“May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you’re wonderful, and don’t forget to make some art — write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself.” ~ Neil Gaiman

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

&&&&&&&&&&&&

&&&&&&&

&&&&&

&&&

&

Music ~ Drums & Flutes . . . . . . . . .  ~  On my desk  ~ Watercolor & sketches . . . .

Rune Casting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .     Goddess Oracle Cards for 2012

The golden glow of a winter sunset, warm fuzzy slippers to keep the cold at bay and a hot cup of tea is the perfect beginning of a brand new year. ~ Words for today … Grace ~ Winter ~ Home~ Welcome…

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

&&&&&&&&&&&&

&&&&&&&&

&&&&&&

&&&

&

“We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day.”  ~ Edith Lovejoy Pierce

“Everyday Goddessing  is about sharing magical techniques and sacred wisdom with other beautiful Goddess women. I believe that within every woman there is a goddess, a wise woman, beautiful, creative, powerful, with a deep soul, and that everything we need and are looking for is already inside  each of us.” ~ Rose Arizmendi

Once when I was living in the heart of a pomegranate, I heard a seed
saying, “Someday I shall become a tree, and the wind will sing in
my branches, and the sun will dance on my leaves, and I shall be
strong and beautiful through all the seasons.” ~ Khalil Gibran

Yesterday,  I took quite a few photos of  pomegranates as reference material for several paintings that I am currently working on. Above image is a portion of a larger painting in progress.

I love pomegranates and often use them as decoration during the holidays. Besides being  festive and delicious, they are also an important focal symbol in the mythology and folklore of many different cultures around the world, and are often referred to as “The Jewel Of Winter”. Visit here to learn more about the history, folklore and legends of the pomegranate.

Here’s Rupert tucking in for his afternoon nap, all cozy and warm.

To sit quietly and listen to him softly snoring as he sleeps for a few minutes, reminds me of how important it is to take  breaks, to rest, to give ourselves the gift of sacred space, a place where we are essentially feeding our heart, mind, spirit and soul

Tibetan Singing Bowls are one of my favorite ways to induce a relaxed and meditative state. I love the mystery and sound of the singing bowls and the way they make me feel so tranquil and peaceful when I play them.

Listen carefully to
The silence out of which
The sounds come
And into which they return.
A portal is opening up.”
 ~ E. Tolle ~

 Singing Bowl Meditation; Crown Chakra Set ~

Visit her Website for more information:   http://www.Bodhisattva.com  ~  Excerpt from her YouTube Channel ~  Shakti plays a recently completed crown chakra Master-healing set of antique high-wall (“Jambati”) type Tibetan singing bowls. This custom assembled 7-piece set was commissioned by a clinical health psychologist with a nursing background who now uses it in her integrative practice for stress management therapy.

 “Everyday Goddessing  is about sharing magical techniques and sacred wisdom with other beautiful Goddess women. I believe that within every woman there is a goddess, a wise woman, beautiful, creative, powerful, with a deep soul, and that everything we need and are looking for is already inside  each of us.” ~ Rose Arizmendi

 Each morning Rupert and I have a quiet moment together while I sit on the patio after breakfast, coffee in one hand, treats for him in the other as he takes in all the new smells and sounds around him. Eventually, he will settle down and begin to softly snore.  ~  I love this little guy  ~  so I’m  savoring this moment while it last.

~ Happy Birthday Mr. Rupert ~

 “He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion.“
~ Unknown ~

Soon it will grow too cold and wet to continue to sit outside every morning and he will begin his yearly ritual of curling up on the sofa with his nose tucked under his favorite comforter or sleeping in my husbands arms. A safe, warm, cozy place to sleep and dream as the season changes.

As Mary Oliver says:
To live in this world

you must be able
to do three things:
to love what is mortal;
to hold it
against your bones knowing
your own life depends on it;
and, when the time comes to let it go,
to let it go.

* * **

  “Everyday Goddessing  is about sharing magical techniques and sacred wisdom with other beautiful Goddess women. I believe that within every woman there is a goddess, a wise woman, beautiful, creative, powerful, with a deep soul, and that everything we need and are looking for is already inside  each of us.” ~ Rose Arizmendi

Drink your tea slowly and reverently,
as if the axis
on which the earth revolves –
slowly, evenly, without
rushing toward the future.
Live the actual moment.
Only this moment is life.
~ Thich Nhat Hanh ~

Other Things ~ I love

*  Geoffrey Gorman ~ works with wire, weathered wood, wax, cloth and found objects to create his fabulous  whimsical animals. You can find his work at his website here

*  Paige Bradley ~ beautiful bronze sculptured forms that seem as if they could come to life at any moment.  You can find her website here 

*  I love this charming house that Simon Dale built for his family in Wales. Imagine ~ building a house for less than $5000!

Some Other Things I Love

* * * * *

The way the season ripens and swells as I watch the leaves quiver and fall with the rain.

* * * *

The steady sound of rain falling upon the garden below and the way it’s  growing louder and heavier, making the trees lose their leaves even more quickly.

* * *

Watching the water fall from the sky.

 Here is one of my favorite poems by W.S. Merwin

“In the stillness after the rain ends
nothing is to be heard but the drops falling
one at a time from the tips of the leaves
into the night and I lie in the dark
listening to what I remember
while the night flies on with us into itself”

“Everyday Goddessing  is about sharing magical techniques and sacred wisdom with other beautiful Goddess women. I believe that within every woman there is a goddess, a wise woman, beautiful, creative, powerful, with a deep soul, and that everything we need and are looking for is already inside  each of us.” ~ Rose Arizmendi

For me, August is a bittersweet time at summer’s end, with it’s warm soft days that I wish would stay and never go.

This morning, the sun came out and lingered in the hazy late summer air as I watched the day seep into my house. The cooing of morning doves, the laughter of children and the sound of wooden wind chimes in the distance. So here I am, perched at the edge of my studio window watching trees, basking in the late morning sun, quietly dreaming.

Mother Earth is lavish with her gifts this time of the year;  the smell of loamy earth, the scent of jasmine in the air, tomato vines heavy with fruit and buzzing bees. On my morning walk, I also noticed a few yellow leaves on the birch trees,  indicating the change from summer to fall . . .      Sweet . . .  Autumn is here!

. . . as you sit on the hillside, or lie
prone under the trees, the great door, that does
not look like a door, opens. ~ Stephen Graham

In oneself lies the whole world and if you know how to look and learn, the door is there and the key is in your hand. Nobody on earth can give you either the key or the door to open, except yourself.
~ Jiddu Krishnamurti~

Climb the mountains and get their good tidings.
Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees.
The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy,
while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.
~ John Muir~

“Everyday Goddessing  is about sharing magical techniques and sacred wisdom with other beautiful Goddess women. I believe that within every woman there is a goddess, a wise woman, beautiful, creative, powerful, with a deep soul, and that everything we need and are looking for is already inside  each of us.” – Rose Arizmendi