THE DREAMER

Our newest Spirit Dolls are here! 

I have been writing their stories and getting them listed for sale in our Etsy Store. 

One of my latest favorites is ‘The Dreamer.’ 

The Dreamer has pure magick flowing through her in the forms of visions, dreams, and trance-like moments. She is visually psychic and all the world is full of messages being relayed to her through physical sight and through the eyes of spirit.

The Dreamer is adept at reading patterns in Nature, and can often look into someone’s face and know the story it is silently sharing.

The Dreamer has come to relay the message that your eyes are immensely important now. So, on a mundane level, be sure to look after your vision. 

Visually, you are very sensitive…so, it may be the time to change your environment, your appearance, or, the appearance of where you spend your time so that it better offers you the energy with which you wish to go forward. Trust in your visions. They come from a magickal place, and when you become able to read and understand them, your dreams will manifest in your life. 

* www.rhinestonegypsy.etsy.com

IRIS OF THE RAINBOWS: A Tribute Spirit Doll For 2020

 I have struggled with creating a meaningful Spirit Doll for 2020. I wanted her/him to bring hope and healing to these turbulent times, as well as joy and magic. 

Finally, I present, ‘Iris of the Rainbows’, the first in a series of Art/Spirit Dolls created especially for 2020.

‘Blue skies and rain are the realm of Iris, The Rainbow Faerie. She dwells at the meeting of air (the element of the mind) and water (the element of emotion). She sits, rainbow-hued wings outspread, suspended in midair, partially wrapped in her deep-sky draperies and crowned with Iris blossoms. The fiery faery archers tip their arrows in her potent handful of iridescent light, firing their arrows, they send polychromatic rays into the storm, bringing light to dismal skies and darkened hearts.

Beneath the Rainbow Faerie, the amphibious creatures of a wet earth crouch. The faery frog maiden peers out from her shelter at the storm wracked world, while the sun is dimly seen above Iris’s head. Sturdy pot-bellied gnomes, their toes rooted in the earth, all-most especially, Iris herself- are fully absorbed in the task of reclaiming the bright sky from the dark storm.

In her hand, the light of heaven’s bow looks a fragile thing, yet it is the light of hope, the promise of healing and joy to come, and that is one of the most powerful things there is.

Iris tells us that light is breaking through our present darkness, and that hope is a powerful factor in speeding up this process. She does not promise us that the storm is over, nor does she say that it will never storm again, but she does say that there is brightness and beauty here. She also tells us that there is something to be gained by this passage through the storm. And, the sooner we learn what it is, the sooner the storm will end.

As always, a passage through the storm is a time of potential growth, a time to allow the dead wood of our past to be blown away to make room for the green shoots of new growth. It is useful to ask ourselves at this point, what we still need to release, and to look after protecting and nurturing the seeds we have planted. 

Iris reminds us, in these difficult times, to remember our aspirations, to consider who it is we are trying to become, and to hold those images surrounded by her prismatic light in our minds as we pass through this time of darkness. All times of hardship offer us the challenge to grow, or to diminish. The choice is ours...but, Iris is ready to lighten our path if we accept her offering into our hearts. No storm, no darkness lasts forever.’

*(some descriptions of this spirit doll from Brian Froud’s The Faeries Oracle’

* Iris of the Rainbows is, of course, for sale in our Etsy store. Www.rhinestonegypsy.etsy.com  (Creative credit also goes to my artist partner, Kristin Gannon, who helps make each and every doll.)

THE FAERY GODMOTHER

*Faery GodMother: Faery Grace. Unconditional Love. Protection.

Gifts. Talents. Grace. 

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*The Faery Godmother is here to bring a little magic into your life. She might give you a bit of faery dust to brighten your mood, or perhaps a little grace to help you on your way. She’s responsible for those little inconspicuous miracles that make life a little bit nicer. She will bestow gifts upon you and sometimes gives you a choice when you thought you didn’t have one. The Faery Godmother loves you not because you deserve it or don’t deserve it, but because you exist, that is reason enough for her. It is simple. She is the giver of grace and useful lessons. She tries not to interfere very much and instead gives you a touch of faery grace so that you learn a wee bit faster.

Think of her as your personal guardian angel’s assistant. She takes care of those things your guardian angel might forget about.

The Faery Godmother turns up when good things are happening to you, especially good things that you feel you don’t deserve. That is her lesson. It’s not about being worthy, it’s about giving and receiving unconditionally and she wants you to know that. Take that lesson to heart and teach it to others. 

*(some descriptions of this Spirit Doll from Brian Froud's The Faeries' Oracle)

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* The Faery Godmother is made of salvaged, recycled, tattered fabrics, textiles, laces, ribbons, jewels, beads, buttons, furs, feathers, twigs and stones. Her face is hand formed, hand painted polymer clay

*The Faery Godmother is 15" L, comes with her own stand, or can be hung on the wall

*The Faery Godmother is available for purchase in our Etsy shop

BACK IN BUSINESS

"I like this place and could willingly waste my time in it"- Shakespeare

The cabin is finally finished! The landscaping is finally finished! And, the decorating is nearly finished! (That will be a work in progress for awhile yet). It was a little over two years ago that Tom and I began this project, and I put my business on hold.  I wanted to devote my time and energy to building and decorating the cabin.  Now that it is pretty much completed,  I have been itching to get back to creating my Spirit Dolls. Last week I re-opened my Etsy Shop,  and this week I have been busy posting our (Kristin has stuck with me) latest creations!

Take a look at 'The Shaman'. He might be my favorite Spirit Doll thus far, and is the first one I chose to list in our 'new' Etsy Shop.

Please come back and visit often in the coming weeks. We have many new dolls to share!

*Shamanism organically arose all over the world, all throughout history, as a response to the needs of people. Shamanism is an ancient collection of traditions based on the act of voluntarily accessing and connecting to non-ordinary states — or spirit realms — for wisdom and healing.

The word “shaman” comes from the Siberian Tungus tribe, and it directly means “spiritual healer,” or, more cleverly, “one who sees in the dark.”

Generally, there is one shaman per community. These shamans access the spirit realm for the purpose of individual and communal growth and healing — they do this by restoring and removing energetic pathways, recovering soul parts, and communicating with non-physical helpers to discover the spiritual aspects of illness and find answers to life’s seemingly impossible questions. This reality-penetrating ability marks them as the world’s very first doctors, storytellers, mystics, and even psychotherapists.

Shamanism comes with a great responsibility. Alongside simply accessing these worlds, they must possess the ability to transform what they have learned and experienced into a concrete change in the physical world.

Shamans also act as great teachers, for they teach that everything is spirited; that all things are interconnected and alive, including (but certainly not limited to) the Earth itself, the stars in the sky, and even the wind in the air. For this, it is also the shaman’s role in a community to demonstrate and maintain the harmonious balance of humankind, nature, and spirit.
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* 'The Shaman' is made of salvaged, recycled vintage fabrics, textiles, ribbons, yarns, jewels, crystals, beads, buttons, furs, feathers, twigs, bones and stones. His face is hand formed, hand painted polymer clay.

* He is approximately 18” L

* He is an original and one-of-a-kind, collectible art doll

* He comes with his own stand, or he can be hung on the wall.
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 https://www.etsy.com/shop/rhinestonegypsy

(or, click on the ETSY link on the right hand side of this blog to go directly to our storefront).

THE FAERY GODMOTHER

Our newest Gypsy Doll is 'The Faery Godmother'.

The Faery Godmother gives us grace to help us along our way. It might be a little touch of faery dust to lift a mood, or it might be a conspicuous miracle....or it might be anything in between. She protects us from ill will and plain stupidity of others. She protects us from our own mistakes.  She un tangles snarls in our psyches and bestows gifts upon us-whatever she feels we need. Sometimes she gives us choices when we thought we had none.

Grace is the good fortune of the Universe even when we don't deserve it. In fact, deserving or not deserving is not the issue. We are-and therefore, we are loved. It is that simple.

The Faery Godmother is the giver of Grace, and occasionally of useful lessons. She tries not to interfere  with our learning process, but she adds that little touch of faery grace that helps us to learn a little faster sometimes. Quite often she acts in our lives through the hands and hearts of others.

The Faery Godmother is the only faery to wear a crown of stars. flowers, and branches, which says a lot about her.

The Faery Godmother glows through us as we perform loving and appropriate kindnesses for others and develop our capacity for unconditional love.

-Taken from Brian Froud's 'The Faeries Oracle"

MABON APPROACHES

As a child I understood the season changes through the portends of nature....the black and orange fuzz of a wooly bear caterpillar foretold the nearness of Halloween, and legend had it that the thickness of her coat foretold how cold the upcoming winter would be. Apple picking meant the end of summer and the beginning of crisp, sweet Autumn. To this day, Fall remains my favorite season. And, I now also know this season-shifting time as 'Mabon', or The Autumn Equinox.

'Mea'n Fo mhair' (which is what the Druids called Mabon), honors the Green Man, God of the Forest. Offerings of libations to the trees in the way of cidars, wines, herbs and fertilizers are appropriate at this time. 

At Mabon the light and dark once again sit facing each other with equal sway. The coolness of the darkness has come to soothe our sun-drenched brows, but we have not yet descended into the dark half of the year. Here in Wisconsin, we are nearing our first frost, but, the days are still balmy and pleasant; yet on the wind I can smell Autumn.

There is something quite alive about Autumn, even though it marks the first 'deaths' as the tilt of the earth takes the northern hemisphere away from the sun. The summer dogs days have passed and it is time to snuggle in, in preparation for winter's coming chill.