The Nourishment Faerys......we all have one, or several...within and without....

 

Talisman mirror for protection and deflecting projections.....

Sometimes in our hoods, shit goes down. Just how it tis. I regularly set magical wards around the house and land I care for, and  dwell within alongside my familiar Nomadcat. Lowering them regularly to allow energies that needs be released and move on, to do so. A ward that keeps out, also keeps in.

The above sigil mandala,  was created to both center myself in conscious meditation and thus my core, whilst stopping energy projected at me. Infact, its painted on the back of an op shoppe mirror, so it will reflect back and away. Its been a fair while since a painting emerged so t'was lovely to craft this.

I placed the mirror facing outwards, and the mandala in a place I can see it and be reminded of it's focus. Whilst crafting in sacred space, ease surfaced, and the previous triggering is now alleviated and I can move on.....

Blessed Bloodwood windfalls see the cauldron fires burning again...

 

The Craft and the crazy, can and do they coexist? The importance of GROUNDING.....

 

I would like to speak a little to two phenomena that, may, coexist. 1) A deep loving commitment to healing of energies in place (waters, air, land) and remnant wounded resonances therein, if / where possible. Alongside, 2) trauma and stressors that can push ones sanity beyond boundaries into, let's face it psychosis, or states close to. None of these are words I use lightly, or without a great sense of rawness and vulnerability touching my core.....

These topics are not easy ones, not comfortable, but perhaps important, enough for to me to raise from the sediments within, for I believe that with the dominant paradigm we live in, those deemed mad may well be carrying (literally) more than a kernel of truth. That our continent has a story including terrible acts that ripple out and remain shadowed in the land, alongside beautyous demonstrations of her care. For me she, is a her....our mother beneath our feet.

I feel also, that the tide is turning, as more folks begin to take a peek at the bedlam of more than one aspect of modern life....

What I am trying to express in the rambling that is my way, is that there is a commonality in the perceptual sliding between the worlds, in both crazy misperception, and conscious mending works of ritual, BUT also important differences in how and in what one is GROUNDED. Also, that trauma effects both mind, earth and spirit. Thus linking them in the realm of the empathic, that may lead to a blurring of boundaries between that witch is going on....

I am speaking to these topics because they have scarred my life, and I'm feeling there be others too, I know there are. We gather, or work in solitude, with intention. 

Indigenous Elders, those arising and other stewards, I offer my respect to you, and your ways of knowing and caring for country that may include song, dance, music, burning, cycle marking, harvest methods, supporting the assistance of lost / wayward spirits to move to where they belong, and beginning to mend scarred lands and people....

The commonality I'm focusing upon is that there are realms beyond what may be called 'ordinary reality', day to day living that are being experienced by an increasing number of people. The difference is in perception of the character, or tone, of these other dimensions to life. In trauma states of triggering, or lack of knowledge / skill, these may become terrifying, and nightmarish. In conscious ritual we work to hold spaces that connect, nourish and nurture. Even if said spaces contain shadow work that is challenging, there is an inner compass, or guidance system. Like the phases of the moon shift. Be that through meditation upon, inheritance of  ways, or mentoring in, that prevent total immersion creeping in, and upon folk. So that one may swim, not drown, so to speak...

Yes, I believe that aptly prescribed medicines, and herbal allies, can support a shifting from trauma states of relating to more co-creative ones. With clarity and a regulated nervous system comes choices, decision making and capacity. Safety and response-ability. That said sometimes empathic souls simply seem to absorb the states of un/well land we connect with, as with the people around us. Healing places and otherwise influence us and thus we need to care for selves, as well. 

It seems to be, for me at least, a balancing act, in processes betwixt being out and about, and retreating into our sanctuary home. I am just beyond 3 months returned to this space, and doing better. Blessings to the spirits of land, sky and water for allowing me to return eh.....

It seems The Craft and The Crazy’s can coexist, BUT tis a true story that a sensing of place can heal and mend the latter, and increase t'other, when GROUNDING OUT is involved. That this calls in practical magics too, like good sleep, connnextion to a sense of community as comfy with and mutual supports, purpose, eating well, movement,  creativity, and all otherwisely medicines as called for….

Totemix Mindfullness Colouring Sheets n Cards Setup....

So, my works made it to be featured at The Emporium for November after all :-). Illustrations made with love. Setup in the plinth area nigh the entrance. Along with fabric patches and 'Beautyways' tea towels....during the marking of 10 years since founding roots of the Artists co-op. 

Here's a few of the eight designs, injoy...

And now a call out, for sightings of the 'Seasons n Cycles' piece I crafted over some 3 months, which went missing in action, hopefully may see it returned? Twas going to be central to sharing these drawings of the natural beauty of Iluka, which so needs to be stewarded well and with care. All that's left to finish this, is to colour the lands in the central map of where Mama Clarence meets the ocean. Mayhaps, I'll get the chance to do so yet......here's hoping!  Generally, we need that!

Seed sprinkling jig with full moon n gentle rain....

My Grandmothers lineage, on both sides, shared a love of green folks. Their, and Diana Mum and Aunt Marian's dna is full swing in my veins in the now. I well remember Gran Bea and Alice's gardens. With Roses, Foxgloves n Hollyhocks growing alongside Banksia, Coastal Tea Tree and Moonah's. Indigenous and migrant plant layers....

Earthing / grounding out is a solid therapy indeed. For the whole being in a two way street with plants nurtured. In the UK 'Green Prescriptions' for Eco-therapy are given by GP's in a pretty solid main stream acknowledgement of this phenomena. It was thus in psychiatric care before pharmaceuticals yet existed. Oh the potentials for combining the realms in non polarity! Medicine ways is medicine ways. Tucker n magical supplies fresh from growing mmmm......

 

This Aries full moon (the energy's around a few days before indeed) saw me sprinkling seeds beneath grey skies. Weeding, a word (and task) it's rare for me to engage with, except where a plant becomes a dominatrix and suffocates diversity. Then, it's time to go. Thus, after being away some months, I weeded tall n stubborn grasses out of my herb n flower beds, including the spiral one. Added a layer of composted down lovely now soil, then danced a jig! Sprinkling seeds directly into the worm filled mix layered over our sandy beds. Cosmos, Hearts ease, Red Salvia, Rocket, Wild Rocket, Asian greens, Parsley n such, round about. 

After watering them in and then covering the ground with sarongs to prevent em drying out a couple o days, now listening to the second gentle rain fall upon earth for em. Good things happen when sky water is thus. I don't know exactly why. but it's just a cloud zapped different substance to tap water. Sarongs off, shallow mulch layer exposed! First wee sproutlets! 

"Live long, grow strong'' is my planting blessing....

 As you can see harvests o Roma tiny tomatoes galore, and in answer to my curiosity I find, yep they ripen after being harvested green. Be gathering their seeds, tough as survivors, and sweeeeeet. Kale, Wild Rocket, Parsley, Motherwort and Nasturtiums galore! Love to simply pick and eat the bright spicy flowers straight from the Nasturtium patch, or pop petals n smaller leaves into salads.

The poppies I'd sown similarly in the fore mentioned jig style, some 6 months ago, are all grown up and flowering despite our absence! I've been picking a few and bringing them inside, how could you resist these....

So, there's a window into Nomad aka Mush cat n my days of late. Nature the ultimate artist, mentoring, healing n mending, yet again......

Familiars....