Tuesday Slice: Lunar landings

I've been enthralled by the moon and stars for a long time.

Moon from Tokyo

Maybe it's because they remained constant, even as I moved all over the world during my formative years.

Moon from Akihabara, Tokyo

Orion is my favorite constellation, easy to pick out by his belt and sword....but it's most often the moon that draws my gaze skyward.

Perhaps it's due to my Piscean water-sign, a tidal pull and push to turn my face towards the bright disk in a shades-of-gray-sky.

My January moongazing led to great photos from the darkness of my backyard.  Last night, my hand was not so steady, and clouds threatened to keep my lunar sojourner hidden. 

This month's full moon is special to me, as it belongs to my daughter, mother, and many of my friends born under a Virgo sign, opposing and complementing my Pisces sun.  

They are the practical, organized folks who help me rein in the dreamy, escapist, go-with-the-flow part of me who knows I should be cleaning house, but would rather have my nose buried in a book.  

It is grounding, to go out at night and bask in full moonglow, serenaded by chirruping bugs and rustling, still-bare branches under this Snow Moon, with no snow to be found around me.

All photos taken by Christine Margocs, copyright 2016.  Use with permission only.

Tuesday Slice: Finding myself through a new art form

Have you ever participated in a SoulCollage® session? 

I had been waiting for years for the right time to attend the introductory course, and it finally arrived this past Saturday.  Six hours have never passed so swiftly; one session, and I am hooked.

My very first card!

We met at Seton Cove, a spirituality center located in the heart of Austin, Texas.  Eleven women from several nearby towns and cities gathered around tables, which had been pushed together to form one big workspace, led by a trained SoulCollage® facilitator who was also a Seton Cove faculty member. We listened to music, chose images from an assortment on the table and introduced ourselves through those images.  

The facilitator taught us the basics of SoulCollage®--the history of its founder, Seena Frost; the purpose and uses of SoulCollage® card making; the four suits in which cards can be categorized.*** 

Second creation

We were then left to our own devices, encouraged to find images that spoke to us among the many containers our facilitator had provided.  Words were not to be used, as they could be limiting when reading our cards.  All the supplies we needed were also provided; we simply had to find images, cut away, and create our cards.  There were no requirements as to how many we had to create.

After lunch, we listened to a recorded meditation by Seena, and then made a card in response.  We read these cards by filling in a poem template, and could share if we wished.

Inspired by meditation

***********
Time and space to be creative has been lacking in my life for the last few years, and I found this experience freeing and insightful.  I am a person of words, and thinking through images was new and exciting--even though I found myself qualifying through words in my head as I searched for pictures.  I also think I was subconsciously preparing for this class many years ago, when I started a box of clipart back in my greeting-card-making days that I just couldn't let go. Time to blow the dust off the box and create!  I've already ordered supplies to make more SoulCollage® cards, enjoying this avenue to discover more about myself through art.

***Disclaimer: "SoulCollage® cards are not to be sold, traded, or bartered; they are to be reproduced only for the personal use of the maker of the card. SoulCollage® cards may be shared as examples to illustrate the SoulCollage® process, but it is a principle of SoulCollage® that SoulCollage® cards are not for sale, trade, or barter." [from “The Principles of SoulCollage®]

Cards created by Chris Margocs for personal use.

Tuesday Slice: Swearing on the state of my house

My calendar is cattywampus

And I really must confess

It's not the only thing that's awry

Much of my house is in a mess.

There's Christmas decor in the hallway

Overflow from kids' rooms, too

Clothes in three sizes piled in my room

(What's a growing/ shrinking girl to do?).

I make lists on a weekly basis
To purge and clean, dust and mop
Somehow most tasks remain undone
I swear the laundry never stops!

Books are piled a dozen deep

On the (former) coffee table

Just waiting there, to be read

I swear I'll do so--when I'm able

To balance out this work and home gig

Supporting a school ten hours a day

Playing chauffeur, wife, mother, friend

The other eight hours get whittled away.

Six short hours left over for slumber
'Til Friday comes around, and then
I sleep nine hours amidst the piles 
And swear I'll get to cleaning...again.

Tuesday Slice: A cold bed

Fact of our marriage:
Every night, I climb into a cold bed.

Literally, not figuratively.
(Our marriage has not grown cold.)

It's my life as an educator, really.
Early morning alarms usually mean early-ish bedtimes.

Husband gets to enjoy 9p TV shows.
I get ready for bed during the commercials.

If I'm being responsible, I turn my lights out at 930p.
If I'm feeling rebellious, I watch the rest of the show in bed, in the dark.

Falling asleep before he finishes chores and comes to bed.
Falling asleep between the cold sheets.

The sheets that are warmed by my body heat, by the time he lies down.
Every night, my husband climbs into a warm bed.