A Lazy Day

I'm finally on vacation, and will be until August, so I suddenly have a lot of time on my hands.  I've been sewing a lot, for one.  I made a cat plushie, altered several dresses, and have been diligently working on a fairy doll*.  I've been working on another pair of socks here and there.  I've also been attempting to tidy my apartment and maintain my garden.

ADF-wise, I'm nearly done reviewing my first DP and have been reading, reading, reading for my own study programs.   I also started a Google group for the vegetarians and vegans in ADF called ADF Veggies**.

I have been very productive!

Today, however, I feel lazy.  I worked a little on my doll (sketched an outfit concept, painted some beads...), but otherwise?  Maybe I feel a little lost without my job this month.  I do everything I normally pack into the evening in the morning now and am left...  with a lot of time!

I started to watch "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."  A few episodes aside, I've never really seen much!  A friend once tried to get me into it.  She showed me a few episodes but never from the beginning.  It always seemed really hokey to me.  Indeed, it is, but by starting from the beginning the corniness has grown on me.  I find the characters amusingly delightful.  The occult references are often hilarious, but for every Hollywood cliche or seemingly offensive cultural appropriation, there's always a surprising "Wow, they actually know that!" moment.  I've been urged by several friends to keep going as it "only gets better."




*Photos coming soon!


** Are you a vegan or a vegetarian?  Join join join!


( For My LJ Friends: http://adfcatprints.blogspot.com/ )

C'mon get happy!

I'm not sure who originally took this photo (or photoshopped it if that is the case...) but it sure makes me smile!


( For My LJ Friends: http://adfcatprints.blogspot.com/ )

Chant Help

Four or five years ago, when I was feeling my way through Wicca and eclectic Paganism, I was feeling "chant envy."  Several of my Pagan friends knew more chants than me.  They could all spontaneously break out in chant and everyone knew the words...  I felt left out so I went on a chant hunt and found some classics as well as some things that I don't often hear people use.

One of them went like this (more or less):

The Earth she is singing
Oh ma ma ma
The Earth she is laughing
Oh ma ma ma
The Earth she is dancing
Oh ma ma ma
The Earth is our mother
Oh ma ma ma 


Oh ma ma ma hey oh ma ma ma
Oh ma ma ma hey oh ma ma ma


I fell in love with it and was lucky enough to find an mp3 of it.  It's one of my favorites and I often sing it around the house.

Almost a year ago, some of my grovies came back from a festival where they had learned it and it was incorporated into our rituals when we honor the Earth Mother.  I was really surprised but delighted all the same. The only problem was/is...  people don't really know it.  Last week, during Summer Solstice, there was an embarrassing moment when we started the chant and the bard didn't know it and everyone was mixed up.  I was singing the version I learned, but even before the ritual there was a minor dispute between the grove organizer and the senior Druid as to what the actual order of the lyrics were.  It pains me to admit it, but it sounded horrible and the energy just wasn't there for me during that part of the rite...

I was searching around for the lyrics or even the mp3 I used to have but I can't find it anywhere!  Can anyone help?  My grove likes to sing and dance to it but we really need to be on the same page.  It's one of my most favorite chants and it's really embarrassing when the grove flounders so...

Help!




( For My LJ Friends: http://adfcatprints.blogspot.com/ )

Keeping My Oath

Some of you may remember that I made an oath a few weeks ago in which I promised the Kindreds (and myself) that I would honor them with a formal ADF ritual every week.  I did this week's ritual just a little while ago.  Although it wasn't anything groundbreaking, I did feel more confident.  Brighid put some honey on my tongue or something.  I still tend to forget one bit of the COoR and then fit it in right away before the end.  It makes me feel a bit stupid but the Gods never seem offended.  Just doing ritual makes me feel closer to them and, each time I perform a rite, I improve.

Before my ritual I took a shower and did my best to focus on grounding and removing any negative thoughts.  I've found that ritual gestures are very important to me, if only to put me in the proper mindset for magic or ritual*.  In the shower I put my head under the water and then lowered my hands across my body until my fingers went into the water.  I visualized/felt the negative energy of the day flow out and down the drain.  Very effective for me!


* I recently read in Real Magic by Bonewits that tantric traditions refer to ritual gestures as mudra.  




( For My LJ Friends: http://adfcatprints.blogspot.com/ )

The Joy of Gardening

I know that I keep bubbling about this, but gardening makes me so, so happy.  Something about the success of caring for a living creature, the production of my own food, and the intimate relationship with nature that it fosters...  I always find something new and exciting in my garden.  Sometimes I find things that are disturbing, like a Japanese beetle.

Toads have been burrowing hiding holes in some of my larger pots.  I don't mind at all.  They're making them in corners and so I don't think they're upsetting the roots.  They are probably eating some pesky bugs while they're there.

Today I found baby tomatoes!  Let me explain why this is so exceptional.  I had a container garden last year when I lived in Whitesboro.  When Weretoad and I prepared to move up north, we had to get rid of a lot of stuff but I couldn't bring myself to get rid of a little tomato plant.  It never prospered the same way the others did.  It never even produced fruit last year.  All the same, I valued it as a living creature and brought it up to my new home to give it a chance.  I decided that, even if it never blossomed and just continued to grow as a green plant, the smell was heartening to me in the winter.  I kept it on the kitchen window with the chives and catnip.  It grew and grew and grew...  I had to tie it in place eventually.  When late spring came, I transplanted it into a larger pot and snaked it around some bamboo poles.  A couple weeks ago I spotted little yellow flowers.  "That's it!" I mentally told it.  "You're finally doing it!"  Today I spied wee little tomatoes!  How exciting!  I knew it had the potential!

To me, Gardening is so Druidic!




( For My LJ Friends: http://adfcatprints.blogspot.com/ )

Show and Tell

Catnip in a crocheted hanging basket.

Some of my cucumbers (they're finally flowering!), a tigerella tomato plant, and a fox to guard them!

A gnome stands guard amidst the oakleaf lettuce and dill.  Below are marigolds and lemongrass.  

A sunny wind chime adds to the relaxing atmosphere that is my patio garden.  Hanging next to it from a barely visible hook are a strawberry plant and a bird feeder.

Obviously, our cats love the bird feeder.

So those are some of the things in my garden.  There are more, like my other herbs, including chives in another crocheted hanging basket.  I also have several small tomato plants waiting inside as well as some eggplant seedlings that need to go out.  First I need a few more pots and some soil.  I lost my carrots but... live and learn, right?  I can't wait until I have actual land and can have a much bigger garden! 

Also:

I crocheted some socks!  They fit really well.  I have some issues to figure out as I make the next pair (already in progress) such as the spacing around the toes.  I want to get thinner yarn and a smaller hook because these, while perfect for boots, cannot be worn comfortably (or fashionably) with dress shoes at work.  As I said, the spacing between some stitches needs work, but they are some of the most comfortable socks I've ever worn.  They breathe!  

( For My LJ Friends: http://adfcatprints.blogspot.com/ )

A New Favorite Band of Mine

Blackmore's Night performing "Cartouche."  Ahhh, it makes me want to dance!  I'm definitely adding the album to my Amazon wish list!