Somehow over the past year this has changed from a blog about my life and my spiritual pursuits to a blog about my knitting, cross stitch and crochet. See, the sad thing is I’m not sure I have much in the way of spiritual pursuits any more. Between watching/changing/playing with/teaching animal sounds to Baby Man, occasionally knitting or cross stitching to remain sane, doing some work for my old-but-still-current job, and general household things, there is really only time left for sleep. And as important as spiritual pursuits are, when you have a toddler, sleep is more important.
Does this mean I’m dissatisfied, or looking to re-evaluate my faith or, all the gods forbid, give up knitting and cross stitch? Nope. It means that I’m coming to terms with the fact that there are only so many hours in the day and there is only so much I can do without burning myself out. Right now, Baby Man, housework (ick) and my hobbies are the most important things. They keep me going. I’d love to go back to meditation and the like, but then I’d have to let something else drop.
What I want to do–no, what I will do–when Baby Man is bigger is find a way to work my spirituality into my every day life more. Autumn over at Owls’ Court seems to a great job of this. Her little man is just about 4 and a half, and they seem to do a great job of recognizing the changing seasons and honouring the Sabbats. (I’m also totally jealous that she lives in the same city as Le Melange Magique. Why doesn’t Toronto have an occult/Pagan store?) Baby Man, on the other hand, is not quite two, and is only able to grok day and night, hot and cold.
So, if I’m not dissatisfied, why am I writing about this? Well, I’m reading Autumn’s book The Way Of The Green Witch
And, since so many of you now stop by for small-c crafts (rather than the big-C Craft), here is how Baby Man’s stocking looks today. The lettering in the snow is nearly done! Yay! I am so tired of light and pale blue. (The darker bands are shadows. It is late enough in year now that the sun starts doing weird things in the afternoon.)
Naughty or Nice Stocking
Tomorrow: my first Creativ Festival class. (I wish they would spell it “Creative” rather than “Creativ”.) I will be taking Jennifer Aikman-Smith’s Perforated Paper Castle Ornament. She has helpfully posted a picture of it on her blog at the bottom of this post.
I'm a mom, wife, needleworker, knitter, wannabe writer, and most of all a spiritual seeker. I'm not sure yet what I believe, but I sure as heck know what I don't believe.
I don’t mind that your blog has become mostly stitching. 😉
Why doesn’t Toronto have an occult/Pagan store?
The answer to this in my opinion is because Canada sucks at keeping little shops open. I don’t know what the problem is but these types of specialty stores are disappearing all over the place. I rely on Amazon for my pagan books now and then order some of my other stuff online. You could try here if you want to do that:
http://www.sacredkiln.com/
I have had good luck with them in the past.
.-= Mel´s last blog ..A Finish… that Glows! =-.
You are right, Mel. Small shops have a way of closing up. All of the malls around here are exactly the same, full of chain stores that already have multiple locations nearby. It is boring, uninspiring, and sad.
And thank you for the link. I will check them out.
Occult/Pagan stores are hard to find, hard to run and I imagine harder to keep open – folks aren’t yet as accepting of an alternate path as we’d all like….. Maybe someday we’ll get there. I think there is a shop near where I live, but I’ve yet to venture in – I really should!
I’ll see you at tomorrow’s class – I’ll apologize in advance if I seem a bit rough around the edges – my show plans have changed a bit – I’ve been ‘promoted’ from stitcher to quasi-instructor so we’ll see how that goes!
.-= Erica´s last blog .. =-.
A lot has been written about the spirituality of knitting–that applies to cross-stitch as well. Perhaps you could look at some of those things and consider how small-c craft is your spirituality now??
.-= Anna´s last blog ..Happy Birthday to Me =-.
I had a lot of trouble reconciling my pre-child spiritual practie with my post-child one. You just need to find different ways to express it, and different ways to touch the Divine in your everyday activity. I find I’m rediscovering a lot of it now that I’ve taken up handspinning, for example. But yes, when the boy was younger it was really tough. Although children have their own joy in daily living and discovery that I found spiritual at times as well. Lots of reminding to live in the moment and see things anew.
And… the Toronto area does still have Pagan-type shops!
Earthworks http://www.earthwrks.com
Occult Shop 109 Vaughn Road, Toronto (416)656-6564.
Most of these sites are gone or down, but I don’t know if that means the shops are as well: Omega Centre, Purple Pentacle, Wiccashoppe.
Interesting read this post of yours, and I had to sit and think on it for a while. In my younger days I went through the whole “trying to figure out my beliefs” and for a long time called myself an ecclectic pagan, which is funny because in many ways I still am, just not practicing anymore.
New Zealand is also weird, all the holidays are turned upside down due to being in the Southern Hemisphere.
I try to keep track of the seasons and festivals in my stitching or atleast readings, just a gentle reminder of where things are… which is why I am currently feeling very odd stitching a Halloween design for October 30th, when according to the calendar, it’s actually April 30th in the Southern Hemisphere XD