Fallen art

Tomorrow is Samhain, which, along with Beltaine, is my favourite festival of the year. It was just after Samhain last year that my life changed totally after losing my job and pushing me onto this path that I follow. Ironically enough just before Samhain a friend did a tarot reading for me saying massive change was coming soon (the cards of Death and Tower gave that away) and within 3 days that change had started to happen.

This year how I celebrate has changed, in that I am now part of a grove of Druids I celebrate each festival with and I wanted to create an offering which is especially relevant to me at this point in time.

Part of my life now is trying to be in my in touch with my creative side and allowing myself to be creative and more to the point allowing myself not to have to create everything perfectly. The striving for perfection has been a massive block to my creativity – my ego not allowing me to do anything unless I am going to be the best or perfect. To be honest this doesn’t just interfer with being creative, but a lot of my life!

So, I wanted to create an offering using natural mediums and not get hung up on it being perfect.

Leaves are symbolic for me at this time of year, so I created a wreath out of fallen leaves

 

Wreath of leaves (sorry about the carpet!)

As I have to take it to my ritual tomorrow night it is one complete item, I have sewn it together using cotton, so it is all biodegradable.

Different view

Sorry about the light in these photos and they are not entirely clear what it is.

It is three rings of leaves painstakingly sewn together! It took over an hour and had to be done rather gently to stop the leaves tearing. So I can carry it to my ritual and leave it as an offering, which will rot away in the not too distant future.I think it would have looked better with different colours of leaves, but they are all brown around here, rather than magnificent reds or oranges. This is the first  year I have spent here, so I am not sure if that is normal, I am  used to beautiful hues!

While I was at it I made a couple of small bunches to go around my house.

Natural festive decorations

So, Samhain blessings to you all.

Morning routine and balance

Up until really, really recently I would sleep until the last possible moment, throw myself out of bed, dash around like a lunatic, chuck on some clothes, run my fingers through my hair, grab my bag and bound out the door.

Strangely enough this was never a particularly calm and relaxing start to the day.

On two separate occasions I have fallen down our stairs, causing my OH to start out of bed to make sure I hadn’t broken myself on the way down.

About a month ago I decided that I couldn’t do this anymore.

So, since then I get out of bed early – two hours before I need to leave home – walk s-l-o-w-l-y down the stairs and do a half an hour yoga or pilates session. I meditate for a while and then make a pot of redbush tea. I  drink this while I do some work in my journal, a mixture of thoughts, feelings, hopes, dreams, creative writing and my attempts at learning to draw.

Then I go and get dressed, making sure my other half is up so he gets to work. If he is feeling particularly awake he might join me for breakfast, if not I will eat it on my own while I read some blogs.

I love my morning routine and I have managed to stick to it as well (aside from being ill for two days). It is great to eat breakfast and feel fuelled for the day ahead, if my OH joins me, it is especially wonderful, but if  not I savour my time alone. I do not do any housework during this time, it is my ME time and any form of housework makes me feel annoyed or stressed out. (I will do a post on this at a later time)

Now I have been doing this a month I am looking to ways I can improve it. I really want a pretty teapot that is just the right size with small chinese/japanese bowls. And part of me wants to get up a bit earlier to get more me time!

Of course, the tradeoff is I have to be in bed early, but wow it is worth it! As my life is getting busier and more stressful than it has been for a long time I think it is going to be even more important to keep this ritual going. Cynics have said I am not going to get the time to do this as my course gets busier.

But I have decided I am worth the time to make myself healthy and spiritually strong.

My story

So, how did I get to this point? This is the second time I’ve written this post, the first it got very very long (about 3 posts) and overly personal, so this is the cut down version!

I have always been quite green in my outlook, partly as being pagan, partly because I grew up in the country and partly when I was younger I remember bugging my parents not to buy things with CFCs in them and to recycle, my Blue Peter environment book was always with me! My mum was always quite frugal and taught me about saving well. I disregarded that for about 5 years and got in a bit of a state, but I am now back on track with being frugal.

I have been working as a marketing manager for the past 8 years, promoting IT and telecoms. It made me desperately unhappy and I spent to make up for this. I stopped spending and bought my flat in November 2007, which made me very happy, but I still hated my job!

Then in November 2008 I lost my job. I couldn’t find another job and so I decided to take the opportunity to reassess my life – I moved in with my boyfriend, rented my flat out (for £350 less than the mortgage payment) and as of this week I am starting teacher training – something I have always wanted to do.

So now, I am living on very little money – I have a part time marketing job, which pays well and I will be a student. I would be ok, but I have to make up my mortgage payment (negative equity means selling isn’t an option at the moment). However, I am so much much happier and I try to make my life as green and frugal as possible for ME. As Julie and Eilleen pointed out small steps and small candles.  I create art in the widest sense of the word because I have to, this includes this blog, singing, making things, playing music, dancing, photography (although you wouldn’t know it from the photos on this blog so far), writing and so much more. I was never able to do this in the past, partly I think because working in a job I hated and now I am following my true will.

Love is the new religion

Photo from creative commons licence, creator: "D Sharon Pruitt"

I found this beautiful manifesto via Phillip Carr Gomm’s blog, Phillip is the head of the Order of Bards Ovates and Druids.

Apparently the original version of this had a lot of ‘I’ in it and somewhere along the line of the many rounds of emails and internet memes it has been through, someone has edited it to ‘we’. And made it a lot better in my opinion.

Enough waffling – here it is.

LOVE IS THE NEW RELIGION/ A SPIRITUAL CONSPIRACY

On the surface of the world right now there is
war and violence and things seem dark.
But calmly and quietly, at the same time,
something else is happening underground
An inner revolution is taking place
and certain individuals are being called to a higher light.

It is a silent revolution.
From the inside out. From the ground up.
This is a Global operation.
A Spiritual Conspiracy.

There are sleeper cells in every nation on the planet.
You won’t see us on the T.V.
You won’t read about us in the newspaper
You won’t hear about us on the radio
We don’t seek any glory
We don’t wear any uniform
We come in all shapes and sizes, colors and styles

Most of us work anonymously
We are quietly working behind the scenes
in every country and culture of the world
Cities big and small, mountains and valleys,
in farms and villages, tribes and remote islands
You could pass by one of us on the street
and not even notice

We go undercover
We remain behind the scenes
It is of no concern to us who takes the final credit
But simply that the work gets done
Occasionally we spot each other in the street
We give a quiet nod and continue on our way

During the day many of us pretend we have normal jobs
But behind the false storefront at night
is where the real work takes a place
Some call us the Conscious Army
We are slowly creating a new world
with the power of our minds and hearts

We follow, with passion and joy
Our orders come from from the Central Spiritual Intelligence
We are dropping soft, secret love bombs when no one is looking
Poems — Hugs — Music — Photography — Movies — Kind words —
Smiles — Meditation and prayer — Dance — Social activism — Websites – Blogs — Random acts of kindness…

We each express ourselves in our own unique ways
with our own unique gifts and talents
Be the change you want to see in the world
That is the motto that fills our hearts
We know it is the only way real transformation takes place
We know that quietly and humbly we have
the power of all the oceans combined

Our work is slow and meticulous
Like the formation of mountains
It is not even visible at first glance
And yet with it entire tectonic plates
shall be moved in the centuries to come

Love is the new religion of the 21st century
You dont have to be a highly educated person
Or have any exceptional knowledge to understand it
It comes from the intelligence of the heart
Embedded in the timeless evolutionary pulse of all human beings

Be the change you want to see in the world
Nobody else can do it for you
We are now recruiting
Perhaps you will join us
Or already have.
All are welcome
The door is open.

(Anon edited version of Brian Piergrossi original)

I think it is amazing and really sums up what many of us do. We create art (in the widest sense of the word) for no reason other than we have to. Something in us makes us want to create – baking, sewing, writing, drawing, singing, playing for no reason. And the scary thing is…we are not getting paid. We are not making money from it. It gives us pleasure, which we control, we rely on no-one else for it. Can you see how radical that is and how it scares people who seek to control us via the television, football, patriarchy, shopping and everything else?

And many of us share our joy in the things we create and do, all for free. I’m not charging you to read this, you wouldn’t think to pay for it. My blog is my gift to me and to you. And your gift to me is to comment, or just to take something from it – a smile, a thought or a radical need to over throw the shackles of oppression!