I keep forgetting to take a picture of the boxes I’ve been making to send out the sales from my Etsy boutique, but I finally remembered today. This package was made for the “Edge of Twilight” necklace and I made a jeweled pen dangle to match the necklace (it’s tied to the package by the bow) especially for this customer as a free gift.
I like making and decorating packaging. When I was growing up, money to buy presents was not forthcoming, so I learned to be very creative when it came to making gifts and then dressing them up to look pretty under the tree. I still get that same thrill looking at a beautifully gift-wrapped box.
I made this pillow box from a calendar; I save all of my calendars and make various things out of them, like folders for small note pads. I’m thinking of offering those at Faerie Fabulous Finds, too. Just another one of those 1001 ideas that are percolating.
“What I like to drink most is wine that belongs to others.”
~Diogenes, Greek Philosopher, 412-323 BC~
I put up all the new leather and suede today and it inspired me to whip up a new pouch. This pink lamb skin is so luxurious and soft, and the yarns I added to the leather fringe are the perfect shades to complement the warm pink of the hide. All that’s left is to add the bling, and that’s what takes time, as I choose each charm and bead, then string them on and position them, just so. Then it will be off to my Etsy boutique, Faerie Fabulous Finds, where someone will be able to enjoy it.
The first pouch I sold was a complete success. Here’s what its new owner had to say:
This is the most beautiful bag I’ve ever owned! The craftsmanship is amazing and I will be looking for more things to buy from her!!! Faerie Kisses! Erynsgarden
I was so thrilled she was happy, and I confess I did blush far pinker than this new bag! I hope this new pouch will be received with as much appreciation.
| Kat Should Have Curly Hair |
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You are cheerful, outgoing, and downright bouncy. People find you to be very personable and real. You are confident in your own skin, and you don’t feel like you have to fake anything. You are very independent and unique. You wouldn’t like to look like every other person on the street. People find that you’re honest, and it’s easy to trust you. Others expect you to be honest in all facets of your life. |
Should You Have Straight Hair or Curly Hair?
I haven’t done a quiz in quite a while. I have naturally curly hair, so this quiz was spot on for me.
“Life is pretty simple: You do some stuff. Most fails. Some works. You do more of what works. If it works big, others quickly copy it. Then you do something else. The trick is the doing something else.”
~Leonardo da Vinci, Italian Artist, 1452-1519~
So, today was a holiday and I didn’t even know until I tried to contact my bank by phone. Do you think I was greeted with, “Sorry, we’re closed today due to the holiday; please call back tomorrow”? Uh uh. I was down their phone tree about 40 levels when they finally hit me with that little tidbit. And I was all, “What holiday?” I had to go look at a calendar, duh. That’s how out of touch I am. Retirement is so isolating; if I didn’t have you, webfriends, it would be like I was the only person on the planet.
So, today was a holiday I wasn’t celebrating and I wasn’t feeling up to snuff, but I wanted to get started making paper for my 3 custom journal orders. I also want to make some cards to offer on Etsy for Yule and time is tick, tick, ticking away. I only made 5 sheets today, which was an amazing accomplishment as I had to have a lie down in between making each sheet, but I finished one stack and I love the way they came out. I’m using a shopping guide that gets delivered monthly and this time it’s in pink. To some sheets I added rose petals, some diamond dust, and others a lovely blue pigment that adds a pretty sheen. Here are some pics:
Work in progress (WIP) never ends!
This 9 inch monstrosity of a bracelet:
Is metamorphosing into this much better 8 inch bangle:
It’s a nasty snapshot, just a quick peek really; the forced perspective makes the top ring look larger than the bottom, which is in fact not the case (of course). Creating the bangle base out of a single length of wire and keeping the distance between the top and bottom rings even was quite an adventure, but I’m much more pleased with the aesthetics of this piece, as well as the sizing. With four more “panes” to fill in, it’s slow going but nearly complete.
As seems to happen to me so often, I never think to write about a subject until someone asks me a question. I answer and I think, “Huh, I should have written that as a post!” Today’s question was about the athame and the fae, and why one would be feeling “pulled” toward owning one, Here is how I responded:
I have many athames (I’m a “tool” collector), but I only use two athames in sabbat rituals and spellwork.
In ritual, the athame is used to bring the divine feminine (chalice) and male (athame) together by inserting the athame into the chalice (the Great Rite) (the symbolism is very obvious). Some people use their athame to create their circle.
In spellworking, the athame can be used to gather, store and direct energy, such as when consecrating, charging or empowering amulets and talismans (although a wand can be used just as easily).
Most witches will agree on these three points, but there is disagreement about whether the athame corresponds with fire or air. Pick whichever one feels right to you. I treat my wand as corresponding with air, so I treat my athame as fire.
One of my athames is made of copper (which is really difficult to find; someone made mine for me by special request years ago; use of copper is more common and more readily available in England where faerie magic (IMO) is more hands-on and better developed because of its many historical faerie sites) and the other is made of oak wood.
On my daily personal altar, I do not keep an athame at all; in its place I keep a small copper and silver boline. I use this boline to cut fresh flowers and greenery for my personal altar as offerings to the God and Goddess, but not the fae (they don’t like dead flowers). For the fae, I leave shiny and found natural objects.
I’m very careful to have no iron in any of the items on either my ritual or personal altar, as I believe this is offensive to the fae. This includes steel blades (which is what most double-edged blades are made of today) because steel is mostly composed of iron. Pewter is also an acceptable substitute because it is mostly composed of tin, but pewter doesn’t hold a sharp edge. Since you only use the athame to direct energy, this should’t be a problem.
So why is a sharp, double-edged blade with a black handle the “definition” of an athame? Is it to intensify the “maleness” of the phallic object? The “dangerous” aspect of “maleness?” The raw, unbridled passion of the male penis? Some may choose to see it that way, but I see the flip-side too, where “maleness” is flacid, relaxed, peaceful. I see no reason for an athame to be black (absent of light, able to absorb but never reflect) or sharp (since it is not to be used to cut) because it is the witch who imbues the athame with its power. My copper athame won’t hold a sharp edge, and if my wooden athame ever had a sharp edge, a butterfly breathed on it and melted it away! Yet both accept and hold energy very well and release it upon command. I have sharp-edged black athames with the obligatory runes upon the handle and they “feel” no different to me. I simply prefer not to bring steel into a sacred circle.
As to why you are feeling a desire to own an athame, I would say that any desire is a sign of readiness for growth, a sign to reach beyond yourself and expand your knowledge and experience. You are simply ready. The athame will bring you closer to the masculinity within, as well as the divine masculine.
As far as using an athame in faerie magic, the fae are not meek and passive. They have the capability to be very strong and aggressive. They hold within themselves both the feminine and the masculine, just as do each of us. It is natural and, being of nature, the fae are accepting of this tool as they are of any other tool — so, remember, it is just a tool.
Look what I googled today for only $20.00 (me want! click image to visit):
7" Pewter Fairy Athame from Abaxion
“Faith is spiritualized imagination.”
~Henry Ward Beecher, American Clergyman, 1813-1887~
Court of the Faeries -- Source Unknown
SQUEEEEEEE! A heartfelt thanks to Kelly of Green Haven Soaps (they are absolutely to die for). She bought my Magical Moss necklace:
