Inspired

Getting up early has its advantages. I have been moseying around the internet, catching up on the people I follow on Twitter and getting awesomely inspired. This article (http://designtaxi.com/article/102000/10-Ways-To-Thrive-As-A-Creative-Artist/) on how to thrive as an artist is fantastic. As I was reading it, I couldn't help but think how the title couldn't just be cut to "How To Thrive".
The picture below is made from an embroidery artist and it blew me away to think that what I am looking at is embroidery. I believe the artist calls it "Haunted Wash House"

Lughnasdh

Celebrating the first harvest of the season on a hot summer day seemed to me to be very far cry from what I imagined to be a much cooler celebration in the homeland of the Celtics. Still, I got into the spirit of the day by baking an oat bread, harvesting the first crop of crab apples from my tree and a bit of mint and lemon verbena from the herb pots. I used one of my tarot cloths as a place mat in to hold my harvest goodies while I sat enjoyed my oat bread with a cold glass of homemade agave lemonade with a sprig of mint. This reversible tarot cloth can be found for sale in my shop. If you want to make your own Agave lemonade, here is the recipe. Enjoy! 1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice 4 cups water 3/4 cups of agave juice sprig of fresh mint

By The Sea

Let this set of meditation beads take you away to a beautiful shoreline as you touch the fresh water pearls and the soothing coolness of the pebble shaped Sodalite stones. One of the properties of Sodalite is that is can deepen the meditation experience. It is an excellent stone for the mind bringing peace by eliminating confusion. The set is constructed of 3 sections of 7 beads each. The Celtic drop pendant is symbolic of rebirth which is a quality of the element of water. The set measures about 3 inches around and is accented by pewter beads.  I love the uneven shape of this set. It's an interesting look. The uneven shapes of the stones remind me of some of the smooth stones I pick up as I walk along the beach when I visit California
I like making and selling these small bead sets because they are so versatile. I have used mine for meditation and also as part of one of my altars for inspiration and focus. They also make wonderful gifts for friends.

A Stitch In Time

As I was knitting away the other day, I came up with the idea of making some stitch markers for the magically minded. In order to make them "magical" I decided to use the same gemstones I use when making my meditation and prayer beads. I love the idea of being able to work with some tangible energy, even if I'm just knitting. Sometimes I might need the grounded energy of the carnelian stone to help me stay calm when I must once again FROG my project. Today I listed five new stitch marker sets with more to come. They will be themed sets with huge Celtic influence to many of them and most of them will be made with gemstones. These markers can be found in the Magical Trinket section of the shop

Element of Fire

I woke up today shedding tears for my beautiful state of Colorado as it continues to be ravaged by fires. With the obvious concerns for the safety of humans and animals, and compassion for all of the personal property that has been lost by so many thus far, my sorrow today is centered on our beautiful mother earth that is being destroyed. Rebirth will come in time, but for now, the devastation of trees and other living things is heartbreaking. It will leave a burned out scar on what once was a canvass of beauty. Some people here in our state have put together an event at noon our time, asking participants to focus on rain without thunder in order to help quell the fires. Religious beliefs aside, there is something to the concept of the power of collective thought to make change happen. My strong belief in science is most times at odds with things like "rain dances" but focused positive thought towards one common goal cannot be a bad thing. As it stands now, the sun is hidden by some clouds which if nothing else will give some relief to the situation and the firefighters out there. Last night I hand dyed two skeins of yarn and coincidentally, when I looked at each one, I knew what their name was.

 The yarn above is a kettle dyed yarn called Freya's Cloud in shades of blue, teal and grey. The yarn below is a hand painted yarn in grey, purple and blue. It's called "Storm"

Tarot Talk

Over the weekend I finally got my long awaited tarot deck called "The Incidental Tarot" by Holly DeFount. It was well worth the wait! I was part of a support team of people who contributed to the artist to get her deck self published. This was done through a great organization called IndieGoGo. It's a site that provides a platform to raise money for your passion. I love the idea of helping to fund independent artists. Because you are in a large group, the cost is not that big and in return you get a beautiful product. This deck is really lovely. It has a medieval/pagan flair that I like. The picture of Triskelion is my favorite because of it's Celtic origin.

Wheel of Fortune

 

 

I also like, (though am still getting used to) the way the artist has changes the minor suits with the Arrows (Wands), Roses (Cups), Quills(Swords), and Oaks (Pentacles). There are also two Talisman cards. Labyrinth, which represents opportunity, and Ariadne which is "guide". Some of the names of the major arcana cards have been changed as well with names such as Gryphon (Strength), Blue Buddha (Hanged Man), Phoenix (Tower) and the aforementioned Triskelion (Wheel of Fortune). I believe MS DeFount is working on a companion book to go with her deck, which would be fantastic. As of now, she includes an informative one page insert into the box which is well done. The question now is, which tarot cloth to use or make to go with my new deck and what about an idea for a tarot bag? at this point I am think a cabled knit tarot bag in a neutral color like oatmeal would be great. I happen to have a Celtic tarot cloth for sale in the store that would go well with this deck. Lucky for me, I made two of them so I have one in my personal stock. I may need to go and munch on one of the chocolate chip cookies I just made this morning for some additional inspiration on just what to make for this tarot deck. It's a cloudy cool day here in the rocky Mountains, a day made for chocolate chip cookies, hot tea and knitting. Cheers!

Queen of Pentacles

 

 

     

 Here is a link to the artists Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/listing/96494484/the-incidental-tarot-gift-set

Celtic Tarot Cloth

 http://www.etsy.com/listing/66198492/celtic-inspired-tarot-cloth

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     

                                                                                                            

Green Man

Green Man Tarot Spread

In honor of this new season I thought I would compose a simple five card tarot spread.

1. Where you currently stand

2.What you need to leave behind

3.What will be growing in your life during this new season

4. The advice the Green Man bestows on you

5.Outcome of your concern

Before beginning with your spread, take a few minutes to clear your mind and focus on the question you would like some insight into. When you are ready, shuffle the cards and lay them out, maybe on a nice tarot cloth!

Ostara

For this years Ostara ritual, I adopted the theme of "new" and combined it with a bit of Celtic influence. I started off by making a wonderful ritual oil called New beginnings that I happened upon on the internet. The recipe calls for seven different oils with the end result being incredible. The numbers are the drops. The oils used were grapefruit7, lemon4, tangerine4,,lavender4, spearmint2, juniper3, cedarwood4 and cypress3. It calls for 12 drops of the blend to add to 1 ounce of oil. The next new Item was the inclusion of an orange scented almond muffin to use as the cake. I got the recipe from the food network website. I always include tarot cards as part of my rituals. For this ritual I used some cards from a new tarot deck I have called Joie de Vie by Paulina. They happened to have a nice springy look to them as well. My new tool was a white aspen wand gifted to me by a friend which I used to cast my circle. Also new to the altar was my triple green man candle holder, my spring green man plaque, a small set of green moss agate altar beads with an owl charm, my zen chime (which sounds like a singing bowl) and my Celtic Circlestarot/altar cloth. I always include music in my rituals and this time the music was new as well. I put together a special Ostara music list. From Vivaldi's Four Season's I chose "Spring". Following that was two pieces from David Arkenstone's CD Celtic Book of Days, one called "Heart of Spring" and the other "Turning of the Year". To round it all off, two songs by Adrian Von Zieglar, "Celtic Lore" and "A Celtic Tale" from his CD Requiem.

Also included on the altar, but not new, were a rabbit and one of my dyed eggs for Ostara. I used mead as my wine which was fitting as Brigid is the Celtic goddess of the season and she is known as the honey goddess and mead is made out of honey. My altar wand of crystal and moldavite, my frog prince and woman holding a crystal ball and my amethyst cup. I used the four aces from my Llewellyn deck to mark the directions. My animals were the Owl, the dolphin, the cat and the salamander. With every ritual, I like to use something I've made in order to personalize the experience.

My" Serenity" tarot cloth and "Celtic Knots" tarot cloth would make nice altar cloths to use for any Spring rituals. For spring I also have two knitted bags, an Ostara Tarot bag and Spring tarot bag. Check them out at my store on Etsy