*sighs*

Well, that didn't go well. *frowns* I just fired the Ma'at statue, and it looks like there were some air bubbles in the knees - either that, or it was too close to the hotoventhingy when I first put it in. *frowns* And the feather is a little droopy. *frowns* I know I can do better - *grins* this WAS my first time EVER trying to sculpt something, and I'm using a material I'm not familiar with. I did good.
It was a definite learning experience. Well - At least I've finished working on that one, and I won't feel bad about starting a new one.

I've started creating the design for the front of the shrine - the 42 declarations - so far, all I've done is set them up in columns and pick the font *laughs* I need to figure out what sort of design and how I'm going to put around them. And how to - glaze - I suppose is the best word, the sheet to the shrine.

I want as much as possible in & on this shrine to be handmade - it's interesting that I consider something I create on the computer to still be handmade. But - really, what is the computer but a tool - like my clay? Without my - energy - my time - my focus - it isn't like the computer could create this on it's own.

Ah! I commented on how I felt like I had been 'nudged' (and rather firmly to) to finally fire this statue in my comments - and a good bit of that 'nudge' was from reading the article that kyanti_bird wrote for WitchVox on offerings. I realized, that even though I don't have my shrine fully set up, and I haven't settled on rituals or anything else - creating this stuff by hand IS an offering. It is a sacrifice - I could just print out pictures from online, or buy a statue and offering bowls - but instead I sacrifice my time and put effort into creating this sacred space for me. *grins* It's amazing how much better I feel.

And considering it's an offering, I feel even less down about my not so good Ma'at statue. It was done honestly, and with real effort. *smiles* Funnylooking as it is, it's kinda growing on me. I don't think I'll put it in my shrine, but - I think I'll take it to work. *smiles at the tiny Ma'at* It's certainly not on the level of a master craftsman - more like his (her, maybe?) 8 year old child.

Ohh!! I went a LITTLE stir crazy today on Amazon.com - I'm striking out wildly in frustration - but if I'm being led like I think I am - it won't matter. :) So - the books I got were:
Daughters of Isis: Women of Ancient Egypt by Joyce Tyldesley
Egyptian Magic by E. A. Wallis Budge
Maat Magick: A Guide to Self-Initiation by Nema
Maat Revealed: Philosophy Of Justice In Ancient Egypt by Anna Mancini
Amulets of Ancient Egypt by Carol Andrews
Tarot of the Four Elements

The books, I got based on titles and reviews (basically), and the Tarot Deck... well - there's a story there in & of itself.

I got a tarot deck YEARS ago - I mean - like - 6? 7? YEARS ago. I really don't know WHAT I was smoking when I picked the deck up, because it's not really that attractive - and I KNOW that I big part of working with the Tarot is being comfortable with the images on the cards. Anyhow - my dislike of the deck was compunded by the fact that I saw THAT deck being used in a VERY old James Bond movie - and he used them to convince a virgin priestess to SLEEP with him, thus causing her to lose her powers. Yeah, real nice, eh? *sighs* Anyhow! That whole - bit - turned me off on Tarot for a while, and I would just use my Goddess cards kind of like an oracle. Ohh - those saved my ass a COUPLE of times in Geneva.
Anyhow - I've been REALLLLY craving a new deck lately, but I hadn't found ANYTHING that even vaguely tweaked me - so I spent oh - 3 or 4 HOURS today going through this website - http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/ - REALLY fabulous site. I loved the fact that they have PICTURES of 99% of their decks - AND reviews - so I could scan through them and picked the one I liked most. I had gone through - phhhh - 75% of the decks on that site when I stumbled on the Four Elements deck - and wow. I just fell in LOVE. Take a look at the Fool!!


Isn't that just - GORGEOUS???? I want to rub the card - oh, I SOOO hope they FEEL good too.

Sheeya.... went on a little longer than I had planned too!