Autumn colours

It was a beautiful sunny day yesterday so we went off for a tromp through some nearby woods to breath in the fresh air and get a sense of calm and I tried the camera out on my new phone:0)  Still trying to figure out the functions on it, even just using it a phone had me foxed.  Took me aaages to figure out how to get the photos onto the computer, calm of walk had almost gone by the time I'd finished getting the gizmos to talk to one another, it's supposed to be smart!  Anyway it has an autumn colour selection on it and although the leaves were already an amazing colour I think it did quite well.

Last one was with night time setting, it looks dark but it was only about 5pm,  roll on solstice so we can start getting some more day time.
Oooh and a fantastic thing that happened was that as we were stood talking near a tree I looked up and just above my head, about 6" away was a wild owl:0)  As soon as he knew I knew he was there he swooped off so so silently, magical.

Spiral Moon Gazing Hare Necklace

Long time since my last post, thought I would start back in with this lovely Moon Gazing Hare I have hand pierced (sawn) from copper and engraved a spiral onto and other features, a good warm colour for Mabon. It has been out under the full moon.  The wrapping around the cord is Sterling Silver and is fastened with adjustable knots so it can be shortened or lengthened to suit you.  

Hope you like it, will get it on the web site soon:0)

Derbyshire Pagans Lammas Camp 2012

One week to go until our annual Lammas Camp, there looks to be lots of great workshops again this year, including Power Animals, Tree Walk & Lore, Meditations, Asartru, Shamanism, Bellydancing, Tai Chi, Pewter Casting, Bangladeshi Veggie Curry cooking and Shamanic drumming and dancing.  A sacred space is being created with Steve Niner which will be ongoing all weekend.  There is to be a relaxing/healing area where we hope some of the healers attending camp, as well as us, will be offering healing to those requesting it.

Thursday we will beat the bounds and lighting the Peace Fire with ashes from other Peace Fires.  Bring your drums and rattles as there will be drumming round the fire in the evenings, curfew is 10pm apart from Saturday when it is 11pm, let's not upset the villages:0)

(Thanks to Pat for photos x)

Saturday will be Ritual in the evening.  Sunday will be the Goblin Market.  There will also be stalls most of the weekend where you will be able to purchase unique handcrafted items as well as some of the more usual items.  Some of my items will be on sale as well;0) Morning Star Craft or facebook Morning Star Craft

Details of this event you ask:- 
Derbyshire Pagans Lammas Camp - 2nd August (from 2pm) until 5th August or just come for the day
NEW HOUSE ORGANIC FARM
Kniverton
Ashbourne
DERBYSHIRE
DE6 1JL

Tickets available from: Zeta Tickets

Hasfest Pagan Event 2012

Beribboned Burning Man

Cosmic Goddess

Burning Man burning

Fire Tower

Got over the post camp blues now, mud washed away and eagerly waiting for Derbyshire Pagans Lammas Camp in August and seeing everyone again.

Everyone I've heard has said how lovely Hasfest was yet again and how they felt included and involved, even the residents in the houses that back on to the site have said they enjoy us arriving which is very good to know.  The Grove has been well received and is well worth the scratches and bruises we got a few weeks back clearing it and getting it ready.  An altar has been made and the children especially have filled it with offerings, it is a lovely space.

Friday evening the rains came!  Mud galore but that didn't stop most of us flashing fluro in the rave tent and dancing like mad fools, well apart from the younger ones who tried to maintain their cool;0)  The rest of the weekend luckly was dry.  The Sonic Jam went down well as far as I can tell from the noise coming from the marque;0).  The Burning Man and his large appendage went up well and the fire was huge, very warm for dancing and drumming round, the jumpers must have been very hot!!

Silver and Amethyst Triple Moon Necklace

Finished a silver triple moon pendant.  I decided to make it with the crescent moons top and bottom of the full moon rather than side by side and to set an amethyst in the centre.  Amethyst is one of my favourite stones, I find it calming and happy.  The moons are cut from sterling silver and I have textured the lower moon and bottom half of the full moon to represent the waning moon and have oxidised them to bring out the marks more, the top crescent has been left shiny to represent the new moon.
Morning Star Craft Necklaces

Hasfest Pagan Festival 2012

Spent yesterday with friends clearing the grove that we are going to be using for the first time at Hasfest and cleaning up the grounds in readyness for camping and festivities, it looks good now, can't wait for Hasfest in another 2 weeks.

Hasfest is a free small local Chesterfield Pagans event in the grounds of the pub we use for our moots, it has fire, drumming, dancing, workshops and stalls selling lovely handcrafted items.  I'll be there with mine;0)

I'll give you a quick run down of the events/attractions -

HASFEST 2012
18th May - 20th May

Friday night opening party
8pm - midnightish in the main marquee
Ragnarokk Radio presents an evening of classic Hasfest tunes climaxing with 3 hours of psy-trance euphoria presented by our live resident shamanic mechanic/DJ

Saturday Events
Stalls - A fine array of quality and shiny goods for sale
Workshops - some fantastic workshops this year including meditation groups, shamanic techniques and belly dancing, mother Earth Journey.  More workshops TBC
Nine Men's Morris - Led by the awesome Bob, not quite sure what this entails, but no doubt it will be the usual brew of chaos and frivolity
Goddess and Blessings Tree - for your libations, blessings, honouring and wishes

Saturday Night
8pm onwards Burning Man followed by fireside drumming and dancing.  For some the highlight of the weekend, the primal fusion of rhythm, flame and togetherness.  Bring drums, rattles, didgeridoos etc let us make righteous noise!

New for 2012
The Grove
The Hasfest crew have been working hard to create a small sacred place on the event site.  This will be an intimate wooded area for workshops, meditations and ritual.  Please bring, or over the weekend create, items of decorations such as charms, symbols, fetishes and alter pieces etc. We plan to hang these within the Grove, honouring this space and creating a balanced spiritual environment for everyone to share.

Sonic Jam - putting the rock'n'roll into Hasfest!

On Saturday, around 3pm in the marquee will be Hasfest's first Sonic Jam.  Everyone is invited to come together and make massive music/noise.  Bring instruments, drums or just come and groove to the Hasfest Chaos Ensemble.  Amps, guitars and drumkit will be provided, so anyone wishing to rock out, freak out or just get it on, this is your big moment.  As stated this is a frst, and may be the last but at least we can make history.

The Crew are also on a mission to build a larger, permanent fire pit this year and a bigger Burning Man and yes he will have his magnificent phallus to bless and decorate, though we may need considerably more ribbon!

That's all for now brothers and sisters - shamanismpaganismrocknroll!!


Chesterfield Pagans
Morning Star Craft

Crochet Wire Bead and Shell Necklaces

Just finished these two necklaces, I like the unstructured look of them.  I think the green shell one is very reminiscent of the sea, seaweed and bubbles of spray, especially with the silver plated shell ends.  Embrace the mermaid in you;0)

They are crochet with purple and green wire.  The green shell one fastens with a lobster clasp and the purple bead one with a toggle clasp.

Moon Hares

Running Spiral Moon Hare Necklace

Leaping Full Moon Hare Pendant

Moon Gazing Spiral Hare

As it's nearly the Spring Equinox/Ostara thought I would show some of the Moon Hares I have finished recently. They have been hand sawn (pierced) from brass (the two top ones) and copper, the silver is all sterling silver.

I have engraved some detailing onto the Running Hare. Behind is a silver moon which has been lightly hammered to give texture and a crescent shape and a silver spiral acts as the bail.

The Leaping Hare has a circle of sterling silver bringing together the hare and the mother of pearl full moon.

The Moon Gazing Hare has a silver spiral on the back leg and sits under a lightly hammered silver moon.

The hare is an ancient symbol of this time of year and is closely associated with the Saxon goddess Oestara and is from where the modern easter bunny comes. There are different spellings for Oestara - Ostara, Eostra (notice the similarity with the word easter). She is the European version of the Goddess Ishtar/Astarte whose worship goes back thousands of years. She is goddess of the spring, and the dawn, and fertility, as christianity took over her time was changed to easter and the hare to an easter bunny.

This is my favorite time of year, the celebration of the arrival of Spring. There is new hope and promise for the coming seasons, warmth returning, early flowers blooming, renewal and rebirth, balance of night and day, with the light growing stronger day by day, masculine and feminine/yin and yang are also in balance, young life is emerging, and of course chocolate eggs;0)
www.morningstarcraft.co.uk necklace pendants

Greenhouse

Spent yesterday up the allotment playing snails.  We moved a greenhouse from an adjoining plot on to ours, but of course it wasn't as simple as we first thought!

We did well taking the glass out (only broke two panes) but then we looked at how it was tethered down we discovered that they had sunk some long 2x2 wooden batons (think Stonehenge deep) into the earth which were then screwed to very long horizontal pieces at the bottom!  They didn't intend for it to move.  So after digging the greenhouse out we then had to dig a very deep trench on our plot to sink it back in, I've only got short legs and had to be hauled back out after getting stuck in the trench!

This is where the snail part comes in because then we picked the frame of the greenhouse up and walked it across on our backs to where we wanted it, it must have looked very odd.  So we are now the proud owners of a greenhouse, lovely fresh warm tomatoes this summer.  With the greenhouse and the rhubarb we planted last week it's looking like a proper allotment:0)

Web site

My web site that I have with microsoft office live small business has to move as they have decided that they are shutting that down so a lot of us are floundering around searching for a new place for our websites!  Thanks microsoft:o/  If any of you are knowledgeable in how much having to re point your domain name will affect Google rankings and how to try not to go down too far please let me know x  Not that I've pointed it anywhere yet, still got that to figure out!

So having to spend time moving photos and descriptions etc over at moment.  I have a new camera so think it would be a good idea to try to take some better photos of my items, while I am getting to grips with how things work on the new site.  I had tried the other day, but after loading them on the computer everything looks blue, will need to try it again.

If you look at the new web site and things are still a bit wobbly, sorry, if you wouldn't mind dropping me a line to say what's not working I can scratch my head in puzzlement and have a go at correcting it, web savvy I'm not lol.

Off to play with my camera now.

Oak Leaf Silver Ring

I had originally planned for this silver ring to have a Green Amber stone set in it, but while I was waiting for the ring to pickle after soldering the bezel on, the stone disappeared.  Hopefully when/if I get round to tidying up I might find it again in some far flung corner!  Luckily I had this Blue Onyx stone that fitted in,  its a gorgeous shade of blue and I think works better, reminds me of the sky and trees.  Ah trees because I have cut out  two Oak leaves and soldered them either side of the setting.

www.morningstarcraft.co.uk pins-rings--things

Derbyshire Pagans Lammas Camp and Hasfest 2012

Things to look forward to this summer :0)

Hasfest 2012 18th, 19th and 20th May and of course Chesterfield/Derbyshire Pagans Lammas Camp (which promises to be even bigger and better) 2nd - 5th August.  Tickets on sale for camp at Imbolc from Chesterfield Pagans site or at any of the Derbyshire moots, Hasfest still free:0)

Lots of fun, fire, dancing, drumming, meeting folks, learning/workshops and shopping (must get some things made to sell so I can buy things;0)

For info on last years happenings see here: http://chesterfieldpagans.org/2011/05/25/photos-of-hasfest-2011/, http://chesterfieldpagans.org/events/

I'll be at both with my stall as well, here my web site link if you would like to have look before;0) www.MorningStarCraft.co.uk or my facebook page www.facebook.com/MorningStarCraft

Bramble, Tendril, Leaf Silver Ring

I really like this ring and might make some more similar I think.  It has a central leaf (yeah ok it looks a bit like a heart) with tendrils wrapped around the ring and a thorn sticking up (nice and rounded though, doesn't prick).  I aged it to give it more definition.

www.MorningStarCraft.co.uk rings

All bare again here!  Left it till 12th night as it always seems so dull when all the pretty twinkly shiney things have been put in their boxes again for another year, though usually we leave one or two things out for a bit of sparkle:0)  Might be a making pretty things to hang around the house this weekend for me and at least the youngest, hard to motivate the oldest one now!