Changes in the making

So it has been a busy few days. Friday evening I got my new (to me) car at Carmax. I traded the old truck in. She had 173,000 miles on her and I had her for 11 years. The new VW GTI is a zippy sports car. I feel like it is my mid-life crisis car in some ways. This weekend I ripped the carpet out of my dining room and exposed some sort of fake hardwood that was pretty rough. I've got to get some of the remaining adhesive off. In the meantime, I also primed the walls and ceiling of the dining room. Then on Monday the folks from Lee Heating and Air Conditioning came to start the installation of a new heating system and I'm finally installing central air conditioning. The electricians have redone a good chunk of the electrical work that needed to be done. No longer will I have to sleep in the living room to stay cool on those hot summer nights when it doesn't drop below 75 degrees. Woohoo. I've also managed to start ripping the wall paper off in the kitchen. It just kinda happened. The house looks like a wreck, but....magic is afoot.

I'm getting this real sense that I'm getting ready for something. I don't know what it is. I'm preparing for something. I was driving down the road yesterday and felt like I was going to be offered a job somewhere. I'm not fixing the house up to flip it and sell it by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm also wondering why things are shifting in this way. Mind you, I'm not complaining at all. I've needed this shift. I've not felt this good about myself for nearly five years. The goddess's blessings are raining on me right now and for that I'm grateful.

More later.
 

Thinking of magic

I was reading my friend Beth's blog today. It is the new moon. The new moon is a time to begin things and a time of wishing and making things happen. So I've been brewing in my magical life some thoughts on some magic. First, let me tell you a story. Last year at Dreamroads Witchcamp, I took part in a ritual that was a more impromptu ritual. I had know that I wanted and felt called to spinning. At supper one of my friends said, "Oh, well, I'll bring my knitting needles and knit." Another one of the teaching team said, "Well, why don't I bring the scissors." Unbeknownst to us, we didn't quite follow the "rules" that some people thought we should. However, when we are listening to and acting on our callings, rules are not the first and foremost in our minds. It is about serving the divine. Yet, that is another story.

So after the circle was cast and the directions were called, Angela, Kathy and I stepped into the center and I started spinning, Kathy knitting and Angela cutting. It was the three Norns. Things started happening. We started speaking about the need to cut old patterns, create knew ones. Unraveling what we have done, so that we could create something anew. All that has stuck with me since last August.

With the Maryland wool and Sheep Show, Morgaine said something about doing a four day workshop that started with the raw fleece and worked our way through a knitted object. That has been sticking with me too. The place I start is with the natural world. That is, what is it that I have to know about sheep/goats/alpacas/llamas, their wool, and their care? What is our relationship with those creatures? Their own inate beauty. Then the magic starts for me. Washing the fleece, cleaning it and preparing it to be combed or carded. Dyeing comes next. The magic of fire and water. The magic of color and beauty. Then the spinning. Then the knew patterns we create. Then the final product. A pair of socks, sweaters, or shawls. The combination of the natural world, the will as human beings, with respect and integrity, to create and blend with the magic around us, and then end up with a thing of beauty that begs to ask the question: What is the relationship we have with the natural world around us now?

I don't know, but something is here for me. It is a piece of work that is beginning to call me. It is a piece of work that exemplifies other things such as wine making, bread baking, pottery and more. We start with the natural world, let magic move through our bodies and use our will to create things of beauty and practicality. Wow! What do you think?

 

Maryland Wool and Sheep Show

Last Saturday I went to the Maryland Wool and Sheep Show. It was fun. This is the second year I've gone. Last year, I had helped my friend Morgaine with her booth and didn't spend much time with the show. This year the entire day was spent roaming and shopping. I strolled through the sheep barns and couldn't resist taking a picture of the two little lambs in the photo.  It whisked me back to the days we used to go to the fair and my daddy would love to go through the barns to look at the cows. I never understood why, but now, well, let's just say, "the apple doesn't seem to fall to far from the tree."

It seems that the show really is a show, the bring the sheep into the show ring and judge them for a variety of things. Most are judged on their fleeces and other breed standards. It was fun watching the wide variety of sizes, shapes, genders, and ages of people showing in the show ring. There was one woman who had to be in her 70s or 80s and the announcer called her "grandma." She was able to handle the sheep as easily as the 35 year old man next to her. It was fun.

Of course there are the vendors. I couldn't get away without buying some paraphenelia of the event, a t-shirt and cap. However, most important is they have 5 barns with vendors. Most of the vendors sold fiber related things. There were some potters and woodcarvers amidst the crowds. However, there were also some fine artists selling the end products, such as rugs, felted pictures, etc. I bought some beautiful red roving for spinning to make a sweater. I also bought some samples of another gold colored roving and some alpaca roving to spin. It'll be a fun experiment.

This speaks for itself

Beltane Magic

I woke up on Tuesday morning with a dream that ended in a song. It has stuck with me for the past three days. It is one of those to take note of because in the dream I was thinking about a song and was in some ritual, and without any prompting other participants were singing without me teaching the song.

"The door is awakening, let come what may. The door is awakening, come on in and play."

OK. There it is, anybody know what that means??