Solstice Blessings

And so, the longest night of the year in the northern hemisphere has passed...  an indrawn breath... a pause... and the year exhales, continuing it's journey around the wheel... the sacred circle...

The morning looked miserable & cloudy so no chance of seeing the moon rise... I sent out my wish that it would be lovely to catch a glimpse, but thinking there was really no chance I wasn't really looking. All of a sudden the moon was there through the trees... a tiny gap in the cloud! I whispered my thanks....

This crescent moon is waning towards the darkness... following the circle of birth and life and death and rebirth.... riding the clouds towards dark moon... a time of introspection and re-assessment, before readying to re-emerge....

The point of moon-rise is moving closer to the point of sun-rise, almost converging..... and just as the winter solstice signifies emerging from the darkness, the clouds dispersed.... rapidly... as the solstice dawn reached out, pushing away all traces of lingering darkness...

I welcomed the golden light into my being as the sun threw tantalizing beams to bounce off the remaining clouds.... light flooding the sky.... I feel so thankful for this sight... for being here, now... feeling the energies in the woods as i waited, swaying to the rhythm of an invisible drum...

Crows made their way  across the wood behind me, and a wren scolded just yards from my feet. A lone magpie seemed to bounce along the tree tops..... (i think you'll like the next pic, rose!).... magpies long tail can be a bit unwieldy at times & he took a moment to find his balance... the centre-point that we too must find to keep our balance in this world.... magpie... black and white... light and dark, night and day... or so he seems...

A fitting message on solstice morn... for magpies feathers have an iridescence, an extra sheen... transcending mere black and white... as this sunrise is about more than night and day...

A spectacular sky as the sun breaks past the horizon... i give thanks for the sun that shines on us all... and i wonder which horizons i can break past too....

Wishing you all the best, whether your year is turning towards light or dark.... may you have a wonderful journey wherever it takes you xx

Sharing with Skywatch

An interview & Giveaway

Oh, how neglectful i have been towards friends in the blogosphere. How swiftly time slips by! I hope everyone is well.... i may have been out of sight, but you definitely have not been out of mind. I've just felt a bit 'computered-up'!

I heard myself telling someone I hadn't spoken to for ages that "I haven't really been doing much" and realised that it wasn't strictly true. In terms of quantifiable output.... no.... but I have read an awful lot.... i've scribbled notes by hand rather than sat at the computer... my etsy shop has had a few sales, but i've found myself drawn in.... getting involved with etsy teams, fiddling with descriptions & listings and stuff like that... and i have been interviewed by the lovely Carrie at CherryBlossomTattoo blog.

There is also chance to win yourself a Christmas prezzie.... part of the fun of the interview is a give-away.... a photograph from my etsy shop. The only snag is it ends tomorrow (Thursday). I promised myself i'd get a post written straight away to tell you all, but.... hmmm, no viable excuses really, sorry about that.

I've often looked at photographs by other people that have been obviously 'photoshopped' with textures & layers applied.... i've always thought that it was a bit beyond me, at least without a great deal of time & effort to work it out (& actually having photoshop would be a help too, lol). But I came across this~ pixlr-o-matic~ which gives free photo effects totally for free! Its sooooo easy & has plenty of wonderful vintage, retro, sparkly etc etc effects.... i cant remember whether there was 2 or 3 layers of texture on the crow above. The main page for pixlr is here... there is free photo-editing software there aswell as the effects.

As you can see, i've been playing a fair bit trying things out!

Yesterday's moon was a lovely waning crescent.... too rainy this morning, but i'm hoping it isn't too thin a sliver to catch tomorrow on the Winter Solstice morn, and of course it depends on the clouds first thing.

Something else i've been playing with is creating effects in camera. I'm loving using long exposures & altering the focal length as i shoot to create surreal, dreamy scenes. I've got loads of these, but haven't got them into the shop yet... it's on my list!!

I've been journeying a bit in those dreamworlds, melting into the trees & flying with crow, so perhaps that is why these appeal to me.... so many layers & shadows.... so many thoughts that seem to hang on the periphery of my mind, one minute so clear, another i'm left wondering what it was i was so clear about....

Perhaps as the year turns and the days begin to draw out, i will be ready to return & write 'out loud' again.... i feel the time is coming. It's funny, there are a couple of others that i have been closer to in the blog world, who also have been silent of late...

Any way.... If you have time & are so inclined do pop over to see carrie's blog. She promotes other etsy sellers with such enthusiasm and her own photography is lovely. Don't forget to leave a comment if you want to enter the draw to win a photo, here, but be quick!

With love... suzi xx

Bright Lights

No view of the lunar eclipse for me.... heavy rain & cloudy skies an hour before moon-rise & the prospects were bleak! But there was a break in the clouds as the sun set & i was hopeful... however, the brightness in the west did not spread to the east where the moon would have appeared over the hills, and as the night wore on, the cloud thickened.

We are on Teesside at the moment in the north east of England, staying near Billingham, on farmland  once owned by the chemical giant ICI. Instead of the glow of a moon in earth's shadow I watched the lights begin to appear on Tees Dock and the burning flares of various treatment plants around me.

Even without seeing, i was aware of the eclipse energy... an energy that can brings things to the surface out of the shadows, that can show things in a different light... a time for renewal & seeing different perspectives. Looking at the burning flares, I thought of energy transforming... of lunar eclipse energy... filtering down around the world...  transforming hearts and minds... breathing compassion & peace into hardened hearts & narrow minds...

I never saw these flames form the shape of a heart at the moment i clicked the shutter... not until i looked through to choose photos for this post. How wonderful is that? Energy transforming before my eyes, a symbol of compassion amongst the industry... funny where hearts turn up, eh? Clytie find them all over & has a weekly link-up at Random Hearts, if you want to see some more.

... and of course, I couldn't leave you without a picture of the moon from another night! I've just printed this one up for myself on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag. It's the first time i've tried this paper & i'm so impressed... it shows up every shade of dark blue & black with rich velvety textures, and the light is so vivid... i love it! This is one of my favourites that i've ever taken at the moment (available for sale here), now i've just got to remember where i saw a perfect frame for it! 

For more skies around the world visit

skywatch

Come & play...

... there's a little give-away & news of photo-quotes
 & collage material over at Suzi's Scribbles!!

She smiles... and I feel her light fill my soul

8 x 10 inches print

The Machine

in that hour of nearly waking

he dreamed...

of peaceful days not ripped by noise

metallic joints fatigued & shrieking

of gentle days not jarred by sound

pulverising rocks to dust 

in that hour of not quite sleeping

he sensed...

 

 celestial mystery at his side 

reflected heavens in silent waters

 

harmony for one still moment

   last breath of night before the day

See skies from around the world at Skywatch Friday

& reflections of all kinds at Weekend Reflections

(*thank you* Sue for whispering the inspiration in your comment elsewhere)

Moon Treasures

As we move around so much, it is not always easy for me to find work straight away, (at least not the paying kind), and so I have decided to put some serious effort into making something from what I do. My calligraphy has been on the back-burner for a while, and plans are underfoot to revamp how I approach that. But as I am nearly always camera in hand these days, this seemed the easiest place to start, and so I recently opened a little shop on etsy... 

Lone Crow Photo

I underestimated the amount of time I take to edit pictures and create descriptions, but progress has been steady and will become easier as time goes on. There is still much to add, but some of my photo's have attracted attention already.

This one is in a treasury called "red as a rose... black as the moon"

If you don't know about etsy treasuries... they are collections of items that someone puts together along a theme of their choosing. It's quite a good way of browsing shops, when someone else has done the work of bringing things together for you!

Next came "Moonstruck".... some lovely artwork in this treasury. So far, I've concentrated on my moon photographs in the shop and it's rewarding to have other people choose them for treasuries and direct people towards my shop already. 

This morning brought news of another treasury inclusion... "New Moon". That's three in a week... I feel honoured and thankful. I'm awaiting that first sale, but I've been preparing the ground & sowing the seeds over new moon... I've offered up my prayers... so now I wait and continue the work on various ideas to add to my shop.

Why Lone Crow? Well, the name came a few years ago... I was wandering the woods near an old quarry in Derbyshire where we were staying... a crescent moon was low in the sky and I'd been musing on druids & things shamanistic... a crow cawed above me & seemed to say 'lone crow'... a lone crow appeared regularly over the next couple of weeks shouting the same thing. When I started planning my shop a crow appeared again shouting 'Lone Crow'... it seemed appropriate to use that name now & so Lone Crow Photo was born.

Winter Solstice

december 21st... winter solstice... 

it began with earth moving between sun & moon...

all in alignment...

a time to think about how we are aligned within ourselves...

to evaluate our shadows...

to glow in the light of our own worth...

i was working, so couldn't photograph the sunrise

but the setting solstice sun was a sight to behold...

infusing a golden warmth

over frosted fields...

a totally different vista in the opposite direction... 

of palest pink & blue & violet...

 a surreal pearlescent glow...

what do the solstice skies speak of to you

as the days now begin to lengthen in the northern hemisphere?

can we successfully integrate these vastly different aspects...

of personality... of culture... of humanity...?

the evening solstice moon...

full... potent...

regenerated from the shadow of eclipse...

rising in phoenix colours...

whispering her message to those who will listen...

Red Moon, Silver Moon

Just in case you had any doubts

that i am inspired by the moon

a couple more canvasses are over here

and if you didn't know

i seek out her shining glance

over here

Meet Me At The Water's Edge...

Meet me at the water's edge

and dance to an ancient rhythm

feel the beat of forgotten song

re-discover what time has hidden

ocean dancing, ocean dreaming

with the gentle tidal rhythm

feel the healing waters flow

a soothing song to help us grow

call on water's energy

the power to nourish, nurture & heal

endless potency

ride the tides of ancient truths

meet me at the water's edge

ocean dances, ocean dreams

meet me at the waters edge

and dance to an ancient song

heed the urge to come ocean dancing

will you be carried on an ocean dream

wherever it may lead?

I was already working on this canvas when I discovered Moon Daughter writing about a New Moon healing ritual, started by The Divining Women... they call it 'Meet us at the water'. 

Well, the words 'meet me at the water's edge' just kept creeping in to my mind, so i laid that first phrase down on the canvas I had ready to go & words i had already jotted down followed on naturally. The second part begins with the central spiral & the words just flowed as I wrote... the design took care of itself as I went. One of those "Awen" moments of Divine Inspiration.

New Moon is approaching.... at 04:08, Tuesday 10th August in the UK... so why not why not come to the waters edge & add your thoughts to the stream of energy that is flowing. It doesn't have to be at the exact time of the new moon... the New Moon energies are strong for a day or two either side, so just pick a time that feels right for you. And you only have to visualise being beside the water to be there in spirit... a bowl of water, a photograph or taking a bath can help aid connection. See you there ; )

An Amber Moon...

.... for ambermoggie. Her patch of sky has been covered with cloud all month, so how could I resist posting this... hope this compensates a little, amber! (oh... take a peek here for a few more of this months moon photos!)

For so many of us the Moon is much more than a pretty bright object in the sky. We seek her out & miss her when she is not there... we honour her rhythms that affect us so... and seek her help in understanding ourselves. Watching her cycles is a clue to the changing rhythms of our moods, creativity & energy that pulse with the music of our Universe. If you haven't taken notice before, try noting the phase of the moon when different energy levels hit you... see if there is a pattern there. Being able to recognise the fluctuations, and being aware of when & how they affect you can make such a difference.

I no longer worry when I don't feel like creating artwork when the moon reaches its last quarter... i tend to ponder & write more intuitively at dark moon... and as the moon waxes past the first quarter, from half to full, ideas come thick & fast... if i'm going to be 'upsettable' its likely to be at new moon. Not always, & we are all different, but  a little understanding goes a long way! 

This site is great for checking moonrise & moonset times....

& skywatch friday has great skies from around the world.

Solstice Finale

Another solstice photo-fest.. 

I didn't know which way to turn...

moon behind me...

pinkness all around... 

 literally colour in every direction...

think there'd be a case for some photoshop stitchery 

to create a 360 panoramic (if i had it!)

a final kiss as colour faded from the sky...

until all was done, and the moon dropped into the cloud...

(sky-watchers,  the full set of pics from

previous posts is here with solstice eve & sunrise)

skywatch has more amazing photos