Listening to Canyon Storm by Gwain Nighthawk with Blake Octavian Blair

I love music!  I really do, and when I'm not watching a magical movie while I work at my old wooden art table I love to have some great tunes playing.  Many people don't know that I spent a great part of my art career creating CD, cassette and stage artwork for St. Louis area bands and local art for national touring rock and metal bands.  Music has always been an important part of my life and my tastes range from crunchy Metal, Ska, Jazz, Classical, New Age, Steampunk, Classic Rock, and one can occasionally catch me getting funky with that 70's groove.  Music speaks to your heart and soul.

One of my favorite new CD's that takes me to that chill place I need to be when I'm writing is Canyon Storm by Gwain Nighthawk with Blake Octavian Blair.  Described as "World Fusion featuring the Native American Flute," this is a CD full of spirit and personally I love listening to it while writing and creating art.  It's so obvious that creating this CD was a labor of love and that comes out in the music. 

Gwain Nighthawk plays a hauntingly beautiful flute, the ethereal melodies transport the listener to a place of harmony and peace.  Gwains partner, Blake Octavian Blair is a Llewewllyn author that you may know from his articles in their popular periodicals and is the percussionist for this venture.  He brings in world instruments to compliment Gwains peaceful flute such as Tibetan bowl, Native American frame drum, Udu, and rainstick.  They also have guests that appear on several of the songs adding new levels to the tunes and melodies.  The production sound is clean sounding, very pure as if you are sitting on a rock in the desert at sundown listening to the music in a ritual.  Sounds of nature have been added with just the right balance so as not to come off over edited but in the perfect balance of man made and nature made music and rhythms blended in a soothing sound scape.

As a Reiki Master, I've noticed that the resonance of the music seems to actually lift the vibrations of the room where it's played, not surprising since both Gwain and Blake are  Reiki practitioners.  Since I first received this CD it has on more than one occasion been salve to heal my spirit and fill my home with vibrations of peace and love.

You can listen to samples to their music on CD Baby, you can also download the MP3 or order a copy of their CD. 

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/gwainnighthawkandblakeoc

Thanks guys for creating many moments of Zen!

Bright Blessings!

Fairy Friday- What's in My Magical Cabinet?!

Happy Friday!  I was just looking for an item to fill an order for one of our awesome customers and I was greeted by lots of fairies in my cabinet full of goods!  Fairies on mugs, garden flags, plaques, all kinds of delightful fae folk looking for a home.  I just thought I would share a few of my favorites with you this lovely morning.  It's only 90 today so far and I'm feeling bright and sunny!  LOL

I love these crystal pendants, they sparkle and shine and they really show depth because the art is behind the crystal glass! I have some of these in my magical cabinet if you want one  Click here!

This Elven Princess visited me in a dream, this morning she was trying to get my attention as I looked through my magical cabinet and found her on a coffee mug, garden flag and a print!  Click here to see her more closely!

Wedged in between all of the pretties that Dan and I have made stored in our magical cabinet, I discovered my missing copy of Fairy Faith!  This is a cool movie that I just love, were the fairies in my cabinet watching it?

The Steampunk fairy always makes me smile, she has an attitude from a different era, click here if you would like to share your morning brew with her!

I still have a few of the one of a kind fairies, ACEO (art cards and originals) cards, she is one of a kind original art made with real wings too!  If you want to see her closer or give her a good home click here!

So many fairies, so little time!  My grand kids are visiting today, maybe we'll sit and watch Fairy Faith together this afternoon since the fae have returned it and dream about the fair folk!

Brightest Blessings!

Mystical Cats Tarot: A Sneak Peek!

Cats can be pretty crafty sneaky little dears, and the Mystical Cats Tarot is no exception!  Lunaea Weatherstone and I have been hard at work crafting this upcoming deck, she has so many great ideas for these cards, she's an inspiration and loads of fun to work with, we two kitties play very nicely together.  Earlier today shortly after we discussed some details on The Tower card which I'm working on now, she called to see how I felt about offering a sneeky peek for our dear readers, a little snippet of one of the cards.  Of course, you know me, I loved the idea!  I'm having so much fun bringing these magical mystical cats to life and it's always hard not to let the cat out of the bag, but sometimes you can peek in the bag in you're very careful! Tee-hee!

The Mystical Cats Tarot will be a truly unique view into the mystical side of the world of cats.  Where do cats go when they "zone out?"  When you peer into the world that Lunaea and I have imagined, you'll know.

We have a long way to go, a tarot deck takes years to complete and we're still working on the major arcana, but here is that little bit of magic you can see if you peek into the keyhole of the Mystical Cats Tarot, a work in progress!

Bright Blessings!

(Meow)

The Magic of Flags, Blowing Intentions in the Wind

Flags have been used to represent all kinds of ideas through the ages, they have represented who we are, our claims on property, unity of a group of people, sending messages, and even prayers on the wind.  The first flags were used for military purposes to help troops coordinate and later on ships used them to send messages about the ships alliances and other information.  National flags provide a symbol for people to rally behind and a point of pride for the people.  Many flags were created to represent religions.  Flags provide inspiration as the element of air blows over them making them dance with their message in the wind.

Tibetan Prayer Flags at Red Rocks Auditorium in Colorado when I was there in 2009.

Tibetan Prayer Flags are colorful flags strung together or hung as long banners, with Indian Sutras printed on them.  The colors represent the elements because the achievement of health and harmony are the result of finding balance between the elements.  Symbols for transforming bad fortune into good fortune, Buddhist teachings and Mantras of the great Buddhist Bodhisattvas are among the symbolism included on these prayer flags. Mantras and prayers for the good fortune, health and longevity of the person who hangs the flags are often included as well.  These colorful flags can be seen all over India, it is believed that the prayers and mantras are blown on the wind to fill the area with uplifting positive energy.

Flags from both of my Etsy shops flying in the breeze under my oak tree!

In home and garden centers everywhere we see garden flags meant to be hung outdoors as decor and often convey positive messages in addition to beautiful images.  Dan and I actually make a line of garden flags with my magical art on them.  Some are shown here, click here to see more! 

Bring an abundant harvest using flag magic!  Celtic Oak Fairy Flag is available in our Etsy shop. 

 When hung with blessing intentions, these flags can also be used to bring positive energy into your area and positive vibes to your home, garden, and family.  The idea is that flags are very sensitive to the slightest movement of wind (just try taking a good photo of one LOL) as wind passes over the images and messages on the flags the air becomes blessed and empowered by the images and words and those blessings fill the immediate area and ripple out into the world. 

How Can I Make My Own Flag Magic?

The first step is to browse through flags and find one that speaks to you.  It should be an image and/or message that strikes a cord with the kinds of intentions that you would like to manifest.  You can usually find decorative flags at home and garden centers, Tibetan Prayer Flags and other flags with positive spiritual messages can be found at many New Age/Metaphysical shops or on the Internet and of course be sure to check both of my Etsy shops Mickie Mueller Studio and Voice of the Trees, every piece of art available there can be ordered on a garden flag.  Here's a link to special order garden flags.

Send messages of love on the wind, Mother and Child of the Fae Garden Flag available in our Etsy Shop.

A flag to be used for magical intentions should be hung on an auspicious day, choose a full moon, Sabbat or magical day of the week corresponding to your intention.  A day when the wind is blowing is always good, also a day when the sun is out will help bless your new flag.  Choose a spot where it's not in direct sunlight all day if you want your flag to last longer, and be sure to also choose a spot where the wind will blow across it freely.  If you would like to add a blessing as you hang it you can use the following or make up your own blessing:

"Flag of fabric blowing free,
Sending blessings I decree
Colors bless with love and mirth
Ripple out across the earth."

Our flags resist fading pretty well, I display mine where the sunlight isn't hitting it all day long to help them last.  I've been hanging mine changing with the seasons for a couple of years now and they're holding up quite well. 

Bring magic and the blessings of the Willow Tree, Witch of the Willow flag available in our Etsy shop.

Should your flag ever fade, don't despair; that just means that the elements of sun, wind and rain have brought the blessed images and messages on the flag into an existence as a permanent part of the universe.  It can also mean that the elements have given you an opportunity to seek out a new message that you need blowing through your life!

Blessings!

2013 Llewellyn's Magical Almanac, A Sneak Peek!

I just got my contributors copies of the 2013 Magical Almanac, and cleared a spot on the old wooden art table to flip through it, and I must say I'm pretty delighted. Artist Tammy Shane has done the last several cover for the Almanac, and while they are all beautiful , this one is my favorite so far!  I love her elegant Luna moth against the night sky!

Tammy Shane's beautiful cover art.

So of course, I grabbed a cup of tea and dug right in to see the article I wrote and several more I illustrated, as well as the many other fabulous contributions. 

My article "Enchanted Tea Cup" along with my illustrations for it.  Learn ways to make simple yet powerful magic using the ages old beverage of tea.

Does that cup of tea look similar to one of the illustrations? Hmmm...yep, I illustrated my own family heirloom teacup, nothings too good for my readers.!

This year I had the opportunity to do lots of animal illustrations which was really fun!  I illustrated an article about Celtic animals (right up my ally) by Sharynne MacLeod NicMhacha, one on totem animals by Lupa, and another about raptors, some of the most fascinating of birds by Kristen Madden.

I have many pieces from my grandmothers owl collection so I had lots of inspiration for the raptor article!

I also got to delve into the dark side to illustrate an excellent article about dark moon meditations by Autumn Damiana.  Another article theme that I was excited to contribute artwork to was an excellent article about how to bring Steampunk into your Pagan path.  I really had fun with that one, my Steampunk witch was one of my favorites, she may end up being revisited as a full color piece at some point.   All in all I created twelve illustrations and wrote one article.

Steampunk witch!  Totally fun!

Illustrator  Don Higgins created a stunning witches library that anyone would love for Blake Octavian Blairs article on Pagan Home Libraries and Chris Down created beautiful illustrations of the tools of Tibetan Buddhism for Raven Digitalis' article.   I keep going back to Wen Hsu's stunning illustration of the Orishas gracing the pages of Dallas Jennifer Cobb's article on Santeria. These are just a few of the talented people that contributed their writing and illustrating skills to the 2013 Magical Almanac, as always, I'm proud to be included!  I love flipping through it, so many of the contributors are friends of mine that when I read their awesome articles, not only do I get to learn something very magical, but I get to be proud of some of my awesome friends!

Bright Blessings!

Staycation Destination 1: Star Trek Exhibition

My husband Dan, my 13 year old son Tristan and I want to make sure that we get to have some fun this summer, but we don't have the funds or the time to go on a big vacation, so we decided to have a "staycation."  A staycation is when you have a vacation close to home.  We're adding a fun twist, our staycation will happen one day at a time on various days, and each destination can happen at any time and will be a total surprise for Tristan!  We've dubbed these single day trips a Secret Staycation Destination.  Tristan will never know it's coming, we'll get in the car and just go!  There are lots of great things to do in Missouri that are either cheap or free, so we'll have a lot to choose from throughout the summer.

Today I managed to get Tristan ready to go without him suspecting a thing.  When I called him down the hall so we could leave to "go to the store," Dan and I told him we were really going on a Secret Staycation Destination number one and then explained the concept, he was really excited!  First we hit the local Taco Bell for a quick bite and took our food on the road.  We drove from our home in the suburbs down to St. Louis, and went to the St. Louis Science Center, one of our family favorites.  But the special thing about this trip is that the Science Center is hosting the final days of the Star Trek Exhibition!  Tristan was really excited, he's been wanting to go for quite some time, and we just never got around to it. 

Captain Tristan Mueller of the Starship Enterprise and his crew!

The exhibition was really cool!  They had conceptual art from the series, a huge timeline of all the different series' and movies, lots of the actual ships models that were used, costumes, props and tons of other cool stuff that any Star Trek geek would love, and we did!  It was really interesting getting a close up look at the uniforms and props, I loved seeing the details of it all, and it was sometimes very interesting how what looked like a painted block of wood with some buttons and labels glued on ended up looking like pretty cool technology once in the hands of a costumed actor on set.  They also had several photo ops throughout the exhibition, we had our our photos taken on the bridge of the Enterprise from the original 1966 series, those photos were done as a green screen. (above)

Captian Dan, "Engage!"

We also had photos taken on an actual reproduction of the bridge of the Enterprise D from Star Trek The Next Generation.  They didn't allow other photography inside, but we did take some pics in other areas of the Science Center.  They also had a Star Trek gift shop where Tristan got a T-Shirt that looks like the shirts the science officers wore on the original series with the Starfleet combadge silk screened on it, he's always wanted one.

We all had a blast, I told Tristan to be ready at any time this summer for another Secret Staycation Destination, he loved the idea of being totally surprised, it added a lot to the fun of the day.  We were so hot and parched by the time we left, we drove through Hardees for some cold drinks and headed home for a dinner of homemade hot sub sandwiches and mac and cheese while we settled in the living room and watched some of the classic Star Trek on Netflix.

You might not be into Star Trek, but there are probably lots of other things you'd love to do this summer.  Do you want to try having a series of Secret Staycation Destinations this summer too? 

Secret Staycation Destinations ahead!

• Do searches online to see if there are free plays in the park, concerts, fairs, and make a list of the dates.  Also pick out some fun places to visit like zoos, landmarks, art museums or parks that you like to visit, just be sure to choose things that appeal to your group.
• At least one person has to plan it and know the destination, but you can keep it a surprise for the rest if you want, or choose someone else in the group to be in cahoots with you.
• Plan your destinations on days when you know everyone is going to be available.  One of the best things about one day excursions is that you don't have to take a week off work, just do several trips to different destinations one day at a time.
• To keep it a surprise, make up a trip to the store, Grandmas house, or some other rouse to get everyone looking decent and into the car.  Come up with a story that is hum-drum but will at least have everyone dressed appropriately for your destination, comfortable shoes, clothing, etc.  If your kids get bored in the car, have them bring their games along to keep them busy until you arrive.
• Make sure you pack a small cooler with cold drinks and snacks in the trunk of the car.  Also pack bug spray or sunscreen, etc. if needed.  If you're going all day bring a picnic lunch to save lots of money.  Be sure to pack this stuff all in the trunk so they won't know you're going to a Secret Staycation Destination until you're on the road.
• Even if you've found a free event, be sure to factor in gas money, parking fees, and a little extra for incidentals, you never know.
• Once you're on the road you can make the announcement that you're going to a Secret Staycation Destination and let them ask questions on the way if you want, giving only the most elusive answers you can, this is really fun and builds up the anticipation. 
• Have fun!  Make it special, and remember it's not about how far you go or how much money you spend, it's about spending time with people you love doing things that everyone will enjoy!
• If you plan to be home by dinner time, be sure to have something really simple planned to prepare for dinner, you'll all be tired and hungry.

We're really looking forward to our next Secret Staycation Destination, sorry, it's a secret! I can't tell you (or Tristan) when or where, but I will be sure to share it all afterwards!

Bright Blessings!

A Pagan Artists Thoughts on the Solar Eclipse

The first time I remember experiencing a solar eclipse I was a very small child, probably 4 or five.  I remember being in the garden with my mother.  Through the years the neighborhood kids took to calling her "Mother Nature" because even in the desert earth in Albuquerque New Mexico where I grew up she had a knack for making things grow.  Anyway, this was in the early years before we grew big vegetable gardens, it was mostly flowers back then, and we were messing around in the garden.  Mom pointed out all the things that were happening, explaining the mechanics of it to her little girl in the simplest terms she could.  She pointed out that every thing had gotten darker even though there were no clouds.  She brought to my attention how quiet everything had gotten because the birds stopped singing, it was as if the whole world stopped to witness the event.  It wasn't a total eclipse that day in Albuquerque, only partial, but I still remember it.  The light coming through the old elm tree left tiny crescents all over the patio.  It was pure magic!

To see a total solar eclipse, you have to be in exactly the right place at exactly the right time.  Those that are under the shadow that the moon casts upon the earth as it crosses the sun get quite a show, and others see a partial eclipse.  I've never gotten to experience the crazy-cool "ring of fire" only because I've never been in an area where the total eclipse was visible, but I've seen several partial eclipses now in my life, and it's still a very amazing thing to witness.  I'm holding out for August of 2017 which looks like it will be pretty close for me.  The eclipse today will block 53% of the sun in my area.  In St. Louis the sun will set only 40 minutes after the eclipse begins, so we will be seeing it low in the sky.  But I'll still be there with my husband and son, hole in paper plates and checking it out.

Of course, you're never supposed to look directly at an eclipse, you can damage your eyes, and I use mine lots, so I'm very careful.  Here's a link with directions for different methods you can use to safely view the eclipse.  http://www.exploratorium.edu/eclipse/how.html

What Kind of Magic Can I Do?

Magically this solar eclipse falls right after the super full moon, when the moon is closest through the year.  This solar eclipse is all about big life changes.  You can use the energy of this eclipse to bring about big changes, ending an old cycle so that a new cycle can begin.  Decide what your intention is, what do you want to eclipse in your life?  Solar eclipses can bring about big shifts, so do some soul searching, decide now how you want to change and adjust the rudder of your boat to aim you in the direction that you want.  What do you want to draw into your life?  What do you want to let go?  Focus on your intentions and ride the wave of the solar eclipse!

Solar Eclipse by Mickie Mueller, print available in our Etsy shop, click here

Solar Eclipse by Mickie Mueller
In ancient times a solar eclipse was considered a very powerful omen. It is a very unearthly feeling as anyone can attest who has witnessed it. The sky turns a unreal dark shade, the birds and insects stop making any sound. As the dark lady moon passes in front of her consort, the sun, the shadows that the leaves cast upon the ground all become little crescents, mirroring the event unfolding above. It is a moving event, even if it is only a partial eclipse, all of life seems to hold its breath in awe nervously until the sun is full and bright again. During a full eclipse, stars can even be seen.

Of course, in these modern times eclipses solar or lunar are scientifically explained. We know the earth casts a shadow across the moon during a lunar eclipse, and the moon passes between the earth and the sun during a solar eclipse. But these explanations don't really take away any of the magic or awe, just observe one of these celestial events and you'll probably agree. If we see the moon as being a representative of the Lady and the Sun a representative of the Sun God, then their meeting in the sky, however brief, must be a symbolic meeting of the two. A celebration of the joyous reunion of the two who circle each other in the sky.

Blessings!