Friday, January 27, 2017

the way is clear


Yesterday of this current dark/new moon phase, I burned away some false beliefs. There were and still are many of these programmed beliefs, I've only just questioned the ones on the surface. It might seem like I'm going through some sort of crisis but it's not so much to do with everyday life, it's more about my relationship with the world around me -- what is real and who is real. So much of what I've thought and believed and participated in is illusion. The frequency I was once in tune with has gotten fuzzy and distorted and it's time to find a clear connection again. Like a radio. A place to be, which I sort of don't have right now, I'm in between.

And lest this sound political, I'm not on either side.


Then I went and finished the Hitchhiker scarf. I didn't quite make the 42 points the pattern is named after (the book "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"), I think there are 39. The scarf is over 60" long and made from sock yarn -- it took a very long time, nearly two years with my highly irregular knitting sessions.


This morning of the new moon, I put fresh cloths on the little table that is my altar. The cloth on the left was made by my Grandmother Lucia and I stitched 16 blue moons onto it recently. The cloth on the right was made by me for St. Lucia's Day a few years ago and always reminds me of my grandmother. A few nights ago I stitched the words "the way is clear" -- a message I've apparently sent to myself because everywhere I've turned the last few weeks I've seen or heard the words "the way is clear".


Then I drew a card for guidance and wouldn't you know....The Moon.


I'm gathering items to burn on Brigid's Day, there may be a new batch of false beliefs to throw in as well. If you'd like to bless your own home and hearth, my last year's Brigid's Day Household Ritual is here.



To clear connections. xx


Friday, January 13, 2017

calm & bright


"This is the beginning" I said to myself on Winter Solstice. Even though the moon was waning and it was cold and dark outside, there was such a strong sense of beginning anew. So for me that was the beginning of the new year. Inside myself, it felt calm and bright.

Every few months over the last year I've been making oracle cards for myself. The last card of 2016 for Winter Solstice was "calm and bright." Each card was incubated -- it was dreamed up, thought/written about and meditated on. Finally a simple image was found and glued onto a card from an old unused deck with words that indicated the spirit of the card. I'm going to continue this project in 2017 and also create a simple guide for the card meanings before I forget what I was thinking at the time. 

A dresser in the sewing room is literally stuffed with cloth but the top is clean and spare which feels really nice. The January calendar moon cloth was made as part of a sewing ritual a few years ago and I found the honeycomb canisters and the arrow in Target's dollar spot. The mouth-blown glass ornament and the lovely beaded crane were Yule gifts. 

Yesterday on the full moon, the pink hyacinth opened up. I am reminded by Hyacinth to open my heart chakra to let the light in. I've been thinking about something I read recently, derived from Alice A. Bailey, about how the full moon itself has no influence on the flow of love and light but rather indicates a free and unimpeded alignment between Earth and the Sun. The Sun being our center, energy source, and center of life and intelligence is now approachable to connect with the energies of love and light...that humanity has always intuitively known to consciously cooperate with the flow of energies. 

Sunpower will be one of my cards in 2017. 

And happy weekending to you, thanks for coming by. xx

Tuesday, January 10, 2017

a friendly place


And just like that, a new year has dawned and the season of cold comfort is underway. 

 

Winter gardens are spread around the house wherever there's light, I'm just trying to keep everyone alive at this point. The orange tree in the kitchen is blooming its very last blossom now and when that's done, I'll give it a nice long shower in the bathroom and move it to another room for a while. All parties involved need to be rotated around, the ferns presently under lights in the basement each need a turn to hang by a window and the eucalyptus deserves a sunny place for a time -- and so on. I think the shortage of light this time of year makes me a more attentive plant person. That yellow chair in the background was $10 at a yard sale last summer. We'll probably spend hundreds having it reupholstered someday, I just really like it.


On New Year's Eve, I stitched the last of the blue moons onto the vintage doll quilt that my grandmother made. It came into my hands nine years ago. There were 16 squares that I filled with 16 moons. I hoped it was the right thing to do. 


A few days ago I remembered another quilt from my grandmother -- a baby quilt. The same pink fabric. And 16 squares. That I think I've had since I was a child. She must have made them around the same time. She must have had a little leftover fabric from making the baby quilt. They are cut from the same cloth. Like she and I.


My nightly ritual of going outside with the dogs before bed helps me attune to the phase of the moon, the clarity of the stars, the color of the night, the temperature of the air, which houses still have lights on, the sound of traffic on a busy street a few blocks away...and so much more. It has become an integral part of my day. It calms me and reminds me that the world is ultimately a friendly place. It makes for a good night. xx