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

Passport

Today we finally applied for new passports. They expired in September 2009, but first we didn't have the money (2x €50,90) and then we couldn't find them... They have a fixed place, but somehow weren't there anymore. We searched the house several times, but alas... This week we decided to report them missing. That would have meant extra costs, but we really didn't know where else to look. Before we did inform the police we decided to search one more time. And o wonder... we found them, in Ron's photography bag! At first we wondered why, but suddenly we knew. Ah well, they have been found.

Of course we needed passport photo's. I never like pictures of myself, but the requirements for a passport made it even worse: ears visible, 100% front view, no smile. Ron had to take his glasses off. The photographer made an extra set of 'normal' pictures. Mine are both horrible, on the 'normal' pic I have slit-eyes because he made me laugh. At least Ron's pics are nice. :-)
Since a short time there are fingerprints on the Dutch passports. I thought about ink, the old-fashioned way, but none of that! It worked with a scanner, nice and clean. Next Friday we can pick up our new passports!

Weekend in a yurt

Two weeks ago the Lowland Systers spent the weekend (Friday to Sunday) in a yurt in Otterlo. There are 5 yurts (or gers as the Mongolian people call them) on a field, and a tipi with electricity where you can cook. In the yurts there is one electric point, no water and a central stove to heat. Like the yurt itself the interior is authentic and made in Mongolia. You can see pictures in my Facebook photoalbum (no need to have a FB-account).

We got together to make a fresh start. We dealt with the Ara-stuff and are moving on. We all are doing our own thing, but we decided to stay together as a group. Ara Lowlands has changed into Lowland Systers. One woman decided to step out and go her own way. We are with 6 women now. This weekend was to reconnect with each other.

We did a beautiful pathworking on Friday evening and a ritual on Saturday night. We did our ritual bading in the hottub in the snow. First we had to remove a thick layer of ice and then heat the tubstove for hours. When we finally got in, the water was still a bit chilly and near the bottom quite cold. We didn't stay in very long, but we did it anyway. Great for teambuilding! :)

Anyway, the weekend was a big success and we had a lot of fun!

Winter Olympics closed

Wow, what a two weeks we had! I really need to kick the habit. I especially followed the speedskating, which was mostly at an unearthly time for me. Perhaps it's not the wisest thing to go to bed around 2-3AM and later almost every day when you're chronicly fatigued, but it was worth it.
The Netherlands didn't do bad; we are 10th in the medal count:

• GOLD Nicolien Sauerbreij - Snowboard - Ladies' Parallel Giant Slalom
• GOLD Ireen Wust - Speed Skating - Ladies' 1500 m
• GOLD Mark Tuitert - Speed Skating - Men's 1500 m
• GOLD Sven Kramer - Speed Skating - Men's 5000 m
• SILVER Annette Gerritsen - Speed Skating - Ladies' 1000 m
• BRONZE Bob de Jong - Speed Skating - Men's 10000 m
• BRONZE Laurine van Riessen - Speed Skating - Ladies' 1000 m
• BRONZE Speed Skating - Men's Team Pursuit

The Dutch men's bobsleigh turned out to be a disappointment; the 4-men sleigh didn't even start. The 10000 m men's speedskating should have been gold for Sven Kramer, but the much-discussed wrong lane-switch caused a disqualification. He didn't take his revenge on the Men's Team Pursuit. Bad communication cost the men the final. Although they are the best by far (note the olympic record in the bronze final), they failed to prove it.

Nevertheless there was a lot to cheer about and party in the Holland Heineken House, where all the medallists were honoured. The double gold on the 1500m (men and ladies) was a surprise. The gold by snowboarder Nicolien Sauerbreij was the onehundredth gold medal for The Netherlands in olympic history. The first one was for the men's sailing in Antwerp 1920. :-)

I know I have neglected blogging during the olympics. I'll post about some "old" things in the coming days.

Firechild by Maxine Sanders

This weekend I finished "Firechild", the autobiography of Maxine Sanders. It was a very fascinating and highly interesting book. Of course I knew who she was and that she was married to Alex Sanders, King of the Witches, but that's about it.

This book is an open, honest and brave account of her life: the abuse by her father, her life with and without Alex, her successes and failures, her views on witchcraft now and back then, her role as child - mother - priestess - wife - teacher and more. Still it's very readable, almost like a novel. I'm glad I read it and learned more about this inspiring woman and her extraordinary life. She is so much more than 'just' the (ex-)wife of Alex Sanders!

Next to the personal part I'd say this is a must-read for witches/wicca anywhere. This is part of our history. The things witches had to go through in those early days are shocking; for example being stoned (literally!) or having their house set on fire... It shows the way things were done, what changed and what didn't. Of course it is a personal account, people will disagree with her views, but that's okay. This is her story.

"This is one of the most important books ever published on modern paganism: a full and candid autobiography by one of its most influential, and charismatic figures."
Professor Ronald Hutton - Author of The Triumph of the Moon