When the Land Greets You Back. Part 1

Remains of 2011 Autumn Harvest Circle offerings.

As I grow older, I become less & less convinced that coincidence is a common occurrence.

Several weeks ago now, as part of my efforts to greet the Land, I visited the site where I had attended a women's circle last Autumn. There, I had left an offering on behalf of my entire family, the remains of which I suspected might still be lingering about on the forest floor. I am not entirely sure what drew me there, but I think I was hoping to recapture some of the magic of that evening & to reconnect with a familiar space & a fond memory.

When the Land greets you back, more often than not, It catches you unawares. This is the joy of it, is it not?

Rambling over the slight drop & descending into the cluster of trees where our rite had been held, our feet crunched in the dried leaves that carpeted the ground about us. It had been very dry those first weeks after we arrived. Advancing closer, I could see bits of our offering peeking from the undergrowth at the base of the old birch tree. We stopped short however, because a few feet from our goal, my eyes fell upon this vision in white:

The glamour slime (Fuligo spp.?). 

A luscious, flawless, wet beauty, making her way across the parched & crispy litter -- litter which was more akin to bran flakes than last year's leaves. What the helvella? 

I wondered where she was going in this forbidding, desiccated place, but then decided that was her business. My business was to revel in her sheer awesomeness. Slime moulds are rockstars. You don't bother with the how's & the why's, you just revel in their glamour because it will most likely be lost to you tomorrow. We gushed & played paparazzi for the beauty queen, then we left her to her travels... 

The perfect greeting. The perfect gift. Few things can make me feel so welcome, so celebrated, so at home. The Land knows these things, but how?

A Gift from the Night Altar Delegates

A Gift from the Night Altar's Delegates.

I have been unable to visit the Night Altar since Hubby left for our northern climes. This is disappointing for several reasons, not the least of which being that I could really benefit from some peaceful, contemplative time in the presence (or non-presence) of beings other than my children. 

I must have appeared in dire need of a consolation prize.

A handful of days ago, the Little Lad wandered into the house after wandering the pasture. As he handed me the antler pictured above, he said matter-of-factly, 

"This is a gift for you. It's from the cows." 

"It's from the cows?" 

"Yep." 

So pleasant in my hand, I knew exactly what its purpose should be. Gazing out the window at my erstwhile companions I whispered, "I miss you gals too."

Wandering: More Gifts from the Sky

A Gift from the Sky: Owl Pellet Art
In the form of a Montane Vole (Microtus montanus) & a Northern Pocket Gopher (Thomomys talpoides).

I have been noticing a trend since the inception of the new year. Last year seemed to be represented by an abundance of encounters with, & gifts from the Horned Ones. But since our entry into January, it seems there has been a shift to the Sky. What this means for us & the coming year, I can only speculate & wait eagerly to discover.

We wandered as far as the barn yesterday & there we found the feasting grounds of Owl. We filled a Mason jar with pellets to be painstakingly teased apart over the coming weeks. Little Lad is honing his skills. We delight in watching him marvel.

Seven Days of Birthday: Day Seven (A Week Later)

The Changeling won't cut me a break & both children spent the past week diligently working on turning our home into their version of the mythological vomitorium. (I actually did not know that the 'vomitorium,' when defined as a place for purging Roman excess was a myth until I spell-checked it on my Mac. Alas, it is but an historical tall tale, the term simply being an extravagant & unfortunate name for a very practical means of crowd control, i.e., passages in a theatre or stadium. /End tangential trivia.)

Birthday Gift Number Seven embellished with electric candlelight ala Hubby (children make safety a necessary evil).

Several years ago I fell in love with the paintings of an Alaskan artist named Ayse Gilbert. Among her varied artistic endeavours, she creates these paintings of women who resemble an iconic woman/saint/image of Mary/Goddess/insert-your-spin-here. The first painting I coveted-with-agony was titled, "Our Lady of the Pomegranates." It featured a woman, not unlike the woman above (& those in all her other similarly themed paintings) surrounded by pomegranates & magpies. Truly stunning & completely enchanting. Hubby had followed up on it, but by the time there was any vague possibility of actually affording it, some lucky person had already taken her home. Just in case you were uncertain, Hubby threw out the lunch money policy on this one. 

This painting is called "Raising the Lilies of the Nile." Like her other works of this kind, Ms. Gilbert has painted on glass which makes for vivid colour & a very high sheen (& subsequently makes is very difficult to photograph). What bright joy to see in the morning & how strangely she glows in the dark. I cannot get enough.

I did a little poking about regarding the title & found an article entitled, "Sacred Narcotic Lily of the Nile." I have yet to read it all, but I hope to find a spare moment sometime before I turn fifty. Here's just a bit from the introduction:

"Who were the "Lotus Eaters" of early Africa? The fabulous people who occupied the north coast of Africa and lived on the lotus, which brought forgetfulness and happy indolence...  A suggestion that certain water lilies might have narcotic properties is found in their frequent use as a motif in funerary art among the Egyptians as well as Mayans..." 

 and later,

"We are left with the inescapable conclusion that the blue water lily, Nymphaea caerulea, was exploited for its narcotic content in order to provoke the shamanic state of ecstasis among a priestly caste in ancient Egypt... and comparisons with recent investigations into similar New World traditions may lead to a very different way of viewing Egyptian art and artifacts..."

Fascinating. I am curious about this ongoing of chain of references to mind-altering substances that has been frequenting my life (both conscious & subconscious, only some of which have been mentioned here), especially since I am most certainly not in the position to be following up on these 'suggestions' anytime soon. What is going on here? Who is trying to get a message through & what is it? Well, while I wait for the answer, I can rest my gaze on this dreamy image & have my lilies as I please -- while still remaining coherent enough to clean up after the kids.

In case you were wondering, yes I cried... like the happiest forty year old baby there has ever been.

Seven Days of Birthday: Day Five & Day Six

I really need to tie up the loose ends of Samhain & get back to the Mushroom Hatred Remediation Program -- those prayin' fools are way ahead of me in the campaign now. 

Continuing with the catch-up on hubby's lunch-money driven "Seven Days of Birthday Project" I present days five & six, otherwise known as the "Patrick Valenza Bonanza!"

Patrick Valenza is the artist behind Deviant Moon Tarot. We both follow his blog & facebook activity -- he is always up to something interesting, whether it be developing a new deck or wandering old graveyards. Hubby knows I love Valenza's vision & he likes to support artists (with his lunch money), so he gifted me this on day five:

Deviant Moon Graveyard Dirt.

Hubby purchased two bottles of Deviant Moon Graveyard Dirt & cleverly packaged it in an old wooden box he found in a thrift store. (Yes, I could get my own, but this is more fun.) Valenza creates these fantastic painted rocks & ceramic heads to leave behind in exchange for the graveyard dirt he collects while wandering old New Jersey cemeteries. You can read more about it here.

On day two of the "Patrick Valenza Bonanza!" aka, Support an Artist with your Lunch Money project, aka day six of Seven Days of Birthday, I received this lovely print:

To be paired with a previously purchased beauty:

Now to find the frames...

I am not the only one who finds inspiration in the Deviant Moon. Delight in his work abounds (& rightfully so). Just look at this gal's Ace of Wands:

Photo of Sara Marie, found at DM Facebook.

Or the artwork of photographer Rusty McDonald:

Photo by Rusty McDonald, see more here.

I am on a Support an Artist with your Blog kick these days, so If I haven't convinced you to go peek at the Deviant Moon website yet, then watch this. I think it should do the trick. It made my heart melt the first time I saw it & every time since.

Seven Days of Birthday: Day Three & Day Four

Doing some catch up today, seeing I opened birthday gift day six today. Hubby has done a damn fine job w/his lunch-money driven "Seven Days of Birthday Project."

Day three's birthday gift day three is one of those difficult-to-believe-it-is-natural items & offers a perfect segue into a fungi I met this summer but haven't had the chance to share yet.

Botryoidal Lepidolite.

  
Botryoidal Lepidolite. Hubby reports that it is helpful for clearing/cancelling computer radiation (think that's a hint?) & also beneficial for the ears, nose & throat. I think it is just bewitching & recalls to me a very special fungi I met this summer...

Mystery Jelly.

Do I know what this otherworldly jelly is? No. Did I scour my fieldbooks & the internet in vain? Yep.

And just look what happens to it when your five-year-old touches it:

Poor thing.

Continuing with the silhouette & the difficult to believe theme is day four's gift:

Locally hand made, ass-kickin' chocolates that force you right out of your comfort zone. Hubby spared me the anchovy, salmon & garlic varieties, but there is plenty of adventure in this box, including the orange-topped "Golden Goat": a very special blend of goat cheese & dark chocolate ganache with a "zing of organic goldenberry."

Seven Days of Birthday: Day Two

Time has seriously sped up on me. 

But right now, both children are gone, so for a quiet moment, here on day four, I'll take care  of day two.

I saw this painting at a silent auction fundraiser months ago. Something about the bird, carrying the wheat across the open plain between the trees spoke to me. (How's that for a run-on?) I had remembered it occasionally since then, but by the time hubby gifted it to me, I had forgotten about it.

He framed it, which had mixed results. It is better in a frame, but the frame is small for the painting, so the surrounding scenery -- the big purple sky & the orchard trees -- is cut out. It is now all about the bird & not so much about the bird in the scene. We both have our doubts, but there is no going back now. 
 
I don't actually know what a big, black, crowned bird on an open plain (I'm sure this is important), carrying wheat really means to me, but I am going to enjoy the process of finding out.

Bird on the Autumn altar.

If you look closely, you can see Freya's seeds in the foreground.

Seven Days of Birthday: Day One

Hubby has decided that since I am turning forty this Samhain, I should get seven days of birthday. I think he got the idea from some rant I was having about some ancient celebrations lasting days & days, so why can't we modern folks make the time, yadda, yadda... Lucky for me he listens!

He made a vow to only buy gifts that he could afford with his lunch money, instead of buying from our general household funds. This makes it more meaningful & much harder work! I am excited to see what he has scavenged up for me. 

Today he brought me a curious & amusing little thrift-store gem, The Tarot: A FORTUNE Jigsaw Puzzle. One thousand twenty-six pieces of oracular mayhem. Kitschy & totally awesome. 

 

I like how she appears to be "moonbathing." Strange place to do it, but I guess anyplace is a good place to bask in Her light.

Mystery Gift

My husband has a passion for shopping. If the shopping is obscure & bargain-priced, all the better -- he gets the thrill of the hunt & a "deal" at the same time. Beaming like a cat bringing home a bird, he presented me with this yesterday:

'Where did he score this curiosity?' you might ask. Well, rising (or sinking?) to a new level of consumerism, he scored this baby at the Anchorage Police auction. That's right, police auction. It was one of a collection of dubious articles seized by law enforcement officers during whatever happens when they seize stuff. So… what the Helen is it & what is that figure on it? I don't know. How am I going to make use of it? Well, I don't know that either, but whatever I do, it needs a thorough cleansing first because it has some seeerious juju. Assuming it can be cleaned up, I was thinking of using it as an offering dish or a plate for "cakes." But I am really wondering about the harpy-like beast -- it conjures thoughts of Lovecraft's 'Old Ones.' (Perhaps it s the facelessness of it that gives it the Cthonic feel.) I am hoping to discover that it is some inspiring, or at  the very least, interesting mythological creature or persona. Do you know what it is? Willing to chance a guess? I'll take it.