a witch's cauldron

Banner of Air 8.5x11”, hot-pressed watercolour paper,...

Sat, 25 May 2013 22:55:14 -0400

Banner of Air

8.5x11”, hot-pressed watercolour paper, watercolours, gouache. 2009.

Carrion Crow by Arthur Grosset.

Thu, 23 May 2013 19:40:48 -0400

Carrion Crow by Arthur Grosset.

Bolivian Ametrine crystal - from John Betts’ Mineral...

Wed, 22 May 2013 17:37:12 -0400

Bolivian Ametrine crystal - from John Betts’ Mineral Museum.

odds and sods.

Wed, 22 May 2013 15:18:08 -0400

Life has been…turbulent, I suppose, for a few weeks now. But things are settling. I am not running ragged anymore, I find the rain and thunder outside balm to my spirit, and I am still getting on with the Work at hand. My partner in said Work really gave me a good dose of his enthusiasm and anticipation, so despite doing everything the hard way (there isn’t an easy way, with me) I’m still feeling positive about it.

The weather is helping. The last couple weeks have been warm and full of sun and greening. It did snow Mother’s Day, but every day aside from that has borne the kiss of Summer. Winter was really winter this year. And while I need the Winter’s energy as much as any other, it refused to let go in due time. It more than made up for years past, and would not let go.

I had to let go of some things myself, and I don’t think they really went until the Winter did. I held onto those things too long, taking Winter inside, and they turned bitter, and poisonous, and I stubbornly wouldn’t let go. Like I said, never an easy way with me. But I purged. (Or, y’know, realized how obstinately stupid I can be, especially when goaded on by bad brain chemistry, isolation, and lack of sunlight.) You never realize the weight of the shit you’ve been carrying around inside until you scrape it all out.

And now suddenly we have grass and flowers and leaves and wonder and joy. I fall in love with Ontario all over again, each and every spring - my land, my spirit part of its’ spirit.

Less metaphysically, I really need to work on my website sometime soon, now that it’s down. But I have absolutely no motivation to do so. If anything, I feel relieved in an odd kind of way - a release of tension I didn’t know was there. I guess feeling like I should be creating and promoting, when the last two years has seen maybe 15 sales total, was weighing more on me than it should. Creativity tends to dry up for me when it feels forced. (The eternal curse of the working artist, I guess.)

I can’t sell things if they’re not up…but since I wasn’t selling anything anyway, I don’t worry much about it. I’m sure I’ll be back. Eventually.

Meanwhile, I am playing with glass beads and polymer clay. And just for myself, even!

These are almost a guilty pleasure. I started out making pendants in polyclay because I simply couldn’t afford metals. I didn’t keep up with it when I started sourcing good pewter charms and pendants, but I am finding now there’s a certain je ne sais quoi I’ve missed about it. Glass went along the wayside when I found that no-one wants to pay for glass beads - not what they’re worth, anyway. Somehow glass beads weren’t ‘real’ jewelry. You could convince people that minerals and semi-precious gemstones were ‘genuine’ and somehow more worthy…but it’s an attitude that frustrates me.

Good glass is an act of alchemy - quartz sand and heat, and you get something more than the sum of its’ parts, something treasured for thousands of years. But we mass produce it, industrialize it, and suddenly the alchemy isn’t interesting anymore. It saddens me - there is a real skill needed to make good glass, and you end up with beads of brilliant clarity and colours, in thousands of shapes and sizes.

So right now I don’t care how ‘real’ the jewelry I’m making is. It’s mine, it’s vibrant and colourful in a way I crave, and you’ll never find anything else like it. (And it has a side-benefit - when I’m riding coasters at Canada’s Wonderland, my heavier gemstone and metal stuff often painfully smacks me in the chest on the bigger hills. The stuff I’m making now is light as a feather!)

That’s pretty much the state of the Morg.

Finnish Spectrolite, from Korukivihiomo Kiurunen.

Wed, 22 May 2013 10:22:05 -0400

Finnish Spectrolite, from Korukivihiomo Kiurunen.

Golden Rutilated Quartz, Brazil. From M&W Minerals.

Tue, 21 May 2013 18:05:29 -0400

Golden Rutilated Quartz, Brazil.

From M&W Minerals.

‘Sword in the Stone’ - pink Morganite with green...

Tue, 21 May 2013 18:00:00 -0400

‘Sword in the Stone’ - pink Morganite with green Tourmaline, Brazil. From The Arkenstone.

‘Airspace’ - room to breath, and a breathing...

Mon, 20 May 2013 22:04:29 -0400

‘Airspace’ - room to breath, and a breathing room.

Elemental colours - Pale yellow, dove grey, violet.
Clear quartz, celestite, hawk’s eye (blue tiger’s eye), blue and imperial topaz, golden rutilated quartz, citrine, and turquoise.

A Walk Through My Neighbourhood, May 16th, 2013. A terrifically...

Fri, 17 May 2013 10:58:00 -0400

Apple!

Eh?

A lady grackle having lunch.

Violets.

Birch catkins.

Tulips in the neighbour's garden.

This garden makes me happy all summer - it's always full of colour, and gorgeous.

Untouched by the wind!

My doorstep's bowl full of blessings.

A Walk Through My Neighbourhood, May 16th, 2013.

A terrifically windy day; those flowers bounced every which way. Amazing to find the untouched dandelion head!

Tanzanian spinel, from Marin Mineral.

Wed, 15 May 2013 23:44:39 -0400

Tanzanian spinel, from Marin Mineral.

‘Rustic Ravens’ - polymer clay pendant, gemstone...

Mon, 13 May 2013 19:03:43 -0400

‘Rustic Ravens’ - polymer clay pendant, gemstone strand. I made this from a mould I took from one of my favorite silver pendants - I think it came out fantastic! I’ve been wearing this all day, and thinking about the crows who come and sit in my ash tree to sing for me every day. :> The world is greening, and I am enjoying the peridot leaves.

Black onyx, gold-sheen obsidian, peridot, and freshwater pearls.

A bit of whimsy - 13 crystal points on the grid, and then 12...

Mon, 13 May 2013 18:59:14 -0400

A bit of whimsy - 13 crystal points on the grid, and then 12 around the outer ring with all the other stones. Chosen simply for pleasure.

Quartz, nephrite jade, aquamarine, kyanite, sunstone, spessartine garnet, ametrine, amethyst, golden calcite, and labradorite.

A Strange Kind of Love, Peter Murphy <3

Mon, 13 May 2013 12:17:18 -0400

A Strange Kind of Love, Peter Murphy

Photo

Tue, 07 May 2013 18:52:41 -0400

Heart Chakra Bedside Bowl, May 2013. Every so often I actually...

Mon, 06 May 2013 18:54:48 -0400

Heart Chakra Bedside Bowl, May 2013.

Every so often I actually have to stop and remind myself to treat myself with kindness, and to try and love myself. I also frequently need to remember to let other people love me, and help me, too.

Kunzite crystals, rose quartz, rhodochrosite, jade, chrysoprase, green garnet, turquoise, emerald, moonstone, copper.

This is just a shiny thing. Because I like shiny things....

Mon, 06 May 2013 18:50:10 -0400

This is just a shiny thing. Because I like shiny things. Caw.

Quartz crystal, almandine garnet, red jasper, ruby, red tiger’s eye, muscovite, fire agate, carnelian, sunstone, mandarin garnet, golden healer quartz, golden calcite, imperial topaz, gold tiger’s eye, citrine, green tourmaline, jade, moss agate, seraphinite, emerald, bloodstone, aventurine, green mica, chrysocolla, celestite, turquoise, aquamarine, blue apatite, blue chalcedony, kyanite, lapis lazuli, labradorite, iolite, blue sapphite, amethyst, ametrine, fluorite, and sugilite.

‘Spiral Dance’, Beltane 2013 Quartz, amethyst,...

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 14:44:53 -0400

‘Spiral Dance’, Beltane 2013

Quartz, amethyst, ametrine, green moss agate, bloodstone, emerald, seraphinite, green garnet, green tourmaline, red garnet, rose quartz, rhodochrosite, ruby.

Bedside bowl, Beltane 2013 Clear quartz, amethyst, ametrine,...

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 14:38:00 -0400

Bedside bowl, Beltane 2013

Clear quartz, amethyst, ametrine, bloodstone, moss agate, green garnet, green tourmaline, red garnet, ruby, copper.

Some recent crafty shenanigans. The first is the plaque to...

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 16:29:00 -0400

Some recent crafty shenanigans.

The first is the plaque to replace the Elvish one that ended up hanging downstairs. I like this one just as much. This is Irish for ‘Welcome In’, a more informal way of offering hospitality.

The second are some Air/Spring charms I’ve made, for something I’m working on. (Can’t talk about the working, but I can share the charms.) These are polymer clay and acrylic paint. They’re largely in the colours for Air in my tradition of Wicca - yellow, dove grey, and violet. The rabbit is done from a mould of a pewter piece of my grandfather’s, and I was quite pleased with it.

I know I keep going on about this...

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 17:59:23 -0400

Today is properly warm and smells of moist fresh earth, plants exploding green. There’s a layer of ozone in that smell, in the wind; it’s soft and fresh and vivid, like violet silk on the skin. More storms are coming (and still more snow *sigh*) but Spring is flirting with us - Winter is old and tired and can’t keep it in the house anymore.