Today, the sixth day of Kwanzaa, is dedicated to the
principle of Kuumba (Creativity). This
is one of the most important of the seven principles to my daily practice and
life generally. Some of my earliest
memories involve creativity. I remember
when I was about five, making mud cakes and plaintain sandwiches with grass
trimmings with my little friend Joan behind our house in East Orange, NJ. I
remember the first day of kindergarten being struck by a beautifully creative fall
bulletin board of autumn leaves at school. Creativity has been a sustaining
factor in my life since I can remember.
Recently, I joined a challenge to create something every day on a blog www.creativeeveryday.com. I have already been doing this but it will be
very nice to be involved with a community of creative people as I work. My creativity has typically touched every
aspect of my life including hairstyles, cooking (though I plan to leave the
vegetable dessert pies alone), exercising (love to belly dance), doodling
(particularly during lectures when I should be paying attention), writing,
magickal practice and of course art making.
One of the reasons I choose Hoodoo as a spiritual path is because it
invites and rewards creativity, at least the way I practice it. Earth-based spirituality generally, opens the
gates of creativity, as you engage the elements in numerous ways and honor the
earth and cosmos. When I wrote, “Sticks,
Stones, Roots and Bones” and its companion, “Four Seasons of Mojo,” I felt such
excitement because both embody creativity and as I wrote I was also on a
journey of discovery in so many different ways. I am still creating the dream pillows I give
recipes for in those books, as well as various types of mojos, sachets and
potpourris. I think when some people
look at my potpourri at craft fairs they just see a bag of botanicals but there
is so much creativity involved in making a batch of potpourri and some magickal
intent as well. I was describing my
process of making potpourri to my mother-in-law and it reminded me of its
complexity. I start by grinding up
lavender, juniper berries, and the preservative scents of cinnamon, clove,
allspice, and anise stars. I add these
to a corn cob mix that will hold their scent.
I call that the mother batch, once I add the essential oils. The essential oil blend involves a great deal
of complexity and skill in its mixture as well because I usually like to
balance the top, middle and base notes, like a perfumer. Then after the perfumery, comes another fun
part of selecting a multitude of dried botanicals, herbs with specific magickal
intent and scent qualities, berries of various colors, evocatively shaped pods
and leaves. After I bless and mix the
mother batch of scent with the botanicals they sit for a few weeks, usually
about a month in a sealed container. Even
the interest in perfumery goes back into my memory bank. I remember outside of Salem, NJ, there was a
little defunct factory and I dreamed since I was a child that that would be the
home of my perfume business. Now, I
create the perfumed botanicals out of my home but I still dream of having a
small industrial space, most likely in a rural location. Creating magickal botanicals and soaps
activates my gift for healing because you can imbue each step of the creation
process with magick, if you are so inclined.
I am so excited that today is devoted to Kuumba. As I light the six
candles of Kwanzaa today, I revere this gift bestowed by the Goddess, called
Kuumba in Swahili or Creativity in English. Today's image is an ATC, with elements of collage, including a Xerox film transparency, drawing, stamping and embossing.
When I first became a blogger it was difficult to know if I had readers and visitors coming to my blog. I’d post and be met by the sounds of crickets. Then, I branched out into the world of the blogosphere, a world I didn't know really existed. From my ventures, I met a lot of interesting bloggers. I've started following and commenting on numerous blogs, for you see, prior to my outings, I too was out among the crickets. Lurking about but seldom saying anything. A fellow blogger I've met through my journeys around the blogosphere is Melissa Maygrove . She had the brilliant idea to have a Follow Fest , where we share about who we are, what we do and most importantly, how you can connect with us further. It is my intention through joining Follow Fest, that I’ll connect with many more readers and people interested enough in what I do to want to learn more by following. So, here goes my entry for the fest. Name: Stephanie Rose Bird Fiction or
Love the way your composition moves my eyes around to all the images!
ReplyDeleteThanks! I had a lot of fun with this one!
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