Forever Crafting

I’m working with cold porcelain and want to make nature and spiritual-themed things, like this soon-to-be-pendant I just finished, of a barn owl:

I really enjoyed making it, and want to keep at it. So…I set up an Etsy shop, here: Spiritfusions.

My aim really isn’t to make money. I just like to make stuff, and Willow and I tend to make way too much stuff! Like soaps, moisturizers, clothing, jewelry, leather craft, wands…lots of things. So this lets me craft as much as I desire, and maybe someone will enjoy it one day 🙂

Stories and Dreams

Existence is not made up of truths, but of stories and dreams.

Stories are what we tell other people; dreams are what we tell ourselves. They are equally important, for our stories become other people’s dreams. And so this living world of non-truth emerges, where your dreams come from stories, and become stories themselves, which then become dreams again. Like echoes in a canyon from a thousand vantage points, together we build our experience of our existence.

It has been said that if you want to change the world, you must change the world’s dreaming. And this story echoes in my mind very clearly. However, I believe the first step is simply to take notice of the dance of stories and dreams — to get to know how they work, how they play like light and shadow on our minds and bodies. It is all very good to say that we dream the world into being, but is this just your story, said for others to hear you? Or have you made this idea your private dream? Spend time watching it in action, watching how the waves of tales and wonderment crash upon you. Then see what is left when the tide draws out. Ultimately, you must find out what you are dreaming. You must know what your dreams are telling you before you can do anything at all constructive in the world.

Cold Porcelain Jewelry

I’ve been on a jewelry-making kick. I’m using cold porcelain, which I posted about earlier, here: https://wherespiritstops.wordpress.com/2014/12/03/a-different-sort-of-holiday-season/

I’ve been making nature-themed earrings and necklaces, and it’s joyous. I recommend anyone who likes making jewelry to give cold porcelain a try. It’s a little like polymer clay (which I can’t bake where I am right now), but it is air-drying and cheap to make. I use soft pastels to give the cold porcelain any colour I want.

Here are some of my creations:

The Art of Trying

A few years ago, I heard a song. It was Ludovico Einaudi’s Giorni Dispari, and I decided I was going to learn to play it on the piano. Trouble was, I didn’t know how to play the piano, having never had a single lesson. I had only just procured a beaten-up, 100-year-old piano and I couldn’t read music properly.

However, this was important to me. I decided I could do it. I bought the sheet music and started out by mapping the notation to the actual keys I’d need to hit. Then, I started practicing tiny sections, one section at a time.

Then, I practiced until I could play the whole thing (it’s five and a half minutes) without making mistakes, or at least not too many! Finally, I could do it. One of my favourite memories is playing it for my partner, with all the lights off and the piano-top ablaze with candles.

I loved, loved being able to play this song. And it only happened because I decided to try — and because I decided I could do it.

Little Thoughts

Thoughts, like vagrants,
own no real estate but
sneak off through space and even
steal, unnoticed, into someone else’s brain
and leave all the lights on.

Nurturing Your Inner Child

I’m drained; I’ve been working a lot, and though I enjoy it, I need a break and some spark of laughter or excitement. In moments like these, I turn to my inner kids. What do they need? How can I bring their spirit of fun into my heart right at this moment?

Often it is as simple as just connecting.

I use Pinterest to express the various parts of my personality, so when I need some inspiration I can just check out one of my inner kids’ boards, like this one: http://www.pinterest.com/desireedee15/all-about-kassie/  Looking at the posts really reminds me of the ease with which children find delight in the simplest of things.

Simple crafts are another way I engage with my inner kids. Embrace the freedom of your inner child and don’t be afraid to enjoy something that seems childish, even toys or colouring with crayons or playing on a swing set. Celebrate it!

This is a photo of “the guys”, our favourite stuffies: Hammy, Poo, and Dee Dee. Looking at this, how can I not smile and feel comforted? By nurturing my inner kids, I heal and take good care of myself — as well as them.

Expressing Our Wounds

I enjoy singing as a means of self-expression. It is particularly important in moments when I can’t get the emotions out any other way. As a result, I tend to sing songs with dark overtones, but the intent is to be stronger than the ones who hurt me, not to “wallow” or “give in” to the pain. Expressing pain is the opposite: it turns our wounds into something outside ourselves, ultimately transcending and overcoming it.

In this video, I sing Tori Amos’ Professional Widow (the Merry Widow version) acapella.

Pagan Sacredness: Clothing

I am a pagan woman, and I only wear skirts and dresses. I also like to wear headcoverings, although I do not follow this as a rule, but cover my head when I feel so inspired.

As I have noted before, it astounds me when other people claim that my chosen mode of sacred observance is “stupid”, “outdated”, or “insulting to women.” It seems to me that some people are hearing the wrong message in what I (and many other pagan women) do. I am not attaching any “shoulds” or other imperatives to my sacred observance. I am definitely not saying that headcovering is the best way for everyone, or that it should even be a consideration for everyone. I have merely found a sacred observance which fits my personality and thus it feels sacred to me. The only “should” that I would urge on others is that they “should” find their own modes of observing the sacredness of their own beliefs.

I like being inspired by the myriad ways other people observe sacredness, so when I talk about my own methods, I am presenting them as ideas, options, and examples. Clothing and accessories are one way to work sacred observance into one’s life. Anything carried on the body, or anything that demarcates oneself as being in a sacred state, is an intimate yet still quite simple way of being present with one’s spirituality. Ultimately, these reminders serve as silent, actionless rituals.  For anyone who is trying to change their normal thinking patterns, or wishes to connect with their spirituality, symbolic reminders such as clothing and accessories can create a mood or provide an intention for their efforts.

So, that is really all I want to get across by mentioning my chosen sacred observance. It is personal and it brings sacredness into my life: a practice I would recommend in general to everyone.

Split Light

We were cloven, our earth rent

asunder. We became

ravines where predators bedded

down to dream about the hunt.

But the earth heals when the earth knows

the pathways of its roots. Slowly, our earth draws up

to weave a new land, and we grow

lace over our rifts. We become

clothed in tapestry and twill, we embrace

our piecework kaleidoscope infused

with light, split and whole.