Tending the hearth...domestics....

For someone who cleaned other peoples houses for some ten years I am a grot in my own space, maybe because of cleaning other peoples houses for some ten years. When I cleaned with cloth, sponge and detergent, I also cleared space with smudging, incense and candles, so it was a bit of a double whammy, and no-one spoke up to say they were unhappy with the results. For myself though its a discipline, I procrastinate and dither about domestics. Once I actually start, then I go into a body state of just doing it and it becomes quite enjoyable. If the stereos cranked it helps.

The odd thing is I do love an ordered space, so whats the deal with avoidance of those dishes until they look like they might bite back, or crawl away. I believe its a phenomena known as 'put it off for a long time cos then when u do it, its a real transformation' and we all love transformation.  Thats why people pay other people to clean and clear for them. Its a version of backyard blitz, domestic blitz. You leave your home kinda at the point where u just dont have the energy to deal with it and call in someone else. Damn, wish I could do it every now and then.

I also did gardening jobs for a few people, just kind of organically happened from cleaning. One lady I worked for, Olive, was a classic. In her heyday having a gardener was for the fancy folk, so to her having me weeding away was an absolute luxury and when I was working in the front yard she took visible joy in introducing me, to as many people as possible, as 'her gardener'. Hilarious, but I digress....

Yesterday I whipper snipped all the lawns, which Ive nurtured by picking up leaves and storm blown stuff that would otherwise have smothered it fr months. Felt very suburban, but you know what, they looked better, clearer, like the ol place was loved. Bingo, thats what its about for me, an energy of lovin your space. Acknowledging the roof over my head, which is something not all folks have.

Home and hearth is virtually a mood ring for me. Ive had this theory verified by memebers of community mental health teams. They can get some insight into how someones going by visiting them in their own homes and observing what they see. Which i suppose is why it can be a form of  practice, to keep your space reasonably clear. Of course the version of 'reasonable' varies.

I love creative chaos, when your in deep midproject nothing else matters and this process is so full of life! Oh the joy of having my own space where I can leave a project half done and spend some time on another without having someone else say those words, 'put that away', 'have you finished with that?', 'tidy up after yourself'. To leave possibly inspiring texts and  materials strewn about in my visual space nurtures my makings, you never know where that'll lead. When I spent 6 weeks camping with my brother, we function in exactly the same way, what some would call chaos made sense to me. Lay it all out where you can see what you might need, makes it easy to find things.

Again its a juggle as to how much chaos or clean space is functional for how long. I know after I left a space clean and clear for someone, they'd walk straight back in and start making life mess. That's how come I'd be called back in a week or two to do it all again. Life is messy, on so many levels and to some degree we have to embrace it as such. Sometimes, infact I find that I overembrace...

The ritual act...

Ive been doing rather a lot of reading of late, as Ive been wanting to clarify my beliefs, and hence taking a look at how others approach both the many streams of witchcraft, and shamanism, as these are the practices Im interested in and feel drawn to. Exactly where one ends and the other begins could easily fill a book, probably has. So the learning is great, except that sometimes my head feels like its going to implode and I forget my own name. There's a reason certain paths have 'practices', because you need the doing to balance the theory, and the doing needs to be repeated.

Today I performed a consecrating ritual. It felt good to be in sacred space and connecting to some of the sources that inspire me, the shifted state. But it was a bit fumbled and made me realise I need to be doing it more often, to offer a chance for it to flow. I did however get half way through and realise I was speaking quite loud, rather than whispering, which was refreshing. Whats that about? I feel comfortable to fart or belch loudly, why not to speak words i hold to my heart? Old fears...

Like a Buddhist takes to the 'one seat', for me, a Witch works with ritual to connect to wisdom and honour its sources. The ability to still the mind and visualise are also crucial. A Green Witch, has another realm aswell, and that's nature. Sitting infront of a computer screen can be enlightening, but unless I'm absorbing nutrients from the world 'out there', like anything green, my roots get starved and I get a bit dead around the edges. Vague and ungrounded, which is not a state conducive to anything except losing leaves or new growth. Ritual requires focused intent. Focused intent creates more of the same. Not that Im a perfectionist or anything, but its a balance to be struck.

Im blessed with where I live. I can access the ocean beach in an easy stroll, there's bush close at hand and I have a garden that surrounds my home on all sides. Nature abounds, yet I have limited access to many of the herbs and wild foragings that form the basis of most literature, I'm having to create that from the ground up in my garden. This can be frustrating at times, but when I'm walking for an hour along the beach and seeing only a handfull of folks, I know Ive got it pretty damn good. Now that Ive started my perrenial herbs growing I'm a happier camper, and these are starting to blend nicely with local native vegetation planted out too. To learn the magic and medicine of indigenous plants, their lore, energy and uses can be tricky.

Im struck, the more I learn, by how many magical herbs reside in our kitchens. Kitchen Witch practices make good sturdy sense to me because of this. To make the preparation of food the centre of ones magic has been part of how the women in my family have nourished people for generations, they didn't call it that, but plain and simple lived it. My mum has it down. She can 'whip up' a feast in no time at all with no recipe required, infact I aint too bad meself, if a bit out of PRACTICE, being a solo dweller. My cats food prep is buy tin, open tin and feed, although she is partial to roo meat every now and then. Buy packet, open packet etc, no roo hunting allowed round these parts.

Alas it seems my reading has not wisened me by much, I suppose only the passing of time does that, but todays EXPERIENCE in sacred space has reminded me that gathering information and others stories is only part of the circle. The ritual act is where I connect with the reasons I began the journey in the first place. It is my prayer. It will be shifting and evolving till I die. Maybe even more so afterwards.....
 

The wheel turns...

Cailleach bheur....

It isnt her time of year on this side of the planet, yet, but the Cailleach Bheur is a winter being who will be in her element in the northern hemisphere.She comes to the fore as the days shorten and the sun sits low in the sky. This Irish and Scottish goddess will be carrying her staff with which to call in the frosts and snow, whilst keeping a watchfull eye over the wild animals. Perhaps its the 36 degree heat, she whispered in my ear and led my fingers today, whilst I researched her trail through tales told of megaliths and cairns built from stones fallen from her apron, tempests caused by the washing of her plaid. For me she is the wise untamed crone that asks us to stop, turn within, slow down and tend our metaphorical hearth fires.

Australian animals....

Making my book.....

Ive been writing herbal, mythology, magical researching type tangents and notes to self on bits and pieces of paper but wanted to unify them somewhere so I can have a record all together. Something special I can bless and consecrate. So yesterday i gathered the materials and instuctions to make myself a book of shadows or grimoire.  As people have done since clay tablets and bone carvings were the page.

Its a 'post bound' type which is kind of like a fancy folder, in that you can add, remove and rearrange pages no worries. Ive tried using bought sketchbooks and journals but ended up tearing pages out with the inevitable stuff ups, and changes in ideas. With this kind of book I can write, draw and paint out of the book on a flat surface and then hole punch it up and add it. The cover is burgundy leather that I scored for free at a garage sale because the 'good' side was all marked, I simply turned it over and used the 'back' of the leather which has a lovely soft texture. The design I drew a while back with laundry markers onto another piece of leather

thats been looking for a home and now found it on the cover. 
The book will take about 300 pages, so I bought 100 parchement type A4 pages and figure that should keep me off the streets for a fair while. Now I'm looking at my reading lists, for me I have to take notes for information to sink in and now i have somewhere to put them.
 The things a girl finally gets up to when she's 2 weeks off the cigarettes....