Archive for March, 2009

My fingers are pierced and sore, typing is a chore.  And more yard-garden work out of the question.  So, I am taking advantage of the ‘wasted’ time to make candles.

Not just any candles.  Candles with nubs of already burnt candles included: candles that were embellished with wax paint and metallic dust and magical sweet scented healing oils.  They were the first batch of candles made to burn to send healing energy to Tristan Anderson, a peace activist from California who was shot in the head with a tear gas cannister as he protested in Israel.

His family and woman at his side, he lies in a hospital in Israel unconscious after three surgeries to address the damage to his brain’s frontal lobe.  He is a member of the Reclaiming pagan group led by Starhawk.  He was not throwing rocks at Israeli troops, he was standing in protest of a wall that America would have disavowed at once had someone in South Africa erected it to keep blacks apart from whites.  Or as America did disavow a wall around West Berlin, designed to constrain Germans from seeking freedom there.  But this wall is to keep Palestinians apart—often from ancestral lands and olive trees that are their livelihood.  And America is silent.  The news media doesn’t talk about this young American who may never be the same if he awakens at all.

So, I pour hot wax into pyramidal molds.  I watch the bits of color and metallic shimmer swirl and tell myself and the universe that what I am seeing is not mere motes of material—but of magic, of force, of Will to endure and prevail against terrible odds.  I will paint more beautiful and potent symbols when the wax hardens. I will chant and dance and put scented oils on anew and hold my breath to see if the flame endures.  The first candles guttered, shuddering with an unseen wind.  I sat up nights to keep them alight.  Now, the flames are steady.

But every flame is vulnerable.  The flame of life, the flames of freedom, the flames of peace.

And also vulnerable are the flames of hate, power, oppression and control.  My flame to counter those….my wind against the dark storms that threaten Tristan and the cause he stood for—the cause he fell for, a cause of life and justice. So I cast—wax into candles, and magic into the world.  For Tristan.

(The center candle is what Tristan’s look like, btw)

I am off to fill the larder and get allergy shots.  Both activities make me grouchy. So, I just must bitch a bit in advance so my head doesn’t explode.  Monday mornings are news-story mine field day for me, you see: after a weekend of busy family stuff seeing what tripe is piled up on the public plate makes me mean.  So just two bitches to start your week:

(1) A photo array billed as “great pictures of the recession.”  The editor who put this together should have a Mamiya RB67 shoved up his ass sideways.  These were not “great” pictures in ANY sense of the word.  They were mediocre from a photography point of view—empty storefronts, depressed laid-off people.  If some shutterbugs thought they were getting a leg up on some of the historic AND truly great photography of the Great Depression with this crap, they missed the boat.  They missed the dock, too.  No link, find the lousy assortment yourself.  What a frakking waste of camera time.

(2) A headline of an article asking “What will racecars look like in 2025?” made me all snarly.  Now, before those of you who love you some noisy frakking racetracks come unglued in defense of auto-racing, yes, I DO know that many style and safety innovations come from racing.  But you know what, I’d be more impressed if racing was more innovative about fuel economy or options instead of burning gallon after gallon going round in circles.  I’d be more impressed if humanity was less interested in speed and more into sustainable levels of power and control!  And no, I don’t get the “thrill” of engines revving round and round and round.  Yes, the article DOES talk about more fuel economical vehicles; but it also talks about cars that may allow people to “go vertical” and pass on the ROOF of a tunnel if fellow drivers are too slow.  Are you joking??  We don’t have enough problem with aggressive idiots with lead foots on the GROUND?! Don’t even get me started on offshoots like monster truck rallies, alright?  My canines grow…let’s leave it at that.

Yeah….there is a reason I am on sabbatical.  I like life in the microcosm, because stupid crap like this on my Monday plate doesn’t make me want to play well or otherwise with others!

Six inches of snow lies round about us, with a sparkling blue sky overhead this morning.  But our snowy goose, Alba, has made a nest in the golden straw and is sitting.  Her first ever egg was yesterday, cold and muddy when I found it.  Today, is obviously different!  So, snowstorms aside, it MUST be spring, right?

The world keeps on turning, and the moon hangs dark in the sky; time to note the fallen again and raise a cup in commiseration with the loved ones and in honor of the ones gone ahead.

The following Coalition troops died in Afghanistan:

Sgt Brett Till, 31, of Australia was killed by an IED

Cpl Tyler Crooks, 24, of Canada was killed by an IED

M.Cpl Scott F. Vernelli, 28, of Canada was killed by an IED

Trpr Jack Bourhillier, 20, of Canada was killed by an IED

Trpr Corey J. Hayes, 22, of Canada was killed by an IED

And a couple who were inadvertently missed last moon phase:

Cpl. Nicolas Belda, 23, of France died in Iraq in a rocket attack.

LCpl Christopher Harkett, 22, of Wales was killed in Iraq by an IED

U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Daniel J. Geary, 22, of Rome, N.Y., died on the first day of spring while supporting combat operations in Afghanistan

U.S. Army Pfc. Adam J. Hardt, 19, of Avondale, Ariz., died March 22, on “Mothering Sunday”,  of injuries suffered from a non-combat related incident in Afghanistan.

U.S. Marine Corporals Anthony L. Williams, 21, of Oxford, Pa., and Michael W. Ouellette, 28, of Manchester, N.H., died supporting combat operations in Afghanistan.

U.S. Army Sgt. Jose R. Escobedo Jr., 32, of Albuquerque, N.M., died in Iraq of injuries sustained from a non-combat related incident .

** A non-combat death or a non-hostile incident both refer to deaths not caused by the enemy.  For instance, someone could be shot—but it can be called non-hostile if the bullet was not fired by the enemy.  A non-combat death can be anything from an illness to various kinds of accidents, including deaths that fall into the non-hostile incident category.

Still focusing on life within the confines of my own home and garden.  One small task was catching up with the magazine stack.  Some of this is fun: Birds and Blooms is just a mind-rest between magazine covers, for instance.  (Yes, they are online, too.)  Other things, like the trial of “Real Simple” is a longer read.

A recent article there on how to cope with stress perked me mentally.  Some of the suggestions were above my pay grade: “Oh, I go sailing…you just can’t stay stressed with the sails overhead.”  Well, la de da…..I will have to settle for an old cassette tape or LP of Christopher Cross singing about sailing.

Others were more in my line of pay and time: coloring.  I do color with pretty pens with glitter sometimes—I color book illustrations or various herbals I have that are full of black and white drawings.  Sometimes I use colored pencils, or my favorite–pencils you shade with and then touch with a water-wet paint brush for instant water color blending!  I don’t make myself work on artistic perfection…I just color.  It does relax me.

Another good suggestion was a bottle of bubbles, preferably combined with a small child to chase bubbles.  Small children make me twitch.  A cat will chase bubbles and more entertainingly.

My very own idea: sorting things.  Nothing helps drive off fruitless worry and stress like actually affecting something.  So whether it is organizing the sock drawer or sorting beads by color, it is a great way to feel like something is accomplished without straining any body parts.

Found this Norwegian jazz musician completely by accident and I am enthralled!

Today was the Vernal Equinox here in the Northern Hemisphere.  As a pagan, I certainly note the date, though it is not one of the holy days I celebrate with a fire or big ritual.  It is a family ritual day….pretty home made candles in the shape of eggs, a circling of the property hallowing the confines of my life with my family, and a pleasant meal with special home made bread.  A time to light up for the growing season of the year.  And so, I wish you joy, from a heathen and a pagan….light to your life as the spring begins!

That time again, the moon is waning away….and with it, alas, more lives.  Lift a cup in commemoration and commiseration with the loved ones in mourning.

U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Patrick A. Malone, 21, of Ocala, Fla., died in Iraq as a result of a non-hostile incident.

U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Theophilus K. Ansong, 34, of Bristow, Va., was lost at sea Feb 4 while  assigned to USS San Antonio (LPD 17) as it conducted operations in the Gulf of Aden while supporting the war in Iraq. (No idea why it took the Navy SO long to report this death.)

U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Timothy L. Bowles, 24, of Tucson, Ariz.,  died in Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when his vehicle encountered an IED.

U.S. Marine Staff Sgt. Archie A. Taylor, 37, of Tomball, Texas, died  as a result of a non-hostile incident in Afghanistan.

The following three U.S. Army men died in Afghanistan as a result of an IED explosion…the same one, I believe, as killed the Air Force sergeant—same date and identical location:

Sgt. Christopher P. Abeyta, 23, of Midlothian, Ill.

Spc. Robert M. Weinger, 24, of Round Lake Beach, Ill.

Spc. Norman L. Cain III, 22, of Oregon, Ill.

U.S. Army Spc. Gary L. Moore, 25, of Del City, Okla., died  in  Iraq, of wounds sustained when an explosive device struck his vehicle.

Cpl Mathew Hopkins, 21, of Australia, died in Afghanistan in hostile small arms fire.

Cpl John Dean, 25, of the United Kingdom, died in Afghanistan in an IED explosion.

Cpl Graeme Stiff, 24, of the United Kingdom, died in Afghanistan in an IED explosion.

Still ignoring most of the news to play in the beeswax bliss of my Honey House!  Today I made some of my regular tapers, and then some of my fun and funny hand-shaped tapers.  Thinking of spring and some Wiccan friends, I produced the Spring Maiden tapers:

And because I had new wax work toys—these things that looked like magic markers but are filled with liquid wax, I had to pour some of my jello-jiggler molds shaped like eggs.  I thought I would embellish them for Ostara presents, but my hands were shaking and the pens took for-freaking-ever to dry.  I got restless, native that I am!  So I overdipped them, color and all, in black wax—-wait till they burn showing hearts of GOLD—-and then metal dusted them.  We can’t make up our minds, did the Easter bunny drink absinthe?  Or is it heavy metal Ostara……or did the Goths take over again? The image is a bit off..the scanner was bouncing off the shine, they are actually VERY black and metal in appearance.