Just a Few Things

1) Here's an interesting if brief article on "spiritual blockage."

2) The incessant coughing I have is apparently caused by seasonal allergies - something that I've never officially been diagnosed with until now.  Bugger all.  I was always so happy to be in the minority of adults who didn't have to deal with allergies.  Why do I suddenly have them?  Did I not spend enough time outside?  Now I have all these bills and a nasal spray...  Bugger all.  I'm happy that I should find relief but I'm displeased with yet another medicine.  I'm really motivated to get a neti pot and make my father's infamous but effective tincture now.  I don't want to be part of the drugged up majority...  As it is, I would love to get off birth control but am uncertain of the medical implications that would have on me (I was put on it for medical reasons to begin with).  Too much environmental damage from the packaging alone!

3) I found a toad-shaped button to represent my husband on the grove's quilt patch.  For those out of the know, the Artisan Guild is encouraging all groves, proto-groves, guilds, SIGs, and Kins to create a quilt patch that will be added to a larger piece.  The point is to have something representative of ADF to display at festivals.  I found a cat button to represent me weeks ago.

4)  Tailtiu, the doll and main offering I'm making for the Lughnasadh ritual at Muin Mound tomorrow, is nearly done.  I'm finishing the details.  To be honest, I don't think she's the best doll I've ever made, but she's also not the worst.  I'm not using any metal armatures because she will, I believe, but placed in the bonfire.  She's stuffed with fabric scraps which gives a lot more weight.  This is what's allowing her to sit properly without the armatures.  Her fingers, however, are not the same without them.  Also, her head is longer than most of the dolls I've made.  I'm not sure how that happened but oh well.  Expect photos at some point.


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

Observing Nature as a Meditation

Sometimes the best meditation is observing nature.  I found myself doing that a lot today at various points along the St. Lawrence River here in Northern NY.  I stood in the refreshing water and just was.  I watched the waves roll in.  I followed ducks along a dock.  I wondered at the thrill felt by a seagull wheeling over the misty water.

My annoying cough may make standard meditation impractical, but there are other ways to calm the soul and rekindle our connection to the kindreds.

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

When Meditation Becomes a Struggle

I strive to meditate daily, at least for five minutes.  Ideally, I would be meditating for 15-30 minutes every day but something invariably causes my schedule to become irregular.  Often it's fatigue, pure and simple.  I will either begin to fall asleep during my practice, or I will feel too exhausted to even try.  These are always the days that my meditations are a shallow five minutes.  I still do it, but the experience is more akin to a breathing exercise.  There's nothing wrong with that, but I want to move beyond.  Compared to where I was when I started meditating seven or so years ago, I'm leaps and bounds better, so I'm not entirely unimpressed with myself.

The annoyance of fatigue can be controlled by mental discipline, to a certain extent.  Sure there are days full of activity and obligation - days when overwhelming fatigue is assured - but for the most part, one can make a schedule and stick to it fairly well.  This is something I'm working on now.  But what about those aggravations beyond control?

I seem to have caught something over the weekend.  I wake up with a sore throat and I spend the remainder of my day coughing and feeling somewhat hoarse.  Physical discomfort is very difficult for me to overlook when meditating, especially when they include involuntary reactions.  Just try to breath comfortably and remain still while coughing every few minutes!  Congestion is another annoyance difficult to overcome.  When an exercise depends so heavily on a relaxed breath, congestion is the worst.

I've often wondered about Buddhist monks who meditate frequently.  Do they ever feel ill?  Do they still meditate if they do?  Can they overcome their physical ailments through mental focus?  Has meditation increased their immunity to illness, or are most Buddhist monasteries dedicated to meditation situated in very healthful climates?

I recently attended a real, honest-to-goodness yoga class as opposed to my usual exposure to yoga on Wii Fit.  Rather than having to focus on my balance, I was instructed to focus on my breath and that that was the most important part.  It is easier said than done and, of course, balance is still significant, but by not having to fixate on where my center of balance was in a pixilated yellow circle, I was free to attempt turning to my breathing.  As I contorted myself into occasionally uncomfortable positions, I found myself starting to move away from my physical being.  I visually focused on knots in wood paneling or the texture of the ceiling while paying attention to the inhalations and exhalations.  There were some poses I would have liked to spend more time in because I felt I was achieving some subtle peace of mind through them.  

I'm seriously considering more yoga.  While coughing and congestion may always get the best of me, yoga could help me build greater discipline overall.  Who knows?  Maybe one day I'll be able to transcend my more corporeal annoyances.  If not, I'll just do a shallow, five minute breathing exercise.  It's better than nothing, right?

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

Time in the Garden

I did a lot of walking this weekend while away and unable to tend my garden, so I decided to stay close to home and pamper the domesticated plants today.  I'll get back to the forest later this week.  I have two new additions to my garden - a lovely pineapple sage and a hanging basket of various herbs. I was unfamiliar with pineapple sage until today.  It looks like a small tree and is just the sort of plant I've been looking for.

I spent some time watering, trimming suckers, removing old growth, and collecting dried seeds.  I also rearranged everything so different plants have proximity to the marigolds.  It also refreshes the look of my patio.  I harvested a couple of tomatoes today.  I've got some beans that I plan to pick tomorrow and a cucumber nearly ready to come inside.  I need to remove the oak leaf lettuce and think about planting something else.  I also took an inventory of everything in my journal as a reference for next year.

I've found myself talking and singing to my plants a lot.  I want them to know how much I appreciate them, and I want to encourage them to keep growing and stay healthy.

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

In Anticipation of Lughnasadh

I love this song.




"Lughnasadh Dance" by Damh the Bard


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

Returned from the Faire!

Hello dear readers! I went away for a few days to visit some of the tribe and travel to the Sterling Renaissance Festival. Hubby and I go every year and always enjoy it immensely. As usual, Weretoad and I dressed up.  It was pirate weekend, but we dressed as ...  wealthy merchants?  Lesser nobles?  I dunno.  We wore nice outfits, how about that?  I wore the outfit my mum gave me.  It looked like this but in hunter green.  My husband wore his wedding outfit which looked somewhat like this but with hunter green accents rather than silver and Celtic knot embroidery.  I made us each pouches which I will display at a later date.


I purchased many lovely things.  I always save some money to indulge myself at the Renaissance Festival. I look forward to being more financially secure (if such a thing will be possible in the future) and buying a whole wardrobe or large pieces of home decor one day*.  Even when I cannot afford the luxuries, the numerous talented artisans annually inspire my imagination and encourage me to keep practicing.   

Anyway, I bought a miniature clay bowl for my traveling altar, two bottles of ink (one of green pigment and the other called "wine"), some echinacea root, witch hazel bark, coltsfoot, and rosemary incense.  My husband bought me a rose and an amazing sculpture to hang on our walls (Photo at left.  The sculpture was made by the talented Jason Bakutis).  It's supposed to be Bast but I don't get the Egyptian vibe from it.  When I saw it, I fell in love with it as a catsidhe or my personality incarnate**.  Art is all about interpretation, no?  Now I just need to figure out where to hang this beauty...  


We didn't see as many shows this time, which leads me to believe that we need to go twice next year.  There is just too much to see and do in one day.  I did, however, have an amazing discussion with the Earthcraftyr herbalist and self-proclaimed "ditch witch."  We talked about trance, flying ointments, different plants,  and connecting with nature.  I was so grateful that she took some time to share her wisdom with me.  I would love to take a class from her in the future.  




* "I wanna be a billionaire so freaking bad..."


**  All the same, I used to be devoted to Bast in my eclectic Wiccan days.  She helped me through some rough times and started me on the road to being a strong woman.  I'll always be grateful to her for that.  We grew apart eventually; I guess she had taught me all I needed and I was sent promptly to the Gods of Ireland.  


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

Daddy-Longlegs

My new favorite blog, Adirondack Almanack, has a great entry about daddy-longlegs.  I knew they weren't actually spiders, but I had believed that they had truly poisonous venom that they were incapable of delivering to us.  According to Ellen Rathbone, a biologist and environmental educator in the Adirondacks,  those are urban legends. I've always liked daddy-longlegs.  Such fascinating little guys.  


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