Lucky Charms - not the cereal

 “Luck is believing you’re lucky.” ~ Tennessee Williams, (1911 - 1983)

I can’t show you my charm bracelet right now. To see it and find out why I can’t show it to you right now, sign up for my email newsletter, Nessa’s News.

I was born and raised Roman Catholic and with an extremely superstitious genetic background. Not Irish, but the original Celts going back to the Hallstatt era. Elves, talking birds, bees buzzy secrets in my ears, the ghosts living in a stone farmhouse over a thousand years old, salt and swords, roaring rivers swollen with melted glazers, and steers painted to fool an invading army filled my imagination long before I took my first breath. So, yeah, I believe in magic.

Even though I am no longer a Catholic or Christian, I can’t give up the rituals, my favorite part of going to church. The little container meant for holy water is older than the clovers and hangs by my front door (after living in my parents' houses for decades.) It holds Bavarian Alpine salt sanctified by the rising sun on the Winter Solstice while facing East on a New Jersey beach. Before I can leave the house, I touch the salt with the index and middle fingers of my left hand and touch my forehead, heart, and lips while whispering:

“Mind, body, and soul.”

A reminder to make the mundane world more sacred.

This picture has been in every bedroom I’ve occupied since I was a baby, even during college. 

While going through things, I found these four-leaf clovers I’ve had since 1972 (that’s a long time ago for those of you who are mathematically challenged.) They must be working because as I look back and review my life as a whole, I’ve been pretty damn well blessed.

Revena’s emblem and good luck charm is the honey bee which symbolizes wealth and prosperity. She wears a signet ring with the motif and uses it to seal important documents in wax.

        Mine, of course, is the Vampire Butterfly which speaks of eternal change and constant growth despite the pain such perpetual metamorphosis entails (stagnation means death, as the last few years have reminded me.)  

Revena’s Revenge: not a pretty love story opens with Revena whispering the following spell over a mug of ale:

“Blessed fruit and honey ale

  Bring him health without fail;

  Bring him strength, improve his vigor;

  Banish all that’s weak and frail.”

Are you superstitious? Do you have any old lucky charms? Do you wear an amulet or a signet ring? Do you have any special rituals?

Remember Me

I couldn't decide how to punctuate those words: was I writing a question, a command, just making a statement?

I've been going through old papers and photographs, sorting and creating digital copies. Lightening the load to move more easily into my future. Continuing my foray in Death Cleaning.

Some of the items are left over from my parents. Yes, eight and five years after the deaths of my mother and father, respectively, I'm still going through their things. I didn't want to leave such a chore for my daughter someday.

There is a variety of cards I made that my mother kept. Many of them are eligible for regifting so I may auction them off in the future. Little gifts for people who buy my books. You can see a bunch of cards I made over at my Creationist Thinking page. None of those cards are in the pile I have, so you'll need to stay tuned to see the giveaways.

 

This simple little Valentine's Day card is one of my favorites. It's called "Spiraling Hearts." It's a popup with the following poem I wrote on February 12, 2012.

"Hearts spiral in and out of love turning with time, but we are always at our best when we move back to our center." ~ vvk

More Than the Minimum

click to make biggerer

 "Just because you don't require a lot in order to be happy 

doesn't mean you deserve only the bare minimum."

Update on last month’s Adventure Agenda 

Write 250 new words a day. - I wrote over 5,500 new words in July. That’s 22 days worth. I wrote 5 out of the 31 days.

Walk 30 minutes every morning. - This was a bust. Slept late. Hot outside. Other things. I think I’ll be switching this to swimming when I get to Florida. There will be detours, side quests, and redrawn maps.

The Tree of Life embroidery project. - Once. I packed up my bag. Being ready for anything requires downsizing. I fit my personal items into a 4’ x 4’ x 6’ space. Less, really.

Blog Post #1 - Rabbit, Rabbit each 1st. - Yay. I deserve a ribbon.

Blog Post #2 - Authors I Know. - A work-in-progress.

Blog Post #3 - Writing update. - I say this counts.

Blog Post #4 - Book World Information. - Check out Leonardo Da Vinci’s ToDo List from the1490s.

The Bastards’ Battle. Outline, scene list, synopsis. - I have pictures of how I think the main characters look, along with personal histories. I’ve also outlined the main conflict (this one is more of a love story,) along with three subplots.

Read. - Lots of articles. My grandson has summer reading, and he’s chosen Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones. I did read it over eleven years ago. I remember it as being good. I will reread it in solidarity. Then we’ll watch the ANIME VERSION and compare.

Artist’s Date. - I did sort and gather my drawing implements.  

* BONUS ITEM: One short story a month. - Yeah, no.

Most of July was spent dismantling my old life and preparing for new adventures, like all exciting Hero's Journey's.