As we move into fall, our homes and gardens can offer something different than they did in summer. A pot of brightly colored flowers on your porch can help lift your mood and brighten your street. Setting up a badminton net or hanging a swing gives kids a place to burn off some energy after…Read…
8 Ideas to Give Your Yard a Boost for Fall — Wyndesong’s Place
SEPTEMBER 09, 2021 BY DANAE MOON THORP READ TIME: 11 MINS In my book Becoming the Witch: The Art of Magick, I explore how witchcraft brings meaning and purpose because it is a natural, imaginative way of seeing the world. The Simple Beauty of Witchcraft — Ravenhawk’s| Magickal Products| Candles| Cloaks| Ritual Boxes|
The Simple Beauty of Witchcraft — Ravenhawk’s| Magickal Products| Candles| Cloaks| Ritual Boxes| — ravenhawks’ magazine Magick for Mind Body and Soul
This year Autumn Equinox is Wednesday, September 22nd Mabon (pronounced MAY-bun, MAY-bone, MAH-boon or MAH-bawn) is also called Alban Elfed, Harvest Home, 2nd Harvest, Fruit Harvest, Wine Harvest, Feast of Avalon, Equinozio di Autunno (Strega), Cornucopia, or Autumn Equinox this holiday is a ritual of thanksgiving for the fruits of the earth and a recognition […]
Autumn Equinox, Mea’n Fo’mhair, Mabon — ravenhawks’ magazine Magick for Mind Body and Soul
The Druids call this celebration, Mea’n Fo’mhair, and honor The Green Man, the God of the Forest, by offering libations to trees. Offerings of ciders, wines, herbs, and fertilizer are appropriate at this time. Wiccans celebrate the aging Goddess as she passes from Mother […]
Autumn Equinox, Mea’n Fo’mhair, Mabon Customs and Practices — ravenhawks’ magazine Magick for Mind Body and Soul
In some regions of Japan, this time of year marks the peak of the annual rice harvest season. Traditionally, Japanese farmers have reused leftover rice straw (“wara” in Japanese), a byproduct of the harvest, to feed livestock and better the soil. Artisans have used it for making tatami mats and other household objects. But over time, technology has replaced these traditions with the utilization of industrial materials, leaving farmers with enormous amounts of dry rice straw for which they have no use.
In the coastal region of Niigata Prefecture, a major rice-growing area, the Wara Art Festival brings a creative solution to this problem: enchanting, oversized sculptures of animals and mythical creatures made exclusively of rice straw. The straw sculptures are designed by students from Tokyo’s Musashino Art University and installed in collaboration with local residents in Niigata. After a year of hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the festival is now back for its 13th edition, welcoming visitors at the local Uwasekigata Park through October 31.
Founded in 2007, the Wara Art Festival is organized jointly by Niigata City’s local tourism council and the Musashino Art University. It is the brainchild of Shingo Miyajima, a professor at the Department of Science and Design at Musashino, who in 2006 was asked by Niigata’s farming community to think of a solution to the problem of unused rice straw. The professor came up with a creative idea: monumental animal sculptures supported by wooden frames. Since then, the festival has become a major tourist attraction in the region.
Rising from the fields, the mammoth artworks can climb to the height of 30 feet. The exhibition features menacing, sharp-toothed beasts and dragons alongside endearing apes and elephants. This year’s displays also include a representation of an Amabie, a beaked mermaid or merman from Japanese mythology.
Ideal for a family trip, the festival’s Facebook page shows visitors of all ages posing for pictures inside the open jaws of a crocodile or in the lap of a giant gorilla. The festival has only one request from visitors to ensure the safety of the displays: Please don’t fly drones in the park!
Plant a Wildflower Garden in Fall for Spring Blossoms
Plant a Wildflower Garden in Fall for Spring Blossoms — Wyndesong’s Place
Visual artist Hannu Huhtamo has been creating art with the dark night as his “canvas’ and light as his “brush”.
Using a technique known as light painting, the Finnish artist makes his works with a photographic technique based on long exposure times that vary from a few seconds to hours. While the cameras shutter is open, the artist is able to draw in the air by moving different kinds of light sources in front of the camera.
Light painting typically requires a dark environment and it’s usually made at night. Hannu Huhtamo has created numerous light paintings of symmetrical light flowers, fauna, and luminous sculptures which he draws into various locations along the elements of the current environment and ambient lighting.
The artist’s light paintings have lit up spaces including forests, abandoned places reclaimed by nature in the city outskirts, and even the Namibia Desert.
Hannu Huhtamo says: “The symmetry in nature has always fascinated me more than anything else and I started developing floral shapes in order to create light sculptures that look organic.
“My light flowers and luminous beings represent hope and a bit of order in the middle of the chaos. I tend to be a bit restless soul and rush from things to another quite fast. That way I might seek balanced things, like symmetry, through my art. It’s more than just creating images, it’s a form of meditation.”
The Helsinki based artist has been light painting since 2008 but it was back in the 1990’s when he shot his first light painting image. Whilst at a gig, Hannu Huhtamo wanted to draw out a pentagram with a lighter so he opened the shutter of his camera and created his first light painting image.
Images: Hannu Huhtamo
Rosa Medea is Life & Soul Magazine’s Chief. She writes about lifestyle including sustainable and green living.
Late summer is a good time to look beyond trees to create an autumn landscape that draws the eye and stirs the soul Late summer is the perfect time to take stock and watch your landscape, as some plants will already begin turning or thinning out. 11 more words
4 Elements of a Stunning Fall Garden — Wyndesong’s Place
An arts festival in the Democratic Republic of Congo is aiming to raise awareness of throwaway culture and its affects on the environment.
Performers dressed in cans, tubes, mirrors and other materials salvaged from rubbish bins paraded through the streets of Kinshasa for the 5th edition of the KinAct festival.
Founded in 2015 in Kinshasa by visual artist Eddy Ekete and Aude Bertrand, KinAct is an international festival and artist collective that collaborates with varying performers to highlight the environmental hazards of trash.
Outdoorwear specialists Patagonia are making it easier for individuals to connect with environmental organisations in their local area.
Patagonia Action Works aims to help individuals to discover and connect with environmental action groups and get involved with the work they do.
According to the Patagonia Action Works website, “For almost 40 years, Patagonia has supported grassroots activists working to find solutions to the environmental crisis. But in this time of unprecedented threats, it’s often hard to know the best way to get involved. That’s why we’re connecting individuals with our grantees, to take action on the most pressing issues facing the world today.”
Whether you’re looking for events, showing your support through the signing of petitions, finding organisations to donate to or for volunteer opportunities, the Patagonia Action Works website links you up.
Rosa Medea is Life & Soul Magazine’s Chief. She writes about lifestyle including sustainable and green living
“With almost no time to decide, they [your loved ones] gave the entire country an incalculable gift. They saved the capitol from attack. They saved God knows how many lives. They saved the terrorists from claiming the symbolic victory of smashing the center of American government. And they did it as citizens. They allowed us to survive as a country that could fight terror and still maintain liberty and still welcome people from all over the world from every religion and race and culture as long as they shared our values, because ordinary people given no time at all to decide did the right thing.” ~ William J. Clinton
For about the hundredth time I am reading the trail description of the Tablelands hike in Gros Morne National Park; One of the few places you can access exposed earth’s mantle . I stop reading and looking up from the traveller’s guide out at the view in front of me and say aloud to myself, […] […]
Tablelands- a walk on the earth’s mantle. — MaritimeMac — ravenhawks’ magazine Magick for Mind Body and Soul
