Messages From Dreams and Animals

Life has been weird lately.

When isn’t it, right?

DREAMS

After meditating the other night, I had this long involved dream, full of symbolism that spoke to me. I have been struggling with figuring out which path to follow in my writing. A while back, I finally gave in to my love of writing poetry, fighting against that voice inside that tells me I can never make a living off poetry.

My life has never been about money though.

And when I decided that practicing the mechanics of writing poetic details would help me in other areas of my writing, I was finally able to allow myself to write it without worrying how I will ever survive in the world. Hey, I’ve made it this far.

Anyway, my dream had some good details for a story. But hey, I’m not going to tell you that now. You’ll have to wait until I get it written. It’s on my to-do list.

ANIMALS

Another "area" where I get messages is from random animals popping up in my life. Interestingly, I wrote the following last year:

This year has been a time of shedding; the daily dilemmas are reminders that it’s not over yet. It’s a painful process, letting go of things that are “no longer serving.” Even though material items have fallen under this umbrella, it is not about them. It is about letting go of old habits, parts of the spirit that need to move on, and grow.

Crows have gathered in the hills above my yard for two days now. A friend of mine told me the group is called a “murder.” I can see why. Some people might want to murder them. But I was home writing and welcomed the meditative sound.

When “unusual” animals appear in my life (or appear in my life in a way that they don’t normally), I look up the meaning in my Animal Speak book by Ted Andrews. Too busy to bother hunting down my book, I found this site on the internet instead.

The interpretation of CROW was interesting:

“CROW signifies that you’re on the verge of manifesting something you’ve been working toward for awhile. Be very careful over the next couple of days for any clear omens or signs that will guide you and teach you. Expect a big change soon. You’ve noticed something that is out of balance or an injustice that hasn’t been addressed and it’s important to speak up about it. You’re about to get a glimpse into some future event that affects you directly. Wherever crows are there is magic. They are symbols of creation and spiritual strength.”

Flash forward to present time, now the animal that appears all over in my life is the owl. Being the mascot at my son’s school, they have been in my life for a number of years, but this is different. Friends on Facebook are posting and “liking” them, pictures of owls are everywhere I go.

Yeah, yeah, I guess owls are “in” right now.

Owl at Placerita Nature Center
Photo by Linda G Hatton

I looked them up anyway and this is part of what I found:

“Those with Owl Medicine will be able see and hear what others may try to hide; they see what is not visible in the shadows, hear what is not said aloud, and read between the lines to see the truth of a situation. They will be able to pinpoint subtleties and discrepancies. This may make others uncomfortable when they are no longer able to deceive, and their hidden agendas are seen through.”

Interesting and it definitely applies to my life.

GOALS

I wrote this next part yesterday and didn’t want to put you all to sleep, so I decided against posting it, but if you’re with me this far, this is what I’ve been up to . . .

With the start of the new year, I resisted making new years' resolutions. Instead I filed away in my head things I wanted to do this year.

• Guest Blog - As my son was getting better from the flu, I put together a blog post for Going Veggie (I believe it will go up on February 7) and have another one in progress (both celebrating the Month of Veggie Love). 

• Research Magazines to Query - Today I’m researching magazines and thinking about what other kinds of articles I’d like to write.

• Learn Book Binding - I’m itching to work on this book-in-progress. It has six signatures that I need to hand-sew in and I need to add some artwork.

• Redesign Websites - I redesigned the Mouse Tales Press blog, though I have more work to do there. (I also have submissions piling up in my in-box for Mouse Tales Press, though I would be happy to receive more poetry and short story submissions!)

So far, so good with the new year.

How about you? Get any weird messages lately? Are you busy working on new goals for the year?

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Putting Frustration into Art - Making Mini Books

When life gives you . . . no, not lemons. I love lemons! When it gives you something that doesn't sit very well in your soul . . . make art.

For those of you who are my friends on Facebook, you know that "something" happened recently to make me take a break from the place. Thankfully I pretty much view every happening in my life as a learning opportunity, so rather than letting this event eat me up, I put myself into my art.

Other than writing a few poems, I have been playing around with book making. I wanted to re-use found products from around the house and I was so excited when I found the perfect item.

Every year at Christmas, I buy my sister a box of Botan rice candy for her stocking. This year, my husband wound up buying some for his family as well. I took one of the boxes and started envisioning what I could make from it. Yes, a book!

Since the cardboard is a little thin, I glued red cardstock to the inside of each cover. I decided to have the covers sitting in opposite directions, so when you flip the book over vertically, the opposite cover will be right side up (see the spine photo for clarification).

I made six signatures of five folded sheets, giving the book a total of 120 pages (fronts and backs).

After sewing the signatures together, I decided I did not want to stitch or glue the book to the cover; I tied it on instead. I'm very happy with the way the cord looks. I think it adds to the Asian style.  

Now I'm feeling inspired. What other trash can I use to make books out of?

Thanks for reading. I hope to be back to Facebook soon. In the meantime, have some lemonade and read a good book!

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• A great blog I've been drooling over: 365: Make a Book a Day

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Example of a Coptic Stitched Book

I thought I would share the coptic stitched book I made today.

• Binding is hand sewn with hemp cord. 
• Cover is recycled cardboard and heavy paper. 
• Inside has three signatures of ten pages each (adding up to a thirty page book).

Initially, my plan for the binding was a simple stitch, but things didn't go as planned. Oh well. I'm learning. 

Front Cover

Coptic-Stitched with Hemp Cord

Inside Front Cover

Back Cover

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Book Giveaway

Though I’m feeling a bit disoriented today, I did manage to make a book.

I'm working on perfecting my skills because I've had this dream of creating some handmade books for Mouse Tales Press with some selections since the magazine's birth.

Supplies:
• Recycled cardboard
• 10 Sheets of printer paper
• A photograph I took in Idaho printed onto 1 heavy sheet of paper
• Ribbon

Instead of hand sewing this book like I’ve done with all my other creations, I decided to sew it on my machine. I was pleasantly surprised at how it turned out.

Now I’m curious, would anybody like to win this?

Are you Up for a Challenge?

One of my goals this year is to increase my blog followers. I know, I know. The best way to draw readers is to write posts that people want to read. I'm . . . **cough** . . . still working on that one.

The challenge? Whoever can get me the most fans wins this little book.

On the ending date, just email with the names of people you got to fan "this here" blog. Please only one email per person though. Send it to LGHatton(at)gmail(dot)com.

This is all an experiment, so maybe I'm being delusional. Heh heh heh .. hey, at least I'm trying.

Thank you!


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