The Ritual of My Morning Cup

I took my favorite coffee cup and made rings of black coffee.

I have a real eagerness to get to the coffee part of my morning.  I'll even get up early so that I have an extra half hour to sit and do nothing but cradle the cup in my hands and complete my morning coffee ritual.

I am not even so particular about having the perfect cup- but I AM particular about not cooking, talking or working on anything while I have my coffee.  

I like to go outside and sit. Just sit and look and listen to the birds.

The second part of the background was adding the allover dashes with a brown pencil and a wash of coffee 

all over everywhere but the coffee circles.  Next came the pink paint and a sketch of the coffee cup.  This is not my actual cup, which is a huge deep mug. 

And why not pink steam?

I'm not a big fan of symmetry, but I like balance.
Opposite the cup: Pink framed spoon.
(yellow bleed through from another page will be dealt with!)

I might light a candle or some incense if I can't get outside.  Sometimes there is a little dog who needs to sit and meditate with me.  

The key thing during coffee time is not to plan for the day. No mental packing of paperwork, review of lesson plans or figuring out what to put in the crock pot.

I joke about sitting without a thought in my head sometimes, but it actually takes quite a lot of discipline to just sit in one place for half and hour and be in the moment.  

Meditation is not hard to learn, but frequent practice is the key to getting the most from it.

This journal entry was a part of the Pagan Art Journal Project about using mundane activity as ritual.

What makes a good Spiritual Teacher?

This week's prompt for the Pagan Art Journal Project is about good qualities in a spiritual teacher.

This one really made me think- I had formal religious training as a child but also knew a mountain woman who taught me all kinds of plant and spirit lore as well as a good deal of Greek mythology in little plays and skits she would write for the local kids to put on at the library in the summer.

I sought self-guided religious exploration in my twenties and then did some formal study to learn about pre-christian texts and about Jewish religious ritual. I have long studied goddess centered icons, worship and themes to guide my artistic creations.  I've also made art based on some pretty complex natural mathematical constructs. The longer I sought, the farther back in history I seemed to study.

The more independent my orthodoxy, the more I felt able to connect with the divine. I was free to try a new practice, adopt or invent a ritual. Knowing all of the academic information is certainly valuable to me but I have discovered that it takes plain old DOING to experience a heightened connection with the power of nature.  Once I felt that in a ritual way I began working on feeling that connection (raising the power, if you will) with fewer and fewer trappings of ritual.
  

The best spiritual teachers I have had are the ones who followed up with me yet offered a relationship driven by my curiosity and not by a set curriculum.  The worst teachers for me have been those who, because of their own style or the size of the group they needed to teach, followed a plan of a parcel of information out for us to absorb at a time with little chance for feedback and no opportunity for practical experience.

A perfect example of a wonderful teacher is a thunderstorm, If I can go outside and feel the wild and free energy sweeping in, swirling around and climaxing- then nature is teaching me. Getting feedback from me and letting me take in only as much as I can handle each time.

I read well researched and historic  texts and modern criticisms of them, still, I like to do and touch when it comes to spiritual learning. I know I get more out of the experiences because of the study on paper than I have done; the two go hand in hand.

I used a cardboard roll to stamp gesso shapes all over, brushed 3 colors of acrylic over the dry gesso and rubbed some off immediately.  Then I sanded the gesso to expose the white textured shapes and added the lettering.

Letter for a year from now

I wrote myself a letter as a part of the 52 Weeks of Pagan Art Journaling project.  My letter is meant to be both the first page and the last page I read when I pick up my journal in the future.  It's more about the value of working on a sustained creative project that about the exploration of my spiritual path.  I've spent lots of time thinking and writing about spirituality not as much thinking about and appreciating my creative experiences.

I often stop at the end of a wonderful creation and sort of nod, "Hmm, that came out well" and then immediately think "what has gone undone while I was creating and enjoying myself?"


I look on my creativity as a habit that causes me to loose track of things and screw up.  That hardly ever actually happens anymore.


Even the parents who nurtured this "don't go nuts, talent isn't accomplishment" attitude now make more of what I create than I do.


In doing this, I am robbing myself of satisfaction and of ownership of some pretty powerful skills.



I have 52 weeks to practice embracing my creativity and seeing it through other people's eyes might be a big part of that.

If I really listen to the comments of the people who see my work, I might begin to tune into the "be proud of yourself for creative things too" channel.   That would be terrific for me.

New Pagan Art Journal

I am so delighted to participate in the 52 Weeks of Pagan Art Journaling Project that I decided I didn't want to just start cramming my entries into my regular daily journal.  So, in typical overachiever style I made a journal just for the project.

I cut 15 pages to size for the outside of each signature so the spine would be uniform looking.  I pressed each fold crisp with the bone folder visible on the top of the stack.  The distracting pile of sketchpads was there to supply paper and later to provide pressing weight on top of the bull dog clips. 

I stitched signatures made of all different kinds of paper together, just to begin with some variety already built in to my new journal.  I've been kicking this idea around for a while but I admit I usually make books in a big hurry for a gift or specific need.  For this book I had time to go slowly and play with papers, and I did.

I used a few watercolor monochrome pages I painted and stored to use when I needed some texture and color but not a specific picture.  Last year I bought a book of card stock with general monochrome print backgrounds from a bin of discount scrapbook paper and have hardly found a use for it so that got cut up too.  Along with ivory colored sketch paper, these made the bulk of the 10" x 14" sheets which folded to 10" x 7" pages.  After that, I added some envelopes, partial sheets of plain watercolor paper and a few pages of odd sized brown craft papers.  There are 15 signatures of 3 pages each, one or two have 4 pages.  That should be plenty for 52 entries even with a few duds I cut out and remake!

I folded the signatures together and added a smaller page or envelope to most of them.

After folding the signatures and adding the odd sized pages I pressed them well again with a bone folder.  Then I taped the three linen tapes for the spine to my work surface and stacked them in the order I wanted them to appear in the book.


I made a card with marks where the holes should go near the ends and beside the tapes.

You can see the card with the hole markings here, and the punched holes beside it.
I added arrows to make the marks more visible for the picture.

Then I took each signature off the pile and punched holes in the fold through all the page layers.  I used a magazine opened to the middle to make a place to lay the fold and punch into it.

Row of holes ready to stitch and linen tapes attached to
 the surface below the work.  Beeswax and linen thread on top ready to go.

 I stacked them back up in order and then moved the whole pile to the side.

My assistant was no help whatsoever.
 As soon as she realized that my awl had an antler handle
she forgot all about hole punching until she was caught.

After all of the holes are punched and you have the pages in the order you like them you stitch along the length of each signature and tie it to the one below.


As you stitch around the cloth tape at the spine you form a flexible back edge that will open well for writing or drawing.








Leaving the tail on the outside you bring the needle through the first hole to the inside, then in and out along the row of holes.


Tie the starting tail to the thread as it exits the hole on that end the next row.  After that, loop a stitch around the row below on the outside each time you reach the end of a row.  The pictures below show the linked end stitches one above the other.

Sew the waxed thread through the pre-punched holes in each fold.  

Pull the thread to the outside and be sure to go around the outside of each tape.  Keep everything nice and snug.

In, out around each tape. 

 It takes time to keep layering and sewing the folded signatures on one at a time, but it makes for such a neat stack.

I used tapes on the spine instead of a heavy doubled thread because I want to leave the spine exposed as a pretty design element of the journal.

Here you can see the stitches going around the tape for each new folded signature added.  You can also see the stack of linked stitches on the end holes. Each end hole stitch is attached by looping it through the stitch below it. 

I used bulldog clips to further press the whole stack
 for a few hours and tugged the tape snug .  

To hold the tapes down on the outsides of the text block I have just made, I used PVA glue to add a piece of thin linen fabric to each side.  This is actually a folded strip of handkerchief linen, because I want a neater folded edge to show near the exposed spine.

 The spine with the glued linen strips was shielded with parchment paper to keep it from sticking to everything and pressed between the boards with the bulldog clips again.


Here is the whole stitched book.  You can see how many of the pages are full size but there are heavy watercolor paper strips and all kinds of other things in there.  I hope that running into the different papers is a good challenge to inspire me to try different techniques and approaches all year.

Sometimes staring at another blank page just sends me into a creative straight-jacket!

This looks pretty inspiring to me now.

The spine is really flexible and pretty.  You can see the tapes glued down under the strips of fabric front and back.

Covers are glued to folded endpapers inside the front and back page.

The covers I have were reclaimed from another journal with really cheap, absorbent and yucky recycled paper.  Everything I did on that paper just smeared and wrinkled and made me feel helpless.  I was so glad when I realized the problem was mostly the pulpy paper!!

These covers are 10"x 7" with holes from a spiral binding.  I haven't decided yet what to do about the holes.  They could have beads stitched into them or ribbons laced through them, but that will make it hard to shelve this journal later.  I don't have to decide about the cover today.  Eventually it will be covered with a brown striped silk book cover paper I have.

You can find great instructions step by step for making bound and stitched books at T. J. Bookarts.

If you are doing the 52 Weeks of Pagan Art Journaling this year, please leave your link for me to go see it!

B- Book of Shadows Parts

Draftsman's tape is my best friend.

The Table of Contents of my BOS will not be compete until I have written on the last page. I add to it each time I have added a section and put the page number beside it.  I number the pages about 10 at a time (front only) and as I fill them I try to leave room for later additions. I will have places where I put the same category of information in two parts of the book, or in two books, no doubt. Spells will keep happening and I will record the most basic and the more elaborate along with the results.

Each entry goes in nice and straight
 thanks to the movable draftsman's tape
across the bottom.

 I record the basic ones because I look at this book as a record to succeed me for the next generation and the most elaborate because I have often not tried them before and I want to make a record and notes later.

To keep my writing nice and straight on pages where I think it is important, like this one, I use a guide of draftsman's tape along the bottom as a guide. It is white in the picture. I also took a piece of tape and marked it with writing guidelines and stuck it down the side of the page. I moved it over to the far left in the picture above, but it usually is at the margin of the contents page. Just keeping your eye on the spacing makes a big difference in how neatly you write.

Sneaky little post-it behind a page with pressed field flowers.
The flowers are awaiting a love spell worthy of them.

One other trick for writing neatly is to put VERY bold lines on a post it and stick it behind the page. You can barely see the lines but in a good light it is enough to guide me to neatnes. I like the post it because you can tilt it any way you like so you have angled lines, but not ones that look drunk. Although the curvy drunken lines have design possibilities too- I save them for my regular Art Journal.

Two little tabs at the back of this heart make the hinges. When its down, you can't see the intent statement, just the charm.

When I record a spell working or a charm I often put a little flap of something beautiful on top of part of the information. So, the picture shows you the record of the charm and spell parts, but the actual spell was cast long ago and the amulet and charm were made of materials I could deliver. It is on one of the pages in the LOVE section, so the title of the section is right above them. This page just inspires me with love and I often open to it when I am working with love and commitment.

For more flaps, look back to the top of the page opposite the contents table for the watercolor leaf flap and this little darling made of vellum leaf shapes. It is tricky to get the picture, but you can see that the vellum layer has bold writing and is attached with leaf hinges cut out of the same paper. Underneath, there is a drawn  leaf shape and intent statement in fine pen.  It's it the Plants section, which is different from the Herbs section in my book.

Napping with scissors.

Probably one of my favorite sections is the Crystals section and it is one of the simplest! I put a handful of my smaller working crystals onto a digital copier and spent a day of self pampering ( at the end of a cold) drinking tea in bed and cutting them out and writing a little correspondence info for each one. I glued them with the nifty glue pen and had a great time.

Can't you picture me in pajamas, balancing tea, with a bed full of  scissors, paper snips and sharp stones? Comfy!

I originally planned to color them, but I know the colors and I love the look of the graphic black, white & gray page.

The material I use to attach things with bulk or things that can't be stuck with glue is simple paper! I just make some very snug carriers, glue them down and slide the item in. Have you tried to glue a feather and still have it look good? It can't be done, they shed everything (which is why, I'm guessing, birds are not flying around with crumbs and suet and dust and leaves stuck all over them).

The glue, tape and other tools I use are not very exotic, except for the special PVA bookmaking glue from Paper Source. It is very dry and quick- so the page doesn't buckle as its painted on and you can glue it from one edge completely to the other. Rubber cement is the same way if you use it sparingly. I love the Scotch glue pen (probably from the scrapbook section although I don't keep a scrapbook of the family record kind) because it has a sponge at one end and a little tip at the other. Precise.

The tapes are drafting tape and double sided tape. I seldom use regular desk tape in my BOS.

I try to keep my paper stash small. I am only partly successful.
 I fear what would happen if I went into the scrapbook aisle.

I saved the bast for last- PAPER!  Any paper is fair game for a decoration in an Art Journal but the papers for my BOS run to two groups: functional and dull or unusual and limited. Below are both: a little envelope for carrying a poppet, charm or sigil and paper strips offcut from some flash cards I made this week for a student. They can become terrific things or be used to patch, hinge or tie down something more interesting. The brown handmade journal on the bottom is really one text block of a larger journal I made, but this one was damaged so it has been demoted to the paper box to be cut up.

Since some of my studies and work are of the local Pennsylvania German folk magic I have manuscript sized pages copied from a local 19th C German language newspaper which I have distressed with all manner of things. Some of it I use for book covers and some has been cut up for borders, sigils and other work. Lots of the ads on the back are for herbal cures of the time, dowsers and other services done with energy. (I interview people which is easier to do than you would think- ("aunts and parents"- they will seldom admit to using folk magic themselves even though they report activities and traditions to me that clearly ARE folk work. I find that many of the traditions of people I meet have not changed that much from what I read in the few 19th C texts published around here in German and translated).

The rare papers are personal to me- paper from Nepal that my Dad brought me after he returned from living in an orphanage in Nepal run by Curry without Worry. He was teaching higher math there. The blue vellum paper is probably the only commercial scrapbook paper- also from a family member and I am a sucker for see through layers!

The plain journals from Moleskine come with a pocket in the back. In there I keep vellum envelopes (I crinkled one to see how it would look and I think It will look great holding something dark!). I can glue them into the book or use them to hold something I will later burn. A business card for a really good Occult shop I visited and some notes to add to the journal later. Last, there is a little strip of paper from the same journal paper just to cut up and make a patch when my ink goes blob or my head can't spell. Which is pretty regularly.

B: Book of Shadows

My tool carrier full of drawing supplies can move with me to wherever I am working on my BOS.

I remember how curious I was about contemporary books of shadows. I could get an idea of the ancient, illuminated super fancy ones of the past, but what about today's? Surely everyone is not supposed to have that level of skill and time for this? Will an incantation written on a bar napkin or a legal pad work?

Good news, of course they will. Especially if your working involves a bartender or a lawyer.

But since I wondered, I bet some of you wonder. Today's Pagan Blog Project contribution is a little tour of what goes into making my own BOS.

I only use Red for my Book of Shadows      photo: Treehugger .com

The Book itself
is a red Moleskine hard cover 5" x 8.5" Artists Journal  I have been keeping black hardcover Moleskine journals full of ideas and sketches for years. I love that they have that nifty little elastic band attached to keep them closed and a pocket in the back. They also have that fancy pantsy ribbon to mark your page. I am a sucker for those.

Top, black everyday journal, bottom, BOS

Paper
I addition to the archival paper in the journal I have glued paper from old BOS books into my present BOS. I never kept one as nicely as this before, it was more like just running lab notes.  I don't think I'm going to move things forward anymore, just begin a second red journal when this one fills.  I'm not super fussy about what I attach to this book, index card stock, notebook paper, feathers and pressed flowers as well as copier paper all are in there.

Pens and ink
Writers and Artisits can be really emotional about pens. I have only put on the table the ones I am using frequently on my BOS, but as you can see, I have a whole zinc tool carrier full of glass cups and each of THOSE is full of pens, pencils brushes and other journaling supplies.It sits on my beautiful oval walnut desk (the first desk I ever picked out for myself!) and does its "let's not get too serious here" job.  Fine lines, permanent ink and beautiful lettering are my needs in a pen. I use Pigma Microns and Staedtler fineliners have been my faves ever since I found them a l o n g time ago. I have a Hunt quill and Speedball calligraphy pen for dipping into ink too. Last, I have Noodlers fountian pens- the black one is extra flexible for sketching and the orange one is stiff for writing. I also love Noodlers ink, they make great products and the packaging is full of rambling thoughts of the owner. check out the reasonably priced pens and ink at Goulet Pens.

Beloved watercolor pencils turn my sketches into paintings!

Coloring
Oh! What can you say about coloring? I love it, and I always do it after the drawing part. I have found that even when I use a paintbrush I seem to always draw, so now I stick to sketching my ideas into my BOS, lettering things carefully and then going back in and adding color to the pages on another day.  The Noodler's inks that I use are called "bulletproof" and are made for security on documents. Not only do they not run, they can't (according to the package) be removed by bleach, oven cleaner or any other method check forgers know about.

I love using watercolor pencils by Prismacolor and also Derwent pencils. It's like a paint with water picture, you just draw, wet your brush with plain water and brush over the parts you want to smooth or blend. Magical! Sometimes I will use my regular journal to make notes about something that I will later do up nicely in my BOS. Sometimes I just dive right in. It's not supposed to be perfect, it's supposed to be personal.

Next week: more Book of Shadows...
Catagories and how I keep track,
other inclusions and ways to attach them.
hinge, hanger, tuck, pocket, glue

Pagan Blog Project

I'm excited to participate in the Pagan Blog Project for 2013. I followed many of the posts last year and was inspired by reading the many different takes on our pagan practice. I envision most of the things I can contribute will be about how I practice my craft, things I do, make or see.
I have been doing this for a l-o-n-g time and have evolved. I learned very basic practices from a Wise Woman in the northern Appalachian Mountains where I grew up.  I gleaned from the "odd traditions" my Irish female relatives had and my children gleaned the same way from me- by observing how we celebrate (however, I explained things too).  Lots study and formality of rituals followed (and has its place), and while I retain some ritual formality, this circle has come around to the basic practices as I grow more confident and older.

I held back, hoping to acquire more skills and become better at working this blog- frankly, without a regular post I find myself avoiding the discomfort of possibly embarrassing myself. We all know how this goes.

It looks like the best way to develop better blogging skills is to plunge in and go ahead and be bad at the blogging technicalities. I'm ready to do it wrong, break rules and later find out they exist (like- always attribute pictures- I KNOW! I wouldn't lift things in my print life, I never even thought about grabbing a pic I had filed and using it without saying where I took it from. Duh. I have no idea where some of these pics started, but I should have). So, borrowed pictures: my first embarrassment and a big one. How bad could the next one be, right? If I let mistakes keep me from blogging this year I'm never going to do it.

If you are unfamiliar, this is the Project:  It is a week by week opportunity for me to share, for you to learn from me. Conversely  I get to learn from everyone else who participates and also to grow from the interaction in the PBP forum and from your comments. Please comment (I would have loved someone to send me a gentle reminder about the pictures... that could have been you).
The schedule for posting follows the calender and the alphabet. One each Friday as follows:

January 4 and 11, topics beginning with A: apples, astral travel, agrimony...
January 18 and 25, topics for B: Brigid, basil, baneful herbs, boxwood, Bast...
52 Posts over a year's time. Or a year and a day, I like to think.

You get the idea. Nearly 200 blogs all contribuiting to this complex topic- its the biggest Book of Shadows ever undertaken. learn more about it here: Pagan Blog Project details

Blog share: The Secret Life of the American Working Witch: Moonday Musings: 13 Things About Me

What a refreshing post! I just read Moonday Musings at
http://mypaganworld.blogspot.com/2012/07/moonday-musings-13-things-about-me.html
Thoughts that run through my head and splash around on Monday mornings never seemed to be cohesive enough for public consumption. Here, though, Kallan shares just that and it streams right alongside my own! I might have to muse aloud here one day and see what I get!
Not only do I feel enriched, I feel like I'm not the only one with a river of thoughts. Thanks a bunch!

Domino Day

I took a few of the topical articles I've written on another blog to kick off this blog, but because I'm impatient, the pictures either won't transfer or weren't saved. You might be better off, they were blurry webcam pics. Use the captions to imagine a big stratified pile of desk junk on all surfaces. originally posted 12/3/11. Enjoy.

Craft and journaling central. I'm leaving the picture dark,  as the room is. Lamps are part of the fix

Its messy in here. We have a domino day going on. Domino day is when I tackle one emergent task only to find that to do it well I have to fix something else. To do that well, another thing needs attention. You get it.

To make cookies, I have to clean up this counter. To clean up the counter, I have to put away the food dryer and the dry herbs inside it should be stored in jars on my shelf of healing and ritual supplies. I should put up that shelf. Right now ritual supplies are on a coffee table which began as my altar and has never seen a cup of coffee. Altars honor. This one honors untidyness (that wasn't the original intent).

The shelf belongs in my office at home, which is also my painting and writing studio, craft room and Craft room and home to my handmade 18th C reenacting clothing. That was a mistake, so I have been transitioning the clothing to another home, which has left them in three places at present. Also a mistake.

All of this makes me want to take a walk in the woods...

Bucket of colored pencils seemed smart, but it doesn't work. big bins for desk supplies also not working.

So to bake cookies for the upcoming Solstice party which will be enjoyed by my sister soon to arrive from TX, I will need to put up a shelf, clean up the kitchen, put things from the kitchen into my office and before any of that can happen I need to clean my office and unbury my desk. I should make decisions about what goes where- but I think I will put that off until everything is at least in the right zone of the house.

All of this makes me want to take a walk in the woods most urgently, which reminds me: I have greens in the dining room and on the porch waiting to be made into two Yule wreaths. The wreath assembly will set off another domino circle involving the dining room, living room and possibly my bedroom.

The fact that 60% or more of the people in America are having a similar day is not much comfort.