July full moon in Woodford

the full moon in the sign of Aquarius today. naming my moon down here for me...according to the information that I received at witches school a few weeks ago - it is the frost moon... but the past week I have been observing just what is happening in my neighbourhood and the first thing that comes to mind is the early flowering wattle which is blooming all through the bush right now... bringing sunshine on cold and cloudy days.. a brilliant burst of gold...

The winter flowering wattle is also blooming and the wattle birds are making a racket. with their kak, kak-kak call.. as they chase other birds away from the Scribbly bark eucalypt that is in white flower now & the magpies are starting to warble...so I am going to name this July moon -
"The WINTER-WATTLE MAGPIE MOON" because the yellow blooms of the wattle brighten up the green-grey of the bush, the call of the wattle bird tells me that spring is not far away and the magpies begin their breeding in July....the flowering plums are swelling in bud, the violets are in flower.. there is a slight hint spring although the day is still cold. If this July moon was at the beginning of July, I would probably call it "THE FROST MOON" or even "THE COLD STILL MOON"

time to put crystals out tonight to get their full moon boost. Last month every single crystal of mine went out and bathed in the moonlight so this full moon I am only putting a few out... my amethyst is going out because it is used constantly..placed under my bed to bring peace and calm to my soul as i sleep. The other one that is going out is the large smoky quartz cluster that sits in front of my computer screen to absorb negtivity from the internet... both will be cleaned today, smudged then placed outside overnight.

*~* I hope your day is filled with butterflies, magick, colour & fripperies! ~*~

coming into the Goddess age or : my croning ceremony continues ~

On January 1st, 1958, I will turn 50. I have reached what Daisy called 'the goddess age'

some of you have missed the post & have emailed me about it and I thought I would re-post it for those of you who may like to join...

On November 25 when the full moon is in Gemini, I am having a sacred ceremony to welcome me to the Goddess age, to take my place and journey with all the wise women who have gone before me. My friend is going to be celebrant and it will be held in my sacred space under my pine tree, where the faeries live. After the ceremony we will have a feast! And on Janary 1st, I am having a faery party with my friends and your little piece of nature will be taking pride of place.. and I hope you will don your faery wings as Daisy said she would.

As I have so many friends who have supported me and been with me through my past blogging life, I want them to be there too.. and they will - by sending me a small item from nature and some words of wisdom that touch their heart. If you have missed the post and would like to join.. I would be honoured and blessed to have you at my table..

so coming up to 50, I am going to plan a Croning Ceremony. I have been reading about it in a book I have - Sacred Ceremony by Steven Farmer ~ I hope you will all come and celebrate with me! if you want to be part of this 'coming of age' of mine then this is what YOU will have to do before November 1oth: post me some words of wisdom - they can be a poem, words of wisdom that mean something special or even your own thoughts, plus a crystal or stone that is indigenous to your part of the world (it can be a bought crystal or one you find on a walk.. or even a shell if you live near the beach)... (the reason I am asking this is, that I want a little bit of each friends' world on the altar at my celebratory circle. there will be a few other things that I may request but I will keep the request small so that you won't need to get a loan for the postage. I will also need your birth date. And you will need to choose a goddess name as these will be invoked at the ceremony. You will also have to purchase a candle and a few other bits n pieces along the way.... it will be a fun thing I hope - who knews where it might lead?

MY part of the bargain is to send YOU a package on your birthday next year. That way, I can make each little package specially for each person with a crystal that I believe will be the one for them

...so after all that, if you are still interested let me know.
keep reading my croning blog ... there will be lots of little rituals for you to do,not compulsory of course!, there are little giveaways everynow and then and as it is growing like topsy, there is even a Goddess Creation blog and other stuff that I am discovering on this little sidetrack journey of mine
the Croning of miss*R

being five again and a gift-a-way!

sometimes, we can get so caught up in being an adult that we forget to be little girls.. I emailed a friend a few days ago and asked how old she was, of course this is quite rude to do, I know that, but I am not one for following rules anymore... and she told me her age and then said 'but today I think I am going to be 5.... I immediately replied that I wanted to be 5 too !*!

so yesterday, I put on my bright red cardie, the one that I bought fro $3 in the local op-shop, the one like Nana's wear and off I went to the $2 shop which is probably equivalent to Daisy's poundland. I bought myself some faery wings and a bubble blower and some butterflies to hang in my quiet space on my verandah. Then I went and bought 2 cup cakes.. one for me and one for the faeries. They like gifts you know, especially sweet things. When I got home, I went outside and blew bubbles to my hearts content. Just sitting under the pine tree where the faeries live, happily blowing bubbles - swinging my legs, having fun. Then I sat down with all seriousness and consumed my cupcake with relish - first nibbling the cake then enjoying the icing immensely!

*above are the cupcakes - I buy them from my favourite bread shop - Bakehouse on Wentworth.. these are to die for, really. The small one for the faeries is butter cake with pink icing.. there is more icing than cake... and for the piggywiggy which is me - is the large chocolate cupcake with mint icing and a flower decoration*
and, and, and ! ...... in my local paper this week there is a workshop starting on Thursday afternoons. The Artists way by Julia Cameron - a 13 week course to be held in bushland settings.. I cannot believe it! I have been 'asking' for this for ages and now here it is. I have decided to drop out of Witch School - it was just too intense for me.. I want fun! The witch classes were too structured and just too 'witchy' if there is such a thing...I am not into dipping the athame into the chalice and holding it up and all of that stuff, I really just want a connection with the earth.. that is what my spirit is drawn to, if only there were DaisyLupin Hedgewitchery classes *sigh* ... but something will come along that is perfect for me - it will come at the right time. I know it.






and to celebrate the inner child, I am going to have a little gift-a-way.. so if you want to be in the draw for a package full of absolute nonsense that will make you laugh out loud and then wonder what the hell you are going to do with it...then comment here.... in one week I will announce a winner!

*~* I hope your day is filled with butterflies, magick, colour & fripperies! ~*~

and reading on through the BoS

first of all, I thought I should point out that this altered Book of Shadows was started at the beginning of the year - Daisy & I had decided to make each other one.. I have nearly finished this.. just a few more things to stick in and once I have finished showing it here, it will be safely tucked into my birdie friends beak, on its way to SweetPea.

So, next in the book is the magick page ~

Daisy always stressed to me to be careful of 'black magic' on the internet.... I would find this 'spell' or that incantation and she would say to me that I should never trust things that I find on the internet.. she often said that I was too trusting, that there were alot of 'weirdos' out there ... so when I found these words in a vintage magazine, I just had to stick them in... and the little picture on the left is one that was in an old encylopedia - a little girl sitting with her *hare* gazing at faeryland - perfect, don't you think?

next we have Midsummer - often known for the madness of it all - the veil between worlds is thin and the fae are close to us at this time... I used mauve tissue on the left page and a gold pen to write.. then on the right hand side - I cut a window through many layers of pages and put some tuille over the opening..... to make it look like a veil.. then I used a dragonfly stamp and stamped madly all over the page.. a few glittery stickers and some gold glitter around the opening... then over the page:

I painted with shiny mauve paint and I pinned a faery.. so that when you actually look through the veil on the previous page, you can see the faery charm! the words I found somewhere and they reminded me of something that Daisy & I discussed often - our belief in faeries as young children......

then we have Lughnasadh or Lammas - the 'loaf-mass'. I painted the pages bright yellow as this is one of the colours for this 'sabbat' and found a black and white picture of an oak branch. I coloured those in with my water colours. On the right hand page, I wrote a 'herb gathering blessing' and then went into my garden and gathered some herbs.. and dried them. Once they dried - I tied them with ribbon and pinned them to the page.

and above is a close up of the words for the herb blessing...each time I started to create a new page, it became my favourite... there is quite a few more pages to come... hope you are enjoying them!

the full moon is coming up on July 30th - time to put your crystals out in the moonlight.. I usually put mine all on a large tray and put them to be charged ovrnight under the full moon. Yesterday, I spent a few hours in my garden, weeding and tidying up.... it was quite warm. One of those days that lull you into a false sense of spring...... my violets are blooming profusely and while i was in the garden, the perfume was heavenly.I saw a Robin redbreast!
tomorrow I am off to an angel course..yes, another course! We learn how to sing with the angels and how to imbue our crystals with angelic energies... oneday, I am sure I will find the exact right course or group that sits ok with me.

I also just want to say that I am so blessed to have so many of you commenting.. it touches my heart and I am very grateful that you take time to do so. .. I feel so loved and cherished and yes, I feel I am wrapped in a cocoon of love . xoxo

*~* I hope your day is filled with butterflies, magick, colour & fripperies! ~*~

seasons & a sensitive new-age bird

these are our official seasons down here:
December, January, February are summer. March, April, May are autumn. June, July, August are our winter months and September, October and November are springtime... of course Mother Nature takes no notice of this official calendar on the whole.... I hope to take you through a seasonal journey through my garden and life, as the wheel turns. Just by observing what is happening around me. Our seasons are so different to many of my friends in the Northern hemisphere. I am adding information to my Book of Shadows... about my garden and what I observe.. it is coming along fine and it sits right within my soul.... at last I am feeling a belonging here.

yesterday, I got together and had coffee with my friends down the road, Marion and Eric. We had Marion's home-made shortbread which was delicious, we sat and chatted for an hour or so until we realized it was nearly lunchtime..... after Eric went home, Marion wanted to show me something in her garden..

it was a male Satin Bower bird and his bower. These birds make a bower out of reeds and grasses, to attract a mate and they decorate it with all manner of bright blue objects that they beg, borrow or steal from all-over. We have blue pegs go missing, bits of plastic, plastic lids from milk bottles

and apparently, this Mister Bowerbird has many lady admirers because his bower is so wonderfully creatively decorated...I went back and took some photos. He sat in a tree watching me.. after I took the photos, I left a little offering, just a little way from his bower... some bright blue ribbons, some blue feathers and a button... I don't think he was too pleased with me, when I arrived, he was busy courting a miss Bowerbird... showing off and making a real noise of it too!

next time I go back, I will see what he did with my gifts. I took a few photos so that you could see just how he places all the bits n pieces around his bower. The larger pottery pieces were made by Marion who is a potter. She has an amazing garden, all built on the cliff face. She has a pond with frogs in it, a resident snake and lots of birds. She doesn't have children and spends most of her time in her garden, cooking and potting. She buys most of her clothes from op-shops and always looks wonderful! She scours cleanup campaigns for all types of stuff and comes up with the most amazing creations. She grows most of her own vegetables and fruit and this year she had 26 pumpkins on her vine, which is a mean feat, given the sandy soil of our area.

aren't these birds amazing? I think they are native to Australia. They feed mostly on fruits throughout the year. During summer, which is their breeding season, their diet is supplemented with a large number of insects, while leaves are often eaten during the winter months. I quite often see mother bowerbird flying through my garden in summer with my lovely cherry tomatoes in her beak. They can be quite destructive in the fruit and vegetable garden.

(Click on images for detail ~ you will see the bower in the middle of some photos)

*~* I hope your day is filled with butterflies, magick, colour & fripperies! ~*~

crystals and springtime

I know that there is still one more month of winter, officially. But yesterday, there was that hint of spring, that feeling of growth. A feeling in my soul. I was inside cleaning my bathroom thinking of the coming of springtime and the magpies started carolling. They could feel it too! They are calling to each other, finding places to build their nest, to keep the circle going.. The flowering plums and cherries are ready to burst into flower, the pear tree is getting ready to put on her spring outfit once again, with the promise of spring... but not just yet... the faeries know of the fickleness that is sometimes Mother's nature.....if they allow their charges to burst into flower just yet - the clothes could be zapped off with Jack Frost....

one of my biggest loves are crystals. I have done a few courses on crystal healing and once a month I go and have a crystal healing and balancing. I truly believe that crystals can help our body heal itself. I don't believe that they are magick in such a way that you place a crystal on some part of your body and it instantly takes the illness away. Our bodies, our chakras, our homes.... in fact most things in our lives, all have different vibrational frequencies... and there is a crystal that matches each vibration... sometimes our bodies and chakras start vibrating or spinning abnormally, bringing dis-ease and unbalance. This is where crystals come into there own. Much like a tuning fork, to help the body come back into balance at a healthy vibration. Crystals can also work on this level to re-balance the energy in room or space. You do not need a crystal to be touching you to benefit from its use.

some of you have asked how to choose a crystal, how you know which one is 'right' for you... well, I believe that crystals choose us, not the other way around, ... when I want a crystal for myself, I just go into the shop and start to browse - touching, holding and seeing which crystal resonates.. which one makes my hand tingle or something inside, says yes! this is the one for me. I have been known to walk around the shop for half an hour just holding a crystal to feel its vibration. If you are drawn to a particular crystal because of its colour or shape, then this is good enough reason to buy it!
unless of course you want a specific crystal for a specific problem - if that is the case, I suggest doing some research into the healing properties of crystals to find just which crystal is appropriate then go and let it find you.
There is one difficulty that I face often, when I go to buy a crystal. I find that they are all so beautiful that I want to buy them all. So the best guide is really your own instinct. If you like it and it feels good in your hand then it is the right one for you. Trust yourself.
When buying crystals for someone else, I just really use the same process, keeping them in my thoughts as I wander around the shop. You are buying the crystal out of love, friendship and kindness - all positive energies, which will only attract the same..

*~* I hope your day is filled with butterflies, magick, colour & fripperies! ~*~

the essence & aura of Woodford

when we first bought this house, I fell in love with the village of Woodford. There is something that sets the village apart from the other mountain towns. it isn't grand by any means, it isn't a tourist attraction and if you are driving through it, if you blink, you could miss it. There is an aura, a presence and I believe it is the faye. It is also part of the area where our ancient native Australians, our indigenous race, the aboriginal people lived, before the first road was built, people who were connected very closely to the land. A people who believed in the "dreamtime"


Yesterday, when I was out in the garden, near my chook pen - I felt this presence. While I was looking up into the gum tree, trying to see just what birds were making a racket, I felt a sense of peace, a sense of belonging, I felt as if I were one with the breeze, the earth.. just a part of the whole, as one.... and I said out loud 'I love Woodford, I love my home'. I wanted someone to know that, I wanted someone to realize that I was feeling a connection to our land... I wanted to assure myself that what I was feeling was very real...... and out of the corner of my eye, I saw a flicker of someone, something and quickly turned around but 'it' was gone. But I KNOW someone was there. This feeling of absolutely loving my home, and feeling part of the whole essence of Mother earth is something so fleeting that I want to grab it with two hands and put it into a bottle....


yeterday, was another cold winters day but I had it all to myself! so I played on the computer for awhile, then I went out into the garden, trimmed the lemon tree, picked a basket of oranges and lemons. Then I made myself a sandwich and snuggled down to read the book, then promptly went to sleep ...I don't know what is wrong with me lately, I sleep alot in the day time, like bear does.. hibernating from the cold. After i woke up, I took a trip to my friends place. She is a crystal healer and she had made me up some flower essences.. to help with this loneliness of soul that I constantly feel now. We had a cup of tea and a long chat about metaphysical things... and then I came home, so that I could sit in front of the fire and read some more... a lovely lazy winters day..

oh & before I forget, the winner of the Imboc gift-away is Ninnie. My birdies are ready to go but I still have a few things to gather before I let them fly off with it....

*~* I hope your day is filled with butterflies, magick, colour & fripperies! ~*~

Harry Potter and the scrap bag post !!

still awfully chilly here in Woodford, not much I could do in the garden today. Generally trying to tidy up after the windy weather. I spent a few hours under the pine tree, where the faeries live, raking and picking up pine cones. I use these for kindling, so now I have a lovely collection in the red cane basket on my verandah. Yesterday, I had a delivery from Diggers Club - my organic rhubarb crown and also the blueberry bush that I ordered in autumn.... now to find somewhere to put them. it is so hard when you look out the window, itching to get into the garden and it is just too cold. Although I believe, our cold weather is very mild to many of my blogging friends... but I can assure you, we make up for the cold with the extreme of heat in summer. I put a pot of beef & barley soup on this morning and it has been simmering away all day. We will be having that for dinner. There is nothing more soul nurturing and satisfying than a bowl of warm soup on a cold day


Every morning for the last week or so, I have noticed the rainbow lorikeets up in the eucalypt tree, nextdoor. They make a cacophony of noise... I am not sure what they are up to maybe there are nuts or flowers that they feed on. They are there for a short time, maybe 15 to 20 mins.. then they all fly off. I wonder where? I have made a note in my journal so that next year, I can see if there visit is an annual occurrence..then it can be part of my seasons of the year wheel. I vaguely remember them from years before but not sure if it was around the same time.. I also noticed on my way to a meeting this afternoon, that the early blooming wattles are in flower....I must take some photos next week, another thing that I can put into my own seasons wheel.

today is the day I got my final Harry Potter book..it was on order and Joe picked it up for me from our local bookshop. Well, not really the local bookshop, Woodford only has a post office but our main town is Springwood about 10 mins away by car. So the book is sitting on my snuggly chair ready and waiting. I am a little hesitant to pick it up - once I get my head in it, I will be there til I finish it and being the last book, I want to savour it for as long as i can.
Tomorrow is supposed to bring the same weather - overcast and chilly so I am not sure what I will be doing. Joe is going for a ride, but it is just too cold for me to be doing that...so I may finish the Imbolc gift that will be drawn tomorrow and a few other promised projects that have been on my 'art' table for ages and I will take a wander around and take some photos. must go now... I am off to see Harry Potter !

*~* I hope your day is filled with butterflies, magick, colour & fripperies! ~*~

sacred space

a lovely day today, one of those days when you don't really have anything planned and you can just do as you please. I was standing at my kitchen sink, early this morning just looking out the window and a flock of little sparrows flew onto the grass, twittering in glee. Our lawn is not a model lawn, it is full of weeds and seeds and the birdies were having a delightful time finding seeds. It must have been such a find for them in this cold weather.... when it gets warmer, I plan to take time each day, to sit under the apple tree and get to know the birds...so that they will know me and trust me...i love little house sparrows, some say they are pests, but if you look closely, the are such sweet little birds.. oh and I was nominated *twice* for the blogger reflection award - by Julie Marie and also Annie from Bimbindie.... thankyou.... I am not sure what the criteria for this award is.... but someone who makes me think and go deep into my soul is Colette a bird in the hand - she made me poke my tongue out at those who hounded me about my beliefs... she is LOVE...her soul is gentle, sweet and kind....TO Colette, I give this reflection badge with love I have noticed a few bloggers have created altars or have been thinking about creating one...
I remember when I first read somewhere about having an altar and I didn't really take to the idea - an altar to me was either a holy sacred place where only the priest could be or somewhere that sacrifices were made, so I had a hard time creating one in my home. Until I did an angel & faery 'course' a few years ago. Then I took to it like a duck takes to water.... now i have them everywhere. I even realised that I had altars already in my home~ the little stool where I have photos of my ancestors with flowers and a candle - that is my ancestry altar. I have them inside and outside.... I believe there are no rules at all when it comes to creating an altar - all you need is a dedicated flat space, like a table or bench. And then the fun begins.... just collect things that bring you joy, items that reflect who you are and items that are in keeping with the theme of your altar (if there is a theme) - I have an altar in my entry way at my back door which doesn't really have a theme - maybe it would be better to show in pictures......


above is the altar that everyone sees as they enter my home.. it is just a mismatched jumble of nature and changes at a whim.. a stone from my grandson... willow sticks and some branches collected for me by my daughter... the St Therese and the i-ching coins, the citrine crystal are always there...I decorate this seasonally with candles...it is all very rustic - then we have the altar in the bathroom

a statue of Kwan Yin that Joe gave me for our anniversary and some winter bath salts... sometimes I have flowers as well and maybe a candle if I am having a lovely relaxing bath... and next we have my main altar

this altar is in my sacred room - it is the altar where I pray, meditate, talk to the angels, cry, sob, beg & plead... the place where i manifest... when I set this one up, I took time to gather various bits to place on it and when I was done, I performed a ritual - I cleared the space with sage and a crystal wand... I consecrated the altar and anointed it with consecration oil... on it I placed my oracle cards so that they would be blessed and sacred.. a candle always, my crystal pendulums and other bits that bring the sacredness into my focus.. I placed a piece of my ancient apple tree that I plan on making a wand from, to imbue it with angelic energy... my twin soul crystal is on this altar too

I also have an altar in my dining room which I decorate for each Sabbat - at the moment this is quite bare as I usually clear it off before a sabbat in preparation.... of gathering items to suit the sabbat - crystals, candles and other bits n pieces..... I was going to take a photo of my altar outside under the pine tree where the faeries live but it was just too cold.. so when the warmer weather arrives, I will trot of outside and take some photos to share.
I believe we can never have too many altars.. the most important thing to remember when you want to create a sacred alta, is that it is YOUR altar and you should do what is comfortable and what feels right for you - THERE ARE NO RULES

oh and don't forget that my Imbolc giveaway closes on Sunday... you need to comment on the post that mentions it a week or so ago.

Daisy's altered Book of Shadows *3*

a little more on the Book of Shadows... a page of herbs and spells. I have an old book that I found at a garage sale, about herbs, so I cut a page from that and stuck it on the left hand page...then I put a transfer over it to make it look kind of mediaeval...


and on the right hand side - I printed out a spell for herbs. I then made holes in the side, tied ribbon through and then rubbed watercolour chalk all over it, with the intent of making it look old...then we have the next Sabbat - Beltane

I wanted to make it look like Spring so I painted the pages green and found some yellow Daisies in an old gardening magazine, plus some of my own dried flowers, some fabric flowers and stickers. I made a Beltane wreath on the right hand page and as you can see, the words Blessed Beltane on the left. Also an australian floral stamp.... and on to the moon.


I definitely wanted to include the moon in the book as that is something that Daisy and I discussed nearly every day....I had this old photo, don't know who it is but it reminded me of Daisy and I - if we had been friends when we were little.... and I loved the saying underneath.. it was perfect! I painted glue all over the page and stuck blue tissue paper over it.. then made a moon from cardboard, painted it with beeswax and stuck it on.. then I painted glue all over and sprinkled glitter all over it as Daisy was THE GLITTER QUEEN.. she loved it. If you look closely you will see tiny star brads holding the pages together plus a 'diamante' just near the moon....and lastly for this trip through the book.... we have Cornwall . . . . .

and of course I had to include Cornwall - being the home of Daisy's soul.... a place that she loved and shared with me through photos, emails and even helping to trace my roots. She understood my yearning to visit oneday. I was flicking through a magazine once a year or so ago and came across an article about Cornwall - i loved it so i tore it out and put it into my 'must keep for some reason' box and this book was the reason. On the right, I roughly painted a colour that to me looked like and old page and hand wrote the words: " I found myself falling deeply in love with this strange land ~ Britain's most western outpost. Where Holy wells hide under the fuschia hedges and stone circles litter the empty moors" - don't you think that perfectly describes Daisy's love for Cornwall. They are words that make my soul gasp. On the left I ripped out a section of the coast of Cornwall making it look rugged and I made a pocket out of it..sticking down the side and the bottom so I could tuck into it :

a little story that I found in an old encyclopedia plus an old postcard that I found in my friends antique store

so that is the trip today. I am also delighted to say that Daisy's daughter has said she would love to have this book after I have finished sharing it... that just makes my heart so happy - to think that it will be treasured by someone so closely connected to my soul twin.

no snow but in the minus numbers today again... so cold. I am desperate to get into my garden but it is just not pleasant so I guess I will have to compromise and go to our local craft shop and buy some supplies..like I need them. But a girl has to do what a girl has to do....

*ps - thanks for the comments yesterday, I get myself into such a dither sometimes, worrying about 'what' I am..... I have an urge to constantly put myself into a box, to label myself.. knowing full well that I don't do well with rules.... I love when you take the time, to let me know that you have visited - that is what blogging friendships are all about xoxo*

*~* I hope your day is filled with butterflies, magick, colour & fripperies! ~*~

another 'path' and a confession of sorts

oh lord it is cold - this has to be the coldest winter for many years. We have been warned that snow will most probably fall as low as 600 mtrs in the next few days - that means here in Woodford as well. And here I was thinking only yesterday that spring must be near - there were a pair of magpies checking out the trees so that they could be building their nest... the moon is starting to wax again and last night there was a tiny sliver peeking through the clouds. So the moon is showing her face again and my soul rejoices! The poor little birdies would have had a hard time this morning trying to have a bath - the bird bath was frozen solid. I take my grandson to school 3 days a week and this morning, he came in all rugged up - beanie, scarf & gloves... brr it was cold. My car was beeping and flashing lights on the dash, telling me it was cold, like I didn't know.... I hope it does snow, although living here in the mountains it is not that much fun when it does - the tourists come in their droves to see it. From Sydney, they make the 2 hour trek.. all excited, hoping to see snow. Silly things, they don't know how to drive in the conditions and alot end up on the side of the road or worse, skidding into fences, trees or each other. When it comes to tourists, I guess you could say, I am the classic 'grumpy old woman'

*above is my bird bath, this morning - I just hope my birdie friends had their ice skates with them!*

I have been trying to keep my blog light-hearted but my spiritual journey is a very big part of me... so, the confession of sorts - just the past few weeks, I have been questioning my belief system again.... probably since I started at Witches school. I know I am not a christian, that is, I don't follow the teachings of Christ or more truthfully, I don't like to follow rules of religions - but I don't even know if I am a witch either... going to the classes has made me question this. The class is fun and I take great delight in learning about the seasons and the moon and all manner of other stuff, but they seem to be so serious about it all. I don't agree with alot of the beliefs and some of it makes me feel downright uneasy. One woman was talking about 'sacred prostitution' and was waffling on how it can save marriages... I don't know a thing about it, so will say nothing til I research. The more I read about celtic wisdom and lore, the more I find myself saying yes. Reading the book 366 Celt, my soul nods. Actually I can highly recommend this book for an easy understanding of Celtic lore. (366 Celt, a year and a day of Celtic wisdom and lore by Carl McColman)
TAKEN FROM THE PATH OF NATURE -366 CELT:
"whether you are a Celt by ancestry or by the stirrings of your heart, if you embrace the Celtic tradition, you are a part of it....Celtic spirituality is not a museum installation; it is a living path of insight and illumination. Consider how you can honor the goddess of the land and allow the grace of nature to flow in your life. Then you will become a living conduit of the Celtic way."
I know that I love rituals and I love 'doing spells' to manifest things in my life..and I absolutely love folk lore, celtic lore and all things nature based. I love to celebrate each sabbat in my own special, eclectic way. I keep a Book of Shadows which is like my soul journal. I am still going to say I am a hedgewitch, if you read Daisy's definition in my heading, you will see that it makes sense.. so - I think I will just follow the yellow brick road with my red shoes on. It may just lead me to what I am searching for. why do I worry so much about this? because, because, because, because! ! Maybe I could ask the Wizard of Oz... so I am off to see the Wizard, the wonderful Wizard of Oz!

*~* I hope your day is filled with butterflies, magick, colour & fripperies! ~*~

pottering

it has been bitterly cold here the past week. it feels like the Arctic wind blowing. Last night it got down to minus one. Not much good to be doing anything outside. My seed potatoes arrived last week. I will have to get the ground prepared for them. I am also expecting a delivery of fruit trees sometime in the next week or so.. then the perennials will be here. I order them from The Diggers Club - they sell mostly heritage plants and seeds. I always tend to buy so many seeds then spend weeks getting them all started.
Yesterday, I went to the local markets - I bought some wonderful pottery from my favourite potter, Jenny Kantz - it was a batch of her 'seconds' and for $5 a piece, I couldn't resist buying a few pieces. We wandered about the markets for about an hour, buying a hot coffee, hoping it would warm us up. I also bought a few plants for indoors - having plants inside is good for the air quality - furniture, being made mostly of man-made products these days, produces alot of toxic fumes and indoor plants help to filter our air inside and the faeries love to have them around as well - I just have to keep the faeries happy!

*hellebores or winter rose - these plants were given to me by my friend, Peter. that is what I like about gardeners, they are always willing to share*

when I came home, I pottered in my back garden, pruning roses, picking up the fallen mandarins and gave my Lemon Verbena a good haircut. It is hard to work in the garden when the cold is seeping into your bones. My fingers were frozen. It just was not pleasant at all. All I could think about was the fire that was warming my home inside....This week the irises are starting to poke their heads up out of the leaves, the violets are in flower under my apple tree and my hellebores are flowering prolifically ..

*if you look closely at the photo above, you will see the little finches sitting on the side of the bird bath in the background*
I heard the little finches chirping madly, telling all their friends that there was water in the bird bath. brrr they looked so cold while the madly flew in and out of the water... While I was trimming my feverfew, two little birds hovered around..not scared at all. just sitting there watching me. I love that - it makes me feel that I really am as one with Mother Earth and all her creatures.

I raked all the lucerne mulch back around the gardenias. I came home on Saturday after witches school and the English Blackbird had been having a grand old time, looking for worms and tossing the straw this way and that way, the straw doesn't get tossed into the garden, oh no, it gets tossed all over the pathway...but it is fun to watch the bird having fun.

*~* I hope your day is filled with butterflies, magick, colour & fripperies! ~*~

wishes for a very special girl xo

I want to wish SweetPea

A Happy birthday xoxo

*~* I hope your day is filled with butterflies, magick, colour & fripperies! ~*~

a bit about me

Denise has tagged me - yes, ME! I admit I do tend to shy away from these things but here goes - I hope I don't bore you !

* here I am sitting pondering the questions - wondering what to say . . . *
please bare with me - I have just discovered that I love Gauguin!

What were you doing 10 years ago?
gawd, with menopause, you expect me to remember? - hmm lets see - 1997....I was a busy mother of a nine year old daughter, running her to flute, brownies and various other after school activities. I was still searching for the meaning of life.

What were you doing 1 year ago?
blogging of course! what else? I actually looked back on my old blogs and that is about the time i was being witch hunted by the fundos... it near drove me insane but you know what? I have come a long way and I don't give a hoot anymore. I had just closed my very first blog *Daily Parcels* and had opened my witchy blog which is deleted now (that was a silly thing to do) - then I opened Driving Miss Robyn. yep, I have come a long, long way......

Five snacks you enjoy:
I love salada crackers with real butter, cheese & tomato and lots of cracked black pepper and celtic sea-salt. a nut selection that I buy at my local food co-op. air popped salted popcorn. and for sweets - banana bread with ricotta, walnuts and honey and lastly, which should really come first - chocolate !

Five songs to which you know all the lyrics:
I always thought I knew lyrics to alot of songs - but I don't.. you know,you sing something oneday and someone says - 'they aren't the words' - last week I was singing that song by Joni Mitchell - and I sang 'gay paradise' - my kids said - 'mum, its paved paradise' - I have been singing those words since I was a teenager. I do know most of the words to 'abide with me' - my grandma use to play it on the organ and taught me the words. I was going to have that sung at my funeral but the way I am now, I don't think so.

Five things you would do if you were a millionaire:
I really have no idea...it depends if I were a millionaire with lots of millions or one that won the lottery - if that were the case, I would set my children up..... so that I wouldn't have to 'worry' about them. Then I would take a long trip to Cornwall - and visit lots of places that I have read about....maybe buy myself a little cottage in the middle of nowhere..... I don't want alot, I don't need alot and does money really buy happiness?

Five bad habits:
I don't think I have bad 'habits' as such and by that I do not mean I am perfect... I am actually going to shy away from answering this as I am trying to focus on the positive in my life.

Five things you like doing:
I love to garden. Sometimes, I think gardening is the reason that I am here, truly. I haven't done any formal training, I just seem to know stuff.I have an inner knowledge that comes from somewhere. I like to have breakfast out with Joe on the weekend, we go to a little shop in Leura called 'the Gourmet Deli' and order the most amazing breakfast. It is lovely and quiet. I love to have a weekly massage. I love to have crystal chakra healing and balancing. I love to talk with my mum.

Five things you would never wear again:
definately a bikini, not a good look. Hot Pants - I had them back in the 1970's, when they were all the rage, my favourite pair were black which I wore with black boots, and lipstick that was all the rage called Black Tulip and eye shadow by Mary Quant which was yellow. I must have looked a sight, so definately no hot pants now. I would never go bra-less again, that is not a great sight either.

Five favourite toys:
my oracle cards, I have many decks and play with them every day. Oh and my crystals, they are something I love to play with and again, I have an inner knowledge of them, maybe I lived in Atlantis or Lemuria, once upon a time. I love to play with my garden tools. I would have to say all my art stuff, I play with that alot.... that is truly all I can think of ~ I guess I need to listen to the faeries, they keep telling me I need to play more. As a child my favourite toys were my koala and my dolly called Suzy.

i won't bother tagging anyone - I never know who likes to do these and who doesn't. So, grab it if you wish and have fun.

today I had my second class of Witch School. I was a little fragile today with the new moon in Cancer. But it was alot easier to deal with the emotions when I knew where they were coming from. We learnt (learned?) about the Wheel of the Year in Australia - even though we have the same basic wheel, our seasons are alot different to the Northern Hemisphere and also the moon names for our area. That was very interesting...I will probably be sharing that as we go through our year. It was surprising to hear some of the moon names for each month. Alot different to the Celtic names but they made alot of sense .. sometimes, i do struggle with the likes of wolf moon, when we don't have wolves in Australia.

*~* I hope your day is filled with butterflies, magick, colour & fripperies! ~*~

walking, reconnecting & thinking

yesterday I went for a walk to Katoomba which is a power spot of mine. I wanted to try and reconnect with Mother Earth... so I walked and I talked. I carried the twin crystal of which Daisy had the other twin. I saw a poor little birdie, dead on the footpath. Part of me wanted to pick the little thing up and take it home and give it a burial, the other part was scared of disease. To see the little bird, laying there, dead, on the path, made me realize that death happens every minute, somewhere. I wondered if that little birdie had friends who missed her and were grieving like I was. I found lots of holly trees and I noted that I must remember to ask permission if I could take some sprigs... and I walked - hands in pockets, head down...in the cold. I saw an old man walking towards me and thought to myself - if he looks at me, I will smile and say hello but he didn't. He looked the other way and then I thought to myself - 'what is it with the world? no-one communicates anymore, we are all strangers, worrying about ourselves.... why? Why, if we are all from the same spirit world, and all connected - why is there this total disconnection from everyone. like we are scared of each other'..... no answers, I know but .....

then I came around the corner back to where the Holly trees are and I reached to pick some and it prickled me! I had forgotten to ask permission - so silently, I asked if it would be ok to take some for my holly water and I was allowed to pick three sprigs - no prickles at all! I noted to myself that I must bring a crystal next walk and place it under the tree, in thanks. I have a large water bowl at my front door that I usually float flowers and candles in and I think I will put some sprigs of Holly in that, fill it with water and it can be my Holly water font! I noticed the bare trees and the gardens and made another note to self to remember to bring my camera next time...

above is the one and only photo that I took of my weekend away last week. It is a hotel in a little town called Dunedoo. This is the original building. Isn't it fantastic? Inside was the original old bar with mirrors and ornate carvings... if you look closely, my car is the jeep. Well, it is actually Joe's car. I took it because we travelled dirt roads in some places.

I must admit, I had a bad day yesterday - my grief came rushing back... I am not wanting to continually post about it but as it is really a part of me right now, I cannot deny it and with the dark of the moon as well.. gee .... I made myself some hot chocolate, a buttered crumpet and I sat and snuggled in front of the fire. it was just one of those days.

above is my spirit doll that was part of my homework for witches school. We had to create a representation of a Spirit Elemental, so I decided to make a faery angel....because the element of spirit encompasses all the other elements, I wanted to include something from each of them. For earth, I used a stick and an amethyst crystal in a wand. For Air - I used feathers, the dark feathers are some of the vintage ostrich feathers that I bought the other day at FrouFrou. Water, I used shells and I am still wondering what to use for the element of fire. Once i have finished the Spirit Elemental, I am to bless it under the moon and under the sun and ask it to lead me to my Spirit guides.

Tomorrow is my next witch school class, I am looking forward to that. I have done most of my homework * I wrote an invocation, will share that sometime soon.

It is the dark of the moon right now... that is why so many of us are feeling a sense of emptiness, alone-ness and melancholia - a time to nurture your soul. Don't forget to get those moonstones out - hold them close and imagine a giant full moon beam coming down and bathing your soul in moonlight. Rest at this time, drink lots of water and cultivate peace in your soul.

oh and don't forget ~ Friday 13th! Beware of all that stuff... black cats, walking under ladders.. well you know xo and tomorrow, New Moon!

*~* I hope your day is filled with butterflies, magick, colour & fripperies! ~*~