did not in fact rot, but rather the skin went really soft and the dye permeated it in a way I would have never known had I pulled them when I was supposed to!
Deer antler and wolf rattle, left to dye for 3 days~
Things happen, they succeed or fail, I never know which it will be until it is actually finished- and it is time to either take photos of it, or take it apart!
This morning I had a dream that I was walking into a room to teach a drum making workshop and to my great surprise the class was full–in fact over full and filled with both men and women. I was thrown off and then I realized to my horror that in my excitement to be teaching I had forgotten the actual drums!
The students took it well and agreed to come back the following week–I wonder what that could have meant? I do have a drum making workshop coming up but…..
Today my projects have spilled out into some photos for here, as my camera called to me this morning to the chagrin of my unfinished wolf necklace…….
And the Swan smudge wand I am working on using beautiful Swan feathers found in England.
Oh- and the Deer antler rattle I am smoothing out to make a large rattle with, I can see this going to a wonderful and spiritual man with big hands.
Then there is the wonderful Maala using beads from Shanti Uganda, I have been asked to make for the Journey of 108 beads, I am praying and saying the Om mane padme hum, mantra over each bead, so I have to be calm and centered for this work, it is slow going but wonderfully meditative.
Once done the beads will travel all over the world and be used and prayed over 108 times, when the last person has worked and prayed with them they will then be sent back.
108 beads is a LOT!
*sigh* And my bee boxes, which I am prepping to paint using the natural powder paint pigments I bought in England this past summer.
Setting up my silversmithing studio and getting my new soldering torch fired up!
There is so much to do, with updating my etsy shop and re-taking all of my jewelry shots to show them actually being worn...well it is fun and I am truly amazed every day that I sold my business in order to truly embrace my souls calling, that I had the support to do it and am following the call, wherever it takes me….
A song for Autumn….
They taught me different is wrong…..
Which one does not belong?
Last week I woke up with an Ani Difranco song running through my head, and slowly as I fully woke up the lyrics became quite cathartic to me{as most of her early songs usually do} and I found myself scrambling to my journal to muse on what was running through my head…
when I was four years old
they tried to test my I.Q.
they showed me a picture
of 3 oranges and a pear
they said,
which one is different?
it does not belong
they taught me different is wrong.
It was this line:”they taught me different is wrong“….. that I have been coming back to all week, and it ties into something that has been on my mind for a bit now–our daughters!
So stay with me here for a moment, I promise that this all ties in, it just may take me a bit…
You see even though my daughter is only 8 years old, my son is 12 and many of my close friends have daughters that are also 12, and these daughters are now slowly starting to get their first moon blood/menstruation.
Now some of the folks here may have read me mentioning that I have co-written a book that is very close to publication, but as of yet I have not really mentioned the subject that it was written on, but since it has everything to do with this post and is so near publication I want to share it here today-this book is on the sacredness of our moon blood, of our menstruation.
This is a subject near and dear to my heart, it has everything to do with the divine feminine, with the name of this Blog and my web-site, and once I have the beloved book in my hands to share, I will be able to openly chat here about that process.
BUT– back to today and this musing on our daughters and the message that they are being sent on a daily basis, that nothing could be worse then standing out and apart from the crowd, that doing things differently is somehow wrong!
This is NOT ok to me, but ironically this is really starting to hit home in a more profound way with our daughters around the time of their first moon cycles-which these days is between the ages of 10-12!!
This is partly to do with their new sense of themselves in the world, and their changing bodies, and partly to do with what they are hearing from their world around them.
Whatever is a mother to do?
Last night I went out to see a woman whose books have changed the lives of millions of women{mine included} Dr Christiane Northrup.
The evening was insanely fun and while I was there I ran into some good friends of mine Suzanne Siemens and Madeleine Shaw the owners of Lunapads, one of the largest manufacturers of cloth menstrual pads in the world!
Me and the Lunagals
These women are a constant inspiration to me, they not only mentored me through tons of business issues I had while I owned Mama Goddess but also supported me through my decision to sell it.
What Madeleine and Suzanne have created is essentially a model for female based business that not only sells to women, but is entirely run my women and successful while maintaining their integrity to the planet and their own personal values- a HUGE undertaking!
To say that these women are dynamic and a complete inspiration just does not feel adequate enough–they are beautiful and they stand on their own, apart from the Tampax using crowd!
So last night there I am doing hip circles with Dr Northrup, Madeleine and Suzanne, and after we get to talking about Rites of passage and our daughters and the huge thing it is to be a young women, about being women in business, and the huge thing it is to own a business that stands apart and is “Different” from what might be “easy” and how hard that is, but So worth it!
How hard and overwhelming it feels a lot of the time, but we each know that there is no where else we would rather be!
And so I come full circle, I am on the precipice of several crazy exciting projects, my book being one of them, and I am excited and overwhelmed by the task at hand, in equal amounts.
I know that I am different–this is nothing new to me, but I also remember the days when all I wanted was to fit in and to be the same as everyone else, this lesson does not come easily and I believe that we all have to go through it–no one is exempt from this initiation because we are all ‘Different” in our own way!
So as I watch my sweet son and daughter march their way through their lives, figuring out what works for them, and what does not, tears and all, and I am inspired not to help them to conform better, or to fit in better, but to be the best role model I can be in standing apart- for myself!
~I believe that different is not wrong, different can be and is beautiful~
And so I sit here a little closer, but not quite, to the answer of whatever a mother shall do about all of this, ponder more on my path and life’s work, and plan a beautiful Rites of Passage workshop I have been asked to do in Victoria, working with the next generation of women learning to be “different” in their unique ways- Big powerful stuff!
Image from a Blessingway Ritual I did in 2004
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