Fire Keeper

 Lo'oet, Fire keeper is my Alchemist or Soul Fire painting, from my Color of Woman 2015 training.  

I've  always loved the NW tell of Lo'oet, the only one left with fire in her lodge. So after awhile, great spirit asked her to take up residence on the old land bridge over what we call the Columbia River, the Bridge of the Gods ...

Lo'oet - Firekeeper

I encountered her in a visioning to 'meet your inner healer,' retold her story in a creative writing class, and wrote a song about her, Firekeeper's Lay.

On this auspicious day, 2-22-2022, we bring her message:

From Lo'oet, Fire Keeper

Long have I known you

  loved you

    guided you

Little one, little SiStar, Talis Tenas

      Beloved little one

I sit on the bridge, tending the Sacred Fire

  for the people

     for the old and the young

      the sound of heart & spirit,

     for the weak and lonely ones.

       for the free, 

       for those ensnared.

Medial Woman Am I

   On the Bridge between the Worlds

     Tending the Sacred Flame

       Carrying the stories, bringing change & renewal

I hold the Chalice of Pure Water

  During this time of fires, of drought

    This time of Smoke and danger,

      I remind you to guard your flame carefully

   I hold the fire, yet my colours

     Are watery blues and purples

The Chalice brings life, brings renewal,

 Come, share the water of life!

Owl Woman, Woman between the worlds

  Wisdom woman, Keeper of the Sacred flame

    One with Clear vision, who calls sacred the homeland of the people, 

 Who calls us to remember -

Who are you?

   What would you?

      When will you?

    Who do you Ally with?

       What calls your Heart & Soul?

          How will you live from your vision?

Way shower, holder of blessings

  Who are you, in the great world?

     What do you bring

        In your Medicine Basket?

Medial woman, Owl woman

   holding place in the Middle

     Holding Soul Fire stories,

       Which warm the heart & enflame the spirit!

    Watching over the land & the people.

Fire Keeper am I, story keeper, wisdom keeper

    Keeper of the Sacred Flame

      Ever renewing, ever renewed

        Come! Drink from the sacred well!

      Come! Come home to your soul! Come share your sacred medicine!

New Moon altar

 One of the simple practices we often use in our Intentional Creativity® community is setting up an altar. Home altars have been used since ancient times throughout the world, be people from many traditions. 

An altar can be as simple or intricate as you wish, often set in a lovely cloth, holding momentos of loved people, pets, items from the natural world - rocks, a bowl of water, a candle, some smudge or incense ... I have little altars on surfaces all around my home!

Today marks the first New Moon of 2021, with the sun and moon both in Capricorn. New Moon can be a good time for setting intentions and celebrating new beginnings, and a lovely time to create or reset your altar. 

A couple of years ago Shiloh Sophia shared a process of gathering and blessing water, drawn from a service at her church. From Dr Maseru Emoto's work on water, we know that water responds to intention and spoken words, and can be patterned.

Altar with Magïc brushes and Holy Water

My blessed water from that session included well water, Bulgarian Rose Oil, Hathor oil blend, and Our Lady of the Cosmos flower essence bouquet (formulated for Red Madonna 2015). I placed it in a cut glass, stoppered bottle, which I'd used for Holy Water from a Buddhist lama in the mid 90s. 

I often "charge" water by placing it in a bowl in the moonlight, sometimes with crystals in it. We can add some of this blessed water to our paint water, and to a spray bottle. 

The altar cloth is a placemat from France, and holds my Magïc paint brushes, crystals and coral, a carved red turtle (Kenya), reindeer antler, a goddess of fossilized horn and silver, Hathor oil, rose  beads (around the angel), the flower essence bouquet, smudge sticks, a Red Jar candle, and chocolate!

Altar for Mystic Legend

Some of my altars are set on cloths, others directly on a shelf. There are crystals, breathers, shells, Oracle cards, a candle or olive oil lamp, flowers, holy water, smudge sticks, figurines ... Some are little arrangements on window sills - blue bottlers, a little bowl, shlls, beads, feathers, bells ...

Denise Linn has written a lovely book on Altars and Shrines. While Zsuzsanna Budapest wrote a one on bringing altars and the Goddess into your workspace 

Do you have a home altar? .

Happy Paint Party Friday!

Holy Water and Red Madonna

On the 6th of January, Shiloh shared a lovely practice of making Holy Water for our painting process this year for Red Madonna. She attended the Theopany ceremony at her church Russian Orthodox), and guided us through the process to craft our own, using what we had on hand. Our community will have the opportunity to make Holy water for painting at our February Red Thread Circle. (Registration for this year's Red Madonna online is open for one more week, through January 27.)

Altar with Magïc brushes and Holy Water

My blessed water included well water, Bulgarian Rose Oil, Hathor oil blend, and Our Lady of the Cosmos flower essence bouquet (formulated for Red Madonna 2015). I placed it in a cut glass, stoppered bottle, which I'd used for Holy Water from a Buddhist lama in the mid 90s. We also added some to one of our spray bottles. 
On my altar: my Magïc paint brushes, crystals and coral, a carved red turtle (Kenya), reindeer antler, a goddess of fossilized horn and silver, Hathor oil, rose  beads (around the angel), the flower essence bouquet, smudge sticks, a Red Jar candle, and chocolate!

Then last week it snowed here and in various other Northern cities, and several of us added snow melt to our holy water bottles. I also finished getting my table cleared and the altar reset.

Snow for Holy Water

We "painted" symbols and designs on our black gessoed canvases with some of the water (no pigment added), after blessing them. The photo was taken in the evening, so the water shows up dark, and gold.

Canvas "painted" with Holy Water

I have been purchasing fresh flowers for the altar, with a rose each week. I'm enjoying having the new smaller table, and have several books, my Mother Mary Oracle cards, and my drum on the shelf beneath.

This week we received our first painting videos on the full moon (January 12) ... I spent several days across town at my daughter's during the snow time, I've watched the videos, but not yet added paint! Soon, ...
Happy Paint Party Friday