Update, And Offering Pics

I would like to let all our readers know that we have been having a lot of problems with the site that hosts our downloadable products, so we have deactivated the digital items from the shop temporarily until we find a new hosting service. We will let you know as soon as it is fixed, but that will be after we finished the newsletter sale, which we expect to have ready for next Monday, December 5.

Here’s another teaser of the work we’re making for you:

And, as promised, the pics of the offering made for one of our patrons. Eleggua is so filled with energy after this meal, that I’ve been placing all the new work beside him to get it charged with extra Ashe. Once again, I feel a tremendous inspiration and focus after feeding the Orishas (because the offering is for all of them), and realize how close we are, and how their empowerment is my empowerment.

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The weather has been so lovely this weekend that we have been upstairs on the roof garden constantly. Besides the extra care our plants need at this time of the year, it is delightful to be able to enjoy sunbathing, when the rest of the year is simply too hot to be outside for more than a short while.

A little piece of the beautiful sky, and the Blood Flower, which is flowering like crazy and attracting bees and Fairies in miles around! This poor plant, which we saved from the trash not knowing what it was and without any flower, is now almost a metre tall (over 3 feet), has been flowering for months and revealing a tremendous magickal power – exactly as it happened with the Mirabilis Jalapa that asked Fernando to grab some seeds from her at the ravine, and plant them home. Note to Witches reading this – listen when plants speak!

We have been working on a lot of new items for the Newsletter Sale – so many, actually, that we will have to host it on our website because it’s too much text and pics for the newsletter format (hehe). Anyway, only the subscribers will be able to see that page, so if you haven’t subscribed, we remember you to do so as it is the only requirement to participate – please look for it on the sidebar, or HERE if you’re receiving this post through email. Here’s another teaser from the sale:

Of course, there was time for more relaxing activities – Fernando has been buried among the pages of the Galdrabok, an icelandic magic book which we have found extremely interesting, and I have been crocheting a gift for a friend who just knew of her pregnancy (can’t show that until the future mother receives it), and learning new stitches as the beautiful African Flower – with that name how could I refuse! First pic will be a teapot trivet, and the second will be the first of many pieces to create an hexagon table runner for Yule festivities. As if I needed another Yule craft. Sigh. I never liked this motif on the usual form, which is multicoloured as you can see on the Ravelry link, but on monochrome I love it! Crochet is, without a doubt, a craft to be saved from the horrendous-toilet-roll-cover example, and moved to a different perspective.


Today we are immerse in the preparations of a very special offering to the Orishas, that was asked by one of our patrons. Lots of cooking and purchasing the most delicious treats. Pics in a couple of days, of course!

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Bits Of Magic

Three new oils for the shop – one for Ancestor work, one for Saint Expedite and one for Fairy work – all of them 100% herbal. Now they need to brew for at least a week before they’re listed.

Our Charity Project website page has been updated, showing the new pieces made with the yarn we received from our dearest Robin!

We are also working on a very special sale for our Newsletter subscribers! Somewhere along December, we will offer a selection of very special items only to those subscribed to the Newsletter, on very limited editions – that means they might never get to the shop if they’re sold out, because some of the supplies are really rare. So, if you haven’t subscribed yet, you can do so HERE and participate. The pic above (and more we will add regularly of future posts) is an example of the pretties we’ve been creating for you!

And finally, a pic of the first day of painting of the commissioned piece! The future owner allowed me to document the process here – I have to say I am in love with this piece, and can’t wait to give it a good amount of work this weekend!

Have a wonderful weekend Witches, we’ll be back on Monday!

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Garden Pics

Rue, red clover, guava trees and herb robert:

Tulasi basil:

Pennyroyal, tulasi basil, spearmint and lemon basil:

Okra:

The day’s harvest: wild lettuce and rose geranium leaves, tulasi flowers to make a very special tincture, regular clover for love spells and the first corn cob from Frey’s plants.

And after all the work, a little stitching on the table runner. Not much achieved as it started raining and we had to come downstairs.

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New Listings Today – Anointing Oils And Fertility Amulets

Love Oil (India Rosa Oil)
A new and improved recipe for our fantastic Love Oil! Using sunflower oil as a base and a selection of herbs devoted to love magic, we have created this 100% herbal oil for your love rituals.

Attract your partner/desired human, reinforce relationships and entice passion, improve sexuality and fertility, ease reconciliation and remove obstacles in your relationship – and of course, as a votive oil for all Love deities, male or female.

Use it to anoint pink/red candles, add a few drops to your Love oil lamp, dab a little on amulets/mojo bags/talismans, wear it as a perfume to attract others, anoint your altar for love spells – the more you use it, the better!

100% Organic. No preservatives, perfumes or chemicals – just the Sacred herbs we grow!

Protection Oil (Saint Michael Oil)

Our Saint Michael Water has been such a success, that we have created a unique oil to go with it!

Saint Michael the Archangel is the patron of all soldiers, policemen and keepers of peace. He is very fond of children, pilgrims, travellers and immigrants/emigrants. Not only he protects us all from danger, but also gives extra protection to all those who have dangerous professions like firemen/women, nurses, caregivers, social workers, etc.

Use it to anoint white/blue/silver candles, add a few drops to your Protection oil lamp, dab a little on amulets/mojo bags/talismans, wear it as a perfume to stay protected if your job carries any sort of danger.

Fertility Amulet I – Handcarved Wooden Phallic Talisman

Phallic amulets are the most powerful and world spread fertility amulets – they bring growth, creativity and of course attract literal fertility, to your body, your animals or your garden/farm. From Ancient Greece to the Mayans, from India to Finland, phallic amulets have been given to young married couple who want to have kids, to farmers as a blessing for their cattle, or worn by those who wanted to increase their physical activity, authority and decision making skills.

Made from wildharvested lavender wood, each piece is devotedly hand carved only with hand tools by Fernando, whom is a devotee of Frey, the Norse deity of fertility. The phallus is one of Frey’s most powerful symbols – it is only natural that carving these pieces is one of Fernando’s most powerful magical works.

Each piece has been waxed after the carving and adorned with glass and silver plated beads. The ornament has a loop in the top, that you can use to hang it on your altar, wear as a pendant, pin it to an amulet bag, etc.

Each piece is a one of a kind item. They measure around 2,5 inches / 6-8 centimetres.

They have all been listed at our Zibbet shop ONLY!

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Nativity Scenes

Our friends left yesterday back to Madrid. We spent the day scheduling the work for the week and cleaning the house, and the night already working at the studio, something we really were hungry for!

For the first time since we are together, we are going to have a Nativity scene on our living room this year – we purchased the Nativity figures and our friends gave us the Three Wizard Kings as a goodbye gift. They’re regular resin figures, on the size that’s closer to 1:12 scale so we can make use of the dollhouse supplies we have for the scene. Each one will be repainted and/or altered as needed, as we have done before with other Catholic images we have sold in the shop.

Every year, we will add more figures and accessories during the month of December (our Christmas season goes until Jan. 6, the Three Wizard Kings’ Day) as time and money allow. I don’t think we will buy more figures this year, although I would like to find some camels for the kings, the camel being our horse and such a totemic animal for us. I am not sure right now if we’ll have time to create structures for it this year as I’m really busy, but it’ll be enough with having them all painted.

Of course, we will be documenting the process here! As you can see in the pics, the Holy Family has already been painted, and the cow and donkey are almost finished – both of them are painted in the colours of the Canarian type of each animal. Even though we don’t want to make it 100% Canarian, we are in a very similar environment than the place where it all happened, and while looking for certain aunthenticity and level of craftsmanship, we’ll add a Canarian touch here and there.

We don’t celebrate Christmas much more than taking a day off as our customers are with their families and there’s less work on those days, and we don’t particularly enjoy Christmas decor/activities, so we were lacking a tradition that was fully ours during this time of the year. In the past months, that has been a topic that’s been on my mind often – creating traditions that would come back yearly, and that were truly related to our cultural+personal+spiritual legacy.

I think this one fits us perfectly; while none of us is a Catholic, we are in love with this project as Crafters, and crafting the devotional is our life mission. All the miniature work that we’ve made in the past years will be a tremendous advantage when facing this project, and it’s something we will be able to do on and off during the year to provide items for the scene, specially in what comes to building structures and scenery.

Something I’d like to add is that us Canarians, and actually all Spanish people, take Nativity scene making seriously! There are hundreds of room-size scenes starting every December on every Canarian town, that people visit year after year to see the new improvements. Here’s a very beautiful video of a Canarian-themed scene from the island of Gran Canaria, where you can see the astounding craftsmanship of the work, and also see a bit of how the islanders were merely 100 years ago. Please note that the music in the video is played with a timple, a very small four-string guitar that’s traditional to the islands, and that at 1:10 you can see a Canarian Witch!

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It’s really nice to have a full house from time to time – there has been lots of laughter, lots of learning, lots of discussing, lots of remembering, lots of healing and LOTS of cooking! Us Canarians are not happy if you don’t leave our house weighing a few pounds more than you weighed when you arrived. They will leave on Saturday, and as much as we love our privacy, we will miss them a lot.

Our friend’s husband is learning to be an acupuncture professional (he’s already a certified massage therapist), so I’ve been learning a lot about it, creating posters in Photoshop for his upcoming consultation room and of course letting him practise as guinea pigs – I have to say he’s a natural! I gathered all the zen, feng-shui and chinese tradition books I had and gave them to him as a present, to encourage him to open all the doors of knowledge he can. Being the self-made man he is, he was more than happy to receive the books and in return, made me a gift of new books at my favourite online book store – will show them as soon as they arrive.

This is one of the images I made for his consultation room – please feel free to download it and use it as well! Personal use ONLY please! Click on the pic to open the full size image, which is really high quality and big enough to be printed as a double sheet size or more.

Every night, I’ve been teaching my friend to do cross stitch – she hasn’t touched a needle since she was in primary school so progress is slow, but it feels so good to share what I love that I’m already thinking about the sewing items I’m making for her a Christmas gifts. I don’t have many crafty people around, so I’m ecstatic to infect someone with the Handmade Illness :D. And, I have to say it puts things in perspective about showing myself how much I’ve learnt, specially considering I have never attended an art class, workshop or school.

Fernando is working on a series of small wooden amulets, and I continue to work on the painting’s sketches, which right now are going reaaaaaally slow. I am going to make a couple of small paintings to “heat the hand” because even though I’m happy with how the sketch is going, I would like to try something new before going into the canvas. I am enjoying the process immensely, and feeling incredibly lucky for having a patron that really understands that the creative process flows slowly and in complex turns, and that it takes time for her vision and my vision to flow into one. Anyway, here are some pics of the new sketch:

I would like to thank you again for the messages you’ve sent for my friend – I have read her each one of them and she was really moved and thankful. Your support certainly has helped her!

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Untitled

Crazy, crazy, crazy days. At the last minute, my friend’s doctor found a problem that could complicate the operation seriously and must be addressed first, so she will be going through a very small procedure on Wednesday and the full operation will happen in February 2012. Also at the last minute, the person who offered them the house, a family member, suddenly changed her mind and they had to come and stay here, so we had to prepare a room for them without much time ahead – not that it was a problem for us as we love them to bits, but working plans go behind when helping friends comes first.

So, while I’m relieved that the doctors found that small problem before it turned into a much bigger problem during surgery, and happy to share a few days with them, we are all quite disappointed at her family’s behaviour and she’s been having quite a bit of stress. Sometimes, one problem appears just to show what people are made of, and there has been a very hard lesson for her in this one – that sometimes, biological ties make nothing of what we consider a family.

I’m back to work today, so please feel free to contact me. I will be working on Tarot appointments, and on the new issue of the newsletter – which will be out tomorrow or on Tuesday, depending on how long the readings take. If you want to subscribe to the Newsletter, please do so clicking on the sidebar’s ad! I am also halfway through the painting’s sketch, so there will be pics of it tomorrow.

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Update

Our friends got a house to stay during the next three weeks, so things have eased up a little. They will be on a five minute drive distance, so it’s perfect to keep a constant eye on them, and still both us and them keep our privacy – also, that means I will be able to work almost as usual. Except for Wednesday and Thursday next week, you can expect regular posting and promoting.

Thanks so much for your comments and prayers yesterday! I think the house was sent by YOUR love and magick (and aren’t they the same). You can’t imagined how moved she was for your comments and wishes, and how thankful and honoured Fernando and I are of having such amazing, generous readers *sobs*.

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Important Update, Please Read

My best friend has been called for an important operation next week and has come to Tenerife with her husband to go though the procedure next week. They will be staying at home, and a couple of weeks after until she’s healed, so it is very likely that I will be mostly away from the blog for at least a few days, specially from Wednesday to Friday. The shop will continue open and orders/readings/spellwork will be attended as usual, but blogging and social network will come back in a week. Just email me if you need anything!

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