Here is a post from two years ago today:
2 November 2015
I had planned – upon coming back from New Orleans – to write a lot about Bourbon Street.
Bourbon Street is a decadent place that is both cheerful and incredibly sad.
Anything that one can imagine that would be sinful in excess is there: strip clubs, massage parlors, 24-hour sidewalk bars, hookah/smoke shops, all you can eat buffets, and shop after shop of souvenirs that celebrate various forms of said over-indulgence and excess.
As well, the trappings of religion are everywhere: Christian preachers preaching hellfire and damnation, of judgment and shame in the midst of the red light district, while two blocks away, Voodoo priestesses hold court in the middle of the cobblestone alley-way, the low, husky chanting of their congregants echoing off of the walls, attracting the interest of tourists whom have strayed from various hawkers who’ve bombarded them with offers of free walking-tours, cheap drinks or discount meals.
(At least for the itinerant Christian preachers, if they can’t sell you on a drink, they will try to sell you on their God….)
But, on the upside, there’s art and there’s music – and musicians – on nearly every street corner, with artists hawking their wares from the sidewalks, alongside tarot card readers, psychics, and buskers willing to juggle or sing or dance or play with you for only a few bucks, won’t you show some appreciation for all that Bourbon Street has to entertain and amaze you?
And yet, Bourbon Street is a place of extremes: if it isn’t promising you a 24 hour access to an all you can stand to experience in the celebration of excess, then it is hidden, barricaded or locked up.
There’s gorgeous iron grill-work everywhere, serving as a deterrent to the casual on-looker from seeing, from accessing the inner worlds of Bourbon Street’s inhabitants.
Even the garbage cans have padlocks on them.
And then there are homeless people begging for change, hustling tourists for money by passing out cheap plastic beads in exchange for $5, or a cigarette or two.
V stopped lighting up as we walked because he became tired of being hassled every few feet for cigarettes and spare change.
We stopped taking pictures of the sights because it marked us as easy prey for the relentless street hustlers.
But V loved Bourbon Street, I suppose.
He constantly talked of going there, likely drawn in by the strange and rather tawdry aura of excitement that seems to surround Bourbon Street.
I found this aura to be oddly fragile upon further examination.
Bourbon Street had all the hallmarks of a carnival midway, and its promises struck me as similarly ephemeral.
As an empath, I found myself feeling intrigued, aroused…but also unbearably sad.
I couldn’t help but sense something yearning there; as if something had curled up and wept there, behind the iron scrollwork.
It became difficult for me to remain positive as I felt bombarded by the undercurrents of powerful emotions and sensations.
Yes, Bourbon Street is haunted… by a despair thinly disguised, hidden beneath the glittering layers of carefree fun and frolic.
Bourbon Street is reminiscent of forced laughter, a wan smile deftly masking pain and fear; you might sense its dark and sorrowful beauty as it lay upon everything there.
Bourbon Street is a lovely yet terrifyingly complex dream – the shadow of desires and shattered yearnings – stitched together.
I don’t think people have demons.
I think they have themselves and things they aren’t ready to be honest about yet.
It is not easy to come to grips with the fact that we’re capable of hurting people with the same instrument we love them with.
The heart is a hungry wolf
and it is made of glass.
~King (Austin) Longton~
(Artwork: wolf heartline by linhopereira on DeviantArt)
Though my intent is to write every day, sometimes I struggle to write about certain topics.
And this topic – and its array of sub-topics – is one of them.
How important is ritual? How important are offerings?
How – or why – would anyone do any of this? How important is it to do any of this?
And then, this article came across my feed this morning, and I immediately thought to share it.
Why?
Because this part especially, hit me hard:
“Have you ever heard about people who accomplish amazing things, and been jealous? I know I have. There are many ways to be successful. I’m not the prettiest, not the smartest, and definitely not the most talented or luckiest. But the one thing I have always been is as stubborn as the day is long – not in some petty way (mostly), but in the kind of way that makes me get up when life knocks me down.
I’m not the fair-haired hero. I’ve never been the chosen one. I’m that other guy. My power isn’t born of charm or good looks. I was born to wear a t-shirt that says, “it’s not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog.”(1)
We live in a cynical age where our fair-haired heroes have revealed themselves as paper cutouts, our leaders have sold themselves to the highest bidder, and the world gets less friendly every day. We wake up and go through the motions and wonder if there’s a damn thing we can do about it.
And you know what? There is.”
Read more at http://www.patheos.com/blogs/agora/2017/10/the-other-side-of-the-hedge-four-hundred-days/#1Vu07d2lKj39HT1A.99
Because, much like Christopher Drysdale, I too, am as stubborn as the day is long.
And yes, I have been jealous of the success of others.
And yes, I have realized that I am not special nor am I particularly disciplined all of the time.
I have wished that my week could be stripped of Tuesday nights and Wednesday mornings, because sometimes, what I am doing is not easy nor is it particularly rewarding…
But then it is.
And when it is rewarding…when I look back at the trajectory of my Tuesday nights and Wednesday mornings
That is when I realize that that is the essence of why I do what I do, and why it is important that I keep doing.
You want the carrot…you gotta be stubborn.
You gotta chase the stick.
Happy Wednesday.
So I spent yesterday morning hand carving runes for my shop:
…and goodness, was it an adventure!
You see, I’d never carved runes to be used by someone else before, so I wasn’t entirely certain how they would come out.
As well, I hadn’t used this particular set of wood carving blades/chisels to carve runes before, so there was a learning curve there as well.
Surprisingly, I had to sharpen them halfway through the process. (They were brand new so I don’t know how or why they dulled so quickly. Hmmm.*)
At any rate, the only rune I seemed to have difficulty with actually carving for some reason was Ansuz, (the fourth rune).
Even galdring Ansuz felt somehow strange, as well.
and even though I made offerings to each of my own stone runes** as I carved each new rune on the wooden blank:
…it was rough going for the next few runes.
However by the time, I’d reached Eiwhaz, (a rune that feels most like an old friend), I was feeling more confident, having reached a sort of rhythm in both the carving and the galdring.
So, after Eiwhaz the rest of the runes came to rather nicely.
And the next thing you know, I had Othala on the carving block…
And I realized I was finished with the ‘carving’ part.
Overall, I am feeling pretty good about the whole process…and one step closer to having a rune set ready for my shop.
~~~
Though I cannot help but recall that in the summer of 2014, I had a psychic tell me in a reading that I would find satisfaction in woodcarving, and I had to laugh.
I hadn’t attempted to carve anything in wood since I was a child.
But I bought my first wood carving blade shortly after that, so I think I can admit that she was right.
I did enjoy that process 🙂
~~~
* I was using ash blanks, if that makes any difference…
* * Since I’d been told by several runecrafters that one should not ‘feed’ a rune set if it is going to be given to someone else – that should be left for the purchaser/user to do – I found much to my surprise that my own runes were quite hungry… O.o
So, I’ve spent the last few days creating and adding some more product to my Etsy shop
and drawing a shop logo and making plans for the upcoming holidays.
~~~
For the readers of this blog who are not interested in shop talk, please don’t worry: I’ve been working on creating an entirely separate blog for my shop, in case I have readers that would be bored to tears by shop updates and product discussions.
Likewise, if you are a blog reader who is interested in reading about the behind the scenes adventures of having an Etsy shop and you would like to follow my shop blog, please let me know and I will be certain to let you know once the creation of the shop blog is complete.
Thanks!
Update: Here is the dedicated shop blog
~~~
Such as yesterday, I spent most of the day working on a set of chaplet-style prayer beads for Hela
and I’m really pleased with how they turned out.
I wanted to make them in the style of a rosary – so I hand-twisted and glued all of the hooks/links between the beads:
It was a bit time-consuming – but I’ve always preferred the chaplet/rosary style when I make my own personal prayer beads – so I felt as if it was worth taking the time to get it right.
I was impressed with myself in making this piece; it is exactly the sort of prayers beads I would purchase for myself… y’know, if I hadn’t already made them.
Though it got me to thinking, as I was making it: I wanted to make certain that I stabilized the links enough.
You see, even though I’m not even a Catholic – I’ve always thought that rosary bead sets look and feel wonderful.
I love how the beads of a well-made set will effortlessly slide through my fingers during prayer… mmm, lovely ❤
Unfortunately, I’ve found most rosary beads to be rather fragile in my experience.
But this fact is not lost on me that, as much as I love the structure and appearance of rosary beads, when in the act of praying with them, I have been known to somehow inevitably destroy them.
I suppose that I must hold the beads too tightly or try to push them over my fingers too vigorously, or something..
In other words, I pray hard.
But I’m proud to say that I think that this set of Hela beads that I’ve made – could withstand even me and my vigorously devotional handling LOL.
~~~
And the other thing I learned? I really could use better lighting over my work-space.
I woke up this morning to this meme tile shared by Word Porn:
And Oh Gods did I need the encouragement of this message today.
Maybe you do as well?
❤
(or something like that)
I was reading an article the other day because I was feeling like sh*t and this article caught my eye as I was scrolling through my media feed.
This article was broken into four parts, each headlined by an action, and each part discussed scientific reasons why that action would help bring one out of a temporary ‘funk.’
(I say ‘temporary funk’ as this post is not meant to address the situation of those who suffer from clinical depression or other mental illnesses…just as I believe that the article was not meant as a replacement for seeking medical help, psychological therapy, or taking prescribed medications either.)
These are the 4 strategies as I listed them in my notebook, and the descriptions are my take on the information as it was presented in the article:
1.) Ask yourself: What am I grateful for?
2.) Label negative feelings.
3.) Make a decision
4.) Touch people
~~~
I would link to the article – if I could find it – so I will keep looking for it, and update with it if I can…
Found it: http://theweek.com/articles/601157/neuroscience-reveals-4-rituals-that-make-happy
According to Etsy, I have been a customer of various shops hosted there since 2010, and as much as I always intended to open my own shop, I never did.
But I have been making my own devotional jewelry – usually ankle bracelets and necklaces – since 2010.
As well, there are several altar items
– such as altar cloths, sculptures, and other various accessories –
that I’ve always made for myself, since I couldn’t always find what I wanted for my altars.
So after years of getting compliments on what I’ve made, I’ve decided to see how it goes…
Here is my Etsy shop,
where you will find some of the Norse-inspired
(and definitely Loki-inspired)
glass bead jewelry and altar items that I’ve made.
Thanks for checking it out!
UPDATE: For those interested, here is the WordPress blog that I’ve dedicated exclusively to my shop
bloodteethandflame 