Imbolc blessings

Happy Imbolc everyone may the day be filled with as much sunshine as we have here. A true sign from the Goddess that the wheel has turned and the brighter,lighter days are on their way.

 New growth everywhere you look, seeds sprouting, bulbs growing by the day.

 Today is all about synchronicity and a little meander through my thought processes. A couple of weeks ago Mr Mog was passing a parade of shops near our sons home. He told me later when we were nearly home that he had seen my kind of doll in a shop window. Never thought too much of it until we had occasion to be near there again. I went into the shop(Tourist information) and saw 2 figures the one you see below and one in shocking pinks This one spoke to me for some reason. I presume leading on from my art doll thoughts, who knows why?

I asked her price and can you believe she was only £15? When you think of all the work that has gone into her. She isn't the kind I want to make particularly but she is cloth and an art doll so yes heading the same way. At that price I decided to bring her home with me. Seemed silly not to.

 Move on to yesterday and I decided to ring TI and see if I could find out the doll artists name, there was no identification on her just the price. I explained that I made dolls and was always interested in meeting fellow artists. The guy at TI said he would get back to me. He didn't but a short while later the artist did. We had a long chat and it transpires that she started making dolls when she went through a breakdown. She didn't know why , she just had to make them. This was so similar to my first forays into creativity, poetry writing when I was first married and then subsequent paper arts etc when I first was with Mr Mog. The crafting and Mr Mog got me through the breakdown and I've created since then. I find I need to. It isn't just for fun it is a real need to express myself and to get the quiet inside that we all need.

 This mornings morning pages went on from that and here is a part of what I wrote.

There is a fine line we walk as artists between madness and sanity and it seems to be there on the edge that we find both our Muse and our creativity.

 It is almost like shamans having a near death experience that kick starts the shamanic process. Or for many pagans starts them on their path or their awareness of it. A different kind of muse and a different strand of the path but after all the two are linked. Creativity of the hands as an artist and creative form of the minds working when you follow a spiritual path or should that be when you work with your spiritual path as in rituals etc?
Is that some of it? That you have to break free from the mundane and routine ? When I first joined a coven we were told about the eight ways of making magic.

1 is meditation or concentration.
2 is chanting, spells, invocations
3 is Trance
4 is Incense,drugs, wine .
5 is dancing
6 is blood control or use of the cords
7 is The scourge
8 is the great rite.
I would add that I didn't stay with the coven as it wasn't my path. Yes I am sure for many it is right but I didn't feel comfortable following prewritten scripts almost. My way of getting in touch with the Goddess was more spontaneous and right for me.
But maybe their use of the 8 paths were a way to move from the physical to the higher plane.

Isn't that what we as artists do when we sit down to create?
So are art and magic different sides of the same coin?

 I often say to beginner spinners that the art of spinning becomes a meditative practise. You go to another place and creating any form of art you go there also to my mind.

 Old tales and pictures of weaving and spinning where sorceresses and witches use their craft to weave spells good or ill.
In old tales always ill. Look at sleeping beauty.
So going on:-
Could some of that be the churches way of control? That ritual and prayer etc are for god and done in church, certainly in catholic belief. Look at the saying, idle hands are the work of the devil. i.e no sitting about daydreaming.
Ooops going off tangent here.

So I think what I am trying to say is that for me my creativity is and has always been a sacred activity. A way to connect with the Goddess. At this time of Imbolc it seems most apt to be reaffirming that for myself as the Lady of Imbolc for me is always Brigid and of course she is the Goddess of creativity and crafts. Also an aspect of the Triple Goddess.

This ungainly lot are a beginning for Imbolc. Purchased doll blanks(apart from the large pregnant doll at the back) They have all had a dip in dye baths and are ready for the next stage. The large one is going to be decorated as an aspect of Gaia, the earth mother. The others not sure yet but its a small start on another turn of the path I follow. From here I hope to try making a cloth doll from scratch. Not easy when you are straight seam sewing challenged as I am. Wavy line figures anyone?