Tuesday, May 29, 2012

luverly of the week: the cosmic soul factory drum


Ain't she pretty? This luverly is made from a large walnut trunk and was crafted by several artists.

Here are some more photos of The Cosmic Soul Factory Drum and it is available over at the Etsy shop of Strike Daekins Designs.



Sláinte!

Laurel



Friday, May 25, 2012

Horse Feathers Live

This is a wonderful live performance of Horse Feathers at the 2012 Nelsonville Music Festival. Enjoy! :)



Tuesday, May 22, 2012

the beauty of bealtaine


Everything here is bustling with life, and if I don't stop to "smell the flowers", it seems like I will miss something. Things sure do move faster here in the warmer seasons.

When we first moved into the home that we are in now, I figured that we would probably get quite a bit of wildlife surrounding us, and I certainly have not been disappointed. The lane way behind our home is a beautiful wooded space, full of birds and other critters. It is a little oasis in the city.


A lot of work has been done in the garden, although there is still plenty more to do. The cooler weather crops have been planted in containers on our North-facing balcony and most of the beds have been completely dug up. I will be doing another batch of planting this Friday, and then the rest will be planted on the following Friday {posts about that to come}.

Happily all of the plants that we brought from our last place have come back and seem to be doing well.


I had been on the look out for a rowan tree that was small enough to keep in a container and to bury in the ground during the Winter. The plan was to have it like that for a while so we could take it with us whenever we finally purchase a place. However, all the trees at the local nurseries were six feet and over. While they were lovely, it would be a real challenge to keep them in a pot.

Instead I took a small live cutting from the tree I did this year's rowan wood harvest from and put it in some root hormone. It seems to be doing ok, although I think it takes up to a few months for the roots to establish themselves, so fingers and toes cross that it will do alright.

This month has been full of various rituals and sacred workings, from a clean up and blessing of the small village cemetery of my Ancestors and workings for others, to my own private ones. I don't know if it was because of the "super" moon, but I found that some of my Bealtaine festivities were especially potent this year.


I didn't make it to the opening of our local farmer's market, instead this past long weekend we ended up going back to the wee village to spend time with family. I noticed at the cemetery that someone had recently put a faery statue on the grave of a child who passed away in the 1950's. It don't think it was there during the clean up a couple of weeks ago, but there sure is an aged looked to it with the spider's webs on it.


And the infamous Leaning House of Restoule looked like it had a pretty rough Winter!



Sláinte!

Laurel

Thursday, May 17, 2012

belly up to the table for a great cause!

The McVean Farm Harvest Table is an event to help raise funds for new farmers. All the proceeds go to FarmStart. For more info read below or go to the event's website.

Sláinte!

Laurel


Sunday, May 13, 2012

Happy Mother's Day!

{image from The Graphic's Fairy}

A mother's love's a blessing
No matter where you roam
Keep her while she's living
You'll miss her when she's gone
Love her as in childhood
Though feeble, old and grey
For you'll never miss a mother's love
Till she's buried beneath the clay

~From A Mother's Love is a Blessing by Thomas P Keenan


Monday, May 7, 2012

sad news, good news, gmos & asshats

Some good news first!

Funding for research of test tube pigs has finally been cut off here in Ontario:
After more than10 years, active research into the genetically modified (GM or genetically engineered) pig called “Enviropig” is being abandoned. In late March, the hog industry group Ontario Pork decided to stop funding GM pig research at the University of Guelph and the university is now closing down its active research and ending its breeding program of GM pigs.
You can read the rest of the article over at Common Ground's website.

Some more GMO news, this time not so good:
Biotechnology's promise to feed the world did not anticipate "Trojan corn," "super weeds" and the disappearance of monarch butterflies.

But in the Midwest and South - blanketed by more than 170 million acres of genetically engineered corn, soybeans and cotton - an experiment begun in 1996 with approval of the first commercial genetically modified organisms is producing questionable results.

Those results include vast increases in herbicide use that have created impervious weeds now infesting millions of acres of cropland, while decimating other plants, such as milkweeds that sustain the monarch butterflies. Food manufacturers are worried that a new corn made for ethanol could damage an array of packaged food on supermarket shelves.

You can read the full article here.

Some fucking asshole decided to kill and desecrate an animal that is sacred to the Lakota people:
According to a Fox News report, the extremely rare and sacred white buffalo born last year has been found dead and skinned along with its mother.

Lightning Medicine Cloud, born May 12, 2011 on a stormy night at the Lakota Ranch in Greenville Texas, was a natural white buffalo—an extremely rare occurrence, happening an estimated once per ten million births. In June, a naming ceremony attracted over 2,000 visitors to the ranch, and a report on the proceedings cited beliefs held by some Lakota that the calf was the third white buffalo ever, and the first male in 150 years. Such a white buffalo is tied to the story of White Buffalo Calf Woman, and is the most sacred animal, perhaps the most sacred thing on the planet, to the Lakota people.

In March, the discovery that a ranch in Hunt, Texas offered the chance to kill a white buffalo for $13,500 sparked outrage in Indian country. A day after the news broke, the owner of the ranch told Indian Country Today Media Network that he would cease offering the white buffalo hunt. The buffalo being killed at that ranch and others, like those being born on a ranch in Bend, Oregon, are not natural white buffalo—as an expert told ICTMN in March, knowledge of genetics has allowed modern breeders to engineer white bison.

The rest of the story, along with updates can be read here.

And sadly MCA/Adam Yauch from the Beastie Boys passed away last week:

Adam Yauch, a founding member of pioneering hip-hop group the Beastie Boys, died Friday at age 47.

He died in New York after three years of treatment for cancer, his representatives said. He had been diagnosed with a cancerous salivary gland in 2009.

The rest of the article can be read here.

Sláinte!

Laurel

Luverly of the Week: Mourning Dove by Amyzzz1




Friday, May 4, 2012

Irish Charms & Spells

{This is an post for the Pagan Blog Project}

Below are a few traditional Irish spells and charms; the first two I have changed to suit my personal situation, the last one is in its original form. All of these charms and spells are from Ancient Legends, Mystic Charms, and Superstitions of Ireland by Francesca Speranza Wilde.

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To Attract Bees

{photo by Umberto Salvagnin}

Gather on Midsummer {the original calls for this on Bealtaine/May Day, so the change I made is due to the climate that I am in}:

foxglove
raspberry leaves
wild marjoram
mint
chamomile
valerian

Mix them in butter that is also made on Midsummer {original calls for Bealtaine/May Day}. Boil them altogether with honey. Rub the mixture on a small clay pot and place in the bottom of a bee box and the bees will soon come.

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Against Enemies

{royalty free photo}

The three things are of my evil adversary:

An evil gaze;

An evil tongue;

An evil mind.

The three things are of my Gods:

The merciful word;

The singing word;

And the good word.

May the power of these three sacred things be on all of those that I hold dear.

*********

A Charm for Safety

{photo by Dan Zen}

Pluck ten blades of yarrow, keep nine, and cast the tenth away for tithe to the spirits. Put the nine in your stocking, under the heel of the right foot, when going a journey, and evil will have no power over you.

*********


Sláinte!

Laurel