This beautifully shot video is for a song by Eva Rivas, the Armenian singer. Such rich and dramatic imagery - I love it. A very ancient and Goddess-like feel to it.

Beautiful 2011 Calender!

Sefarina over at the Windleben blog (http://windleben.blogspot.com/) has produced this beautiful calender for 2011. So pretty! It is at -http://windleben.blogspot.com/2010/12/das-versprochene-geschenk.html#comment-form. I'm going to buy some pretty paper and print out some copies. Thank you Sefarina!

Skadi

Skadi as depicted on the Skadi Forum.

I have been thinking a lot about the Norse goddesses of late, having just written a short essay on Hel for an online course I'm doing, and I am especially drawn to Skadi, goddess of Winter and the Hunt, amongst other things. Something about the cold remoteness of the Scandinavian landscape that so shapes Norse mythology speaks to me. This wonderful song by Hagalaz Runedance - "Wave Skadi" - captures her exactly as I see her in my mind's eye.

Paganism is not Fascism

Just wanted to bring your attention to this campaign and to pledge my support for it. Thanks to Bodecea (http://bodecea.blogspot.com/) for posting on it. Having done a bit of academic work on both Nazism and neo-Nazism as well as having my own interest in Paganism, I have been horrified to see the way in which Paganism is sometimes appropriated to support the extreme right. This campaign - "Paganism is not Fascism" - is targetting just that. Well done.

Melancholia

While on the subject of angels and cemeteries and melancholy (thanks Diana at www.kennedy-white-house.blogspot.com/ for reminding me of this lovely word), I remembered Duerer's 'Melancholia' (below). Then I googled 'melancholy' and found this sweetly sad little angel (above - photo from http://anitaliangirlingeorgia.blogspot.com/).

Cemetery Gates

By popular request :) Here are some of the black-and-white pictures I took at our big, general cemetery about a year ago. What do you think?

Deserted beauty

Couldn't resist another photo from the same site. So beautiful! I love the wrought iron. I have tried to capture the same sort of 'deserted beauty' in my own black and white photos.

Alptraum

Incredible. I'm not sure if this castle is the stuff of dreams or nightmares. Perhaps there's something in the fact that the German for nightmare - alptraum - contains the word for dream - traum - in it. This photo is from the same site that I mentioned yesterday and I think the building is in Poland.

Quiet

One day I want to go on a journey around strange and deserted places in Europe. Empty buildings sometimes have more to say than busy ones. I have found this interesting photography site at http://www.closeddoor.eu/ which documents just such places. This manor house is in Germany. Wonderful.

Soundtrack for the Goddess

Yet another music clip, I know. But this song, which I have loved for years, I just happened to see on You Tube just now and it so much suits where I am at spirituality at the moment. I am doing lots and lots of reading on the Goddess and this just feels perfect.

Fab Fridays

"Ceremony" by New Order/Joy Division. If this song doesn't move you, then I can't help you :)

Fab Fridays

Gonna start a bit of an In a Dark Wood tradition here...a fab music clip to end the week. This week the very fab Siouxsie and the Banshees "Hong Kong Garden" from 1978. Love the 70s kids rocking out in the audience! Do you remember this song?

Persephone

I've recently bought this beautiful statue of Persephone from www.goddessgift.net It's so gorgeous...I adore it. I am looking to build up a collection of goddess statues for my small altar in the bedroom, you see. I love Persephone who is at once beautiful, young and innocent in the form of the Maiden of Springtime but also sad, world-weary and wise as the Goddess of the Underworld. I respond strongly to the story of Persephone and her mother Demeter too, as the ultimate tale of descent and renewal.

Artefactum

This is some incredible ambient music from Polish artist Artefactum. If you like this, I would definitely recommend you check her out on Myspace (especially the track "From Sulphur to Mercury" - my all-time favourite). So other-worldly, so mesmerising...divine!

Aphrodite

The image above by Thalia Took.

I went to a beautiful workshop last Wednesday night which worked with the energy of the Greek Goddess Aphrodite. Aphrodite is the Goddess of love of all kinds as well as, therefore, sensuality and sex. As I result I found that most of the images that I encountered when I googled 'Aphrodite' for this blog, were very sexualised, modern representations. Now, don't misunderstand me. I know that a key part of many of the strands of Paganism is a far more honest and sensual understanding of sexuality than can be found in Christianity. But that's just it - in Paganism, sexuality is a vital part of life, it is part of woman's strength and it is in fact sacred. Priestesses of Aphrodite, for example, performed sacred sexual rites at her temples.

But modern sexuality lends something different to the idea of a Goddess of Love. She is depicted as an objectified, passive figure, trussed up for the male gaze in stilettos and eensy-weensy bikinis. Sexuality is not hers. She is the object of the sexuality of others. And this is the difficulty I have in coming to terms with the often forthright aspects of sexuality and sensuality within the Pagan spiritual realm. For so long I have been inculcated with the modern view of sex, that I tend to shy away from honest representations of it. So much has been lost or at least distorted in our patriarchical society. So much needs to be re-learnt.

In A Dark Wood Accessories

The Marianne Cuff - A beautiful wrist cuff made from black, textured ribbon, upcycled lace, a delicate, pearlescent cameo button and shabby glam velvety flower.

The Drusilla cuff - Get in touch with your gothic princess in this gorgeous wrist cuff, with a textured black ribbon as its base, upcycled vintage white satin ribbon, a delicious purple flower and a striking gothic cross.

The Evangeline Cuff - A beautiful wrist cuff made from black satin ribbon, upcycled leather straps and lace and a lovely Gothic jet-like jewel in the centre.

The To Horses and Away Hat - A sweet miniature black top hat trimmed with delicately green veiling, upcycled vintage white satin ribbon and a dashing black feather.

The To Horses and Away Hat.

The Lady Dedlock Hat - Make a dramatic statement by adding this to your favourite Goth or Steampunk outfit. With a black diamond shaped base, it is trimmed with black-and-white lace, a black veil and a striking black feather.

The Arabella Hat - This delicious red and black hat will set off any Goth ensemble. The Arabella is trimmed with blood-red roses, black-and-white lace, black-as-night satin ribbon and two black ostrich feathers.

The Arabella Hat.

The Arabella Hat.

This is the range of hats and wrist cuffs that I have been working on. They are based on Victorian-era designs but with a modern twist to dramatically accompany Goth and Steampunk outfits. Please leave a comment below if you would like some more information or if you would like to discuss a custom-made design.

~ Feronia

Big Goth Groove*

Erin Blackie from Death of Art

Saw some live music on Friday night, which I really enjoyed. This is the second time recently that we've been out to see some bands and it's been good. Good to dress up a bit and get out amongst it. The black dog made me a bit hermit-y for awhile there, so getting out now and then is a good thing all round. On Friday, we saw Sarah Eida, Rouge Fonce and Death of Art. All local bands and all really great, especially Death of Art, who put on a very theatrical show. They reminded me of Evanescence. They can all be found on myspace and so if you're one for a bit of a jangly guitar or a gothy vibe, I would highly recommend you check 'em out.

* This is a slightly weak play on an 80s song, "Big Boss Groove". If you didn't know that, of course, and had to read this footnote, the play would have been weaker still :)

Fangs for the Memories

I am not really one for the whole vampire craze (she says, having avidly watched Buffy, Angel and Being Human) but I have to say I love this deliciously creepy image of Max Ernst's. I am about to start reading Twilight (I tried once before and got a bit 'teen-ed' out) so this pic might spur me on to finish it this time. There's seems something slightly vampirey about the word 'spur', but I can't think what. At least I didn't say there's a lot at stake for me to read Twilight. Or that I feel like a bite ...ahem.

A voice from the darkness

Well, it's been a very long break from the Dark Wood! I have no real explanation for this...more stuff seemed to present itself that seemed pertinent to the Yellow Wood (http://inayellow-wood.blogspot.com/) than for here. But I'm back now, weaving my way through the dark and the shadows and the less certain path! One thing I have started doing since I saw you last is making hats. I have no idea why I've started doing this but I just happened to see some hat making bits at the local craft store and thought I would give it a go. And watching Little Dorrit and becoming increasingly enamoured with all things Victorian has probably helped things along too!

The hats were photographed atop my grandmother's old milliner's head (sure there is a more correct term) from when she worked as a milliner in the 1920s. Perhaps there is a hat-making gene that has been lying dormant in me... my mum is quite convinced that grandma is channelling through me...!

What do you think of them? I love to know. I'm hopefully going to start selling them online soon.

Creator/Destroyer

The remains of the Temple of Mercury at the Heiligenberg. Photo from Google.

I suppose it shouldn't surprise me exactly, but I was still shocked to learn yesterday from a friend about the number of Christian churches which were built directly on top of pagan sites of worship. One key example is the Santa Maria Sopra Minerva in Rome, which literally means the Saint Mary church over Minerva since the site was devoted to the Roman goddess Minerva and, some suggest, Isis in still earlier times. There are examples throughout Europe and Martin of Tours even went so far as to destroy sacred trees. The victors write history, I suppose. Or, at least, they used to.

This brings to mind the site of the Heiligenberg in Heidelberg, Germany, which we had the pleasure of visiting with our good friends Bodecea and WirrLicht in 2006. Meaning essentially Sacred Mountain, it has seen much construction and reconstruction over the centuries as various faiths have had supersedence. Bodecea talks about it at - http://kultplatz.blogspot.com/2007/01/der-heiligenberg.html

Oh, for some tolerance, without this need to destroy, grab and claim.

Ostara

Image from the brilliant Thalia Took at www.thaliatook.com

Warm wishes to my Northern friends as you celebrate Ostara, brimming with the promise of Spring's growth.

Hail to the Moon

There was a beautiful full moon last night and I was quite struck by how it effected me. My journey with the black dog has been irritatingly consistent of late and as a result I have been tired and unmotivated a lot of the time. But last night, after dinner, I went out and gazed at the moon. After that I came inside, finished a small painting, did some drawing, started reading a new book, listened to some music...no slumping in front of the tv for me! I even remembered to put the stones I am going to make into rune stones outside to drink in some lunar goodness.

This clip is of the very talented Wendy Rule singing "Hail to the Moon". It is not the best quality and the backdrop of stacked chairs leaves a little something to be desired but it is my very favourite 'moon' song. Check out the version on Wendy's World Between Worlds CD if you can.

Incense II

Image from Google Images

A bit more on incense making today. These recipes are for incense cones which need to be burnt in an incense holder.

This a Briar Card image of the Archangel Michael

The Sword of Michael - for endings and releases

1 and a half teaspoons of Slippery Elm powder

Three quarters of a teaspoon if Sandalwood powder

One eighth of a teaspoon of Dragon's Blood

8 drops Clove Oil

Combine with 2-3 teaspoons of Fire & Water Blend, which is -

One quarter of a teaspoon of Salt Peter

8 teaspoons of liquid (hot water or floral waters)


2. Knowledge Blend

One half teaspoon of Thyme powder

Three quarters teaspoon of Basil powder

One and one quarter teaspoon Sandalwood powder

One eighth Benzoin gum

9 drops Rosemary oil

6 drops Peppermint oil

Combine with 2-3 teaspoons of Fire & Water blend.


Each mixture should provide you with 2 -3 cones which you shape by hand. Once you have combined the dry ingredients in your mortar and pestle, it is easier to mix them with the wet ingredients in a small bowl with a spoon. Obviously, use a mortar and pestle, bowl and spoon which you don't intend to use again for food preparation because some of the ingredients are not be consumed. It is important to visualise your intent while you are making and burning the cones. You will also probably need to find a good magical supplier to find all of these ingredients. If you would like to know the details of where I took the workshop (and where they sell all of the ingredients online), leave a comment and I'll email you.

I did inhale

Nothing like learning a new skill to give you a bit of a buzz. Last night I went to an incense making workshop at our local esoteric bookshop. I have burnt incense sticks for years because I am a very firm believer in the role of scent in contributing to an atmosphere. I realise now that up until now I really haven't lived! - I will be able to create much richer and more evocative fragrances by making my own. Over two hours, we made four sets of incense cones and one lot of loose incense to burn on charcoal discs. The best snap I could take was of the loose incense. The cones just ended up looking like animal droppings or illegal substances and given the wonderful aroma they have filled the house with already (they haven't even been lit!), taking unappealling photographs of them just didn't seem quite fair! So here is the recipe for the loose incense if you are so inclined:

2 teaspoons of dried jasmine flowers

2 teaspoons of hyssop

3 teaspoons of frankincence

18 drops of jasmine fragrant oil

Grind up the dry ingredients with a mortar and pestle before stirring through the oil. This blend is for aura cleansing and revitalising. It is to be burnt over charcoal discs. It smells sooooo good!

Wishes

Image from www.ninaulana.blogspot.com

Image from blog.beliefnet.com


Wishing you happiness and peace wherever you are~

be it celebrating the arrival of Spring or the arrival of Autumn...

Let's give thanks as the Wheel of the Year turns once more.

Cold, this misty night...

Some wonderful atmospheric music to finish off the week. This is one of my favourites from Hagalaz Runedance. The medieval-sounding instruments are so evocative and just what I want to hear right now as I think about taking up learning Medieval pieces on the recorder. Then there is Nebelhexe's (Andrea Haugen) haunting voice. Enjoy!

In print!

One of my photos used in the article.

I am delighted to announce that my dear spiritual sister Bodecea (http://bodecea.blogspot.com/) and I have written an article for the Australian magazine The Spirit Guide to Spellcraft (http://www.spellcraft.com.au/) and that I have just received my copy! It looks great, I have to say - I am really pleased with it. We have written about Northern magic traditions from the perspectives of one of us being in the Northern Hemisphere and one of us in the South so it is really in a lot of ways about the complexities of having an interest in a religion which is spiritually very connected to a particular place. That is, what do I draw on imaginatively when I am surrounded not by the fir trees of a European forest but by Australian gum trees? A perennial question in Pagan circles!

Thank you Bodecea for sharing your knowledge with me so that we could put this article together.

Just a thank you

Image from http://muntakapublicity.com/

Here's a little ethical question for you. I would love to know what you think. I have been following a locally-drawn cartoon in the newspaper for months now - I love it. Before Christmas, I contacted the cartoonist with an idea of a cartoon. I heard nothing back. Fair enough, I thought, he's not interested. That's his perogative. He's the artist, afterall. It's his cartoon strip. But a couple of weeks ago, I saw the cartoon in the paper. He'd drawn it, using my text almost word for word. But still no emails from him. Just a 'thank you' would have sufficed. As my grandma would have said...courtesy costs nothing!

Things that make me happy Nr. 4 - Painting

I am loving painting at the moment, as I think I may've also mentioned earlier. I don't imagine myself to be anything like an artistic genius or even an artist. I just love getting paint on canvas and expressing something. Unfortunately, with my camera woes, the brilliant blue of my triple goddess has not come out and my moon was photographed with my phone! Oh well, camera shopping on the weekend...

Wishing you happy days and fair weather until Monday.

Things that make me happy Nr. 3 - Candlelight

{Photographed last night as I quietly read on the couch. Instant atmosphere. }

More Moro...please

But I can't be too good in my eating habits...for every piece of fruit lately (see the corresponding http://inayellow-wood.blogspot.com/ list), I have been equally addicted to these little Moro bars, recently discovered at our local supermarket. Do they have them anywhere else, I wonder? Not quite the size of a regular chocolate bar - more a two-small-bites size - they are just enough to proffer as a satisfying offering to the Sugar Gods. Or me.

A week of happiness

My good blogging friend Diana over at Sun over Stonehenge (http://kennedy-white-house.blogspot.com/) has very kindly given me an award! Thank you Diana :) As a part of receiving it, I am to share with you ten things that make me happy. But I'm going to play it a little differently and tell you five things each here and over at http://inayellow-wood.blogspot.com/ (which means each set of five could have quite a different flavour!) and I'm going to space my list out over the week too.

So today I give you...the quiet pleasure of sometimes being just a little miserable. It may sound a bit mad, but I must admit I've sometimes done it. Those moments when you don't want to feel better, don't want to put a brave face on it, don't want to make the best of it...just want to be miserable. And who else to be miserable with than the divine Mozza?

Nerthus

Nicanthiel Hrafnhild, Boar, Birch and Bog from www.gullinburstipress.com

Painting from http://www.jok-design.de/

I have lately been reading about the Norse goddess Nerthus, of the Vanir pantheon. Goddess of fertility and the earth but also peace. She represents something of a Gaia figure, I think. Does anyone else know anything about her? I love the painting of her above - it exudes such calm and quiet strength. I have just ordered Boar, Birch & Bog - Prayers to Nerthus by Nicanthiel Hrafnhild. Looks really interesting. I am so enjoying this spiritual path I'm on right now - whole worlds are opening up.

Enjoy your weekend.

Requiem

I have to say as much as there's a lot of dross on tv, our 'multicultural' station here (that is how it's pitched) - SBS - does serve up some good stuff which we would otherwise not see. I saw "Requiem" on Saturday night and it was brilliant. A typical case of flicking on to something and not really knowing anything about it, I quickly became engrossed in this tale of a girl starting at university in the early 70s who is at first thought to be epileptic, then mentally ill. The conclusion that is finally reached by both her and her staunchly Catholic family is that she is possessed by demons. It is beautifully acted - lead Sandra Hueller is a particular stand out - perfectly capturing the clash of emotions inherent in mental illness: overwhelming torment and angst, brief glittering moments of pure happiness when one is 'free' of it for a time and the on-going act of trying to look 'normal'. It seemed to me that her character was suffering from either schizophrenia or bipolar disorder - there seemed to be symptoms of both but I am no psychiatrist - which could have been treated. But all along certain decisions are made - she washes her pills down the sink, her boyfriend takes her to her parents' home rather than to a psychiatric hospital when she finally collapses - so that the 'diagnosis' of possession and the closing in of the claustrophobic little world of her family and her village can begin in earnest to bury her alive.

Ravens

Odin with Hugin and Munin, from www.pixeltart.blogspot.com/

A Celtic representation of the raven from http://www.wildravens.net/

Image from www.fragmentsfromfloyd.com/

Sat in the yard last night just as night was falling, watching with quiet delight all of the bird life making its way home for the evening. Mynah birds were scared out of the flowering gum by magpies; magpies took flight when the ravens arrived. But the tiniest of tiny birds hopped merrily on from branch to branch, unconcerned by the power plays fluttering around her.

Ravens always catch my eye. I believe they are ravens in this part of the world and not crows but I'm not sure. I have seen a couple of them in gorgeous swooping flight these last few dusks and I just have to stop and stare as they glide overhead, wings extended. Ravens and crows have bad reputations for their tendency to feed on carrion. In mythology, they are contradictory figures, associated with death and battle in Celtic mythology but also with life and creation. They are tricksters but also wise - such as Odin's ravens Hugin and Munin. Light and dark, life and death, both sides of the one coin. Just the sort of totem animal for the Dark Wood.

Looking up into the sky last night, how I wanted to be a raven! Wheeling and swooping, the air fluttering through my wings as I moved freely on, the world my oyster. It made me think of Wendy Rule's song "The Wolf Sky":

We lay within the bird

That lay beneath the Wolf Sky

We lay within its wing and

We felt the bird within us...

The Great Cosmic Mother

Image from www.monicasjoo.com/

I am reading The Great Cosmic Mother - Rediscovering the Religion of the Earth by Monica Sjöö and Barbara Mohr and it, along with a couple of other books on similar themes, are really changing the way I look at the world. Mostly this is fantastic but sometimes it can be a little disconcerting when one's compass completely shifts! Nevermind - it's worth it. The extent of the silencing of the female voice in spirituality has shocked me as has the extent to which we by and large accept this silencing. I am still reading this wonderful book so I might comment a bit more extensively soon. Has anyone else read it?

Yesterday I discovered Monica Sjöö's website (www.monicasjoo.com/) which displays her amazing art as well as looking at her life and ideas. Above is one of her drawings, "Cathedral Event". Sadly Monica died at the comparatively young age of 66. You might be interested to read about her fascinating life in this obituary from the Guardian -
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2005/sep/23/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries1

Is this a comedy?

It would be fair to say that I have an unusual sense of humour. Some would say odd. It doesn't have to be odd - I can laugh as much as the next person at "vegetables in a rude and amusing shape" as Blackadder would say, but when it comes to comedy that really attracts my attention it has to be a little bit weird and just a little bit black. That doesn't mean humour that involves cruelty to other people or mockery. No thanks. No, I mean something a little subtle and clever than that. The Mighty Boosh (clip one) is a classic example - surreal and esoteric, the situations that evolve for wanna-be Goth Vince Noir (Noel Fielding), jazz afficianado Howard Moon (Julian Barrett) and their flatmates Naboo (a shaman) and Bollo (Naboo's familiar, a talking gorilla) can best - indeed, only - be described as psychedelic. Nighty Night (clip two) is far more grounded in the every day - some would say in the morbidly mundane. But it is the awful web woven by the horrific Jill (Julia Davis) through the ordinary lives that she disrupts which gives Nighty Night its edge, leaving you unsure whether to laugh or cry. Julia Davis refocusses on the alarmingly black underbelly of suburbia in Human Remains (clip three), along with the brilliant Rob Brydon. People missing life's boat (or a lifeboat?), 'losers', also-rans and the mean-spiritedness sometimes lurking behind neatly matching suburban curtains. I am drawn to these people and repelled simultaneously, having had them as a part of my life and perhaps always skating close to becoming them. And then when it's all too much, too close to the bone, they'll make you laugh.

What happens when a Hallmark moment goes horribly wrong

As you may have seen if you've just been to http://inayellow-wood.blogspot.com/ (sorry, I'll stop the cross-promoting soon), I am going to take my chances tomorrow and try to sell some of my cards at a local bookshop. I have been making cards for some months and although I have sold some to relatives and at my mother's workplace, I can't help but feel these (kind as they are) are sympathy gigs and not genuine market appraisals (ahem) of how reasonable (or not) the cards actually are. Added to this that I have been beleagured by depression during this period and so confidence has sort of...well...been non-existent. Thus the thought of stepping into a shop and saying "Hello, would you care to buy these wares which I have crafted with my own fair hands?" has been a bit of a non-option.

But lately I've hit on the idea of creating 'darker' cards. I am all for the soft-and-cuddly (and they sell well, there's no doubt), but cards that are a little bit dark, a little bit gothic perhaps...that might just be something a little different, I'm thinking. A bit of a niche needing to be filled (I hope). So combining my new-found love of photography, I have been snapping merrily away and turning the results into cards. Above are some of the images I've used. What do you think?