Busy Elves

Posted on by August 25, 2012
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Oh, how I wish I could discuss and describe the various creative projects I’m working on this week. Alas, many of my friends and family are readers of this blog, so that will have to wait until after the gifts have been given!

Of course, I’ve already mentioned the cutout cards. And there is cooking to be done, as well. For our Yule celebration, I’m making warm drinks and soup. Two of the recipes are from the vegan Pagan cookbook I’ve co-written. On Saturday, the kids and I are going over to Mom’s to decorate and bake sugar cookies. It’s a fun tradition! She’s been doing this with the kids for quite a while, and now that I’m not working outside the home I’m able to join them for the festivities.

Sash finished his semester of college today, so we’ve been finalizing our characters for the new role-playing game he’s starting (Cyber Punk). Tonight we’ve been buying our equipment, which for my character is quite involved. I’m a street doc, which is a sort of high-level, first responder paramedic. I have a fast motorcycle to get to the scene, and a fancy full-body suit containing a computer that helps me diagnose and treat injuries or illnesses.

Last night I went to this month’s Red Temple meeting. What a fabulous group of women! And during our discussion we were expressing our gratitude for the amazing Pagan community here in Maine. Speaking of which, the Winter issue of the EarthTides Pagan Network newsletter should be out soon. It has a ton of great articles!

On a personal level, I’m still enjoying the introspective energies of the time between Samhain and Yule. I’ve been working on my list of goals for this coming year, and reflecting on the lessons from the year past. I’ll soon look over the records of my daily Tarot card readings for 2009 and see which cards were a particular focus, and why. I’ll also be looking over the goals I had for this year and see how things went.

It’s a very busy time of year for our family, but one that we enjoy quite a bit. I hope you do, as well!

Use Your Imagination

Posted on by December 16, 2009
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Sometimes we get stuck in a rut of predictable thinking. I appreciate traditions and the cycles of life, but doing things because “that’s how we’ve always done it” can cause us to miss wonderful opportunities for growth and joy. The best way to get out of this kind of pattern is to use your imagination.

We often hear about the value of visualization in creating what we want. Visualization can seem like a complicated or mysterious process, reserved for “the big stuff” like healing from a disease or finding a new job. In fact, visualization is just a matter of using your imagination. And it can be used in any situation.

I just read an excellent article about imagination in Yoga Journal, “It’s All in Your Mind,” written by Sally Kempton. She explains that we use our imagination all the time, whether unconsciously or on purpose. Kempton writes, “imagination always precedes transformation. Every important change you’ve made in your life, inner or outer, started with an act of imagination.” She goes on to describe the different words for imagination in Sanskrit, detail their meanings, and discuss how to harness the power of imagination in your daily life.

I use my imagination mostly in my creative projects and with the big transformations I’m hoping to manifest, sometimes forgetting that it’s available to me all the time. But reading this article and thinking about imagination has inspired me to consciously use it more often. From coming up with gift-giving ideas to helping one of the kids with a math problem to what to make for dinner, my imagination is a wonderful resource. I can tap into it anytime, and the ideas I find will enhance my experience.

With practice and regular use, my ability to imaginatively transform my moment-to-moment experience will increase. Not only that, it’s fun, too!

Just Trying to Help

Posted on by December 15, 2009
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I have two friends, who don’t know one another, who have both been having a really rough time lately. Part of the trouble they mention is that they are each lonely and seeking a companion (no, I don’t think they would make a good couple), and I understand that this time of year can be an ordeal when you hear all about how the holiday is for spending with your loved ones.

My heart is filled with compassion for their plight. I wish that I could help them in some truly meaningful way. I offer what comfort, advice and other help I can (being careful to make sure it’s what they want). Yet I know that ultimately they each need to use their own resources to lift themselves out of their unhappy situations.

On a smaller scale, I am frequently the peacemaker in my immediate family. My very nature leads me to seek harmony. So I am often the one to facilitate when there is conflict between family members, looking for a solution that will work for everyone. Sometimes it works, and other times they seem to want to experience their own drama until they are ready to release it. It occured to me today that the desire for harmony is only my own perspective, and might be better kept to myself. Perhaps I should only give my ideas when I’m asked.

This could be true with my two friends, as well. Maybe they need to learn the challenging lessons they’re experiencing, for reasons unknown to me (or even to them, in some cases). Unless they ask, maybe my help isn’t needed or desired.

Of course, sometimes it’s hard to ask for help even when you want it, so I think I’ll continue to make the offer, in a more general way: “is there anything I can do to help?” But my well-intentioned search for harmony could be derailing what would naturally happen in these varying situations. I want to be more respectful of each individual’s lessons. Though I’m not reprimanding myself. After all, I was just trying to help.

Drumming at the Edge of Winter

Posted on by December 14, 2009
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Last night BlackLion and I drummed for a Pagan benefit performance honoring the Winter Solstice, called “The Longest Night.” The performances, which were excellent, consisted of dramatic readings of prose and poetry, storytelling, dancing and a sing-along. As Feline Drummers, we drummed before the official start of the show and during the intermission. I had a great time! Leading up to the event, we practiced the rhythms we’ve written over the past year and learned a new one, which was also a lot of fun.

This reminded me that I haven’t taken much time to drum lately, since the colder weather. I’m not sure exactly why. I recently read Mickey Hart’s Drumming at the Edge of Magic, which was inspiring. When I do drum, I get swirled away in the music and the moment. Learning new rhythms engages both my logical and intuitive sides, which is challenging and exciting. I’m still a beginning drummer, though I think now I’m perhaps at the advanced beginner stage. I’m lucky enough to have a natural sense of rhythm, but that only takes me so far. I definitely want more practice and training.

After performing last night, we got several invitations and recommendations, along with a bunch of compliments. Two people mentioned a local drum circle that we should drop in on, we were invited by a dance teacher to drum for her classes this winter, and some folks that we work with magickally want to add drumming to our next gathering. I think I’m being gently nudged in the direction of more drumming! First, though, I need to get through the rest of these holiday preparations and celebrations. Pa rum pa pum pum….

Oh, and an addendum to my book wish list – I forgot (at least) one very important book! I really really want to read The Teenage Liberation Handbook by Grace Llewellyn.

A Book Wish List

Posted on by December 11, 2009
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Over at Fall Down to Fly, Miranda posted her holiday wish list. Being a deluxe bookworm, I was inspired to post my book wish list. Not that I’m asking you to do anything about it. It’s just for fun – and also a good way for me to keep track of what to order when some spare book money comes along. They aren’t in any particular order. Here goes:

Shadowrise by Tad Williams

Pagan Theology: Paganism as a World Religion by Michael York

The Self-Aware Universe by Amit Goswami

Renegade’s Magic by Robin Hobb

Healing Light of the Tao: Foundational Practices to Awaken Chi Energy by Mantak Chia

Eating in the Light of the Moon: How Women Can Transform Their Relationship with Food Through Myths, Metaphors, and Storytelling by Anita A. Johnston

1776: The Illustrated Edition by David McCullough

Anastasia (The Ringing Cedars, Book 1) by Vladimir Megre, Leonid, and Dr. Sharashkin

Creative Journal Writing by Stephanie Dowrick

The Daily Writer by Fred White

Old Friend From Far Away by Natalie Goldberg

Dragon Keeper by Robin Hobb

Sweet Success!

Posted on by December 10, 2009
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This is the final post in our 30-day blog challenge! Sweet success! I’m glad we did this experiment. I thought for the last post in the challenge I’d share what I’ve learned and what my plans are for the blog as I move forward.

It was indeed a challenge to sit down every day and write something for the blog. The challenging part was usually just taking the time. I found that I tend to write in the later part of the evening, because that way I can write about things that have happened or that I’ve been thinking about during the day. Most of the time, coming up with ideas and topics wasn’t a problem. That’s true for my creative work as a whole – I have a ton of ideas, but making the time to follow through on them is what I need to practice.

I also found that with the focus on writing on the blog each day, the amount of writing that I did in general has increased a bit. I more often turned to my journal to jot down ideas and thoughts, particularly when I was away from access to a computer. I enjoyed the collaborative aspect of the challenge, too – BlackLion and I edited posts for each other, and I found myself more often reading other people’s blogs to see how they presented their thoughts. Reading the comments and feedback on various entries (including which ones generated more responses) was fascinating.

The next step for this blog is…to keep blogging! I don’t know that I’ll do it every single day, but I do enjoy it and I’ve had positive feedback from readers. It’s easier for me to do the plain text posts than to add the pictures, but I do want to include more pictures because I think it adds depth to what I’m describing or relating. So my goals for this blog are to keep up with making frequent posts (say, five per week) and to add more photos.

My writing goal in general is to take time every day to work on my writing projects. BlackLion and I are forming a further challenge along those lines. We’re still figuring out the details, but we want to focus on our shared writing projects as well as individual creative work.

I appreciate you reading my thoughts and ideas in this forum! And an extra thanks to those who have taken the time to leave comments. You rock!

A Snowy Day

Posted on by December 10, 2009
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Today we got up to a pretty snow-covered landscape. That is, some of us got up. I’m speaking of Percy kitten, who slept much of the day away. Though he did arise eventually, went out briefly, and returned wet and hungry. So the kids dried him off and fed him and all is well. Merlin kitten, too, wished the weather wasn’t so messy. He hung around, looking out the door once in a while, clawing BlackLion’s leg with a demand that he stop the precipitation immediately. He did go out a couple of times anyway.

The kids were out quite a bit, helping with shoveling and playing in the snow. Quester ran the snowblower and cleared the entire driveway. The kids also played crazy run-around-inside-the-house tag games. Yes, teens and pre-teens still play that sort of stuff…so do some of the adults for that matter.

We had quite a big session of online gaming today, too. The team of gamers was playing D&D Online – their group of characters are elven sisters with varying specialties. Personally, I wasn’t involved in that part. I was working on the cutout card project! With some help from various family members throughout the day. I also did my usual computer communications, and helped ElvenTiger with her new e-mail and Facebook accounts (which mostly involved answering spelling questions).

Sash made a delicious dinner, a root vegetable casserole with all kinds of ingredients from the CSA, including parsnips, celeriac, potatoes, shallots, carrots, garlic, and a really cool striped variety of beets. It was very tasty and is all gone. Quester and I went for a grocery run this evening once things had turned to rain (and before they iced). We brought back a bunch of snacks for the crew as they finished their D&D adventure.

It was a mellow day at home and, although we did miss our usual Wednesday routine of homeschool group, I think everyone had a fun time.

Making Cutout Cards

Posted on by August 20, 2012
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Every year, we make cutout cards for our family members for Christmas. Also known as collage cards, these are homemade cards, personalized for each recipient. I thought you might want to venture into this unique form of art, invented (as far as we know) by my Aunt Peg in the 1980s.

Here’s how. First, gather your materials. You’ll need a variety of old magazines and catalogs, sharp scissors, glue sticks, construction paper, and envelopes in which to store the cutouts.

Next, go through the magazines and cut out pictures of things the recipient enjoys: foods, hobbies, flowers, animals, quotes, phrases, cartoons, travel destinations, art, etc. You can also cut out holiday pictures and greetings for the front of each card. Try not to make the pictures too big. Put on the holiday music and sip some hot chocolate as you page through the magazines. It’s OK to stop and read interesting articles, too. Note: while you’re trimming each picture, be sure to capture and recycle all the little “scrids” of paper you trim off, or you’ll find them all over your house.

Design a layout of the pictures and words, gluing them to the construction paper. You might want to group them in mini-themes, such as foods, hobbies, etc. We use the front cover of the card to display holiday wishes, like “Merry Christmas, Mom,” and seasonal pictures. If you can’t find the person’s name in a magazine, you can cut out individual letters in varying fonts.

After your first session of gluing, you’ll likely have gaps between pictures. Now you’ll go back through your stack of magazines (get friends to save them for you, so you always have fresh material) and fill in the holes. While thinking of the person, search for the right pictures for the spaces you have, then glue them in the appropriate spots.

When the card is full and looking lovely, you’re done! This process will take time, but it’s a lot of fun! If you have several cards to make, set up envelopes with each person’s name, so as you go through the first “cutting out” phase, you can save pictures for all of them. We keep separate envelopes for “holiday pictures” and “holiday words.” For me, this is like “art therapy.” It’s a fun process and creates a very special card tailored to each of your loved ones. Trust me, people will save these and cherish them for years to come!

Subaru, Come Home!

Posted on by December 8, 2009
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In the fall of 2008, my green 1999 Subaru Outback was totaled in a car accident. Don’t laugh, but we swerved while trying to avoid hitting a chipmunk (yeah, I know, soft-hearted hippies!). Luckily, none of the passengers were hurt, including our dog Star. But the poor car was not fixable.

We did have collision insurance, and the old car was already paid off, so we had some money to spend on a replacement. I started using the Law of Attraction to bring my new car to me. I knew I wanted another Subaru. I visualized myself driving a black Subaru wagon, listening to a CD on the stereo (my old car didn’t have a CD player). It worked well! In fact, after I’d had my dark blue (almost black) 2002 Subaru for a couple of months, I was driving to Massachusetts for a yoga retreat and found myself living the moment I’d pictured earlier. I was so happy to have a newer and even cooler mode of transportation!

But last spring, my happily-manifested car suddenly broke down. After multiple attempts to repair the engine, I received it back, only to have it break down again the same day. Apparently Subaru Outback models from certain years have a percentage chance of this type of massive engine trouble. The saga went on. My mechanic did lots of research, trying to keep the costs down and save the existing engine. No luck.

Next he tried to find us a new (to us) engine and transmission, to little avail. This all took quite some time. I’ve been car-sharing with BlackLion for many months. A friend of ours who is going back to college, Sash, is living with us, and shortly before school started, his car was totaled too. Without collision insurance, and on a student budget, he wasn’t able to replace it. So we’ve done some serious car-sharing this fall. I’m getting used to scheduling appointments and get-togethers on certain days of the week based on Sash’s school schedule, and it all usually works just fine.

The latest on my Subaru has been that our mechanic can get another engine, but needs to have a pretty large chunk of money up front. Quester and I simply haven’t had the cash. I’ve been visualizing myself in the car again, and focusing on how much I love it. And now, with the start of a new semester approaching, Sash is about to give us some money for living expenses. I’m going to hand it right to the mechanic. Subaru, I’ve missed you – come on home!

Seasonal Favorites

Posted on by December 7, 2009
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It’s time for another “fours list.” I’m not sure why my blog lists seem to come out in fours. They just do. So, here are some of my holiday favorites:

Movies:
White Christmas. The traditional music, the eye-catching costumes, and the charming plot are what keeps me watching it over and over. And the young Bing Crosby!
Love Actually. This is such a terrific movie. The quintessential romantic comedy, with many different stories woven into one.
How the Grinch Stole Christmas. The original cartoon version. Though I did think the live-action Jim Carrey one that came out a few years ago was funny.
A Christmas Story. My family’s all-time belly-laugh favorite from my childhood. “You’ll shoot your eye out!”

Books:
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Classic.
The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg. The pictures are lovely, as is the sentiment.
This Year It Will Be Different (and Other Stories) by Maeve Binchy. This Irish author is great at making you feel like you really know the characters – even in short stories.
The Wild Christmas Reindeer by Jan Brett. Check out any of the picture books by this author. Delightful pictures and fun stories for all ages.

Music:
“Holiday Spirits” by Straight No Chaser. These guys have amazing voices, and a sense of humor.
“A Christmas Together” by John Denver and the Muppets. I rediscovered this one a couple of years ago, and it brought back the feeling of the holidays as a kid, when we had the record album.
“In the Christmas Mood” by The Glenn Miller Orchestra. This CD swings!
“Celtic Christmas” by various artists (from Windham Hill). Really pretty and relaxing. Great to listen to on a snowy day.

Foods:
Banana Faerie Cake. It’s a recipe created by BlackLion and I, and it’s a yummy vegan treat that everyone loves. One Yule, this cake was a bigger hit than the sugar cookies or the chocolates!
Truffles. These homemade treats are easy to make and very decadent.
Chocolate Chip Cinnamon Coffee Cake. I’m not sure if that’s the actual name for it, but my Mom makes it and sometimes brings it for Christmas Day breakfast. Perfect with hot chocolate.
Seitan, Gravy and all the Fixings: The traditional holiday comfort foods, vegan-style. We make enough to have plenty of leftovers.

And yes, I’ve noticed that my favorite holiday foods are mostly sugary. That’s why they’re treats, people! :)