Faerie- A Pagan Blog Project Post

After missing the letter E altogether I really wanted to write about very something special to me this time around. This is just a little tribute to some of the wonderful ways the Fae are part of my life.

Tinkerbell from Walt Disney's Peter Pan Movie

Fairy, Faerie, Fae…when we think of these magickal beings all sorts of images come to mind; princess type creatures with iridescent wings, earthy beings with pointy little ears and even dark and dangerous folk ready to entrap or seduce. Regardless of what image we conjure in our minds one thing I have found to be the same across the board is a Faerie’s love of tricks. It’s there, that twinkle in their eye, that thing that makes you wonder if you should get close or turn around and walk away, even Tinkerbell, of Peter Pan fame was a feisty little thing. Wendy was sure lucky that Tink listened to Peter or she would have been toast!

Faerie have been a part of my life for a long time. I enjoy the art, the images, their attitudes, the myth and lore that has been written about the Fae, the festivals and so much more that people create out of love for Faerie. I love to see the costumes that people envision Faeries wearing, especially if it is made out of natural items.

Sevi, one of my early faerie sculptures

Faeries were my inspiration to start sculpting, I just had to create one, or two, or more! Faeries have the power to free your imagination. They are full of trickery and magick.The wonderful thing about sculpting Faerie is that no matter what crazy thing I think up, the Fae are all for it! If you are an artist you know that when you start the creative process you have an idea of what the finished product will be yet somewhere along the way the project takes over and it becomes what it is meant to be. When I am sculpting I never know what I will end up with and that is part of the magick.

Faerie magick was definitely at work when I became seriously interested in sculpting, the amazing Wendy Froud was coming to my area to teach sculpting classes! I have since taken several classes from Wendy as well as from her son Toby and all I can tell you is this - if you ever get a chance to take one of their classes - DO IT! Just watching them create is worth the price of the class.

Faerieworlds Spiral Dance 2010

Me - Faerieworlds 2010

One of my favorite places to go is to the Faerieworld celebration in Eugene Oregon in the summer. A celebration of music and all things Fae, you can’t go wrong. This celebration has it all, amazing music, talented artists, a spiral dance, fabulous costumes and so much more.

I previously wrote about my love of the Tarot, I also have a fondness for The Heart of Faerie Oracle deck created by Brian and Wendy Froud, two of my favorite artists. This deck is lovely, for me, magickal! When I really need some perspective on my life I get this deck out. 

Next week I will be writing a bit about Faerie lore, some myth and mythology if you will. This was my week to gush about the Fae, next week I'll be a tad bit more educational.

Autumnwind

My Etsy Shop in Now Open!

Finally, after way too many delays, I have uploaded the first items to my Etsy shop, Beneath the Witch's Moon. I have been working on this for quite some time and I confess I did a little happy dance when that first item posted.

These two Spell Bottles are near and dear to my heart. I will be adding more items this week including custom Lace Masks like those I offered here.

Soon I will also have Pagan/Witchy/Wiccan/Magical themed embroidered items  including kitchen towels, Aprons, Altar Cloths and more, Witchy Die Cut Shapes (perfect for your Book of Shadows or scrapbooks), additional Spell Bottles, Charms, Supplies and more. Whew!

That's all for now. I have a lot of catching up to do!

Autumnwind

Uggg!

Nothing like a mild case of the flu to set ya back a week or so! I am on the mend and will be updating the blog and FINALLY adding items to my Etsy shop this weekend.

Autumnwind

Back from My Travels - Updates

I am back from my travels and trying to catch up! My Etsy store launch is late, instead of getting my items uploaded yesterday as I had planned, I slept the day away! Of course getting up at midnight (after only 3 hours of sleep) to catch a flight is a pretty good reason to be tired. This weekend I will be adding a dozen or so items to the store with more to be added through out the month.

Look for another fun contest later this month.

My Pagan Blog Project post may be delayed, I hope to have it up tomorrow evening but it may not be posted until Saturday.

This weekend I'll be posting a review of The New Death and Others an intriguing e-book of short stories written by James Hutchings 

AND

I'll be updating my Reading & Fitness Challenges and posting about my latest adventure.

Have a great night

Autumnwind

Lace Mask Give-away Winners

I want to thank everyone who participated in my give-away this go-round. I will be doing another soon.

The winners are:

Sandi Crawford

and

Pagan by Design

Please email your contact information to me at autumnwindreno@aol.com and I will send you the color choices.

Congratulations!!

Autumnwind

Seattle

This past weekend my boyfriend and I went to Seattle to visit my son and his girl. Even though it rained the entire time it was a fabulous trip! My son is so happy and his girlfriend and her family are gracious, warm and friendly. They love my kiddo and it shows in how they talk to him and in the way they treat him. It is so nice to know that my son is surrounded by people who love him.

While we were there we did the touristy stuff, we visited the Space Needle, Pike's market (above), and the Experience Music Project (below).

Experience Music Project

I also hit as many thrift stores as I could. I make spell bottles out of antique salt and pepper shakers and I found a wonderful set of 6 crystal shakers at Goodwill while in Seattle.

I can't wait to get to work on those. By the end of March the spell bottles I make with those babies will start to show up in my ETSY shop Beneath the Witch's Moon, opening on March 1st - only a few items will be available on opening day due to my travels but I am working on quite a bit more and should have a very nice selection of gifts and supplies by the end of March.

I  am heading out to see my daughter in Orlando tomorrow. What a busy month this has been! I can't believe that March will be here in a matter of days!

Have a lovely week

Autumnwind

D is for Devil – Pagan Blog Project Post

The Devil, Diablo, Lucifer... most people recognize the name. The Devil is usually depicted with horns, a tail, sometimes with wings and is almost always hideous in form and feature, unless of course he is trying to seduce an innocent.

In Christianity the Devil is a fallen angel cast out of Heaven, the embodiment of evil who is always trying to lure unsuspecting souls away from God and Heaven, other faiths believe that the Devil is an otherworldly, supernatural evil entity and still others believe that the Devil commands a force of demons to torment the living. There are those who worship the Devil and many who fear it. Some use the concept of the Devil as an excuse, a simple way for them to release themselves from responsibility for their bad behaviors, how many times have you heard someone say “the devil made me do it”, or “he’s got the devil in him”. 

The Devil is a pretty good scapegoat if you ask me, a convenient way for people to skirt responsibility for their actions. Even worse, the Devil is a way for some religious leaders to frighten their flock. I am not poking fun or trying to insult anyone’s religious beliefs but one of my biggest pet peeves with the Devil is how people are told that if they commit “inset bad deed of the moment here” they will be going to hell and forced to endure torture at the hands of Satan himself. How terrifying to be told that if you aren’t following the current leader’s version of morality your soul will be eternally damned. To me, using a person's spiritual beliefs and fears to exert control over them is horrible. As a child I didn’t get it, as an adult I think it is ludicrous.

Throughout history, Witches have been accused of worshipping this creature, of conspiring with evil to harm unsuspecting innocents but as any witch will tell you, we don’t believe in the Devil. In fact, if you were to take a hard look at the belief systems of a witch you’d be surprised by what you find. Witches are the live and let live kind of folks, if you aren’t harming anyone we believe that you should live your life in the way that you want too. We try to take care of ourselves, our families, our environment and our friends, just like everybody else.  We also try to live our lives in such a way that our actions cause no harm.

If I do something bad or stupid, I have to take responsibility for it no matter how much I would prefer not to. I believe in Karma, that there are equal and opposite forces in the universe and that my actions, be they good or bad, will revisit me and not just 3 times, but as many times as necessary for me to learn that Karmic lesson. As you can imagine, I try hard to live a good life J Since I am human, have faults, emotions and bad days, I don’t always do the best or right thing but I try and when I make a mistake, I own it and try to do better the next time.  

The Devil won’t be taking the blame when I screw up… I will!

****This is my last reminder (shameless plug *grin*) about my Lace Mask Giveaway. I will be pulling the winning names on Thursday March 1st. ****