Midwinter

Here at Midwinter, the sun grows ever stronger. Brighid wakes and the world waits for Spring to follow in her steps. The days grow longer as the darkness of Winter loses its grasp, retreating as The Cailleach turns to stone.

Imbolc is a transitory period as all living things begins to stir from hibernation, ready for the abundance and beauty of the warmer months. It is a time for renewal, rebirth and purification. A festival of fire.

May Brighid bless your home with abundance, health and love. May the growing strength of the sun and the hints of Springs return rekindle the fire in your soul. Blessed Imbolc, dear friends.

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My Imbolc Altar

A simple layout juxtaposing the icy blues of Winter and the vibrant greens of Spring. A painting done by a friend of a fire goddess is the focus, flanked by a yellow candle to represent the sun and a green one to represent the coming growing season. Before her rests a candle and an offering of spring herbs and flowers.

Nightmare : The Sketchbook Project

I recently completed my submission for The 2011 Sketchbook Project, which will be touring the US shortly. I've never worked in this sort of moleskine before and it was very definitely a learning experience; certain brands and even colors of mediums took to the paper differently. Getting the vibrancy and style I wanted on some pages was a real trial, especially where ink was involved.

At the end of the project though, I can say that I am proud of my submission. Putting it in the envelope to send to Brooklyn, NY knowing full well that the little monster won't be coming home ever again was the most challenging part of the project for me. But, I did it.

Here is a sampling of pages from my book, which follows the progression of nightmares as your periods of dreaming begin vague and short and grow longer and more vivid as morning draws near.

Nightmare
Nahyt-mair
-Noun
- A frightening of Distressing Dream.

There are 43 pages that span the course of 4 periods of dreaming. To see all of them check out the set on Flickr.

P.S. I feel the need to point out that most of the fears highlighted in this book are not ones that I actually have. I rather like birds, the ocean, Baba Yaga, forests and squids. However, clowns give me the serious heebie-jeebies and I am afraid of heights and falling. That last sequence creeped me out a bit as I drew it. Ick.

Quiet is la Luna

The night is brisk and cold. Quietly, la luna ascends into the clear sky, swollen and shining her peaceful light on any who care to be touched. The quiet moon is a moon of introspection and inner peace. Look inward and lay your worries and stresses at the Lady's feet; take time for just yourself. Relax, unwind and release.

May you all find peace and solace under the first full moon of two-thousand and eleven. Blessed esbat, my lovelies.



P.S. The Smashing Pumpkins has been one of my favorite bands since I was a wee girl. I've always loved this song and its video (based on Viaje la luna made in 1902) and felt it relevant for today.

The impossible is possible tonight, tonight.

Yawn, Stretch, Coming out of Hibernation

Well lovelies, it's been a while. Every year after the holidays I feel myself wind down, usually slowly and without and end to the usual motion that is my life. This year something bewildering happened, I woke up each day with a feeling of motionlessness. There was no feeling of depression, nor moodiness or even apathy, it was as if my body and my mind had hatched a plot each night while I slept to keep me sloth-like and unmotivated about pretty much everything.

Aside from sipping tea, reading books and working on my book for the sketchbook project although I didn't truly get to work on that until about a week ago. At first, I was annoyed by this lackadaisicalness but one morning during my daily card pull, I drew the Green Woman and a warm, tingling feeling came over me, like a hug telling me to just go with it.

Apparently I truly needed the break too, because while I'm not feeling completely renewed, I think it's coming. I'm hoping Imbolc will help rekindle the fire in my spirit and my soul.

It hasn't been all listlessness and loafing about on the sofa while dealing with an illness or two. We've also been searching for a house.

This past weekend, we found our house. Today we put in a bid on it and are waiting, anxiously, to hear back. It's slightly above the top of our price range, so we're hoping they'll agree to split the difference with us because a $100 difference a month won't make us back down from the house we've fallen for. However, $300 extra a month will. We've got our fingers and toes crossed that by the beginning of March we'll be homeowners!

I've got pictures of my completed sketchbook to share, but they can wait for another day. It's good to be back and I've missed all of you! Now that I've rambled on enough, what's going on with you?

P.S. This is officially my 200th post! How did that happen? :)

P.P.S. There's a sale on in my shop, use code WINTERSALE at checkout and take 25% off of your purchase until the 31st. I'll be looking for a new job soon to help pay some of the bills that come along with homeownership (like renovations and plants for the garden!) and will be dropping back down to painting in my spare time, so look out for oodles of new goodies now while I have loads of free time. ;)