Right now, as we speak, I am attempting to knit a new charm bag, with a little intarsia crescent moon knit into the middle. It's my first attempt at intarsia, and I'm going without a pattern. I'm about half way through and can already tell that it's going to be butt ugly.Not even country-charming-butt ugly, more like the kind that makes the little old ladies at the yarn store weep and pray for your soul.
Spiritual lesson? I've met a great many practitioners that refuse to fess up to magical misdeeds, misfired rituals... or burning their fingers in general, even reading the "wrong" books. Some are afraid of losing face within the community, having students question their abilities, or simply disappointing people that have a certain image of them. I get it.
But when I was still teaching in a coven oriented group, I found that nothing breaks the ice like setting your sleeves on fire during the middle of a ritual. That students learn more from the mistakes I made as a cocky little spell caster than from any trite admonitions to avoid trying something because of "karma". What happens when you mix strong emotions, desperation, and blood into a love spell. Why the biggest tarot spread in the world is a dumb idea. That cursings and bindings don't automatically invoke the Law of Three. Why healing spells aren't necessarily 'positive'.
As most magical traditions are experiential ones, you can get so much more out of them by trying and failing, rather than going by the book, or never putting the book down and getting off the couch.
Ok, so the image on the bag is nearly done, and it looks less like a Moon, and more like an angry seahorse, or possibly a genetic experiment between a parsnip and a whale, gone horribly wrong. I love it. So anyway, yeah. Sorry I haven't blogged in awhile ^ - ^
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2 comments:
I'm trying to see in my mind's eye what an angry looking seahorse looks like. *contemplates* Ok, got it. And yes, it is cute. :)
I'm glad you posted. One, because I'm sure you were missed. Second, this is a good point. Sharing mistakes actually helps others more than hurts your rep.
I pride myself on what I write, but, of course... I often submit things in the middle of the night (which I found out is a bad thing). One day I did it... and it was horrible! Made no sense what so ever. Even got someone emailing me correcting me on what they thought I was saying. Somehow they thought I was saying rpg magic was the same as magic magic. *shakes head* Sad to say. It sucked. Dunno what I was thinking. I've shied away from writing anything article-like in the middle of the night and posting it immediately thereafter.
Basically, that was a mistake I made not too long ago. That was my angry seahorse. Due to that experience, embarrassing as it may be, my articles look more like crescent moons and not mutated sea creatures.
Hope your knit-creation turned out spiff-ily! :) Peace be. And, welcome back!
Greymentality
On the topic of mistakes . . . .
Years back I made up a "sweet jar" for a guy I wanted to keep from wandering. Stupid is as stupid does . . . because he became Obsessed (yes, with a capital O, ladies), lost sleep, and went nuts - all because of my intentional mistake.
Anyway, once the jar was destroyed, he was free to be himself again and I felt a little more comfortable not having someone sit outside my house all night. It was a bit too much like a Greek myth. :oS
I'm trying to become comfortable with telling people, "look, I'm new to this - I'm gonna make mistakes." That means stinky stuff, burns, and wide eyes!
I think you should post a pic, Carmin! If anything because I can't knit!
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