Damian loves wearing the bathrobe I made him for Yule in the morning. It has a yellow star embroidered on the front that he enjoys tracing with his finger. I am really proud of it despite the little flaws, Damian doesn’t seem to notice them anyways!

On last month’s collage post I said that I had a feeling November was going to be both exciting and incredibly hectic, and I was right! As you know our daughter was born this past Sunday and the past few days have been both of those. On October’s collage I made a list of all that happened and that I was grateful for, but I am tired today so I’ll just share the pretty pictures. Enough to say I am in a very warm happy (and a little exhausting) place right now and so very grateful to be living this life.

I decided to try something new this month and try to take a photo every single day. I marked the new moon, full moon and Samhain on my collage just to make it feel more like a calender. These aren’t all great shots (I had quite an icky flu for part of the October which partly accounts for the blurry or the random shelves around our home) but I accomplished my goal! It kind of makes me want to try and do it every month for a year, just to see if I can. 365 photos? We’ll see… Make sure to check out the larger version of this month’s collage over on my flickr page (just click the image to get there.) This little version really doesn’t show much detail at all.

Anyhow, October, October… What happened this month?

• We harvested the last tomatoes and radishes from our garden.
• I received another few lovely vintage Countryside magazines from my grandma.
• It was sunny, rainy, foggy, windy… Snowy! We had our first snow of the season.
• Evening walks with my two guys, enjoying the Halloween decor in our neighborhood.
• Taking time to indulge my developing knitting addiction.
• Being knocked flat by the flu for a week but luckily no one else caught it.
• Witnesses Damian’s first strings of words… What’s this? Woke up! Thank you.
• Michael and I wonderful date night at Clinkerdaggers.
• Canning pluots, drying apples, storing squash. Preparing the pantry for Winter.
• Beautiful gift packages from my family. Halloween themed cookie cutters!
• Making chocolate sugar cookies with Damian with said cookie cutters.
• Sweeping the leaves of our porch and deck – very therapeutic.
• Carving our Jack-O-Lantern. Also very therapeutic! Stab stab stab!
• Decorating for Halloween, welcoming trick-or-treaters, embracing Samhain’s ghosts.
• And last but not least a continuing healthy pregnancy, week 35!

I hope your month was as lovely as mine and your family is as blessed. Now for November and I have a feeling it is going to be both exciting and incredibly hectic!

Though Damian is 16 months old now, I think that my anticipation of Ivy’s birth coupled with this week long flu (which has been keeping me somewhere between the couch and sleeping) has mixed a large dose of nostalgia into my psyche and given me the time to make another collage. My laptop really hates me when I do these by the way, something about using massive photo files and it’s memory (I made the original so that it could be printed in 8×10 for framing.)

Anyhow, I bring you Damian’s first year!
My Mommy heart overfloweth with love.

Another wonderful month has zoomed past full of wonder and beauty:

• I received lovely vintage Countryside magazines from Grandma in Canada.
• Enjoyed weekly trips to the Millwood Farmers Market.
• Geocaching around and out of town with my family.
• Warm, sunny, cloudy and windy days. Days of rainbows and laughter.
• Days of grubby toddler fingers learning to use utensils.
• My five year anniversary of moving to Spokane to be with the man I love.
• Three days of camping by North Skookum Lake with friends. Mmmm smores…
• Tomatoes, squash and radishes from the garden, winter carrots and kale coming along.
• Long talks with my mom, comfort, advice and just chatting.
• Our family-centered Autumn Equinox feast at home.
• Our friend-centered Autumn Equinox trip to the Greenbluff Harvest Festival.
• Probably the last 90°F day and the first frost warnings, welcome falling leaves!
• Snow fell in Steven’s Pass this morning. Autumn, I hope you are in no rush.
• Lots and lots and lots of baking. Damian is my official whisk cleaner now.
• Last but not least a continuing healthy pregnancy, 31 weeks today!

One of this blog’s readers has identified my two deck spiders as Cat-Faced Spiders and I am 99% certain that he is correct. Thank you Drew!

Today is the last day of August and though it is still hot I am seeing signs of Autumn all around. For me the season officially starts at Lughnasadh, August 1st, when I first start noticing the shortening days and reaping the first larger harvests from my garden. It is also when the first Autumn and Winter crops go in the ground (the first of those plantings, radishes, should be ready is a week or two.) Autumn is also a very creative time for me. Whereas Summer is more of a fun in the sun time for me, Autumn begins to turn my thoughts more inward and I find myself opening my hobby bins again. I picked up my knitting needles for the first time is several months this week.

I am a firm believer that everyone needs their own space to get away, just as I am a firm believer that everyone needs a hobby. Mine in the Summer is the garden. Planting, weeding, harvesting are my escape. Otherwise photography is a joy for me in every season and when the weather cools a wide variety of crafts come into play. I have my space in the home where I do these things, where I can get away for a bit of me time. Sometimes I noticed recently is that Michael really does not have a space like that. What we jokingly refer to as a Man Cave for him. My hobbies are generally very portable and easy to keep Damian from mangling too much, however Michael’s hobbies involve lots of electronics and therefor cables. Not so easily baby-proof! And while Damian is learning his boundaries, Ivy is on the way and the process will begin all over again.

For a few weeks I have been reorganizing the basement. I initially wanted to put grow lights in the laundry area for starting seeds and winter green but with the realization that Michael needs some space I have also been carving out an area near the stairs for his cave. Yesterday Michael moved my spare kitchen table down into the basement and I also ordered him a stand for the Yamaha keyboard I gave him a couple years ago. He still needs to set up his spare computer but the man cave is nearing completion! And for next to no coin.

One thing did warranted a small purchase though, I lost my spare kitchen table! So yesterday afternoon we headed over to the General Store and bought some reasonable shelving to put in the area the table once occupied. I am really pleased with how it looks. This new shelving is going to work a lot better in the kitchen then the table ever did. It is further out of child-reach and there will be no more big piles of jumbled stuff heaped in the middle of a table.

Overtime I’d like to find a 5×8 area rug and something better then a kitchen chair for the man cave but those are things I will just stalk Craigslist for. I also want to install one of my daylight lights down there for him as we both get seasonal depression and he will need more light then the little basement window allows for. I think it is really important for a family to have both together and away time from each other. I know that as much as I love Michael and Damian sometimes I just need time alone! And Michael is the same way. I really believe that some distance helps the heart grow fonder. I am really happy we made this space for Michael. I was teasing him about how he can have a place to put all his tacky man-things from his bachelor days, but then we realized he doesn’t really have anything like that. Yes, I got one with good taste!

Still, maybe I should get him a disco ball…

This weekend my in-laws lent me their old guitar (since neither of their girls still at home are playing) and some beginner books. I love music but just cannot find the drive to learn using Michael’s keyboard or the piano, so we will see how this goes. I know nothing about playing any instrument, much less reading music, but I love the guitar and it feels good in my hands. I figure if I cannot even learn the basics from at least one of those books or the many upon many how-to videos online I’m simply hopeless.

Anyhow I just wanted you to meet my new friend. I have a feeling we are going to have a rocky but fun relationship.

Last week (just before the plague hit) I finished woodburning the top of our family altar. A friend made the solid pine piece as a handfasting gift to us. I struggled for a long time with what I wanted on it and I decided in the end that simple was best. The wood still needs to be finished. I am going to do that this summer with tung oil.

Up until last week, I was certain I was going to do my full personal symbol on it. Now I think I am going to leave it as is and engrave the central moon triquetra on that glass disk That will have to wait till after the move though. Tonight we are taking the altar over to our new home and doing a small house blessing ritual, so I am glad I finished it.

…wrought its ghost upon the floor

I occasionally make photo manipulations, but I rarely share them, obviously this being an exception. For the most part, all my them are strongly inspired by my dreams, this one is no exception. One chronic problem I have in my dreams is not being able to find my glasses, so because of that I purposely left this thing a little blurry.

Stock from mjranum-stock, InKi-Stock and diamondie-stock.

The bird character I am thinking about designing is going to be similar to this dream being if you are wondering. Only less intimidating more colorful. I am really liking the sun conure for that.

A question for my bird loving friends. I am designing a character that I want to be part avian (and part human.) I am looking for a bird that is orange (surprise!) or has orange markings on it’s body (not head.) If possible, I would like it to be a fruit eating bird (mmmm fruit.) I’m looking for one that really stands out.

Any suggestions?

I am so proud of myself, laugh if you want, but this is my first attempting at knitting! (Okay, my grandma tried to teach me when I was 6, but I am not counting that…) This is just a knit stitch, I haven’t learned the purl stitch yet, but still! Behold! I knit!

I can totally see how this can become addicting. Next stop purl stitch and then, the WORLD!
Mwahahahaha.

(Orange yarn is love.)

This is something I have been working on for a couple days, all the photos are my own. I am not sure if it is done yet. That sun is part of my logo/personal symbol that my friend turned into a vector for me. I am probably going to make this a charity print when I am sure I am done with it. (Profits going to Médecins Sans Frontières.) Need to finish revamping my site first too.

I had a dream the other night that Damian (my son) was surrounded by different colored lights. I have had similar dreams in the past but this one was particularly vivid, so I thought I would draw it.

I don’t know much about auras but it kind of reminds me of aura drawings I have seen. I thought I would post it because I like how it looks and thought someone might have some thoughts on interpreting it.

(Helaris posted and interesting interpretation of this here, on my deviantart.)

This is the dedication and cover page of my Book of Shadows.

A Book of Shadows is a book containing beliefs, gods, goddesses, rituals, herbal lore, chants, songs, dances, spells, divinatory methods, articles and other spiritually related topics that a witch (or coven) writes or collects. It can serve as a guide and a reference to their craft and tradition. The Book of Shadows is sometimes called a Grimoire.

Many witches make their own, usually written in journals. I keep mine in a D-ring binder. Three of them actually, one with ideas and miscellaneous notes, one with first drafts and articles, and one with final drafts that are all glitzed up (like this cover page.)

I tea stained the paper for this page and used ink, color pencils and watercolor to do the designs. It is printer paper sized since I keep it in a sheet protector in my binder. The little paper insert on this page has the Wheel of the Year on one side and a book dedication on the other. The crow/raven is one of my totems, he treads the barrier between waking and dreams. He guides us to a greater understanding of our consciousness. This is why I chose to put one on the cover page.

A little six-inch grapevine wreath meant for indoor decoration, themed for Autumn and the abundant harvest. It is decorated with faux leaves and flowers, as well as rowan berries, candlelit peppers, maple keys, beans, Indian corn and an apple slice cut to reveal the star (Gaia’s pentacle!) that I collected and dried myself. Oh and the raffia bow!

I really love how this turned out. I wanted to make a wreath similar to the pentacle ones I have made in the past, but a little more discreet and natural then them. I think this would be perfect for an altar or seasonal display.

I’m selling this for $25.
(Email me if interested: info@gracefulsymmetry.com)

This is the dehydrated stew we are taking camping with us. I dehydrated all this stuff myself but I suppose you could buy it all pre-dried if you don’t have a dehydrator. The veggies can vary in it depending on what you have. The batch I made for this weekend’s camping trip also has zucchini and extra potatoes in it. Just add extra water if you intend on adding more of course, basically you want to just cover the ingredients in water to rehydrate.

For my fellow ounce counters, the dry weight of this is 5oz (not including the carrot.)
Serves 4.

Ingredients:

• 5 cups water
• 1 cup dried tomato pieces
• 1 cup jerky pieces
• 1 cup dried potato slices
• 1 cup dried green beans
• 1 cup dried corn
• 1 tbsp dried bell pepper
• 1 tbsp dried onion
• 1 tbsp Italian seasoning
• Fresh carrot, sliced (optional)
• 1 cup dried brown rice

Instructions:

1. In a camping pot combine 4 cups of water and all ingredients, except carrot and rice. Let sit for 30 minutes to rehydrate. You can do this while you are starting the fire. Once you get the fire going boil the remaining cup of water.
2. Mix one cup boiling water with your rice. Cover and let rehydrate for 15 minutes. While rice is rehydrating put your stew on to cook, after 15 minutes add rice to stew. You can add the carrot here if you wish.
3. Cook for 30 minutes to one hour, until jerky is tender.

I’m going to be serving this with my whole-wheat cornbread while we camp (I can post that recipe if you wish, it is cooked in cast iron.) Oh you can also do this stew in a crockpot at home and simmer it on low for 6 to 8 hours. It is nice to have in your cupboard for an easy meal.

While talking about postpartum bodies the other day another mother said:

“This belly button is 3 generations in the making: my mama gave it to me and my babies decorated it.”

That was enough to make me look at my postpartum body in a completely different light. I am not ugly, I don’t need to hide away until “ideal beauty” is reached again (as if that were even possible, or desirable.) Michael has been telling me daily that I am beautiful, inside and out. He is right, I am beautiful.

Carrying Damian has changed me forever, I am learning to love this change, after all I wouldn’t have him if not for it.

The Shape of a Mother

My belly may or make not shrink. I am at peace with that.
36-inches around and I have never felt more beautiful.
A number cannot define me, I will not give it that power.
Body, mind and soul I am balanced and I am healthy,
– waist size notwithstandingl
This body brought forth life.
What greater beauty is there then that?

I am the vessel from which life poured.
I am a mother.

These stretch marks will always be with me.
Commericals may tell me to laser them off,
– but I love them all.
My son has changed my soul forever, for the better.
My body too is changed forever, for the better.
These marks are my tattoo of motherhood.

I have crossed a threshold.
I am a mother.

My hips are bigger, my old jeans don’t fit.
These hips birthed my son, they are beautiful.

My breasts are bigger, they soak my shirts.
These breasts nourish my son, they are beautiful.

My heart and my soul are bigger, my emotions overflow.
This heart and this soul love my son, they are beautiful.

I am a mother.
I am strong.
I am beautiful.

I am a mother.

~ by Jaspenelle Stewart

I may submit this to The Shape of a Mother, not sure yet. Eitherway, check out the website and all the beautiful mamas who have contributed. I think we can all agree that the mainstream view of beauty has to change, we can begin this change within ourselves and the minds of our children.

(My craft workspace, in the corner of the nursery.)

I seem to have developed a fixation for scrapbooking lately, or more particularly scrapbooking my Book of Shadows (for my non-Pagan readers that is a book that I keep all my spiritual research, essays and notes in, it is not a book for me, but a D-ring binder.)

I have always loved scrapbooking but it was a hobby I swore I would never get into because of the apparent staggering cost scrapbooking can reach. I was in Joanns today and some papers sell for $5 a piece! (Considering I only had $7 to spend, that paper was out of the question, no matter how glorious it was.) Not to mention the cost of all the cool types of stamps, scissors, punches, stickers, embellishments galore which, well, are enough to make this crafter drool and frugally cringe at the same time.

Luckily I have superhuman powers of restraint (or I am just an anally frugal b…witch) and only spent $6.59. I bought a #2 x-acto knife (using a 40% off coupon), a 3/4″ stencil brush, and a 4-pack of stencil blanks (these are plastic sheets you use to make your own stencils.) Now I can make some border stencils for my Book of Shadows pages! Yay, scrapbooking!

But, wait! What about my aforementioned promise to myself about not scrapbooking?!

That promise apparently broke itself without my conscious knowledge a few weeks ago, all because I I decided that I needed to organize my craft supply closet. (This might seem like an odd way to find a new hobby, but trust me, it is not was weird as it sounds, at least, not in my world.) While organizing, I found some leftover fabric from my apron as well as a bag of glass stones. Somehow that discovery ended up distracting me for a couple hours as I made a gloriously orange and blue cover for my Book of Shadows binder. (In my defense, the plain plastic cover was abhorrent to my crafty-sense, when I saw the fabric I “knew” in my mind what it must be used for, I had not choice but to obey said crafty-sense.) The next day upon admiring my bright new orange and blue Book of Shadows, I settled down and flipped it open and nearly screamed in crafter terror.

All the pages in it were so… plain…

Random typed up bits, some handwritten stuff, some torn out pages from magazines and newspapers, all stuffed in sheet protectors in no particular order. Unlike the cover, the guts of my binder did not reflect who I was (yes I am trying to justify the scrapbooking urge here.) I riffled through the pages in despair looking for something that could redeem me when I found a page with an Ojibway poem that I had decorated. I put that in the front of the binder. Beyond that though, there was nothing, just blah pages, so uninspiring I could hardly read them. (Can you tell that I am one of those people who like picture books?)

Instead of wallowing in self-despair (at least after pulling myself out of a couple good hours of it) I decided I rewrite the page about Bealtaine. I got some of the pretty paper from my craft closet (yes, I did end up finishing organizing it) and embellish it with a balsamroot arrowleaf flower I created out of some other pretty paper. That page went in second. I was on a mission now, no doubt sent to me straight from the Goddess.

Poking through My “bits and ends” drawer I then found stickers! These led me to redoing a couple more pages. Scrounging in the drawer some more I found some flower borders I had designed and transfered them to some more pretty paper and redid some gardening pages. Then I found myself up late at night in bed designing a Celtic knot border and redoing the Apple page. Then I…

You can see where this is going right? I found myself unwittingly scrapbooking. It didn’t occur to me till yesterday that is was in fact what I was doing, which made me pause and consider my vow before discarding it. The reason for my vow to not scrapbook was now moot as I have discovered, quite by accident, that it was not a high cost hobby when you do it all yourself (and having an expansive bits and ends drawer helps.) In fact, the way I was approaching it required no money down (until I took my $7 to Joanns today at least. And I can deal with the occasional purchase.)

Ultimately doing it almost all myself is infinitely more rewarding anyhow. I like scrapbooking, it is something completely for me and not dictated by customer deadlines.

I am a creature possessed by an overwhelming sense of curiosity, for which I hope some cosmic force has gifted me with 9 lives, because I am certain one day it will get me in serious trouble. I simply cannot stand not knowing some things. Gossip and rumor are pointless to me, I am not curious like that. I am curious to the point I need facts as well as being able to see it with my own eyes.

My Aunt Ruth posted the above picture in her blog today and to my great dismay she did not open that suitcase. I understand, of course, that not everyone shares my reckless sense of curiosity but that suitcase has been on my mind for a couple hours now, so much so that I wrote about it, simply to get it off of my mind. Apparently when you are distracted with such a consuming question as “what the heck was in it!?” you do such follies like putting a casserole in the oven to bake and forget to turn on said oven. (Though in the grand scheme of things that is much better then putting something in the oven and forgetting to set the timer.)

The following little prose normally stay well confined to my handwritten journal as I am no great author or poet. If anything it is simply my way of putting such demanding and yet unanswerable questions out of my head. Still, this once I thought I would share this little piece of my personality with you.

I am walking along a river trail, listening to the chorus of birds returning from their Winter abodes. It is a glorious Spring morning, one of those that makes you feel as though each step is a prayer being sent straight to the heart of Gaia.

Squirrels scamper across the trail, some pausing to decide how great of a threat I pose. Once deciding I am simply a harmless waddling pregnant woman they saunter along their way. Twigs and gravel crunch softly beneath my feet, which ache a little, late pregnancy seems to have that effect on all regions of my body. I am walking beside a stone wall, overgrown with a wide variety of weeds who seem to wave at me in the breeze. Springtime brings a playful air to everything.

In my daydreaming state, I almost missed it but something so out of the ordinary has a way of reigning in one’s attention as surely as if it were sounding Assembly of Buglers. There, at the side of the trail beside an old drainage pipe sat a suitcase, looking as though it had been very purposely placed there.

The old peeling leather case teased at my curiosity and I felt like a cat as I stood there mentally sparing with the out of place object. It’s lure had firmly snagged me though and I wandering over to it, looking around to make sure no one was near to witness my approach. Somehow curiosity has a way of making me feel like a common thief.

I sat on the rock ledge beside the suitcase and observed it. It in turn, continued to tease me with its simple mystery. I watched it for couple minutes, gauging whether it was dangerous or not I suppose. There was no odd smell or unidentifiable liquids oozing from it, which mostly ruled out me wandering into a bad CSI show, nor was it ticking (do bombs even do that anymore?) which reassured me that I wasn’t about to test the nine lives theory.

Still, erring on the side of caution (pregnancy has this effect on me) I picked up a stick and did what any 3 or 30 year old would do. I held my breath and poked the suitcase. (I think the birds may have even been holding their breath.)

A sudden rush of adrenaline flowed into me and I tensed up, waiting for… well waiting for something that never came. The suitcase rocked a little before settling back to its mocking self. Feeling encouraged by the non-reaction, I poked it again, harder. Still nothing.

Mustering my courage (or simply giving into my curiosity) I nudged it with my foot. It fell on its side with a dull thud, which admittedly made me jump a little. My hands shook as I reached down to unlatch the lid and I paused for a millisecond before quickly flipping it back. I flinched back a little, perhaps I expected a hoard of wasps to explode out of it. Nothing like that happened though.

I started blankly into the suitcase for a moment before beginning to laugh uncontrollably. With a grin on my face I latched it shut once again and set it back in its place so that it could again cast its lure out to the next curious soul who meandered past. With that done I dusted myself off and continued down the trail, amused and overly-satisfied in my discovery.

So, what do you think I found in the suitcase?

My Aunt went back to see if the suitcase was still there. It was open…

(Click the image for a bigger picture – 1024×768.)

This is how my birthing necklace looks so far (if I receive more beads, it will grow in length of course.) I really like how it has turned out too. I know not all the donated beads are red, but some people have difficulty following directions (I love you grandma and mom.) I find I really don’t mind though, the beads they sent were justified with special meanings which, in this case, were more important than color.

As always, Windigo had to get his adorable little face in my craft picture too. I usually crop him out but I thought he looked exceptional cute here.

These are a few of the beads I have gathered or that people have given me for my birthing necklace. The only criteria I have for it is that donated beads must be red (representing the umbilical cord) and that I would rather they not be plastic. Since all the red beads are from others you can probably tell which ones I added to the lot! Most of our baby’s things are celestial themed, which is why I chose the blue lampwork moon as the focal point and the golden star spacer beads. I am hoping to have it done by May 19th so I can bless it under the full moon ritual.

I was originally going to make the birthing necklace on my own but when one of my friend’s found out I was making it and offered me a red bead to add to it, that idea seemed to hold more power. Now I am receiving more and more beads from people for it. I cannot put into words how blessed that makes me feel! My mother and grandmother are even going to send me a few heirloom ones and I admit, that offer made me cry…

If you are wondering what exactly a birthing necklace is simply a necklace that I will wear or have near me while I am in labor. I didn’t even know there was a term for the idea until I talked to my friend! When our baby is old enough to understand it’s meaning I plan on reworking the necklace into a mala for him.

Does anyone know what this type of beading is called? More specifically what is the technique called to attach the beads with links of wire like that? I want to look up what kind of wire I need for it.

(Windigo shown for scale… or cuteness… or because he wouldn’t get off the speakers… Click the thumbnail for a larger image.)

I love recycling, yes I sort my plastics from tin cans but that is not what I mean. I like taking old things and making them new and funky things. Not all my endeavors in this direction turn out right but that doesn’t really ever stop me since the interspersed successes make it all worthwhile. Besides I think reusing old things for new purposes is ultimately more “green” then buying new green products.

So with that said I want to talk about my need for a couple of indoor plant stands and two old stereo speakers Michael has.

When I moved in with Michael these two particular speakers were functional but at some point during one of our three moves they have lost their wires and one is now missing its little speaker. According to Michael is brother made/altered the speakers at some point, which is why one of the speakers is pointing into its box (which seems to be filled with quilting batting? – Justin, why is that?) After they lost their wires they became nightstands for our bed in our last place. In this place, since we now have different nightstands, the speakers just lay on their side in front of our closet doors to prevent Aos from getting in there (also need to find a better solution for that…)

Anyhow, long story longer, I now want to make the speakers into plant stands for the living room. Most of me wants to keep the speaker gadgetry visible because I think it looks cool, but I want to cover the veneer boxes somehow. The veneer is chipped and just yucky, and since the speakers going downstairs, the don’t match the pine wood furniture and a shades of green theme going on.

I was thinking about maybe painting the boxes green, the veneer is not peeling so I feel fairly confident in just painting over it. I am a firm believer in sanding but I admit I have never sanded down veneer, what horrors lie beneath? (My father sugguested I use liquid stripper instead, I’m a little afraid of the harsh chemicals while pregnant though.) Maybe after I get the speakers painted green I will do some kind of fabric decoupage thing to it, but beyond those basic ideas I am rudderless.

So I am asking for your ideas because you guys are an awesome creative force that inspires me.

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Magic isn’t only ritual to me, it is a circle that surrounds me all the time with each action in my day. I strive to live every day in a magical way, and while I am not always successful, I know I am on the right path, moving towards optimism and hope. Spirituality is not a nine to five job, spirituality is inviting love and wholeness into every task in every day.

So Autumn is here for us in the Inland Northwest. If you have not been able to tell by the amount I talk about it, I am quite enamored by this lovely season. It inspires and motivates me, and I have a ton of projects I like to work on this time of year. The following is a list of activities I have done or will do this season, most of the stuff is done in “quiet time” in the evenings. (I have crossed out everything that I have completed and italized anything that is in progress or on going.)

Group Activities:

• Celebrate the Autumn Equinox by going to the Fall Festival with friends.
• Maybe attend the Inner Spirit Samhain Gathering, on October 26th, if work schedules permit.
• Attend (and help plan) the local Samhain witches Ball on November 3rd. (Peppylady, are you interested in coming? When we get the details hammered out shortly, I can email you if you would like.)

Decorations and Crafts:

• Decorate my home for Autumn.
• Collect pinecones for the basket by the fireplace.
• Make maple leaf roses (and make a tutorial for them.)
• Gather and press autumn leaves and flowers.
• Carve a pumpkin.
• Make apple dolls.
• Make an Autumn scrapbook with leaves, poems and quotes and photos activities with friends and projects completed.

Cooking:

• Can applesauce and apple pie filling.
• Make mulled apple cider, taste a local wine.
• Make warming foods, stews, soups, chili, apple and pumpkin pie and breads!
• Make popcorn balls. I am not quite sure how to do this, but someone described them to me and they sound sooo tasty!
• Nudge Michael into making his awesome caramels.

Spiritual:

• Set up my ancestor altar.
• Have a solitary ritual honoring my ancestors on Samhain and set an extra place at the table.
• Take a walk on the night of the full moon.
• Start Tai Chi and practice it daily along with my meditation practice.

Other:

What do you plan on doing this season?

(More of these 6-inch altar wreaths are available on my website.)

Winter is an etching,
Spring a watercolor,
Summer an oil painting,
And autumn is a mosaic of them all.
~ Stanley Horowitz

With the arrival of Autumn, I feel the change of the seasons deep in my bones. The nights are getting longer and cooler, the fields are ripe or nearly ripe, and the leaves are changing to beautiful tones reds, yellows and browns. I find inner peace in this season but am also motivated by it. Maybe it is an ancient instinct telling me to prepare for the Winter.

I have felt under the weather for a few days but the Autumnal energy has been helping me get some stuff done. Spiritually, Autumn seems to have the ability to peal back layers on the heart and show us new, sometimes painful, things about ourselves and others.

Beyond packing for the move, I have been canning beets and apples lately. I have made apple pie the other day (lots of apples, can you tell?!) and today we are having apple yam casserole and broccoli with cheese for supper.

I normally have a ton of seasonal decorations up right now but as we are moving this weekend, they are all in a box. It is a near certainty that that box will be one of the first unpacked.

Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.
~ George Eliot

Autumn is here and I love it.

Click for a larger image.

I actually finished this last night, but I had to wait till the sun was up today to photograph it. I have been making this plaque on and off since I got my new toy – a woodburner! I drew out the design and transfered it to the wood plaque and kind of winged it from there.

So be nice! It was my first try at wood burning!

Around the pentacle (which was made by a local Pagan artisan) are eight virtues that Michael and I hold dear, as well as the triple moon. The blessing below it is one that I love; I am not sure where I picked it up though. Someone recently told me it is Kemetic. Can anyone confirm that?

When I finished burning it, I rubbed it with one of my green votives, which gave it that green tint (which looks a little too bright in this photo.) Then I attached the pentacle and a hanging bar to the back.

It is going to hang inside the front door of our new townhouse, which means it is in a box right now. The first box that we will move in, since it has everything to do the house blessing ritual in it.

This is a wand I made on commission.

Click for a larger image.

This was the first time I tipped a wand with something other then a natural crystal. I like the change. This one has a black opal cabochon. The photo doesn’t really do the stone justice, but they never do when it comes to opals. This one looks like black fire trapped under water. Black opals are said to help amplify magick.

In the grounding end of the wand is a polished emerald. Obviously not A quality, but there was a budget to hold to and personally I prefer it like this. I find it more to look more organic. Emerald is the birthstone of the commissioner.

The wand is made of willow wood and 13 inches long. I choose chocolate colored leather to wrap it because I liked the contrast and it felt most right when thinking about the commissioner.

It was a bit of a daunting order at first because of my perceived cost of the material needed (opal and emerald) but in the end it was really fun to do. I’m a bit sad to see this one go but I know it’s destination is good and true.

~~~

In a brief bought of other news, the consuming power of facebook has finally dragged me in and I have an account (and a plant too I believe…) So if you are on that empire of evilness, search Jaspenelle and I am sure you will find me. And add me of course. You know you want to.

I am posting this from work!

I had to register for the Spokane Hotzone to get online, it gives me two free hours of internet a day. It wouldn’t let me register though, the character field for phone number was not long enough for a standard phone number using their format (### – ### – ####) for some reason. If I tried to type it any other way it told me it was invalid. Needless to say I was getting a little frustrated.

Then I remembered something I read the other day about morphic resonance and evolution. To oversimplify, it says that nature is not defined by laws but rather by habits and some habits have been followed for so long that they appear as solid and unchangeable. If you focus hard enough and sometimes with others, you can change habit and create a new path/”law”. Not sure what I think about it yet but it is food for thought.

So with changing habit in mind, I sat back and pulled up my light meditative state and did my psychic trigger (thumb touching middle finger) and said outloud, “I want the 180 guy to come early and fix this for me.” (180 run the Hotzone.) I repeated it for a couple minutes until my next customer came, (it wasn’t the 180 guy.) He wasn’t due to come for another hour anyways, I am a skeptic and had a good laugh at myself for thinking I could briefly change natural law.

And then a 180 guy came, not 2 minutes after that! Not the regular guy but still a 180 guy! I nearly had a heart attack! He chatted for a second and I told him about my problem and he told me how to get around it. He had to come into work early today it seemed to decided to park here.

Not sure what to think, coincidence or rather sychronicity? I admit my mental voice at the moment is simply saying: “That was sooo cool!”

I have spoke before about selling candles and crafts but I wanted to let you all know that I finally have my website up!

Graceful Symmetry – a little light in the darkness

My favorite product? This one:

Duality Pillars in Palm Wax

I do local delivery and special orders with all my products. I just launched the site last night so any feedback (or orders of course) would be awesome!

This is one of my sets of 9″ palm wax pillars I recently made, they are quite popular.

In my opinion, palm wax is the most gorgeous wax out there. When properly cooled it builds a shimmering pearlescent crystal structure that catches the light from all angles. Palm wax also has excellent scent throw (which is how much of a room the scent will fill.) All the palm wax I use is 100% natural and is harvested using sustainable methods. It is completely biodegradable, carbon-neural and much longer burning then paraffin wax.

This is my favorite set I make and I a set by my reading nook. I also use them for full moon rituals and decoration too of course. A lady I know uses the white one for morning mediation and the black one for evening meditation. Most of my customers use them for some form of candle magick.

This pair cost $23.65+s&h (unscented – but I can scent them!)
Let me know if you are interested in a pair.

All my black candles are true black all the way through by the way, I hate when I buy a candle only to find just the outside was dipped black.

I have been filling some candle orders this morning, none of which are scented – which is fine by me, that means I can burn a scented candle while I work! At the moment I am burning a lavender vanilla candle though – addicting I tell you! Maybe I will set up a webcam in the kitchen too (don’t know if anyone looks at the one on our main page but I still find it amusing, if somewhat egotistic to watch myself.)

I don’t have a very large selection of candle scents at the moment, I am incredibly picky about my scents. I can’t stand anything that smells remotely chemical – like those cheap scented candles in the store. Bleck. I always get a tester sample before I buy a new scent, that way it doesn’t burn a hole in my pocket if it is gross. Sometimes I wonder if this hampers me in any way, waiting to market certain new scents in my candles because I haven’t found one of that type that I am pleased with…

It hasn’t caused a problem yet though. Even my grandma, who is allergic to nearly every candle scent imaginable (she gets migraines and really congested), did not have a reaction to any of my candles when she was here. I wish smell-o-vision could be built into my website (which should be up soon, I promise!)

Still, I have been working on building up my stock of candle scents and I was wondering what your favorite scent is? (Lavender Vanilla is my favorite, closely followed by Frankincense and Myrrh.)

PS: This is only a toothpick holder, I proooomise…

~~~

EDIT:

The second one is too big for LiveJournal…

Forgive the watermark, this is the only piece of mine I am truly protective of. It won’t be watermarked on my website of course but it will be a lot smaller there too.

This is the new logo I made for my craft business, Graceful Symmetry. I finished it several weeks ago but our server crashed right after I scanned it so it has taken me awhile to get around to uploading it.

I have a friend who is turning this into a vector so it looks more professional, I used prismacolor pencils to draw it. It will be on my candle labels, business cards and new website of course. (All of which are a bit on hold till after June 23rd – Michael and my handfasting.)

I wanted to design something that embodied Graceful Symmetry and reflected myself. It pretty much had to include my favorite colours then, orange and blue, and I decided to incorporated two of my personal symbols into it: the triple moon triquetra and one of my suns.

I am really pleased with how it turned out.

This soy candle set includes one 4″ two-toned triangular pillar and three 2″ votives. They are unscented. (The mirrored tile is not included.)

These are all-natural soy wax which is a completely renewable and eco-friendly resource. I use cotton wicks (so my candles meet vegan standards.)

Click here to buy these on my website.

This is a small wreath perfect for an altar or just to welcome some Spring into your home. The base is a woven grape vine circle which I embellished with faux leaves and flowers as well as little fuzzy chicks. The star in the center as well as that which wraps the circle is made with pastel colored chain crocheted yarn.

Mine is hanging from a suction cup on my balcony door.

(Click each thumbnail to view larger version.)

Blue candles are often used in meditation but have many other magickal uses, which include:

• Attuning the throat chakra
• Showing spiritual devotion
• Inviting peace into the home
• Promoting creativity and inspiration
• Rituals to obtain wisdom, harmony, inner light, or guidance.

I love this colour of blue, and really please with how these turned out. I just look at them and I already feel more peaceful.

Earlier this week I had a dream:

I was outside of the Blue Spark (a bar in Spokane) sitting on the curb with Michael. I looked at him and he smiled and when to say something but then I felt something. I looked around and realized we were not in the ocean and I was standing knee deep in water. Michael was nearby on a volcanic rock sticking out of the water – that was the only land I could see. Neither of us were panicked though.

Michael went to say something again and then he grabbed his arm. I felt a pain in my arm and did the same. When I looked down I had two tattoos, one on the inside of each forearm. One was the symbol shown above and the other was a dragonfly in a moon. Michael and the symbol above except with a thunderbird in the sun and what I think was a wolf in the moon.

After I had the dream I drew out this design. The sun design is similar to one that I draw relatively often and have for quite awhile, since I was a young teen. The snake (particularly the sea snake) is one of my totem that I have also had since childhood (though I have only recently realized that) which is why I think it is within the sun.

The snake comes to be when I am afraid and in need protection. I get the mental image of being completely wrapped in snakes all of them staring down whatever my fear at that moment is. I adore snakes, and while they have an unjustly bad reputation, they do deserve our respect for their powers. The snake thrives in the sun, something I can completely relate to as the sun gives me the power to accomplish my goals and thrive.

I want to paint this on my djembe drum because it is a design full of powerful symbolism. Drumming also building up my sense of personal power, sometimes I feel it is the heartbeat of my soul. My drum head is made of natural rawhide and I am told I can do with with acrylic paints and that it will not peel or flake (or most importantly damage the drum.) Has anyone painted their drum in this way before? How is it holding up?

(Click each thumbnail to view larger version.)

I was more in a red candle mood yesterday so lots more candles, this will be the three kinds of tapers I will keep in stock in all the standard colours (white, black, red, blue, yellow, green, purple, orange.) Valentines is just around the corner for anyone looking for a special touch for that day (and besides that red candles are useful for lots of other things too!)

These unique 7-inch double twisted tapers are hand dipped with about 40 layers of wax. Each has two cotton wicks which create a taller then usual and lovely flame.

These candles were a fluke. I was experimenting with making a black and white double tapers and ended up with a very deep purple instead (black with a purple sheen). I also had to chip off one layer of wax which has given them a distinctive look. I know I will never be able to recreate this colour so I am selling the pair at a discounted rate.

–

For sale for $6 a pair on my website (that is half off!)

These unique 7-inch double twisted tapers are hand dipped with about 40 layers of wax. Each has two cotton wicks which create a taller then usual and lovely flame.

Other then common use, green candles can be used in many magickal working. While they are most commonly used for money magick, they can also help with healing, grounding, representing the North and the fourth Chakra. These minty green candles could also be used in a Imbolc, Spring Equinox or Bealtainne celebration.

These are for sale on my website. Individually and by the pair.

A few weeks ago while I was making tapered candles, I twisted a few pairs together to see how that would turn out. This is the result and I am pleased with them, if not to pleased with the photograph.

Some of you might remember me talking about bringing candles to a gift exchanged and them being dubbed as “twisted sex candles”, this is what I was talking about.

For Yule in 2006, I hand painted raspberries on some bottles for each of my friends and filled it with homemade raspberry vinegar. This is an example of one of the bottles. The bottles are 1.5″x1.5″x4″ and made of heavy glass with a cork. The glass paint I used on these bottles is food and dishwasher safe.

These will take 21 days to cure to full hardness. I could heat them in the oven but since they are glass spice bottles and did not come with any heating instructions I don’t want them to explode. I am still debating whether I want to painted “Raspberry Vinegar” in that blank space under the raspberries.

This is my first batch of 7″ red tapers for the Yule season (one more batch to go.) I used a different kind of dye then I am use to in these so they are not as red as I would like. However I am still pleased with the results.

I really love candle making and am usually up for trying new things, hence the two pictures to the right of the collage. My first attempts at making twisted tapers. The furthest right is my very first try (Michael says it looks phallic) and the next one over is my second try (and last for the day.) I am quite pleased with them even if they look very deformed.

I need to find a way to lower my base cost per candle so that I could perhaps sell them. These are for Yule gifts.

Commissioned by a husband and wife for one of their friends. As usual I am not listing the prayer they wrote, but know that it is completely beautiful.

The pendant is 1.5″ long and made with a clam shell (with the nautical star painted on it in blue and silver) and a tusk shell (which contains the prayer.) The handwoven blue and white chain is accented with two white wood beads and is 26″ long (I am wearing it at a shorter length for the purpose of the photo, but it would hang over someone’s heart in actuality.)

~~~

In other news I am completely and utterly sick with something, I think it is the plague, in hindsight working a 14 hour day and feeling like this yesterday was probably not the best idea. I get to go to Planned Parenthood for my annual this afternoon too (fun…) For now though, I just need to get to the post office (I wish they would pick up things I needed to ship, that would make life easier.)

I have put my Peacock Choker up for sale for anyone interested.

~~~

The Snow that never drifts –
The transient, fragrant snow
That comes a single time a Year
Is softly driving now –
– Emily Dickinson –

5×5 prints available on my website.

I am really happy with how this photograph turned out, it was inspired by the first snow which fell here recently. It made me to pick up my camera for the first time in awhile and try to create something inspired by that magical event, Today there is only rain, a special blessing of its own, but the smell of freshness the snow brought still lingers.

Yule is just around the corner.

I only do dreamcatchers by request lately, which was this case with this one, it was my part of a barter exchange. It measures just 2 inches across and is 8 inches long. A black pearl hangs in the center of the web and a quail feather dangles from the circle. If you would like one, it would probably be priced somewhere between $8 and $12.

This isn’t something that is going in my portfolio because it is just for Michael and my door but I think I will be making something like it for sale soon.

This whole thing started over the fake owl (or as Michael and I say “life-impaired”.) I saw the owl on a shelf 50% off and I just bought it. Which is actually odd for me as I am not an impulse buyer normally. Herbert (the owl) was sitting on the bookshelf for awhile, until Windigo (my cat) got a hold of him and ruffled his feathers; then the owl moved to my monitor but Aos (my other cat) zoned in on him and some feathers once again flew; then I set him up on the wall in Michael and my winter wreath and that is where he has stayed (perhaps partly because he is firmly wired and glued in place.)

I am quite pleased with how this wreath turned out though I still want to incorporate one of those battery powered light packs into it. The wreath is 18″ across and has burgundy glass berries, red berries, two kinds of evergreen (one with glitter and one without), silver leaves, the crochet star in the center (the yarn is glittery too) and of course Herbert.

Click here for a detailed view.

The nautical stars were originally used by sailors to help guide their way as they sailed through the night. They relied upon the stars to protect them and bring them home safely. It is a symbol strongly connected with the ocean as well as a symbol of guidances and protection.

While the nautical star is traditionally done in red and black, this one is painted in black, silver and gold and incorporated into a stylized pentacle design. The apple wood pendant is 1/2″ across and hangs from an 18″ gold plated chain.

I can’t decide if I want to price this at $20 or $15…

I know some may groan that I am posting “Christmas stuff” already but that is exactly what this is not. In many traditions, the witches’ winter starts after Samhain (November 1st) and this is a wreath to celebrate the winter season. Of course this little 6″ altar wreath would look good even in a non-Pagan household .

The base is a woven grape vine wreath which I embellishs with faux evergreen, berries, bells (the whole wreath jingles!), a small cardinal, and glittered gold and silver foliage. The star in the center is made of white and silver chain crocheted yarn.