Last night the rain rolled in and continues down pouring today.  After years of heat and drought it is wonderful…and weird, as water streams everywhere, puddles turning into ponds and creeks appear in unexpected places.  Will I be able to get through the road dip tomorrow?  Some roads are already closed.

Busy-ness is what best describes these blurry 3 months.
A 4-week lock-down moved right into 2 weeks of school holidays…which were filled with unexpected library shifts, online courses, creative activities, artistic collaborations, then back into term 4, which is now halfway through. It feels there has been barely space to breathe in between!

Around me, I notice I am not alone in feeling weary and fatigued.  Seasonal changes, weather, and the strain of pandemic anxiety over the last 18 months has worn us ragged around the edges, whether we realise it or not.  As December approaches, it’s almost eight months since I last saw family and friends on the coast.  The strange thing is that time is feeling slow and fast, and though things have been busy, I feel like I’m suspended in slow motion; doing, yet not doing, simultaneously…lets do the time warp again!

During this time, I have been…

• making book covers ready for binding, for the inSCRIBE project, a collaboration between Orana Arts and Writing NSW with five writers and artists, supported by the NSW Government through Create NSW.
• exploring sculptural embroidery with Meredith Woolnough and improving my draping skills
• There are now five Vessels of creative communication in the wilderness.  At last news they were floating around Coonabarabran, Dubbo, Canberra, Melbourne and Chicago.                        Follow their travels on Instagram ​www.instagram.com/vesselsofcreativeconnection/?hl=en and www.facebook.com/vesselsofcreativeconnection
• If you are looking for writing inspiration, I post monthly writing prompts on my blog and www.facebook.com/groups/Amotisse

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World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments
by Aimee Nezhukumatathil
 
This world is full of wonders.
Some manage to capture them creatively
through song, dance, words, images...this book
 
Reads like a dream
Like floating on a breeze
transporting
You there
Exotic sensual funny
 
An astonishment indeed.
 
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…to sense their presence on this earth…
 
…to be forever altered by an invisible kiss…
 
In this world of wonders, how do your senses serve you or do you serve your senses?
How have you been altered?
How are you astonished?

​​ wild women
 
Growing up lost between the pages of books means I fed myself on fairy tales, fantasy, myth and folklore, (still do!)
Studying and reading tarot has awakened the princesses and goddesses within…
I’ve been pondering feminine archetypes and sensing my wild woman self, craving forest pilgrimages! I'll be finding my copy of Women who run with the wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes for a fresh perusal.
 
What princesses, goddesses, queens, muses, poetesses do you identify with?  Who is the wild woman within you?  Do you know her well? 
How will you rewild your spirit soul?
 
Just for fun, discover your wild self here with this quiz…
I’m a medicine woman! 
https://untameyourself.com/quiz/#gref
 
Interesting information here:
https://medium.com/@ibtisaamahmed/greek-goddesses-and-the-wisdom-of-7-feminine-archetypes-e06e51843ebd

A year of Loving Kindness to myself
by Bridget Lowry
 
“It is never just an ordinary day.  It is a never-before and never-again moment, a day of particles moving through space, arranging, and rearranging themselves in ways mysterious, terrifying and miraculous.”
 
 
 
Often unable to see ourselves as we truly are,
We knowingly or not, succumb to self-sabotage…
 
 
And yet, if you were to re-sculpt yourself,
Beginning with acceptance,
Taking your time,
Moving into precious posture,
Opening your arms wide to everything,
Letting yourself feel,
At ease in the flow of life,
Perfect, just so,
Having, being enough,
Appreciating, enjoying,
Who would you find?
Who might you become?

Hay(na)ku
 
Magnitudes of poetry are found in the simplest of spaces. 
While staring out the window, walking, driving, under the shower, reading a book, listening to music or washing the dishes…
if you imagine each breath poetically,
you will be breathing poetry before you know it,
because it is already there,
everywhere,
you need only feel it,
​in the simplest way you can.
 
Ally @loveletters_ransomnotes shared this inspiring morsel on IG recently, see her post below and set your imagination sailing as you hoist your own hay(na)ku.


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