Banners

O.M.G. I am so busy. Busy busy busy So many things to get done before Saturday.

I’ve got three banners that are all works in progress in addition to my Wheel of the Year project. I plan on showing them at the Beltaine event this weekend. It is my plan to not only sell pouches and earrings but also to show the breadth of my work in the hopes of getting some commission work. I’ll also be showing a linen robe and this hat. I will take commissions on hats, pouches, banners, robes, book covers, checkbook covers, cell phone bags, you name it, if I can make it and you want to pay me, I’ll make it. Call me the Babylon Embroidery Whore.

So, here are some shots of the banners. Two of them I washed this weekend and they need to be blocked now. I thought the non-wool fibers would be enough to stop the wonky-ness but I was mistaken. Lesson learned. They all still need the backing, cotton batting, and the hanging mechanisms attached.

I used wool felt, silk brocade, cotton velveteen, perl cotton.

Harvest Blessings

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A Little Bit Country, A Little Bit Rock n’ Roll

Well, not really. Lots of rock n roll but not much country.

What I really am is a little bit New Age and all Witch. I find spiritual truths everywhere and from all religions. I use them when they mesh with my beliefs. But when it comes right down to it, I? Am a Witch. That means that that is where I find my power. That my actions with regards to life come from this center.

Last week some old stuff came up. I was upset, saw some plans going awry, thought a situation that had been handled was done. But it appears that some people (all of us?? *laugh*) need to have a couple hits before they get it. And someone, SNIB, wants to continue to live in the learning cycle of her intentions as they pertain to me.

A comment to Thursday’s (or was it Wednesday’s) post prompted this. I felt that perhaps I needed to refresh on what exactly my spiritual path is. It was very thought provoking comment. And while I can certainly see where they are coming from, I don’t agree with all of it.

I am a Witch. Period. Continue reading

Cancer for the week

Lewis Thomas was a physician who wrote elegantly about biology in books like The Lives of a Cell. I want to bring your attention to his meditation on warts. “Nothing in the body has so much the look of toughness and permanence as a wart,” he wrote. And yet “they can be made to go away by something that can only be called thinking . . . Warts can be ordered off the skin by hypnotic suggestion.” Thomas regarded this phenomenon as “absolutely astonishing, more of a surprise than cloning or recombinant DNA.” According to my astrological reckoning, Cancerian, you currently have a comparable marvel at your disposal. Using the power of your mind, you can shrink, dissolve, or banish a wart-like vexation.

Well, that is certainly good news. Because if anything is a wart in my life at the moment it is the woman I referred to yesterday. Yes, I hold my ex partner accountable (this did not have anything to do with sex btw, just so that’s clear). Yes, he brought the interfering woman into our lives. But I had feelings for him. I never had any for her and she declared me her enemy before ever meeting me. For no reason of any kind. I have no idea why. I do know that he did nothing effective to dispel her from that belief. And even today, it appears they are still friends. After all that happened.

But I think that might be changing. I know that 5 months ago I did a banishing ritual to keep her away from me. It appears to be weakening which is not surprising as I gave a timeline of 6 months. Time to renew it since obviously there is need, again away from me only. He wrote me after yesterday’s blowup and said that he doesn’t want her there either. Perhaps between the two of us, we can make that so. So Mote It Be.

I love that this physician refers to what us witches know as wart charming. That this is valid through thought. As a child I had terrible warts on my hands. Weekly sessions at the doctor trying to burn them off. Oh, the pain. Finally a physician’s assistant took me aside, got out the heavy duty shit and burned them for so long that blisters formed underneath them and when the blisters healed the warts fell off. Leaving huge holes that it took quite a while to heal. I was a potter at the time and that was fun. But the point is, eventually the rememdy was found. It was so incredibly painful that I could hardly bear it but it worked.

I find this to be a fit metaphor for what is going on right now. And I find it contains a hopeful message. She will be out of my life for good, at least in spirit. Perhaps she’ll feel uncomfortable because of the renewed banishing and not have a good time and never come back. I think from now on, instead of calling her SNIB (Skanky Nasty Interfering Bitch) I will call her Warthog, or Wart or perhaps Warty Bitch for short (or is that long).

I realized today that keeping a link to my old blog that still contained all the pain from the past year, which included a breakup, a family death, and the end of BFF, that it was still poisoning my life. I have deleted that account completely, removed the link to it in my link list and removed the reference to it in my About page.

This Sunday is the full moon. In Scorpio. A good time for endings, protection, and new beginnings. So Mote It Be. Wart? I have a banishing powder with your name on it. Just try and come by my booth at the faire. Just try. Just give me one reason to out you in public.

Reader, did you think that because I can be compassionate that it is my way? Sorry. I’m still human. I find it easy to be compassionate with those who I love or who I don’t know. I have a long ways to go to find compassion for those who hurt me on purpose. And it appears that I plan on giving her stuff back to her on a plate. But mostly this is about protecting me, not hurting her. If I protect myself well, the rest shouldn’t be an issue at all.

I’m so angry – hurt – at me at the ex

My Ex decided to tell me today that the woman who played a big part in our breakup is coming to Beltaine at OLOTEAS. He wanted to WARN me. 11 days before the event? So I can be angry over it for all those days? Beltaine, the place where I jumped the fire with him last year. OLOTEAS, the only place he and I were really good together. My first event since the breakup. The only safe place left. That I would be having my first merchant experience there? That I would be feeling sad because I would be jumping the fire alone this year while he stood in the circle. He says he was thinking of me and my feelings. But how much did he really think about it except to simply warn me?

Did he try to let her know that coming to a ritual circle with a woman who has ritually banished her is a stupid thing to do? Did he let her know that she is once again being selfish? That even if she pays her $10 because she can that she is not welcome? That it was my request that she and he leave me one safe pagan place because they tore asunder the others? That she not come? Did he think I really wanted to know?

He says he was acting as my friend. Clearly he and I have a very different idea of what a friendship is. Especially one that is the result of a breakup because he made her more important in his life than I was. While he is not responsible for her decisions, if he is really my friend and her friend and not simply a messenger, then I’m just amazed. He says that once again I misunderstood him. I say that once again he’s a total jackass. Great communication going on there.

I could go on and on about his inability to be a critical thinker in matters of human behavior but it’s boring even to me now.

I blew up at him, all over his sorry little monitor. I’ve told him he’s banished from my life as a friend. Tonight I renew my banishing ritual for that bitch and I start a new one for him. They continue to be banished from my presence. I do these for six month intervals. It’s only been 5 months since the last one, clearly it’s weakening. And I’m not ready yet to leave it open.

Some people are so frikking stupid. And darn it that includes me. What did I ever see in him? Courage? Honor? Intelligence? Yeah, actually, I saw all those things. But I made a big mistake. I assumed that it was real and not just what I wanted to see. And I did it again when I agreed to be friends after a couple months even though I knew I was still hurting, still healing. It appears that in no way have I forgiven him. Nor do I plan to any time soon.

I was puzzled when Jeshua spoke to me about the end of our relationship in this lifetime. The necessary lessons have been learned. The game has been played. That I could still love him as I love all beings but that I won’t or don’t have to be in his sphere, in his presence. I see it now.

There is still friendship; always will be friendship and respect there for you and for the other one. But that chapter is pretty much coming…you’ve got about maybe this much space; not much; it’s closing, that chapter. But as one chapter closes, another chapter opens. It is the same as you have a book. You turn a page and you’re into a new chapter. You are on the threshold of moving into this new chapter that holds a relationship in it that is going to be very nurturing, very sustaining, and where you are going to find that you can trust yourself and your judgment. You are going to trust yourself, because it is yourself. The others come and go, but this one that you’re moving into now is going to be more what you call, in the human terms, reliable.

And yet there are going to be times when you are going to question, because that is the way human nature is with any relationship. There are going to be times when you are going to have to do what is called the communication. That’s good, and it is okay. But you have come through this previous experience in order to know the gifting of it, and you have come away with many gifts from it. You are now much more clear about yourself, about what you want in a relationship, and as you have been doing some of that defining, you have also been envisioning what this new chapter is going to hold for you.

So you can allow the heart to feel open. You can allow the self to breathe and to know that truly you are loved. You have never lost anything, but you have gained much experience. And you have gained a great opportunity to stand in the place of love right now and say to any of the ones that you’ve had relationship with, “I love you. You cannot keep me from loving you,” because they can’t keep you from loving them, “but I understand the wisdom now of moving on. And so I thank you for that. It’s been a bit rough, you know. I felt like I really got scoured with the scouring, abrasive powder, and I felt like I got trampled on from time to time. But I see it in a different light now, and I see that truly there is nothing and no one who can keep me from loving you. I do love you. But that does not mean I have to have you in my life. I’m ready to move on.” So you are free.

I can be so stupid about men and matters of the heart. It is my biggest fear when I think about another relationship. That I will not see what is right in front of me or if I do that I will ignore it. And totally miss the one that will make me happy. I feel like such a fool. God damn it, I thought I had given him the last of my tears. But evidently there were some left to cry.

Edit: Okay, I’m not feeling so foolish now. Had a good cry. I see now that my wishywashyness lately about being his friend has spilled out into the open and that I don’t value his friendship at all. That what I really did was manifest the total end and got what I wanted. No more having to be all nicey nice when most of the time when I see him or hear from him I get this icky feeling. That I’ve been forcing myself to be friendly because it’s the “right” thing to do if you are a healthy person. When the truth is, I don’t want it at all. i was also trying for it since i DO see him some places. And I still will, but just because I see him somewhere that doesn’t mean he’s in my life. Ah, clarity.

Those were the days

I mentioned in a recent post that I had spent time supporting muscians, as a fan and as a girlfriend. Variant Cause was one of the bands. The lead singer songwriter Jan is putting up their vids on youtube. Boy did this bring back some incredibly great memories…

Me in the 80’s, Sunday morning after a Variant Cause gig out of town…

Life was really crazy and those days certainly contributed to my fall from grace with alcohol and drugs but a good time was had by all. What an honor to be a part of that. Still gets my energy popping. They backed up Iggy Pop, Ian Hunter, and others.

Ryco, the bass player, voted best bass player in Seattle in The Rocket magazine, was my guy for three years. Was it really 3 years Ryco? He wrote this morning and I had to go check it out. It was even stranger and more fun in person. Jan used to say they could clear a bar in 10 minutes flat. But the other musicians? Always came when they weren’t playing a gig themselves. Which I thought was cooler.

The sound quality and film quality ain’t nothing to write home about. The crotch shots of Greg are mind puzzling, I think they thought they were zeroing in on his flying fingers but it reminds me of Spinal Tap (a movie we LOVED and watched often) and I think they had a film break

This one is dedicated to Frankie and Annette. They were sisters. Annette was my roomie and eventually my sister in law for many years. Moving Violation “under a summer dress havoc round the waist every part of her miss demeanor she’s a moving violation”

Annette (Miss Nettie), Ryco, Greg the guitarist, and I shared a house for a couple years. Party down when we weren’t off to a gig. oh, so many memories come back. I should post up a couple pics one day.