Fallen Apple

Image from my altered book which was made by Croneletta.

It really feels like Autumn today - it was so cool outside when Kylie and I walked this morning that I actually had to don a real jacket rather than my fleece one. It got me thinking that it's a good day to use the oven and bake something. For dinner or for dessert was the big question. I'm doing both - the menu tonight will be a turkey meatloaf with garlic mashed potatoes plus a nice big green salad. For dessert, I'm baking apples. Elise has a nice and easy recipe which I'll try, omitting the pecans (not a fan).

Of course, the thought of apples brought to mind Croneletta's image above. That and the fact I'm reading Dan Brown's newest book, The Lost Symbol. Dan Brown of The Da Vinci Code, the sacred feminine within humanity's spiritual beliefs, particularly the Catholic Church - and that reminded me of Eve and her apple - and how she was framed!

The Gnostic Media folks have quite a different take on the apple in the garden, one that might be considered even more heretical than The Da Vinci Code. No, not might - I'm sure it already is! It's not an apple that Eve ate and offered to Adam - they don't grow in that area of the world. What Eve presented to Adam was the Amanita Muscaria hallucinogenic mushroom. I have the DVD and have watched it a few times - it is quite fascinating. The website has a free viewing of it. If you are inclined to view the film, there's a part about the history of Santa Claus that I found hilarious, in a good way - something I remembered after reading The Horse Boy. No wonder Santa is so beloved!

I'd love to hear your thoughts about it, if you do watch it.

Masks

Croneletta's Mask altered book, front cover - click on picture to enlarge it.

I have wanted to make masks for about 25 years after I first watched a PBS documentary about a woman from New Mexico who made beautiful plaster masks of people. The half hour program had me riveted. There was something so profound about capturing a few minutes in someone's life. I realized that the mask was about revealing and not hiding our inner selves as the emotional and psychic/energetic state of the person was so clearly captured in their mask. I think we humans waste an awful lot of time wearing a mask (or multiple masks!) to try and hide our authentic selves. One of the reasons I love Nature so much is that it is what it is - a dog is a dog and doesn't put on a cat's mask; an oak tree doesn't wear the skin of a beech tree; and pigs don't fly. Or even attempt to fly.

I made a mask while attending The Council of All Beings weekend retreat in Sonoma County back in the late '80s - or was it 1990? I can't remember. I do remember how profound the experience was. We all had to make a mask of the non human entity who "chose" us to speak for them. Mine was Owl.

Then in the early 2000s, I discovered Kaleo Ching who makes amazing masks. I'm sorry that I never had the opportunity to attend any of his workshops when I lived in the Bay Area. His Flickr page has some wonderful pictures of his and his students' creations. Worth a peek.

In 1993, I went to beauty school, where we did lots of masques - another way of working with a person's face! I enjoyed the experience, although I never went into the business after receiving my license as an aesthetician. When I was a child, I wanted to go to beauty school, but my mother, being who she was, thought that "only stupid girls go to beauty school."

Really? Would you trust a stupid girl with chemicals next to your hair? Unlikely.

The reason I went to beauty school at such a late date was that I had been diagnosed with malignant melanoma in 1991 and I thought, "If I am going to die, I'm going to beauty school first!" Thankfully, I didn't die. I never regretted leaving the corporate world for a few months in order to do this. I still maintain a strong interest in natural cosmetics, including fragrance.

And, I still have a strong desire to learn mask making.

Sunday altered book blogging

More from the mind and artistry of Croneletta.

This is the very first altered book she did - it's one of those miniature books. I can't imagine how much time she spent getting all of the pages just the way she wanted when the pages are SO small! I'd need jeweler's glasses or an electron microscope!

This is a real treasure for me....

Click on each picture to enlarge it.

Saturday altered book blogging

My friend, Croneletta (a sort of 7 year old Crone-in-training), gifted me with a few very clever, wonderful and hilarious altered books that she made. I've decided to put some of the pages online just because. I have to figure out a better way to photograph them, though - I don't want to scan them for fear of breaking the spines of the books.

The themes in all of them are varied, depending on where she and I were in our lives. Here are themes of The Wizard of Oz, one of my all time favorite movies. When I went to see the original cast version of Wicked, my Oz experience was complete!

Happily, Croneletta had the opportunity to see the play not once, but twice in California! I would see it again, too!

Click on each of the pictures to enlarge them.

Actually, Croneletta created her book in 2005, not 1995 - both of us are 10 years behind the times in so many ways and truly haven't arrived in the 21st century yet. Time travel, as you know, like teleporting, can be quite tricky.