Wednesday 30 January 2013

Candle galore

Hey, these amazing images just inspire me, now...I am going to make some with my Parent and Child session tomorrow!


It is such a simple activity but really relaxing and creative...I don't have the beeswax sheets, I usually get some plain church candles and then with the Stockmar coloured beeswax sheets I do a bit of 'modelling' ...
take small pieces and roll and squeeze in between fingers and make spirals , sun and moon or flower shapes...it's fun!

These images below were copied and pasted from various websites and I was just looking for inspiration...but tomorrow  I will take photos of the group's creations...and will share the images with you.

x

Susannah
















Tuesday 29 January 2013

Candlemas festival, candle making

Candlemas:
 Is a cross quarter day that falls midway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox, and in many traditions is considered the beginning of spring.

In the Pagan tradition this festival is called: Brigit or Imbolc which marks the sun’s growing strength, and the first signs of Spring. 
Brigid is also one of the four Celtic cross quarter days.



Throughout history, this has been the traditional time to begin to turn the soil over for the coming planting season. It is a time when the promises of renewal from the winter solstice begin to take shape, and we begin the process of coming out of the hibernation of a long winter.

 In the Christian tradition, this is also the celebration of Mary’s presentation of Jesus at the temple.

There are many ways of celebrating this Festival, the key things are:
watching nature and spot signs of renewal, like buds and shoots...bringing some indoors, bulbs, and small plants...
Decorating candles is a lovely activity.
Candles representing light, the sun...


Brigid the Goddes of Fire, Sun, warmth....
You can make pancakes that are round like the sun...
cooking connects to the stomach/pelvic area/chakra.
Eat the pancakes with golden syrup and sugared orange slices 9 again, round like the sun), light a golden yellow and bright orange candle,see below for making your very own orange candle.
Do something creative, orange is the creativity colour connected to the 2nd chakra; painting is good, especially on the floor and not on the table,sitting or squatting on a floor with pleanty of plastic sheets/newspaper as protection, on a large piece of paper, or create a sun dial or a paper transparancy or a dangling mobile that can catch the light, with crystals maybe...to stick on window ...



So, do anything that inspires you and connects you with rebirth, renewal, the sun, the coming of the spring...

  Candle making is an obvious craft of choice. Made with  rolled  coloured beeswax sheets. This is a good alternative to dipping candles when you're working with very young children.
And it's so easy most can do it almost on their own...with a bit of help!



All you need are some beeswax sheets and the proper wick.





Cut your wick so it hangs over each end about 1/2". Then press
it near the edge of the sheet. Room temperature wax works best.
If the room is a little chilly,  place the sheet on the
radiator cover for a minute or so to make sure it
wouldn't crack when we rolled it.



Roll it.


Roll it some more. When it's all rolled up, gently press down the
outer edge into the body of the candle to keep it from unrolling.



Gently press the top of the candle around the wick to ensure
even burning. Trim excess wick at the other end.


Voila! A Candle!



Or why not make an orange candle!

for the clever crafty people:


It probably smells a lot better too....
(Most candle wax are made from petroleum products and when burned are not a healthy choice).
You will need:
A navel orange (they are easier to peel)
a knife
Olive oil or other kind of vegetable oil
Lighter

Using a small, sharp knife cut around the orange – but only skin deep.
Use your fingers to work the skin away from the orange. Be gentle, so you don’t rip the skin! (If you are using a navel orange, the skin should loosen quite easily.)
Once it has been loosened, remove the skin – but leave the white stem-like piece intact. This will be the wick.
Fill with olive oil until it is about 1cm from the top of the wick. Dunk the wick in the oil, so it is coated. Light. Enjoy! The flame will last several hours.



There is another link to a similar candle - with clementine, using the other half of the skin and making a star shape whole at the top; very pretty!

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/how-to-make-a-clementine-candl-1453

Saturday 26 January 2013

In thy breath the light of the sun

In thy breath the light of the sun
In thy bread the salt of the earth
In thy ears true words of love
Sustain thy growing, changing life;
That thy spirit’s will may work
That thy soul be warmed by joy
That thy body’s world be built.
Adam Bittleston- Meditative Prayers for Today

good morning



This is what I see from my back window seat early in the morning, last week, a day or two before snow came...

 
The birds do start singing early and I am awake, full of songbird!
 

The sky gradually getting lighter and lighter...
Apart from the birds, the rest seems to be oh so still...



Oh the dear little robin...



~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Morning has come
Night is away
Rise with the Sun
And welcome the day




Greenwich park with the snow - bandstand - early winter morning


Friday 25 January 2013

Spirituality in Winter


Flicker, candle flicker
Relishing the stillness
Breathing the bittersweet cold air
Inwardly looking
Outbreath warming, embracing,
Preserving, sublime Winter comfort
In contemplation, almost lost in the cold depths
Glitter, smoke candle and incense burning
A faint memory of Christmas lingering, still
and Silent night, deep and deeper within
The warmth in my heart
Relish this moment
As it dies and now is now
And then is what is yet to come
Too fast and too soon
So, sleep, rest, bury the thoughts
Find peace and stillness
Flicker, flicker, flicker

Susannah




Candle


"Earth teach me suffering.
As old stones suffer with memory.
Earth teach me courage,
As the tree which stands alone.
Earth teach me freedom,
As the eagle which soars in the sky.
Earth teach me to forget myself,
As melted snow forgets its life.
Earth teach me regeneration,
As the seed which rises in the spring.
Earth teach me humility,
As blossoms are humble with beginning."
— Chief Yellow Lark, Lakota







I'd like to share this with you, taken from:
http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/practices/features.php?id=20552

Practicing Spirituality in Winter

Days 22 - 28
By Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat




22. Acknowledge and Honor Your Dependence on Others
Winter is a season of the year when we feel most vulnerable and fragile in the face of Mother Nature's power in storms and low temperatures. Often, too, we feel isolated, in need of friends and family. An important spiritual practice is to acknowledge and receive what others give us with great gratitude. Here are some ways to do this:
• Make a practice of consciously acknowledging your vulnerability and dependence upon others. For example, think about all the service providers who make it possible for us to ride in elevators, make phone calls, read a book at night in a lighted room, have food or supplies delivered, or have the roads plowed. Too often, we take this support for granted.
• During a meal, choose one food item and try to list all the people who helped bring it to your table — the farmers, truckers, store managers, package makers, and even those who created the map that facilitated its movement from one place to your table. When you say grace, include a blessing for all those you depend on.
• Make a habit of acknowledging one free gift you have received at the end of each day. Then thank God for the presence in your life of the bearer of the gift.
23. Set Aside a Day of Solitude
Winter is an ideal season to set aside some time for this spiritual practice. In Anam Cara, the late John O'Donohue calls solitude a key that unlocks the process of a homecoming to our deepest self:
"Solitude is one of the most precious things in the human spirit. It is different from loneliness. When you are lonely, you become acutely conscious of your own separation. Solitude can be a homecoming to your own deepest belonging. One of the lovely things about us as individuals is the incommensurable in us. In each person, there is a point of absolute nonconnection with everything else and with everyone. This is fascinating and frightening. It means that we cannot continue to seek outside ourselves for the things we need from within. The blessings for which we hunger are not to be found in other places or people. These gifts can only be given to you by yourself. They are at home in the hearth of your soul. . . .
"In everyone's inner solitude there is that bright and warm hearth. The idea of the unconscious, even though it is a very profound and wonderful idea, has sometimes frightened people away from coming back to their own hearth. We falsely understand the subconscious as the cellar where all of our repression and self-damage is housed. Out of our fear of ourselves we have imagined monsters down there. Yeats says, "Man needs reckless courage to descend into the abyss of himself." In actual fact, these demons do not account for all the subconscious. The primal energy of our soul holds a wonderful warmth and welcome for us. One of the reasons we were sent onto the earth was to make this connection with ourselves, this inner friendship."
O'Donohue suggests that we keep in our mind's eye the image of our inner solitude as a "bright and warm hearth." Try this practice and see what comes up for you.
24. Skating Under the Stars
Skating is one of the most delightful sports of the winter season. In this clip from the Spiritual Literacy DVD episode on the spiritual practice of "Play," a woman goes skating under the light of the moon as the child inside her emerges, and the result is sheer joy. The words to this selection are from Rick Bass's Platte River.
Watch Skating Under the Stars.

Find a winter sport that is just right for you and let the child come out in you as you succumb to the sheer pleasure of physical exhilaration.
Snowy Trees
25. Stillness
In The Promise of Winter, Martin Marty along with his son Micah, a photographer, ponder through meditations on the Psalms and pictures, the wintery soul and the different aspects of this cold season in the north. Here is a piece on stillness:
"All is still now. Dwellers in snow country remark how after winter thunder and a blowing storm, silence can pall the snowscape. Poets call this preternatural, because it seems to exist eerily beyond nature. No bird song, no whistle in the wind, no crackle of a twig interrupts the quiet. Plants are at rest, as are households. Often that means all is well. Souls seeking escape from the tumult of business and busy people welcome such hours and occasions.
"Such welcoming is for special times, however, because usually we need a sense that someone is near, that events can occur. The search for company is strongest when we feel danger or fear being isolated. When people long ago feared the stalking of their enemies, they cried to God to break the silence. So do people now; so it is with us now.
"Whole seasons bring, with their coming, disappointments or depressions that can lead to the feeling that we are abandoned. When we must crave the direct voice of God, it seems most difficult to hear. When we most desire company, we feel almost alone. Stillness at such times does not produce quiet within. Instead it awakens the kind of trauma that will be best interpreted by a cry: 'Oh God!' Cultivating the presence of God today and listening helps assure that the only silences we experience are of the welcome sort: those that produce quiet in the fragile heart."
During these winter months, take some time to assess your need for silence. Have you discovered its importance in your prayer life? Where do you go to find this precious resource? Think about the times in your life when stillness has been a burden or scary for you. What spiritual practices have helped you to overcome this obstacle? Create a special day for silence and see how you respond to it.
26. Bless Your Home
In The Celtic Spirit, Caitlin Matthews shares ideas, rituals, and practices that can help enrich your appreciation and understanding of the seasons. Here is a selection for December on blessing your home.
"The heart of winter is a time of homecoming and cessation of travel. We return home, ostensibly to celebrate the holiday with our family, but actually to attend to the domestic shrine that is our family home. Western spiritual culture has tended to emphasize the importance of the temple, church, or place of spiritual gathering over the domestic shrine, but in truth the home is the primary abode of Spirit; if Spirit dwells not there, there is certainly no use seeking for it in other places.
"The householder is a true priest or priestess who maintains the holiness of the hearth and gives all guests the welcome of the home's indwelling spiritual presence. As guests gather or are expected, the householder can ritually acknowledge the house as a shrine of blessing by spiritually cleaning it in preparation for holy days ('holidays'). This may entail going about the house with a bowl of burning aromatic herbs or a flame-warmed dish of sweet oils to cleanse the house-space of any worries, arguments, sorrows, or hidden fears. With intentioned prayer, the householder can make all clean and clear again.
"After the cleaning comes the hallowing or blessing of the house. Kindle your hearth, if you have a fireplace or light your heater or a candle if you have not. Be aware of the heart of the house as a beating, living, spiritual presence. Now, leaving the candle or flame at the hearth, kindle a fresh candle and take it throughout your house. Sing a wordless song of blessing. Now the spirit of your home can welcome all guests who come within its walls, that they might share in the blessing that is yours."
Candle
27. Savor the Turn of the Seasons
For Where the Heart Is, Julienne Bennett and Mimi Luebberman asked more than 100 writers to share their ideas on what makes us feel at home. Here is a small portion of Lawrence Hogue's "A Place with Seasons:"
"Now, I want to feel the turn of the seasons in my bones. I want to see my breath at noon, feel the chill of the north wind, and listen to the silence of the dead of the year. I want to watch the migrating birds, and long to follow them south, yet I know that I am in my place and that there is no eternal summer for me. The sun is in its home, and so am I. Like the year that is shutting down, my time will come, but not this year or, I hope, the next one or the one after that. I'll go on to see another spring, another rebirth, another summer filled with long hot days, and another fall like this one. But for now, it's time to dig down deep, to burrow under the covers on cold mornings, to compost the chaff of this year's harvest and make a mulch for the coming year. Out of the death of fall and the silence of winter springs new life, new hope."
28. Earth Teach Me
In Seasons of Thanks, Taz Tagore has created a nondenominational collection of graces, blessings, and stories for each month of the year. Here is one for February which will soon be upon us:
"Earth teach me suffering.
As old stones suffer with memory.
Earth teach me courage,
As the tree which stands alone.
Earth teach me freedom,
As the eagle which soars in the sky.
Earth teach me to forget myself,
As melted snow forgets its life.
Earth teach me regeneration,
As the seed which rises in the spring.
Earth teach me humility,
As blossoms are humble with beginning."
— Chief Yellow Lark, Lakota
Bright Sun

Thursday 17 January 2013

Acorns Craft Group- update!

Wedsnesdays,
11.30- 13.30
Parent and Child Special Session
is going to run as our craft session!
Here you learn Steiner inspired crafts; make simple Waldorf dolls, knitted animals, puppets, gnomes, learn silk dying, needle and wet felting and much more. What you make is for yourself, for your child’ or a Easter/Birthday gift.
So big elves and little elves, get your knitting needles ready, book now!








 
 

 


 

 


 
 


 

 
 

 
 
 
 
 

Saturday 12 January 2013

Singing good morning


It is 6.30 on Sunday morning

It is the 13th of January

The birds are quite chatty; it is one of the nicest sounds in nature, the birds singing the welcome morning song!It is nice to be woken by them and by ma cat, rather than the alarm.
This time in the morning has a special energy that I compare to a mistery bottle that has just been opened and the contents will pour out, first the essence and the aromas, then the rest....
yes the morning has a smell and a feel of anticipation, but it has a quiet energy too, peaceful...
I don't like too much chatter or noise, no radio, no news, no talking, just being, and listening.

Yes I do love the morning!
I arise and I feel precious!
I feel privileged.
Oh to be alive, another day has begun
To breathe
To think
To enjoy
Life
Love

Wednesday 9 January 2013

Mother Nature Song

Come to Oxleas Woods
Fridays 10 am to 12pm
Parent and Child Outdoor Session
 
for more info:
 
 
 
 
 

In the quiet woods
I walk, I walk,
Listen to my steps

In the quiet woods
I stop, I stop
Listen to the birds

In the quiet woods
I play, I play
Listen to my laughter

In the quiet woods
I rest, I rest
Listen to the wind


Outdoor Parent and Child Group

Have you ever walked into the woods and felt at home? We, at Acorns Outdoor Parent & Child Group, have adopted a cosy little corner of Oxleas Woods to become our home for two hours every Friday 10am-12noon, and it truly feels that way! We have set the place for picnic, built our own den and have a favourite place for the ring time…
Once the children become familiar with the setting, they are happy to wonder around and play together, leaving a happy mum, dad (or nanny!) to relax with a cup of tea and a chat, or an activity.
It’s amazing to be in the woods in the morning, whatever the weather and the season! We get good weather on most days and are privileged to hear and see the birds and watch the wood life around us go on, without disturbing it! We have even been befriended by local magpies and crows, who can’t wait for us to leave each Friday to descend onto our picnic space and pick up any remaining bread and nibbles!

The change of seasons in the woods is magnificent, the air is fresh and you forget that you are not far away from a busy city life.
Come and join us for this lovely experience – there is more work for us to do!

And now for the practicalities…
The Outdoor session is structured similar to the regular Indoor Parent & Child session with a flowing and repeating rhythm that the little ones can get used to and rely on.
To start with there is an opportunity to explore the space around us: see what can be found/seen around us. What has nature got in store for us (literally everything is interesting: dry leaves, pine cones, acorns, conkers etc.)

A common activity, like gathering twigs for crafts, or other interesting objects for the treasure collection, making necklaces from the red berries and strings or sitting quietly listening to the Nature noises....

Then there is picnic (prepared in advance and brought along with the hot thermos of tea for the parents!)

Then there is Ring Time/Story Time, when we get everyone together and conclude the session.

Please bring along: Containers, plates/cups for picnic time, plus a blanket/picnic mat to sit on.