Shopping for Love! :D <3

As I'm sure most of you reading this know, my dear friends mermaiden and willow_cabin are working feverishly to raise the money necessary to put on their wedding next month. If you'd like to help them or just treat yourself to something lovely, you can buy something from one of their cottage industries: Glamourkin book-based jewelry, Garden of Antheia fabric flower adornments, or Sarah's e-book and print publications.

Also, if you're a fan of foodie perfume oils, our mutual friend rubymulligan is selling a limited edition perfume on her Etsy shop with all profits going towards Sarah & Jenn's wedding fund. It's very nom. :)

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So, in the interest of having the best shopping day ever helping these ladies out, I went on a bit of a spree solemn philanthropic mission the other day. I bought a bunch of Glamourkin pendants, some hair flowers, *and* a second bottle of the Sweetest Day perfume. My Glamourkins arrived and I'm just so in love with them! :) I bought some as gifts and some for myself--but these are mine.

I know some of you bought your own the last few weeks--I'd love to see what you got and hear what it was about that one that called to you. :)


I love this Beauty and the Beast illustration, I connect with images of redheads as heroines, and I believe, absolutely, that love is not only the oldest but the most powerful magic.


Strangely, two weeks in a row now, we've had the same reading in our Unitarian Universalist church service. It so moved me, I wrote part of it into the margins of the service program. It reads, in part, We need one another when we are in despair, in temptation, and need to be recalled to our best selves again.....All our lives we are in need, and others are in need of us. I love that image of community calling us to our best selves, of need calling us to our best selves, and so this pendant was absolutely perfect to crystallize and remember that teaching forever.

Unitarian Universalism: A Spiritual Haven

Five weeks ago, we went as a family to visit the Unitarian Universalist church in our new neighborhood for the first time. We'd long hoped it would serve us as a center of social action, community spirit, and spiritual reflection but it has well surpassed my expectations. My purse is crammed with service bulletins, lettered over with hastily transcribed notes and quotes from the speakers, as I've been so driven to share my experiences there and, at the very least, to spend time better absorbing the wisdom I've found in such diverse and compassionate company.

( My religious upbringing, what I'd heard about UU, and the seven principles of Unitarian Universalism below the cut... )

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I go onto NBC's website and watch their Making a Difference videos because I am so drawn to witnessing and being inspired by the philanthropy and generosity of others and I cry at Hallmark ads and I'm just generally a mess when it comes to the topic of homelessness and hunger and food deserts and children without pajamas. You know me, so each week during the service I'm crying and sniffling and singing and writing notes at the speed of light to keep up with everything that can go into the soup to make me better, to encourage me to do more and be more and love more. Daniel is next to me, squeezing my hand at the parts that slay him and borrowing tissues from me. It has just been really, really an awesome resource to find. I never knew enough about the U.U.

The building is an organic, cave-like thing with small patterns of stained-glass petals sunk into the thick, earthy walls. The glass reflects the beauty of nature (bony fish, snowflakes, rainbows, trees, oceans, rock strata) as well as the concept of humanity's search for Truth. There is a rocket ship and planets, so many beautiful things and nothing of any recognizable religious symbolism or significance. It is all about nature, humanity, and the Universe. It's an amazing space conceived by members during their protests of the Vietnam War and the full-on rush of the 1960s Space Race.



I'm just spiraling around and around and not getting where I wanted or intended to go with this post. :) I've spent too long not writing about this part of my life and now there feels like so much catching up to do! You may never read every word of this post--but I'll have at least put it to memory here for myself. :)

( Here's some examples of the past few Sundays at the U.U. )

It has become a remarkable, significant part of my spiritual journey--of my paganism and my individual Path towards Truth. I'm glad I didn't let the word 'church' continue to color my impressions and taint the message of the place for me.