Lunaea Weatherstone's Blogue

And so to bed...

I found a battered little book from the 1940s recently, entitled And So to Bed, by Edward Sackville-West. It's a compilation of poems and short prose pieces drawn from a BBC radio program that was broadcast in England during World War II. The program was on three nights a week between 11 p.m. and midnight, and its purpose was simple: to provide a peaceful, comforting end to the listeners' day. The book is divided by the seasons of the year, and its purpose is the same: a bedside book to "compose the mind," and "to provide a few minutes' quiet reading for those who are neither too tired to submit themselves to the enchantment of poetry, nor too disturbed in mind to hope that sleep will quickly follow the laying aside of the book."

I love the old-fashioned idea of choosing books specifically to live on the bedside table, books to quiet the mind, to offer soothing imagery, bits of beauty or wit or fantasy, but nothing too enthralling or engrossing. Books that can be picked up with pleasure and laid back down with a happy, sleepy sigh. With that in mind, I culled a few for my own bedtime collection: Sense and Sensibility; Wild Honey, by Alison Uttley (anything by Alison Uttley would do, as she is sublime, and I really must blogue about her soon!); and an odd little book dated 1890 called Little Flower Folks: Stories from Flower Land. It's a botany book for children that also contains myths and poetry and folk lore about the plants, which is of course how everyone should learn about them. I feel more peaceful and contented already.

What books do you have at YOUR bedside?

Carnaval Diabolique

Summer is such a sensual time, the senses alive to the luxurious tastes and scents and feelings of the ripening season. One of my favorite sensual delights, Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab perfume oils, is wrapping up their long-running Carnaval Diabolique collection next month. Yes, the Carnaval is leaving town, alas! But you still have time to explore its dark mysteries (and there are one or two more Acts that haven't been revealed yet, too). I warn you, when I say "dark" I mean it -- this is a diabolical carnival indeed, so if you are disturbed by the goth and the creepy, you may not want to click on the thumbnails of the art! Personally, I like a bit of creepy now and then, in small doses, but what I mostly love are the perfumes themselves. Some of my favorites in this collection include Madame Moriarty: Misfortune Teller (red musk, vanilla bean, pomegranate, patchouli leaf and wild plum); King Cobra (the Lab's own signature Snake Oil perfume with added orris, frankincense and copal); Priala, the Human Phoenix (three deep, dark myrrhs, smoke, and cinnamon); L'Heure Verte (spilled absinthe, scorched sugar cubes, opium smoke, lilac blossoms, and rose water); and Eisheth Zenunim (honey, ambergris, neroli, white peach, patchouli, and cocoa absolute). Just reading the descriptions of the hundreds of BPAL perfumes is a sensual feast, but trust me, smelling and wearing them is even better. Treat yourself to a little something that feeds your senses!

Tarot for cats

A few years ago, I got a digital camera for the first time, and since I was living alone in an isolated place, I amused myself by taking pictures of my three cats. Lots of pictures. Some of them meandered into the Kaga-San Tarot (still in progress), made for my own amusement and of course, to justify taking more pictures of the cats. Truly, is there anything on earth more photogenic than a cat? Anyway, it was a couple of years later that I pounced on a copy of Tarot for Cats at the Bay Area Tarot Symposium, and was delighted to see that their Strength card was so similar to the one I had made. (That's today's card of the day; after today you can see it here.) My Strength card shows tiny Morpheus (aged about five weeks) with his foster mom, a gentle German Shepherd named Isabella. The complete photo is above, showing not only Morph on Isabella's paw, but baby Kaga sleeping on her back. The litter of seven kittens were abandoned by their feral mother after she got them safely into a foster home, and Isabella provided love (and some very soppy baths) until the babies found permanent homes. The Goddess works in mysterious ways to care for her creatures! But care for us she always does.

Card of the day

My sister-priestess Bryn has inspired me with her new blog to add something I've been wanting to offer for a while now: a tarot (or other oracle) card of the day. (You can see it in the right-hand column.) My hope is that it will not only give you something to muse over, but maybe introduce you to some new decks along the way or reacquaint you with some old favorites. And speaking of new blogs, two other sister-priestesses recently entered the blogosphere: check out the creative offerings of Rue and Kat!

Literary vacations

Maybe this is a Virgo thing, but there is something very satisfying about thinking of a particular book, knowing right where it is on my bookshelf, going to look, and by gosh, it IS there! This doesn't happen nearly enough in my crowded bookworld, but I'm determined to make it happen more often (both the looking and the finding). Summer reading is such a different flavor of pleasure than winter reading. Last summer I "vacationed" with Amelia Peabody. This summer my bookshelf search for a gardening book led me to Vita Sackville-West, and from there to Ottoline Morrell, and Virginia Woolf, and hence, I find myself consorting with the Bloomsbury group, a few Bohemians, and their fabulous friends ... country manors and tea on the lawn and passionate art and scandalous affairs and fabulous hats. I've added some of my favorites to the blogue bookshop.

Where are you spending your literary vacation?

Brian Dettmer

I was looking through the new Somerset Studio magazine, thinking, "Ho hum, same old, same old..." when I came upon a feature story about the work of Brian Dettmer. I am dazzled! Talk about altered books -- he meticulously carves out pages one by one to make sculpture that is a window into the book. (Click the images for larger versions.) And all kinds of other very beautiful and fascinating creations, using books and maps and wood and and and... You can check out this gallery website for some more pieces, get the new Somerset, and Google for more info, as he doesn't seem to have a website of his own that I can find. Wowee!

Quiet spot

Shekhinah used to sing, "Make for yourself a power spot..." I'm making power spots for myself here at Lunadoon, but equally important are quiet spots, placed where excess energy can be let go, where nothing is done in a purposeful way, where emptiness awaits. Mine is at the far end of the solarium, with a big white rocking chair, a table to hold a cup of tea or a book. There may be plants there eventually, though it's challenging to find plants that can handle the very hot part of the summer day in the solarium. Right now the plants are all outside, redwood trees hundreds of feet tall and all the other green friends of the forest. This house is all at the second-floor level, with the solarium in the front, so it's like being in a treehouse. In the cool morning and the cool evening, all is peaceful. There is birdsong, squirrel chatter, the distant sound of a low train whistle. I read a poem aloud, slowly, and then drift on its imagery and the thoughts and memories it draws forth. The quiet spot has done its work -- and now I can get back to mine.

Where is your quiet spot?

Mosaic meme-play

My friends sure know how to find the most fun time-wasters! Here's a good one from Julie. (Click the image for a larger version.) Try it yourself!

MOSAIC MEME: INSTRUCTIONS

1. Type your answer to each question below into Flickr Search.

2. Using only the first page of results, pick one image.

3. Copy & paste each of the URLs for the images into Big Huge Lab’s Mosaic Maker to create a mosaic of the picture answers.

THE QUESTIONS:
1. What is your first name? Lunie ("Lunaea" only had one image, and it was locked.)
2. What is your favourite food right now? Guacamole
3. What school did you go to? UC Santa Cruz
4. What is your favourite colour? I love all colors!
5. Who is your latest celebrity crush? Angelina Jolie
6. What is your favourite drink? Lemonade
7. What is your dream vacation destination? Sissinghurst
8. What is your favourite dessert? Chocolate volcano
9. What do you want to be when you grow up? Peaceful
10. What do you love most in life? Freedom
11. What is one word that describes you now? Alone
12. What is your Flickr/Blog name? At Brigid's Forge

1. Body Paintings by Lunie @ Bonnie & Clyde RTBF (17), 2. Sol del guacamole, 3. Banana Slug, 4. I can see you!, 5. * AJ - S2 Wraps Blend *, 6. Yellow and green, 7. Sissinghurst, 8. Molten Chocolate Cake, 9. ...peaceful..., 10. Freedom, 11. Alone it stay <3>, 12. Brigid's Well

Go ahead, make your day

Go immediately to this site and watch this joyful video (it's making its way around the Web, but the highest quality version is at the home site, plus a journal, outtakes, and other fun stuff). Thanks to Joanna for sharing it (you've been the inspiration resource deluxe this week!) -- it made me laugh and cry and feel very hopeful today. I have a little quote taped to my computer monitor that was in a catalogue of products from around the world. The company owners wrote: "Contrary to what you might see on TV, the world, in our experience, is generally a happy place, and the people here are almost universally likeable." This little video sure confirms that!

Thank you, sun... Thank you, moon...

Thank you, sun,
Thank you, moon,
Thank you, pillow in my quiet room...

Joanna’s blog has a lovely post today about gratitude. When people ask me for help when they have lost their connection to spirit, I always tell them to bring it back to “Thank You,” even if you don’t have a clue who or what you are thanking. Give thanks for your lunch, your bed, that handy parking space. Soon gratefulness becomes a habit, and you can feel those thanks being received and magnified. Joanna encourages everyone to stop right now and ask, “What am I grateful for?” I accept her challenge! Today, I am grateful for:

• My independence, and being able to provide for myself
• The quiet of the forest in which I live
• The ocean just a few minutes away
• My wonderful nice welcoming serene caring friendly landlords, who help me feel safe and at home
• My sister priestesses and all the women in the Sisterhood of the Silver Branch
• My three birth-sisters and the rest of my family, who accept me as I am, the tie-dyed sheep
• My spiritual vocation, a calling to serve the Goddess, and the joy of devotion
• The pleasures of the senses: sweet French melons and sandalwood perfume and a cool bath on a hot day and Kate Rusby singing “The Sleepless Sailor” and the beauty of dance (as in “So You Think You Can…”)
• People who pursue their bliss with passion
• Friends and playmates, both near and far
• The health and happiness of my three cats
• Little surprises, like the cherry-sized fruits that suddenly appeared this week on the Mystery Tree in front of my house — not cherries, but tiny plums!
• Ice. Isn’t it great that we can have ICE whenever we want? Our food is fresh, our drinks are cold, and we take it so for granted most of the time. It’s a miracle.
• The ability to read, and the love of books
• A sense of humor
• All the twistings and turnings of the road that brought me here, and the unknown road ahead
• Faith

Thank you for the day I've had,
Thank you, heart, for feeling glad...

Fighting off the weasels

I had a bad attack of the ice weasels early this morning -- those wee-hours fears and frets that swarm through the brain with their nasty sharp pointy teeth. Logic and reason cannot prevail against them, alas, so it was the Big Cavalcade of Fear for about an hour, with such old favorites as "Who will take care of my cats if I drop dead?" and "What if I don't drop dead, but have some terrible illness or accident?" and "Is something terrible happening in the world right now and I'm psychically picking up on it?" and "How am I going to pay all my bills AND pay taxes?" and "What if McCain is elected?" and "Is all of California doomed to burn?" and "If there is an earthquake, will this house stay standing?" You get the idea. It was also approaching dawn, my very worst time of day that I try to avoid at all costs. I have no idea why the coming of the light affects me so badly, but again, it's beyond reason. I hauled myself out of the fretful bed and made myself a valerian-catnip-Rescue Remedy potion, applied Twilight Alchemy Lab's Peace oil liberally, spritzed the bedroom with Sacred Smudge mist, and read a bit of Amelia Peabody (comforting, but not stimulating, since I've read them all before), and finally dropped back into weasel-free sleep. Awakening three hours later with a valerian hangover, I'm baffled by what brought this on. I was fine when I went to bed, and my dreams were peaceful. But the thought of going to bed tonight makes me a little nervous, so I will prepare well, with clean sheets and sweet bedtime prayers and a calm heart full of faith. What do you do when the fear weasels come?