Alive and Thankful

If you read my other blog you know that I've been super busy launching a new product line for one of my Etsy shops. I don't like to spend a lot of time on the Etsy stuff with this blog; mainly because this blog isn't about pushing my art. But that's what's been taking up my time lately. Well that and the whole building a whole new little person. My focus has been a little scattered lately.

But it's Mabon and I wanted to mark the day.

Last Yule I planted a few seeds for the coming year; the year that is coming closer to it's end now. Since Mabon is all about thanksgiving and the harvest, I've decided to take stock of the seeds that I planted last December; the ones that are ripening and the ones that have come to fruition.

This year we planted our first garden. We've started to reap the benefits of growing our own food and already have plans to expand, dig out more space, grow more next year.

I have put more focus on being creative; hence the new product line and a steady (for the most part) stream of projects ranging from photography to painting and glass work and also some embroidered mixed media. Of course with the Bean making an appearance the steadiness has met a few bumps. Of course it could be said that baking the Bean is another type of creative act.

As for thanksgiving I have so much to be thankful for; The Peanut and the coming Bean and the health and happiness of both (as far as I know the Bean is both). The strength of my relationship with the Husband over the last year and how close we have grown. It has not been a simple as pie year but compared to 2009 we're sailing.

As is the case with most of the Sabbats and Esbats we celebrated simply. Dinner was a simple vegetable based soup made with some of the herbs from our garden served with corn muffins. Had Gestational Diabetes not been a factor I would have added a baked apple dessert to the feast as it is next year will see one on the table. The Peanut and I went for an after dinner walk and talked about what we are thankful for; her list of thanksgiving included dinosaurs and recycling.

How has your harvest been? What did you do to observe Mabon?

TIme

it seems to get away from you during the summer. Between running to appointments and heading out to the beach these last months have drifted away with not too much to show for them except a bulging belly and a bucket full of memories. My plans for gardening, making art, going for walks in the woods, revisiting the elements and connecting with them, heading out with the Peanut for picnics at the playground have all melted away in a haze of mid day naps and aforementioned beach days and appointments.

I could feel guilty about that but I don't have a lot of energy to spare on guilt. To be honest it's been a fabulous summer and other than a few moments of wishing that I could crawl inside the refrigerator with a tall glass of lemonade and a big bowl of ice cream; I don't think I'd change how I've been spending my time.

As the days grow shorter and the air becomes cooler, I expect my focus will return. I also expect that my days will start to have a little more shape than the loosey goosiness of the summer.

The Weekend So Far

Standing in the backyard under starry sky with a hot wind tugging at my skirt.
Up into early morning, gentle warmth
Water in the garden
Blackberry walk and a lucky three leaf clover
More water in the garden and giggles
Pouring sand over her head
Shower
Catch a bus and hear a heartbeat

Sometimes all you have to do is ask

This seems to be the case with life these days. The universe just seems to be bringing those things that we are asking for into our grasp.

Take the husband for instance. For a few weeks last spring he was talking about how he wanted to get a bike. We talked about looking for used ones that wouldn't be so pricey, and other options to fit within our limited budget. Then one afternoon the neighbors across the street were cleaning out their garage. Instead of lumping all the things they wanted to get rid of out side their house they spread it out a little. With sign taped to each: a TV and box of random stuff to their right, an old fridge in front of their home, an old door in front of the house on the left and in front of our house a bike.

I just happened to glance out the window and saw the bike leaning against the tree in the front, went out to take a look and voila! bike for husband.

Now, with the Bean on the way we're talking about getting a dishwasher. When we moved to our current home we gave up the luxury of having a dishwasher and restarted the chore of filling the sink 2 times or more a day and scrubbing by hand. Not that I'm complaining but I know that when the Bean gets here washing dishes is going to be one of those things that will likely get away from me.

So, when we had my sister and her boyfriend over dinner with my niece on the weekend to welcome them to the lower mainland I casually mentioned while the dishes were being washed that we were planning on looking for a dishwasher in the fall. And then my niece turns to me and says, "you can have my portable one, we don't need it because we have a built in one in our place"

I know some people would call it luck but I prefer to look at it as becoming more aware of things and being open to opportunities. Now if only the lottery money that I've been saying would do the same thing...

have you had experiences where things just fell into place right when they were needed?

I'm digging in the dirt, Stay with me I need support

Hoo boy! I love song lyrics, and Peter Gabriel has some fantastic ones.

Staying on track, in a bit of a heat wave, while pregnant, and dealing with a Peanut, (who is processing the fact that she's going to have to make room in the center of our universe for the Bean and acting out because she has no idea where she's going to fit every thing) is taking a bit of a toll on my time.

My last few weeks have been hectic. Between Ultrasounds, meeting with a Social worker about post partum depression, meeting with the dietitians about starting to eat like a gestational diabetic complete with before and after meal finger poking and Ob Gyn appointments birthday parties and almost nightly bed changing as the Peanut processes all the new stuff going on and coming along I've been motivated to pick up only Disc World novels around bedtime instead of heavier reading.

But, but, I'm thinking about Earth as I go along, since the earth is all about fecundity and as a pregnant woman I am definitely showing off how fertile I am and embracing that it's not far from my mind at any given time. Moon Daughter was kind enough to comment on my last post with a link to a blog that is currently delving into each element in turn; and I have been reading along at the Domestic Witch with a lot enthusiasm. Her posts are so full of information and exercises that get right to the heart of the element plus a cool recipe for dirt cake that makes me wish I was able to dive in with a shovel if only the GD allowed for such brazen digestion of cookies, pudding and gummy worms.

I have picked Earth as my first element to explore and I hope to start digging and posting soon. I promise.

It's Elementary

Sometimes I have to get back to basics so that I can feel like I'm on the right track.

Every once in a while I go back and revisit things, to get a fresh look at something that I already know. I like to think of it as brushing up, kind of like taking a drawing class here and there. You get back to basics in order to head into a new creative direction or to see something that didn't take center stage before but leaps out at you now.

Revisiting the Elements is on my list of things to explore. Of course right now I'm feeling very attuned to water what with the mood swings that my over active hormones are causing; so I have a feeling that spending a week focused (or as focused as a pregnant Momma of a busy four year old can be) on the element of Water will flow fairly effortlessly. However I'm anticipating some turbulence with Air since Air has always been difficult for me to connect with.

This time around, I'm approaching the Elements from a creative point of view as a jumping point. Where would you start if you were in my shoes?

So now you know

what's put a little bump in the road I've been taking on my journey. And the bump is getting a little on the big side.

I haven't been completely idle over the last few weeks, I've been reading and learning here and there. Luckily for me, my fabulous second Mom (read Ma-in Law) has similar interests; and I like to pick up knowledge wherever I can. So when I noticed that she had a few books by James Van Praagh in her library stack I picked them up and started to do a little reading.

I often find that Pagan concepts are sometimes interchangeable with the concepts of other spiritual practices. Up to and including some Christian practices; although in the case of Christian and specifically some Catholic practices and rituals I know that this is because these religions picked up Pagan practices as a way to bring more people into their fold (the celebrations of Eostara and Easter for example.) What I found with Mr Van Praagh's books was that some of the things he does to get ready to practice his talents are interchangeable with what is standard practice for getting oneself ready for ritual; these things have just been fit into a shape that is more acceptable to someone who has been brought up within an environment that frowns upon (and sometimes even more than frowns upon depending on how open and loving a mind is) those things that fall outside of the norm.

Mr Van Praagh's background is based in Catholicism, (at one point in his youth he was training to become a priest) but when he gets ready to speak to the spirits he follows the steps of cleansing, grounding (imagining energy filling his body and spreading out beyond himself) and calling in his spiritual guides and Deity to protect himself and to bless his work thorough prayer and meditation.

When I get ready to do ritual I go through the same steps of cleansing, grounding where the earth's energy is drawn up from the core until is cascades out my fingers, toes and top of my head. I cast a circle by calling in the quarters and Deity as I cast a circle to help me with the work I wish to do. Looking at the two practices side by side they are very similar; almost interchangeable if you take out specifics regarding spirit and religion.

I suppose what I'm getting at is that once more my thoughts about Deity (whether Deity be a singular God or Goddess or a whole pantheon) and spiritual practice (whether it be Pagan or a more mainstream religious practice) are all about the same thing.