Magical Musings

4th

  

Jonas Gerard

I saw a video of this artist on Creative Everyday and how he uses music to paint. Thought I would share one of the videos.

Resistance

I finished the painting I was working on. I actually knew when I was done and am ok with it. I listed it in my Etsy shop. I tried to rename my shop but it wouldn't let me do that so I have half and half.

After reading "I'd rather be in the studio" a few months ago I knew I had to start an e-mail list and a newsletter. So far I am sort of entangled in things because I don't want everyone to have a link to my blog and to my life that I send the newsletter to. So I wonder if I should take off the blog site from my Etsy shop? I don't want to do a second blog because my spiritual life and daily life is part of anything I create.

I am listening to "war of art" or something like that on cds from the library. It's not what I thought it was going to be but so far seems sort of cool.

Resistance is implacable, reduce it to a single cell and that cell will continue to attack.

If we all did what we knew we were born to do then there wouldn't be psychologists, and medical professionals and the world would be a better place. It will point to true north. Resistance will point like a compass to that action that we must follow. What are you resisting in your life?

Earthy

Hi again,
I worked on this painting this morning while the girls were on a walk with my husband. I like it somewhat but am still working on it. I started it last week when I was supposed to be finishing a different one  (according to my inner list or taskmaster ) but didn't feel like it. I wanted to use more earthy colors but other than that I had no idea what I was doing. I get some things in different shades and then decide what to add where to balance it I guess. I used fluid acrylic (the red) and really like it but I am finding it is so different from regular acrylic and am still experimenting. The thing with experimenting is that you don't want to use up too much of it but you need to figure out how it works.

I have to go reposition some baby fencing again. I thought Melody was trouble when she was little but Willow really gets into everything already and isn't even walking yet. I keep these things in perspective though because I saw my neighbor's new baby this morning and it's her 7th child so really I am doing just fine. :) She was super cute but I think 2 is just fine.

Up to

This weekend we went to a world music festival. They had a couple new things this year and I wasn't able to take but 4 photos because my camera batteries didn't charge beforehand.

With the lavender from our garden and even chicken feathers I am getting into making  things from natural materials. I even started making a corn fairy instead of corn dolly. My friend Sara made the small wreaths for me. :) The first wreath I made is almost done but it's a larger one. I had to keep sticking in more lavender to fill in after it dried. I need to try to find the stuff you can stick flowers in to dry them out so I can put some roses and other flowers on the wreaths. Every year I think I will do this for gifts for the holidays. This is the first year I have actually done 4 so far!

Another outside project was to use the fake flowers from the Dollar Store so Melody could make Fourth of July centerpieces for my Mom's tables.  I thought this would keep her busy for awhile but she was pretty quick and ran out of the styrofoam you stick the flowers into.

Pagan values

One thing I remember my Mom saying was that we didn't go to church but we were raised with good Christian values. This basically meant with good values as good people there wasn't anything too biblical involved.

This is pagan values month and there's more on it here. Most of the people who have the best values and live according to their faith are not Christians. I know that the majority of our nation is Christian so that explains things like divorce and infedelity being mostly Christian. I don't think that Christians lack values and morals I just think that there's a lot of corruption and wrong everywhere and since a majority of people call themselves Christian they fall under that category sometimes.

When explaining to people about our pagan circle we tell them that we are a family based organic pagan celtic circle. This is probably confusing but we aren't Wiccan. We don't do any of the ceremonial or Wiccan things for the most part. We don't make people abide by the Wiccan Rede in that we don't think we need it. This isn't to say we are all good people all the time but honestly if there's a binding spell or something else somewhat on the cusp of being harmful to another (even if they deserve it) we don't mistrust each other. We do a lot of magic separate and I would say I am more of a prayer person and make up spells as I go. We don't need some rule that doesn't apply to everyone to make us ethical pagans.

We revere the earth and try to take care of her and in doing that we take care of ourselves as well. We raise children to believe in themselves and there is no such thing as a sin. I believe in karma and doing unto others. It is alive and well in this lifetime and living with good values and morals is not a Christian concept.

I wish that people were only judged on their friendliness and their values really. I live near a lot of very Christian people and I think we are the same in values if not more attuned to our morals that others. We are not the only pagans in our town but we are few. The two mothers who are at home raising their children feet away from me are quite Christian but they seem to be very loving and open people. We have so much in common minus our faith. Values and morals should bind us together I think not that we are of different religions.

Summer Solstice

I forgot my Summer Solstice post. We had a nice time in the backyard and had a new woman join us for the ritual. I don't think we scared her off either so that is a plus.

We ate strawberries and Indian vegetarian curry and chips and salsa with more strawberries with whipped cream for dessert. I still have more I need to pick right now as the strawberry onslaught has hit.

Song of Bel

Bold and burning, God of Light,
Bel, now bringing Love to sight:
Passion great and Body strong,
Fertile power, living song;
All are manifest in thee,
God of Fire, growth will be!

Today

Yesterday I took the girls to the park so Melody could run through the water.

My husband took the girls to the park for almost 2 whole hours this morning! I listened to music in the garage and worked on a painting/collage and some journal pages. Since I don't have my scanner hooked up anymore (since it doesn't work with the laptop) I can't scan them but I can do a photo shoot for them tomorrow maybe.

 Today I wore my Kmart old lady shorts that I got last week because it was going to be too warm and I have no shorts since last year I was pregnant. I got the cheapest pair they had and if I had a longer shirt on they wouldn't look that bad. I don't have a long shirt on and I had to take both girls with me to a doctor's appointment because they only had an afternoon one. My stomach hurts again for the 10th time in 10 years pretty much. I am taking prilosec this time and if it comes back I have to do a test to see what's going on in there. While waiting for the doctor in my old lady shorts I had Willow on my lap with a diaper that needed to be changed but I hadn't had time. So she pees and it leaks down my leg. So I have to change her diaper wipe my legs off and then replace the paper before he comes in. Then Willow kept trying to get out of her carseat on the floor and the dr. was trying to hurry so the pygmies wouldn't revolt he said.

I was supposed to clip the neighbor's dog's toenails today but I ran out of time. I don't have her number either so I can't call her.

Willow is crawling and cruising all over the place and turning the tv off and pulling the mouse usb jack out of the socket. When she is not doing that she is pulling my hair or biting my shoulder or eating a lot. She is quite a delight though most of the time and is sleeping better most nights.

I am over thinking my blog posts probably in that I don’t know what to write and I think it should be more profound. When I read other blogs I skip over so many posts quickly if they don’t keep my attention. I want to be the blog that you don’t skip over by offering or sharing something different. Most of the time I don’t know what that is really.

Anyways on the creative front I am finishing that pomegranate painting I started two months ago and then I am going to do some 11 by 14 paper somethings! I could finish those indoors while Willow naps or before my bedtime. I also started embroidering a bit and then planning to make some small art quilts. I have strange items I have collected that I want to incorporate into some.

With Melody being moderately lactose intolerant like me I finally made a vegan ice cream that turned out. It is for an ice cream maker so I don’t know how to make it just freezing it.

Vegan Ice Cream
1 can of coconut milk (not light)
½ can filled up with soy milk (or nut milk I used vanilla soy milk)
Sweetener of your choice (I made a simple syrup to put in)
Vanilla bean seeds or extract

Blend the above and adjust sweetness to taste (remember that it will taste less sweet when frozen). For chocolate, add cocoa powder to taste. You may also want to add chocolate chips. The best way to chop them is to freeze them and then chop in a food processor. Or thinly slice and chop a chocolate bar. Freeze according to ice cream maker instructions.

When I opened the first can of coconut milk it was rancid or spoiled or something. It smelled gross! The second one was fine so I dumped it out.

Recital

 Melody's first recital was Saturday night. They were hilarious to watch and did very well especially on the Tahitian. Melody got her wiggles on.