Dancing Down the Moon

The Curiously Sacred Mint

I tend to get weird obsessions.  The latest?  Altered mint tins.  Since Altoids became so popular tins of mints have become a staple of the grocery store candy rack, and they come in all sizes and flavors; I've used a few to carry pills in my purse over the years.

Recently though I stumbled across the altered tin phenomenon.  Apparently making cool things out of mint tins is all the rage among the DIY and crafty crowd.  Who knew?  The most popular hack is apparently the survival kit, but Instructables.com has myriad things you can do with an Altoids tin, raging from the useful to the wacky:

Altoids Tin Watercolor Paint Box

Altoids Tin Emergency Bread Maker

Bicycle Survival KitTiny Catapult

Anti-Boredom Kit

Tackle Box - (I am of course against fishing but I have to admit I would have loved one of these as a kid.)

What really interests me, however, are the artistic tins, especially those used as miniature shrines and altars or for other sacred purposes.  With my newfound attachment to Flickr and a bit of Googling I've been able to peek into the altered (and altar-ed) tins of lots of extremely talented folks.

(Click on the pictures for more views and full information from their creators.)

1 ~ A Besamin Container, which holds spices for the Hebrew Havdalah ritual.

The cover is hand-embroidered. 

2 ~ A portable smudge kit from a site that has several pretty and simple ideas for Buddhist tin shrines--including how to make a Tibetan prayer wheel from a round Altoids tin.  I also like the idea of putting a set of magnetic poetry words for mantras and meditations in a tin to carry along. 

3 ~ A lovely wee shrine featuring a compass and a bottle of shells (origins unknown).  This blogger also created an adorable kitchen shrine out of a salt container.

4 ~ Kwan Yin shrine; this artist has a set of several on her Flickr photostream, including a fantastic shrine (also to Kwan Yin) made out of a sardine can. The only problem with that one is, it isn't as portable as one you can close; that's why I like the altars made of mint tins, as they have attached lids.   

5 ~ Portable meditation kit from Instructables.com. 

6 ~ Goddess Shrine - a polymer clay goddess figure inside with a mirror and the phrase, "The Goddess is inside you and She is smiling!"

7 ~ Last of all, a wee Green Tara shrine of my own creation.  I had a ginger Altoids tin laying around that I couldn't stand to throw away, and all the other examples inspired me to try my hand at the craft.  (You can see pics of the outside and details with notes on Flickr.)  On the left are two mantras I often use in my practice, with a hand-drawn lotus flower; on the right is an image of Green Tara surrounded by amber chips, flower-shaped beads, tiny shells, and stones.  Her mantra is printed in Tibetan at the bottom.  The shrine holds a tealight and a small lighter.

(Note:  I did not draw the Tara image; it's a color copy of a gorgeous print I bought from DeviantArt. I couldn't bear the thought of actually hacking up the print, and since I have no intention of selling the shrine I figured it would be better to use a copy.  I'm sure this is non-kosher for art, but at least I didn't just gank the image off DA.)

Now, of course, I'm hooked on making these little guys.  I was thinking it would be cool to make a travel spice box like the Besamin--north of Texas apparently nobody's ever heard of cumin. 

Support Your Local Library

If there's anything more symbolic of the love of knowledge and freedom of information than the public library, I can't think of it.  My entire life I've wandered around the tall metal shelves full of volumes in bewildered awe that I could just pile up a stack in my arms and take them home--for free!  As often as I wanted!

I was a young geek without much of a social life--I had the loser trifecta of intelligence, sensitivity, and fat that rendered me pretty much un-dateable all through my wonder years.  Like many kids of that ilk I spent long hours curled up in the quiet corners of the library--at school and in town.  I worked in the libraries in junior high and high school, and was one of the first to hand in my summer read-a-thon sheets with every line filled with books I'd read.  Our town library was tiny, but to me it was a paradise of fantasy worlds and far-reaching knowledge.  I was known for leaving the place with a stack of books too heavy to carry.

I still do that, actually.

When I first wandered into the Austin Public Library's Faulk Central branch, I nearly fell over.  I'd never seen anything like it.  Three floors...three floors of BOOKS!  The entire first floor was dedicated to fiction!  There were aisles and aisles of philosophy, religion, nature, cookbooks, languages...my head spun. 

Better still, I could check out any subject I wanted, absolutely no charge, and not have to worry about hiding the books under my mattress for fear of parental discovery.  I didn't have to worry about the librarian telling my father that his daughter was loitering over the four books on sex, or worse...shhh...the occult shelf. 

The best part?  Years later, the APL carries my books.  I'm in a freaking library.

The mind boggles.

Bookstores may be cleaner, and they may have lattes, but the public library is still one of our most precious renewable resources. 

Where else can you go and, for the price of parking, come home with an entire grocery sack full of books that you can keep for three weeks and then take back and get all new ones?

(Okay, actually, the books I got yesterday cost me $111.65.  The parking was 65 cents, but on the way there I got a traffic citation for running a red light, which I totally thought was still yellow, but Officer Large Man With a Gun disagreed.  So it was a kind of expensive library trip but it was pretty much my fault.  Obey traffic laws, kids, et cetera.)

Just for fun here's a peek at what I checked out yesterday during my library orgy.  I hadn't been there in months, and it's enough of a drive to Faulk that I like to make it worth my while.



Left column:

A Woman Alone: Travel Tales from Around the Globe
The Gallery of Regrettable Food by James Lileks
Altars by Denise Linn
In a Spiritual Style by Laura Cerwinske and Matthew Fuller
The Bollywood Cookbook by Bulbul Mankani
How to be a Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson

Right column:

Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress by Susan Jane Gilman
More Sand in my Bra (Traveler's Tales series)
A House in Fez: Building a Life in the Ancient Heart of Morocco by Suzanna Clarke
Voices of the Earth: The Path of Green Spirituality by Clea Danaan
The Mystic Hours by Wayne Teasdale
India: The Definitive History by D. R. Sardesai
Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven by Susan Jane Gilman
Secrets from an Indian Kitchen by Mridula Baljekar

The Journeys That Change Us

I know, I know, two posts in one day! It's not a sign of the Apocalypse, it's a sign that I found something amazing and had to share it.

This time-lapse video shows Cristoph Rehage's 4,500 km walk across China, which took him a year--and you get to see the impressive beard that goes with it.  I've never traveled much, although I hope to in the coming years, but even the shortest trip can transform us.  Think of all the journeys you've taken, and how they grew more than just hair.         

The Longest Way 1.0 - one year walk/beard grow time lapse from Christoph Rehage on Vimeo.

Altar-ed Spaces

Your home is an outer expression of your inner world.  I've found that if I am surrounded by chaos it's difficult to maintain any sort of emotional or spiritual equilibrium.  Sometimes all it takes to live a more grounded, more orderly life is bringing some order to your surrounding environment.

I'm lucky--I live alone except for my two fuzzbutts.  I love living by myself; I have total say-so in what goes on the walls and shelves as well as the images, smells, and sounds that surround me.  On the downside that means that there's no one but me to take out the trash, do the dishes, and clean the cat box--but I'd much rather clean the cat box myself than have to put up with someone touching my stuff or worse...leaving the kitchen sponge wet in the bottom of the sink.  *shudder*

After living in my current apartment for five years I finally decided to hell with the deposit; it was time to paint.  I've made my way through the place room by room, starting with the kitchen, then the bathroom, and this past week the bedroom.  (It does of course make life much easier having a best friend who loves to paint walls.)

You can see the results of my efforts on my Flickr photostream, of course (including before-and-after pics of the bedroom and pics of the kitchen and bath, as well as closeups of my altar), but at the moment I'm proudest of the bedroom, still something of a work-in-progress but already making me very happy.  It's amazing how something as simple as moving the bed from the middle to the corner, painting the walls a dark olive, and hanging lanterns and beads can completely transform the energy of a space.  I've always kept my house altar in the bedroom, and now it has lots of space around it for me to sit and meditate.  Moreover, before, I barely wanted to sleep in the room, and now I love to just lay around on the bed and just...be. 

My decorating style is a sort of IndoPagan Whorehouse Eclectic, with a lot of Indian influences.  I'm  deeply drawn to the style and architecture of India, where every square inch of buildings, furniture, and fabric is adorned, carved, or painted in some way to reflect a loving and spiritual attention to detail that we in the West simply don't pay to our homes.  India is a country both poor and rich--most of its people live in poverty, but their culture is a deeply layered tapestry of religious and historical influences.  When all you have are four walls and a chair and an appreciation for beauty, you make those four walls and chair as lovely as you can.  I try to keep that in mind, and place items around my house with care and attention instead of just smacking a candle here and a poster there. 

A lot of my furniture and artwork comes from my own history; I have paintings by my grandmother, altar bowls from a friend in Europe and my mother's trip to Hawaii, and crafts I created myself.  

In the process of redecorating I've been cutting back on the sheer amount of crap I've collected over the years--if it's not beautiful or doesn't have personal meaning to me, out it goes! I'm learning not to hold onto objects for the sake of having objects, but to let them pass on to people who might give them better homes.  And as I clean out closets and the Goodwill donation pile gets bigger and bigger, I feel more and more free, chipping off bits of the past and carrying them out to the curb where they belong while keeping those treasured memories that matter.

Of course, now that I have all this extra space, clearly I need more books.  There's always room for more knowledge, right?

If like me you love the beauty of Indian design, check out these two blogs, where I got dozens of ideas and heaps of inspiration for my home:

An Indian Summer

Rang-Decor

Link: Great Tips and Tricks for Going Veg

I'll have posts of real substance in the next couple of days, but in the meantime I thought I'd post a link to this weblog entry that gives some great ideas about cooking vegetarian if it's not something you're used to, or looking at meals differently from the "meat and two veg" approach we tend toward in America.

Giving up Meat for Lent?

Testing, Testing...

I'm trying out Lulu.com to see if I like their services for my upcoming e-cookbooklet which will hopefully be out next week.  As a test run I'm offering the tree Goddess drawing that I posted here a while back as an art print, available in 8x10" or 11x14" prints with or without a frame.  I believe it starts at $14.95.  I'm working on getting an uploadable version of the Tree of Hope piece as well, and I'll let you know when it's available.

If you do order one, let me know how things go with Lulu, and what you think of the quality of their products.  I hope it works out, as I like the idea of being able to sell a variety of different media from one place. 

Reaching by Dianne Sylvan

Another Bit of Art

Here's another bit of art I made this past week.  It doesn't have a title, but was done in Prismacolor and ink, started last Saturday while I was manning the front desk at NiaSpace.

Hmm...this art business is getting to be a habit.

Resources for the Holy Puppy

As promised, here is a list of books and DVDs that have been helpful to me in my struggles with body image, spirituality, and identity. 

There are dozens of books out there on these subjects, but these are the ones I have read, loved, and got a lot out of.  I’ve read plenty of others that I don’t wholeheartedly recommend. One of these days I'll compile a list just of cookbooks (trust me, those are vitally important in learning how to nurture your body, as they give inspiration for what can be an extremely dull and depressing thought--cooking for yourself).

And of course I would recommend my own book, The Body Sacred.

Most of what’s here is geared toward women; titles with a (*) are those that are non-gender-specific.  Those I’ve found especially moving and life-changing are in bold.

Spirituality and the Body

The Body Sacred by Dianne Sylvan
*Crafting the Body Divine by Yasmine Galenorn
*Sexual Ecstasy and the Divine by Yasmine Galenorn
Eating in the Light of the Moon:  How Women Can Transform Their Relationships with Food Through Myths, Metaphors, & Storytelling by Anita Johnston, PhD
Aphrodite’s Daughters: Women’s Sexual Stories and the Journey of the Soul by Jalaja Bonheim
*Sweat Your Prayers: Movement as Spiritual Practice by Gabrielle Roth
*Rites of Pleasure: Sexuality in Wicca and NeoPaganism by Jennifer Hunter
*Moving into Ecstasy: An Urban Mystic’s Guide to Movement, Music, and Meditation by Amoda

Self-Esteem

The Fat Girl’s Guide to Life by Wendy Shanker
The Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler
Cunt: a Declaration of Independence by Inga Muscio
I’m the One that I Want by Margaret Cho
Fat!So? Because You Don’t Have to Apologize for Your Size by Marilyn Wann
Kiss My Tiara: How to Rule the World as a Smart-Mouthed Goddess by Susan Jane Gilman

Food, Health, and Fitness

Real Fitness for Real Women: A Unique Workout Program for the Plus-Size Woman by Rochelle Rice
*Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser
*Don’t Eat This Book! By Morgan Spurlock
*Mad Cowboy by Howard Lyman

Fiction

Good in Bed by Jennifer Weiner (I'm rereading it right now, as a matter of fact--it makes me cry every time.)

Film

Margaret Cho: I’m the One that I Want and Notorious C.H.O.
The Truth About Cats and Dogs
Last Holiday (anything with Queen Latifah in it, actually)
Real Women Have Curves

Have anything you'd like to add to this list?  Leave it in comments.

Recommended Reading List - Religion/Spirituality

Obviously I recommend my own books, but the following have the Sylvan Stamp of Approval as well. 

I'll be posting a separate list of favorites in other categories.