New Direction

Life is very full!  I haven't the time to create art with my work schedule, my responsibilities as a full time student and of course full time mama.  As such, my etsty shop has sadly toppled off my list of priorities.  I will still consider special requests, such as a recent request for a custom dream catcher, but I can't guarantee that I will have the time and I might eventually close Erda's Fountain for good.

Although I haven't been creating art lately, I have been tapping into my creativity through the form of writing.  I was inspired to keep writing when I discovered that my memoir vignette was accepted for publication (more on that later) and through the encouragement of my course instructors this past term. 

So.... I will be starting a blog dedicated to my writing.  I will keep you updated, but will most likely start this new blog sometime next month, around the same time that this two volume book will be published.  I am not sure which volume will house my own tale, but I will let you know when I do.  Look for it on amazon sometime in January, 2016. 

Dandelion Wishes and Other Ramblings

It has been a long time since I last posted anything on here.  My life has been very full and I have had little time for my blog.  My son just turned three and seems to be more independent than he was even a couple months ago.  This leaves more time for me to pursue other endeavors.  I have made the decision to go to graduate school.  I am hoping to pursue my MA in Cultural Studies, with a focus on issues related to ecofeminism, sacred geography, ritual and ceremonies across cultures, dreams and symbolism, etc.
I have been researching independently over the past year, so I hope to continue this in a more formal academic setting.
I have not been creating very much lately, but I have been playing my Native American style flute.  This was a gift from a very dear friend who handcrafted it from wood that he collected while in Japan.  It is made from cherry wood and Japanese maple. It seems that most people prefer to have a large selection of different types of flutes, but I could never play any but mine.  It is a spirit friend.
This spring has been busy so far and we have been taking advantage of the warmer weather with lots of walks in nature and picnics and such.  My son's favourite activity of late is to make dandelion wishes.  He likes to bless me with some of the seeds.  He can identify well over 20 plants, much more than I ever could at his age.  He can also recognize and differentiate between different birds.
Blessed be!

Rites of Passage

Those who follow the old path know the importance of marking different passages in our life through sacred ceremony.  However, many people have forgotten the old ways, but from time to time they feel an empty space that needs to be filled.  Sometimes they are troubled by this.  My purpose is to reach out to these people who are making a transition and to create a sacred ceremony so that they feel the importance of working through this transition.  Most of the time these kinds of transitions aren't recognisable to the casual observer.  Inner transformations are rarely visible, but should be recognized and honored.  I want to honor every kind of transition in your life, from a simple choice to change your lifestyle, to a more obvious rite of passage such as when a girl has her first menstrual cycle, when a couple decides to get married or hand fasted, when a baby is about to be born, when someone dies.

These ceremonies will be created according to your personal beliefs and any deities you wish to invoke. As part of the ceremony I will create a sacred object for you to use in your ritual.

I can custom make a sacred object for use in your ritual, such as one of my shaman nests, a talisman, a bag of rune stones, a special crystal or stone necklace, a dream catcher.

The possibilities are endless.  The important thing to remember is "You are special and your inner struggles are important and should be honored."  It matters that you are about to become a mother for the first time and your whole life is about to change and will never be the same again.  It matters that you just lost a loved one and are struggling with grief, but must keep on going to work and carrying on like nothing changed.  It matters that you started bleeding and are developing breasts and are at that very sweet in-between child and woman hood.  It matters that you are doing some soul-searching and are realizing that you have been going through the motions of having a life without REALLY LIVING and you want to change that and want to find your potential.  I can help you mark these rites-of-passage with a beautiful ceremony that we create together.

Contact me at caitgemmell@gmail.com with rite of passage as the subject or connect through my facebook page https://www.facebook.com/ErdasFountain

What a Tree Sees.

Do you ever wonder what it would be like to view the world from the perspective of a tree?  Some trees are ancient and must have witnessed much in their long lives.  I was thinking about my friend, the great ash wishing tree in my New Forest home and I wondered how the landscape had changed in the years since this tree was first planted.  So this photograph is the view of the world from the trees perspective.  What do you think a tree sees?

Erda's Fountain

I have not posted a blog in quite some time as life has been very full of late.  The biggest change that has occurred has to do with my shop on etsy.  I have changed directions and am focusing on creating gift items/magical tools for people going through a transformation/rite of passage.  I create bird nest sculptures which have been charged with reiki and my own pagan faery magic in order to help the person through their transformation.  These have been created for many different rituals/rites of passage, including weddings (as the ring bearer nest and as decorations), blessingways for pregnant mamas, and for people dealing with loss.  
My new etsy shop is called Erda's Fountain (pronounced Erth-a) named for the Norse earth goddess who lives near the roots of Yggdrasil (The great ash World Tree) and waters the tree from her fountain or well.  She is the mother of The Norns and as such has to do with fate and weaving the web of life.  I also create sacred Native American inspired dreamcatchers, created in sacred ritual space as I sing chants, blessed with reiki and smudged with sage and juniper.  As I created eco-art around my own ancient ash wishing tree in my New Forest home in England, the name is appropriate for it connects my eco-art with my pagan/shamanic roots, my woven nests and dream catchers which are also healing art.  I am very excited about these changes and about how the new shop name came to me.  Blue jays kept appearing for me and I keep finding their feathers.  I had an incredible experience recently. I kept hearing blue jays and I thought "I would be so happy if a blue jay would gift one of its feathers to me."  Immediately after this thought, I manifested the actual feather!  I was called to walk up a hill and just as the spirits of the wind pushed me along to the top, I stopped and looked down and there was my feather at my feet!  I knew I had to follow these clues and one thing led to another until I discovered Erda and her fountain.

So welcome to Erda's Fountain!

Spring Tidings

Happy blissful Spring!!!  The ice has melted and the snowdrops are blooming.  We had a walk yesterday and I gathered rocks to paint and turn into rune stones and talismans.  Ginny (our ginger cat) ventured outside for the first time in months.  Life is sweet. I am working on many dream catchers and have taught two dream catcher workshops this month. We even created ritual space for the second one, chanted and smudged the dream catchers with cedar.  It was a beautiful blessing ceremony.
Here are a few photo's to express my feeling of spring in the air and the projects I am working on.

 Mama and baby Harry.  Harry loved his walk in nature.  We saw the waterfalls which have finally thawed.  We heard birdsong and saw many birds.  Spring is here!!

 Rocks that we gathered on a walk which I plan to turn into miniature works of art and rune stones.

working on a mixed media painting based on my drawing of the creature who creates the constellations.  Some of my artwork and dream catchers can be seen in the background.

Winter Sky

The snow falls heavily, coating everything in silvery white sparkles.  I feel like I am inside a snowglobe, filled with icing sugar and silver glittery stars.  It's quite magical.  And it fits in nicely with this beautiful treasury featuring one of my photographs.  So I would like to take a moment to post my favourite items from the treasury on etsy.com by Ludmila from Amay Art, simply called "Winter Sky."http://www.etsy.com/treasury/MTkxMjg4NzJ8MjcyMTQ1MzU4OQ/winter-sky?index=1&ref=pr_favetreasuries
The third photo is my own.