Missing Out

In a chat with a Muse Time sister who is reengaging with her Quest, she said she  felt sad when she saw the assignment list, and realized how abbreviated it was compared to the the info available during the training. Would she be as well prepared as others?  I suggested she purchase a copy or download the pdf of the Color of Woman book, and check in with her Muse ...

Blessing Flower

This fear of missing out, and an urge to chase the Shiny Object are part of the Mindset that can lead to distraction! What would it take to start, and then see if we need more information? Can we set a task aside for a wee bit as we gather info, or start on a simpler one?

Rosie Mac and I led a call recently with 16 of our Muse Time SiStars, we invited you to submit questions and concerns, and to take stock of where you are on your quest. 

I suggested printing out writing out the assignment list from your class (Jena pinned post on the page with the link), and sorting them into Ta-das and ToDos, then fine tune the second list by: 

• Easy peasy
• A bit more challenging, but I've got it!
• YIKES! 

The blessing flower format is a creative way to arrange your ToDos. And for those yikes - remember to tug on the red thread - and that's often where the juice is!! 

Rosie, who completed her own Quest after 5 years - which included some major setbacks, offers inspiration and hope!  "If I can do it, you can, too!"

In addition to various physical challenges and unavoidable tragedies, which threw many off course, we identified several main issues: Mindset / limiting beliefs

• too little: time/ money/ energy. 
• I'm not as artistic as others // 
• I've got an art degree (and this should be easy for me!)
• Chatter from the Perfection Diva and Critic
• I'm not sure how to get inspired again!
• Overwhelm
• I can't get students [beloveds] for my class ...

Some of the solutions for these

• Simplify - it doesn't need to be a magnum opus
• Organize: put it on your calendar! 
• Can you commit 1/2-1 day a week?
• Do a bit at a time (even 20 minutes a day - or 5, if that's all you've energy for!)
• Use your tools - story cards to address old stories, vision plan book, medicine basket
• Collaborate, teach each other! 

If you halted during a painting, this post on journaling and reclaiming would be a good place to start as you revisit Her - does she need more work, or is she done for now? Again, simplify! (You can always return later - she'll call you back!)

If you've got several paintings to do, consider competing the current one, and be sure to do the journaling! Receive her message, and ask her assistance in moving forward. You can work on more than one painting at a time - Shiloh does this herself! Find what works for you! 

Be sure your studio is set up so you can do this easily, and put taking café with your paintings and process on your schedule - your own notes are a goldmine for future sessions and classes!! 

Check with the group, and see if anyone wants to paint or work on RT projects together virtually (it doesn't need to be the same painting!)  Share a Red Thread circle at the beginning, set a time frame, check in at the end! Be sure to sit with your cuppa and journal (at last 6' away!!) during/ after the session.

Red Thread mini altar

Organization  and writing

• Set up a file and folders for your Color of Woman assignments on the computer
• Write on paper first - write from your heart - then enter on your computer
• Simplify - you can always add more details later! 
• If English is your second language, write in your mothertongue, then translate
• Invite someone to help edit, and for tips on compiling your initiate book.

What's the carrot?

For Rosie, she wanted to join Kerry Lee in painting a series of murals in Christchurch, NZ - but needed to graduate first! So, even though she was still recovering from a brain injury, she reengaged with her quest, and graduated in 2019! 

Rosie and I have both benefited in many ways after graduating and becoming Guild members - access to classes, hearth tending, being support for courses. 

So ask yourself, 'what is my carrot?'  You began Color of Woman for a reason - what is it now? Look back at your Future Teacher Visioning - has it changed? Keep the orthogonal, but consider storing an update!

Take your inquiry to the page and canvas - what draws you forward? 

My beloved piano teacher, Marion Coe told me, "Commencement means to Begin!"

       

Rosaries and Rose Beads

The Rose, by Ann Mayhew, illustrated by Michael Pollard, includes "myths, Folklore and Legend." Ann writes, "The rosary is believed to have originated in the Orient, and is used as a devotional aid in many religions. ...In the East, Rose-beads are still made. Dried rose petals are crushed to powder, moistened with rose water and formed into pellets, which are strung, dried and polished, ready for use." 

This is essentially the process I came to, after much experimentation! 

My grandmother Mary grew and used herbs. My mama had a Rose bead necklace grandma Mary made 20 or 30 years before I was born! Sadly, I never knew my grandmothers Mary Irel and Minnie Vestella, so was fascinated by anything I could learn about them.
My first attempt to make rose beads, using a recipe from 'American Girl Magazine,' looked rather like raisins, as the instructions included simmering, but not mashing! 

Next go - round, I simmered my petals as instructed, "an hour a day for three days," then ran the mash thru the foley mill. Several years later, I began whirring my mash in a blender, with much better results. The outer necklace is one I made by that method 50 years ago, while in my teens. I used little brass beads and stung them on nylon line from the fishing supply (my dad was a fly fisherman), as we didn't have a bead shops. 

*****

In an herb class in the late 80s, our teacher Glen Nagle suggested storing dried herbs whole, then whizzing a small batch of "crispy dry" herbs in an electric seed/coffee mill when ready to use. 

Ah- ha! I could do that with the rose petals, as I generally used a combo of fresh & dried petals for my beads. Viola! The inner necklace, strung with rose quartz, is about 30 years old, the first made with the dried petal method.

Making Rose Beads

Drying: Remove the extras: stamens, hips and greenery, dry and store the petals (powdered or whole) in Jars or tea tins. Add "potpourri herbs to help preserve the fragrance: small amounts of cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, cloves, ground nutmeg, cardamom... Other good additions are some lavender flowers and a few rose geranium leaves. If you have roses saved from a special bouquet, you may wish to add some of these petals to your beads.

Powder: Make sure your petals are crispy dry when you whizz them in an electric coffee/herb/seed grinder in small batches. You can grind a bit of lavender and rose geranium leaves along with your petals or not, as you please. Pick out any lumps, you can use a wire mesh to sift, and regrind the coarser bits. I usually prepare a cup or so of rose powder, and store in tea tins.

Tisane: Steep Rose petals, lavender, & rose geranium leaves with favorite spices (cinnamon, cardamom & nutmeg, or perhaps Garam masala) in hot water 10 minutes when you're ready to make beads. You want it to smell rosy, so don't overdo with the spices. Rose geranium leaves aide having a lovely rose fragrance! 

Cooking: A small electric potpourri crock pot (thrift store!!) is ideal for the heating & mash making process. Mix some of your rose tea with 1/4-1/2 cup of your powdered those petals, stir, turn on the pot, and let it simmer an hour or so, stirring occasionally, adding more tea as needed.

Jude the Obscure

My original recipe called for "simmering the petals an hour each day for 3 days." Now, I may just do one round, but it is easy to have it simmering daily for awhile when you're painting! 
Add more tisane (herbal tea) as needed, you don't want it soupy wet. If it gets dry, scrape the sides and add a bit more tisane. If it's too wet, add more rose petal powder.

Pour some tisane for yourself as well - ahh 

You can put the mash in the fridge for a few days, or freeze it if you can't make the whole batch into beads!

Beads: The word bead comes from the Anglo Saxon word bede, prayer, to "bid spirit to enter." Rosary comes from the Latin rosarium, Rose garden or rose bed. 
In 1990, I was at an Earth Day gathering, wearing my "new style" necklace, and a Native American man was speaking about praying with the flute, the hollow allowing breath, allowing spirit and sacred sound to flow. And the space in beads.
I (after arguing with my guides!) spoke into a lull in his words, adding the meaning of bead, "to bid spirit to enter." After, he asked where that word came from. "Anglo Saxon, like most of our words." He nodded, and invited me to pass the necklace around the circle.

This is like playing with clay! Take a small amount of your mash out of the pot. (You can leave the pot on, adding a bit more tea.) You want your mash a 'playdough' consistency. Roll the beads in the palm of your hand, about twice as big as you want - they'll shrink! Add some dry powder if you need to. 
Yes, it's messy! But oh, so sweetly fragrant! Have a bit of the tisane in a small bowl to dip your fingers, or use rosewater, as they do "in the East." Scrape residue off your hands and drop it back in the pot.

I make several size beads, as I like to string in patterns of 3s & 5s.
Set the beads on small dishes to dry for a day or so, till slightly firm, before piercing with a large needle. (if one breaks, just drop it back into the 'mash.')

Pierce with a large "carpet needle," and string on waxed carpet thread, hemp cord, or fishline, about a dozen beads on a string, & hang from pushpins along the edge of a shelf or above a door. You don't want them close to heat! (They'll dry too fast and fall apart!) Turn then on the string every few days till they have shrunk and dried. You can leave them on their strings till you're ready to string them. 

The original instructions suggest using all white and yellow rose petals for paler beads, like the outer necklace from a friend pictured bellow, strung with pearls and glass beads. Mine usually end up dark.
 If you want to insure they are dark, you can add a rusty nail while they simmer.  I store the strings of beads & finished necklaces in tins & jars with rose potpourri, a few whole roses & sprigs of lavender. If you wish, you can rub them with a silk scarf to polish the beads.

Stringing: from The Rose: bead numbers in different traditions: 

• India: Buddhists use a rosary of 99 beads
• China and Japan, 108
• Mohammedan: 108
• Greek: 100
• Russian Orthodox: 103
• Catholic: 165 (15 sets of 10 "hail Mary," 15 large: Pater Noster)

String as you would other beads, in a way that is pleasing to you. Tiger tail is great for stringing actual necklaces with clasp closure, and natural stones, pearls, glass beads can be added in patterns.
You could also make a prayer bracelet, stringing fewer beads.

When teaching a rosebead class, I buy small tins at the thrift stores, & make a bag or sprinkle potpourri in the bottom, to gift the students. The beads smell more fragrant when worn, as your body heat warms them. Just keep them dry, & they'll last a long, long time.
I've written earlier on making Rose Beads here.