domestic details

So you know I've been working on creating sanctuary by bringing order and beauty to my domestic world - I'm taking a break from painting the bedroom floor to post some evidence of my progress - just a few simple domestic vignettes. It feels so good to begin to support new habits, and take pleasure in small oases of clarity & loveliness... is there a spot in your place that you can bring some harmony and beauty to today? A desk drawer, a medicine cabinet, a bedside table, a dresser top?

I repainted the white windowsills and adorned them with daisies in spice jars:

THIS was a big deal. I've been drowning in paper piles for months. Maybe years. The paper piles are not hidden - they are sorted and filed! And I love my desk!Look, I even cleaned the drawer! I put in a little dish of lavender, so it smells wonderful when I open it...

Alder side table courtesy of my sweetie...

More forest furniture, and a whole new phone corner...

Found a few treasures while cleaning up...

Artful Life Moon Circle - New Moon! Creating Sanctuary

I found this image on this Twilight series fan page (I was just googling new moon images - honest!) I don't usually love this silky airbrush fantasy style at all - but there's something about this that evokes the soft and magical marine new moon twilights of the place I live.

Welcome to the first Artful Life Moon Circle! (You can read about this circle in this post). I'm very much looking forward to sharing our New Moon intentions, and feeling the power of those intentions increase as the moon grows. To get you started, here are some ideas for positive intention setting:

• Small steps are best. You can build on small steps. My ambitious intention to "transform my home into a sanctuary" can begin with the do-able intention to "organize and beautify my bedroom this month, and cultivate the habit of keeping it that way!"
• Maybe you have a long list of stuff that could be better - and you want to do it all. I know! But wholeheartedly committing to your one intention allows you to focus, and succeed. There will be many more moons!
• What area of your life needs the most attention right now? Can you set an intention for nurturing that area? The seven keys to an artful life include these facets of life: body, spirit, self-care, livelihood, home, creativity, and relationships. Which facet is crying out for attention in your life?
• Once you set your intention, find some quiet time during this new moon day to write about it (or collage it!) in your journal, and share as much of that writing as you want here. Give yourself some manageable action steps and ink them in to your calendar "On Friday I will paint my bedroom floor white." " Next Tuesday I will go to yoga class" etc.
• So... your intention might look like this: "My home is crying out for attention. It doesn't reflect how I really feel inside, and it doesn't feel like the orderly, nurturing, sacred environment I want it to be! I want my home to be a sanctuary! This moon, I will start by bringing the feeling of sanctuary to my bedroom. I will organize, paint the floor, and slipcover the chair. I will spend 5 or 10 minutes daily keeping it orderly and clean. I can commit to this intention. .. it is the first step towards my ideal of home as sanctuary."
• Please share as much or as little as you'd like here. You can tell us what is hard, what you want, where you feel stuck, and how you would like to begin.
  

So my own intention for this moon, as you've heard, has to do with creating sanctuary. A sanctuary is a holy place, a place of protection, a place of refuge. How deeply I want my life to better reflect that ideal! I want the feeling of sanctuary to fill my heart, and spill over into all areas of my life! Notice I have said creating sanctuary; not the more usual finding sanctuary - because I am coming to see that the sacred and peaceful heart is made by us every day; it is created piece by piece through our accumulated actions and thoughts. This all sounds quite grand! But for this Moon, I want to begin creating sanctuary in the most tangible and mundane way - by beginning to transform my relationship with my home.

I have always seen the wisdom in the ideas that our physical surroundings mirror our psychic state, that transforming the energy flow in our homes can transform our personal energy, and that, to put it plainly, gentle order is good for the soul. At the same time, I have struggled with the drudgery, and the politics, of housework, and my inner rebel has balked (digging in the heels of her Docs) at engaging wholeheartedly in something so... well... conventional. Don't get me wrong - I like making my home beautiful, and my friends occasionally accuse me of being organized. The thing is, the process has never been joyful. There has been intentional self-denial and self-sabotage. And fear. And a lack of authenticity. And plenty of grime and dust bunnies (which are sooo not as cute as they sound.) And I really haven't been able to figure it out, or find a way to joyfully and consistently create sanctuary in my surroundings. Which is what I want to do! But now... somehow, mysteriously, over the last few weeks, something has clicked into place for the first time: caring for my home can be an act of self-love, and act of devotion, a creative outlet, and a spiritual practice all at once. Wow. I kind of got this in theory before, but I'm starting to feel it, and with that feeling, find some ease in doing it. This is all really new, and it feels good, and I want to use this New Moon to really set that intention to begin to joyfully and consistently create sanctuary in my surroundings........
and watch what other gifts and lessons this doing might bring into my life.

That's it! And you?

All About The Artful Life Moon Circle!

Are we really affected by the phases of the moon?
Does the moon exert some magical pull on our watery bodies or our primitive minds? Maybe. What I do know for sure is that to flourish, we need to feel connected to the world around us. The practice of patterning our lives, even in small, symbolic ways, on the patterns of nature can be very affirming. For me, the cycle of the moon is a beautiful reflection of the cycles of increase and decrease in my own life.

I love the tradition of "Moon Circles,"
women meeting together under the new and full moons to share our joys and sorrows, our dreams and intentions, and of course our wisdom and support. Aligning these qualities with the lunar cycles can be super-powerful.  I've been a part of many of these circles face to face, and I really would love to bring the power and healing of these gatherings here to The Artful Life.


Here's how it works:
On each New and Full Moon days, I post my intentions for the coming moonphase. Then I invite you to leave a comment, with your own intentions and reflections. Writing your intentions and sharing them with others will help keep you accountable to yourself, and you'll have the benefit of all the yummy energy and encouragement from the other artful women in the circle, not to mention the moon magic.

The New Moon is a great opportunity for new beginnings and goal setting , so you might want to set an intention for something you want to INCREASE or GROW as the moon waxes.

The Full Moon is an opportunity to reflect on this growth, and to set an intention for something you would like to DECREASE or RELEASE from your life as the moon wanes.

 I think you will be thrilled with the extra power boost you give to your intentions by sharing them with the circle, and matching them to the powerful symbolism of the lunar cycles.

Everyone is welcome! To join the circle, just drop by  The Artful Life on New & Full Moon days, read the post, and add your intention to the circle, either silently or in the comments.

To learn more about working with lunar rhythms, you can print out the In Tune With the Moon Cue Card I made for you, click here for a large, printable version.

You might also want to check out these posts:

• How To Set New Moon Intentions
• New Moon Magic!
• Things to Do on the New Moon
• Harness the Power and Magic of the Full Moon
• Things to Do on the Full Moon
• Archive of All Moon Circle Posts

A friend just e-mailed me this wonderful video, it's too good not to share!! Enjoy.

10 things to do on a summer saturday

1. go for a walk in a meadow at dawn









2. take a yoga class at your favourite studio











3. have a really long bath













4. smell the roses










5. spend time in nature with a friend











6. attend the local farmer's market, chat with people, and buy something nice for dinner.










7. light a scented candle and do some reading & journaling.










8. have an adventure in or on the water.














9. tend your garden.










10. take a long walk on a country lane.

goddess time

Antique rose in bloom outside my bedroom window. These intensely fragrant blooms are only the size of apple blossoms.

I've been engaging in this practice for a while now, but listening to this podcast gave me a name for it... goddess time. Yes! This is a practice for busy women with lots of responsibilities and demands on their time and person. (That's pretty much all of us, right?) Here's how it works for me. On Sunday morning, my time is my own. No one else (including my internal taskmaster) can tell me what do, or even make requests. No phone. No e-mail. It could be a walk, or yoga, or blogging, or a wander in the garden, but usually it's bed, tea, scented candle, journal, pens, huge stack of books and magazines, plus the little dog who thoroughly approves of mornings in bed. I've worked to make my bedroom feel like a little sanctuary, so I relish this *free* time I get to spend there. It makes the whole week easier. Where can you fit some goddess time into your life?

hooray for coincidence + some ssp*

By lovely coincidence, our Plum Blossom tile was showcased in not one, but two beautiful Etsy treasuries today, both on the theme of aged metal. They are here and here.

*ssp=shameless self-promotion

my day

took the day off

went to the beach

stayed 'til the tide came up.

Jasper Johns, Flag, 1955

I was born in the US to an American mother & British father. I was raised in Canada, but spent my young adulthood, and gave birth to my daughter, in the US. I married a Canadian man, and now I live in Canada again, but I still travel on a US passport. In my twenties I engaged in the political process through civil disobedience and activism around issues of peace, environmentalism, feminism, and native land rights. In my thirties my relationship to politics became much more interior and personal. In my forties my engagement with Buddhism brought a completely different perspective towards politics in general, and led me to question the usefulness of the heavy load of anger that had driven much of my political opinion and actions. This complex process of defining my social/political self, and choosing my level and type of involvement in the political process, has always played itself out in relationship to that great entity The United States of America. It's a fascinating journey, this journey of the citizen, and one that continues to engage my will, my compassion, my intellect, my ire, my shame, my pride, and my curiosity. This day has never felt like a day for celebration to me; more like a day for sober reflection. What is this day to you? Tell me.