Intentional Stones

Lost post, something about a fire

We're out enjoying our Beltaine fire

The upside of the iPhone is sharing things without running inside for the computer. The downside- sometimes apps don't work perfectly.

Suffice it to say, I'm meditating on the beauty of the fire. And frustrated with the tech.

Hope you're enjoying the holiday weekend and Happy Mayday!

-Simbelmynë

Artist's weekend

My family will be out of town having the time of their lives.

And I'm staying home to have a party! (yes, I do feel like a teenager whose parents have left town for the weekend)

It's an artist's retreat at Simbelmynë's house!  I'll hit Costco and fill the house with food. I'm used to all sorts of eaters-picky eaters, carnivores, vegetarians, vegans, food sensitivities, OmNomNomNivores... Also I have hot and cold running WiFi, which is, of course, optional.  And, never fear, coffee.

Everything's ship shape with lots of room for big projects.  I'm not far from Construction Junction, really you could get pretty crazy. I'm planning to set aside areas for specific things, and we can adjust as people arrive with their projects and goals for the weekend.  I have lots of places to sleep, if you're from out of town or just don't want to leave.

The jewelry studio will be in full swing.  I have almost every type of equipment anybody could need-from torches to finishing equipment. I have tables and corners and quiet areas for writing, being quiet, meditating.  A park next door for walks and listening to the world around us.  A full crafting room with all sorts of supplies, if you forget anything.  I even have a macro photography studio, if you want to get some small photos.

We can swap, dump, laugh, play, work, meditate, trade secrets, teach, learn, whatever we want to do.

If you RSVP I can make sure I have what you need.  Or just show up, the more the merrier!

Stay all weekend or come and go as you please. 

Official Start is 7pm Friday, March 18 and end at 7pm Sunday March 20.

-Simbelmynë

(412)608-8986

235 Oakview Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15218

(Please ignore the photo it's from the highway, for some reason)

We're the last house on the left.

The New Moon

Since life at home has been a little bit more quiet here, in Australia, and the sky has almost always been clear, it's been easy to think about the Moon and watch her through her phases.  A fortuitous time, as well, with the Deep Space Communication Station to explore, hearing about the landing of people on the moon, see moon rocks and looking at the technology it takes just to get to our nearest neighboring celestial body. 

The Homeschool Chat on Twitter this week has me thinking about traditions. We're a family with all new traditions.  Well, OK, we do rely upon the family tradition of getting everyone together for Thanksgiving.  In that respect we're quite average.  But still, we've managed to put our own spin on the meal for everyone.  But, even on a day to day level, our rituals are different. 

Our spirituality lies in nature, and we like to commemorate the New and Full moons each month.  We're not terribly regular about it, and while our practice is not formal.   It has provided a nice opportunity to talk about spirituality and meditation as a family and share some quiet time.  We do not have a formal ritual, simply elements that seem right at the time to put us in a peaceful mindset to enjoy the quiet of the night.

Last new moon, the kids and I were discussing scrying, the art of divination through gazing into crystals, water or mirrors.  Havoc seized instantly on the idea of gazing into his opal, and I loved that idea, so I brought mine and Persephone's too.  We set up our little home-made mirror and candles in the secret nook of our back garden.  (Yes, we were quite nervous about the tiny stones in the dark, but keeping them over the mirror saved them from falling.) And what visions we had, we'll keep for ourselves. 

The New moon returns in five days.  What do you do when the night is dark?

-Simbelmynë

Craft equals life

This morning, I've been thinking an awful lot about love.  (ok, I've been doing way too much daydreaming lately)
It's apparent to me, that if I have one thing in my life that I put my love into specially, it's the jewelry making.  And it's also obvious that having it in my life, this creative outlet that is about expressing myself, has had very positive effects on the rest of my life.

I can't help comparing it to a friend of mine, who welcomed me into her creative haven, her kitchen, yesterday.  She bakes.  She bakes a LOT.  Just yesterday, she made bread, had new cupcakes ready, and I know she had a home made cheesecake in her fridge.  AND she effortlessly threw together a lovely pasta dish and offered to share it with my family for dinner.  Sometimes, she even makes her own pasta.

It is very easy to see how this expression of her creativity lifts her up and makes her happy.  She blogs about her cooking and family and is participating in testing recipes for a well known author's cookbook right now, and so has so much stuff to experiment with and contribute her own ideas.    And every loaf looks more professional and tastes better. 

This 'hobby' is very different from mine, in that it's practical.  It helps to feed her family and create a warm and entertaining atmosphere in her house.  It naturally sends her love flowing out into other aspects of her life.

Jewelry's a little harder to bring directly into my life.  At this time of year, it's easier.  I can make gifts for family members and friends.  And my daughter loves to bead with me, and everybody can set up paper and pencils when I'm on a sketching binge.  But hammering, dangerous power tools, torches and harsh chemicals make it very difficult to share many aspects of the art. 

And still, I'm finding a similar effect on my life.  Even though the crafting stays mainly in my basement (yes, I have managed to move all torch based operations downstairs), my life is enriched by my craft. 

It's much more subtle.  I find myself to be more flexible in my thinking, more creative in problem solving, more relaxed and patient.  I'm also more loving and considerate of my family and appreciative of the many many gifts in my life.  My dreams are more often full of creativity and ideas than negative forces. 

Now, it's simply a matter of finding more time in my day for little things like sleep and keeping the dishes out of the sink.  Oops

-Simbelmyne

Living with intention

I have found that there are two key elements I need to make room for in my life, structure and creativity.  The balancing act between these two forces is probably the most difficult challenge I face.

Perhaps, I fear that structure gets in the way of creativity and despite this, I work to maintain structure in my day to day life on the fly.  A schedule and lists serve to keep my life from spinning out of control and still allow me carry out my crazy desire to live unconventionally. It helps me to make sure everything gets the time and attention it needs. 

To realize the full intention of anything, planning is necessary, but fully planned events never seem achieve the same level of intensive joy for me as those that feel spontaneous.  It's easier to gain the most out of something if I pool creative ideas before I begin on anything.  Imposing a loose structure helps me with this process.  It reminds me to make sure that nothing is forgotten, and the mundane and the creative join together so that nothing detracts from my end result.

Creativity requires a great deal of freedom.  And I'm finding more and more that structure allows me to be free of certain worries that can bind my thinking.  When worries and nervous thoughts are not present, I can practice a form or working meditation.  Meditation is something I have never formally tried to do.  But, as with everything that's good for me in my busy life, it just kind of happens along the way.  Jewelry making serves to get me in a meditative state.  Beading and silver working require a lot of simple repetitive steps, all of which need to be done to create a beautiful, well made project. Creativity is a state of mind.  It's something that I need to have in my life. 

Another thing in my life I utilize for it's meditative properties is driving long distances.  Anyone who's gotten a call from me while I'm traveling by myself knows how wildly silly my thinking can get.   Just being alone in a car doing nothing but going from here to there forces me to sit still and stop worrying.  The major highway between Pittsburgh and Chicago has the good fortune of having access to NPR program stations along the entire way.  Topics will flit from word play to news to arts discussion and cars and I will become enraptured with idea after idea.  I am very fortunate to have friends and family who will listen to my ramblings and even remember some of the things for me that I simply cannot write down as I drive.

My sweetie points out that it's ironic that I should be writing about meditation with the tv on in the background.  Little does he realize that this random input really helps with the process.  Like the radio, the tv, (sometimes) feeds my ideas.  Its important that the stuff that's on while I'm thinking creatively be fanciful in and of itself.  At the moment it's "platinum weddings" probably the most frivolous topic you could imagine.  Weddings that are completely over the top.  I love it for the dresses and jewelry.  I love the flower arrangements that cost more than my entire wedding budget.  I love seeing something unimaginably complex and fabulous coming together over the course of, sometimes literally 12 hours.  And yet so much work and planning goes into it.    It's an excellent example of how many fantastic, creative ideas can be up in the air and gel together perfectly in a short time, Incorporating design, spirituality, pleasure, music and love. 

Crafting is a way I synthesize all these things.  Jewelry making requires discipline and structure and yet, just the process of creating is meditative, in and of itself, and this amplifies all the ideas and manifests them in the form of physical objects. 

-Simbelmyne