Unity

It's an exciting time for me.  As they say, as one door closes another opens.  The last two years have been disruptive and upsetting to me and I've had to say 'goodbye' to some people and situations.  I've had my heart broken, been disrespected and generally treated like dirt.  It's been a major learning curve but I feel stronger and have made some super friends because of it.  Who says the Universe doesn't have a plan?  I don't think I'll be trusting other human beings anytime soon but who knows what the future holds?  I feel even more convinced that I'm doing what I was born to do and have helped quite a few people to understand themselves a bit more.  However, the excitement I was talking about is regarding my chosen path.  I have been approached to unite my Clan's energy with a major Order in support of their causes.  I can't say anymore about it suffice to say it is an exciting time....new friends, new beginnings and confirmed friendships.  Onwards and upwards.  And, to add to it, I have my 'sight' back.  It disappeared for a while but I guess I needed to be blind to reconnect with the physical world.  Now I can see more clearly than I have done for a couple of years. :)

That's all my news for a while.

Love and Light
Seren /|\

Alban Elfed

It's nearly time to celebrate Alban Elfed/Mabon.  The second harvest is almost upon us and I give thanks to Mother Nature for her abundance at this time.  The weather in Britain hasn't been particulary kind to our growers.  The fields of corn are looking pretty poor compared to last years crop so I guess food prices are going to soar this year.  I personally didn't grow anything in my little garden mainly due to health problems.  I do have some herbs I can harvest though.

I love the smell of Autumn, the freshness of the air and it's special fragrance.  T'is the twilight of the year as the wheel turns ever steadily towards Samhain, when the circle will be complete.

May you all never go hungry or thirsty.  So mote it be!  /|\

Olympics

What can I say...the London 2012 Olympics has been absolutely fabulous.  I've been glued to the telly for the last 2 weeks and have laughed, cheered and cried along with all the athletes.  I can't congratulate Team GB enough for making the whole nation proud to be British.  I haven't felt that way for a very long time.  I don't normally get involved in politics but as a country we have had to bail out so many other countries while going through recession and nearing bankruptcy ourselves.  Why do other countries demand that we owe them anything?  The Empire was broken down a very long time ago and independence given to all those nations.  I don't mind supporting them if they are prepared to support us when needed but most of them don't.  They take and take and take but when we need their help they 'forget' everything we've done for them.  Talk about being used!  However, I'm going off track...the Olympics has, hopefully, shown the world how friendly, compassionate and fair minded the British people are.  We have cheered on every single Olympian regardless of nationality and hopefully given them some great memories of their time in our country.

So, I can say that today, it truly is great to be British. :-)

ps. Yes, I know I had a downer on the whole Olympic thing because of the expense when we can't even feed and house our own children...silly me! ;)

Lughnasadh

Hail and Welcome One and All,
I would like to welcome any new readers of my blog and also to wish you all the happiest of Lughnasadh/Lammas blessings.  The ritual has been written and will be performed tonight in the Clan's home.  The weather isn't at all ideal outside so unfortunately this calls for an indoors ritual.  I'm really looking forward to it.  So all it needs is for me to hope your festivities are joyous and that your cupboards will always be full of food at the time of this first harvest.  Beannacht Gail - in the Peace of the Grove, Seren Meadow, Clan Of The Wolf Moon  /|\

Olympia

There has been a lot of hype recently about the Olympic torch coming to my home town but I've let it all just float over my head.  As a country in deep financial difficulty I've struggled with my patriotism as far as the Olympics is concerned.  All I can say is that I hope we generate a larger income than we have spent in expenditure towards the whole 'circus'.

Talking about the Olympics....the torch arrived in my hometown today (Portsmouth, Hampshire)....I knew it was happening but didn't think much about it.  However, I think 90% of my local friends were out in force to see it happen.  I'm glad they all had a great time, I just find the whole thing boring.  I'm dreading the opening ceremony.  Is Britain going to be the butt of the world's jokes for the foreseeable future?

On the upside of it all I wish all our athletes the very best of luck and hope they win us a record amount of gold medals.  :-)

Part-time Blogger, that's me!

It's been a while since I posted anything and I apologise.  I've had health issues and added to that having to cope with all the symptons of Cosmic changes, I just haven't had the energy to keep up with the blogs.

I find it amazing how the Cosmos works sometimes, forcing you to do their bidding when you cling to what you know instead of moving forward in your life.  I can definitely say that they have maneuvered me into (or out of, depending on how you look at it) a situation.

It's very hard to let go of the past when you've been using it as a crutch.  However, I've discovered I CAN walk without that crutch and have moved on with my life.

As a consequence of some of the changes going on around me I decided to start my own Grove.  This was mainly to help my daughter practice ritual at her own convenience but we'll see how it progresses.  I'm quite happy being a Hedge Druid but still felt the need to have my own Grove for some reason.  Sooooo...I would like to introduce to you The Clan Of The Wolf Moon.  It's an hereditary Grove and closed to the general public.  For the time being I just want to keep it for myself and my eldest daughter who is also a Druid.  My younger daughters have agreed to support us when needed but they are atheist and don't want to be drawn into it completely.  I can understand that, they have to find their own paths to walk.

This is our Clan's logo!

Hopefully, I'll have written a dedication ritual in time for Lughnasadh so we can actually say it's an up and running Grove.  We're still members of another Grove, so we can still practice ritual in a group circle.  So many Cosmic changes are happening, it's quite an exciting time. :)

Still Weaving!

Hi all,  I thought I'd give you an update on what I've been up to.  Firstly I warped the 4 shaft table loom up .... wrongly!  And it took me a few days to sort everything out so it weaves smoothly.  And that's when I accidently discovered why I wasn't getting a big enough shed to push the shuttle through.  Apparently I should have put the apron over the front bar.  While I was rearranging the threads that I had sleyed the reed with I put the apron over the front bar and as I then sleyed the reed I tied smaller bunches of threads to the apron.  When I had finished I discovered that now the thread was tied to the apron, I couldn't put the apron under the bar.  So I thought, what harm could it do?  And the answer?  No harm at all :)  As it turns out having the front threads high over the bar actually creates a larger shed....woohoo :) ... one happy weaver!

As I think I've mentioned before, I am totally self taught and this loom didn't come with any instructions whatsoever.  I have almost finished weaving my piece on it.  However, it hasn't all be plain sailing.  I started off making a red cushion cover but ran out of thread 20 inches into the project, so now I have a red and white cushion cover with some red fabric to make something else with, or to incorporate into the cushion covers I'm making.  I refuse to waste any fabric that I've laboured over for days....weeks.... ;-)

While I have been weaving on the table loom during the day, I drew up a pattern to weave on my Inkle loom.  It was a proper 'inkle' pattern (I usually do card weaving!) and it only took me a couple of days to warp and weave it.  I'm very pleased with the result and will be incorporating the band on my cushion covers.  I can 100%, categorically say, that there will be no other cushion covers like mine in the whole world because I have designed and woven them myself from start to finish (I didn't spin the wool though...not this time anyway!).  So, watch this space for photos ... coming soon!

Also, I had an unusual experience while shopping the other day.  I went into the local haberdashery and bought 1.5 metres of black leather thonging to tie the connecting rod to the foot peddle on my loom.  Yes, I know I didn't need that much but I wanted to make sure I had some replacement if it broke.  Opposite the sewing shop a Sue Ryder charity shop had opened up so I went in for a mooch around (you never know what treasures they have lurking in the corners!) and found a leather belt that was designed with the leather cut into long thin strips, like thonging.  I can get 20 one metre thongs out of it...woohoo!  All for £1.25...bargain!  I've looked online for leather but it's so expensive, even for offcuts.

It wasn't much of an update but I've been busy with lots of things just lately.

Thanks for reading....byeeeeee! :)

Motivation ... or lack of!

So, I finally got round to warping the loom, well, half of it anyways!  My problem is motivation, I don't have any!  I also have an extremely low boredom threshold and need lots of different activities to keep me interested.  All this doesn't bear well for achieving any goals....like starting the weaving project.  The main problem is the internet.  I love surfing, facebook, blogging and I'm very good at using them to get out of doing what I'm supposed to be doing.  I am the Queen of Procrastination!

At this moment in time, when I'm supposed to be warping, I'm surfing and blogging.  Trying to find some leather thong to tie my spinning wheel connecting rod to the treadle.  String breaks withing 5 minutes of use and wire doesn't last much longer.  I'm hoping leather will do the trick.  However, finding some cheap enough is a problem.  I shall keep looking though.

Anyway, my eldest daughter and her boyfriend are taking hubby and myself out for a Harvester meal tonight so I think I had better start getting ready.  I'm not driving so I can have a glass...or two...of wine, yummy! :)

If you're lucky I won't blog again for a couple of days...if not, you'll just have to put up with alcohol infused nonsense!  Tally-ho, orf I go.  Have a great night fellow bloggers! ;)

Are Humans Clever Or Just Destroyers Of Worlds?

I've just read an article, of which the link is below, about ways of cooling the Earth by 1-2 degrees.  Don't get me wrong, I'm all for saving the planet.  I consider it to be very high on my list of priorities, otherwise, what's the point in having a list of priorities without a planet?  But, I sometimes wonder whether these 'clever' sorts are doing more harm to the planet than good with some of their wacky ideas.

Instead of spending hundreds of billions of pounds on creating a massive volcano effect (which could have catastrophic adverse effects on our food sources!) why don't they spend a few billion pounds on building spaceships that can take us all to another planet to live while the Earth Mother does what she does best and heal herself without us parasitic humans causing her to become dis-eased!

Or maybe she'll resolve the problem herself and destroy the bacteria infesting her body.  As humans and the guardians of this planet for future generations we have to do something soon to reverse the damage that we have caused.  We all need to re-connect with the Earth, to not take what we have for granted because it wouldn't take much for it to be taken away and then how would we feed ourselves or clothe ourselves?  It's a frightening thought.

However, here's the article that provided the seed of deep thought for me today!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2012/feb/06/artificial-volcano-cool-planet-sun?fb=native&CMP=FBCNETTXT9038

Pagan Sun Worshippers

I really want to attend this next Imbolc or at least start one here in the south. :) ✯

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2096842/Imbolc-Festival-2012-Pagan-sun-worshippers-battle-winter-traditional-ceremony.html

Loom of Doom!

A long time ago (last summer), in a galaxy far, far away (Winchester) I bought a 4 shaft loom from an eBay seller for £50 with a view to weaving wider pieces.  It's a Dryad table loom and was in a bit of a bad state which you couldn't tell from the photos on eBay but I've given it a bit of clean and that's as far as I've got with it.  I have every intention of using, there's just one problem......it terrifies me! :)

I've never warped a 4 shaft loom before so I've had a nosey round You Tube while I've been building up courage to tackle the beast.  Today I'm taking the shafts out so I can add more heddles because it doesn't look like it has enough for what I want to do.  The long suffering Phil (hubby) thinks I should start off with something simple, like, only using 2 shafts to start off with.  You'd think after 25 years of marriage he'd know by now that I never do anything the easy way!.....TUT!  I have every intention of using all 4 shafts because I know if I can conquer that, my nerves about tackling any project will evaporate.

So, that's my plan for today.....wish me luck....and I'll let you know how I get on.  You never know I may even post a photo of my achievements ;)

Right...*deep breath*...I'm going in and I may be some time!  ✯

The Vale

My friend and I decided to go for a walk up to the Vale today.  The Vale is where our Grove meets to perform ritual.  It was a really strange feeling seeing as I had already decided to step away from the Grove for a while.  We set up an altar and started an impromptu ritual.  It didn't quite go to plan though as we were two women on our own and my friend thought she saw somebody watching us through the trees.  It turned out to be a Ranger but he moved on when he realised we weren't going to set fire to the trees...we're always very careful and carry water with us just in case we do have a mishap with a candle.  The Rangers know us up there and rely on us to inform them of any vandalism.  Then two guys walked into the Grove and started talking to us while we were in the middle of the ritual.  It was quite amusing when they realised... one of them wanted to join us and the other got a bit scared and said he had no problems with Druids but he was atheist.  His friend looked really disappointed when he wasn't allowed to join us :-).

After a rather hasty ritual we decided to take a shortcut to a field at the back where you can sometimes find antlers.  We followed a path taken by deer which more often than not led nowhere so we had to clamber over tree branches and through brambles.  It was quite the unexpected adventure.  And as it happens, we didn't find any antlers.  Maybe we'll have more luck next time.  On a warmer day...with no mud!  At least the threatened snow didn't come!  You've got to be grateful for small mercies ;-)

Frankincense May Disappear With The Trees!

http://therainforestsite.greatergood.com/clickToGive/trs/article/Frankincense-may-disappear-with-the-trees193

Imbolc - First Rites of Spring

I don't know about anyone else but I always get an excited feeling in the pit of my stomach when Imbolc comes around.  It's the first rite of Spring, the gestational period of the Goddess.  Deep in the earth, the womb of the Mother, seeds are getting ready to burst into life.  It's such an exciting, invigorating time.  A time of new life and new light.

                                                  

I love that it's downhill to summer but it still seems so very far away, especially when it's -3 deg C outside...brrrr!  I shall be lighting some white candles on my hearth and inviting Brighid into my home, asking her to protect us from disasters such as lightning, storms or floods as well as keeping my family safe from illness.  It's time to make my Brighid's cross to be hung over the hearth.

For a while now I have been thinking about taking a step away from my Grove...since Beltane last year I believe.  And I've been trying to analyse why I suddenly decided a couple of weeks ago to take the 'plunge' so to speak.  Today it came to me....it's Imbolc!  It's a time for new life, new beginnings, it's also the gestational time where the fetus is resting and growing in the womb of the Mother ready to be born.  What better time to mark the stirrings of a new Spring in my life.  I can't wait to find out what has caused me to take this break from ritual within the Grove.  Well, one thing I have started this Imbolc, is this Blog.  I'm hoping that it will help me focus on my studies by giving me a sounding board, somewhere to launch my thoughts and opinions on esoteric/spiritual matters.

So, here we are, at Imbolc 2012.  May you all be blessed with peace, harmony, light, warmth and above all else, love!

Blessed Be!  /|\
                                             

Mass grave in Dorset holds Viking mercenaries

http://archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.com/2012/01/mass-grave-in-dorset-holds-viking.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheArchaeologyNewsNet

Technology huh!?!?

Sometimes I just want to scream,  I am such a techno-idiot and it frustrates me when I can't do something.  I really want a couple of gadgets on my blog but they come up as broken when I try to add them....I must be doing something wrong and it's probably something so simple....well, to an intelligent person it is, I expect!  No that's wrong, that makes me sound really thick and I don't believe I am, I am just not technically minded.  I'm more the 'artistic' sort.  Anyway I've posted a question in the forum and I'm hoping some kind person will be able to help me.

Anyway, I'll be adding more info as soon as I'm able...right at this moment I'm meant to be cleaning the house, think I better get on with it!  Later peeps!

Hail and Welcome

I would like to say Hail and Welcome to my tree house.  It's somewhere that I feel able to post about my interests.  As you can tell, I LOVE TREES :)...and yes, I have been known to hug a few!  I am Pagan and I wanted somewhere that I felt comfortable talking about Pagan things.  However, this blog will also have posts about my other interests like spinning and weaving and wood carving.  Although they are hobbies and I don't spend as much time as I would like on them, I still feel proud every time I complete a project and would like to show them off, if that's ok with you all?  I'm one of those annoying people that like order and structure so there will probably be a few pages for you all to troll through.  So all I can say is 'have fun' and don't be afraid to say 'Hi' sometimes when you're passing by. :)