Samhain is coming - Woo Hoo!!

My mind just did a complete throwback to when I was young, 'Oh look, Halloween is coming!' and that feeling of magic filled me up.  I remembered the days getting shorter and watching for my dad out the window because when he got home he might have a little treat for us.  We'd go through his suit pockets and voila... there would be pieces of peanut brittle, toffees, or chocolate.  Then we would have a nice dinner, and watch TV.  You knew Halloween was just around the corner because the holiday programming started up about a week before.  There would also be the creating of the costume (my mom could sew) and the finding of a pillow slip big and strong enough to hold all the loot.  My mother was German and my father was English, neither one had any real idea what Halloween was, so what we learned was in school and we would bring the concepts home to my parents and try to get away with as much as my parents would allow.  

Now at my school we read scary stories like 'The Legend of Sleepy Hollow'.  We would cut out pumpkins, each year they became more intricate as our skills improved.  There were lectures on safe candy collecting and on Halloween day, there would be the big school assembly with a film on the perils of trick or treating gone wrong.  There was only one thing missing.... the lore.

There was no teaching about Samhain, not even any mention of it.  So this needs to be remedied.  I start my Wheel of the Year this Samhain, where I practice all the seasonal holidays of my faith.  There is so much to study, iconic imagery, ritual, food, devotion, and only a variety of holy days.  Over the next couple of weeks I'll be studying and posting some of my findings in preparation for creating my own personal ritual.  I'm excited and nervous, because I've never gone to such extremes, and it does feel good to finally practice the way I want to.  

My kids are grown, my partner now works full time.  For the first time in decades everything has fallen into place and I am getting regular quiet time so that I can do as I please uninterrupted.  Actually... it's the first time ever that I have had quiet time and everything is still sinking in.  I have time to do the artwork, study the history, and prepare the ritual, so I guess it's time to pull out my agenda and make the big transition from words to deeds. :D

Reclaiming the Forest

What a perfect day.  I got to bed before 2am and was up by 8am when my companion dragged his weary butt in the door.  I fed him some cornmeal cereal and golden toast with butter and he started watching TV on the couch.  In no time the poor tired thing had fallen asleep and I nipped out the door in my worst clothes to go scavanging for treasures in the woods.  I have noticed of late, that there is an abundance of downed wood in the area.  As I walked down the path towards what I call the Arbutus Grove, it became apparent that the wood has been tossed to the side as though it were litter.  I don't mean the occasional thinning to let in more light, I mean loads of wood left to rot.  I try to grin and bear it, but it sure does bother me to see it.

As you can see, this shit's been down a while, and it's covered with young vines, however, you can also see that the wood is still good and there are 4 logs in this one little site alone, actually there is more there, it continues to the right.

Here are some more fallen trees, and on the larger of the two logs, there is a lot of rot on the outside, but the center was still good.  And yes, there are 4 downed huge chunks of timber just sitting there beside the path.

This too lies along that same path, but at least here it is neatly set out of the way.

This one just had me doing face-palms over and over again.  This is cut by a chainsaw, it's not natural and not needed for light, so what's up?

This is just a bigger badder picture of the one above, but it makes me wonder.  There was not even 20 feet between some of these.  This "waste wood" should be offered up to artists and such to see what can be reclaimed.  However; I don't think I'll be waiting on that invitation; I'll just help myself.

In one of the areas, where the trees were thinned, ferns filled what had once been a bog during the spring.

I also found a new view of my forest spirit that I first found when I went on that exploratory journey to seek out my secret garden.
However, the main reason why I went to the forest was to collect some items to make a broom.

 

This little grotto was filled with broom (the plant) at one point, but someone came up here and thrashed all the broom plants.  The bright yellow flowering branches were thrashed, as in hacked up and left to die.  I come up here at least once every two weeks, more if I can.... and I know that a couple of months ago, this area was filled with lovely blooms of broom and the next time I saw it, the plants had been slashed and the fresh green boughs covered the ground.  I kept going up and thinking I should grab that to make a broom with.  So that is exactly what I did.  I gathered enough broom for... yes a broom, and a lovely handle, that doesn't know it's a handle yet, lay close by.  My companion, then gave me some wonderful twine, so once I've soaked all the broom twigs and sprigs, I'll be working on the besom.
 I think that my special broom grotto is visited by another much like myself.  There is a rock balancer who comes here and leaves their little shrines up beneath the boughs of the towering arbutus.  They are set upon green moss, or the slate grey boulders that dominate that quiet little corner overlooking WestWood Lake.  Today, all those were knocked down and more of the broom was scattered about.  It may have been the wind, but I suspect boots of mischief would be a more appropriate guess.
Anyways, I'll be busy the next couple of days, to a week.  There are some spells to finish up, some stock to build up, some crafts to play with and pictures to take.  I suspect there will be more forays into the wood to gather some of the wood for making boxes and what not, that should keep me busy over the winter.

The Lessons of the Morning glory Wand

Obtaining the cedar to make my wand  was no problem, I went in the forest and harvested some lovely boughs. I got them home and de-twigged them and then sanded them smooth.  I was even resourceful, for when I had no sandpaper, I used my emery board (I never end up using them on my nails), which was a good choice because it's a good size to wield when  attacking tiny sharp twig remains, and it makes a more precise eraser than sandpaper and your finger (LOL).
The trouble all started when I wanted to ink them.  I had some felt pens handy, that actually were for another project.  I busily got to work and covered the wand in morning glory vines and flowers.  It looked beautiful, but before I took a picture I wanted to varnish it.  So on went the varnish and off came the colour.  Damn things were water proof.  Oh well, I thought, perhaps I'll sand that off later and I got myself some fine, indelible ink sharpies, 8 bucks, 8 pens. Well I made the wand and only made a few flowers, here's the deal, the blue is already out of ink and the fine is not all that fine.  Sharpies are not going to work any more than those other felt tipped pens.  I think next I'm going to try some other medium.  Perhaps I'll paint them on with a very fine brush, or use ink and a stylus and brush.  I have a bunch of stylus's and brushes.
The other thing I'm going to do is ask around at the art store to find out what medium would work best for what I'm hoping to achieve.  I knew there would be some issues, but now I can face them head on and move on.  I like this work and would like to do more, make boxes and such, it does run in our family.  In fact, my grandfather, on my mothers side made beautiful puzzles boxes and cabinets out of cedar and was considered an artisan before World War 2 broke out in Germany.  In particular he was a cedar worker and passed away from complications due to inhalation of the cedar particles.
The other thing I've noticed is all the downed wood along the pathways in the park.  I'm thinking of harvesting what I need to create my own body of work.  I learnt quite a bit when I was up in the Charlotte's living off the land.  I have a good eye, and know how to cut for shakes, so it shouldn't be that hard for me to grab a few boards here and there so the wood does not go to waste, all I'll need is an axe and a wood mallet.
I like my wand don't get me wrong, I'm not even upset that it didn't work the way I wanted.  You see once the error was made, I learned my lesson and figured out something else so that it could get finished.  This is going to be fun.  It's late, almost 3 in the morning.  I'm going to oil up my little wand and keep it healthy, and then tomorrow, when the light is better, I'm going to take some pictures of my wand and post them.
Ah and one more thing... just one last little one.  My companion, he found an attachment for his drill that will allow me to grind things out in case I want to shape my wands more.  Now that is awesome timing, because I was just thinking that. I think it's time to start hitting the garage sales :D
And here are my endeavors up close flaws and all.

The total wand, sanded and inked with morning glory vines and at one end is a Lady Bug.  This is the second attempt and ink for this seems to be the issue.  However, it has a whimsical  nature to it.  It still needs to be consecrated, but it is meant to be an aid to hedgecrossing and travelling.

The ink is the biggest issue.  The blue especially is troublesome.  It was a brand new pack, I outlined about 6 morning glories buds and blooms, it ran a little, but worse it started to fade on the last bloom and now there is no more ink left.  As you can see from the comparison, the green is more vibrant and fills in better, but not much.

Here is a closeup of all the green.  Of all the colours I have used so far, the green seems to be the most reliable and has the most ink for your buck.

And here you can see some of the fading on the blue morning glory, which makes it look shabby and like I don't care.  I did, and was so careful when applying the ink.  The red on the Lady Bug has no integrity.  I applied with an even hand and yet it's blotchy, the same with the black ink.  These two, the red and black, lack the vibrancy of the green.  All in all, I will not be using sharpee for this kind of work again.  

I make one exception...the Sharpie Pen.  It has a superfine point and I think it will do to make some necromantic wands for ancestor worship.  In fact that will most likely be my next adventure in wand making.

Wheel of the Year

So while my partner has been at work, I've been working on my blog and my arts and crafts.  I've been talking about creating a Wheel of the Year, and I started it days ago.  I made the circle, divided into eighths and then penciled in a besom broom, titling it Samhain and posting the date.  After much staring, the next day I added Yule and the date, and the third day I added a wreath beneath the title.  I really wanted to do this, but I couldn't get into it.  So I started studying my moon phases and days of the week correspondences, creating an agenda for the next year for myself, getting me in closer contact with my subject matter, the year.

As soon as I had finished the calender I had a sudden desire to fill in my Samhain section on my Wheel of the Year.  I'm looking at my completed work and am quite pleased with it.  I just got right into it and let it happen.  I was excited to do it and everything just revealed itself.  I like the folk artsy feel of it and the way it triggers memories for me.  It was a fun project and kept me awake until close to when my partner gets home, he's home at seven am.  It was good to get it finished and I feel like I accomplished something.