Thursday for Preparedness

Thursday is my day to open the door to creative thinking and doing; I've reverted to an earlier phase of my life, before painting and art school, when I was internally driven to Make Things, and they were varied and creative. But I'm also a different person now - as Grandma Earth Teacher I am led to make things that are a gift to the Earth in some way, sustainable, and with a message. 

Also, I need to prepare for a summer of Grandma Camps, with themes, projects, and field trips.

And thirdly, I've got lots of projects that help us function better: Fixing broken things and maintaining the house.

Agenda: 

1. Read "Revolutionary Witchcraft"

2. Projects for the week

3. Camp preparedness

4. Gratitude meditation

5. Sigel for preparedness

1. Read "Revolutionary Witchcraft":

I'm reading this sweet little book by Sarah Lyons (2019) that I got from my daughter for Christmas. The subtitle is A Guide to Magical Activism.

Chapter 4 is The Pathways of Power, about ways to map the currents of power and direct it in the material plane. It covers allies, enemies, resources, and targets.

I've skipped over a lot because my head is not in the right place for this kind of magic right now. But the next part is making sigils:

1. Think about how I think about the thing I want: Switch to a positive mindset, with a positive outcome as the focus.
2. List out the essential desire, what we want and what the challenges are.
3. Write a simple statement of intent: Grandma Earth Teacher  is prepared!
4. Take out the repeating letters and all vowels (or keep some vowels if I feel like it): GRNDM ETH TC S P.
5. Use these to draw a symbol.

2. Projects for the week:

My new goals for Grandma Earth Teacher and Dragonfly Studio. is 

to heal my studio space and my Creative Light, work on

 hands-on projects to support my work on my nature-culture blog, and prepare for summer camps:

• Th: Make a Sigel 
• F: Camp books and supplies  
• Sat: Cut Earthcoat sleeves
• Sun: Snake flash cards
• M: Butterflies - Print some new photos, tone them down a bit
• T: Bottle cap snake
• W: Gummy snake
• Th: Finish Earthcoat sleeves

Functional Creativity:

• Th: Drawing station and craft cabinet
• F: Futon drawers
• S: Clear studio table, set up for snake camp
• Paint front of house
• Paint tool board shapes

Doing the smallest thing is a great way to make courageous creative work less frightening; also finding the "minimum effective dose", the amount of work that keeps me challenged and joyful, and if I keep at it will get me to the finish line on time.

3. Camp preparedness:

It's almost summer and I will again have the boys for consistently longer blocks of time, so  - Grandma Camp time! Next week is the last week of kindergarten, and I'll do a preview of the schedule with A#2:

9- Read a book on the theme (this week snakes), and a maze or flash cads + a project (bottle cap snakes).

10- Garden chores and play: Duck eggs, water, sand.

11- Field trip (snake store, library).

12- cooking (gummy snakes) + lunch.

Preparations: Get snake books, gummy bears, cornstarch, snake flash cards. 

4. Gratitude meditation:

Every month after the full moon, in the quiet-energy yin time of the waning moon, I practice a love meditation that progresses from receptivity, to gratitude, to generosity:

Day 2: Practice a love meditation, and end by feeling and expressing gratitude - send a prayer 

of thanksgiving

 to the universe for all I have in my life. 

During this month when my theme is balance, I take some time to thank the universe for the earth and nature, which helps me to be grounded.

5. Sigel for preparedness:

After designing a sigel I need to charge it up, to give it power and direct it to do what I intend; I need to raise and release power, while keeping my desired outcome in mind. I can use ritual, music, dance, art, or anything that feels appropriate to me. And once it's charged it can hang around in an appropriate place where I can see it but not think about it: I want to absorb it's power without a lot of effort. 

In this case, since it's all about the habit of preparedness, I've decided to charge it with ritual preparation:

1. Take my sigel, a duster, sage and matches out to the studio.
2. Set the sigel on the table and announce, "I charge you with the power to ensure that Grandma Earth Teacher is always prepared."
3. Turn on energetic music, and take as much time as I need to tidy and clear the space, and set up for my camps.
4. Put a basket in the center of the table and all the supplies for a camp project on the table around it. Put my sigel in the basket. 
5. Light the sage and smudge the room.
6. Fill the basket with the supplies, covering the sigel, turn off the lights and leave the room.