Happy Birthday, Arwen!

Arwen is 1 year old today! Happy Birthday, sweetie! Unbelievable how fast this year has gone by. I remember holding her for the first time. So small, smaller than Foofur, but with those huge paws. She's grown into the size of her paws now. Still cute, still a puppy, full of misschief though, playful and happy. I can write about her for pages and pages long, but I'll let the pictures speak. Look at her first year in pictures on Facebook or Hyves (same pics, resp. English and Dutch comments). Enjoy!

Litha and more

Last Monday I had a very special Litha celebration with my coven. I really feel welcome there. I like them and I think they like me. :) Anyway, I have found my path back again. I feel at ease and confident about it. I can't share everything here. That's a pity, but that's just the way it is. I'll still share whatever I can.

Last year after I left the Temple of Ara I really felt bad, out of balance and lost. Now I can see it as something in the past. Phyllis Curott will always be dear to me and I've learned great things while working with her. I'm proud to have had her as a teacher. And a terrific part of the legacy is a group of wonderful women to work with, the Lowland Systers.

This is the robe I made for the Litha celebration. As you know I'm not a sewing-star (that's a huge understatement...) so I had help from Wonder and Ron. I have two belts: one straight and one braided (what a work!). The fabric (100% cotton) was white originally, but I decided to dye it. A bit of a gamble, but it turned out just the way I hoped it would! I bought the shawl some time ago and the colour fit perfectly.

And the winner is...

Mike, you've just won a free copy of 'Learning To Stand'! Congratulations! Please e-mail me your home address, so Claudia can send you your prize. Enjoy!

Learning To Stand

Last year I let Claudia Hall Christian hijack my blog to promote her fabulous novel The Fey (see blogpost). Now it's time to let you know about the second novel in this series: Learning To Stand. I read it a few weeks ago. I was really looking forward to see how Alex' story would continue and I wasn't disappointed in any way. If you liked The Fey, you'll like Learning To Stand. I love both!

After all Alex Hargreaves has been through everyone expects her to move on. That's not as easy as they make it sound though... Alex struggles to get back on her feet. Meanwhile the world around her doesn't stand still. Things happen around her and she has to get herself together. She's the only chance of survival for a little kid. With the courage of despair she leads her team into a very dangerous encounter.

The book grabbed me and I couldn't lay it down. Page after page I wanted to read to know what would happen next. Indeed, a page-turner par excellence. Interested? Claudia is offering you a 20% discount on all of her books. Use discount code "BLOGTOUR" in her Create Space store. Learning To Stand is also available at Amazon, but it's not possible to offer the discount there.

But it gets even better! If you comment on this blog post you are automatically entered to win a FREE copy of Learning To Stand. I will wait until the beginning of next week to give you some time. Just like last year I'll put the names of the commenters on little papers and pick one blindly, so... take your chance and leave a comment!
Claudia will be checking in and answer your questions.

Some links to visit:
On A Limb With Claudia - Claudia's blog
Stories by Claudia
AlexTheFey - home of the Alex the Fey thriller series
Denver Cereal - serial fiction by Claudia

Herbal fun again

Today I made a wonderful walk in the dunes with Foofur & Arwen. While they were walking around me I picked some red poppy (papaver rhoeas), not the opium poppy: that's papaver somniferum. Back home I put them in alcohol, oil and hot water (separately). Internally poppy helps against coughs, throat aches, hemorrhage, nervousness and insomnia. In external application it has a soothing and moisturising effect on the skin.

I love my herbal experiments. I have made quite a few. At the moment this is my window sill in the kitchen:

From left to right: herbal vinegar, lemon balm oil infusion, poppy tincture, echinacea root tincture, rosemary oil infusion, poppy oil infusion, valerian root tincture and poppy water infusion. On the far right is water with gemstones.

Ceramic art

Some time ago I noticed a picture on Flickr by Suzie Ridler that showed a lovely ceramic bowl. I did some searching and ended up at Etsy. De Baun Fine Ceramics sells beautiful handcrafted bowls, incense burners and more. They have all been created by artist Diane De Baun. She has been working with clay since the early 80’s. Her websites are full of wonderful ceramic art, so it was hard to choose! After a while I had narrowed down my list to two bowls. I couldn't decide, so I just ordered both! Last week they arrived and I love them! The left one with cats and triple moon is 4 inches in diameter, the right one 4 1/2. I've put them on my altar.

Do you want to shop for yourself? Here are the links:
De Baun Fine Ceramics - website
De Baun Fine Ceramics - Etsy Store

Busy(ness)

The last months have been tough. Ron officially lost his job on May 1st. We knew that beforehand, so we acted early to get all the paperwork and applications done in time. To cut a long story short: we did the right thing but the social security authority made a mess of it and sent us from pillar to post. I'll spare you the details, but it was very frustrating. We've had quite some weeks... Both depressed and desperate, but somewhere deep within determined to overcome this. And it looks like we are finally on a winning streak. We aren't there yet, not by a long shot, but I'm moderately positive.

Despite his qualifications and experience it isn't easy for Ron to find another job, because he is too old at 45. Unbelievable, isn't it? He had to think about what he would want to do first. That took a while to figure out. Some time ago we talked with my brother and he suggested that Ron would start his own business. Ron worked out the idea and we did some research. The social security authority agrees the plan is good enough to give it a try! So now we are at the beginning of a new path. It will take time to bring it about, but that's okay. At least we can work towards a positive future again!

Herbal Healing Salve

Ever since I joined HerbMentor, I've been trying out stuff. I made a nettle infusion and started with an echinacea tincture. Today I made a herbal healing salve with comfrey, plantain, calendula and St. John's Wort. I made a slideshow of the process:

The pictures of the infusion, tincture so far and the salve are also in my Flickr-album "Herbal Stuff".

10th PFI Conference Netherlands

Last Saturday I went to the 10th PFI Conference in Lunteren. I left home early to be in time for the opening ritual. At arrival I already met a lot of friends and other acquaintances and that went on throughout the day. It's a great opportunity to meet people!

The opening ritual was performed by Frigga Asraaf and Michiel from the Asatru network Het Rad. Central in the ritual stood three branches that represented the PFI Netherlands: one for Lady Bara (National Coordinator PFI and organizer of the Conference), one for Morgana (International Coordinator PFI) and one for the PFI in general. We all brought ribbons to decorate the branches. I hung mine in Lady Bara's branch. The result was placed in a special place during the day.

All day workshops were given in different rooms in the building; sometimes it was very hard to make a choice! Workshops I attended:
*** The Wild Hunt by Gardenstone (lecture with music and pictures)
*** Powersongs by Frigga Asraaf & Michiel (singing powersongs together)
*** Feeling the energy of the landscape by Linda Wormhoudt (info, experiencing, trance journey)
*** Polarity in Wicca by Boann & Dagda Segais (Gardnerian HPS & HP guided us in connecting with the Goddess and God)
I enjoyed them all very much: interesting and fun to do!

In between the workshops I had time to explore all the stalls. I restrained myself and only bought 2 books and some beautiful cards. From Frigga Asraaf I bought her book "Asatru - een naslagwerk" (Asatru - a reference book), one of the most extensive Dutch books on asatru. At the table of bookshop De Wijze Kater I bought The Wicca Herbal by Jamie Wood.

In the closing ritual the branches for Lady Bara and Morgana were given to them. Then it was time for dinner: a delicious Indonesian buffet. Very yummy!!! Around 8PM The Lowland Paddies started playing in the big room. Great music and very good to dance. There had been a balfolk workshop in the afternoon and this was the perfect moment to get some exercise. I enjoyed watching! :)
Around 10PM I said my goodbyes. I dropped two friends in Amsterdam and drove home.

Witches Cafe Haarlem

Yesterday I've been to the Witches Cafe in Haarlem for the first time. It is organised by George and Sander of Mandragora in De Groene Godin, a lovely little shop I got to know a few weeks ago by doing a workshop there.  It is a nice place with great ambience.

This month Jungian therapist Annemarie Peters held a short presentation about her book "Dochters van de Maan" (Daughters of the Moon). In the book she shows the link between women's monthly cycles and the moon. She told us about how the book came to life, shared the essence of the book and did a wonderful guided visualisation with us. Very interesting! In between and afterwards I chatted with Annemarie and the other visitors while we enjoyed herbal tea and yummy cake. A wonderful evening that bears repetition!

Numen, the nature of plants

Today I watched an excellent documentary: Numen, The Nature Of Plants. It was an exclusive screening for HerbMentor-members. Numen (defined as the animating force in nature) is a 95-minute documentary film focusing on the healing power of plants and the natural world. It is for herbalists, gardeners, medical practitioners, plant lovers - and everyone concerned about human and environmental health.

The film is built around interviews with a series of experts and individuals that in turn share their opinion about a lot of topics. In between they show beautiful footage of medicinal plants. That works very good. It is educating, moving, awakening, inspiring, compelling, and so much more. I can really recommend it to everyone!

Here's a 10 minute preview, enjoy!

Beltane Blessings

Have a wonderful Beltane!!!

(Samhain Blessings to my pagan friends in the Southern hemisphere)

The leaves are budding across the land

on the ash and oak and hawthorn trees.

Magic rises around us in the forest

and the hedges are filled with laughter and love.

Dear lady, we offer you a gift,

a gathering of flowers picked by our hands,

woven into the circle of endless life.

The bright colors of nature herself

blend together to honor you,

Queen of spring,

as we give you honor this day.

Spring is here and the land is fertile,

ready to offer up gifts in your name.

we pay you tribute, our lady,

daughter of the Fae,

and ask your blessing this Beltane.

Elf Fantasy Fair 2010

Elf Fantasy Fair 2010

Last Saturday Ron and I went to the Elf Fantasy Fair in Haarzuilens, a fantasy event for pagans, fantasylovers and everyone else. On the grounds of Castle De Haar around 25,000 people come together to enjoy medieval music, dancing, lectures, theatre plays, sales booths and parades.
The entrance was badly organised. We arrived around 10am, but stood in line for almost two hours!!

We met a lot of our friends there. I ran into Kit Berry and her husband again; she's the author of the Stonewylde book series. One of my favourite artists was present too: Josephine Wall! I love her paintings, but forgot to bring my book to let her sign it.
The entertainment was good as always. We listened twice to stories told by Donderelf. Bifi from Greenthingz was crowned Queen of Elfia. There was LARP-play, re-enactment, music and so much more.
In the evening we went home. The fair was open until 10pm, but we were pooped! It was a lovely day, we enjoyed ourselves very much.

(click on the picture above to see our pictures in a webalbum)
(more pictures here)

Ron entered the Elf Fantasy images contest.
Please vote for his pictures:
1: Aandacht
2: Donderelf
3: Elfenbankje

I'm back!

Wow, it has been looooooong since I posted a blog. The reason..? Hmmm. The easiest answer would be "I'm busy", but that's not all true. I often thought about posting, but it just didn't end up here. Ah well, whatever the reason... I'm here! :-)
I have been doing some things during the 'silent time' that are worth mentioning; here are some (not in any particular order).

April 10th I attended a workshop with Linda Wormhoudt about Seidr. She has written a great book about it: "Seidr, het Noordse pad", so I was looking forward to learn more. We were asked to bring our staff or another stick, as the theme of the day was to work with the staff and with energyfields. Apart for some theory it was a lot of action; not hearing about it, but trying it ourselves. Very interesting and worthwhile!

I discovered a lovely bookshop in Haarlem called De Groene Godin (The Green Goddess). I often shop in Haarlem and I even lived in the city centre long ago, but I didn't know it. It's a little shop with a large table in the back where you can sit, drink tea etc. and workshops are held. I did a workshop there with Mandragora some weeks ago. We made an ointment and a tincture. I learned new things and had a great evening!

I was asked to tell my personal experience story and talk about depression in a theme group of a day-care program in a hospital. I went there twice. The first time I told my story and answered questions; the second time I answered more questions and we discussed it further. The supervisor/counsellor was very content, the group was positive and for me it was another good experience with this work!

The Tuesday before Easter Evert and I went to the Matthäus Passion in Breda. It was a great performance with wonderful soloists. My favourite part are the bass voices and they were very good! In the afternoon we went to 'my tree' in the Mastbos. It had been some time since I could be there. We also visited the burial mounds (around 1700-1000 BC) on De Regte Heide. There are six of them, but a little one in the back caught my attention. It felt very strong. There was a tree nearby and I couldn't resist climbing in it...

More later! :)

Morning Sun

Robbie Williams has given his new single “Morning Sun” to Sport Relief as their official charity single for 2010. The song will be released on March 8. He said: “I am very happy to donate my time to help Sport Relief and I thank my co writers for doing the same. Please join us in helping this very worthwhile cause”. All of the record company profits and artist royalties from digital single sales of the track in the UK will go to the charity, as will income from the writers and their publishers.
You can donate to Sport Relief by visiting their website.

The music video is directed by Vaughan Arnell, director of classic Robbie videos including Angels, Feel and Bodies. Watch Robbie rocket out of space on an intergalactic voyage through the stars here or here.

How do you rate the morning sun
After a long and sleepless night
How many stars would you give to the moon
Do you see those stars from where you are
Shine on the lost and loneliest
The ones who can’t get over it

And you always wanted more than life
But now you don’t have the appetite
In a message to the troubadour
The world don’t love you anymore
Tell me how do you rate the morning sun

Stuck inside the rainbow years
And you could happen to me
‘Cause I’ve been close to where you are
I drove to places you have seen
It all seems so familiar
Like they’d been sent to kill ya

It doesn’t take an astronaut
To float into space is just a thought
The morning brings a mystery
The evening makes it history
Tell me how do you rate the morning sun

And the village drunk
Sadly passed away
It was a shame
I never knew his name
I wonder if he sat there every morning
And watched the sun rise

How do you rate the morning sun
It was just too heavy for me
And all I wanted was the world
If you are the starlet in the sun
Don’t go wasting your time
‘Cause there is no finish line

And you don’t see anything
Not even love not anything
The night could take the man from you
A sense of wonder overdue
The morning brings a mystery
The evening makes it history
Who am I to rate the morning sun

Written by R. Williams, D. Spencer, K. Andrews, R. Scott, S. Ralph, D. Black