goddessofxanadu's photostream  

Not another house shot! Sorry , i have a really bad cold and haven't been getting out much... here is Nige chilling in 'his' chair..the other is mine. I should have done this on a tripod with me sitting in my chair shouldn't I?

Oh dear what a pair of old farts we are becoming in our fireside chairs! I hand held this at around 1/8 sec I think. I know it was slow..

I got a new rug this morning! its an old grain kilim sack! it was a bargain on ebay for $25. Isn't it amazing the hard work and creativity that went into a GRAIN SACK... these days it would probably be yellow plastic or something.Such a shame that things are so much more perfunctory these days.

Shanti is doing a great job of modelling it no? (its the one underneath her!) I love it! I have a thing for rugs and kilims, especially bargainous ones like this. I spent many a happy evening trolling ebay for such treasures. I must admit, I love internet shopping...no rushing around in the rain, pushing and crowds...and the choice of the whole world. Unimaginable riches. I have to reign myself in. Bad, covetous, greedy goddess.

This is Dilly or Dylan, my elderly chocolate lab. He does NOT like the camera, but I managed to sneak this one...from a distance. He looks rather moody and magnificent here in this light.

He is nearly 11, but in very good health. Any comfortable spot in the house, he identifies and claims. He is a conesseuir of comfort.

This is my hearth Altar in honour of Hestia, the Goddess of the household, although a few other Gods and Goddesses sneak in from time to time (especially Ganesha who sneaks in everywhere...Jai Ganesh!!)

I think its really important to have altars, especially a hearth altar to bless and offer nurture to the heart of the house. I have been feeling the darkness of winter lately,(I have a fluey cold..:() so I have put some lovely hyacinths on here to encourage and call the light back, and I.m burning some lovely incense that I made just now, with herbs and flowers I grew last summer. There is the antler of a Fallow deer at the back, my parents found it on holiday last year, and diligently bought it home for me (Im an antlerholic..) so that speaks of spring too. The rug hanging on the wall at the back is one of my prized posessions, its glorious, and was hard won over a few days of bargaining in Morocco a few years back.

I have many different altars in the house, I will do a series of pics of them over the next few days..

I was experimenting with little bits of flash so you could see everything more clearly, but threw it out in the end, sacrificing clarity for atmosphere..

I have a rather eclectic approach to religion and don't claim to be a member of any one.. but take elements from Paganism, Ritual magick, Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism to form my own spiritual path..Ganesha is my favorite though.

She was coming toward me, in Pushkars backstreets...I snapped off a couple of frames of her..something about her I liked. I tried to engage her for chai and chat, but she was shy..