This has been the theme of my life the past couple months. All of the windows in our home have been replaced and now the deck is being replaced as the floor had rotted so badly water was leaking into the hallway of the people below us – that and we could’ve fallen through into their hallway! The repairs are almost done which makes me happy as I really want to finish prepping my garden for the spring. I’m itching to get more soil and flower boxes!
I found a wonderful old hardcover copy of Sybil Leek’s Diary of Witch that I’ve been devouring for bedtime reading – if she had been a witch in these modern times you can bet Sybil would’ve had a blog! I’ve also been collecting old skulls and bones to rework into art pieces for sale in the Botanica as fetiches, altar, and divination pieces. My newest acquisitions are an old horsetail that needs some love and repair as well as two red fox skulls.
I also did something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time. I created a rack to hang my childhood quilt on that my grandmother made for me – painstakingly hand-stitched with excess vintage fabrics she had at the time. It’s not in the best of shape anymore and needs some repairs, but part of me wants to leave it as is to remind me not all things last forever no matter how much we wish it. The quilt is now hung on a rod of Goat Willow with brackets made from Cottonwood in my hallway lined with pictures of my ancestors with my grandmother’s graduation photo fittingly right next to the quilt.
Your site is so wonderful to visit. The Great North has much in common with the Appalachian region.
I can still see Sybil’s jackdaw in memory.
Take Care,
Scott
I note that this summer Pendraig Publishing in Los Angeles are publishing a biography of Sybil Leek by one of her students. I hope that it does not repeat all the old fantasies about her background!
Yeap! I finished the diary a few weeks ago. I also managed to get hold of Complete Art of Witchcraft and yesterday her book of herbs arrived.
What a beautiful photo and the hand stitched quilt is amazing. What patience they had to start and finish projects unlike most of us nowadays who always look for the fast fix.
Wonderful quilt & rack. My grandmother made her three children and all nine of her grandchildren quilts. I love mine and feel blessed to have such a treasure to hand down through the generations.
There is so much magic involved in stitching.
That diary was the first book about real witches I ever read. Will always been a cornerstone for me. The quilt and rack are lovely. I just found an old quilt that was my grandmothers and that was on my bed when I was child. All cleaned up, ready for repairs. I think it might need a rack like this one.
A horses tail. Wow.
Awe, man!!!! YOU ARE SOOOOO LUCKY!!! A hardback copy of Diary of a Witch?!?!? I am officially jealous… Where’d you find it?
I found it for $8 on Ebay. Ebay is my friend for books
I am sooooo jealous! I *never* seem to find Classic books at E-Bay for that great a bargain, EVER!!!
Hehehe, well conveniently there’s this prayer from the classic Aradia for finding and buying rare and ancient texts for a moderate price:
“When the evil fortune
Is taken from me,
I’ll cast it out to the middle of the street:
And if thou wilt grant me this favour,
O beautiful Diana,
Every bell in my house shall merrily ring!
Then well contented
I will go forth to roam,
Because I shall be sure that with thy aid
I shall discover ere I return
Some fine and ancient books,
And at a moderate price.”
Here’s the whole rite and prayer if you don’t have a copy of the book: http://www.sacred-texts.com/pag/aradia/ara09.htm