Books
Today there are books. I trust that you might go and look these books up if the titles and covers appeal to you. In all of the words - in all of the places - I find myself.
Hagitude by Sharon Blackie
The Old Wise Woman by Rix Weaver
If They Come For Us by Fatimah Ashghar
The Beloved Dead
“an aunt teaches me how to tell
an edible flower
from a poisonous one.
just in case, I hear her say, just in case.”
Rabbit Altar in the Garden Frosted
A Home garden altar is a nice thing to have at the entrance to your living place. It does not have to be fancy or large. This is the second altar that has sat at this spot in the past 30 years. This particular alter is made from larch wood cut in upstate New York by an Amish man and his family business. It was a very round about way we came to have this wood here. We count ourselves lucky for the connection and the beauty.
A welcome home altar is a lovely spot to take pause before you walk ahead in to the house dwelling. I have a large rabbit/hare as the guardian welcome spirit. Many rabbits live here each year. They are so comfortable here that they actually come right up to me and say hello right at my feet. I think they know that the rabbit guardian welcomes them here too.
Crafting Spirit Sanctuaries: Unveiling the Enchanted Energy of Home Garden Altars
Introduction
In the frenetic rhythm of modern life, we often overlook the power of weaving a sacred tapestry in our very own gardens. Home garden altars are more than mere decor; they are portals to otherworldly realms, secret groves where we commune with nature, and channels for positive, radiant energy. In this enchanting blog post, let's embark on a journey to unravel the hidden meanings of home garden altars and explore the alchemical magic of their spirit energy.
The Dance of Connection
A home garden altar is not just a collection of objects; it's a cosmic dance of energies where the threads of our souls intertwine with the spirit of the earth, sky, and all the wonders in between. In creating this space, you summon the ancient, mystical forces of the universe to convene in one harmonious symphony. This connection is a spiritual bridge that grounds you, imbuing your life with peace and serenity.
Embracing the Green Alchemy
Tending a garden altar is like a dance with the heartbeats of nature. It's an art of whispers and gestures, a harmonious collaboration with the elements. The plants, stones, and symbols on your altar become living allegories of your relationship with the earth. As you nurture your garden, you become one with the cyclical rhythms of nature, and your garden evolves into a breathing, living testament to your spiritual odyssey.
Garden Path
Personal Constellations
A garden altar is an intimate universe where your beliefs, emotions, and dreams unfurl like constellations in the night sky. Unlike a rigid place of worship, it's a tapestry where your soul's stories are woven, inviting you to paint your spiritual landscape in your own vibrant colors.
The significance of spirit energy in a garden altar is profoundly linked to personal expression. As you invest your thoughts, love, and dreams into your altar, you're bestowing it with a unique spiritual heartbeat. This energy radiates outward, touching your surroundings, perhaps even those who chance upon your secret garden.
Symbols and Secrets
Garden altars are adorned with a mosaic of symbols and artifacts, each one whispered into existence through personal significance. Be they sacred deities, twinkling crystals, guardian statuettes, or treasures from the natural world, each piece is a chosen chapter in your spiritual narrative.
For example, a serene deity statue might be a bridge to the divine, while a thriving plant represents hope, renewal, and growth. These carefully curated elements enhance the spirit energy of your garden altar, turning it into a sacred scroll of your unique spiritual tale.
Balance and Bliss
One of the enchanting facets of a garden altar is its role as a cosmic harmony conductor. By interweaving the elements of earth, water, fire, air, and spirit, you're crafting a microcosm of the universe where equilibrium reigns supreme. These elements join hands, creating a soothing, cosmic dance, and painting a canvas of serenity.
Conclusion
Home altars are not just decorative; they are enchanted sanctuaries where the alchemy of spirit energy and personal storytelling unfurls. By connecting with nature, embracing your beliefs, and handpicking significant elements, you are crafting a space where magic resides. The significance of spirit energy in a garden altar is an invitation to journey deeper into your spiritual path and resonate with the symphonies of nature. In my space it is an introduction to who lives here and moment of pause as you walk down the garden path. Allow your inner creativity to wander, and let your garden altar become a sacred stage where you can revel in peace and spiritual wondering and enchantment.
Firewood
Firewood dumped again in a pile. It always amazes me when a pile of wood is dropped here for the next heating season. It is different these past, more recent years here regarding firewood - or cord wood as it is usually referred to for those of us that heat only with wood. Dwelling with firewood is a rhythm that marks the year for a good many months. Long ago we used to find and gather our firewood. It often came from a neighbor that cut a tree down. Or it was gathered from a downed tree by the side of the road. This took us a really long time to get it together. It was not very efficient either. Such is life when you are young and have more energy than money.
How do you decide to dwell in your young life? We had decided to make due with just about everything. This included our heating story. There is a furnace here - unused for all the time we have lived here. It just became a habit to use only cordwood. A habit born out of necessity and frugality. It isn’t always a very easy lifestyle choice. It does allow one to have some small amount of independence from heating in ways that often depend on others. We like that. If the power is going to go out - we can at least stay warm. We do not live off grid so we are still hooked up to power. That is another story for another day.
I think firewood is beautiful. When a pile of it arrives here it feels a bit like a sigh of relief with a warm sense of safety. It even seems to hold a bit of fire magic. We have had the same wood guy for a long time. He is always fair and consistent. If you need to be warm, you want your wood guy to be fair. It is serious business finding a wood person. You want to keep him and also to keep him going for the community. It is something that you always keep in the back of your mind - what if? So, we keep going with the cordwood that is delivered - which is really only the beginning if you heat your home with wood.
In the beginning of the season it feels cozy and warm. It feels plentiful and unrushed. You know - a nice fire going in the woodstove to sit back and enjoy. As the season turns colder - the hauling it inside - stuffing it in the stove - waking up at night to load the stove - all of that begins to factor in to the joy and contentment you feel. As the days grow dark and shorter with longer nights - the fire is always on your mind. The colder days make hauling it a hurried affair. It’s hauled across the house to the wood storage spot and dumped with a heavy let-go of the log carrier. I am grateful for the warmth.
When you heat with only wood - there are things to consider. For instance - generally I always have a scarf on all winter long. I can wear a hat as well when it’s below 0 fahrenheit. There always seems to be some sort of chill in the air coming from somewhere. Always more work to do in fixing that old house that you live in that you heat with wood. Sometimes you get splinters or bruises from loading the stove in a hurry. If your arms hurt or your back is soar - well, that isn’t something much to consider as you still need to load the stove to stay warm. It is pretty to watch while at the same time being a nuisance sometimes.
Living a life that includes heating with cordwood has it’s own kind of rhythm. It is a tempo that you need to always be aware of. It is maybe a bit like having a story your living while heating in that season of wood. There are maybe only three months out of the year that the wood stove is not going - although not at full capacity through all of that time. The story is a remembering - hauling - stacking - pulling - dumping and finally loading. Memory may become muscle - and you still need to remember. You cannot forget about the wood or the woodstove ever. What is it doing? When does it need to be fed again? Is it clean? Do we need more firewood called in? Come to thing of it - it is like caring for a being. It is the Wood Stove Being that needs forever tending. In the tending of that beast in your home - you tend yourself and see your own thoughts in the mirror of the stove.
As I look into the stove day after day - night after night - it is me and my being meshing with the being of the hearth stove. We are one. I am grateful for the woodstove - grateful for the warmth. Moreover - I am glad to have a focus that grounds me in a simple act that humanity has been dancing with for eternity. The fireside enchantment of heating with wood allows me to be in connection with all of my ancestors. The effort of heating your home with wood is the heart and hearth connection with humanity that needs warmth in the cold to survive another year. A loud thud of wood dropped from a big ‘old dump truck is a contract with the fire gods that this ember is going to keep going for another year.
First Frost
A handmade life is a story that always interests me. In a time when so many are providing interesting life stories to read about and follow along with - sharing handmade lives - it is good to remember that in general we share what we are most comfortable with. This happens both in person and online in the lives that we have offered up in the ongoing time. Here I am sharing a snapshot of my own handmade.
A white bench made quickly a bunch of years ago from an Ana White simple woodworking pattern - sits by the doorway. It needs paint again now. So many moments sitting on that bench - talking, sharing, pondering, wishing. The first frost arrived on the land and everything is covered in a beautiful heavy dusting of glitter. In the early morning sunlight - frosted sparkles catch my eye everywhere that I glance. It is easy to see the magic things in the landscape of nature. The air feels bright and clear, An expectant nuance blankets the early morning world. Even the songbirds sound excited with their cold calls.
I wander about looking more closely at the plants. An artemisia just yesterday coated in velvet - now frosted and soon to turn dark as it withers against the cold. Its scent is unmistakable. I almost always run my hands across her stems and leaves - bring my hands up to my face - deeply inhale. It is one of the great many simple pleasures of living with plants. The plants that we are drawn to share something with us. A deeper connection is found when we return again and again to the plants that we are drawn to. If you have lived a very long time on a land place the plants are another one of the signposts of your journey of lifeways.
Plant ways bring the most profound gifts and healing ways if we remain open to them. It is even better if we take an active interest in the actual plants living with us. Looking closer in with an open curiosity will reveal answers and insight to questions and wonderings that we may be carrying. Living with an inquisitive nature toward the plants that we feel drawn to - allows a connection to be created between two sentient beings.
I have lived on and with this land for a very long time now. I know the rhythm of the seasons. I can anticipate the plants that will arrive again and again. When they don’t return - I am disappointed. What happened? Perhaps it’s like a friend that has taken a different pathway. We do not always get to know the story of another. One way to incorporate plant medicine into our lives is to use the essence and energetic qualities of a plant. I mean to use them on the same energetic essence level as an imagination. What is the immediate quality coming to you when you sit with a plant or walk by a plant ally. Did a memory occur to you? Has a person entered your consciousness suddenly? Is it really out of the blue? I think in these sudden inexplicable ways - we communicate with plants on energetic levels that can offer up to us very healing pieces of plant medicine.
Just like we meet people in our lives that offer us something - so too a plant peaks our attention in subtle and more direct ways. If we listen with a gentle attention there are wisdoms for us to take in. We can ask questions to the plants themselves. Perhaps later on in a dream an answer of importance may move us in a direction of - before not thought of. It is these quiet ways that we can have access to a whole world of beautiful guidance. It is a living book of answers for us to find a way to enter into. Try to be gentle as you enter into plant relationships. Like with a new person you meet - you might gently introduce yourself. There is so much to discover!
In exploring with a plant you will want to be patient. Not all is always as it seems at first. It takes awhile to learn about and get to know the energetics of plant medicine. I am speaking here only about the friendly and curious relationship you can form with a plant. Tell the plant you want to work with her. Definitely bring a gift for the plant as you first come to visit. Perhaps you might come back another day with a well formed and simple question. Listen for the little whispers of inspiring that speaks to you. A thought comes - a memory is conjured - a wish is noticed - a feeling is deeply felt on an energetic and heart felt level.
I would recommend keeping a journal about your noticing’s and interactions with your plant connection. Record any dreams you might have found about the plant during this specific time of claimed working with your plant. It is a beginning. Notice where you travel. Try to just remain open - without expectation. In the unguarded moments it is when profound insight can come to questions we carry. I think that is why we are - some of us - it is because we are seekers. We are seeking answers and somehow we know that answers can be found among the plants that we so tenderly care for and witness.
In your handmade life - perhaps if you make yourself a simple bench built by your own two hands - you will find yourself listening to the frosts that arrive each year as you sit quietly in contemplation. Moving slowly is so needed in these times. Allow your nervous system to quiet a bit and look toward forming relationships. If you don’t have people relationships in your life - you can most definitively form deep and lasting relationships with the plant world. The gifts to be found there are filled with meaning - as deep as you can explore - your solid new friends.
Artemisia in the Garden
Autumn Candle
Fall Craft: Decorative Small Food Jar Candles with Autumn Leaves
Introduction: As autumn unfolds and the vibrant foliage blankets the ground, it's the perfect time to embark on creative seasonal projects. One such delightful craft involves transforming small food jars into charming decorative candles adorned with real autumn leaves. I will guide you through the materials you'll need and the step-by-step process to create these beautiful fall-inspired candles.
Materials Needed: Gather the following materials before starting your project:
Small, clean food jars: Empty glass jars work best for this project.
Mod Podge or clear craft glue.
Foam brushes or paintbrushes.
Real autumn leaves: Collect a variety of leaves in different shapes and colors. Make sure they are dry and free from moisture.
Tealight candles or battery-operated tea lights.
Twine or ribbon (optional): For an extra decorative touch.
Scissors.
Newspaper or a plastic tablecloth to protect your workspace.
Process:
Prepare your workspace: Lay down newspaper or a plastic tablecloth to protect your workspace from any potential mess. Ensure your food jars are clean and dry.
Select your leaves: Choose a variety of colorful and dry autumn leaves. You can find these in your backyard or on a nature walk. The leaves will be the key element of your candle decoration, so pick ones that have vibrant colors and interesting shapes.
Apply glue to the jar: Using a foam brush or paintbrush, apply a thin and even layer of Mod Podge or clear craft glue to the exterior of the food jar. Be generous with the glue but ensure it doesn't drip.
Attach the leaves: Carefully press your selected autumn leaves onto the jar's surface, arranging them in any pattern or design you like. Overlapping the leaves can create an attractive layered effect. Press down gently to ensure they adhere well to the glue.
Seal the leaves: After placing all the leaves, apply another coat of Mod Podge or clear craft glue over the top of the leaves. This will seal the leaves in place and give your candle a glossy finish. Allow it to dry for a few hours, or until it's completely clear.
Add a finishing touch (optional): If you want to give your decorative candle a rustic feel, you can tie twine or ribbon around the neck of the baby food jar, creating a bow or a simple knot.
Insert a tealight: Once the Mod Podge is dry and the leaves are securely attached, place a tealight candle or a battery-operated tea light inside the jar. Light the candle, and watch your autumn leaf decorations come to life.
Conclusion: This simple autumn craft project allows you to bring the beauty of the season into your home. These decorative small food jar candles, adorned with real autumn leaves, make for wonderful centerpieces or additions to your fall decor. Experiment with different leaf arrangements and colors to create a variety of charming candles that capture the essence of autumn's splendor. Enjoy the cozy and warm atmosphere these candles will bring to your home during this enchanting season.
BY ALICE CARY
Shorter and shorter now the twilight clips
The days, as though the sunset gates they crowd,
And Summer from her golden collar slips
And strays through stubble-fields, and moans aloud,
Save when by fits the warmer air deceives,
And, stealing hopeful to some sheltered bower,
She lies on pillows of the yellow leaves,
And tries the old tunes over for an hour.
The wind, whose tender whisper in the May
Set all the young blooms listening through th’ grove,
Sits rustling in the faded boughs to-day
And makes his cold and unsuccessful love.
The rose has taken off her tire of red—
The mullein-stalk its yellow stars have lost,
And the proud meadow-pink hangs down her head
Against earth’s chilly bosom, witched with frost.
The robin, that was busy all the June,
Before the sun had kissed the topmost bough,
Catching our hearts up in his golden tune,
Has given place to the brown cricket now.
The very cock crows lonesomely at morn—
Each flag and fern the shrinking stream divides—
Uneasy cattle low, and lambs forlorn
Creep to their strawy sheds with nettled sides.
Shut up the door: who loves me must not look
Upon the withered world, but haste to bring
His lighted candle, and his story-book,
And live with me the poetry of Spring.
The Beloved Dead Oracle by Carrie Paris & Tina Hardt
Self Preservation
Holding out your hand I grabbed hold as you pulled me toward Florence Nightingale,
Aids crisis in full blown catastrophe - walk in rooms with full regalia on,
Lost souls - reaching toward please help me - will I die poems written all over their face.
Too young to fully grasp - disaster full speed ahead - look aside,
A life to lead - imprinted with - you just never do know - ever,
Scars etched upon a soul - try to remain bright eyed - when deep down you have seen some shit.
Leave the moans behind a closed curtain - smells of alcohol stinging eyes,
That doctor flirts - he tries to escape the tragedy - knows powerlessness,
Best hope is sculpted with prescription of - take care of business now.
Skeletons of desire - recall lost recollection - last rites,
I wrap your body in white - a hurried convention - quick find a moment,
To wipe tears of lost - as humanity scrapes past - all of the unknowing nothingness.
And now memory - souls of knowing - collide in all moments of pain seen,
Beloved Death is found in - lands scorched in belief,
A toll rings - bells are siren sound reminders of yesterdays pure white shrouds.
A mist rises across earthen blunder,
Pulse of missed heart beats - scratched directions in the dirt,
The best can be done - in shadow casted east to west - hidden revealed.
~Linden of The Bone Lines
The Beloved Dead Oracle by Carrie Paris & Tina Hardt