Wyldestone Cottage

Blog,Blog,Blog and Blog Some More

2011-05-11T11:49:00.000-07:00

Blogging has somehow taken over my life. It all started so innocently with my first blog " the Cyberangel Chronicles", which was just to be a personal diary of sorts to keep track of my convoluted life. Then I decided I needed a platform to share all my knowledge, so Wyldestone Cottage was born. After blogging here for awhile , I decided that I was really writing about two completely different topics on this one. Some posts were about my new floathome and other posts were about alternative health care/green living. I decided that might be too confusing for my readers, so have decided to split Wyldestone Cottage into two different blogs.

I would like to introduce you to my latest creations:
the eclectic ark - all about building my floathome for free and decorating with recycled treasures
with craft tutorials and recipes

sage advice - posts on alternative health care, ways to save the environment, and healing for the mind, body and soul

I have reposted a good number of the posts that I had originally written on Wyldestone Cottage to the appropriate blog and will be adding lots of new content in the near future.

I have worked on these blogs with the intention of reaching a greater audience. I would love it if you can find a way to follow and share them through facebook and twitter.

I used to have a good quality camera that I loved. Unfortunately, it up and died on me one day a few years ago. I was told it would be cheaper to buy a new one than to fix it..... I was not impressed with that statement as the camera cost me over a thousand dollars. I think for that price they should last forever, but I guess the digital age comes with an expiry date!

Anyways, I was in Future Shop the other day, and for a lark decided to see what kind of credit they would give me. I lucked out and they ok'd me for 1,500.00. Now normally I don't want anything to do with credit, I'm all about... save up and pay for it in cash if you really want something. However, I need my cash flow too much these days for paying off the house and getting material for reno's, so decided to bite the bullet and get a camera on credit so that I have something decent to take pictures with for the blogs.

So I am now the proud new owner of a Canon Rebel T3 with an extra telephoto lens. As soon as I have read the ten-pound owners manual and figured out how to operate the thing, I hope to be bringing you much better quality photos for the blogs. Thanks for reading and sharing my life with me, I value each and every one of you.

Cheers, Rhianna

Please take a minute to check out my new blogs and find a way to follow and share them, much appreciated, thanks for being awesome!

The Practice of Tonglen - Compassionate Meditation

2011-03-17T17:59:00.000-07:00

Today is March 17, 2011 and all over the world people are experiencing more turmoil in their lives then perhaps ever before in the history of mankind. Natural disasters, wars, revolutions, unstable governments, rising prices of everything... we are all standing on the edge of a precipice and the fear is palpable.

I am reposting an article I found about the practice of Tonglen. I think that this is a good tool to ground ourselves, find our balance in the chaos and reflect back the kind of world we would like to see. I truely believe that our thoughts affect our environment, so make them positive thoughts and see what happens, create the shift that is needed for the world to come back to light and peacefulness.

Tonglen

For compassion to exist in our hearts for others, we have to embrace it first in ourselves.

Compassion is about caring for those who are fearful, bitter, enveous or overwhelmed by the daily contradictions of the heart, mind & soul. At it’s core are arrogance, pride, and all those traits that seperate us from one another. To understand their pain takes a willingness to find these things in ourselves. Our attitude toward inner reflection must originate from a core that is willing to see in the mirror a reflection of those things we do not like about ourselves. Instead of running or hiding from them, we must instead open our hearts and allow ourselves to feel the pain, feel it in a way that creates a transition from seeing to feeling to embracing all that makes us truly human. It is in our frailties that we truly see ourselves for who we are.

The practice of Tonglen is a means of connecting with a suffering heart—ours and that which is part of the global landscape. It is a process that helps us overcome our fear of all things painful by offering it’s polar opposite energetically into the world as a counter-weight. It is in essence a method for awakening the compassion that is inherent in all of us no matter how cruel or cold we as a creation might become.

To begin, imagine taking on the sorrow/pain of someone we know to be hurting and who we wish to help. As an example, if you have a friend or co-worker who seems down or in a state of flux, breathe in the wish to take away their pain and fear. As you exhale, send that individual happiness, joy or whatever you feel would relieve their pain. This is the core of Tonglen practice: breathing in the bitter taste of human suffering while exhaling the sweetness of love, compassion & hope. Do not be suprised as you first begin this practice that you have difficulty, because Tonglen forces you to come face to face with your own fears, frustrations, anger, or any other issues which might arise at that moment.

If you indeed find yourself at an empasse attempting this exercise, change your focus and begin to do Tonglen for what you are feeling and for the millions of others just like you who at that very moment in time are feeling exactly as you are. If you are able to pinpoint that which is overwhelming you, name it. Clearly embrace it for what it is; whether it be lonliness, revulsion, bitterness or even a sense of depression. Breathe in for all those caught in the same cycle of suffering you find yourself in, while sending out relief or whatever opens up the space for yourself and all those you offer peace. If you can’t name what you’re feeling, allow what you feel to speak to you. If you feel a tightness in your stomach, a sense of pervading darkness or whatever else your body speaks to you. Embrace what you’re feeling and breathe it in, taking it in for all, while sending out relief to all at the same time.

It is often said that this practice goes against the very grain of how we usually live day-today. In all honesty it does just that as it attempts to seperate us from wanting things on our own terms, of wanting it to work out for ourselves no matter what happens to the others. Tonglen dissolves the armor of self-protection we’ve tried so hard to create around ourselves. In Buddhism one would say that it dissolves the fixation of our clinging Ego.

The practice of Tonglen challenges our natural instinct for avoiding suffering and seeking pleasure while at the same time liberating us from the prison of selfishness. We begin to feel a deep sense of love both for ourselves and others the more selfless our imaginings become. Our sense of compassion is awakened as we realize that we are but a small footprint on the human landscape. It galvanizes for us in a very real way the unlimited power of the mind, while opening a sense of freedom to both the heart and body. The more we embrace the practice, the more we begin to connect with the openness of the universe which in her own way removes the obstacles that had been blocking us.

Tonglen can be offered for those who are ill, who are dying or have just died, or for those experiencing pain of any kind. It can be done either as a formal meditation practice or something practiced in the moment. For example, if you’re out walking and you see someone in pain —right on the spot you can begin to breathe in their pain and send some out relief. You can do Tonglen for all the people who are just like you, for everyone who desires compassion but instead embraces fear, for everyone who wishes to be brave but instead is a coward.

Rather than beating yourself up, use your own frailties as a stepping stone to understanding what people are up against and breathe in all their fears while breathing out a sense of hope for all. Allow your prayer to be the antidote for all the poison the world throws at you. Use your personal suffering as a path to compassion for all beings.

in peace,

Collections -Pill Boxes and Snuff Bottles

2011-03-12T19:21:00.000-08:00

What is it about the human species, that we love to collect things? Some people just choose one thing to focus on but the majority of us probably have a few collections going on at the same time. I know I do.

My books are probably my biggest collection. I would estimate I have around 3000 books ( and those were just the ones I kept, I've read alot more than that!) Over time I have built a library of self sufficiency. I have books on gardening, raising livestock, herbal medicine, off-grid living, alternative medical treatments, first aid, arts, crafts, survival skills, self-help, spirituality and alternative lifestyles. I'd probably have alot more but most of my reading has been online for the last ten years which has kept me out of the bookshops.

Musical instruments is another interest of mine. Years ago when I lived in a large home in town, I used to host music jams twice a month. I had as many as 60-70 people at my house all playing something. My weapon of choice was the hand drum and percussion instruments like shakers etc. At one time I had quite a large collection of drums but sold ten of the best ones to pay for my van which at the time I desperately needed for work. I still have a handful of drums and a large basket filled with shakers and noise makers of all kinds. I also used have 5 guitars ranging from 12 string acoustic to electric and bass. They have long since been sold off and I am down to one crappy thrift store 6 string. I can't really play any more as the callouses don't go over well in my line of work ( massage therapy)

I also have collections of painted rocks, candlesticks, funky lamps, cherubs, dishes and bells which will be the subject of other posts once my renos are done and I can finish unpacking.

Today's post is brought to you by pill boxes and snuff bottles.

The other day I was looking on Craigslist and found an ad for 14 pill boxes for ten dollars ( the whole collection, not each). I couldn't resist a deal like that so went and picked them up. I have one of those old printers drawers with tons of cubbyholes and I was looking for something small to put in them. These seemed like a good a choice as any. I also had a few snuff bottles and other tiny containers kicking around so rounded them up for a photo shoot. Here's my collection so far, now I have something else to keep an eye out for when I am thrifting!

I'm not sure if any of these are worth anything, but of the bunch these two looked the oldest

Here's the rest in the box they came in

This one is inlaid abolone shell ( or Paua shell if your from New Zealand) and mother -of -pearl

A teenie, tiny cloisonne apple that opens up

A beautiful tigers eye set in a heavily carved box that I don't think is gold, but it doesn't look anything like modern day brass

A small wooden box with a ship painted on it

The tigers eye again

A sea shell with a tin top

A beautiful enameled box

A very tiny woven basket

This one is my favorite, a small silver box with abalone lid

Mother of pearl

Mother of pearl and abolone

A painting of a seated woman

Not sure what this stone is, Jasper maybe?

I noticed when I tured it around that the natural markings in the stone almost look like a painting of mountains and a valley

This is the bottom of the same box, very heavily etched

A silver box I bought in China, love the heavy relief carving of dragons!

A bone snuff bottle that I have owned for over thirty years. If it wasn't an antique when I bought it, it's on it's way to becoming one

Bone and silver snuff bottle found at the thrift store the other day

A tiny container carved from a tagua nut

Small brass and enamel boxes with creme perfume in them

Now just have to find that shelf so I can display them all!

So what do you like collect? and why?

Linking to Cindy's Show and Tell Friday

My Dream Closet Comes to Life

2011-02-25T23:54:00.000-08:00

Due to a lack of funds and no heat in my house over winter, renos have been going slowly. I haven't really minded as it has given me more time to live with the space and really think how to best use it. The last few weeks have been warmer so I have finally started some projects. I am a little reluctant to post about them because they are not completely finished but thought I should put an update on here.

If you followed my other blog you probably weren't keeping count but in a space of 4 years, I moved seven times. As a result, I kept packing up my clothes, then as each new season rolled around and I couldn't find suitable clothes to wear, I would hit the thrift stores and stock up. Well twelve seasons later and I now have the equivelent of a small store worth of clothes. What to do with them all, where to put them??

The house has two smallish bedrooms upstairs, one at each end of a long windowless space that is 40 feet long by about 16 feet wide with sloping ceilings. Neither bedroom has any storage whatsoever, no closets, shelves etc. I decided to build a walk-in closet in one third of my attic space.
I really had to think about how I was going to do this as the ceiling is not high (six feet) and I wanted to leave a walkway down the center for ventilation and access to the (future) bathroom.

Here is the before of my attic cave. I cleared away the front third of this room

This is the before view looking in from my bedroom door

Standing in the room and looking to the right wall

Standing in the room and looking back at the wall with the entrance. The shelf unit was a freebie from Craigsist.

There were about 10,000 staples in the wood which I spent about a day removing and then used a metal scraper to smooth over any bits of wood that were loose or protruding. I can't afford fancy wallcoverings so am just going to paint the OSB panels.

Two coats of primer and one coat of paint later and it's definately looking brighter in here now.

Beside the shelves is a hanger for my belts. On the left wall is my shelf for hanging short clothes. I got the white wire shelves for free on CL and bought ceiling hooks and chain to suspend them from the ceiling.

Another short shelf for jackets was suspended at a 90 degree angle from that one. I bought the chain as one long length and had Dave use a zip cut disc on an angle grinder to cut the chain where neccesary.( I'm a scaredy cat when it comes to sparks, so let him do that job!)

Another long shelf was added to hang all my long clothes

And here is the after... ( bear in mind, I'm not finished, eventually there will be a wall behind the dresser and the rest of the attic will get painted as I shuffle my boxes of stuff around)

This is the view from the entrance. The white dresser was a $25 CL find and has a full length mirror. The drawers hold my underwear, bras and socks. I have added a wicker seat to sit and put on shoes. The shoes are all on shelves to the left.

In between the shoe shelves, I have hung a small shelf with hooks to hang all my purses.

Behind the seat is the hallway that continues through the attic, on the other side of that is all the hanging clothes. The rack in front has hooks on the left with scarves on it and long dresses on one side. The backside is fancier dresses and seasonal things like suba suit, ski suit

Sorry for the blurry picture( don't have lighting installed up here yet...probably have to go with inset potlights as there is no headroom for a hanging fixture) This is a look at the backside of the long clothes on the left, coat rack in front and the short rack on the right.

The shelf is fully loaded with all my pants, sweaters and tops.

It looks amazing in person, the pictures don't really do it justice. There is ample room to walk around everything. It looks like a small store. I am LOVING it!! It is so awesome to walk in and easily see everything in a glance. Picking out an outfit and getting dressed is a snap now.

Stayed tuned for the continuation of these renos. I will be building a linen closet behind the right side of this closet and a bathroom behind that with another smaller walk-in closet behind that. The left side of the attic behind the dresser will be a large storage area and a flight of stairs to finish things off.

Just have to wait for the last gasp of winter to pass us by, supposed to go to minus 16 tonight , brrr.

Linking to Cindy's Show and Tell Friday

Pictures of Home

2011-02-13T01:33:00.000-08:00

Do you ever get bored of where you live and wonder what it would be like to live somewhere else? I grew up a military brat and for the first half of my life I moved almost every year. Some places I loved, some I hated, some I was just passin' through. I still tend to change residences fairly often but have managed to make Vancouver BC my home for the last twenty years. I still get itchy feet now and again, but then I see a video like one of the following,and it makes me see my city with fresh eyes and I am inspired and awed all over again.

This is a beautifully done time lapse of the city

This one is 24 hours compressed into one minute taken from KatKam. KatKam is a cam that alot of us locals use to check the weather, as it faces towards the ocean and we can see whats rolling in. The land in the far upper left corner is the grounds of UBC and on the far water side of that is the best beach ever. Checking KatKam lets us see if the clouds are going to be rolling in to spoil things. This particular day was two summers ago on the day of the South African fireworks for the Symphony of Fire fireworks competition. God decided to enter the competition himself and put on his own show. Even though we live in a rainforest and get tons of rain, we rarely ever get thunder and lightning with it. This day was wild! The sky turned the most amazing colour of orange and there was a huge lightning show, followed by the fireworks show, you be the judge on who put on the best performance!

This is some more footage of that same night taken from a different viewpoint

Ya not a bad town, think I'll stay awhile longer. I truly am blessed to live in such a beautiful, peaceful part of the world. I hope you enjoyed these glimpses of my home town.

How to Love Your Life

2011-02-11T15:43:00.000-08:00

* I don't remember where I found this article but it obviously impressed me because I saved it.Today I would like to share it with you as it has a lot of good advice.*

How to Love Your Life

IT'S YOUR TURN: Start Loving Yourself and Your Life

1. Whose Life is This, Anyway?
It's time to define your own reality and create the life that will make you happy. This is your life. Create your own standard to measure your success. Many of us have been brainwashed into believing society's definition of success: lots of money, a high-powered job, a picture-perfect family, a big extravagant home and a beautiful body. This might work for some people, but all too often we are left feeling dissatisfied, restless and sad. We can't all squeeze ourselves into the same mold, and we shouldn't want to. Take some time to figure out what you really want out of life and then develop a strategy to achieve it. Now let's begin with a few basic premises.

2. You Are a Unique Human Being. You Matter.
No one else is more important, worthy, or special than you. Just because someone is richer, more famous, or more attractive does not make them more valuable than you are. There is goodness and love in you. Do not treat your own physical, emotional, and spiritual health as an afterthought. Make your own well-being a priority. You deserve all the bounty this world has to offer. You are worth it.

3. Erase Negative Programming.

Do away with all the old, negative messages you were given about yourself. If someone has told you that you are worthless, undeserving, dense or unattractive, that is their problem. No one has a right to judge you or belittle you. We are all struggling to get by in this world, and no one else has all the answers. Honor your own truth. In your own heart, you know who you are . . . don't let another take that power away from you. Love yourself.

4. Forgive Yourself . . . and Move On.

Okay . . . so maybe you did screw up on a few things, maybe even on most things. Some of us have to learn the hard way. There are really no failures or mistakes, just opportunities for growth. Usually something good does come out of our mistakes. So learn from them, don't repeat them, forgive yourself, and move on.

5. Make Amends.
If you've hurt someone else in the process of learning your life lessons, make it right. Reach out to them, and tell them you are sorry. Or just start being nice. You are accountable for your behavior. Own up to it.

6. Nurture Yourself.

Be good to yourself. Be kind to yourself. Love yourself. If you are hurting or sad or lonely, honor that. Make time for yourself. Let yourself heal. Don't expect so much of yourself. Life can be downright brutal. Let the love within you and others carry you through. In time, you will see how much you have learned. It is worth the journey.

7. Everything in Life Happens for a Reason.

Life is full of peaks and valleys. Even though they are more difficult, you learn more during the valleys or the challenging times. When you are in a valley, you might not see the value of it; but later, when you look back, you will realize that you have learned a great deal. Know that nothing you experience is an accident. Everything you experience and everyone you meet teaches you something or holds a lesson for you.

8. Know That When One Door Closes, Another Opens.

Change is good. This is how you grow. Eventually you will see that sometimes you have to lose something to gain something else. Even illness, death, and financial loss have a purpose. Did a tragedy bring you closer to your family and friends? Did the community reach out to you? Were you forced to switch gears? Faith is knowing that everything is okay and works out. You will grow stronger from all that you experience.

9. Trust Your Instincts.

All your life, you have been taught to invalidate your feelings. This is wrong. Your subconscious mind continually picks up and processes cues from your environment and from other people. This is valuable information that you should not disregard. Don't let people talk you into doing something that doesn't feel right to you. Trust your gut. If something doesn't feel right to you, then it probably isn't. And you don't have to justify how you feel. Just say, "No thank you," or "I'd rather not," or "I'm busy." Everyone else does not know more than you.

10. Being Alive Is Enough.

Just ask people who almost lost their lives and they will tell you that most of the stuff we fret over isn't that important. Being alive is a great gift. Don't define yourself in such narrow terms as your work, your body, your house, your kids, or your relationships. Learn to see what is precious around you each day. Do not take your good fortune for granted. Be thankful and humble. You do not have to justify your life with a big list of accomplishments. Try to experience just being alive.

11. Love Your Body.

It houses your spirit; it gets you what you need. Appreciate what your body can do and stop focusing on what it can't. No one else's body would be better for you. (Being thinner or better looking is not more valuable.) If you are not the most stunning person in town, then perhaps this makes you more approachable to others. Even if you have a physical disability, there is a reason for this. It is not to cause you suffering, rather it is an opportunity for you to grow or to understand or appreciate something in life. Perhaps this will be the vehicle through which you meet a kindred spirit or discover some hidden talent within you. Be at peace and trust that your soul is beautiful and so are you.

Seven Steps To Change Your Life

The quality of your life is directly related to your standards. A standard is a personal rule or expectation about the level of excellence you require in something, and when you raise your standards you change your life.

In my work I’ve found that most people haven’t taken time to define their standards. Invariably, they’ve inherited rules from others, leading them to live their lives using someone else’s game plan! If you’d like to improve the quality of your life, consider increasing your standards.

Your Model of Interaction

Your Model of Interaction dictates how you engage with people, and is related to who you believe you are. If you identify yourself an impatient person, you’ll treat others with impatience. If you identify yourself as kind, you’ll interact with others in a kind manner.

The law of reciprocity dictates that you will receive what you put out into the world. If you find yourself on the receiving end of uncooperative, negative behavior, it might be time to take a look in the mirror. If you already treat the people in your life with warmth and kindness, then you’re ahead of the game. Take a moment to define standards for how you’ll interact with others.

Your Ability to Keep Your Word

Your personal integrity is related to your ability to do what you say you’ll do. When you make a commitment, then you fail to follow through, you diminish your credibility and undermine your self confidence. When you follow through on your commitments, your credibility and self esteem increases.

The level of faith you have in your own ability to follow through on commitments will directly impact the quality of your life. You’ll be much more prepared to take risks when you have a high level of belief in yourself, and your willingness to risk is integral to your ability to tap into your potential.

Before you commit to something, make sure it fits within the framework of your life. If it doesn’t, don’t commit. If you commit, follow through. Set yourself up to win, and believe in your ability to keep your word.

The White Space in Your Life

White space is an open playing field. It’s uncommitted time. When you define standards to govern how you’ll spend your time, the quality of your life increases exponentially. When you include a requirement to schedule uncommitted time, your stress level will decrease exponentially. This supports you in embracing your responsibilities, rather than resenting them. Spend a few moments defining a standard to create white space in your life.

Your Physical Health and Vitality

Do you like the way that you look and feel? Realize that whatever you might be dissatisfied with is the result of the behavioral standard you’ve set for yourself.

If you want to change your appearance or energy level, it’s imperative to define standards of behavior that support your aspirations. Set some standards that guide how you’ll care for yourself!

Your Financial Position

Your financial reality is directly related to your financial standards. Wealthy people have a different set of behavioral standards than people who struggle financially. What financial realities do you find acceptable? Do you think it’s okay to have credit card debt? Do you require yourself to save? Have you established spending norms, or a process to use when making buying decisions? Take a few moments to define your financial standards.

Your Attitude

Your attitude is your disposition or frame of mind. It’s how you see the world. In order to create the reality of your dreams, you must believe your dreams are possible. How are you going to approach your life? Will you allow yourself to honestly assess your reality? Will you believe you can impact your life? Will you require yourself to make the improvements required to develop the life of your dreams? Set those standards now.

Your Community

Nothing will sabotage your efforts to live a quality life more conclusively than surrounding yourself with people who don’t support your standards. The most difficult course you’ll navigate as you make life improvements will be terminating relationships with people who aren’t equipped to grow with you, and reassuring those who are.

Your relationships have the capacity to tear you down or lift you up. Surrounding yourself with people who share similar standards is an incredibly powerful way to create a lifestyle that pulls you toward your highest potential. Surrounding yourself with people who don’t support your standards will almost surely degenerate the quality of your life.

Take a moment to consider the key people in your life. Do they conduct themselves in ways you respect? Do they support you and celebrate your successes? These are the people you should treasure and invest in. If they don’t, you may want to reconsider sharing your life with them. What standard will you hold for the people in your life?

Your standards act as the framework for your life. Increase your standards, improve your life!

Lupercalia - theTrue Orgins of St. Valentines Day

2011-02-11T13:36:00.000-08:00

(I found this fabulous article about the origins of Valentines Day which is connected to an ancient pagan festival known as Lupercalia. Its a facinating read with lots of great information on all kinds of things including the origin of the card and chocolate giving rituals. )

Lupercalia is uniquely Roman, but even the Romans of the first century were at a loss to explain exactly which deity or deities were being exalted. It harkens back to the days when Rome was nothing more than a few shepherds living on a hill known as Palantine and was surrounded by wilderness teeming with wolves.

Lupercus, protector of flocks against wolves, is a likely candidate; the word lupus is Latin for wolf, or perhaps Faunus, the god of agriculture and shepherds. Others suggest it was Rumina, the goddess whose temple stood near the fig tree under which the she-wolf suckled Romulus and Remus. There is no question about Lupercalia's importance. Records indicate that Mark Antony was master of the Luperci College of Priests. He chose the Lupercalia festival of the year 44BC as the proper time to offer the crown to Julius Caesar.

According to legend, the story of Romulus and Remus begins with their grandfather Numitor, king of the ancient Italian city of Alba Longa. He was ousted by his brother Amulius. Numitor's daughter, Rhea Silvia, was made a Vestal Virgin by Amulius and forbidden to marry since her children would be rightful heir to the throne. Mars, the god of war, fell in love with her and she gave birth to twin sons.

Fearing that the boys would grow up and seek revenge, Amulius had them placed in a basket and thrown into the freezing flooded waters of the River Tiber. When the waters receded, the basket came ashore on Palantine Hill. They were found by a she-wolf who, instead of killing them, nurtured and nourished them with her milk. A woodpecker, also sacred to Mars, brought them food as well.

The twins were later found by Faustulus, the king's shepherd. He and his wife adopted and named them Romulus and Remus. They grew up to be bold, strong young men, and eventually led a band of shepherds in an uprising against Amulius, killing him and rightfully restoring the kingdom to their grandfather.

Deciding to found a town of their own, Romulus and Remus chose the sacred place where the she-wolf had nursed them. Romulus began to build walls on Palatine Hill, but Remus laughed because they were so low. Remus mockingly jumped over them, and in a fit of rage, Romulus killed his brother. Romulus continued the building of the new city, naming it Roma after himself.

February occurred later on the ancient Roman calendar than it does today so Lupercalia was held in the spring and regarded as a festival of purification and fertility. Each year on February 15, the Luperci priests gathered on Palantine Hill at the cave of Lupercal. Vestal virgins brought sacred cakes made from the first ears of last year's grain harvest to the fig tree. Two naked young men, assisted by the Vestals, sacrificed a dog and a goat at the site. The blood was smeared on the foreheads of the young men and then wiped away with wool dipped in milk.

The youths then donned loincloths made from the skin of the goat and led groups of priests around the pomarium, the sacred boundary of the ancient city, and around the base of the hills of Rome. The occasion was happy and festive. As they ran about the city, the young men lightly struck women along the way with strips of the goat hide. It is from these implements of purification, or februa, that the month of February gets its name. This act supposedly provided purification from curses, bad luck, and infertility.

Long after Palentine HIll became the seat of the powerful city, state and empire of Rome, the Lupercalia festival lived on. Roman armies took the Lupercalia customs with them as they invaded France and Britain. One of these was a lottery where the names of available maidens were placed in a box and drawn out by the young men. Each man accepted the girl whose name he drew as his love - for the duration of the festival, or sometimes longer.

As Christianity began to slowly and systematically dismantle the pagan pantheons, it frequently replaced the festivals of the pagan gods with more ecumenical celebrations. It was easier to convert the local population if they could continue to celebrate on the same days... they would just be instructed to celebrate different people and ideologies..

Lupercalia, with its lover lottery, had no place in the new Christian order. In the year 496 AD, Pope Gelasius did away with the festival of Lupercalia, citing that it was pagan and immoral. He chose Valentine as the patron saint of lovers, who would be honored at the new festival on the fourteenth of every February. The church decided to come up with its own lottery and so the feast of St. Valentine featured a lottery of Saints. One would pull the name of a saint out of a box, and for the following year, study and attempt to emulate that saint.

Confusion surrounds St Valentine's exact identity. At least three Saint Valentines are mentioned in the early martyrologies under the date of February 14th. One is described as a priest in Rome, another as a Bishop of Interamna, now Terni in Italy, and the other lived and died in Africa.

The Bishop of Interamna is most widely accepted as the basis of the modern saint. He was an early Christian martyr who lived in northern Italy in the third century and was put to death on February 14th around 270 AD by the orders of Emperor Claudius II for disobeying the ban on Christianity. However, most scholars believe Valentine of Terni and the priest Valentine of Rome were the same person.

Claudius' Rome was an extremely dangerous place to be Christian. Valentine not only chose to be a priest, but was believed to have been a leader of the Christian underground movement. Many priests were caught, one by one and imprisoned and martyred. Valentine supposedly continued to preach the word after he was imprisoned, witnessing to the prisoners and guards.

One story tells that he was able to cure a guard’s daughter of blindness. When word got back to Claudius, he was furious and ordered Valentine’s brutal execution – beaten by clubs until dead, and then beheaded. While he was waiting for the soldiers to come and drag him away, Valentine composed a note to the girl telling her that he loved her. He signed it simply, "From Your Valentine." The execution was carried out on February 14th.

Another legend touts of a well loved priest called Valentine living under the rule of Emperor Claudius II. Rome was constantly engaged in war. Year after year, Claudius drafted male citizens into battle to defend and expand the Roman Empire. Many Romans were unwilling to go. Married men did not want to leave their families. Younger men did not wish to leave their sweethearts. Claudius ordered a moratorium on all marriages and that all engagements must be broken off immediately.

Valentine disagreed with his emperor. When a young couple came to the temple seeking to be married, Valentine secretly obliged them. Others came and were quietly married. Valentine became the friend of lovers in every district of Rome. But such secrets could not be kept for long. Valentine was dragged from the temple. Many pleaded with Claudius for Valentine's release but to no avail, and in a dungeon, Valentine languished and died. His devoted friends are said to have buried him in the church of St. Praxedes on the 14th of February.

The Feast of St. Valentine and the saint lottery lasted for a couple hundred years, but the church just couldn't rid the people's memory of Lupercalia. In time, the church gave up on Valentine all together. Protestant churches don't recognize saints at all, and very few Catholic churches choose to celebrate or observe the life of St. Valentine on a 'Valentine's Sunday'. The lottery finally returned to coupling eligible singles in the 15th century. The church attempted to revive the saint lottery once again in the 16th century, but it never caught on.

During the medieval days of chivalry, the single's lottery was very popular. The names of English maidens and bachelors were put into a box and drawn out in pairs. The couple exchanged gifts and the girl became the man's valentine for a year. He wore her name on his sleeve and it was his bounded duty to attend and protect her. The ancient custom of drawing names on the 14th of February was considered a good omen for love.

Arguably, you could say the very first valentine cards were the slips of paper bearing names of maidens the early Romans first drew. Or perhaps the note Valentine passed from his death cell. The first modern valentine cards are attributed to the young French Duke of Orleans. He was captured in battle and held prisoner in the Tower of London for many years. He was most prolific during his stay and wrote countless love poems to his wife. About sixty of them remain. They are among the royal papers in the British Museum.

By the 17th century, handmade cards had become quite elaborate. Pre-fabricated ones were only for those with means. In 1797, a British publisher issued The Young Man’s Valentine Writer, which contained suggested sentimental verses for the young lover suffering from writer's block. Printers began producing a limited number of cards with verses and sketches, called “mechanical valentines,” and a reduction in postal rates in the next century ushered in the practice of mailing valentines.

This made it possible to exchange cards anonymously and suddenly, racy, sexually suggestive verses started appearing in great numbers, causing quite a stir among prudish Victorians. The number of obscene valentines caused several countries to ban the practice of exchanging cards. Late in the nineteenth century, the post office in Chicago rejected some twenty-five thousand cards on the grounds that they were not fit to be carried through the U.S. mail.

The first American publisher of valentines was printer and artist Esther Howland. Her elaborate lace cards of the 1870’s cost from five to ten dollars, some as much as thirty-five dollars. Since then, the valentine card business has flourished. With the exception of Christmas, Americans exchange more cards on Valentine’s Day than at any other time of year.

One of Estar Howlands first Valentine Cards

Chocolate entered the Valentine's Day ritual relatively late. The Conquistadors brought chocolate to Spain in 1528 and while they knew how to make cocoa from the beans, it wasn't until 1847 that Fry & Sons discovered a way to make chocolate edible. Twenty years later, the Cadbury Brothers discovered how to make chocolate even smoother and sweeter. By 1868, the Cadburys were turning out the first boxed chocolate. They were elaborate boxes made of velvet and mirrors and retained their value as trinket-boxes after the chocolate was gone. Richard Cadbury created the first heart-shaped Valentine's Day box of candy sometime around 1870.

The ultimate romantic couple....Romeo and Juliet

Windowpane Valentine Cookies

2011-02-10T22:35:00.000-08:00

Window Pane Valentines Cookies

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/3 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 cups flour

Hard candy for cookie center (we used Jolly Ranchers)

Instructions

1. To make the dough: Using an electric mixer at medium-high speed, cream the butter, gradually adding the sugar. Beat in the egg until evenly mixed, then blend in the vanilla extract and salt.

2. With a wooden spoon, stir the flour into the creamed ingredients, about one third at a time, until evenly blended. The dough may seem soft, but it will firm up when refrigerated. (I added the flour with my electric mixer and it worked great.)

3. Divide the dough in half. Flatten each portion into a disk and seal in plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight. (Due to my lack of planning, I only refrigerated mine for about 4 hours and it worked well.)

4. To create the cookies: Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Cover a sturdy baking sheet with aluminum foil and lightly coat the foil with cooking spray. (I used olive oil.) Between 2 sheets of waxed paper lightly dusted with flour, roll the dough to a 1/4-inch thickness. Remove the top sheet.

5. Cut out the cookies with a large cookie cutter. Use a spatula to transfer the shapes to the baking sheet, leaving about an inch between cookies. Remove the centers of the cookies with a smaller cookie cutter. (Save the centers to bake later.) (you could use a small star cookie cutter or make a circle from a shot glass.)

6. Place a hard candy (we used Jolly Ranchers) in the center of each heart and bake until the cookies start to brown lightly around the edges and the candy is melted, about 8 to 10 minutes. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes ( I found cooling them for 10-12 minutes, until the candy centres were completely cooled worked the best), then transfer them to wire racks to cool completely. To prevent sticking, line your serving plate or tin with waxed paper and place additional waxed paper between layers.

Makes 30.

They're fantastic what else can I say! ENJOY!

Linking to Cindy's Show and Tell Friday

Imbolc/Candlemas/St Brigids Day

2011-01-29T13:24:00.000-08:00

Imbolc (also Imbolg or Oimelc), or St Brigid’s Day (Scots Gaelic Là Fhèill Brìghde, Irish Lá Fhéile Bríde, the feast day of St. Brigid), is an Irish festival marking the beginning of spring. It was originally a pagan festival associated with the goddess Brigid, who was later Christianised as St. Brigid.
Most commonly it is celebrated on February 1 or 2 (or February 12, according to the Old Calendar), which falls halfway between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox in the northern hemisphere.

Imbolc is the festival of the lactating sheep. It is derived from the Gaelic word "oimelc" which means "ewes milk". Herd animals have either given birth to the first offspring of the year or their wombs are swollen and the milk of life is flowing into their teats and udders. It is the time of Blessing of the seeds and consecration of agricultural tools. It marks the center point of the dark half of the year. It is the festival of the Maiden, for from this day to March 21, it is her season to prepare for growth and renewal and in many places the first Crocus flowers begin to spring forth from the frozen earth.

The Maiden is honored as the Bride on this Sabbat. Straw corn dollies are created from oat or wheat straw and placed in baskets with white flower bedding. Young girls then carry them door to door, and gifts are bestowed upon the image from each household. Afterwards at the traditional feast, the older women make special acorn wands for the dollies to hold. Brighid's Crosses are fashioned from wheat stalks and exchanged as symbols of protection and prosperity in the coming year. Home hearth fires are put out and re-lit, and a besom(broom) is place by the front door to symbolize sweeping out the old and welcoming the new. Candles are lit and placed in each room of the house to honor the re-birth of the Sun.

Another traditional symbol of Imbolc is the plough. In some areas, this is the first day of ploughing in preparation of the first planting of crops. A decorated plough is dragged from door to door, with costumed children following asking for food, drinks, or money. Should they be refused, the household is paid back by having its front garden ploughed up. In other areas, the plough is decorated and then Whiskey, the "water of life" is poured over it. Pieces of cheese and bread are left by the plough and in the newly turned furrows as offerings to the nature spirits. It is considered taboo to cut or pick plants during this time

The holiday was a festival of the hearth and home, and a celebration of the lengthening days and the early signs of spring. Celebrations often involved hearthfires, special foods (butter, milk, and bannock, for example), divination or watching for omens, and candles or a bonfire if the weather permits. Imbolc is traditionally a time of weather predicting and the old tradition of watching to see if serpents or badgers came from their winter dens is a precursor to the North American Groundhog Day.

Imbolc is the day the Cailleach — the hag of Gaelic tradition — gathers her firewood for the rest of the winter. Legend has it that if she intends to make the winter last a good while longer, she will make sure the weather on Imbolc is bright and sunny, so she can gather plenty of firewood. Therefore, people are generally relieved if Imbolc is a day of foul weather, as it means the Cailleach is asleep and winter is almost over.

Fire and purification are an important aspect of this festival. Brigid (also known as Brighid, Bríde, Brigit, Brìd) is the Gaelic goddess of poetry, healing and smithcraft. As both goddess and saint she is also associated with holy wells, sacred flames, and healing. The lighting of candles and fires represents the return of warmth and the increasing power of the Sun over the coming months.

Brigid is said to walk the earth on Imbolc eve. Before going to bed, each member of the household may leave a piece of clothing or strip of cloth outside for Brigid to bless. The head of the household will smother (or "smoor") the fire and rake the ashes smooth. In the morning, they look for some kind of mark on the ashes, a sign that Brigid has passed that way in the night or morning. The clothes or strips of cloth are brought inside, and believed to now have powers of healing and protection

Brigit's holiday was chiefly marked by the kindling of sacred fires, since she symbolized the fire of birth and healing, the fire of the forge, and the fire of poetic inspiration. Bonfires were lighted on the beacon tors, and chandlers celebrated their special holiday. The Roman Church was quick to confiscate this symbolism as well, using 'Candlemas' as the day to bless all the church candles that would be used for the coming liturgical year. (Catholics will be reminded that the following day, St. Blaise's Day, is remembered for using the newly-blessed candles to bless the throats of parishioners, keeping them from colds, flu, sore throats, etc.)

Correspondences

Symbolism: purity, growth and renewal, the reunion of the Goddess and the God, fertility, dispensing of the old and making way for the new.

Foods: dairy products, curries, onions, chives, seeds, herbal tea, mutton or lamb, poppyseed cakes, muffins, scones, and breads, onions, garlic, raisins, spiced wines.

Herbs: angelica, basil, bay laurel, blackberry, celandine, coltsfoot, heather, iris, myrrh, tansy, violets, and all white or yellow flowers.

Incense and oils: angelica, blackberry, iris, myrrh, vanilla.

Colors: white, yellow, light green.

Stones: amethyst, bloodstone, garnet, ruby, onyx, turquoise.

Animals: robins, burrowing animals, sheep, lambs, deer

Decorations: candles, lamps, brooms, yellow flowers, Brighid's Crosses, priapic wands (acorn-tipped), evergreens.

Traditional activities: a besom is placed by the front door to symbolize sweeping out the old and welcoming the new, candle lighting, searching for signs of spring, making Bride's Beds, making priapic wands, feasting, spring cleaning.

Spell/ritual work: blessing of seeds for this year's garden, fertility and purification, consecration of agricultural tools, initiation, transformation, beginnings.

Explore some of the ways you can add folk practices into your Imbolc celebration.

Imbolc is a festival of purification and a celebration of the first signs of spring. It is the time when the milk begins to engorge the udders of the livestock in preparation for the first births of spring. It is an important date in the beginning of the agricultural year. Preparations for spring sowing, hiring of farm workers for the coming season, fishermen taking out their boats after staying in for the winter season, seaweed gathering on the coast to be used for fertilizer, and the gathering of shellfish all begin at that this time. The larder of the housewife and the hay stores of the farmer were also checked to make sure that only half had been consumed.

Most of the elements of the traditional celebration can be seen, as referring to sexual intercourse and fertility: the men, having the charge of making the "little Brid doll" often from the phallic dasher of a churn; the women preparing the "bed" for the don; the churning of butter; the emphasis on birth and milking; and the use of straw, which was the traditional material for the birthing bed for human and beast alike, etc.

In folk practice, it appears mostly as a holiday centered on the household, but it can easily be turned into a community celebration as well. Below are some customs that have long been associated with this sacred holiday. Feel free to modify them to match your needs and the particulars of your family and community.

Spring Cleaning

This is the time to give your home a good thorough cleaning in preparation for a visit from Brigit. If you happen to have a fireplace, it especially should be cleaned very well. As a part of the magical purification of the house a birch branch should be used to symbolically sweep the floors. Birch has strong associations with Brigit, and has long been used for rites of purification and new beginnings.

All of this work should be completed prior to the eve of Imbolc, when a small dish of butter should be placed on a windowsill and a fresh fire kindled in the hearth or a candle lit in honor of Brigit.

Making the Brideog

If possible (and applicable) this work should be done by the man of the household or a group of men in your grove. Long pieces of straw or rushes should be gathered and fashioned into the shape of a doll. The image should be dressed in white doll clothing or merely wrapped in a white cloth in the manner of a dress. Her image should be decorated with bits of greenery, early flowers, shells and pretty stones. An especially pretty shell should be placed over her heart. For the greatest magical effect, the doll can be built around the handle of an old butter chum dasher. When finished, she should be consecrated with a few sprinkles of sacred water while invocations to Brigit are spoken. The resulting effigy is called a Brideog (BREE-JOG), or "little Brid" and is an important component of the traditional Imbolc celebration.

Brigit's Crosses

This is the most widely practiced custom associated with Imbolc. Following the making of the Brideog, the extra straw should be gathered up and saved, for use at the family or grove feast on the eve of Imbolc. For the best results, the straw should be soaked in water for a couple of days prior to the feast. Pan of that evening should be devoted to making Brigit's Crosses. These are weavings of straw that can be as simple as a few strands or amazingly elaborate. Most folks are familiar with the three or four-armed variety but there is a great number of different regional patterns including what most people in America know as a "God's Eye" pattern woven around two sticks. At the end of the evening each person should take their cross home, sprinkle it with a bit of sacred water and speak a request of Brigit for blessing and protection of the home and family members. Old crosses from previous years should be moved to the rafters or attic of your home, and the new crosses hung in their place near the entryways to the dwelling. Crosses that were woven by the children should be hung on the wall over their beds, and if you happen to have a barn or out-building you should hang one there as well. They are especially effective in protecting the household and its inhabitants from fire and lightening.

Throughout the year, the crosses may be taken down temporarily when a Brigit blessing is needed: the a healing of a sick child; tucking between the mattresses to assist in conception; placed upon a basket of seed being carried out to the garden for planting, etc.

Divination

The eve of Imbolc is the best time of the year to perform divinations specifically pertaining to the future welfare and prosperity of your family.

Imbolc Feast

On the eve of Imbolc, a family or community feast should be held. When all is prepared, and the table is set, the persons who were involved in the making of the Brideog should go outside and retrieve her. The doll should be placed on the outside of the building next to the open door. The men should get on their knees before the doll (the traditional gesture of respect for the Brideog) and shout into the house, "Go on your knees, open your eyes, and admit Brigit!" The celebrants inside should answer, "Welcome! Welcome! Welcome to the holy woman!" The Brideog should then be carried into the house and leaned against a leg of the feasting table. Begin the feast with a prayer of thanks.

Brid's Bed

As the evening of the Imbolc feast winds down, the women of the household or grove should gather up the last of the straw and fashion an oblong basket in the shape of a cradle called "leaba Brid" (LAWA BREE) or "the bed of Brid". Place the bed near the hearth If you have one. Then place the Brideog into the bed and place a small straight wand of birch with the bark peeled in the bed beside the figure. This wand is called "slatag Brid" (SLAH-TAHG BREE) or "'the little wand of Brid. If you have burned a fire during the evening the ashes of the fire should be scraped smooth. In the morning check the ashes for marks of Brigit's wand or better yet, her footprint to prove that she had visited during the night. If no marks are found, burn some incense in the hearth or near the spot where the bed was placed, as an offering.

Brideog Procession

This is a special type of procession similar to caroling that members of your grove can do on the eve of Imbolc (or one of the preceding nights if necessary). Arrangements should be made ahead of time so that people can sign up for a visit and know what to expect. They should also be advised that it is best to do the spring cleaning before the Brideog visits. Assemble a company of participants, called "Biddy's" or Brideogs and prepare the songs for the event. Take the Brideogs from house to house to offer blessings and entertainment to the families who live mere. Dressing in unusual clothes and wearing funny hats will add to the fun of the event and, is quite traditional. A young lady, traditionally the prettiest of the crowd, should be selected to carry the Brigit doll.

When you arrive, ask for admittance to the house (it is considered very bad luck to be uncivil to a Brideog) and everyone should file in. Entertain the household with a couple of songs (traditionally song, rhymes and music on flute, violin, and later, accordion were used) and recite a prepared Brigit blessing for them. If the household does not already have one, they should be presented with a Brigit's cross for protection and blessings through the year. Before going, the family should present the Brideogs with an item of food, especially one associated with dairy, to be used at the community feast (or as an alternative you can collect non-perishable food items for a homeless shelter).

Blessing of the Brat Brid

During the day before Imbolc, the woman of the house or women of the grove should take a small piece of cloth (larger if it is for the entire grove) and lay it on a bush outside. During the night, as the goddess roams to bless the houses of her followers, she will pass by, touching and blessing the cloth. Collect the cloth in the morning and tear it into small pieces. These pieces of doth, individually called a Brat Brid (BRAHT BREE]), should be distributed among the children and females of the household. The Brat Brid will give them protection throughout the year where ever they go. These pieces of cloth may be sewn into the clothes or jackets of the children to insure that it won't be lost.

Blessing the Bratach Brid

The Bratach Bree (BRAH-TOCK BREE) is a large piece of cloth, such as a shawl that Brigit will bless in the same fashion as the Brat Brid. Instead of being torn into pieces on the next day this cloth should be kept as a sacred relic and charged repeatedly year after year. The Bratach Brid can become quite powerful over time and can be used to help insure safe childbirth and to cure sterility by placing it over the patient and asking for Brigit's help. It was once fairly standard equipment for country midwives in Ireland. In addition to being used for human mothers during childbirth it was also spread across the back of birthing cows to ensure the health of the calves and an abundant supply of milk.

Bibliography

Carmichael. Alexander, Carmina Gadelica Hymns & Incantations, ed. C. J. Moore, Edinburgh; Books. 1992

Danaher, Kevin, The Year In Ireland, Irish Calendar Customs, Minneapolis: Mercier Press, 1972

O Cathainn, Seamas, The Festival of Brigit, Celtic Goddess & Holy Woman, Dublin: DBA Publications Ltd., 1995

Rees, Alwyn and Brinley Rees. Celtic Heritage, Ancient Tradition in Ireland and Wales, London: Thames and Hudson, 1961

Blessings,

How to Make a Steam Room for Under $100

2011-01-01T16:20:00.000-08:00

I love to pamper myself with spa treatments but can't always afford to go. I prefer a steam over a sauna as I find the dry heat of the sauna hard on my lungs. Here is what I made so I could have a steam in the comfort of my own home. Best of all it packs away so it's not taking up space when not in use.

What you need:

-An Ikea Molger storage stool $49.95

-4 cotton curtain panels

-an electric deep fryer( the old fashioned kind, round with a basket that lifts out and a glass lid) I found mine at the flea market for under $20

-a chinese umbrella with bamboo/wood spines ( I cut the handle off and tied a strong rope around the knob on top to suspend it)
- a ceiling hook to hang the tent
-velcro

Method

-Sew the curtain panels together to create a tent, use the velcro to make three closures at the opening

-place the deep fryer minus the lid and basket inside the storage stool

-drape the tent over the open umbrella and hang it from a strong hook in the ceiling

-half fill the deep fryer with water and any herbs you want to use in your steam and turn it on hot enough to bring the water to a boil

-sit in the tent on the stool with the opening velcroed shut and enjoy the steam

The tent can be taken down and folded up to fit inside the stool with the deep fryer when not in use

Pamper yourself and enjoy, you deserve it!

Linking to Cindy's Show and Tell Friday

Your Never Too Old...

2010-12-28T23:36:00.000-08:00

...for your first dollhouse! I'm sure every little girl dreams of a dollhouse when she is young. I know I did. The other day I was looking in the antique section on Craigslist, not planning on buying anything just window shopping. When I saw this ad, my heart did a little flipflop, the dollhouse of my dreams was just down the road! I always loved the Waltons show and this house reminded me of theirs. I had to have it!

I took these pictures at night with some small fairy lights to light up the rooms. Not my best work in photography but I will do a proper set of this house one when I am more settled and have somewhere with better light.

All the furniture that came with it is antique style and all the drawers etc work, very nice craftsmanship

I already want to add extensions onto the house and collect or make more furniture.

I was really inspired by this artists ability to make a dollhouse of Sandy's gorgeous Streamside Studio.

Check out the post of how she did it. Sandy has created the most beautiful little cottage ever and this dollhouse is a perfect replica of it. I wanted to do one too, but now I have a headstart. I can decorate mine however I want . Maybe someday I'll be ambitious enough to try and recreate my own home. Until then I'll have fun pretending I'm visiting the Waltons ( and helping them redecorate!)

Linking to Cindy's Show and Tell Friday

Winter Solstice - Yule - Christmas

2010-12-15T22:03:00.000-08:00

December 21/22: The day of the long night for those of us who live north of the equatorial zones . This day has the 24-hour period with the most hours of darkness. On this ultimate day of rest, even the mighty Sun stands momentarily still in the sky.The word solstice literally means "sun standing still." At the moment of the winter solstice, the path of the sun in the sky over the past six months has reached its furthest southern position and now turns northward.

Festivals, rituals and celebrations appear throughout human cultures, beginning at least in the Neolithic Period of 10,000 years ago. We all have heard of Stonehenge and its function as a megalithic solar observatory. We now know that it has a contemporary counterpart in Ireland called Newgrange, which is estimated to be 5000 years old. Newgrange is also a solar observatory designed to funnel a shaft of sunlight deep into its central chamber at dawn on the day of the Winter Solstice.

The best known celebration/festival during late December is Christmas, but it is a recent festival added to the list. Its date was set by the Roman Emperor during the Fourth Century to coincide with pagan rituals and celebrations surrounding the Winter Solstice. There are great similarities to the "Birth of the Son" and the "Rebirth of the Sun" beyond the obvious similarity of words.

Festivals of the Winter Solstice have ancient origins. The ancient Egyptians, Babylonians and Persians had renewal festivals during this period, as did the Romans and other European cultures: the Roman Saturnalia, the Norse and Germanic Yule and the Celtic festivals. Winter Solstice festivals were not limited to Europe either. Among these are the Pakistani Chaomas, the Tibetan Dosmoche, the Chinese Dong Zhi and the Japanese Hari Kuyo. Native North Americans also held solstice rituals. These all predate the introduction of Christianity to their region and many of these rituals and festivals were later incorporated into Christmas observances such as mistletoe and holly. In some traditions of Wicca and Paganism, the Yule celebration comes from the Celtic legend of the battle between the young Oak King and the Holly King. The Oak King, representing the light of the new year, tries each year to usurp the old Holly King, who is the symbol of darkness. Re-enactment of the battle is popular in some Wiccan rituals.

At the root of all these celebrations and rituals is the battle between Light and Dark. The battle reaches a turning point on the Winter Solstice as the advances of Darkness are halted and the tide turns for the forces of Light. Light returns to drive the gloom away and to raise our spirits. As a festival of the Sun, the most important part of any Yule celebration is light,candles,and bonfires.

This year's winter solstice (2010) — will coincide with a full lunar eclipse in a union that hasn't been seen in 456 years. The celestial eccentricity holds special significance.

"It's a ritual of transformation from darkness into light," says Nicole Cooper, a high priestess at Toronto's Wiccan Church of Canada. "It's the idea that when things seem really bleak, (it) is often our biggest opportunity for personal transformation."The idea that the sun and the moon are almost at their darkest at this point in time really only further goes to hammer that home."Cooper said Wiccans also see great significance in the unique coupling of the masculine energy of the sun and the feminine energy of the moon.

The last time the two celestial events happened at the same time was in AD 1554, according to NASA. An otherwise seemingly unexceptionable year in recorded history, the darkened moon happened during a bleak year for Tudor England. Lady Jane Grey was beheaded for treason that year, while Princess Elizabeth was imprisoned in the Tower of London. Mary of Guise — the mother of Mary, Queen of Scots — became regent of Scotland.

The eclipse will start just after midnight Eastern Time on Tuesday, with the main event starting at 1:30 a.m. ET and lasting until 5:30 a.m., when the moon reappears.

Yule, (pronounced EWE-elle) is when the dark half of the year relinquishes to the light half. Starting the next morning at sunrise, the sun climbs just a little higher and stays a little longer in the sky each day. Known as Solstice Night, or the longest night of the year, much celebration was to be had as the ancestors awaited the rebirth of the Oak King, the Sun King, the Giver of Life that warmed the frozen Earth and made her to bear forth from seeds protected through the fall and winter in her womb. Bonfires were lit in the fields, and crops and trees were "wassailed" with toasts of spiced cider.

Children were escorted from house to house with gifts of clove spiked apples and oranges which were laid in baskets of evergreen boughs and wheat stalks dusted with flour. The apples and oranges represented the sun, the boughs were symbolic of immortality, the wheat stalks portrayed the harvest, and the flour was accomplishment of triumph, light, and life. Holly, mistletoe, and ivy not only decorated the outside, but also the inside of homes. It was to extend invitation to Nature Sprites to come and join the celebration. A sprig of Holly was kept near the door all year long as a constant invitation for good fortune to pay visit to the residents.

The ceremonial Yule log was the highlight of the festival. In accordance to tradition, the log must either have been harvested from the householder's land, or given as a gift... it must never have been bought. Once dragged into the house and placed in the fireplace it was decorated in seasonal greenery, doused with cider or ale, and dusted with flour before set ablaze be a piece of last years log, (held onto for just this purpose). The log would burn throughout the night, then smolder for 12 days after before being ceremonially put out. Ash is the traditional wood of the Yule log. It is the sacred world tree of the Teutons, known as Yggdrasil. An herb of the Sun, Ash brings light into the hearth at the Solstice.

A different type of Yule log, and perhaps one more suitable for modern practitioners would be the type that is used as a base to hold three candles. Find a smaller branch of oak or pine, and flatten one side so it sets upright. Drill three holes in the top side to hold red, green, and white (season), green, gold, and black (the Sun God), or white, red, and black (the Great Goddess). Continue to decorate with greenery, red and gold bows, rosebuds, cloves, and dust with flour.

Candles are used during this celebration as symbols of the Sun's light and of the new year. Electric lights only became popular in the early 20th century as a substitute for candles. You will see the theme of the returning light in the way Christians hang Christmas lights and put a star at the top of their trees. Decorating the tree with light is believed to have originated in Germany and Scandinavia. Families would bring a "live" tree into the home so the wood spirits would have a warm place to live during the cold winter months. Bells were hung on the limbs of the tree so you could "hear" when a spirit was present, food and treats were left on the branches so the spirit could eat, and a five-pointed star -- the pentagram -- was placed at the top of the tree.

The German Martin Luther is credited as the first person to decorate his tree with candles. After seeing how beautiful the stars were at night, he wanted to recreate the image for his children.
"Christmas" trees were introduced to the court of Queen Victoria by her husband, Prince Albert. Although it was the custom to decorate live evergreen trees in honor of the Gods, our modern practice of cutting down a tree to bring indoors is a blasphemous desecration of the original concept. The evergreen is one of few plants to remain green even in winter and it is a symbol of life during the season of death. Decorating these trees and branches is a way of celebrating life. They are adorned with lights to encourage and honor the Sun, tinsel to encourage the melting of the snow, and the fruits of the harvest to give thanks and to ensure a bounty for the next planting season.

The low point on the "Wheel of the Year," Yule is associated with the birth of the Divine King, the Sun god. Although he is still young and weak, the days are getting longer as his light begins to grow. Earth is in darkness and the Goddess is sleeping (some say). The God who died at the harvest festival of Lammas -- cut down with the grain -- has spent this time traveling in the underworld and is now reborn. Which brings us to the battle between the Oak King, representing the waxing year, and the Holly King, who represents the waning year. The Oak King, The Child of Promise, comes from the union, the love and the creative forces of the God and Goddess and is considered to be the creative principle of the universe -- the mighty one who conquers darkness and brings light to the world. He is virile, fertile and a creative force who plants seeds that will bring new life, thus ensuring its continuation. He is the lord of nature and of the forest and he reminds us of our connection to every living thing.

The Holly King, the God of death and the underworld, is he who conquers light and brings rest and rebirth to the world. He is the other half of the eternal struggle between dark and light (not good and evil). He is the God who gathers souls to him to help prepare them for rebirth, even as he dies and is reborn. He is a healer who can comfort us in times of sorrow and loss because he has walked that path before us. He is a god of judgment, retribution and balance, the keeper of the laws.

At Midsummer, as the year begins its turn toward the dark again, Holly is victorious, but at Midwinter, the Oak King defeats the forces of darkness, revealing himself as a vegetation god who must die each year so that life can be renewed.

Decorated trees, lights, wreaths on the door -- these are symbols of the season. Many of these symbols originated as many as 5,000 years ago. They represent reasons for celebration in the Christmas tradition and the earlier pagan rites: rebirth and everlasting life told in the stories of the birth, death and resurrection of Hercules, Dionysus, Mithra, Horus, Jesus, Arthur and many others.

Holly and ivy are also Yule symbols. Their origins are ancient. Romans used holly during the Winter Solstice, known to them as the Saturnalia. Gifts of holly were exchanged. Holly was believed to ward off lightning and evil spirits. It was also seen as a symbol of the masculine, ivy the symbol of the feminine. The custom of decorating the doorway with the two plants intertwined represented a symbolic union of the two halves of divinity.

Celtic people believed that mistletoe was a strong charm against lightning, thunder and evil. Druids harvested the plant from sacred oak trees five days after the New Moon following the Winter Solstice. Norse people also considered the plant sacred. Warriors who met under the mistletoe would not fight, but maintained a truce until the next day. Other cultures considered mistletoe to be aphrodisiac, thus came the custom of "kissing under the mistletoe."

Giving gifts at Yule is another old symbol.The tradition of Christmas gift-giving is a mystery. Many believe the ritual to have descended from the ancient Roman Saturnalia festival. Saturnalia (named for Saturn, the Roman God of sowing) was observed from roughly December 17 through December 25. Its purpose? To see out the old year and safeguard the health of the crops sown in winter. For the populace of Rome, it was also a time of feasting and gift-giving. The citizens exchanged "strenae" -- boughs of laurel and evergreen that brought good luck -- and the children received "sigillaria," small clay dolls which were purchased at a special fair held during the week of Saturnalia. Gifts of homemade pastries and sweets would be exchanged and those of higher rank might make presents of jewelry or pieces of gold and silver.

Christian tradition equates the giving of gifts to the Magi who visited the Christ child shortly after his birth, bringing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh to the Savior.

And last, but not least, we have our modern Santa Claus. Santa is a combination of several figures -- St. Nick from Holland, Father Christmas from England, Kris Kringle from Germany and Father Winter from Russia, among others. These figures all have pagan roots. Norse and Germanic peoples tell stories of the Yule Elf, who brings presents on the Solstice to those who leave offerings of porridge. Odin is a Norse god also identified with the character of Santa. One of his titles was Jolnir, "Lord of the Yule," and he bears a resemblance to Santa.

Symbolism of Yule:
Rebirth of the Sun, The longest night of the year, The Winter Solstice, Introspect, Planning for the Future.

Symbols of Yule:
Yule log, or small Yule log with 3 candles, evergreen boughs or wreaths, holly, mistletoe hung in doorways, gold pillar candles, baskets of clove studded fruit, a simmering pot of wassail, poinsettias, christmas cactus.

Herbs of Yule:
Bayberry, blessed thistle, evergreen, frankincense holly, laurel, mistletoe, oak, pine, sage, yellow cedar.

Foods of Yule:
Cookies and caraway cakes soaked in cider, fruits, nuts, pork dishes, turkey, eggnog, ginger tea, spiced cider, wassail, or lamb's wool (ale, sugar, nutmeg, roasted apples).

Incense of Yule:
Pine, cedar, bayberry, cinnamon.
Colors of Yule:
Red, green, gold, white, silver, yellow, orange.

Stones of Yule:
Rubies, bloodstones, garnets, emeralds, diamonds.

Activities of Yule:
Caroling, wassailing the trees, burning the Yule log, decorating the Yule tree, exchanging of presents, kissing under the mistletoe, honoring Kriss Kringle the Germanic Pagan God of Yule

Spellworkings of Yule:
Peace, harmony, love, and increased happiness.

Wassail Recipe
Wassail was originally a word that meant to greet or salute someone -- groups would go out wassailing on cold evenings, and when they approached a door would be offered a mug of warm cider or ale. Over the years, the tradition evolved to include mixing eggs with alcohol and asperging the crops to ensure fertility. While this recipe doesn't include eggs, it sure is good, and it makes your house smell beautiful for Yule!

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 3 hours, 00 minute

Ingredients:

•1 Gallon apple cider

•2 C. cranberry juice

•1/2 C honey

•1/2 C sugar

•2 oranges

•Whole cloves

•1 apple, peeled and diced

•Allspice

•Ginger

•Nutmeg

•3 cinnamon sticks (or 3 Tbs. ground cinnamon)

•1/2 C - 1 C brandy (optional)

Preparation:

Set your crockpot to its lower setting, and pour apple cider, cranberry juice, honey and sugar in, mixing carefully. As it heats up, stir so that the honey and sugar dissolve. Stud the oranges with the cloves, and place in the pot (they'll float). Add the diced apple. Add allspice, ginger and nutmeg to taste -- usually a couple of tablespoons of each is plenty. Finally, snap the cinnamon sticks in half and add those as well.
Cover your pot and allow to simmer 2 - 4 hours on low heat. About half an hour prior to serving, add the brandy if you choose to use it.

One year I decided to have a solstice tree as opposed to a Christmas Tree. I asked everyone who came to my solstice party to bring something natural to decorate the tree with. It turned out to be the most beautiful tree I have ever seen. Some of the decorations included:
- dehydrated slices of fruit such as blood oranges, lemons, limes, pears and apples which were hung in front of lights on the tree to give a look of stained glass ornaments
- strings of cranberries and popcorn wrapped around the tree
- pinecones decorated with beads and glitter
- leaves that had been treated so that just the veins remained and spray painted gold ( here is a recipe to make leaf skeletons)
- feathers
- the top of the tree was decorated with a stained glass eagle

An activity I had each guest do that night,was to make a doll. I used dried poppy seed heads on stalks for the head and body. A wooden skewer was lashed across the middle to make the arms. I had strips of fabric precut and my guests used markers to write on them things they wished to let go of in the new year. They then dipped the fabric strips in melted wax and draped them over the stick figures to create their poppets/dolls( make sure to use a double boiler affair to melt the wax and keep it melted through the night. Wax is highly flammable and will ignite over direct heat, use a water bath under the container with the wax!)
It was highly entertaining to see everyones individual creations. We saved them until New Years Eve when we set them in the ground outside and burned them to release our wishes to the universe. Because of the wax, they burn long and bright. Be careful doing this, make sure they are far from the house and anything flammable as they are hard to put out.

You can see there are many ways to celebrate Yule and many symbols of this holiday. However you celebrate, I wish you a Blessed Yule, a Happy Solstice and a Merry Christmas.
Blessings,

Thrifty Sunday November 28 2010

2010-11-28T00:33:00.000-08:00

When I'm not busy doing renos, I'm online looking for materials and furnishings to complete my dream home. Here are some more of my recent treasures.

My home has two large sliding barn-like doors, one on each side of the building. This place was originally a workshop for building kayaks so the large entrances came in handy. I am constantly looking for ways to bring in more light to the place, so was thrilled to find these French doors to replace one of the sliders. Sadly like all the windows in my place they are single pane glass ( not great when it gets really cold out ). I am going to look for glass to put over one side with trim to hold it in place. Not really double pane windows but it should provide some better protection against the wind. I can also seal the inside windows with plastic to create another barrier. These won't be getting installed until the summer as it will result in a large gaping hole in the wall which will need to be framed in first.

I leaned them up in front of the slider to see what the house will look like when they are installed

I picked up this lovely small display cabinet which will save me some shelf building

A close up of the trim on the cabinet

On my way to pick up the cabinet, I was waylaid by the Value Village in Coquitlam where I hardly ever get too, so took a detour into the place. For some reason I got focused on the linen section and came up with a couple of table settings that will look awesome with my Christmas decor and favorite dishes. The colours aren't looking quite as good on here as they do in real life, but they are actually quite a nice match. I got four of the gold runners which I would place across the table and use as placemats. I found 8 old fashioned yellow embroidered napkins to go with it.

I also got this lovely sage green tablecloth which looks great with the gold runners as well

I also got this burgendy tablecloth with these green and pink napkins to use with my pink dish set.

I found 12 of these cute Christams tree name tag holders for the table

This cute sleigh made of metal

A cute flower vase made of metal as well

and this really cute lantern which is going to go by my bathtub

This green teapot seems to be the same colour as alot of other green things Ive found lately. I love it, it is such a soft and delicate colour

I found this funky sea serpent hook which I am going to use to hang.....

this asian styled set of chimes

I was so excited when I found this for only 6 dollars. It's a kit of balsa wood houses that you build and decorate. I can create my own village scene

It's a shame that most of this stuff probably won't get used this year as I don't have my reno's far enough along to hold Christmas here. It still feels good to know that I am ready for it though. Next year should see me with a kitchen and living room where I can finally entertain and decorate. I can't wait for those days!

I am linking to Cindy's Show and Tell Friday

Just Hanging Around

2010-10-27T15:41:00.000-07:00

A combination of trauma, bad posture, wear and tear and bad life-style choices such as smoking have left me with deteriorating discs in my neck. They had the audacity to bulge out into my spinal canal and put pressure on the nerves to my arm, three times in the last year. The first two times, it lasted 6 weeks and was the most excrutiating pain I could imagine. Somewhat like getting tasered in the arm, I'm thinking, but non-stop. I tried alot of modalities to ease the pain or correct the situation. Other than medicating myself to the eyeballs with Demerol and strong anti- inflammatories, I wasn't having much luck. The third time it happened, I managed to get in to see my physio. He had a neck traction device for sale which I bought and used at home. It really helped alot, but I found it a bit uncomfortable having my neck yanked upwards like that

Cervical Traction Device

Hang -up Inversion Table

I had heard of inversion tables before but couldn't afford one at over three hundred dollars. Today was my very lucky day. I found one in the free section of craigslist. The guy said, basically, whoever gets to my house first,..gets it. There were other people on their way already apparently. I threw on some clothes and raced out the door and was at his place in a few minutes. Lucky for me , I got there first and am the proud new owner of a Hang-up inversion table. They provide total traction for the back and neck and can be used to do some exercises as well. I will get alot of use from this and am so grateful to the universe for providing once again.

As I was trying to figure out how to put it together and use it, I looked online and found a bunch of how-to videos showing various exercises and how to use it, so thought I would post them all here so I could find them again. If you have any kind of back pain especially with nerve impingment, I highly recommend one of these units.
How to Set Up an Inversion Table Workout -- powered by eHow.com
Decompressing the Spine with an Inversion Table Workout -- powered by eHow.com
How to Get On an Inversion Table -- powered by eHow.com
How to Do Spinal Extensions with Inversion Table -- powered by eHow.com
How to Do Intermittent Stretching with Inversion Table -- powered by eHow.com
Advanced Set Up of an Inversion Table -- powered by eHow.com
How to Do a Full Inversion on an Inversion Table -- powered by eHow.com
How to Do an Abdominal Workout on an Inversion Table -- powered by eHow.com
How to Do an Oblique Workout on an Inversion Table -- powered by eHow.com
How to Exercise the Lumbar Spine on an Inversion Table -- powered by eHow.com
How to Do Side Bends on an Inversion Table -- powered by eHow.com
How to Do Parallel Relaxation on an Inversion Table -- powered by eHow.com
How to Work Out with Weights on an Inversion Table -- powered by eHow.com
How to Come Back Up on an Inversion Table -- powered by eHow.com
How to Break Down an Inversion Table -- powered by eHow.com

I'm going to go and hang out for awhile, see you later!

I am linking to Cindy's Show and Tell Friday

Samhain/Halloween/All Saints

2010-10-22T18:51:00.000-07:00

The Festival of Samhain marks the ending and beginning of the Celtic Year. Samhain (pronounced "Sow-in") comes from the Irish Gaelic and means "Summers End". Samhain is held on Oct. 31st and is more commonly known as Halloween. It is a very important date as it represents a time to honor our ancestors, the end of the harvest season and the beginning of the Witches New Year. It is believed that on this day, the veil separating this world from spirit world is at its thinnest. It is on this day that we pay tribute to our dead, tie up all loose ends and reap a wonderful harvest.

With the rise of Christianity, Samhain was changed to Hallowmas, or All Saints' Day, to commemorate the souls of the blessed dead who had been canonized that year, so the night before became popularly known as Halloween, All Hallows Eve, or Hollantide. November 2nd became All Souls Day, when prayers were to be offered to the souls of all who were departed and those who were waiting in Purgatory for entry into Heaven.

Samhain was an important agricultural observance. It was when the final harvest was taken and the folk were now dependent on stored food, hunting and slaughtering of animals for survival. Herds were culled to eliminate the weak and unnecessary and to ensure that the limited amount of food would go around for the next six months. In this aspect, Samhain is a holiday of plenty and feasting, laying in a layer of fat before the winter, and gathering together for safety and protection. Samhain is the time when we connect with the vital forces of nature and make ourselves ready for the long descent into winter

Samhain is also a time when the veil separating our world, the mortal realm, and the world of the Gods and spirits becomes thin. As such, it is a good time to commune with the recently departed before they continue their journey from death to the "Summerland" - the realm of the Gods. There they can enjoy an eternal paradise of feasting, joy and plenty, until they are ready to cross back over to our realm and become incarnate beings again.

In the past...Death was never very far away, yet to die was not the tragedy it is in modern times. What was of great importance to these people was to die with honour and to live in the memory of the clan and be honoured at the great feast Fleadh nan Mairbh (Feast of the Dead) which took place on Samhain Eve. (S. McSkimming,)

Samhain, as the beginning and ending of the yearly cycle, can be viewed as any other "New Years" celebration.. It is a time to reflect on that which we've brought into our lives, and that which we need for the times to come. Connecting with our roots and examining the directions we need to grow. We feast with the ancestors and ensure the continuing vitality of our people, be it ourselves, our family or the community in which we dwell. Death doesn't necessarily mean physical death (though it can mean that), but more productively, it can be seen as an inevitable heavy change or transformation. Something old must be gotten rid of to make room for something new to be able to come in. Use the magic of this time to say good-bye to an old habit or addiction, an old relationship, or anything else it is time to leave behind.

Some Rituals and Rites to Celebrate Samhain

Decorate your home and/or alter with the colors black and orange. Black represents the death of the Sun God and orange represents the Sun God's rebirth. Also use seasonal fruits and vegetables such as pumpkins, squash, apples and pomegranates. Another decorating idea is the use of decorative skulls and gravestone rubbings (putting a piece of paper up against a grave marker and gently rubbing coal, pencil or crayon across the paper until an impression of the stone is left on the paper).

Place candles in the window to help guide the spirit travelers.Samhain is a time to remember those who have been lost over the past year and to acknowledge that they are still with us in spirit. Light a candle and place it in a window (one that is free of drapes, curtains or other flammable materials) to help light the way for the spirits of those who have passed away.

Place cider, fruit and cookies outside for your ancestors to enjoy while on their ghostly travels.Most of us only think to leave plates of food out at night when we are expecting someone jolly and bearing gifts, but the tradition is really rooted in Wiccan tradition intended to honor the dead and help them depart the land of the living peacefully. Leave a plate of food in the window where you place your candle and think of any loved ones you have lost over the past year as you do so. Choose foods of the season or, if you are making the offering in remembrance of a specific loved one, leave foods that were their favorites.

Have a harvest feast and give thanks for the plentiful crops. Giving thanks will ensure that next year's crops will be just as plentiful.

Because this is a time of endings or starting over, take a piece of paper and write down a character trait or bad habit that you would like to change. Light the paper on fire and place it in a fireproof bowl.

Since this is a harvest festival, collect food to donate to a food bank so that everyone can enjoy the benefits of a "harvest"

Carve a turnip.The practice of carving hollowed-out turnips, known as “Samhnag” in Scottish Gaelic, dates back many hundreds of years. The turnips were turned into lanterns by placing a burning ember or small candle inside to commemorate the souls in purgatory. The small lanterns were also placed in windows to ward off the evil dead. The scarier the face, the more effective it was at keeping malevolent spirits away. Pumpkins were an American adaptation. The shape and colouring of turnips actually look more like a skull.
Carve a pumpkin. Toast and eat the seeds in appreciation of the fruits of the season.

Trick-or-treating is a customary celebration for children on Halloween. Children go in costume from house to house, asking for treats such as candy or sometimes money, with the question, "Trick or treat?" The word "trick" refers to a (mostly idle) "threat" to perform mischief on the homeowners or their property if no treat is given. In some parts of Scotland children still go guising. In this custom the child performs some sort of trick, i.e. sings a song or tells a ghost story, to earn their treats.

The practice of dressing up in costumes and begging door to door for treats on holidays dates back to the Middle Ages and includes Christmas wassailing. Trick-or-treating resembles the late medieval practice of souling, when poor folk would go door to door on Hallowmas (November 1), receiving food in return for prayers for the dead on All Souls Day (November 2). It originated in Ireland and Britain

Pick some apples. Apples are a traditional fruit of the autumn season, but they actually play key roles in multiple Samhain rituals. Make a dish with fruits of the seasons like apples or pomegranates to celebrate the bounty of the earth. Bury the seeds afterwards to usher in new growth for the next year's harvest. Cut an apple in half, place five bay leaves in the center in the shape of a star, and bind the halves back together with black or red ribbon. Bless the offering in a traditional Samhain ritual and bury it afterwards as a symbol of love for the God and Goddess.

Light a fire. Bonfires are great for keeping away the chill of a crisp early autumn evening, but they are also symbolic during Samhain. After lighting your bonfire take a moment to write down any aspect of your life that you want to get rid of; it can be a part of your personality, something that has been causing you unnecessary stress or worry or a negative situation that has left you with feelings of anger, worry or regret. Focus on why you feel you need to be rid of this thing and how doing so will better your life. Cast the paper into the bonfire and watch it burn. As you do, imagine that negative aspect disappearing with the ashes of the bonfire and let it go.

In many agricultural societies, a popular pastime at Samhain was that of divining the name of one's future lover. Some revealed a face, others an initial or even a full name. These traditional methods were practiced in rural societies for centuries. You can use them today for your own divination.

Unmarried women were told that if they sat in a darkened room and gazed into a mirror on Halloween night, the face of their future husband would appear in the mirror. However, if they were destined to die before marriage, a skull would appear. The custom was widespread enough to be commemorated on greeting cards from the late 19th century and early 20th century.

Apple Divination
Apples have always been popular tools for foretelling the future. There are a number of traditional methods in folklore for seeing who one's lover might be.

•Peel the apple, keeping the peel in one long piece. When the peel comes off, drop it on the floor. The letter it forms is the first initial of your true love's name.

•Wait until midnight at Samhain, and cut an apple into nine pieces. Take the pieces into a dark room with a mirror (either hanging on the wall or a hand-held one will do). At midnight, begin eating the pieces of apple while looking into the mirror. When you get to the ninth piece, throw it over your shoulder. The face of your lover should appear in the mirror.

•If a girl has more than one potential lover, peel an apple and pull out the seeds. Place a wet seed on your cheek for each boyfriend. The last one left stuck to the skin represents the suitor who is the true love.

Water Divination

Water has always been known for its magical properties, so it's only natural to use it for divination workings. Try one of these on Samhain night.
•At midnight on Samhain, go to a lake and gaze into the water. You should see your lover's face reflected in the lake before you.
•Fill a cauldron with water, and then light a candle. Drip the hot wax into the water, and see what shape it forms. The shape will indicate the profession of your future lover.
•Find a moving body of water like a stream or river. Select a piece of wood to represent the person you wish to be your lover, and throw it in the water. If it floats downstream, he will be true and constant. If the wood gets caught up on the bank, or sinks, your lover will be unfaithful.

Food Divination

There are a number of divinations that use foods, baking and cooking as their focus. Some of these are still practiced today.
•Scottish Bannock Divination: in Scotland and northern England, a girl would bake a bannock cake in the evening. In complete silence, she walked to her room and placed the bannock under her pillow. Her dreams that night would show her the face of her lover, and in the morning she ate the bannock.
•To find out if you'll find love in the coming twelve months, separate an egg and drop the white into a glass of water. If it sinks immediately, love is forthcoming. If it floats on the top of the water, you'll spend the next year alone.
•Take two nuts, one for yourself and one for your lover. At midnight on Samhain, place them on a grate over your fire. If they burn well, you'll have a long and happy relationship. If one nut pops or burns, it means one of you will be unfaithful

How to Perform a Samhain Ritual

Samhain marks the end of the Pagan Wheel of the Year. Celebrated on Halloween night, usually at midnight, it's not about performing evil magic or costume parties. The Samhain ritual is a time to remember the dead and to plan for the coming year. It's a time of contemplation as we move into winter.

Instructions.Things You'll Need:

2 tablespoons of sea salt

White candle

Frankincense and myrrh incense

Relaxing music

Black, orange and/or gold clothes and jewelry

Obsidian or other black stone

Apple cider with cloves and cinnamon sticks

Apples in all colors

1Spend time writing down your goals for the coming year a week or so before your Samhain ritual. Concentrate on what you truly want to achieve. Make your goals reachable but ambitious. Collect objects or draw pictures that represent your goals.

2Add 2 tablespoons of sea salt to a hot bath. Light a white candle and incense of frankincense and myrrh. Put on music that relaxes you and helps you remember the good times in the past. Meditate in the bath on the deceased relatives whom you loved and visualize yourself being cleansed by the salt water.

3Wear black, orange or gold clothes and jewelry for your Samhain ritual. Buy a black stone, preferably an obsidian stone as black as you can find, from a jewelry or gem store. Bury it somewhere a week prior to Samhain to purify it for ritual.

4Make cider with cloves and cinnamon sticks for your Samhain ritual. Pumpkin bread is a nice alternative to pumpkin pie. For an interesting combination of flavors, roast or bake red potatoes and apples side by side. Apples in all colors also make beautiful altar decorations.

5Decorate your altar with the things that represent your goals and create the magic circle. Remember those who've been a comfort to you throughout your life and wish them joy wherever they are. Then concentrate on your goals for the coming year. Write down your goals as soon after the Samhain ritual as you can.

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A Day of the Dead Altar

Day of the Dead is celebrated in Mexico on November 1st and 2nd. It's a time to remember deceased loved ones and honor them. November 1st was for remembering children that had passed on, November 2nd was for remembering the adults. Day of the Dead is a festive occasion, a time to celebrate, much like a family reunion. Making a Day of the Dead altar can be a way for you to honor the life of someone who was important to you, or remember your ancestors. There are no hard and fast rules about how the altar should be made. Be creative and make something that looks attractive and is meaningful to you.

Here's How:

1.The arch

If you have long sugar cane stalks, tie one to each of the back legs of the table and join them at the top (tie them together with string or use tape). Then, if you want, you can decorate the arch, attaching flowers to it. The arch represents the passage between life and death. If you can't get sugar cane stalks, get creative and make your arch out of other materials.

2.The base

Place boxes or crates on the table where you will build your altar in such a way that they create tiers so that the elements of the altar can be displayed attractively. Put a tablecloth over the table and boxes so that the boxes are hidden. Then place papel picado (buy direct) around the edge of the table and each layer.

3.Photo

Place a photo of the person to whom the altar is dedicated on the top level of the altar, in the center. If the altar is dedicated to more than one person, you can have several photos, or if your altar is not dedicated to anyone in particular, the photo can be omitted and it will be understood that your altar is in honor of all your ancestors.

4.Water

Place a glass of water on the altar. Water is a source of life and represents purity. It quenches the thirst of the spirits.

5.Candles

Candles represent light, faith and hope. The flame guides the spirits on their journey. Sometimes four or more candles are placed together to form a cross which represents the cardinal directions, so that the spirits can find their way.

6.Flowers

You can place flowers in vases or pull the petals out and scatter them over all the surfaces of the altar. If you use cempasuchil (marigolds), the scent will be even stronger if you pull out the petals. The bright colors of the marigolds and their fragrance are synonymous with Day of the Dead. Fresh flowers remind us of the impermanence of life.

7.Fruit, bread and food

Seasonal fruits and special bread called pan de muertos are usually placed on the altar, along with other foods that the person enjoyed in life. Mexicans usually place tamales, mole and hot chocolate on the altar, but you can use whatever fruit and other food are available to you. The food is a feast that is laid for the dead to enjoy. It is believed that they consume the scents and the essence of the food.

8.Incense

It is customary to burn copal incense, which clears the space of any negative energy or bad spirits, and helps the dead find their way.

Tips:

1.If you don't have time or the materials to make an elaborate altar, you can make a simple one with just a photo, two candles, some flowers and fruit. The important thing is that it's meaningful to you.

2.Sugar skulls are a great addition to a Day of the Dead altar. Making them can be a fun project. Learn how to make sugar skulls, or purchase some online:

3.Get ideas by looking at photos of Day of the Dead Altars.

What You Need:

•A table, shelf or flat surface on which to build your altar

•Two long sugar cane stalks (or other material) to make an arch

•Boxes or crates to create levels

•A tablecloth and papel picado

•A photo of the person to whom the altar is dedicated

•A glass of water

•Flowers, preferably marigolds

•Fruit, bread, and other foods

•Candles and incense

•Things that the person enjoyed in life

Happy Halloween,

I am linking to Cindy's Show and Tell Friday

How to Cure a Cold

2010-10-19T11:27:00.000-07:00

Well it's that time of year again ( at least in the Pacific Northwest). Yup, it's cold season!

Seems like every other person I talk to has a cold or knows someone who does. I'm personally of the opinion that colds are good for you and serve a purpose. Now this is just my opinion and not based on any scientific knowledge that I know of.

To me a cold is natures way of cleaning house. I think it's a way to sweep out all those old cells and debris in the body, a cyclical fast where the body takes a break from a heavy diet and cleans out all the pipes.
It can also be an enforced vacation. I can be work-a-holic sometimes, so for me getting a cold is my excuse to take to my bed for a few days and just enjoy some serious downtime without feeling guilty. I can nap in the afternoon, catch up on my novel reading, stay in fuzzy jammies all day and sip warm drinks by the fireplace. I would never allow myself those luxuries if I was feeling well.

However, not everyone wants a holiday with chest congestion and sniffles, so for the rest of you, here is the cure for the common cold. Now I have to say in warning, this only seems to work if you catch it on the first day. You know the day, you feel something is not right but the symptoms haven't hit you yet. At most you might have a funny taste in your throat.

Do the following on that first day:

-Drink a cup or two of peppermint tea then,
-Soak in a very hot bath for 20 minutes (Do not do if you have high blood pressure, your pregnant or have metal pins, joints etc.) You can put a cold facecloth at the base of the neck to prevent headaches from overheating.
-When you are done the bath, DO NOT DRY OFF!!! This is important! When finished the bath, wrap your wet body in a wool blanket. A real wool blanket, not flannel or fleece but the heavy, kinda itchy wool blankets. Go to bed and lie there for a few hours. The dampness and heat of your body swaddled in wool will make you sweat in buckets. This produces a body temperature that resembles a fever. Fevers are the bodies defense against germs. Most germs can only live at body temperature, once a fever starts, they are killed off and prevented from multiplying. I have stopped colds in their tracks with this treatment, but it has to be done before all the symptoms are there. Once the congestion etc sets in, the body is already overwhelmed by germs and has set up it's own defences to battle them.

By the way, they have proved that taking remedies that stifle the bodies natural processes actually lengthen the time you are sick. As I stated, fevers are to kill off germs, if you take something to bring the fever down as soon as it hits, you are defeating the purpose and will have that many more germs to fight off. Unless the fever is life threatning ( which few are) just go through it. Mucous is another one of the bodies defenses, that is there to slow down the travel of germs. Again taking something to make it all go away , just speeds up the motility of the germs. Coughing and sneezing is how the body moves those clots of germs and mucous out of the body for disposal.

So stay away from the Contact C and all those drugs that dampen your bodies ability to fight the bad guys. Instead try fortifying your body with nutrients to boost your immune system. Take lots of Vitamin C, take it every hour or until you notice loose stools.Its not toxic and will give your body the fortification to fight back. Zinc lozengers are also helpful, follow the recommended dosage and suck them as they need to be absorbed through the throat.Drink fluids to keep up the flushing process. Cold drinks are refreshing, hot ones will help drain the sinuses. If you really are having trouble breathing, a eucalyptus steam can be helpful. Pour boiling water into a heat proof bowl. Add a drop or two of eucalyptus oil to the water. Lean over the bowl with a towel draped over your head and take long slow deep breaths through the nose until your sinuses feel clear. Repeat as needed.

If your coughing, do us all a favor and cough into your elbow not your hands. Its stops the spread of germs. Wash your hands frequently. Colds are caught by picking up germs and introducing them to your nose, such as touching a germ infested door handle then scratching your nose. You may not be able to avoid coming into contact with cold germs but having a strong immune system to start will help your ability to fight them off before they can overwhelm you. Things that damage an immune system are stress, sugar and lack of nutrients. So eat well, sleep well, manage your stress( and we ALL have stress in one form or another) with exercise, yoga, meditation, journalling etc. And if all else fails and you get a cold anyway, then give yourself permission to take a few days off and pamper yourself, it's your bodies way of saying enough already, take a break!

I am linking to Ciindy's Show and Tell Friday

How to Resize a Door

2010-10-08T01:29:00.000-07:00

I guess most people would have taken the measurements of their door frame and just made sure they got a door that fit that size. I'm not most people. I saw these beautiful doors offered for free on craigslist and knew I had to have them. I didn't know or care what size they were, I just wanted to incorporate them into my home. I finally decided I wanted them in the two doorways in my kitchen. If you look closely at this picture you can see that the door is about 2 inches taller than the doorframe and 2 inches narrower. Not to mention they were originally sliding doors so don't have the proper hardware to latch it closed. Not one to be daunted by such impracticalities, I set about making the door fit the frame. I had the good fortune to have the most amazing teacher help me with this. The furniture that he builds is stunning one-of- a-kind gallery pieces, so I was very blessed that he took the time to help and teach me.

The first thing we did was cut 2 inches off the bottom of the door. There was a gap of an 1/8 of an inch left at the bottom and top of the door for air flow. It was wider at the bottom than the top so losing 2 inches from the bottom actually made it look more balanced. Mike then cut two, one inch strips of wood the length and thickness of the door which were glued and nailed on to each side. He removed the brass hand plates and cut a piece of wood to fill the space and glued and nailed it into place. After spending the night with clamps while the glue dried, it was ready for the next steps.

A closeup of the new edge and filled in section

I used this metal piece to scrape off any excess glue by holding it at a 45 degree angle and pushing it forward in a scraping motion to loosen any lumpy bits

Mike then instructed me on how to use the sander to smooth the edges of the new pieces to be level with the door. We did a big chunk of the work with this sander , then I went over it all with a palm sander to get it really smooth. Any gaps, holes, dents etc were filled in with a wood putty and left to dry. Later I went back and sanded those down as well.

Once all the sanding was done, I used a router to go around all the edges so they had a slightly rounded look to them. Once I finished with the router, I took a piece of sand paper and bent it over the edges and sanded them all to an even finish.

Next job was to create the inset for the hinges. I used a thin stick cut the same length as the door and went and measured where the hinge marks were in the door frame and marked them on the stick. We transfered the dimensions to the door and traced around the hinge to mark it out. Mike then used a different router to carve out the space.

You can see the new hinge space he just carved at the top end of the door.

He went back with a hammer and chisel and cleaned up the edges and made sure it was flat inside

Once that was done it was time to install the hinges. He used a special tool to mark the center of each screw hole so that the hinge screws would go in straight and flush. Here he is gently tapping it into place

The last step was to drill the new holes for the door handle. He measured up from the bottom of the door to the height he wanted the handle and made a mark. he then measured in 2 3/4 inches to the depth the handle would be from the edge of the frame. Then using a large drill bit he carefully drilled out the hole on low speed. One thing he did first was to clamp a piece of wood under where he was drilling to prevent the hole from splintering outward as he went through.

The last step for which I don't have a picture was drilling the hole for the latch. He made sure it was centered in the wood and in relation to the larger hole. Using a one inch drill bit he carefully drilled into the larger hole.

Once all the woodworking was done, I painted the doors first with a coat of primer and then the top coat. Tomorrow we will install the doorknobs and hang the doors in the frames. Once the doors are in , I can start on the next project which is to get the floors sanded and stained. I can't wait to get my kitchen up and running.

I'm so grateful to Mike for showing me how to do this. I'm sure it is a skill I will be using alot as I have a huge collection of salvaged windows and doors that I will need to adjust to suit my purposes.
happy sanding,

I am linking this post to Cindy's Show and Tell Friday

Hot Flash Barbie....

2010-10-07T23:52:00.000-07:00

......or a discussion on the last taboo subject.

These days we have come a long way in our ability to openly discuss subjects such as homosexuality or hate crimes for example but one subject is rarely ever mentioned at all. Menopause! Men don't know what it means and are scared of it and women don't know what to expect, or how to deal with it .

The baby boomer generation just refuses to grow up. Fifty is the new ~~forty~~ thirty, people in their seventies still expect to be as active as they were 30 years ago. Everyone believes they look younger than their years and all swear they certainly feel it. Modern medicine is coming up with new innovations every day to ward off the signs of aging and prop up sagging flesh. However, menopause is about to become a reality for a whole generation of women. Barbie was created in 1959 making her of that certain age when dewy skin is more likely from a hot flash than youthful exuberance.

In past generations, the elderly were revered members of society and families. They helped raise the children, were a source of knowledge and to be respected. These days of youth over experience, the elderly are seen as behind the times, in the way, a burden to be dealt with. Who would want to admit they weren't at the peak of their game? Women don't admit they are going through menopause, their doctors don't take them seriously or have any good answers when it comes to their symptoms, and the husbands don't want to be reminded that their partners are middle-aged.

Every woman experiences it differently. Some cultures seem to barely notice the changes while others are over whelmed by them. Asian cultures seem to breeze through menopause, but the elderly are also revered in their culture. Islamic woman don't get the depression that is often associated with it but they get to take off the veil and finally be accepted as equals by their men as opposed to sex objects. Caucasian women seem to be the most affected by hot flashes, mood swings, depression, mental fog, laggy libido and fatigue.

In the scale of evolution, it wasn't that long ago that women got pregnant shortly after starting their menstrual cycles, breastfed for a few years, got pregnant again and so on until they reached 40 or so and then died shortly thereafter. They probably only had 40-50 cycles in their lives. Modern woman, with her ability to stave off pregnancy until later in life have more like 300 cycles in a lifetime. The more cycles a woman has, naturally or synthetically, the more estrogen she has in her system over a lifetime. This means that modern women are getting a very different pattern of hormonal stimulation than her ancestors. Taking estrogen replacement hormones hits them with another period of exposure to hormones that they never would have had in the past.

Most primates in the wild never live long enough to experience menopause. Most female animals just keep on breeding until they die. Nature never provided for women who routinely live several decades past fifty. Once females had made their genetic contribution, evolution was finished with them and society followed suit. Menopause in the 19th century was only described in terms of what women lose at this stage of life. They were cued to view menopause as the gateway to old age at which women passed through at the peril of their life. Nineteenth century obstetricians taught that " the change of life unhinges the female nervous system and deprives women of their personal charm". OUCH!

Menopause affects women in a few ways. One is the emotional changes that they go through when they realize that their child bearing years are over and they must find themselves another role in society. For some women this is a time of new found freedom. Their children are grown, they have more time for their careers, hobbies, friends, and charities. Without pregnancy to fear, some experience a more relaxed sex life. For others, it is a time of becoming a care-giver to the preceeding generation as they start to experience poor health. For yet others it is a time of sadness and depression as they suffer the empty nest syndrome, their husbands trade them in on a newer model or they get passed over at work in favor of younger talent. If a woman lives to be in her 80's, she will have spent as much time in menopause as she did menustrating. It is another whole chapter in her life that needs to be recognized and embraced for what she has gained ( knowledge,wisedom ), not discarded for what she has lost (estrogen).

The other way menopause affects women is physically.Menopause is characterized by the loss of estrogen production by the ovaries. This may occur by natural means or by the surgical removal of both ovaries.Estrogen keeps blood vessels limber and able to take the increase in pressure that occurs with pregnancy. Once estrogen stops being produced , the arteries start to become inflexible and narrower, placing women at higher risk for heart disease. Estrogen, whether it is produced by the ovaries, taken as a supplement or generated as a result of carrying too much belly fat has the result of increasing the risk of breast cancer. Not only does a fatty diet increase the level of estrogen, it also increases the size of tumours independant of estrogen. Rather than taking estrogen to reduce heart disease risk, women would be better off to lower their fat intake to reduce the risk of both heart disease and breast cancer.

Osteoporosis is another concern for menopausal women. The loss of estrogens accelerates bone loss for a period ranging from 5 to 8 years. In terms of bone remodeling, the lack of estrogen enhances the ability of osteoclasts to absorb bone. Since the osteoblasts (the cells which produce bone) are not encouraged to lay down more bone, the osteoclasts win and more bone is lost than is produced. This bone loss can be slowed or halted by taking calcium combined with weight bearing exercise(walking,jogging,weightlifting)

Symptoms of estrogen deficiency in postmenopausal women include vaginal dryness and itching, urethritis & cystitis (commonly known as urethra or bladder infection), high blood pressure, heart palpitations, fractures, bone pain, foot and leg cramps, osteoporosis, facial hair growth, skin wrinkles, hot flashes, and brain fog (loss of concentration and forgetfulness). In addition, for most women, underarm and leg and pubic hair becomes finer and less prevalent. Not all women will experience all of these symptoms.

Hot flashes are not as common as they are during menopause itself, but some women experience them up to 10 years after their last period. Occasionally bleeding will occur. If this occurs check with your doctor immediately, as it can be a symptom of a serious health problem. Post menopause symptoms will ease over time.Postmenopausal women do still have periods,but they are very irregular. Generally no bleeding occurs (if it does see your doctor), but premenstrual and menstrual symptoms such as back ache, headache, irritability, fatigue, cramps, cravings for salt and chocolate, and bloating will arise. Like a woman's regular periods, these periods can last for several days, or may simply be present for a day or two.

Menopause doesn't happen overnight. The hormones slower sputter out over a period of years. Some women start experiencing symptoms in their 30's as hormones surge and wane. For some their periods actually increase in flow or length . Their menstrual cycles become irregular again like when they were in their teens. Once the hormones have finally settled into their new dosages, many of the symtoms will disapear and a new found energy will take their place. In the meantime, take care of yourself, eat healthy, gets lots of exercise( mental and physical), go for check-ups and monitor your heart, breasts and bones. Revel in your wisedom and experience. Embrace the goddess that you have become. Go ahead and wear purple! Your still hot...even if it comes in flashes!

"Inside every old person is a young person wondering.. what the hell happened??"

Pink Saturday

2010-09-30T10:39:00.000-07:00

I'm sure once upon a time, I ran across a blog that was hosting a Pink Saturday party. I can't seem to find it so might have to start my own. Anyway here is some pink that tickled me ...pink!

I seriously am in love with this car. It was parked next to the thrift store where I was shopping. I would definately be seen in this. I think I would dye my hair pink to match.

This set of dishes was at the flea market where I got my funky chair. He wanted a hundred dollars for the set and about the same for the chair. I spent hours agonizing over which to get. Went home , thought about it some more, came back the next day, figuring if one was gone that would make my decision easier. They were both there still, so I went with the chair but took some pictures of the dishes so I could remember them. I don't know if the colour really comes through in the picture, but the patina of these dishes took my breath away. They looked like they were from the forties or so. If it had been a set of dinner dishes, I wouldn't have been able to resist them but as they are just a tea set and I don't really drink tea or coffee, I had to go with the chair being more useful. I still think these would have looked awesome displayed in my kitchen.

The chair

The Dishes

Let me know if you want to have a pink party, if so I will set that up for next week

Stay pink,

I am linking to Cindy's Show and Tell Friday

Thifty Sunday

2010-09-30T10:14:00.000-07:00

Since I got my floathome, I feel obliged to spend any extra monies I have on renovation supplies. This is a good thing but not quite as satisfying as finding a good deal at the thrift store on pretty stuff. The other day , I couldn't take it anymore and needed a fix of thrift store treasure hunting. Here are my finds of the week

Another serving dish for my growing collection of dishes.

I seriously love this dish set. The design on the edge is raised and the colour is a beautiful butter yellow

I found this sweet plate stand to display them

Another colourful party serving dish

Interesting story behind this set. I found the bowls in one store and spent quite a bit of time contemplating buying them but as it was only the bowls, I decided not to. Later that day, I went in another store across town and they had the plates! I took that as a sign from the universe that they were meant for me, so bought them then had to hustle back to the other store to get the bowls. They are a lovely soft sage green that will look good in my new sage green accent kitchen.

I also found this green rug for in front of the sink, its got lovely thick plush to sink my toes into while washing up.

Some shabby chic fruit for display, love the crackly paint finish on them!

I love anything Buddha, the hands are great but I especially love the candles which are shaped as lotus flowers.

A lovely wall sconce

A very cute set of small blue asian themed plates

and a cute set of small asian bowls ( don't know if these are old but they have a more authentic looking design than the usual dollar store version)

I love them together

A beautiful soft green ceramic bottle with asian writing

and last but not least, my find of the day was these wonderful Christmas ornaments. There were 14 of them altogether for the paltry price of 2.99 for all. I LOVE the hand painted faces.

Total spent......under 20 dollars.....how good it made me feel.......priceless

Happy Thrifting,

I am linking to Cindy`s Show and Tell Friday

Ley Lines

2010-09-29T17:09:00.000-07:00

Have you ever wondered why certain spots on the earth are deemed sacred or why you feel better in some locations than others? It may be because of Ley Lines.
From Wikipedia,
"Ley lines are alleged alignments of a number of places of geographical interest, such as ancient monuments and megaliths that are thought by certain adherents to dowsing and New Age beliefs to have spiritual power. Their existence was suggested in 1921 by the amateur archaeologist Alfred Watkins, in his book The Old Straight Track. The believers in ley lines think that the lines and their intersection points resonate a special psychic or mystical energy."

A map of Englands Ley Lines and a key of sacred sites that they pass through

The earth is considered by many to be a living entity, complete with energy lines running along her surface, just as humans have energy meridians and chakras in their auric field. These earth energy lines crisscross the entire surface of the planet at regular intervals, creating a grid. In some latitudes the lines are about six feet apart and at other latitudes they are further from each other. The generic term for these lines is 'ley lines'.

Places where lots of ley lines intersect seem to be places of extra-ordinary energy and since time began have attracted humans to build places of worship or signifigance such as Stonehenge or the pyramids. Archeoligists have found old churches that sit on land that has always had some kind of house of worship on it, each layer unveiling an even older structure. Many of histories major sites such as Machu Picchu , the pyramids, aztec temples and such have been found to be in alignment with each other on major ley lines.
Ley lines, also known as “leys” and “dragon lines” are phenomena most people have heard of but few really understand. Indeed it would be fair to say that no-one understands them fully, as they remain largely unexplained.

From what we do know, a ley line seems to be a straight line that carries an altered form of the earth’s magnetic field, however it is proving difficult to define that power even to this day.

It has been claimed that birds, fish and animals use them as ‘compasses’, helping them find direction back to breeding grounds and to warmer climates during winter months. They have also been said to be vast prehistoric trade routes.
An article in New Scientist magazine, published in 1987, suggested that species as diverse as pigeons, whales, bees and even bacteria can navigate using the earth’s magnetic field.
It is thought that a tissue containing a substance called magnetite is responsible for this.
Magnetite enables living creatures to sense magnetic changes and has been found in human tissue linked to the ethmoid bone in the front of the skull.

So what defines a ley line?
Ley/Li/Lei : “The supposed straight line of a prehistoric track usually between hilltops” (Concise Oxford Dictionary)
“[Ley lines are] alignments and patterns of powerful, invisible earth energy said to connect various sacred sites, such as churches, temples, stone circles, megaliths, holy wells, burial sites, and other locations of spiritual or magical importance”. (Harper’s Encyclopaedia of Mystical and Paranormal Experience)
The scientific belief, as previously explained, is that these lines are areas of altered magnetic fields.
The more spiritual and romantic belief is that they ooze back the energy from all the people who have trodden these mystical, religious paths since time began.It is even believed that UFOs are drawn to these ley lines, making them attractive to investigators of that particular phenomenon.

Walking across one of these lines is of no particular significance, because we pass across it rapidly. Sleeping on one--or particularly on an intersection of two or more-- is the equivalent to sleeping on a highway intersection. It can be exceedingly bad for your health, cause restless sleep, sleep-walking, and a host of other maladies.

Dowsing will allow you to find these lines and move your bed, your desk, or your favorite TV-watching chair to a healthier spot. Dowsing rods can be made out of a wire coat hanger into two L-shaped rods, and cutting two plastic straws to fit over the handles to allow for easy movement. Holding your rods lightly in your hands, at a level place, ask yourself where is the Hartman Line, or the Curry Net, or underground water (explanation of these lines follows). Then walk slowly forward and sideways until your dowsing rods open or cross.

The Curry Net

Curry lines are a global grid network of electrically charged lines of natural origin. These lines run diagonally to the poles and were first discovered by Dr. Manfred Curry and Dr. Wittmann. The lines are about 3 meters apart, although most experts recognize that this can vary.

The lines themselves are not seen as a problem, only the points where they intersect each other. As the lines are electrically charged, the intersecting points are either double positives, double negatives or one of each. From his studies Dr. Curry felt that the positively charged spots lead to a proliferation of cells, with the possibility of cancerous cell growth, whereas the negatively charged spots could lead to inflammation.

The Hartmann Grid

The Hartmann Grid consists of naturally occurring charged lines, running north-south and east-west. It is named after Dr. Ernst Hartmann, a well regarded German medical doctor, who first described it soon after the second world war. Alternate lines are usually positively and negatively charged, so where the lines intersect it is possible to have double positive charges and double negative charges, or one positive and one negative charge. Like the Curry lines, it is the intersections that are seen to be a source of potential problems.

The Hartmann Grid has been defined using the Chinese terms of Yin and Yang. The Yin (North-South lines) is a cold energy which acts slowly, corresponds to winter and is related to cramps, humidity and all forms of rheumatism. The Yang (east-west lines) is a hot, dry rapidly acting energy. It is related to fire and is linked to inflammation.

Plants and Animals
Plants and animals are sensitive to geopathic stress: stunted trees with peculiar growths are often shown to be growing over areas of geopathic stress. It is as if their branches are trying to get out of the way of the harmful ‘rays’. Horses, dogs, cows, sheep, pigs and mice would not willingly settle over areas of geopathic stress, so if the dog has a favorite spot in your house, it can be identified as safe zone.

On the other hand, certain plants seem to like geopathic ‘stress’, particularly oak trees, firs, elderberry, peach, cherry and mistletoe. Studies in woodland areas show that lightning is far more likely to strike oak trees than, say, beech, which is known to hate geopathic stress zones. Is this telling us these areas are electrically polarized? Von Pohl is emphatic that lightning only strikes at underground water crossings.

Cats too like disturbance zones; so if the cat likes sleeping with you, better move! Some insects such as ants, wasps and beetles thrive over geopathic stress areas; look for ants’ nests along the outer walls of your home. Finally, bacteria and viruses also seem to like affected zones.

The Cure
There are many ways to antidote bad placement. The easiest and most effective is to move the furniture to a better spot. There are theories that copper wire around the bed frame helps, or crystals at the entrance of a ley line to the house.

Many years ago, when I first moved to Vancouver BC, I had an argument with my boyfriend. Frustrated, I left our home and drove around town aimlessly looking for somewhere to sit and think. I was drawn to Jericho beach were I found a nice bench on a ridge overlooking the ocean and the North Shore. I immediately felt at peace there. I calmed down, my thoughts were more rational, a feeling of peace and love came over me and I was able to return home in a much better frame of mind. Years later I read an article about ley lines that mentioned that Jericho beach was a cross roads for a number of ley lines. I wasn't surprised in the least to find out that that spot was considered a sacred spot due to the energy of bisecting ley lines. I didn't need a map to tell me it was a special spot, I felt it in every fiber of my being, just as our ancestors must of recognized certain spots as having a beneficial or special sacred energy.

So when your out in nature and you find a spot that feels special to you, it's not your imagination, stop and sit for a bit and let the earths chakras ( energy vortex) fill your soul with healing energy.
Namaste,

Life is Like a Reality Show

2010-09-24T16:47:00.000-07:00

Four years ago, I turned down a road I had never travelled on before and my life hasn't been the same since. I was invited to Mitchell Island , a small industrial island tucked in-between Vancouver and Richmond in the mighty Fraser River. Nestled up in the eastern corner was a community unlike any I had ever come across before. A man with a vision had procured an old military ship for a dollar and had formed a community of people living and working on it. Every day brought lots of challenges and lots of laughs. They inspired me to follow my dream of living on the water. Through their example , I learned what hard work, a steady vision, thinking outside the box and creative recycling could accomplish. A producer saw what they were doing and made a demo for a tv show based on the daily activities here. That demo finally got released to youtube, so here is a taste of life on Mitchell Island.

I am linking to Cindys Show and Tell Friday

House Clearing Ceremony

2010-09-24T13:29:00.000-07:00

My House Blessing Altar

The symbolism behind the objects I chose for my altar.

This was a cottage I painted onto a stone to represent my home(Wyldestone Cottage), floating on a raft made from a heart on a dark blue silk cloth to represent the water. It has a small Buddha at the front door to symbolize peace to all who enter. There are three red hearts surrounding the house so that it may always be filled with love. I drew a card from the Angel Card series and got an angel climbing a mountain with the word purpose. ( I love this, I am a Capricorn often depicted as a hard working goat always striving to climb the mountain/overcome large obstacles in my life. This house renovation has given me a defined purpose like nothing else.Its a steep mountain but I am enjoying the view!) The cottage is surrounded by a braid of sweetgrass to keep good energy and a connection to spirit surrounding this space.

The house has two dragons protecting it on either side as well as a phoenix at the top to represent the changes it will be going through during its transformation.The two jars at the top corners hold salt to represent the earth on the left and sacred water from Mongolia on the right.

The top left corner holds Mother Mary supporting me with her prayers (Spirit) and the top right corner holds two joined lavender candles to represent fire and the balance of Libra which we have just passed into. There is a jade moon healing stone in the bottom left corner to bring healing into the house and in the bottom right corner is my medicine bag with bear medicine to support healing and knowledge.

I used alternating glass beads to form a heart . Again playing on the balance between light and dark at this time of the year.

There is a quartz crystal to amplify the prayers I want to put out to the universe.

I have pictures on either side that represent to me both aspects of my Capricorn , water and mountains. The bottom picture also is a picture of a standing stone circle near my family home in England.

The middle picture is a picture my Father took in Indonesia of a Buddha. This is to look over everything and bring peace to my endevours.

I meant to do a house clearing ceremony when I first got my house but so much happened so fast, that before I knew it my stuff was in the house already and I was starting on projects. A few full moons went by and each one I started to do this and for some reason never went through with it. Now it is Autumn Equinox and it just happens to fall on the Harvest Full Moon . I think that this is the most auspicious time of the year to do this ceremony. It is important and helpful to bless your home, put a circle of protection around it and infuse the rooms with meaningful intent ( peace, love, security, inspiration, health, abundance) ....any of the things you want in your life and the lives of those that enter your space.

I have been dreaming of owning my own home for most of my life but I think I really manifested it when I started this blog six months ago at Spring Equinox, the first day of spring and all the new beginnings that spring represents. Now it is Autumn Equinox and it is time to give thanks for a most bountiful harvest.

You can do a space clearing anytime it suits you and as many times as you want to. They are good to clear the energy of places after arguments, grieving, a new move or before births, celebrations, rites of passage or just any time you want to shake things up. To stir up sluggish, negative energy, use loud tools like drums.To soothe stirred up energy, use calming tools like singing bowls or soft chanting. The early morning hours especially after a waxing full moon is a good time to space clear, harnessing the energy of the full moon to magnify your intent.

"Space clearing can have enormous impact on every aspect of your life. When you call for blessings and assistance from the unseen realm of Spirit., untold magic and joy can fill your heart so that your house becomes a home for your soul."
Denise Linn, author of Space Clearing - how to purify and create harmony in your home

Ideally you want your house to be freshly cleaned and cleared of all clutter to do a really good job. Thats not going to be the case for me as the chaos is too great to do much with at this time. It is all where it is because at some point it will be put to use where it is or it is out of the way of an ongoing project. I would feel much better though if it was all tucked away and organized. For now I will be happy to bless my space such as it is and fill it with intent to become my dream home in it's finished state.

(Before I start with the space clearing for the inside of the home , I will first be doing this ceremony to put some protection around the perimeter of my property and my home)

There are four steps in space clearing:
Preparation, Purification, Invocation and Preservation

Preparation

Spend time in nature, slow down and become aware of the earths energy. Practice walking slowly around a room with your arm outstretched and notice where you feel subtle changes in temperature, stickiness in the air etc. Become aware of the subtle energies all around you. Where intention goes, energy flows, so be very clear on what you want to accomplish with your space clearing ie. to raise the energy of a space or to bring peace and harmony. Spend some time with the thought that your body is a sacred vessel that the vast loving energies of the universe can pass through and out your hands into your home. Before you start, clean your house physically, let in fresh air, clear away all clutter and things like dead plants.Cleanse yourself with a bath or shower, cleaning your head especially to open communication with the higher realms.
Protect your energy field by imagining you are surrounded by a white light of sacred space or put some salt in your pockets to help ground you.

Prepare your space clearing tools

Choose the tools you wish to work with, things like feathers,crystals,bells,drums, incensce etc.
All tools should be cleaned both before and after your ceremony. Crystals can be put out to charge in the sun for a few hours. The other objects can be purified by passing them through the smoke of burning sage or cedar. Store them in a clean protective silk cloth until your ready to use them.

Preparation on the day

- tidy the space
- put any food and pets away
- cleanse yourself ( bathe in water and then purify yourself with the smoke of a sage smudge stick. Cup the smoke in your hands and wash it:
- over your closed eyes" so I may see the truth"
  - over your ears, "so that I may hear the truth",
  - over your throat " so I may speak the truth",
  - over your heart "so that my heart remains open"
  - Cup your hand and pull the smoke over your arms and legs, front and back, over your head and offer some back to the Creator
- drink lots of water
- remove all jewlerry
-set up your* blessing altar ( see below for more information on blessing altars and holy water)
- prepare flower offerings ( pick flowers as the sun is rising, do not smell them, leave the first scent reserved for the spirits)
- Meditate on the task before you
- talk to other members of the houshold about their intention for the space
- focus your intent on the results you wish to achieve
- Offer prayers at the blessing altar for the success of your ceremony

Purification

-Gather the items you will be using for the space clearing and put them on a tray that you can use to carry from room to room. Start at the bottom of the house and work your way upwards.
-Place the tray in the center of the room and stand in the doorway and attune yourself to the energy of the room. Radiate your intention into the space and send prayers to the Creator for guidance and assistance
-using the tools you have selected, circle the room clockwise( or counterclockwise in the southern hemisphere) and use them to break up stagnant energy. You can ring bells, drum, fan sage or cedar smoke, sprinkle salt( or salt and rice mixed with the ashes of prayers written on paper and burnt....sweep this up the next day), push the light of a candle into the corners, and sprinkle** holy water using a feather, a flower or your fingers. This covers air,earth, fire and water, using all the four elements to bless your home.
-once you are finished , go around the room smoothing the energy field with your hand, like you are petting a cat until you sense that it is settled and smooth.
- leave a flower offering and a tea-light(beeswax is best) candle burning in a bowl of salt in the center of the room

Invocation
The invocation stage entails calling on a higher power for assistance, support and inspiration for filling your space with blessings. You can pray for the blessing you wish to enstow in the rooms . You can make symbols in the air using your first two fingers or a quartz crystal to symbolize your intentions such as a heart, or peace sign and draw a figure eight ( the symbol of infinity) at the doorway when you are done to seal the energy in the room. When you have cleared all the rooms, cleanse and bless each member of the household to align their energy with the newly cleansed energy of the home.Return to the blessing altar and give thanks for the good fortune for the home and all its occupants and visitors. Do this with reverence, respect and devotion.

Preservation

Once you are finished you can preserve the wonderful energy you have created by several methods:
-You can write a prayer on a piece of paper and plant it in a favorite plant. Every time it gets watered it will release the prayer
-Draw a symbol or word on a stone to place by the front door or near a plant
-Place a figurine of an angel or something that represents your form of spirituality( budda etc) in a special place in the home to watch over you and yours.
-Hang Tibetan Prayer Flags where they can blow in the breeze, releasing prayers to the universe
-Wash your hands in cool water afterwards. Have a snack of organic fresh food to eat to ground yourself. Everyone from the household should have a salt water bath ( or scrub with salt in the shower) within 6 hours of the space clearing

For more information on the importance of ritual and the specific components of ritual and altars read this post

*Blessing Altars
Altars are a way of creating sacred space and anchoring your intent when performing any kind of ritual. A blessing altar can be created to represent the type of energy you wish to draw to your home. For example an altar to attract love might be set on a pink or red cloth with pink candles, rose quartz, rose petals and a statue of Venus or Aphrodite watching over it. An altar for peace may be set on a blue cloth with blue and white candles, clear quartz crystals, cornflowers and a statue of Budda for inner peace. Place things that signify your intent and a representation of your higher power. You may wish to mark the four directions or four elements ( the colours are white/north, yellow/east, red or green/south and black/west. The elements are earth(salt)/north, feather/air/east,smudge or inscence/south and bowl of water /west.
All your tools that you will be using for your space clearing ceremony should be there as well.

Start your ceremony at the altar, take time to meditate there on your purpose, call in your higher power, say your prayers and state your intent.

An example of a prayer for this might be:
I dedicate this space clearing to love, joy and good health. May harmony and peace embrace all the members of this family and may all that enter this place find comfort here. I humbly ask for spiritual guidance during this space clearing ( Denise Linn)

When you are finished your ceremony, return to your altar to ground the energies that may have been stirred up.

An example of a prayer you may use at the conclusion could be:
Creator, spiritual guardians and angels, thank you, for the loving assistance that was given to us during this space clearing ceremony. Thank you for the peace and joy that is now flowing in this home. may the effects of this clearing and blessing continue for the months ahead, and may the wonderful, positive energy that has been instilled in this home bring comfort and rejunvenation to all.( Denise Linn)

** Holy water- you can obtain holy water from a temple or shrine or make your own. Water from a sacred place is best or at least make sure it is from a natural fresh water spring and bottled in glass.Water to be used for a space clearing should be in a glass or ceramic container( not metal or plastic). Pray and say incantations over the water such as "May the Creator within all things fill this water with blessings and peace. May the water bring purification, healing and love to this home and all who dwell there. So be it!"

Then use one of three ways to charge the water:
-leave it outdoors in direct sunlight for 3 hours for infusing your home with vibrant life and energy
-leave it outdoors under a full moon for creating a restful, nuturing,inspiring energy
-leave it outdoors on a moonless night with lots of stars for stellar energy which is joyful, full of magic and rapture
Use feathers, flower petals, sprigs of rosemary or cedar to sprinkle your holy water or use it in a mister to mist the room

blessings and joy in your beautiful space,
namaste,

I am linking with Cindys Show and Tell Friday

Mabon - Autumn Equinox

2010-09-16T02:17:00.000-07:00

Autumn Equinox

An equinox occurs twice a year, when the tilt of the Earth's axis is inclined neither away from nor towards the Sun, the center of the Sun being in the same plane as the Earth's equator. The term equinox can also be used in a broader sense, meaning the date when such a passage happens. The name "equinox" is derived from the Latin aequus (equal) and nox (night), because around the equinox, the night and day are approximately equally long

Names

Vernal equinox and autumnal equinox: these classical names are direct derivatives of Latin (ver = spring and autumnus = autumn).

March equinox and September equinox: a usage becoming the preferred standard by technical writers choosing to avoid Northern Hemisphere bias (implied by assuming that March is in the springtime and September is autumnal—true for those in the Northern Hemisphere but exactly opposite in the Southern Hemisphere).

Also called Harvest Home, this holiday is a ritual of thanksgiving for the fruits of the Earth and a recognition of the need to share them to secure the blessings of the Goddess and God during the winter months. Among the sabbats, it ( Mabon) is the second of the three harvest festivals, preceded by Lammas and followed by Samhain.

Mabon was not an authentic ancient festival either in name or date. The autumn equinox was not celebrated in Celtic countries, while all that is known about Anglo-Saxon customs of that time was that September was known as haleg-monath or 'holy month'.

The name Mabon has only been applied to the neopagan festival of the autumn equinox very recently; the term was invented by Aidan Kelly in the 1970s as part of a religious studies project. (The use of Litha for the Summer Solstice is also attributed to Kelly).

Previously, in Gardnerian Wicca the festival was simply known as the 'Autumnal Equinox', and many neopagans still refer to it as such, or use alternative titles such as the neo-Druidical Aban Efed, a term invented by Iolo Morgannwg.

The name Mabon was chosen to impart a more authentic-sounding "Celtic" feel to the event, since all the other festivals either had names deriving from genuine tradition, or had had names grafted on to them. The Spring Equinox had already been misleadingly termed 'Ostara', and so only the Autumn Equinox was left with a technical rather than an evocative title. Accordingly, the name Mabon was given to it, having been drawn (seemingly at random) from Welsh mythology.

The use of the name Mabon is much more prevalent in America than Britain, where many neopagans are scornfully dismissive of it as a blatantly inauthentic practice. The increasing number of American Neopagan publications sold in Britain by such publishers as Llewellyn has however resulted in some British neopagans adopting the term.

The Druids call this celebration, Mea'n Fo'mhair, and honor the The Green Man, the God of the Forest, by offering libations to trees. Offerings of ciders, wines, herbs and fertilizer are appropriate at this time. Wiccans celebrate the aging Goddess as she passes from Mother to Crone, and her consort the God as he prepares for death and re-birth.

The month of September also marks the 'Wine Moon,' the lunar cycle when grapes are harvested from the arbors, pressed and put away to become wine...The full moon closest to the Autumn Equinox is known as the 'Harvest Moon,' since farmers would also harvest their crops during the night with the light of the full moon to aid them."

"Symbols celebrating the season include various types of gourd and melons. Stalk can be tied together symbolizing the Harvest Lord and then set in a circle of gourds. A besom ( broom made of twigs) can be constructed to symbolize the polarity of male and female. The Harvest Lord is often symbolized by a straw man, whose sacrificial body is burned and its ashes scattered upon the earth. The Harvest Queen, or Kern Baby, is made from the last sheaf of the harvest and bundled by the reapers who proclaim, 'We have the Kern!' The sheaf is dressed in a white frock decorated with colorful ribbons depicting spring, and then hung upon a pole (a phallic fertility symbol). In Scotland, the last sheaf of harvest is called the Maiden, and must be cut by the youngest female in attendance

Various other names for this Lesser Wiccan Sabbat are The Second Harvest Festival, Wine Harvest, Feast of Avalon, Equinozio di Autunno (Strega), Alben Elfed (Caledonii), or Cornucopia. The Teutonic name, Winter Finding, spans a period of time from the Sabbat to Oct. 15th, Winter's Night, which is the Norse New Year. At this festival it is appropriate to wear all of your finery and dine and celebrate in a lavish setting. It is the drawing to and of family as we prepare for the winding down of the year at Samhain. It is a time to finish old business as we ready for a period of rest, relaxation, and reflection.

The author of the Pagan Family Circle writes: "While in the past, most all were farmers, this harvest festival traditionally applies to the harvest of foods, yet in this day and age, the 'harvest' may also apply to the 'seeds of dreams and wishes' that were planted many months earlier. Now is the time to see if they have come true. Whether they have come true or not ... a ritual to thank the growing energies of the God and the fertility of the Goddess should be preformed at this time. Lay upon your altar a sampling of your 'harvest'.... use it freely in your ritual. (Note: even if your 'harvest' came up empty, IE: your dreams were not fulfilled, the God and Goddess should still be thanked for the effort put forth in your name)"

Fall celebrations by various faiths and countries - ancient and modern

ANCIENT BRITAIN: Both the solstices and equinoxes "were the highly sophisticated preoccupation of the mysterious Megalithic peoples who pre-dated Celt, Roman and Saxon on Europe's Atlantic fringe by thousands of years." Stonehenge and other stone structures were aligned so that the solstices and equinoxes could be determined.

ANCIENT IRELAND: The spring and fall equinox were celebrated in ancient times. A cluster of megalithic cairns are scattered through the hills at Loughcrew, about 55 miles North West of Dublin in Ireland. Longhcrew Carin T is called a passage tomb. It was designed so that the light from the rising sun on the spring and summer equinoxes penetrates a long corridor and illuminates a backstone, which is decorated with astronomical symbols.

ASTROLOGERS: On the day of the fall solstice, the sun enters the sign of Libra -- the constellation of the balance or scales.

CHINA:The Chinese have Mid-Autumn or Moon festival. The predominant mood of these autumnal celebrations is a gladness for the fruits of the Earth mixed with a certain melancholy linked to the imminence of harsh weather. Remembrance of ancestors is also a common theme.

The joyous Mid-Autumn Festival, the third and last festival for the living, was celebrated on the fifteenth day of the eighth moon, around the time of the autumn equinox. Many referred to it simply as the "Fifteenth of the Eighth Moon". In the Western calendar, the day of the festival usually occurred sometime between the second week of September and the second week of October.

This day was also considered a harvest festival since fruits, vegetables and grain had been harvested by this time and food was abundant. With delinquent accounts settled prior to the festival , it was a time for relaxation and celebration. Food offerings were placed on an altar set up in the courtyard. Apples, pears, peaches, grapes, pomegranates , melons, oranges and pomelos might be seen. Special foods for the festival included moon cakes, cooked taro, edible snails from the taro patches or rice paddies cooked with sweet basil, and water caltrope, a type of water chestnut resembling black buffalo horns. Some people insisted that cooked taro be included because at the time of creation, taro was the first food discovered at night in the moonlight. Of all these foods, it could not be omitted from the Mid-Autumn Festival.

The round moon cakes, measuring about three inches in diameter and one and a half inches in thickness, resembled Western fruitcakes in taste and consistency. These cakes were made with melon seeds, lotus seeds, almonds, minced meats, bean paste, orange peels and lard. A golden yolk from a salted duck egg was placed at the center of each cake, and the golden brown crust was decorated with symbols of the festival. Traditionally, thirteen moon cakes were piled in a pyramid to symbolize the thirteen moons of a "complete year," that is, twelve moons plus one intercalary moon.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is a traditional festivity for both the Han and minority nationalities. The custom of worshipping the moon (called xi yue in Chinese) can be traced back as far as the ancient Xia and Shang Dynasties (2000 B.C.-1066 B.C.). In the Zhou Dynasty(1066 B.C.-221 B.C.), people hold ceremonies to greet winter and worship the moon whenever the Mid-Autumn Festival sets in. It becomes very prevalent in the Tang Dynasty(618-907 A.D.) that people enjoy and worship the full moon.
In the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279 A.D.), however, people send round moon cakes to their relatives as gifts in expression of their best wishes of family reunion. When it becomes dark, they look up at the full silver moon or go sightseeing on lakes to celebrate the festival. Since the Ming (1368-1644 A.D. ) and Qing Dynasties (1644-1911A.D.), the custom of Mid-Autumn Festival celebration becomes unprecedented popular. Together with the celebration there appear some special customs in different parts of the country, such as burning incense, planting Mid-Autumn trees, lighting lanterns on towers and fire dragon dances. However, the custom of playing under the moon is not so popular as it used to be nowadays, but it is not less popular to enjoy the bright silver moon. Whenever the festival sets in, people will look up at the full silver moon, drinking wine to celebrate their happy life or thinking of their relatives and friends far from home, and extending all of their best wishes to them.

There is a legend about moon-cakes. During the Yuan dynasty (A.D. 1280-1368) China was ruled by the Mongolian people. Leaders from the preceding Sung dynasty (A.D. 960-1280) were unhappy at submitting to the foreign rule, and set how to coordinate the rebellion without being discovered. The leaders of the rebellion, knowing that the Moon Festival was drawing near, ordered the making of special cakes. Backed into each moon caked was a message with the outline of the attack. On the night of the Moon Festival, the rebels successfully attached and overthrew the government. Today, moon cakes are eaten to commemorate this legend. For generations, moon cakes have been made with sweet fillings of nuts, mashed red beans, lotus-seed paste or Chinese dates, wrapped in a pastry. Sometimes a cooked egg yolk can be found in the middle of the rich tasting dessert. People compare moon cakes to the plum pudding and fruit cakes which are served in the English holiday seasons. Nowadays, there are hundreds varieties of moon cakes on sale a month before the arrival of Moon Festival.

For thousands of years, the Chinese people have related the vicissitudes of life to changes of the moon as it waxes and wanes; joy and sorrow, parting and reunion. Because the full moon is round and symbolizes reunion, the Mid-Autumn Festival is also known as the festival of reunion. All family members try to get together on this special day. Those who can not return home watch the bright moonlight and feel deep longing for their loved ones.

Today, festivities centered about the Mid-Autumn Festival are more varied. After a family reunion dinner, many people like to go out to attend special perfomances in parks or on public squares.People in different parts of China have different ways to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival. In Guangzhou in South China, a huge lantern show is a big attraction for local citizens. Thousands of differently shaped lanterns are lit, forming a fantastic contrast with the bright moonlight.

In East Chia's Zhejiang Province, watching the flood tide of the Qian-tang River during the Mid-Autumn Festival is not only a must for local peple, but also an attraction for those from other parts of the country. The ebb and flow of tides coincide with the waxing and waning of the moon as it exerts a strong gravitational pull. In mid autumn, the sun, earth and moon send out strong gravitational forces upon the seas. The outh of the Qiantang River is shaped lik a bugle. So the flood tide which forms at the narrow mouth is particularly impressive. Spectators crowd on the river bank, watching the roaring waves. At its peak, the tide rises as high as three and a half meters.

CHRISTIANITY: The Christian Church replaced earlier Pagan solstices and equinox celebrations during Medieval times, with Christianized observances. Replacing the fall equinox is Michaelmas, the feast of the Archangel Michael, on SEP-29. "His feast was celebrated with a traditional well-fattened goose which had fed well on the stubble of the fields after the harvest. In many places, a there was also a tradition of special large loaves of bread made only for that day. By Michaelmas the harvest had to be completed and the new cycle of farming would begin. It was a time for beginning new leases, rendering accounts and paying the annual dues."

Other substitutions by the Church were: Replacing the spring equinox by the Feast of Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is held on MAR-25, on the nominal date of the spring equinox according to the old Julian calendar. There was a "brief flirtation with calling the Vernal Equinox 'Gabrielmas.' " This is the time when the angel Gabriel told Mary that she was pregnant. (Luke 1:26-38)

Replacing the summer solstice, Midsummer Day, is the feast of St. John the Baptist, celebrated on JUN-24.

Replacing the winter solstice is Christmas, on DEC-25 when Mary is traditionally believed to have given birth to Jesus, while still a virgin.

CHUMASH: This is a Native American tribe from Southern California. They celebrate their fall equinox sun ceremony during their month of Hutash (September). It takes place "after the harvest is picked, processed and stored....Kakunupmawa is a ritual name for the Sun. According to traditional Chumash lore, all humans were known as children of the Sun, or 'sons of Kakunupmawa.' " 5 The spiritual thoughts of the tribe would become focused the importance of unity in the face of winter confinement, death and rebirth.

DRUIDS: At this time of the year, the ancient Celts conducted a mock sacrifice of a large wicker-work figure which represented the vegetation spirit. This might have been the origin of Julius Caesar's comment in his Gallic Wars that the Druids performed human sacrifices. Although he never witnessed a human sacrifice and never met anyone who had, this story has been accepted and repeated often enough to be accepted as truth. The Celtic mock sacrifice has been reborn in the Burning Man Project, a yearly fall festival celebrated for one week in Black Rock Desert in Nevada. The movie "The Wicker Man" was based on the Celtic tradition; to say more would ruin the film if you are seeing it for the first time.

FRANCE: A new calendar was adopted at the time of the French Revolution in the late 18th century. The first day of the year, the 1st of Vendemiaire (the grape-harvest month), was the date of the fall equinox in the Northern Hemisphere. The year was divided into twelve months of 30 days each. That left five or six surplus days which were celebrations ending the year, in honor of virtue, genius, work, opinion, prizes and revolution.

MAYAN: The ancient Mayans constructed a pyramid at Cihick©n Itz© which displayed different patterns of triangles of light at the time of the solstices and equinoxes. The dates signaled the start of a harvest, planting, or a religious ceremony. On the fall equinox, seven triangles become visible on the pyramid's staircase. 8

NATIVE AMERICAN SPIRITUALITY: There are countless stone structures created by Natives in the past and still standing in North America. One was called Calendar One by its modern-day finder. It is in a natural amphitheatre of about 20 acres in size in Vermont. From a stone enclosure in the center of the bowl, one can see a number of vertical rocks and other markers around the edge of the bowl "At the winter solstice, the sun rose at the southern peak of the east ridge and set at a notch at the southern end of the west ridge." The summer solstice and both equinoxes were similarly marked. 9

"America's Stonehenge" is a 4,000 year old megalithic site located on Mystery Hill in Salem NH. Carbon dating has estimated the age of some charcoal remnants at 3,000 and 4,000 years ago. Researchers have concluded that the site was erected either by Native Americans or an unknown migrant European population. 10 The site contains five standing stones and one fallen stone in a linear alignment which point to both the sunrise and sunset at the and fall equinoxes.

Mabon is one of the eight solar holidays or sabbats of American Neopaganism. It is celebrated on the autumn equinox, which in the northern hemisphere is circa September 21 and in the southern hemisphere is circa March 21.

JAPAN: The Spring and Autumn Equinoxes are observed as the seven-day celebration: the Higan-e. It is celebrated for three days before and after each Equinox. Six days was chosen because it is based on the six perfections, giving, observance of the precepts, perseverance, effort, meditation and wisdom - needed before one goes from this shore of samsara to the further shore or nirvana. Higan has Buddhist origins. It means the "other side of the river of death." This side of the river is the world where we live, and the other side is the realm where the souls of those who have passed away dwell. To pray for the repose of deceased ancestors, visits are made to the family grave. 'Bon' in August (July in some regions) is a time when the souls of our ancestors come to visit the people. On higan, it is their turn to visit the souls. Visiting the family grave usually means cleaning the tombstone, offering flowers and food, burning incense sticks, and praying. A popular offering is ohagi, made with glutinous rice covered with adzuki-bean paste or soybean flour. As higan approaches, confectioners become very busy trying to meet the expected demand for ohagi.

The rituals include repentance of past sins and prayers for enlightenment in the next life. It also includes remembrance of the dead and visits to the family graves. It is thought that the Spring and Autumn Equinoxes, being the most temperate times of the year, are ideal moments to reflect on the meaning of life." The Autumnal Equinox Day is an official national holiday in Japan, and is spent visiting family graves, and holding family reunions. There's a saying that goes, "both the heat and cold end with higan."
Symbolism of Mabon:
Second Harvest, the Mysteries, Equality and Balance.

Symbols of Mabon:
wine, gourds, pine cones, acorns, grains, corn, apples, pomegranates, vines such as ivy, dried seeds, and horns of plenty.

Herbs of Mabon:
Acorn, benzoin, ferns, grains, honeysuckle, marigold, milkweed, myrrh, passion flower, rose, sage, solomon's seal, tobacco, thistle, and vegetables.

Foods of Mabon:
Breads, nuts, apples, pomegranates, and vegetables such as potatoes, carrots, and onions.

Incense of Mabon:
Autumn Blend-benzoin, myrrh, and sage.

Colors of Mabon:
Red, orange, russet, maroon, brown, and gold.

Stones of Mabon:
Sapphire, lapis lazuli, and yellow agates.

Activities of Mabon:
Making wine, gathering dried herbs, plants, seeds and seed pods, walking in the woods, scattering offerings in harvested fields, offering libations to trees, adorning burial sites with leaves, acorns, and pine cones to honor those who have passed over.

Spellworkings of Mabon:
Protection, prosperity, security, and self-confidence. Also those of harmony and balance.
The Autumn Equinox begins at 00 Libra a time souls seek balance.

There are those who believe the equinox solar affect produces a reduction in the magnetic field of the Earth, providing easier access to other dimensions beginning around 24 hours before, and ending around 24 hours after the exact Equinox point.

Doorways or thresholds into the mysteries are more easily accessed during equinoxes and when we consciously engage this timing we are taking advantage of the opportunity to further activate our own experience of these sacred timings and what they have to offer us. This is a great time to be on the land, in a power spot that calls to you, whether that is in a forest, near a body of water, on a mountain, in a sacred site or in your back yard. What is important is to create the time and space that supports a direct experience of the mysteries that are ready to reveal themselves to you.

Depending on your individual spiritual path, there are many different ways you can celebrate Mabon, but typically the focus is on either the second harvest aspect, or the balance between light and dark. This, after all, is the time when there is an equal amount of day and night. While we celebrate the gifts of the earth, we also accept that the soil is dying. We have food to eat, but the crops are brown and going dormant. Warmth is behind us, cold lies ahead.

Mabon is the time of the autumn equinox, and the harvest is winding down. The fields are nearly bare, because the crops have been stored for the coming winter. Mabon is a time when we take a few moments to honor the changing seasons, and celebrate the second harvest. On or around September 21, for many Pagan and Wiccan traditions it is a time of giving thanks for the things we have, whether it is abundant crops or other blessings. It is also a time of balance and reflection, following the theme of equal hours light and dark. Here are some ways you and your family can celebrate this day of bounty and abundance.

1. Find Some Balance

Mabon is a time of balance, when there are equal hours of darkness and light, and that can affect people in different ways. For some, it's a season to honor the darker aspects of the goddess, calling upon that which is devoid of light. For others, it's a time of thankfulness, of gratitude for the abundance we have at the season of harvest. Because this is, for many people, a time of high energy, there is sometimes a feeling of restlessness in the air, a sense that something is just a bit "off". If you're feeling a bit spiritually lopsided, with this simple meditation you can restore a little balance into your life. You can also try a ritual to bring balance and harmony to your home.

2. Hold a Food Drive

Many Pagans and Wiccans count Mabon as a time of thanks and blessings -- and because of that, it seems like a good time to give to those less fortunate than ourselves. If you find yourself blessed with abundance at Mabon, why not give to those who aren't? Invite friends over for a feast, but ask each of them to bring a canned food, dry goods, or other non-perishable items? Donate the collected bounty to a local food bank or homeless shelter.

3. Pick Some Apples

Apples are the perfect symbol of the Mabon season. Long connected to wisdom and magic, there are so many wonderful things you can do with an apple. Find an orchard near you, and spend a day with your family. As you pick the apples, give thanks to Pomona, goddess of fruit trees. Be sure to only pick what you're going to use -- if you can, gather plenty to take home and preserve for the coming winter months. Take your apples home and use them in rituals, for divination, and for delicious recipes that your family can enjoy all season long.

4. Count Your Blessings

Mabon is a time of giving thanks, but sometimes we take our fortune for granted. Sit down and make a gratitude list. Write down things that you are thankful for. An attitude of gratefulness helps bring more abundance our way -- what are things you're glad you have in your life? Maybe it's the small things, like "I'm glad I have my cat Peaches" or "I'm glad my car is running." Maybe it's something bigger, like "I'm thankful I have a warm home and food to eat" or "I'm thankful people love me even when I'm cranky." Keep your list some place you can see it, and add to it when the mood strikes you.

5. Honor the Darkness

Without darkness, there is no light. Without night, there can be no day. Despite a basic human need to overlook the dark, there are many positive aspects to embracing the dark side, if it's just for a short time. After all, it was Demeter's love for her daughter Persephone that led her to wander the world, mourning for six months at a time, bringing us the death of the soil each fall. In some paths, Mabon is the time of year that celebrates the Crone aspect of a triune goddess. Celebrate a ritual that honors that aspect of the Goddess which we may not always find comforting or appealing, but which we must always be willing to acknowledge. Call upon the gods and goddesses of the dark night, and ask for their blessings this time of year.

6. Get Back to Nature

Fall is here, and that means the weather is bearable once more. The nights are becoming crisp and cool, and there's a chill in the air. Take your family on a nature walk, and enjoy the changing sights and sounds of the outdoors. Listen for geese honking in the sky above you, check the trees for changing in the colors of the leaves, and watch the ground for dropped items like acorns, nuts, and seed pods. If you live in an area that doesn't have any restrictions on removing natural items from park property, take a small bag with you and fill it up with the things you discover along the way. Bring your goodies home for your family's altar. If you are prohibited from removing natural items, fill your bag with trash and clean up the outdoors!

7. Tell Timeless Stories

In many cultures, fall was a time of celebration and gathering. It was the season in which friends and relatives would come from far and near to get together before the cold winter kept them apart for months at a time. Part of this custom was storytelling. Learn the harvest tales of your ancestors or of the people indigenous to the area in which you live. A common theme in these stories is the cycle of death and rebirth, as seen in the planting season. Learn about the stories of Osiris, Mithras, Dionysius, Odin and other deities who have died and then restored to life.

8. Raise Some Energy

It's not uncommon for Pagans and Wiccans to make remarks regarding the "energy" of an experience or event. If you're having friends or family over to celebrate Mabon with you, you can raise group energy by working together. A great way to do this is with a drum or music circle. Invite everyone to bring drums, rattles, bells, or other instruments. Those who don't have an instrument can clap their hands. Begin in a slow, regular rhythm, gradually increasing the tempo until it reaches a rapid pace. End the drumming at a pre-arranged signal, and you'll be able to feel that energy wash over the group in waves. Another way of raising group energy is chanting, or with dance. With enough people, you can hold a Spiral Dance.

9. Celebrate Hearth & Home

As autumn rolls in, we know we'll be spending more time indoors in just a few months. Take some time to do a fall version of spring cleaning. Physically clean your home from top to bottom, and then do a ritual smudging. Use sage or sweetgrass, or asperge with consecrated water as you go through your home and bless each room. Decorate your home with symbols of the harvest season, and set up a family Mabon altar. Put sickles, scythes and bales of hay around the yard. Collect colorful autumn leaves, gourds and fallen twigs and place them in decorative baskets in your house. If you have any repairs that need to be done, do them now so you don't have to worry about them over the winter. Throw out or give away anything that's no longer of use.

10. Welcome the Gods of the Vine

Grapes are everywhere, so it's no surprise that the Mabon season is a popular time to celebrate winemaking, and deities connected to the growth of the vine. Whether you see him as Bacchus, Dionysus, the Green Man, or some other vegetative god, the god of the vine is a key archetype in harvest celebrations. Take a tour of a local winery and see what it is they do this time of year. Better yet, try your hand at making your own wine! If you're not into wine, that's okay -- you can still enjoy the bounty of grapes, and use their leaves and vines for recipes and craft projects. However you celebrate these deities of vine and vegetation, you may want to leave a small offering of thanks as you reap the benefits of the grape harvest.

This is also an auspicious time to do a blessing to protect your house. As this day marks six months for me since I gave birth to this blog and began the physical manifistation of my home, I want to mark the occasion by giving my new home a good psychic cleansing and a blessing for positive energy and protection against negative energy
How to Hold a Hearth and Home Rite for Mabon

Check in with yourself and see if you are maintaining balance in the fundemental aspects of your life.
Namaste,

How Prepared Are You if the SHTF ?

2010-09-15T01:47:00.000-07:00

I guess alot of that depends on how bad the shit is. There are so many ways that things can go wrong in our environment. Are you prepared for the power being off for a few days? How about if its off for a few months? What if there is no clean running water, if the roads are not passable, or if your home is so damaged, you can't re- enter it. What if you can't buy food, if you are injured, what if..... ?

We have all seen our brothers and sisters around the world put into horrific situations that happen suddenly( the Quebec icestorm, the Haitian earthquake, Hurricane Katrina, the tsunami, civil unrest and war). How prepared are you to cope when the lights go out and services are not available? Would you know what to do?

The experience that changed my life was an ice storm. I was living in Chilliwack BC at the time in a one bedroom apartment. I had zero emergency supplies on hand when the power went out. It took awhile to sink in just how dire things really were. We had electric basebord heaters, so it didn't take long for it to get really,really cold once there was no power to run them. Then boredom set in, but shoot, no tv, no radio, no lights to see by to play cards etc. Hmm , well lets go eat something. Wait, can't defrost anything, can't toast anything, can't heat anything up, don't really have much in the way of food that needs no preparation. Well how about going and soaking in the bath to kill some time and warm up. Wait for it, no power means no hot water either. OK, this is starting to freak me out, lets get out of here and go buy some food. Well, the whole town has lost power, the ice is so thick that it had completely coated the car in about 8 inches of ice and welded it right to the road. Couldn't drive anywhere, the roads impassable even if I could get in the car. All the restaurants are closed as are the grocery stores. Can't buy food, can't get warm, can't leave town, can't call anyone, now what? ( This was back in the day of no cell phones or internet. The phones lines were all down, nobody could call out to the world!)

That went on for four days! I was shocked to think I could have died right in the middle of civilization all because there was no power. How reliant we had become on that switch on the wall always functioning for us. On food always being available 24/7, on being able to go out and just purchase whatever we needed whenever we wanted it. When all that was taken away in the blink of an eye, we reverted back to helpless babes. I vowed then and there to never be caught with my pants down again. I took courses in primitive living skills and first aid, I stocked up with emergency supplies of all kinds, I made a point of every home I lived in since then having a wood heat source.(preferably a woodstove with a surface to cook on, but a fireplace at the minimum.) I also keep a propane camp stove handy. As I design my home, I am always thinking , worst case scenerio, how comfortable would I be here if the SHTF.

There are tons of books written about survival techniques, so I'm not going to write one here as there are so many things to know. I will give you my version of the short form of what you need to do to survive, the rest you will need to research yourself. I highly recommend that you make it a priority to inform yourself. God forbid anything should ever happen, hopefully it won't, but if it does, it happens in seconds and there is no time to think how to react, by then, you just have to be ready.

At the very least, I would recommend taking first aid courses on a regular basis. Practice with family and friends. Pick random times and say to each other, "this is a drill, I'm having a heart attack, drank some poison, broke a bone" etc etc. Pick random things and have the person explain or show you how they would treat you. Do it at unexpected times, when they are sleeping, in the bath, busy doing something. Why, because thats how it will be in real life. I've saved a few peoples lives and both times, I was woken out of a deep sleep to do it. I had to assess the situation, stay calm and do the right thing , with only seconds to react. I am so grateful I was able to do what needed to be done. Buy a good first aid book and keep it handy next to your first aid kit which should be full and extensive ( think of every way you could be hurt or in discomfort and have a remedy available). When the SHTF, help may not be available for days, it will be up to you to keep yourself and others alive. An infected cut could kill someone, so don't overlook minor injuries.

Buy a copy( or several ) of the SAS survival guide. They make a nice pocket size addition that covers most of what you need to know to stay alive in an emergency. Keep one in the car, one in the house, one at work. You may not be able to access one or more of those places depending on what happens. Personally, I keep a first aid book and SAS guide as bathroom reading material. I can read short bits of info at a time and keep it fresh in my mind when it's needed.

Priority sequence for staying alive is :
1. treat any medical emergencies, stabilize people before moving them if possible.
2.depending on the climate your in, figure out how your going to avoid hypothermia or heat stroke( both can kill in a matter of hours, this is your absolute priority!)
3. figure out your best source of clean drinking water. Dehydration can kill you in a couple of days. Don't drink dirty water in desperation, dying of diahrrea is worse than dying of thirst. You would be better off drinking your own urine than bad water. ( really , honestly, look it up !)
4. find safe shelter and a way to provide heat if neccesary
5. find a way to let others know you are in trouble
6.look for food (this one is not as important, you can actually live quite awhile without food, people do it all the time. The danger is in getting weak when you need your strength and wits about you. ( a caution here, if you were starving and you came across some rabbits and decided to eat them, you would die even faster. Why? Your body needs fats and rabbit is too lean.Rabbit starvation, also referred to as protein poisoning or mal de caribou, is a form of acute malnutrition caused by excess consumption of any lean meat (e.g., rabbit) coupled with a lack of other sources of nutrients usually in combination with other stressors, such as severe cold or dry environment. Symptoms include diarrhea, headache, fatigue, low blood pressure and heart rate, and a vague discomfort and hunger that can only be satisfied by consumption of fat or carbohydrates. If you can't find some carbs or fat to eat with it, you would be better off not eating it at all. You might want to put a book on edible foliage in that bathroom reading library.

There are many ways to accomplish the steps above. This is where you need to educate yourself on all the ways to keep warm , find water etc. Your local environment will give you some ideas of the kind of dangers you could face and you should know the edible and medicinal properties of your local vegetation.

The Basics ( the list can really be endless for trying to be prepared, everything from a bugout bag to a full on bunker could be had, but here are some things that can come in handy for sure)

1. windup flashlight/radio . This is a priority, you need to be able to see and news updates can be helpful, you may not always have batteries or power so windup is best)
2. candles,water/wind proof matches/lighters, steel wool or birch bark( both will light when wet)
3. axe/ hatchet, a good knive( carbon steel blade is best, that along with a piece of flint and you have another source of spark for a fire)
4. water sterilizing methods( bleach, iodine pills, filtration pumps, or some way to heat water to boiling, at the very least one pot or camp kettle with a lid and a small flat grill which can be useful to put over rocks and hold your pot)
5. steel soled boots, work gloves,sturdy clothes ( you may be digging your way out of rubble)
6. first aid kit ( can't spend enough here, be prepared)
7. wool blankets and wool socks ( they retain body heat even when wet and wool socks won't give you blisters if you have to walk out of the area) ,space blanket
8. plastic bags of various sizes, can use them to collect water from small trickles and all kinds of other uses( as a rain coat, keeping your stuff dry etc)
9. signal mirror and whistle, bright coloured toque
10. bungy cords( you can rig up almost anything with some well placed bungy cords and a tarp or two)
11. snares, fish hooks, fishing line, tin foil, bouilion cubes,dehydrated food, power bars

I think if I had all this along with my first aid book and SAS survival book in a backpack, I would be ok for quite awhile. Depending on any room left in the bag, cash ( cards may not work), a compass, writing stuff to leave notes for people, a few clothespins, rope, a swiss army knife type of thing, useful items for trade ( coffee, sugar, tampons,tobacco). I don't believe in firearms but if you think it will come to that to survive make sure its clean , serviced and you have lots of ammunition. A small lightweight hammock to sleep off the ground. Try and keep your bag as light as possible, you won't be carrying it very far if it weighs 200 pounds. Make sure it all fits in a backpack. You want to be able to walk with your hands free. An external frame pack is best as you can lash more stuff to it if need be. Make sure it has a really good, thick waist belt and padded adjustable shoulder straps.

Oh and don't forget your pets and their needs!

Try and use your ingenuity to solve problems and make do when you don't have the tool you want to do the job. You might want to have a moped or bicycle. If the roadways are destroyed a small vehicle like a bike has a better chance of getting out of the area. If you live near water or in an area prone to flooding , have some kind of boat to get around in( doesn't have to be big and fancy, just has to float, some oars or paddles will help as well.)

If your in an earthquake, your best odds of survival are by crouching next to a solid object that won't compress such as a couch. Survivors are almost always found in pockets where the debris hadn't crushed them. Don't go under things but right beside something big and bulky and away from falling objects like bookcases.

Don't live in a state of fear, just be ready and informed, so that if you have to make life saving decisions, you will make the right ones. Outfit your home so that if the power was to go off tonight, you could stay warm, heat some food, and be able to see what you are doing. Practice safety drills with your family and make sure everyone knows what the alternative plan is if you get separated ( a meeting place or an outside contact to leave messages with.)

Here are some good resources to check out

Rabbitstick-Wintercount this is a link to two awesome yearly events, Rabbitstick and Wintercount where you can go and learn hands-on primitive living skills. Everything from how to start a fire without matches to building shelters. They have some of the most knowledge instructors in the world and it is an experience you will never forget.

The Society of PrimitiveTechnology excellent magazine and article achives

Backtracks Abo Links lots of great links here to all things primitive related

Equipped to Survive they rate the small personal survival kits - very good site

Knol thoughts on what to put in your bug-out-bag(BOB)

Homemade Survival Tin well thought out small survival tin

Militia Homepage tons of informative articles on everything you need to know to survive and protect yourself

SHTF Plan lots of articles and links

SHTF Forum awesome forum with tons of posts on all kinds of survival related subjects

Be prepared! as the Boy Scouts say

The SHTF for millions of people this year alone, what if......................... it was you?

I am linking with Cindy's Show and Tell Fridays

ode to water

2010-09-14T02:21:00.000-07:00

water
cool blue mystical
ribbons tying the country together

this gift
the elixer of the gods
dances on my skin in a delicious caress
refreshing mists, tantalizing my senses
tickling the downy hairs on my cheek
drenching downpours saturating my being
washing me clean of all my sins

steam wrapping itself with warm tendrils
embracing me in its' gentle warmth
replaced by refreshing crystals of coolness
numbing pain and banishing menopausal heatwaves

the satisfying crunch of snow under boot
while exploring virgin landscapes
negative ions released by a thundering waterfall
recharging your ethereal batteries

cradled in a mothers embrace
I drift on gentle waves in a dreamland of silent lucidity, fluidity
I crave the life giving moisture
wanting to wrap myself in it, taste it, revel in its sweetness

feel it trickle through to every cell

Water, the most precious, beautiful gift of all

you support me in every way

every day

I will never take you for granted

Rhianna Featherstone September 14, 2010

I am linking with Cindy's Show and Tell Fridays

This is for you

2010-09-10T09:29:00.000-07:00

This message is just for you, please watch it and know that you are loved.

Every loving thought you think,
radiates forward,
brightning the world and making it a better place to be!
Thanks for being you!

Love always,

I am linking to Cindy's wonderful blog, My Romantic Home

Everything I Know About Painting a Room

2010-09-10T00:45:00.000-07:00

Well I'm still here. I haven't spontaineously exploded in a big ball of frustration. I'm still not a big fan of painting but after doing some research, I managed to do not a bad job of it this time. I haven't attempted to paint too many times in my life. The few times I have, I have not been very pleased with the results. That being said, I never thought of painting as a skill with certain theories to learn. This time ( and to procastinate a bit longer) I spent some time online and with professional painters and got some advice on how to do it right.

This is what I learned.

-Use good quality paint. It does make a difference. I went to General Paint to get mine.

-Different types of paint (latex, oil etc) are used for different applications. Different finishes ( glossy, eggshell etc) are used for different applications. Ask questions at the paint store to make sure you get the right product for the finish and durability you are looking for.
In general:
- These days latex paint is good for all interior and most exterior applications. Latex also has the
advantage of longer lasting colour that doesn't fade so much, and also doesn't become brittle and crack off the way oil paint will. Only metal or cement MAY (but probably not) require an oil based paint.
- Flat paint on walls will hide flaws better than something with a shine, but is not washable.
- Generally an eggshell finish is good for walls, and semi-gloss for trim, doors, kitchens, and bathrooms
(all the areas that need more frequent wiping down)

-Use good quality brushes and rollers. It does make a difference.

-The rollers have different nap size for different applications, find out which one you need for your job.A 20 mil nap on the roller sleeve is good for most indoor work. For areas you want a super smooth shiny finish, like cabinet doors, use a thin foam sleeve or a 10 mil woven sleeve.

-A 2 1/2 inch nylon angled sash brush is good for all interior work. Brushes should be fairly stiff, not soft. This will allow you to draw straighter lines along trim or where walls meet ceilings or floors.
For exterior work on rough surfaces you will want 25 - 30 mil nap and a three inch brush.

-Brushes come in different kinds. Some are for the type of product you are applying and they can have different shapes and sizes depending on what you want to do with them. I used a brush wide enough to do my trim in one sweep. My brush for cutting in had a chisled edge which helped me get closer to the edges without touching the other side.

Hold smaller brushes like a pencil, hold a wall brush with your whole hand

-Always lightly sand your walls first. ( if they are really greasy, I would recommend washing them with a mixture of TSP and water to remove all grease and dirt)

-Go along the walls and trim with a metal paint scraper and remove any lumpy things

-Always use a good primer first. It will save you paint in the long run and give you a better finish

-Remove as much furniture as possible, a completely empty room is the best

-Cover the floors with a dropcloth and tape or tack it down

-If your painting the ceiling too, start there first, then paint your trim, then do the walls last especially if you are using a trim colour that is different from the wall colour, paint the trim first. It is easier to draw straight down the frame with the wall colour after than it would be to paint that tiny edge without getting any on the wall.

-Before you start, take the brushes and rollers that you will be using and get them wet with the appropriate solvant( water for latex,paint thinner(mineral spirits) for oil base etc)squeeze out the roller, shake out the brush and dry them lightly on clean white paper or a brown paper bag( not newspaper, the ink can come off onto the brushes) (Rick who helped my write this article, doesn't do this step. The source I read said it helped the brushes load better when you do this. I did it and had no negative effects but it may not be neccesary according to Rick)

-Make sure you have clean cloths and the appropriate solvent handy to wipe up any spills or dribbles as soon as they happen ( don't wait until they are dry)

Ok, now your ready to start painting

-Place your paint can and tray on a drop sheet. You can place your paint can on a paper plate in case it dribbles and you don't want to track it around on the floor.

-Gently pry off the lid with a flat head screwdriver.You can take an awl and poke some holes around the inside lip of the can so that any excess paint from pouring will drain back into the can.

-After pouring paint, wipe out the rim of the can with your brush (don't let the paint pool and dry in the rim - that would interfere with sealing and opening the can again)

If you are not going to use the whole gallon, pour a small amount of paint into an extra empty can to use for brush work. Only pour about two inches into the cutting can so you when you leave the brush standing in the can the paint comes half way up the bristles.

Don't work out of the original can unless you are going to use all of it at once.

-Give the paint a throrough, but gentle (don't want air bubbles) stirring with a wooden stir stick

-Pour an appropriate amount into the roller tray(about half full) or a hand held smaller container and put the lid back onto the can IMMEDIATELY and FIRMLY ( go around the top of the lid with a rubber mallet to seal it)This keeps the paint from drying out, getting cooties in it and most importantly spilling everywhere when the can gets knocked over ( and karma says it will if you don't close it tight each and every time!!)

-Dont drench your brush or roller in paint

-Don't try to paint a large wall all at once. Break it down into sections ( I did sections about 5-6 feet across.)

-Start by cutting in. This is the boring,tedious part of the job. If you take your time and pay attention, you can paint your whole room without having to tape it all off( another job that can take hours and if not done with great precision will result in paint being pulled off where you don't want it to be) Don't try and cut the whole wall at once, do it in sections so that the wet paint will blend with the roller work. If the paint dries before you roll the middle, it will always be obvious.

-Dip your brush about one third of the way into the paint( not up to the base) and gently plunge it up and down a few times to load the bristles.Lightly scrape off the excess. You can't rush this process, better to

apply paint twice for good coverage, then try and load the brush too full the first time and have it slop everywhere. Paint slowly to avoid splattering paint.

-Place your brush on the wall an inch or so from the corner, press down gently on the bristles until they fan towards the corner. Just as they touch the corner, pull the brush across the wall. Continue in this method, making short horizontal strokes all the way up the wall, from the floor to ceiling. Go back over the horizontal stripes with a long vertical one, starting at the bottom and working upwards to avoid paint pooling.

-Along the ceiling edge do the same thing but pull the paint down, then across.

-Once you have marked out all the borders of the wall potion you are working on in this way, you can use the roller to fill in the middle

-For the roller, run it down the tray until it is half way into the paint and pull it back onto the rough portion of the tray. Do this a few times until the roller is nicely loaded with paint. Roll back and forth over the rough portion until it is evenly loaded without being saturated and rolls smoothly. If it slides without rolling , its too full of paint!

-Pick a spot in the middle of the wall and touch the roller to it and start to roll up and away from you. Make a large W or M on the wall, then come back and fill it all in with up and down strokes. Don't try and start at one end and just up and down all the way across, do the M thing and fill in, it gives a better looking finish!

There doen't that look great! Now just continue painting sections of wall until you are finished, wiping up dribbles and splotches as they happen if necessary.

Hey wait! Before you go running off to have a beer to celebrate, there is one more thing to do.

Go clean all your equipment right away. Those good quaility brushes you bought are meant to be used more than once. Give them and any paint trays etc a good washing with the appropriate solvant until all traces of paint are removed. (if you leave old paint in the paint tray and try to use it again, the fresh paint will soften the old and they will mix together possibly giving you an effect you wern't looking for)

-Gently dry them off on by squeezing them lightly in an old clean towel and store them back in the plastic sleeves they came in to keep them supple, clean and ready to use for the next time.

Now go and celebrate your fresh new space.

Happy decorating,

Update: here are a few more tips I've learned
-If you are using a can of paint more than once, you should strain the paint before using it as it will have dried bits in it.
-If you will be returning the next day to finish a painting job , you can wrap the roller in saran wrap and put it in the fridge overnight without washing it out. Always wash your brushes though, even half way through a large job is good to get a better edge.
-I love Robs comment about writing messages on the walls before painting them. he found funny jokes, I think I would write inspirational words and messages. Have fun with it!

I am linking to Cindy's wonderful blog My Romantic Home

The Twelve Laws of Karma

2010-09-09T12:51:00.000-07:00

Today I would like to share with you this thought provoking video and some of the comments it fostered. If you don't have time to watch the video, the Twelve Laws of Karma are printed below.

The Twelve Laws of Karma

THE GREAT LAW

As you sow, so shall you reap.
This is also known as the Law of Cause and Effect.
Whatever we put out in the Universe
is what comes back to us.
If what we want is Happiness, Peace, Friendship, Love...
Then we should BE Happy, Peaceful, Loving, a Friend.

THE LAW OF CREATION

Life doesn't just HAPPEN, it requires our participation.
We are one with the Universe both inside and out.
Whatever surrounds us gives us clues to our inner state.
BE and DO yourself...
what you want to have in your Life.

THE LAW OF HUMILITY

What you refuse to accept, will continue for you.
If what we see is an enemy, or someone with a character trait that we find to be negative,
then we ourselves are not focused on a higher level of existence.

THE LAW OF GROWTH

Wherever you go, there you are.
For us to GROW in Spirit it is we who must change and not the people, places or things around us.
The only given we have in our lives is OURSELVES
and that is the only factor we have control over.
When we change who and what we are within our heart
our life changes too.

THE LAW OF RESPONSIBILITY

Whenever there is something wrong,
there is something wrong in me.
We mirror of what surrounds us
and what surrounds us mirrors us
We must take responsibility for what is in our life.

THE LAW OF CONNECTION

Even if something we do seems inconsequential,
it is very important that it gets done
as everything in the Universe is connected.
Each step leads to the next step and so forth and so on.
Someone must do the initial work to get a job done.
Neither the first step nor the last
are of greater significance
They were both needed to accomplish the task.
Past, Present, Future
They are all connected...

THE LAW OF FOCUS

You can't think of two things at the same time.
When our focus is on Spiritual Values it is impossible for us to have lower thoughts such as greed or anger.

THE LAW OF GIVING AND HOSPITALITY

If you believe something to be true,
then sometime in your life
you will be called upon to demonstrate that truth.
Here is where we put what we SAY
that we have learned
into PRACTICE.

THE LAW OF HERE AND NOW

Looking back to examine what was,
prevents us from being totally in the HERE AND NOW.
Old thoughts, old patterns of behavior, old dreams...
Prevent us from having new ones.

THE LAW OF CHANGE

History repeats itself until
we learn the lessons that we need
to change our path.

THE LAW OF PATIENCE AND REWARD

All Rewards require initial toil.
Rewards of lasting value
require patient and persistent toil.
True Joy follows doing what we're suppose to be doing and waiting for the Reward to come in it's on time.

THE LAW OF SIGNIFICANCE AND INSPIRATION

You get back from something whatever
you've put into it
The Value of something is a direct result of
the energy and intent that is put into it.
Every personal contribution
is also a contribution to the Whole
Lack luster Contributions have no impact on the Whole
or work to diminish it.
Loving Contributions Lift Up and Inspire the Whole

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Comments from viewers of the video

" Don't know if this is correct or not, but it sounds like your saying that it's better to deeply humiliate your enemy than to simply kill them. Which I believe is better as it helps us all and the wrongdoer (as you said yourself) will take on the burden or their wrongdoings, rather than getting out of life free with a bullet through the skull. What I mean is that say for example in Africa, with all their troubles (somalia etc), when a tribal cheif has ordered the massacre of 10 villages, to solve the problem you do not kill him, as this creates more problems, you make him atone for his sins and face up to the fact that he was wrong and that he should have done the right thing. This is why i think it's better because although it's easier to cop out and die/kill yourself in this situation, staying with it and sorting the mess out is much better and it makes you a better person."

"It's not about being humiliated, it's about making criminals see the effects of their behaviour."

" Hell is a vile, abusive, disgusting concept. God buys love; loyalty with torture? A Gandhi, Teresa, Mandela would never think of torturing their enemies, whereas a Saddam, Hitler, Stalin would. This is the company that God keeps? Karma; Rebirth is the better, non-violent way. You are not punished, nor are you simply forgiven because you groveled enough. The most important aspect of Karma is that you are held accountable for your actions, you are reborn, given another chance to make amends."

" I get frustrated when I hear people say when bad things happen; they go well that's Karma. That's not it at all! Two wrongs don't make a right. The Hindu God is a Teacher, our goal is Moksha - Enlightenment or Knowledge - no Teacher wants to simply punish, She is there to educate. A Teacher is not going to punish u if u don't attend class nor study. lack of knowledge is its own punishment."

That is why Moksha, Enlightenment, Knowledge is the higher goal. The whole concept of god running a heaven/ hell seems a bit silly - it appeals to the small mind. They are right here, not up there; we make them happen, not God. God is but a Teacher not a King, giving us guidance, encouragement. Fear of God, mercy, soldier/slave, justice, commands, wrath, begging - all words associated with a King not a Teacher. I tell Hindus not to Kneel to God when they go to the Temple. Do not beseech God to make things better - instead ask Her for guidance; moral strength - then we must go out; fight our own battles. We make this world a heaven or hell, not God - that is the teaching of Karma and Rebirth."

"That's pretty much what we're taught in church too.. tho I suppose it's about how much the priest is in touch with God... we're taught not to ask for what we want, but for what we need... in a word, for guidance and whatnot. really now... even if u pray to God to give u something, u still have to work to get it... it's just that He makes it a bit easier to you. ^^ God does not influence the world so much... it's the people that do. that's also why there's the rule of free will there. ;)"

" Karma; rebirth gives me the Gift of Life, over and over again:
1. Falling in Love
2. Smell of freshly cut flowers
3. Grandma's cooking
4. Holding your new born baby
5. Opening day
6. Spring, Summer, Fall
7. Smell of the earth after a rainfall
8. Laughter
And many, many more joys of Life to be experienced over and over again! I sometimes feel sorry for some people, they get just one life, they are but one-and-done."

"Just DO. Extend your hand. Hold the door. Let someone know you caught them being silly. Spark someone in a positive way. SMILE. Say hello. Ask if you can help and mean it. Offer yourself. Why wouldn't you. DO. Not for anticipation of payback; just because it feels so good to impact others in a positive manner. DO."

Warlord1500
"2 months ago I was with my friends on a cliffs edge other day, very windy, really remote place, with no barriers or railings to stop people falling off to their death. Well we were walking along, and I was extremely tired having no sleep, and we came to a gravestone. For the lols I spat on it, and they were all like "ooh karma will get you". well despite the perfect opportunity, wind and exhaustion and extremely dangerous cliff edge, I didnt fall in. I was nearly hoping I would, just to prove karma was real."

" To Warlord1500 - The worst that could happen is that someone will spit on your grave...no more..no less."

"I believe in these laws fully, it seems that when the elite class have total control of the world, it will backfire on them. Greed consumes their souls."

"Most important........Never remind a person of their past "sins".It negates the miracle and keeps them in bondage."

"How people treat you is their Karma, how you react is yours. Firmly believe you reap what you sow."

" Cause and effect, very true. Things like self doubt, living in the past, self hatred (public and private) and focusing on negative, angry, self destructive feelings, all very true.
AND this has nothing to do with religion or even spirituality, AA and NA teach this so it is anyone can embrace. It is the difference between being happy and being unhappy and not knowing why....
Which leads to self destructive, self satisfying / gratifying, short term behavior starting the whole cycle over again..."

What are you thoughts on Karma?

namaste,

My First Projects

2010-08-28T13:40:00.000-07:00

Thank you for your patience. I have been super busy unpacking, sorting and daydreaming of how to finish my new home. It hasn't left me much time or energy for blogging but I am trying to rectify that. I wrote a post on my other blog that will give you an idea of how things are going reno wise. This post is just to showcase a couple of my projects.
The first one I covered on the other blog but want to repost here.( Skip ahead if you have already seen the kitchen cupboard redo)

The Shirley Metal Kitchen. This was donated to me by David. It is an old (1940-1950) metal kitchen sink and cupboard unit. As you can see, it was seriously rusty and decrepted looking when I first saw it.

EWWWWWW!!!!!

I thought for about a nano second, that I might keep the original sticky paper that was on the shelves, just to keep it original looking , but decided against that when I saw the fifty year old dirt under the edges of it. Out it came!

I then spent a few hours sanding the whole unit down with various grades of grit, until the rust was all gone. Then I gave it a good washing with TSP and hot water, followed by a good long hosing down. Once it was dry, it got painted with 2 coats of self etching primer inside and out.

For some reason the colour I chose isn't showing up in these pictures at all, but this is the cabinet with two coats of sage green colour ( which mysteriously looks exactly like the military green tarp that its sitting on).

I found these cute handles at Home Depot. I guess over the years we have changed the standards of how wide our handles are for cupboards. The holes in mine were for about a two and a half inch spacing, but all the handles I found were three inch. So unfortunately, I had to ( get David) to drill an extra set of holes to fit the handles.

So, its pretty much done now. I want to build a small wooden frame for it to sit on as the doors catch on the ground, then as soon as the kitchen is painted, it will be installed.

My other project was the handmade couch that used to be on my boat. This couch had been hand crafted to the boat in such a way that it didn't have both sides finished or any support in the back leg area as it had been fitted right onto the structural ribs of the boat. I had spent a small fortune recovering the cushions on it and wanted to salvage it if I could. It's my goal to keep as much of the boat alive as possible and incorporate it into the cottage.

My friend Todd who knows alot more about refurbishing furniture than me came over to help me with this one. He cut some wood to fit on the open right side of the couch and added some structural wood to the back so it can support people sitting on it. I'm so grateful to him for his help. I love my couch and it fits right in my beduion tent room. I have a ton of stuff that needs doing, so this isn't quite finished yet. I still have to sand the edges of the new wood and verathane it so it will be the same colour as the rest of the wood. However it is usable for now and I will get to it when I am verathaning other projects

I LOVE this chair. I found it at the flea market a few weeks ago and couldn't afford it but bought it anyway. It was just too perfect for this room. It is very low to the ground and is covered in a persian sytyle rug. It is very comfy and it's where I sit to daydream.

The other wall in my room holds my bed. I hung up a curtain in front of it that I can close when sleeping .

I found this old brass tray a few years ago that had been abandoned outside. I haven't made any effort to polish it yet but lucked out at the same flea market and found these wonderful carved legs to support it for only ten dollars.

This item is one of my pride and joys. It's a sand pendulam. I bought it in Glastonbury England about 5 years ago and it has spent most of that time in storage. I was so happy to stumble upon it the other day and get it set up. The black tray sways and swivels causing the pendulam to create spirograph type drawings in the sand. As my house gets rocked around by passing boat wake, it moves on its own without me having to give it a push. I love seeing what designs show up from the natural movement of the house. Its very mezmorizing to watch.

I will post more pictures from my beduoin room at a later date. Right now its the only room half-assed set up and is my staging area for unpacking and sorting. I haven't begun to find all my treasures yet, so it is a room in progress as I try out different things to see how they fit in here.

This post is linked to Cindy's Show and Tell Fridays

I'd Like to Introduce You to TED

2010-08-28T12:38:00.000-07:00

Many of you may of heard of TED already. I have been seeing occasional video clips on facebook recently and today was motivated by one to investigate further. I love TED!

TED is a small nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design.

Riveting talks by remarkable people, free to the world
The annual TED conferences, in Long Beach/Palm Springs and Oxford, bring together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes).

On TED.com, we make the best talks and performances from TED and partners available to the world, for free. More than 700 TEDTalks are now available, with more added each week. All of the talks are subtitled in English, and many are subtitled in various languages. These videos are released under a Creative Commons license, so they can be freely shared and reposted
Our mission: Spreading ideas.
We believe passionately in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and ultimately, the world. So we're building here a clearinghouse that offers free knowledge and inspiration from the world's most inspired thinkers, and also a community of curious souls to engage with ideas and each other. This site, launched April 2007, is an ever-evolving work in progress, and you're an important part of it. Have an idea? We want to hear from you.Today, TED is therefore best thought of as a global community. It's a community welcoming people from every discipline and culture who have just two things in common: they seek a deeper understanding of the world, and they hope to turn that understanding into a better future for us all.

Here is a link to the article that peaked my attention today. Solar Roadways. This guy has come up with a concept that could save the world! He wants to build roads that collect solar energy that can be used to power cities at the same time as it allows electric cars to run on its surface and recharge anywhere. We could be free of dependance on fossil fuels for transportation and energy needs. I like it, I like it alot! I hope he wins the prize and gets to put his plan into action.

So bookmark TED.com and check it out frequently, pass on the knowledge and links to your friends, family and coworkers. Encourage them to submit their ideas and creative efforts, lets change the world and make it a better place for all living things!

Lammas/Lughnasadh/August 1st

2010-08-02T10:00:00.000-07:00

Lughnasadh or Lammas is also the name used for one of the eight sabbats in the Wheel of the Year. It is the first of the three autumn harvest festivals, the other two being the Autumn equinox (also called Mabon by Wiccans) and Samhain. It is seen as one of the two most auspicious times for handfasting, the other being at Beltane.

Lughnasadh marked the beginning of the harvest season, the Harvest of Grain (Bread), the ripening of first fruits (usually berries), and was traditionally a time of community gatherings, market festivals, horse races and reunions with distant family and friends. Among the Irish it was a favored time for handfastings — trial marriages that would generally last a year and a day, with the option of ending the contract before the new year, or later formalizing it as a more permanent marriage.

In some English-speaking countries in the Northern Hemisphere, August 1 is Lammas Day (loaf-mass day), the festival of the wheat harvest, and is the first harvest festival of the year. On this day it was customary to bring to church a loaf made from the new crop. In many parts of England, tenants were bound to present freshly harvested wheat to their landlords on or before the first day of August. In the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, where it is referred to regularly, it is called "the feast of first fruits". The blessing of new fruits was performed annually in both the Eastern and Western Churches on the first or the sixth of August (the latter being the feast of the Transfiguration of Christ).

In Celtic mythology, the Lughnasadh festival is said to have been begun by the god Lugh, as a funeral feast and games commemorating his foster-mother, Tailtiu, who died of exhaustion after clearing the plains of Ireland for agriculture.

On mainland Europe and in Ireland many people continue to celebrate the holiday with bonfires and dancing. It was a traditional day for family reunions and parties. The Christian church has established the ritual of blessing the fields on this day.

The Celts celebrate this festival from sunset August 1 until sunset August 2 and call it Lughnasadh after the God Lugh. It is the wake of Lugh, the Sun-King, whose light begins to dwindle after the summer solstice. The Saxon holiday of Lammas celebrates the harvesting of the grain. The first sheaf of wheat is ceremonially reaped, threshed, milled and baked into a loaf. The grain dies so that the people might live. Eating this bread, the bread of the Gods, gives us life. If all this sounds vaguely Christian, it is. In the sacrament of Communion, bread is blessed, becomes the body of God and is eaten to nourish the faithful. This Christian Mystery echoes the pagan Mystery of the Grain God.

Grain has always been associated with Gods who are killed and dismembered and then resurrected from the Underworld by the Goddess-Gods like Tammuz, Osiris and Adonis. The story of Demeter and Persephone is a story about the cycle of death and rebirth associated with grain. Demeter, the fertility Goddess, will not allow anything to grow until she finds her daughter who has been carried off to the Underworld. The Eleusinian Mysteries, celebrated around the Autumn Equinox, culminated in the revelation of a single ear of corn, a symbol to the initiate of the cyclical nature of life, for the corn is both seed and fruit, promise and fulfillment.

You can adapt the themes of Lughnasad and Lammas to create your own ceremony for honoring the passing of the light and the reaping of the grain.

Honoring the Grain God or Goddess

Bake a loaf of bread on Lammas. If you've never made bread before, this is a good time to start. Honor the source of the flour as you work with it: remember it was once a plant growing on the mother Earth. If you have a garden, add something you've harvested--herbs or onion or corn--to your bread. Most important is intention. All that is necessary to enter sacred time is an awareness of the meaning of your actions.

Shape the dough in the figure of a man or a woman and give your grain-person a name. If he's a man, you could call him Lugh, the Sun-King, or John Barleycorn, or the Pillsbury Dough Boy, or Adonis or Osiris or Tammuz. Pauline Campanelli in The Wheel of the Year suggests names for female figures: She of the Corn, She of the Threshing Floor, She of the Seed, She of the Great Loaf (these come from the Cyclades where they are the names of fertility figures), Freya (the Anglo-Saxon and Norse fertility Goddess who is, also called the Lady and the Giver of the Loaf), the Bride (Celtic) and Ziva or Siva (the Grain Goddess of, the Ukraine, Hungary, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia).

Feast

Like all holidays, Lammas calls for a feast. When your dough figure is baked and ready to eat, tear him or her apart with your fingers. You might want to start the feast with the Lord's Prayer, emphasizing the words "Give us this day our daily bread." The next part of the ceremony is best done with others. Feed each other hunks of bread, putting the food in the other person's mouth with words like "May you never go hungry," "May you always be nourished," "Eat of the bread of life" or "May you live forever." Offer each other drinks of water or wine with similar words. As if you were at a wake, make toasts to the passing summer, recalling the best moments of the year so far.

Corn Dolly

Another way to honor the Grain Goddess is to make a corn doll. This is a fun project to do with kids. Take dried-out corn husks and tie them together in the shape of a woman. She's your visual representation of the harvest. As you work on her, think about what you harvested this year. Give your corn dolly a name, perhaps one of the names of the Grain Goddess or one that symbolizes your personal harvest. Dress her in a skirt, apron and bonnet and give her a special place in your house. She is all yours till the spring when you will plant her with the new corn, returning to the Earth that which She has given to you. Corn Dollies are a form of straw work associated with harvest customs. Primitive communities believed that the corn spirit lived amongst the crop, and the harvest made it effectively homeless. Therefore, they fashioned hollow shapes from the last sheaf of wheat or other cereal crop. The corn spirit would then spend the winter in their homes until the "corn dolly" was ploughed into the first furrow of the new season. "Dolly" is a corruption of idol.

Food for Thought

Lammas is a festival of regrets and farewells, of harvest and preserves. Reflect on these topics alone in the privacy of your journal or share them with others around a fire. Lughnasad is one of the great Celtic fire-festivals, so if at all possible, have your feast around a bonfire. While you're sitting around the fire, you might want to tell stories. Look up the myths of any of the grain Gods and Goddesses mentioned above and try re-telling them in your own words.

Regrets: Think of the things you meant to do this summer or this year that are not coming to fruition. You can project your regrets onto natural objects like pine cones and throw them into the fire, releasing them. Or you can write them on dried corn husks (as suggested by Nancy Brady Cunningham in Feeding the Spirit) or on a piece of paper and burn them.

Farewells: What is passing from your life? What is over? Say good-bye to it. As with regrets, you can find visual symbols and throw them into the fire, the lake or the ocean. You can also bury them in the ground, perhaps in the form of bulbs which will manifest in a new form in spring.

Harvest: What have you harvested this year? What seeds have your planted that are sprouting? Find a visual way to represent these, perhaps creating a decoration in your house or altar which represents the harvest to you. Or you could make a corn dolly or learn to weave wheat. Look for classes in your area which can teach you how to weave wheat into wall pieces, which were made by early grain farmers as a resting place for the harvest spirits.
Preserves: This is also a good time for making preserves, either literally or symbolically. As you turn the summer's fruit into jams, jellies and chutneys for winter, think about the fruits that you have gathered this year and how you can hold onto them. How can you keep them sweet in the store of your memory?

What if.....

2010-07-27T11:37:00.000-07:00

What if you had to cut down every tree you need to build your house...
Would you build a 3000 SQ FT house plus a bonus and great room?

What if you had to carry all the water you needed in buckets...
Would you take a 30 minute shower?

What if you had to grow all your own food, every single morsel....
Would you throw any of it out?

What if you had to dig for every single drop of oil then refine it....
Would you drive 100 feet to the store 10 times a day?

What if you had to sew everything you wore....
Would you still need all the clothes you have?

What if an animal had to give up it's life...
And what if you had to kill that animal....

Would you still need 20 pairs of shoes and handbags to match?
Would you only eat the choice cuts of meat?

What if we all consumed as if we had to procure and manufacture everything we need ourselves?
Would you consume, use and throw out less?

I don't want to go back in time. I believe in progress but....not at the expense of my fellow humans, future humans and the planet.

Every time you get in your car or buy something or throw something out think about it. Can you do without it? Can you recycle it? Can you make it yourself?

*This was a post by Margaret at the blog Thistle Garden. It rang so true for me, I wanted to have these words on my blog to remind me each time I consume something to think about the sacrifices made on my behalf and the footprint I will be leaving behind.

Inspiration Monday - Fire

2010-07-15T15:57:00.000-07:00

Fire, constructively destructive

Fire, destructively constructive

Fire has always had the power to hold me enthralled. Whether it's a raging out- of- control inferno or the flickering of soft candlelight, I could watch it for hours. Fire serves so many purposes: keeping us warm, safe against the night, lighting our way in the dark, creating atmosphere or serving as a reminder of spirit in troubled times. Living on the water pretty much makes it mandatory to use fire as a heat source. There are other methods but electricity can be sketchy in rough weather, propane has its own issues ( condensation, cost, dangerous explosive gases, running out in the middle of the night etc.), so having a woodstove is your hedge against the cold and damp. Today I wanted to share with you some unique fireplaces that amuse or inspire me and some knowledge about fire. ( I used to be a chimney sweep, so do have some expertise in the matter)

How to Start a Fire with Ice

Things You'll Need:

•Large piece of ice

•Knife

•Tinder ( small pieces of very flammable material)

Step 1
Cut a small block of ice, and use the knife to trim the ice into a circular shape. You can also use a rough stone or a piece of cement to grind the edge of the ice. The glass should be in a lens shape, with the middle of the glass thicker than the edges.

Step 2
Use the warmth of your hands or a damp cloth to finish shaping the ice, and to melt and smooth the surface.

Step 3
Make a small pile of dry tinder where you want your fire to be located.

Step 4
Hold the ice in a perpendicular direction to the sun, and adjust it to direct a bright ray of light directly onto the tinder, but be careful not to let water drip on the tinder. The tinder will eventually begin to smoke, and then ignite. Add more tinder, if necessary, followed by small kindling.

Now that you have your fire started, lets look at some cool places to put it!

This one is just so decadently lucious, must be Cinderellas bedroom!

I like how this one evokes a sense of sitting around a bonfire

Floating fire

I like these ones, I might try to make something similar using a propane firepit

How about fire as wall art?

or a scary monster?

How to recycle that old car of yours!!

Safe fire contained in a tube

Not for me this one, kinda creeps me out but definately original if you like that industrial look

I'm liking these ones with the super clean look, just the flame on display

Serious wow factor here, fire spinning like a tornado in columns flanking the bar.

This one is so peaceful to look at

I had an idea like this that I wanted to do for my patio, a table to sit around with a firepit in the center

Nice style element

Rubbing two sticks together?? What would our ancestors think of this?

Pretty!

Interesting!

Making use of the dead space under the stairs

Liking this idea alot, good chance I will incorporate this into my main bath

I have a firepit quite similar to this one for the patio

But thinks I would rather have this one!!! I think I'd find a way to live outside if this was my patio!

How to prevent creasote buildup in your chimney

Creasote is your worst enemy if you use a chimney. As smoke travels upwards and hits a cold chimney it condenses onto the walls of the chimney and looks like black paint. It most commonly occurs when people start fires and damp them down almost immediately without heating the chimney. Over time the creasote builds up a thick layer that is extremely combustable. One day you will burn a bunch of paper or do like I did and leave the door ajar and go answer the phone and the extra heat from a hot fire will cause the creasote to catch on fire. You never want that to happen. It sounds like a jet engine taking off in your house, it burns so hot it can separate the bricks from the morter and send flames into the walls and roof of your house. Once it starts to burn, it swells up thousands of times it size until the chimney becomes blocked with it and smoke pours into your house. These fires are very hard to put out and structural damage to your home is bound to happen if not completely being burned to the ground. So if you use a chimney, get it cleaned at least once every year(whether you used it or not, animals have a tendency to nest in them). If you use it daily as your main heat source, get it cleaned at least twice a year. Here are some tips on how to prevent creasote buildup.

Step 1

Hire a chimney cleaner to come out every year and give your chimney a good cleaning. For a few hundred dollars you save the life of your chimney and keep a good air flow through the chimney. You would be surprised at how much buildup there can be within just a year, and any creosote given off by green or wet wood will stick right to it. He will also tell you if your chimney flue is the right size for the wood stove.
Step 2
Light a fast hot fire every morning to warm up your chimney so that any moisture in the smoke does not condense on the surfaces of the chimney flue. Use plenty of paper and dry kindling so that the fire warms the chimney quickly to over 220 degrees so that any water will stay a gas in the form of steam until it gets out of the chimney.
Step 3
Burn dry wood. Even if wood has been cut for some time, it won't completely dry until it has been split, and then it takes about three months to dry. The kind of wood is not so critical as the water content of the wood. Many people claim pine is bad to burn but that is only because the sap has a high water content. Once the water is removed, it will burn hot and fast without a problem of creosote buildup.
Step 4
Keep your ash level under control. A nice bed of ash is good to insulate the coals, but too much will hinder the air flow for the firebox in your wood stove. Air flow is critical for providing oxygen for the burning process. An efficient fire should have very little smoke emanating from the chimney, so keep the ashes 2-to-3 inches deep.
Step 5
Keep your chimney flue open wide while you are burning in your wood stove. Remember, the point is to keep the chimney hot while the fire is burning. Control the air flow with the controls in the front of the fire to slow down the rate of burning. If you see yellowish tinged smoke coming out of your chimney, you know the fire is not hot enough, and a lot of nasty emissions are being dumped into the air.

Here is my post called the Woodburners Guide for information on what kind of wood burns best.
You grab the hotdogs, I'll grab the marshmallows and I'll meet you at the firepit!

How to build a House for Free

2010-07-14T22:41:00.000-07:00

Lucky 7

Three years ago, I came into the possesion of a wonderful old boat called the Lucky 7. Everything important to do with her seem to happen on the 14th.(7x2=14) I lived on that boat for over a year and loved the experience. Unfortunately, there was too much rot in the wood for me to repair her back to her former glory and in the end she was demolished for scrap. I was heartbroken as she was my first home of my own and I had finally been able to experience my dream of living on the water.

As much as I loved that boat ( and she was seriously cute), I had always lamented the lack of space. I am fairly good at living in small spaces but was really missing having appliances like a washer/dryer, a full size fridge and a room for all my tools and craft supplies. Ideally I would have preferred to live in a floathome and had the boat for excursions and holidays.

Well today (being the 14th day of the 7th month) my dreams are about to become a reality! I have been sitting on this news since June 21st, as I didn't want to jinx anything and I am about to explode with excitement. I am finally getting my dream home..... a beautiful huge floating building that has enough room for all of my needs.

It has been a month frought with anxiety and stress as I tried to pull things together to make this happen. The house ( well really its a huge workshop that I will be converting into a house) is 60 km away in a town called Mission. I have to arrange for a tugboat to bring her down to Vancouver where she will be moored for the time being. This is not the ideal time of year to be doing this as the freshet is running strong right now( freshet is the runoff from melting snow in the mountains, this increases the flow of the river dramatically and makes things much harder to control).

Of course the tides have not been cooperating at all lately. The marina I will be moored at, needs to do alot of rearranging of docks and vessels to make room for me and high tide is needed to accomplish this. Unfortunately all the high tides have been at 2 am or some such thing and during the daytime the tides are staying very low. This has slowed things down alot. The tugboat also needed some work done to the prop before going out and they couldn't get space to work on it until today. Once the prop has been repaired, they will be going back to the marina to move a few vessels around and then tonight or tomorrow morning, they will be going up river to pick up the" Arc" as it is affectionatly known. My stomach has been in knots for the last month and I can't wait until she is home and in her berth safe and sound.

Seven years ago, one of my teachers had us do an exercise where we were to draw a picture of anything we wanted that exemplified our hopes and dreams for the future. My drawing was of me and my cat on a houseboat with an attached float that carried a greenhouse. Now my dream is finally manifesting itself. I never lost sight of my goal, I hoped and prayed for it constantly. I wanted a place big enough to work out of, entertain in and be creative in. My ultimate goal is to make the place completely off the grid by producing my own power, having a water desalinator and installing composting toilets. I will eventually get a floating greenhouse together so I can produce some food for myself.

The most amazing thing is, I am creating a home for free in the most expensive city in Canada. How is that possible you ask? Well we live in such an affluent society, that people are throwing away/giving away everything and anything, including homes. Seriously, in the last year I have seen several homes for free on craigslist. You just need to pay for moving them. This was a free floating building that a friend had acquired. They weren't able to make the payments on their moorage, so I paid off their debt in exchange for the house. ( A HUGE thanks and hugs to my Dad and friend Daryl who lent me the money to do this)

I had a vision of what I wanted in my dream home and while holding that vision, I have been scouring the free section on craigslist everyday for the last year searching for the things I wanted. I am ~~lucky~~ foresighted enough to own a cargo van, I rented a 40 foot container for a storage locker and have been filling it full with all my finds. I had found pretty much everything I needed to create a home except for the material for the actual structure itself. Now that I have that, I am good to go. I have all the appliances, fixtures, flooring,cupboards,windows, doors, etc, etc that I need to finish it to suit me and my needs.

The building is big enough, that I can build a separate suite to rent out, or make space to have a B&B. That income would be enough to pay my bills and give me a free roof over my head. I can't tell you what a relief this is for me. My biggest fear in life is being homeless. I have lived a reckless life full of fun and adventure but short on foresight. Maybe I thought I wouldn't live this long, or that I would be happily married to some guy who would provide me with shelter. I don't know, but here I am and still single to boot, so having my own home with nothing owing on it and capable of generating income to cover costs is precious beyond belief.

So Wyldestone Cottage will finally become a reality! I will have many years of stuff to blog about as I go about doing all my renovations and finally getting my life out of storage so I can show you all my treasures. If you don't hear much from me in the next few weeks, it's because I will be busy moving and starting some renos so I have the basics in place, like somewhere to cook, sleep and wash up. Stay tuned for Wyldestone Cottage in living colour!!!

(PS. I saved everything I could from the boat demolition so there will be many aspects of the Lucky 7 incorporated into the house)

HOME SWEET HOME!!

So focus on your dreams, let the universe know exactly and specifically what you need/want, don't get too attached to what that looks like, and act like it is already your reality,because dreams CAN come true! I'm a dreamer and look what I manifested!

**UPDATE** I write another blog that is more of a diary and have a post there showing the house move and pictures of the interior. The Cyberangel Chronicles presents: "Home Sweet Home"

I am linking to these wonderful parties, come check out what everyone is up to.
http://www.somewhatsimple.com/2010/07/strut-your-stuff-thursday-with.html
http://www.theshabbychiccottage.net/2010/07/its-finally-finished.html
http://firefliesandjellybeans.blogspot.com/2010/07/show-off-your-stuff-party-36.html
http://romantichome.blogspot.com/2010/07/show-and-tell-friday_15.html

How to Make the Most of Your Fan and Beat the Heat

2010-07-10T12:28:00.000-07:00

I realized the last post about firewood might not seem timely in this heatwave we have been having.( I only posted it for people like me that have long memories about the discomfort of winter and want to be prepared). I found this article today about the best way to use your fan to cool your house down. I learned some good tricks, so wanted to pass it on.

How to make the most of your fan and beat the heat

By Emily Hsieh, Shine staff

If you don’t have an air conditioner, or even if you do but are looking to cut back on your electricity bills, consider a good old fashioned fan for keeping yourself cool in the summer heat. They don’t cost much to buy or use, and are a more eco-friendly alternative to boot. Here’s how to make sure you’re using yours right.
Though it may seem counterintuitive, it’s actually best to position your fan in a window, facing out. This helps air flow through the room—which keeps it cool in the process. Since hot air rises, you want to put the fan as high as possible (preferably in the top of the window). Close the window around the fan (it helps to invest in a rectangular window-specific fan for this reason) to avoid reverse air circulation (which is what happens when the air sucked through the fan goes back around the fan and is sucked back in). You can use paper or cardboard, or even drapes or slats of wood to cover any gaps between the windowsill and the device.

To maximize air flow, if you’ve got two windows that face each other in a room, place one fan facing out (pick the side of the room that’s warmer or sunnier, and position the fan as high up as possible), and the other fan facing inward (on the cooler or shadier side, and placed as low as you can). You can
also place the low fan on the ground in a doorway for a similar effect.

You’ll keep your home coolest if you run the fans during the coolest part of the day, as well as at night, and close the blinds during the sun’s peak hours.
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A personal note:

A trick I used to use, was to place a bowl of ice in front of a fan so that it has some cooler air to push around. One of the things I miss about Germany, was their window shutters.

Originally, they had been designed to block out every chink of light emanating from the house so that bombers flying over head couldn't get a visual target. Their other advantage was that they also kept the sunlight from coming in and over heating the house. You could raise the blinds slightly and the gaps between each horizontal slat was an inner slat with perforated holes which would allow for air flow while blocking the majority of the light. They were also a good safety feature as they made a solid barricade in each window which prevented break-ins and would provide alot of protection to the glass in the case of violent windstorms etc. I never understood why they didn't become popular everywhere? I know they aren't the most attractive to look at , but you could always put nice wood shutters on the outside of the house for architechtural detail.

Here is a link to a site that manufactures similar shutters in case your interested.
http://www.jlgermandesign.com/rollac-shutters.asp

A Woodburner's Guide

2010-07-10T10:48:00.000-07:00

There is nothing like wood heat to really warm your bones. I found this interesting little poem the other day and thought I would share it with you. I never knew much about the burning properties of various types of wood and so had sporadic luck with getting a good fire going in my stove. I will keep this information in mind as I look for wood to stockpile for the next winter.

A WOODBURNER'S GUIDE:

Beechwood fires are bright and clear

If the logs are kept a year.

Chestnut's only good, they say,

If for long it's laid away.

Birch and fir logs burn too fast,

Blaze up bright and do not last.

It is by the Irish said,

Hawthorn bakes the sweetest bread.

Elm wood burns like a churchyard mold,

E ' en the very flames are cold.

Poplar gives a bitter smoke,

Fills your eyes and makes you choke.

Apple wood will scent your room

With an incense like perfume.

Oak and maple, if dry and old,

Keep away the winter cold.

But Ash wood wet or Ash wood dry,

A king shall warm his slippers by.

Note: birch bark is extremely flamable even when wet, it makes an excellent fire starter if you have lots laying around.

Inspiring Makeover

2010-07-02T12:01:00.000-07:00

Some houses are so cute, it's not hard to see how your furniture will fit and how to decorate the space. Then there are those so ugly, you can't ever imagine living in them or making them homey. This woman knocked my socks off with her reno's. She took a house I would have walked right past without a second look( unless it was in horror, the way you can't stop looking at a car accident) and turned it into a place I would love to live in. Take a minute to go check out her before and after shots of the reno's, I promise you will be impressed and inspired.

http://theoldpaintedcottage.blogspot.com/2009/08/cottage8-before-after-reveal.html

Hand Diagnosis, What Your hands say about Your Health

2010-06-30T09:11:00.000-07:00

Hand and Finger Diagnosis

Before the proliferation of medical technology, doctors and other diagnosticians had to rely on their own experience and their powers of observation in order to determine the existence and nature of disease. One very old diagnostic technique, the study of the fingers and hands, might appear overly simple or even primitive, yet doctors still recognize the hands as valuable indicators of a person's state of health. A blue cast to the fingers, for example, is widely accepted as a sign of poor circulation; brittle fingernails often signal a nutrient deficiency. Hand and finger diagnosticians rely only on these parts of the body for information on how the body's internal systems are functioning. Mainstream practitioners, however, doubt that a firm diagnosis can be made without medical tests.

To be good at observational diagnosis of the hand, you need to observe , verify and notice the minor things. You should avoid making conclusions too quickly.

Diagnostic Signs
· Shape and size of hands and fingers
· Shape and mobility of hand and finger joints
· Size and color of any moles, spots or nodules
· Prominence of veins
· Shape, color and quality of fingernails
· Thickness and dryness of skin
· Color of skin
· Depth of any skin lines

The Diagnosis: Diagnosticians carefully observe the back of the patients' hands, as well as their palms, fingers and nails. They check the mobility of the finger joints and palpate the hands to detect swellings or calcifications. Like other diagnostic techniques, hand and finger exams also include an extensive medical history.

How a Diagnosis is Made: Hand and finger diagnosticians believe that many internal disorders and diseases reveal themselves externally. Practitioners can draw conclusions about a patient's health based on skin pigmentation, nail and finger deformities and the color and size of nodules on the joints.

The Viewpoint of Mainstream Medicine: Physicians know that a proficient practitioner can sometimes diagnose illnesses even before confirmed tests come back form the laboratory. Mainstream medicine, however, doubts the reliability of this diagnostic method when it's used without follow-up laboratory tests.

Take Care! While the hands offer many clues about people's lifestyles - Do they smoke? Do they eat well? Are they tense? - don't judge people by their hands alone.

Clues From the Fingers and Hands

· Spotty Redness On the Palms may indicate a liver ailment, such as hepatitis or cirrhosis; less commonly, it may be a sign of lung disease or of rheumatism.

· Nodules, solid nodes that can be detected by touch, are symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis and of gout, a buildup of uric acid.

· Pale, Bluish Fingers may indicate Reynaud's disease, a circulatory disorder that is often precipitated by cold or intense emotions.

· Blue Hands, like blue fingers, are often a symptom of a chronic circulatory disorder, such as acrocyanosis; constricted blood vessels in the extremities will impede blood flow and leave the skin with a bluish cast.

· Edema, swelling caused by fluid buildup, when seen in the hands and wrists is associated with heart and kidney ailments.

· Atrophied Muscles In the Hand indicate paralytic hand ailments.

· Fluid Deposits In Just One Hand may be linked to past injuries.

· Hand Deformities and Swollen Joints may be signs of chronic joint inflammation, one of the primary symptoms of arthritis.

· Contraction of The Hollow of The Hand is generally associated with Dupuytren's contracture, a flexion deformity of the fingers. This problem is due to shortening, thickening and fibrosis of the connective tissue of the hand.

What The Nails Say

An experienced practitioner may uncover clues about the emotional and physical condition of patients by looking at their fingernails. The following characteristics are significant to diagnosticians.

Chewed, Soft Fingernails: Nervousness, restlessness, insecurity and fearfulness.

Brittle, Cracked and Torn Fingernails: Nutrient deficiencies, especially a lack of calcium, zinc or vitamin B.

Dimples in The Fingernails: Psoriasis that is not active or acute.

Thick, Shattered Nails With Tough Tough, Yellow-White Fingernails: Nail fungus.

Yellow Fingernails With Thick Nail Beds: Heavy nicotine consumption and lung disease or respiratory infection.

Hourglass-Shaped Fingernails- Hear defects and lung disease.

Spoon-Shaped Fingernails- Anemia, circulatory disorders and vitamin and mineral deficiencies.

Horizontal Ridges- Gastrointestinal ailments and infections.

White nails - Liver diseases, such as hepatitis

Yellowish, thickened, slow-growing nails - Lung diseases, such as emphysema

Yellowish nails with a slight blush at the base - Diabetes

Half-white, half-pink nails - Kidney disease

Red nail beds - Heart disease

Pale or white nail beds - Anemia

Pitting or rippling of the nail surface - Psoriasis or inflammatory arthritis

"Clubbing," a painless increase in tissue around the ends of the fingers, or inversion of the nail - Lung diseases

Irregular red lines at the base of the nail fold - Lupus or connective tissue disease

Dark lines beneath the nail - Melanoma

Chinese medicine also has it's theories about the condition of the hands in relation to the health of the body.

•Color of the palm is slightly yellow: liver’s ability is low

•Slightly green palms or green blood vessels: intestine and stomach are not healthy

•A straight line on the thumb: problems with the nerves on the face

•Straight lines on the joint between the back of the thumb and the palm: problems in the spine of the neck

•A straight edge from the little finger to the wrist: less muscle in the hand (little finger represents the kidney, bladder, uterus and ovaries, the straight edge indicates that there is a defect in these organs)

As well as looking at the physical characteristics of the hands for clues to your health, reflexologists use various points on the hands to diagnose and treat certain ailments.

Korean Hand Reflex Therapy is based on the 12 Major Meridians of the human frame which have been reduced into a micro system superimposed onto the two hands. These points are small and very specific in their location on both the anterior and posterior aspect of both hands. Activation is accomplished with stainless steel acupressure probes, Low Level Laser, micro amp direct current electricity, sterile acupuncture needles, or finger pressure. The two charts shown above are considered to be level one out of four levels of study.

So what are your hands telling you?

Buddleia - The Butterfly Bush

2010-06-25T12:47:00.000-07:00

This plant came seeming out of nowhere in the middle of my rosebush patch this summer. I couldn't quite figure out what it was so was hesitant to rip it out. It was like something out of Jack and the Beanstalk! It just kept growing and growing. It finally flowered so I went and googled pictures of the flowers to try and put a name to it. I found this poem which completely sums up my experience with this plant

~

The Butterfly Bush

"I used to love the Buddleia,

Its long purple trumpets in summer

Buzzing with Bees and Butterflies,

Until someone told me it was common,

Invasive, a weed!

Its withered flower cones

Spilling armies of seedlings to colonize the neighborhood.

Then, I was embarrassed to have loved it.

I began to see its offspring sprouting everywhere;

Hated how they rooted between loose bricks,

Flourished from cracks in the pavement.

So I cut mine back to nothing,

Buried the broken stump, only to find it returned

The next Spring, abundent & more beautiful!"

Anon
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Here is the technical info on this plant should you decide to have a love/hate relationship with it.

Buddleia: Butterfly Bush Extraordinaire

by Claire Hagen Dole

From Number 12, Spring 1997

Butterfly Magnet

With a name like butterfly bush, you might expect a plant to be attractive to butterflies. In fact, it's more than attractive; it's a magnet for all the butterflies who pass through your garden seeking nectar. Many butterfly gardeners plan their garden around Buddleia (pronounced BUD-lee-ah), a genus that includes over 100 species and cultivars. Also called summer lilac, the medium- to large-sized shrubs can anchor a perennial bed or form a hedge.
You'll be happier with Buddleia if you accept its growth habit, which is not neat and tidy. Its narrow branches support lilac-like clusters of blossoms a foot or two in length, with side branches and blossoms. After a rainfall, the flower-laden branches of some species can droop all over your flower bed. You'll want to allow at least six feet between bushes to keep some semblance of neatness.

But wait till you see the bush covered with fritillaries and tortoiseshells! Even a large swallowtail can land on the cluster, to sip from the many individual blooms.

Butterflies and bees will flock to the honey-scented blossoms, whose dilute nectar is sweetest in midday sun. Near a path or patio, the shrub provides delightful fragrance for you, too.

Do butterflies prefer certain colors of Buddleia? In my garden, Western Tiger Swallowtails visited all varieties (white and various shades of purple/pink/red). But Red Admirals preferred the white Buddleia while it was in bloom. Gardeners in other parts of the country may notice other preferences, if any.

History of the Butterfly Bush

Where did the name Buddleia come from? A seventeenth-century amateur botanist named Reverend Adam Buddle was honored posthumously, when the first butterfly bush reached England in 1774. Though most of today's offerings have Chinese ancestors, this shrub (Buddleia globosa) came from Chile. Its unfamiliar name prompted one nursery tradesman to call it the "Globose Buddlebush." Fortunately, the name didn't stick, but common names like Chilean orange ball tree aren't much better. It's more precise to call it what it is: Buddleia globosa.

Victorian-era explorers brought all kinds of exotic plants back to England. From China came seeds of Buddleia davidii, the hardy species that is most familiar to gardeners today. Named after a French Jesuit missionary, Pere Armand David, B. davidii reached London's Kew Gardens in 1896. Today, nurseries continue to develop new cultivars, like 'Raspberry Wine' (Carroll Gardens) and 'Twilight' (Mountain Valley Growers).

And horticulturists are still combing the Himalayan foothills for as-yet undiscovered Buddleia varieties. Heronswood Nursery lists three acquisitions from recent expeditions to China and Sikkim: new specimens of B. colvilei, B. fallowiana, and an unverified species (feel adventurous?).

Easy to Grow
Another reason for Buddleia's popularity is that it's easy to grow, even hard to kill. After one of my bushes was flattened by a windstorm, it was pruned and uprighted with little fuss. Buddleia davidii tolerates urban pollution and alkaline soil. It's generally pest-free, except for spider mite infestations during drought or stress. It performs adequately in spare soil but prefers a sunny spot with well-drained soil, a light application of fertilizer in spring, and a few deep waterings in summer.

Buddleia can behave like an opportunistic rascal. Says Dalton Durio of Louisiana Nursery, "It always seems to grow best in containers where other, more valuable plants are being grown. These volunteer seedlings come up fast and strong, and they usually succeed in killing the 'host' plant." Buddleia hybridizes easily; volunteer seedlings may not resemble your prized bush.

Politically Incorrect?

Buddleia is at home in disturbed areas, such as road cuts or new development sites. Its flowers have softened wartime London's bombed lots and the slag heaps of Welsh mining towns.
This tendency to be a weedy colonizer, along with its exotic (non-native) status in North America, is now making Buddleia politically incorrect. It's included in the recently published Invasive Plants [Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Handbook #149, 1996, $7.95]. Buddleia davidii has spread from gardens along the Eastern seaboard and the West coast, to roadsides and riparian (streamside) zones. It's not yet considered a serious problem, but it's spreading rapidly.

So what's a responsible gardener to do? Sarah Reichard, who has been monitoring invasive plants at the University of Washington, says she's less concerned about Buddleia's use in urban areas. But if you're growing it near a natural area, watch for volunteer seedlings. Remove them and get rid of the plant if necessary (dig out the roots, which will resprout).
You can also plant a less invasive form of Buddleia like B. globosa or seek native alternatives (watch for article on regional natives in fall issue of BGQ).

Spanning the Seasons

Some Buddleia species, like B. alternifolia, B. asiatica, B. colvilei and B. globosa, bloom on last year's wood. They provide nectar for spring and early-summer butterflies, and they shouldn't be pruned until after blossoming. In mild climates, cut back right after blooming for a second show in fall. Prune these bushes judiciously in fall, to maintain shape and remove old, woody stalks.

Among the many other varieties of Buddleia which bloom on new growth, it's possible to stagger bloom times for a continuous nectar supply. Deadheading (cutting off) spent blossoms will force the plant to keep blooming, in an attempt to produce seed. My Buddleia 'Lochinch,' kept in bloom well into October, brought a Red Admiral into my garden when I'd given up seeing another.

In cold climates, mulch in the fall. Cut back to about a foot high in late winter, before new growth appears. You'll be amazed by the height the shrub attains by midsummer. You'll also get larger flowers and a neater-looking shape.

Hummers and Crawlers

Red-flowering varieties like B. davidii 'Royal Red' will attract hummingbirds, who supplement their nectar diet with protein-rich insects on the bush. Watch for other birds, like bushtits and orioles, seeking an insect meal.

An occasional butterfly chooses Buddleia as a host plant; the Western Checkerspot is the only species listed in the host plant index of James A. Scott's The Butterflies of North America. Butterfly gardeners in northern California report seeing Buckeye caterpillars on Buddleia alternifolia and Echo Blue butterflies laying eggs on Buddleia 'Lochinch.'

{this is not my plant, just wanted to show you how big it can get,its almost as big as this house!}

So , weed or exotic butterfly food, you decide.

What are You Missing in Life?

2010-06-24T10:42:00.000-07:00

THE SITUATION - In Washington , DC , at a Metro Station, on a cold January morning in 2007, this man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, approximately 2,000 people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.

After about 3 minutes, a middle-aged man noticed that there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds, and then he hurried on to meet his schedule.

About 4 minutes later:
The violinist received his first dollar. A woman threw money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk.

At 6 minutes:
A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.

At 10 minutes:
A 3-year old boy stopped, but his mother tugged him along hurriedly. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head the whole time. This action was repeated by several other children, but every parent - without exception - forced their children to move on quickly.

At 45 minutes: The musician played continuously. Only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while. About 20 gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace. The man collected a total of $32.

After 1 hour:
He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed and no one applauded. There was no recognition at all.

No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before, Joshua Bell sold-out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100 each to sit and listen to him play the same music.

This is a true story. Joshua Bell, playing incognito in the D.C. Metro Station, was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people's priorities.

This experiment raised several questions:
*In a common-place environment, at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty?
*If so, do we stop to appreciate it?
*Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?

One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be this:

If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ever made . . .

How many other things are we missing as we rush through life?