Maebius Musings

Whee, I rhymed!    (granted, any *-ing word is easy to rhyme)

Not much to report on the spiritual musing front, other than I am continuing to three-quarter-heartedly do my evening sitouts.  I say 3/4 heartedly, because it’s definitely with more intend than half-heartedfly, yet I still can’t seem to shake my own inner critic,which says I could use my time better playing on the computer or sleeping.   Nettle says the fact I’m still actively sitting outside feeling silly is still “success” though, so it’s something. 

On the Fae front, I am starting… starting… to get it smacked into my head that my perceptions and prejudices may be skewed, which is why I’m fighting myself on the whole evening meditation thing.  More details once I get actual words sorted out in my head instead of vague leanings and feelings.

…

This weekend, I will be taking the family down to PA for our first visit to Drum and Splash, at 4Quarters Farm.

This should be a fun event, for many many reasons.  Not the least of which involves drumming and splashing!   I like camping of any sort (camped in the backyard last week just for fun), I like getting away from work (don’t we all!), and I like visiting our friend Nettle, who will be attending with us.

http://www.4qf.org/_DrumSplash/_Img/TextLogo.jpg

Also, unrelated to this blog, but we are currently going through some strangeness at work.  Most likely, sometime in hte next week or 5 months from now, our night-shift guy will be gone, and I have been told I would be switching to a 4am-noon shift (somewhat against my will), so my attention to esoteric topics has been a bit distracted with Life lately, and I’ve been somewhat uninspired to blog deeper thoughts.

I promise to have more in-depth musing posts shortly.  I have one in draft right now about the monotheistic tendency for Afterlife Gratification rather than pagan Nowness, and another on wildcraft gardening tips I learned over the years.  See you soon!

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We woke up around 9:00 from our camping, and slowly got organized for the long trip home. Assuming a fast and direct route, we could make the drive in just over 4 hours, but with all day Sunday before us, we decided to play things as they happened.

The weather was much better, with hints of sun peeking out from the clouds, but the wind still whipped and the temperature hovered around 45F. Brrr!!

One fun thing I could have mentioned from yesterday, was the fact that before it got dark Saturday night, the rain had flooded the entire lower field of the Share campgrounds, turning it into an expansive wetlands lake almost 5 inches deep in places. Kids and kids-at-heart (which probably includes Everyone at that gathering) were wading in the puddle. It was fun.

Back to sunday, we grabbed a cup of coffee from the camp-kitchen, said our goodbyes to some of our friends, and packed up to leave by 11. The weather got sunnier and sunnier, but thw wind still howled across the highway in some places. We took our time, stopped for a casual late lunch, and quite a few rest-stops to just stretch our legs. Finally, after 6:00 we got home.
That evening, I went to see the new Star Trek movie with my friend Varulv. It was surprisingly good, with my only complaint being the sub-plot of Ohura’s emotional ties. (spoiler free!)

Afterwards, I spent a little time outside, on our porch, with no deep thoughts. Simply relaxing at home, with the memory of a good couple of days behind me. It was cloudy again, and still rather windy, so I don’t think I lasted the entire 15 minutes.
Still, the outside time is a good little ritual to be getting into the habit of.
Simple, and fun. It was nice.

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Saturday, we attended the spring Share Festival. Camping, bands, and cool people in a safe family-friendly park just hanging out and chilling for a time. Of course, unfortunately, the weather was a bit less than ideal for such outdoor adventures, so we spent most of the caravan trying to stay dry.

During the day it was a bit clearer, and I spent a good deal of time just laying in the bed and playing Pokemon Diamond on the shared DS system. My wife finished book 4 of Twilight, and we kept an eye on our son who spent a good 3 hours in the playground area of the park being a kid and enjoying time with other kids under minimal supervision. He absolutely LOVED the free range kid-time, and only wandered back to the campsite a few times for a snack or to ask us to help him in the porta-potties.

That evening, with the band jamming until 11 and the rain getting progressively more monsoon-like, we all retired to the caravan to sleep. I sat for a time in the front seat, just watching the trees sway in the darkness and listening to the pounding rain on the rooftop.

The wind grew, and the outside faded to a grey wall of vaguely shifting shadows. Buckets of water poured around us, and it was hard to hear myself even think, much less try to quietly meditate. Instead, I tried to just shut off my brain and lose myself in the white noise.

Branches peered out from the darkness, then were gone, then back again. The noise, at first a seemingly constant din of pounding drops,could be heard to ebb and flow, rise and fall in a complex pattern of wind and water. The car itself rocked and shuddered at each gust, resounding at times with a furious -CRACK- from the tarp tied over the back window for easier dark-sleeping.

I felt a primal exhilaration in the tempest, and released my mind to it. I danced among the storm-whipped treetops. I flashed with the thundering flashes of lightning, and I hovered, darting amidst the other campsites as some alien hummingbird seeking nectar from the tents around us.

For a time, not sure how long, having no clocks in this stormy darkness, I darted and played, mentally, in the wild energies around us, then returned my focus to the car-seat again, smiling like a fool, and giddy with the power raised and tingling in my fingers.

I found I had been unwinding a length of hemp twine that had been leftover from one of my son’s crafts earlier that day. I had unwoven it to single thin strand, and then knotted the strands together again into a long chain. This, I suddenly felt, would go around my wrist. Each knot typing up some of this wildness and empowering it as a potent charm. Wordlessly, I tied the finished bracelet around my wrist, knowing it was imbued with Potential, and would be worn as a reminder of the Charm until it fell off.

Because it is meant to fall off, probably within the next week, as the strands are thin and already frayed. If the weather reports are to be believed, it will be sunny and much warmer than when it was created.
The storm will have passed. It will be free.

((good luck B, this one’s for you))

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Hmm, I wrote up this wonderful little blurb about the recent Faerie Festival at Spoutwood Farm, with two small pictures and everything. Posted it… could see it at my work desk computer (which still had it cached), and now refreshing the screen to edit a typo, it is gone… gone… gone. Whoa-oh, …(cue “Lost that Lovin Feeling“) Grrrrr!!

In summary, since I can’t be bothered to re-write it now:

The festival was awesome. Most awesome because our friend Nettle was there with us.

Also awesome was the energy and fun of the place. It’s evident that the land is well cared for, and I enjoyed seeing the little sustainable things like a solar water-heater powered by small photovoltaic panels, a huge series of compost piles, and the fact that almost ALL the ‘plastic‘ cups/plates/utensils were actually cornstarch/soy-based and fully compostable! All around the food vendor areas were bins for trash, with multiple ones labeled ‘compost’. To the signs backing these waste-disposal areas where examples of what went in each recepticle, meaning even the illiterate could know what to toss where. Very, VERY awesome way of doing things, and one I hope spreads to other pagan-friendly venues! It might cost a little more, but the very concept of composted “plastics” trash stood out in my mind. I’m currently researching where they got those items, so we can start using them for our own picnics and camp-outs!

Beyond this, the people were awesome. Costumed or not, every single person I saw had a smile. Kids were everywhere, and enjoying themselves. Even the general din of the crowds was almost lyrical and friendly. Of course the frequent music and drums drifting across the site helped here too.

Speaking of drums, the drum circles were, in a word, awesome. (Have I used Awesome too much yet?) The energy pouring from the impromptu dancing and drumbeats was palpable, and honestly brought an almost profound joy to my heart. I felt kinda restrained, since we were busy with family and friends, especially the time we were leaving for the evening, and could have absolutely just sat nearby and lost myself in the rhythm and motion. Still, it was awesomelly affirming to just experience it. People dancing and drumming in joy and peace. No drama, no ego ‘djembe-cowboys‘ to see… just people having fun, and spreading that primal joy throughout the grounds.

I got to meet Anne Johnson, Big Red, and the Spare. *waves*

The green-man clan (Picture from Rosemary’s Sampler) was neat to see, since I am always intrigued with the concept, but still wary of such fraternal order-type things. (wonder why that is?!) I did like seeing them welcome Wendy Rule as she came on stage, and also once when they passed by the maypole and charged/grounded/something all huddled around it murmering which seemed very solemn and powerful-magic-making.

I met a lovely lady wearing a dress made entirely of plastic bags. Spoke with her to ask how she made the outfit and discovered she was one of the ‘staff’ helpers in charge of the compost and trash bins, which is why she chose to make herself be a “plastic bag faerie”. Took her about 8-10 hours of knotting and weaving to get the dress just-so, and she’s working on a more detailed one for the next big festival she attends. Awesome!!

All in all, the place was, as you’d guess by now, awesome.
I can’t wait until next year!

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Continued from the epic tale of The Warrior Brothers…

In the southern lands of Lititz, Pennsylvania, the sprogling named Gatorade played happily with his cousin. The pretense of names had been dropped since last weekend, as kids tend to do, but there was still great adventures in the backyard of my parents place, involving zombie squirrels and bat-men attacks.

When we were all hanging around outside, my father asked about the Crystal Dino Bone, and if the kid was still talking about it. I asked the sprogling, and was told that the kids were now after a LightSword shaped like a crystal bone. Fair enough, I figured….

Unbeknownst to me, my father took the the original Warrior Brother story to heart, and had located “an ancient bottle” buried in the yard while he was digging his garden, many many years ago. Inside this bottle was a rolled up scrap of parchment (click image for details) that appeared to be some sort of map!

The young cousins unrolled the map, and quickly realized it showed the very backyard they were playing in, with a great mysterious X near the creek at the corner of the property.

Collecting the grown ups (who, other than my father had no clue that this adventure was pre-planned) we traced out the steps of the map.

From the porch, around the small shed, then turning sharply to circle dangerously close to the water behind the large forsythia bushes. After navigating the treacherous muddy cliffs, we returned to the center of the yard, made a loop, and began our walk towards the little side fence-row garden. Zig-Zagging next to the maple tree, we then stepped sideways around a small lilac transplanted here from Everthorn Farms. Once this was done, we were mere paces away from the final destination marked on this aging scroll.

The ground around the X was overgrown with high weeds and dusty overflow-debris from the creek. At first, it appeared we might need a shovel, but the young adventurers bravely picked through the grasses until a glint of sunlight was spotted through the weeds.

The Crystal Dinosaur Bone LightSword had been found at last!

One of the boys, made the quote of the day in an almost breathless awe: “It really does exist!” after what was initially just an imaginary play-prop.

It was a fun adventure, and the finding of an actual “crystal bone” (Plexiglass) made this geek-dad smile. My father, or should I say “Pap Da Dad”, is so cool!

The rest of the day, my sprogling and his cousin carried that sword around, having quests too numerous to recount here. The LightSword gained powers in the sun, lost energy in the dirt, and had edges SO SHARP they could cut through anything that was not specially enchanted to be “lightsword proof”.

So far, I myself am not lightsword proof, so am unable to even touch the treasure. Only my wife, the sprogling, and my oldest nephew are able to do so. And even then, they must recharge their lightsword proof ability every morning after breakfast, but the details of this process are a secret to those uninitiated.

And so, the Lightsword sits now, in a special location in the kid’s play area. The map has been discarded (I pulled it back out of the trash after the kid tossed it) now that the treasure was found. He got it out this morning before school, to defeat some creature in the bathroom where I took the picture posted above.

The adventure awaiting us on next trip to Lititz? Only time will tell….

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This weekend, we visited some friends of ours (and did taxes, of course). A really fun little situation-game presented itself while myself, the kid, my friend, and his 3yr old son were out at the local park running off some energy before “nap time”.

The Sprogling’s been very into making up stories recently, and games where he has an alter-ego. In the past, he’s said he was some character, but still was himself, and merely seemed to change his name. Now, he is developing entire characters, with special abilities and actual limitations,as opposed to his prior make-up-new-power-for-every-obstacle play. Of course, me as proud GeekDad is tending to encourage this RPG appreciation. We even started playing with a big 20-sided die plus some regular 6-siders in various strategic wargames. It won’t be long now until he’s ready to tabletop some classic pen-and-paper games! MwaHaHahaHa

Lately though, he is developing a world of “Warrior Brothers”. In this world of pseudo-native-american meets high-fantasy, giant rocks become monsters, trees (known as Windgazers) are spirit allies, and us human males are all a tribe of Warrior Brothers, equipped with either spell-like powers, or fun tool/weapons to use in defeating the rock-monsters. Only boys are able to be Warrior Brothers, and girls (like mom) must either stay home and be safe, or sometimes are powerful ‘sorcerer princesses’ that can defeat anything with their magic, though this changes on a minute-by-minute basis it seems.

I am actually in the process of writing these ideas down in a complete LARP-style handbook, since the setting is becoming quite involved, and remains coherent across over two full weeks of playing this game when we go outside. Sticks are either wands, clubs, or ‘power staffs’ [sic]. Pinecones are bombs of various powers, depending on size. Snow and ice are harmful environmental effects that either trap you or drain your power. Patches of grass or composting piles of leaves become lava (which can heal some types of Warrior Brother), or random landscapes (ie: one particular bare spot in the yard is a pool of poison). Of particular note, oniongrass, or ‘yard chives‘ are useful as healing snacks or poison attacks depending on the target. When our mint starts to sprout in the garden, he already knows that can be brewed into a strong tea to put enemies to sleep, or “to help WindGazers grow after they are cut down”.

All details provided below are as described by my kid. We each named ourselves in a whim, and he crafted full character biographies and the list of powers and limitations each person had. He acted as DM and leader of this rag-tag band of adventurers, while we offered suggestions to how we reacted against our enemies.

(It was actually kinda neat seeing how empowering him to compromise on certain situations we refused to be railroaded into, could be used to develop social skills in the real world. Good mental note to help him work through some school-play issues.. Hmm…)

My kid is ‘Gatorade‘, who never gets thirsty, and uses a stick like a magic wand to heal, or to shoot fire. He can also use a longer walking staff as a weapon to crack open the ground and make lava explode on impact.

I am ‘IvyLeague‘, a scientist Warrior Brother with the power to control poison ivy and other plants. I can shoot vines from my hands to wrap up enemies, and use poison thorn-attacks from my own [raspberry-branch] wand. Otherwise, I’m kinda weak and rely on Gatorade for those times when big-guns are needed. (He’s so cute!)

Our friend Nate, down in PA, is known now as ‘Cheerio‘, (yes, like the cereal), who can make lightning strikes, and is able to walk on snow without getting trapped. No known weaknesses, other than being afraid of bombs, and doesn’t like Chives or mint (see above).

The 3yr old son of Cheerio, apparently keeps changing his name. It’s either Ted-Fu, or Teddi-Go-Cha, or lately, Tedichi (ted-EE-chee). He is invincible, but can’t attack anyone because he’s too small.

Our latest adventure, in the large fitness park, was to defeat a series of 4 giant rock monsters (those landscaping rocks that have little flower-gardens and mulch encircling them in a field). The first was a bomb monster, so our pinecones healed it. Eventually, it was defeated by the pine-tree windgazer nearby dropping ‘a tillion‘ needles on the monster, which pinned it to the ground so it could be smacked with Gatorade’s Staff.

Next was a poison monster surrounded by lava, so I could not use my own powers against it. This was defeated by throwing a snowball at the lava to freeze it, and once again, got smacked by Gatorade’s Staff.

Thirdly, was an ice-monster who was immune to Gatorade’s Staff, and needed to be struck by Lightning and Poison thorns at the exact same time, or it would regenerate instantly. This one took quite a few tries to defeat.

Lastly, was a giagantic dragon rock (mostly submerged, so all we saw was the fin on his back sticking up from the ground). He was immune or otherwise unaffected by all our attacks, but eventually defeated when we used a handful of crab-grass and a pidgeon feather to tickle it. This weakened it enough that Gatorade was able to find a small 2lb rock nearby that was charged with SunGazer energy (small friendly river-rocks are SunGazers). We put the small rock on top of the giant rock back, which drained all his power and turned it to inert stone. Whew, just in time too, since then it was time to leave and return home, so the Warrior Brothers could get hot cocoa.

We took the feather home, and Tedichi got to keep it in his treasure box. All in all, a really fun adventure, and one that I hope my friend completely enjoyed.

-fin-

PS: This coming weekend, The Warrior Brothers are traveling to the far-away land of Lititz, where I grew up, in search of a fabled Crystal Dinosaur Bone. Not sure how into this my nephews will be, but if such an adventure takes place, I’ll be sure to blog about it here…. I can’t wait!

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Just a really, REALLY quick update to say the Everthorn crew is home from a 7-day vacation in Florida, with 5 full jam-packed days of that in the various Disneyworld parks.

I’ll have pictures, musings, and other tidbits of post-worthy news shortly after we finish re-adjusting to the temperature here (8-degrees Fahrenheit, -15C back here at home today … It was around 65F/17C down there during the day).

Of special spiritual nature-path noteworthiness, I was taking a walk around the campgrounds trails and sampling fresh elderberries from the Massive elder bushes there. It was quite a marked contrast from my usual climate to see 15+ foot tall bushes with new buds, flowers, green berries, and almost over-ripe ones all on the same bush…in late January! With the weather much warmer there, it seems they never get a full dormant season, and can flower&fruit all year long, which was quite strange-feeling to my Northern self.

Also, when we got dropped off from the airport shuttle to the registration for the campground, they had a big butterfly garden in full flower which was jam-packed with monarch caterpillars and the adult butterflies. It was a pretty sight, and made us all smile as I commented “You know you are at magical Disney when your arrival is greeted by dancing butterflies!”

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The holiday season has mostly come and gone around here, and it was fun and exciting, long and stressful, and otherwise weird. We did lots of traveling, a bunch of fixer-upper stuff around the house, and are now furiously preparing for Disneyworld Vacation!

We are headed to Florida on Jan 14th, returning Jan 20th. Thus, this blog will be pretty quiet, if not entirely silent for a while.

Additionally, Mrs Maebius is an accountant, and the months from January – March are packed full of work for her. It is not unusual for me to come home from work, have the sprogling thrust towards me with a note reading “feed me“, and the office door stuck closed until well after bed-time for us male-folks. That happens more often than not this time of year.

While personal tax-stuff is due in April, the corporation-clients also need their W-2s completed and out by the end of January, then those types of business taxes finalized in March. It’s a hectic and rather stressful time-period around here, and this year it seems much more so due to vacation plans and other things going on.

My own employment is in serious question as well, due to some recent changes in my company and our contract obligations. Thus, there’s some big changes and plans happening around Everthorn Farm, to brace for impact. Hopefully, the rumors I’m seeing are all smoke and mirrors, but it’s best to be prepared just in case.

All told, there’s quite a lot of crap to deal with in the next month or two, just before spring hits and the outdoor gardening begins in earnest. I’m not quite overwhelmed yet, but it definitely seems the roller-coaster is climbing the hill lately, and I can;t see where the drop starts. Life Happens.

Not to be all negative sounding, I hope you all had wonderful seasons!

I will take lots of pictures and update everyone on the Disney vacation sometime in February. Disney is going to be a blast! Camping at fort Wilderness by night, riding the cool rides and meeting cartoons come to life by day. I’m looking very forward to that week!

-Maebius

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And with a wave of my keyboard, and flicker of keys, I make some MAGIC!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOw-oOiNvIY

Today’s short muse is on the nature of magic. For many people, the definition of magic/Magick/Magik is maleable, and hard to put into words. For me, I find Alan Moore’s explanation above pretty robust and simple. To Create, is to make magic. This blog is an ongoing act of Magic, in a way. What are your thoughts there?

FaerieCon was a lot of fun, though since we only did a one-day pass I didn’t get to really hover around all the merchants and soak in the full potential of faeriecraft ‘stuff’ there.

One thing that stood out was a few moire “steampunk” items, which was really cool. I also recognized a few vendors from last year and had a wonderful conversation with a new vendor who sold little gourds hollowed out as either faerie dust dusters, or trinket-boxes, or incense burners, or fae-homes. She was sweet, and a huge reason I like going ot the Con. Friendly people willing to just hcatter about FaeCraft, and not push their wares on passers-by. (Sorry, don’t have the business card at work here to link)

There was the usual music, and the sprogling dressed up with white faerie wings and a tie-died sundress over cool Super Mario Bros pajamas. Too cute! (pictures forthcoming). I wore my kilt, some small devil-horns, and an Awesome t-shirt the wife gave me which she had been saving for my birthday. It showed a bust of Vizzini and his catch phrase of “Inconceivable!”

I bought a huge 20-sided die to vent my utter gamer-geek spending, which will be worked into some sort of Chaos-magic-esque meditation this month, along with just being a cool over-sized d20.

Our good friend Nettle found a lovely sword, which looks amazing and kinda prompted a cool “Wow, that looks so natural and Powerful” in my mind when she took it home and grounded it in her backyard among the ferns and veggies. Total “Arthurian Goddess at work” moment, which I didn’t articulate to her at the time, but is one of my more solid memories of the weekend. It’s the little things that make the best magic!

On Sunday, we avoided the Con and went wandering at The Woodlands cemetery, enjoying the sunny weather and collecting all manner of autumn leaves for the sprogling to craft into Place-mats this week. It was neat seeing the variety of old monuments, and grave markers, from simple flat stones, to the Barrow-downs (I love Barrows), to a TOWERING obelisk for a doctor I’d never heard of.
PS: I’ll be practicing my Nature Path powers until I can do this or this,……any hints from enlightened Druids out there?!

PPS: The music from the second clip of “Part II witch ritual” brought back some fun memories of my time as a heartily “born-again christian spiritualist”. The song is “Spirit Thing” by my favorite christian rock band called “Newsboys” (seriously, they rock, and are not all Proselytizing-god-fluff). Ahh, memories…. and that reminds me of a good Thursday thought. How I learned to stop worrying (about Jehovah) and love the Gods.

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By the moon we sport and play,
With the night begins our day,
As we dance the dew doth fall:
Trip it, little urchins all!
Two by two, and three by three,
And about go we, and about go we!

-By John Lyly

This weekend, we are going to FaerieCon in Philadelphia, with some good friends of ours.

We went last year, and had a wonderful time, and the sprogling remembered the costumes, and drinking Bubble tea in chinatown afterwards, so is likewise all excited to attend. He said he wants wings this year, and I figure he might wear his sundress from Starwood, if the weather holds, though that particular point is up for debate.

For myself, I have a surprise set of horns to wear (have not seen them yet) custom-crafted by the Kwitchery Witch, and my Amerikilt. Yes, there will be pictures after we get home!

That’s all for now. Enjoy your weekend!

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