Every day the sun rises.

Every day the sun sets.

This year the sun rose and set on the very first Sunrise Camp. A beautiful new venture in magic… a rising of dragons.

A camp which held itself together through sheer determination, and not a little magic. It took a dragon-hearted commitment from the organising team to pull the dragon out of the hat, but we did it. And I’m proud of this fledgling camp.

This was my first year teaching at a Witchcamp, and I’m so grateful Sunrise was my first time.

Let me tell you a story, a story of campers who chose to be dragons.

A story of magic and wonder and strength.

Once upon a time that was, is and shall be, two new campers came away from a Witchcamp in the heart of South West England so inspired that they plotted another camp, one a little different to the gorgeous and luxurious Camp which filled them with such magic.

The years passed and the inspiration became a dream, and the two campers grew a little older (though not much) and a little wiser (and a little more foolish, although who can truly say which is which?) Time danced circles with them, and new relationships grew like flowers in fertile soil.

And one day the dream was planted, like a seed, in the same soil that nurtured the friendships, and so an organising team came together.

Plans hatched and grew and died, and soon, one plan stood out from the rest as yeilding a harvest.

But now Time danced smaller circles, and the dates chosen were so close, with so much to do! But magic has a wondrous way of bringing everything together, and the organisers chose, like the dragons that they are, to make the Sun Rise.

And, of course, it had to.

Sunrise began and the campers came. A new place, a new adventure, new faces, and some that had been around since before the camp-dream was a twinkle of inspiration. Every individual brought something beautiful to the mix, themselves.

They made perfectly imperfect offerings to the Spirit of Dragon, nurturing that force within themselves. They wove a nest of starlight and wonder and love and community and everything that they had to offer. And the egg hatched, and the dragon took flight!

And on wings of magic, the dragon-hearts of the campers also spread their wings, they were challenged, and met the challenges, and received gifts.

They learnt to read the world around them for directions, and to see their own desires in their deepest of dragon hearts.

And each one made a choice, to be themselves, in a world which shies from shining-dragon-hearted people.

We all made a choice to step into the world under our own terms, to shine with our own colours, knowing a little more about ourselves, and claiming our power to shape the world a little to our own designs, so that dragons can fly free and wild again!

Finally I have done the last card for my creative obsession! Wow.

The journey so far is chronicled here.

And so, I present to you… Card 7: Storytellers

And the storytellers weave a web of stardust, taking us full circle through the story that these cards illustrate…

And we are storytellers.

Since I started these cards I’ve done quite a bit, so there is a real sense of something here. The DragonHeartedness of Sunrise Camp, (which was wonderful!) has carried into my life a little bit of determination, a little bit of willpower, and a little bit of courage… and I look over these cards and see, even over a few months, my skill has grown, as has my confidence.

These cards are part of many stories, the story of my life, the story of art, a story for the Fey, the story of magic… and now, also, your story.  I hope they were a happy paragraph… and perhaps, soon, there will be more like this… perhaps I will craft a chapter in these cards.

But Now I go to print them out so I can hold them in my hands and play!

The next 4 faery cards, only one left to do!!! My Creative Obsession… see all posts on this here!

I am catching up…

Card 3: Life Emerges

Card 4: A World in Harmony

Card 6: After the Distraction (or: Forgetfulness)

Card 8: The Path Beyond

Wow… life has been full!

In no particular order, I have done the following since I last posted:

Gotten a new job

Finished and then started a Faery Oracle Card (3.5 left to go…)

Taught at my first Witchcamp (Sunrise! Just soooo Good!)

Moved back to Mum’s for the summer

Managed not to save any extra money

Made tarot cards for swaps

Decided to take singing lesson (but not actually booked any yet)

Aquired an electric guitar destined for the skip

Watched my roses be infested with greenfly and almost die… but still hang on

Plotted HUGE ideas with my Mum

Painted 3 pictures of dragons

Knitted a hairband

Volunteered at a Museum

Begun research for MPhil Proposal

And some other things I can’t quite remember right now.

Its been a busy summer so far… and at some point I might actually post about some of these properly (like scanning my pics and cards and posting those, and writing a review of Camp). Summer ‘break’ is 2/3rds done, and I’m looking forward to its end, as this is the time, as a student, that I work the hardest. This, of course, assumes that I’ll get on the course I want to… otherwise I need a new plan quick!

So yeah… its been a while… and I’ve not been idle!

I’ve found it odd balancing working (almost) full-time with making space to play, and its renewed my desire to find some form of work that allows me to be creative as well as philosophical so that I can keep all my parts fed without being as tired as i end up over the summer. Plus, I’d like to not have to be running on someone else’s timetable (i.e. 9-5 or some other time-frame) but that might be something that has to wait for a while…

How’re you all?

CollageDiva’s True North Arts has a new prompt… the Serendipity Compass!

And I’ve been playing along too…

I’m searching, searching, searching for which way to leap… The carnival of stars awaits…

But how to know which way to go?

I turn in, my heart opens like a rose…

I’m searching, longing, yearning for a garden of delights,

A life of love and beauty, and the tribe which fits just right.

I build with paper, card and glue, and choose pictures with care,

And open up my compass-rose, for the guidance which is there.

My rose-compass, it always points the way I wish to go,

And each picture will ask of me just what I need to know.

An artist whose beauty delights, its her work that I hold,

The inspiration of the gods is worth much more than gold!

My Compass!

I cose these pictures from calendars of paintings by Susan Seddon Boulet, and artist who I have long admired. Each one represents one of the 7 directions (North, South, East, West, Above, Below and Within), a few realms which mean a lot to me (Animal kingdom, the Realm of the Ancestors, Faeryland and so on)  Earth Mother, Sky Father, and a few others. On the back I’ve written quotes or questions relating to the direction, realm or being, and whenever I feel the need for guidance I can open my compass and ask for directions. I chose not to mark directions on my compass, and to fix the arrow in place, because this way it always points in the direction which is right for me… wherever that might be!

The Realms…

Jumping to card 5 this week, I focussed on the moment when we become fascinated by our own potential, by the power we can harness, and begin to pay more attention to that rather than our connection with other beings. Of course, this power is represented by fire:

Card 5 – Fascination-Distraction

Questions that this brings to mind:

What are you concentrating on to the exclusion of all else?

What are you distracted by when you should eb focussed?

What are your personal strengths, and how can you develop these in rigth relationship to the world?

I’m really enjoying this process, the feeling of satisfaction which comes from seeing the steps come together, from actually following through with a long-term plan, and from being able to share with you all, is delightful! Thanks for sharing in my adventure!

This card is from a series of cards illustrating this story. Find the first 2 cards here, and the sketches here. The larger project of which this is a part is to be found at www.feyhearted.wordpress.com, and the post announcing this project is here. Thank you CollageDiva for getting me kick started!

I have finished the painting for the first two cards illustrating this story!*

Based on the sketches I made last weekend, I sat in the sunshine and painted these, first the backgrounds with slowly melting wax pastels, then using pens to draw in the detail a few days later.

I’m really pleased with them, although they’ll get some digital tweaking to turn them into useable cards, like neatening up the borders!

Card 1: Earth’s Becoming

Card 2: Earth’s Heartbeat

How are your projects going?

*See here for the initial post announcing this project.

]]> http://haloquin.wordpress.com/2009/05/30/faery-cards-1-and-2/feed/ 1 Haloquin Card 1 Painting Card 2 - Earths Heartbeat http://haloquin.wordpress.com/2009/05/23/fey-story-sketches/ http://haloquin.wordpress.com/2009/05/23/fey-story-sketches/#comments Sat, 23 May 2009 22:12:06 +0000 haloquin http://haloquin.wordpress.com/?p=130 ]]>

Leading on from announcing my plans to finally get going on this story-card combo I’ve been promising myself for years, related to this Fey-themed project, I have completed step 1 – the story…

and now, I bring you, step 2!

Sketches based on the story above, planning the images for the cards. There are only 8, because only part of the deck will be based on this story, and I’ve decided that I want to give myself the chance to succeed so I’ve chosen a managable goal!

These are very rough mind… so with that in mind: enjoy!

Thoughts anyone?

Next step… to begin actually creating the pictures!

A map-based piece… from True-North Art’s Map-prompt.

I began with a star-map, then added a Soulcollage card; ‘Gypsy’

Then came Alice, wondering about the door, and the words…

“If you aim for the moon, you’ll land amoung the stars.”

(Paraphrased from many places.)

and a snippet from Skinny White Chick’s song Firebird’s Child, which I love, which makes me dance, which inspires!

I Present: Carnival

I love the stars, they’re so vast.

The world is so huge… sometimes we just need to be brave and leap.

I’ve just finished my 4 year degree course, and I’m feeling a little at sea. I’ve plans, but they’re big and scary because they require an extra step of effort, of being brave, of leaping into the unknown.

I love Alice in Wonderland, and the wonderland that is life.

I’m opening the door.

I’m risking the fire, because to burn brightly but briefly is better to not burn at all, and always wish you had. And, as SWC puts it in the song…

“You must not fear to blister if you’d live a life in flame!
Freely fly as what you are, keep dancing just the same!
You’ll never know a wonder like the wonders of the flame!
I am girl and firebird and Solace is my name!”

And an inspired moment of poetry:

Aim for the firey stars and the cheshire cat grin of the moon, for our lives are brief and we’ll burn out soon.

We’ve but one chance, and it’d best be bright, so dance, fly, burn! Light up the night!

Today I jumped the gun and rewrote my story.

The ideas themselves are not new, but the telling, I hope, is fresh

My plan is to use the story for the first suit of the deck of Faery oracle cards I’m making (see here for information, and here for the bigger project).

And then the deck will expand…

Enjoy…

A Faery Tale of Division and Remembrance

Long before time was time, the world was born of stardust. The earth, she lived and breathed. Her heart beat. Her soul sang into the universe, singing in chorus with her brothers and sisters, the other planets. The stars, older than she and her siblings, watched and smiled fondly, knowing the young planets to be kin.

The heart of the Earth beat. Each beat held a spirit, and each spirit danced between the centre of the Earth, and the realm of the stars. The stars, too, had hearts which beat, and their heartbeats each held a spirit, and these spirits danced with the heartbeats of the Earth, and all were together. These beings, which arose from the heart of the earth and the stars, are the Fey ones.

The Earth began to grow. As she settled into her skin she drew the sky around her like a cloak, and in the warmth between the sky and her skin, the plants grew and oceans settled. From the wombs of her oceans, animals were born, animals which grew and changed. Some grew into feathered beings, some into reptiles, some into furred ones, and some, eventually, into humans.

The Fey were fascinated by the beings birthed from the Earth and they watched carefully as we grew and developed. They guided us, played with us, danced with us through our early years.

But over time we found great power, and in our rush to be great, we began to see our Mother Earth without her heart and we stopped hearing the songs of the Stars. For us, their hearts had stopped beating. And when we stopped hearing the heartbeat of our mother, we stopped seeing how she was alive. And so it became easier for us to use her without giving back, without remembering that we are a part of her. Our power over the land grew great, and in the flush of amazement, we were lost in the maze that led away from gentle wonders. We went from weak to strong, but we forgot where the spirit that fed our strength lived… we forgot that there is strength in wonder and vulnerability, and we donned our armour of brittle power, and we forgot the ones who had opened our eyes to the possibility of possibility.

And so the spirits of the heart of the stars and the earth became sad. The bright ones, the darks ones, the dancing ones, they drifted back into the heart of the earth, to roam upon the upper lands in times of celebration or sorrow, to remind us of our kin. But the distance proved too great, and we forgot how to see them, we forgot to listen to the heartbeat of the Faery realms.

The worlds drifted apart. We lived in one world, where all is matter and for us to use. They lived in another, where all is alive and related to each other. And they wept, and we grew in power, but bit by bit forgot the essence of joy.

But, do not despair, for there is more to the tale than this great divide between spirit and matter, magic and material, for every night and day that the Faery host roamed, there would be one who told the tale. For every moment where the worlds became close again, kissing, one with eyes to see and ears to hear might find themselves seeing and hearing the music of the Fey, the enchantment of the heartbeat of the earth. And every time the Fey from the stars descended, we were reminded of the glorious beauty of life beyond the dust of the world we had chosen to walk within. These moments were passed on as stories, stories shared over campfires, at bedtime, in songs.

And the stories begin to weave a web, a picture. Some stories tell of those Fey beings who cause trouble, some of those who help, some of great beauty, and others of great illusion. What we must remember, however, is that each of these stories contains a little truth, and that while the worlds of Fey and Human can sometimes misunderstand each other, always, when each approaches the other with respect, love and an open heart, there is great magic to be found… the magic of the healing of the Earth.

Bridging the worlds of Faery and Human, the light of the Earth and the land of our lives, bringing these two together, relights the fire in our lives. In letting magic kiss the mundane, we invite joy into our lives as once again we learn to hear the heartbeat of the earth and stars. Now we are strong on the land, we can choose to be strong in our vulnerable, open hearts again. Will you weave with me, with the others working and playing to build the bridges again? Will you weave with us the understanding of both worlds? Will you weave together the power on the land with the wonder of the earth’s heartbeat, and open to the possibility that to truly know the world, the whole world, is to know the mechanics, and to understand the heart?