The Sabian Oracle

I have been working on my own version of the Sabian Oracle. Its a modern Oracle, based on the Degrees of the Zodiac - the story of how it came about is fascinating - Lynda Hill tells it here: http://www.sabiansymbols.com/sabian-story.html

I got her book, which comes with the 12 Zodiac Cards and 30 Degree cards, but it is a bit .... dull... so I decided to make my own. I am starting with the Zodiac cards, carving my own printing blocks using techniques I learnt from Carrie, The Eraser Carver here: http://erasercarver.wordpress.com/carving-class/

I started out using eraser material (Easicarve) but am currently using student's vinyl. The bloke at Jackson's Art Supplies made a moue when I brought it, but its actually a fabulous carving medium. Its quite "dry" compared with the eraser material, but it has a green or blue side, and a grey core, so you can see exactly what you have carved. It also has the wonderful attribute of being $8 for an A3 size piece, as opposed to $20 for an A5 sized piece. :) I should get my entire current series, and the backs, out of one sheet.

I like the style that I am currently working on - its indigenous ie: I designed and made it. Up until now I had simply been copying designs from the Internet and printing them out for transfer. The only thing is that I find the current style a little busy... I'll still finish the series, but I think I will refine it a bit. As you can see from my Pintrest Board (red button on the left) I have been collecting different styles of Zodiacs, and I really like the tribal ones, so I think I will try that style next.

The cards here have been printed out using an embossing stamp pad ( I have a brayer and ink, but am still having too much fun with my stamp pads...) and then embossed using antique gold embossing powder. This gives them a very tactile feel, but raises certain technical issues which I look forward to tackling, including how I emboss both sides. Or do I make a front and a back, then stick them together and emboss the edges ? I suspect the answers will become clear when I get a proper heat gun and stop using the toaster as a heat source. I have a feeling that tongs are part of the answer too :)


Here are a couple of pictures - the rest are on Pintrest....

xxx Molly

Pretty Things...

You may have noticed the new picture to the left of my Blog :) Its a direct link to my new photography site, which showcases my notion of visual beauty. I've begged all my friends to let me take portraits and also to let me photo their pretty homes/food/stuff....

To be prefectly honest, I'm not interested in portrait photography; but I AM interested in architecture and interiors. Carla Coulson suggests that the budding photographer should try out as many genres as possible, so I am going to stretch my interests.

This has been a great excuse to load myself up with photography books and magazines such as Vogue Living, Gourmet Traveller, Belle, Country Style and Donna Hay. I might buy some copies of Conde Nast's Traveller and also go back through all the World of Interiors that I have stashed. Its actually really enjoyablke, this photography lark. A LOAD of work, but I am really, truly enjoying it - I look forward to getting started each day.

Its had a knock-on effect as well - I've been working on putting my own Sabian Oracle* deck together (as one does) by making my own printing stamps. I went looking for Zodiac stamps, but they were all really tacky, or expensive, so I stumbled across Eraser Carving (http://erasercarver.wordpress.com/) and am now busily carving and embossing my own set of Zodiac stamps. They look FAB, if I do say so myself. I've put together an archive of Zodiac images on my Pintrest Board here: http://pinterest.com/domestictriffid/

It seems creativity begets more creativity.....




xxx Molly


* See here http://www.sabiansymbols.com/sabian-story.html for an explanation of the Sabina Symbols :)

Fat Chick Running (and Other Unlikely Events)

Well its been a shit of the last six months, so I shall deeply ignore most of what has gone before, except to say we've moved house, amongst other things...

I am emboldened by a very gloomy diary of a 16th Century Japanese noblewoman, who led a very closeted, constrained existence and who wrote something only when she felt something had happened worthy of being noted - consequently she wrote an entry on average every seven years or so. Its called "The Autumn Book of Tears" or something like that and is VERY depressing.

But, nevertheless I have been casting stuff out mostly - a house move is always a good excuse for another massive Chuckarama, and aided and abetted by two serious eclipses (the second one tomorrow) I have been chucking aspects of my life/personality which aren't working. Or which I am bored of.

My weight has been jumping around madly, but is on its way down again, so I have decided to take up barefoot running. In fact, I started yesterday by walking barefoot along the beach path at Watermans. Yes, I am still very overweight. Yes, I will be walking for many weeks before I can break into a jog. I've still ordered some invisible shoes http://www.invisibleshoe.com/ from the US (with red laces) so that I can avoid running on glass (not that there was much - although squished lizards - yurk). Hubula has been trying to get me to take more exercise (he's taken up fencing) so I said - "OK, I'll go for a walk tomorrow afternoon". He seemed a bit taken aback that I was so keen, but I really like walking and its SUCH a chore to do it with two or three small children, one of whom is constantly asking questions, one of whom eats things if not constantly watched and a last one who is going through a whiny phase. NO FUN. But a walk by myself ? At the end of the day ? Along a beautiful stretch of beach ? BLISS !!

Got some very funny looks paddling along in my feet - strange, when we emigrated out here 30 years ago, people went barefoot all the time - it wasn't unusual to see people doing their shopping barefoot and in a sarong. Perth has become a lot more conservative than it used to be.

Anyway, it was lovely - walked along two of the beaches, discovered a stream, found a pretty shell. The sea wind blew out all my stress and I came back a changed woman. Just Gorgeous.

The poetry is going well as well, and I have also taken up painting having had the shock of my life at my eldest's pre-primary. There was a note up on the noticeboard saying that one of his little classmate's mothers (who has 4 children) is having an exhibition of her poetry and painting in Freo. I almost choked on the spot. HOW DARE SHE !! THAT'S MY LIFE!!! Am spitting chips. Went out and got brushes, paint and attacked a canvas I have had sitting around for the last two years. Dragged out all my poems and glared at them. Fired up my Etsy shop - also sitting there for the last year untouched. Grrr. I'm going to go and have a stickybeak at her stuff, so as to get myself even more annoyed with myself for sitting on my bum making excuses, rather than doing something that I love....

I have decided to do a series of paintings to match my poems, emphasising the spiritual aspects of my work (when not spitting chips, obviously) and bloody well put on an exhibition myself dammit !!! Not sure how many paintings you need for an exhibition, but have set myself the goal of one painting and one new poem a week, for a year. I reckon 52 all up should make a decent exhibition, and then I can also cherry-pick the best if some aren't as good as others.

I am using this next Eclipse to drop everything that isn't pointed towards this new vision of me as Artist & Writer. I'll make a painting of all the things I am going to let go of, and then I'm going to burn it and eat the ashes at the exact full moon. I did a doozy of a ritual at the last Eclipse, setting my feet firmly upon this path; so between the two of them, I fully intend to wake up as someone else on Sunday :)






xxx Molly

The Anatomy of Desire

I have been feeling very uncreative and questioning of my path again recently. Do I really want to be a healer ? Do I want to be a singer ? Do I want to be a weight loss coach ? I spend a LOT of my time pondering my path...

and then this popped through my inbox:

http://www.australianpoetry.org/ Seeking applications: AP's Tour of Ireland 2012   International opportunity for poets: Australian Poetry's Tour of Ireland 2012. Seeking: Two established Australian poets to participate in a reading circuit of leading festivals, events and venues in Ireland for a one-month tour in May/June 2012. Dublin, like Melbourne, has recently been named a UNESCO City of Literature. This tour aims to explore the similarities, differences, opportunities and possibilities which might be derived from Ireland and Australia sharing this common bond. You receive: Return airfares to Ireland and transfers to reading / event venues A fee (which includes per diems and reading fees) Accommodation in Ireland Reading spots at leading festivals and venues – tour to coincide with Dublin Writers Festival, the Bealtaine Festival, The Strokestown Poetry Festival, Listowel Writers Week (full itinerary to be confirmed) To be included in application: Applicant’s full contact information (must include email, phone and postal details). Applicants will need to have published two or more books by reputable publishing houses (self-published works are not eligible). Please include three copies of two books with application. A one-page CV of your literary achievements, including contact details of two professional referees. A maximum of two letters of support. The applicants must submit an additional one-page cover letter outlining: What they hope to achieve from the tour What makes them a good ambassador for Australian poetry How they would further promote Australian poetry and the Tour (e.g. maintaining an associated blog) Note:  Please enclose 3 copies of all application material.

And now I am nearly in tears. Talk about WANTING something !! I love poetry. I love reading it, I love writing it and I even love dissecting it :) And yet that little voice in my head says to me "That's stupid. Who ever made money as a poet ?" you know, apart from Thomas Kinsella, who I used to go to the Drunk Poets with, who ended up a visiting Professor of Poetry at Yale....

AAGGGHHHH !!! Now I am crying. Poisonous green tears of pure jealousy..... This makes me heartsick - the anatomy of desire outlined in green ink and a thousand scratchings-out.

SO. Rather than blubbing and carrying on I am going to Grok it, dammit. My Grok Girl push is working really well, so I am going to Grok Girl my Poetry, to overextend a metaphor :)

For a month, I am going to be a poet. A real poet. I am going to write poetry daily. I am going to go to poetry readings. I am going to go to Poetry groups. I am going to submit poems to magazines and competitions. I am going to go through my back-catalogue and pull out everything worth reproducing, and reproduce it. I am going to self publish a chap-book and submit it to a publishers to be published "for real". I am going to do everything in my considerable power to make sure that in 2013 I have the wherewithall to put my name down for the Poetry Tour of Ireland. Dammit.

This is something really worth desiring. I'm going to make it happen.

xxx Molly

Not Doin' Nuthin'

I am having a non-Wild Donkey moment right now. I really don't feel like doing anything creative. No poetry. A teensy bit of knitting (made a VERY cute bag). No writing.

VERYcute bag. Cute, eh ?

I have been rearranging the furniture and making curtains for things - but that comes under "Nesting" rather than "Creativity".... Reading over my Perfect  English decorating books again, getting ideas, although there's not much you can do in a rented house, hence the curtains and re-arranging.... I also like the "mend-and-make-do" attitude of these books, although some of the make-do is artfully constructed, extremely expensive "make-do". Still, it  has inspired me to make curtains for the kitchen cupboards to hide their gap-toothed ugliness. When I can be arsed getting out the sewing machine....

I think its coming out of a good two months of hideous illness, both on my part and the boys. I need to convalesce a bit. Look at pretty pictures. Sit in the sun. Get the food budget back under control. Go for walks. Drink lots of vanilla rooibos and generally count my blessings that I'm not feeling wretched right now.

I'm sure the urge to pick up the pen will come upon me soon, but right now I have another cute bag to knit !







xxx Molly
 

Yo ! Hut ! Boing ! And Away !

Well I have been completely inspired by Mark Sisson's Primal Blueprint so have put myself on the 30 Day Grok Girl Challenge.

Mottoes du jour:

“Stop whinging”
“Go hard or go home”
“What you do today is what you get tomorrow”

Cos I’ve lost 40 kilos, but I still have another 30 to go, and I am INSANELY inspired by this and also Mark Sisson’s AWESOME bod.

I feel as though I have hit a wall in my weightloss and in my EB thread we've been joined by some hardcore Paleo people. I've been interested in Paleo for a while, but they've inspired me to go back and look at it again, so I've spent the last three days reading Mark's Daily Apple here: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/ and have decided to go for it !!

Zoe Harcombe's Phase 1 is Paleo to all intents and purposes - the only bits that aren't are the yoghurt and brown rice, but I never really got into them that much anyway :)

So am all super hyped and excited about this - always a good place to start, and I'm looking forward to not getting sick as much and having loads more energy.

This has all come out of cutting down my daily "busyness" and just sitting and thinking quietly about what really matters to me. The reading I got from my Tao Oracle (last post) has really helped me to focus my mind on what is truly important to me, what I really need, and what I actually want. And being as sick as a dog for the last three weeks has focussed my mind on my health and energy levels quite effectively. I want to be able to chase around with my boys. I want to be able to climb trees. I want to be able to run up and down the beach. I want more energy. More vitality. More fun. More play !!

So Yo ! Hut ! Boing ! And Away ! is where I am headed... wish me luck !

xxx Molly

The Amazing Tao Oracle

I have finally found an interpretation of The I Ching that actually resonates with me ie: I can understand it !

I got a copy of Ma Deva Padma's  Tao Oracle which is the 64 hexagrams of the I Ching as a card deck - each with the most exquisite illustrations. Unfortunately I can't do my usual quickie cut 'n paste to show them to you, as she is very adamant about copyright, as you would do, being an artist. If you go to her site here: http://www.thetaooracle.com/print-gallery.htm you can see some of her gorgeous paintings.

What I really like about it is her interpretations of the I Ching. I have several now - I work with R.L. Wing's Workbook, as well as the original Richard Wilhelm interpretations from the amazing online I Ching Oracle here: http://www.ichingonline.net/index.html and I downloaded a copy of Bradford Hatcher's interpretation after reading an interesting discussion about the I Ching on Mystic Medusa's site. The problem is that although between them I am able to get amazingly detailed responses to my readings, they just weren't making any sense to me - I just couldn't get my head around the message.

With the Tao Oracle, something in her interpretations just sings to me. It all makes perfect sense, and is perfectly lucid. I went back and used her interpretations for some of my previous readings and had several "A-HA !" lightbulb moments... Anyway -see for yourself - here is the very first reading I did - a straightforward three card spread:

The Corners of the Mouth

• You are carrying too much weight in your head.
• Simplify your life by eliminating anything which does not promote wholesomeness.
• Nourish your relationships carefully, so that they may provide you and others with emotional sustenance.
• Nourish yourself spiritually with meditation and prayer.
• Envying what someone else has will keep you feeling deficient, even starved. Forget about what is on your neighbour’s plate and focus on how to provide for yourself.
• Expecting others to provide for you is irresponsible, immature and selfish.
• Do not hesitate to ask for what you need. Seek out someone who has the energy, wisdom or expertise that you lack and work together.
• Pacing yourself is vitally important.

Progress

• Enjoy the accolades; but keep coming back to centre, to your bliss. Focus on your work and your core interests. At the point that the applause is the loudest, you will have your greatest opportunity.
• Turn your attention to what needs to be done and do it as best you can.
• When you relax your grip, your hand will open. When you open your hand, you might find that it is filled with something even better than what you thought you wanted.
• If you give 100% and at the same time stay relaxed and easy about whether you are successful or not, you can gain an uncommon satisfaction of a job well done.
• In this way it is possible to ride the cresting wave and not get personally invested in your progress.

The Wanderer

• Life is a journey and in that sense we are all wanderers.
• It is our attitude to each step taken, not the number of miles racked up, that determines the quality of our existential reality.
• Seasoned travellers know how to adapt and keep their needs to a minimum – keep your lifestyle uncomplicated – that goes for your state of mind as well as your luggage.

Which just happens to cover the ongoing major themes of my life for the last month or so - the Chuckarama, my anxiety over my inability to work out what my Bliss is that I'm actually supposed to be following, and my desperate need to live in Denmark, which just seems to be drifting further and further away from me. The line that really sings to me from the whole reading is this one:

When you relax your grip, your hand will open. When you open your hand, you might find that it is filled with something even better than what you thought you wanted.

I have had a death grip on what I want and the tighter I have grasped, the more it has slipped away. 

And this:

If you give 100% and at the same time stay relaxed and easy about whether you are successful or not, you can gain an uncommon satisfaction of a job well done.

I have been obsessing about my success, as measured by my Blog stats, and have been trying to adapt my Blog to what I think will get hits ie: my weight loss, rather than what I am actually interested in ie: divination, poetry, pretty pictures, interesting people. 

I have gotten some amazing things out of focussing on my weight loss, not least of which is the publishing of my first e-book; but the thing that matters the most to me is the people who have written to me, thanking me for showing them a different approach to eating, that has enabled them to lose weight and feel healthier, and this has nothing to do with Blog hits and everything to do with helping other people. That really IS satisfying enough for me...

xxx Molly