Miniature Altered and Hand Painted Enchanted Witch Cabinet with Altar Dedicated to the Goddess

“A Little Tale”…

Sadie was born into a large family. She had four older sisters and three older brothers. And, because she was the “baby”, each of them spoiled her, played with her, delighted in her, and loved her dearly.

Both of Sadie’s parents had been only children. When they were each growing up, they had no aunts, uncles or cousins. So, when they married, they both wanted a lot of children. They didn’t want their kids to miss out, as they did, on big family reunions, Holiday gatherings, and other extended family related events.

Both sets of Sadie’s grandparents were dead, so, it was just her immediate family, but that was enough for her. Holidays were bursting with fun and activity, vacations were larger than life, and the family enjoyed each other’s company enormously.

Life was good for Sadie. She was a perfectly happy and contented little girl. She thought of herself as luckiest girl in the world.

But, life is never static; nothing stays the same for long. It seems as though life likes to send change our way either to challenge us to make us either grow or wither. Why? Who can say?

Change, depending on the type of change life sends us, can be perceived as either good or bad. One could suppose, it is all in the way you look at it and deal it. It could be an opportunity for some or it could break the hearts of others. Maybe that is why so many people fear change, especially if your life, at the moment, is wonderful.

Sadie’s life did, in fact, change drastically. One day, when she was at her weekly ballet class, a tragedy occurred. Both her parents and all her brothers and sisters were at home. They were doing what families do… some watching TV, some reading, some talking…

While involved in their respective activities, the water line on the water heater broke and water exploded everywhere, extinguishing the pilot light in the unit. This released gas that quickly filled the entire house. The family did not readily notice the obnoxious odor of the gas until the entire house was filled with it.

When they did, the father jumped up, shouted for his family to get out, and ran upstairs to the water heater. Unfortunately, as he was running up the stairs, his shoes caused a spark on the carpet and the entire house, now filled with family and gas, exploded into the ether. No one or anything was left of the house, its inhabitants or contents.

When told of the news, Sadie went into shock and remained in a coma like state for weeks. She didn’t want to wake up. She was alone, all alone, and homeless.

Throughout her childhood, teen years, and young adult years, Sadie always felt incomplete and completely alone. She carried a huge hole inside of her, a hole that could not be filled by anyone or anything. Having experienced what she did as a child, losing all those she loved, Sadie changed as a person.

She was no longer the outgoing, loving, and happy person she once was. Instead, she had a nastiness in her… a mean and hateful bend. She never hurt anyone, but, felt overwhelming jealousy towards those with families; hate for those with love and attention; and resentment for the way her life turned out.

So, she leaned toward the dark and wanted, at times, to take the happiness away from others. She hoped this would fill that gigantic emptiness inside of her. She felt if the “score” were somehow evened, then her emptiness and aloneness, in addition to her lack of emotions, would go away.

Then, one day, when she was in her twenties, she was walking by the local bookstore on the corner and stopped to gaze in the window at the newly released books. One book in particular caught her eye, and for the first time, in so long, she felt something stir inside of her. She felt curiosity. She went inside and bought the book. When she got home, she sat down and, immediately, read it from cover to cover.

When she finished, she felt she was no longer alone. She felt one with Nature, with the Universe, and with the Goddess. She told herself that the Goddess had seen her in such pain and aloneness, so She called out to her to help her and bring her into Her arms.

That day was the beginning of Sadie’s new life. She read and learned all there was to learn and know about the Goddess and Her faith. Sadie no longer felt alone… she had a “mother” beside her and a “mother” who was watching out for her.

But, studying and learning her new faith alone and with the painful baggage she carried inside of herself, Sadie twisted many of the dogmas and concepts of her new faith and newly found “Mother”. Sadie still carried her feelings of resentment of others’ happiness and family and her desire to rob others of what she had lost. But, now with the Goddess by her side, she felt empowered and thought that maybe one day, with her new wisdom and knowledge, she might just even the scales of life.

When that day would be, right now she didn’t know, but she was confident she would know when the time was right to take from those what was taken from her.
-Marsha J. West, Author

(This story and my creation, this cabinet, may not be copied, reproduced, republished, edited, downloaded, displayed, modified, transmitted, licensed, transferred, sold, stolen, distributed or uploaded in any way without my written permission. My work does not belong to the public domain. Marsha J. West. All Rights Reserved.)

For Sale at my shop, Enchanticals, at Etsy.

www. Enchanticals.etsy.com

Perfect Time of Year for…

In late January, when I looked out my window at my backyard, I noticed the little wizard, who lives under my plumbago bush, scurrying about. He was carrying crystal balls and placing them gently in certain areas of the yard, after consulting the sky, moving other crystal balls from their current location to a new one, and bringing the remaining ones back inside his house. Naturally, I was more than curious, so I opened my patio doors and made my way over to him.

The little wizard is very powerful, wise, and very old, but still spry. As I am certain you know, wizards live many many years longer than humans, thus, the age much slower than we do.

His house, under my plumbago bush, was the house I made for our yard toad, but the little wizard commandeered it and claimed as his own. From the outside it looks like the one I made from an over turned clay pot with a hole in front so the toad could go in and out. I had decorated it with colorful flat backed glass marbles in bright colors and different colors of sea glass.

However, once the wizard moved in, it no longer remained the toad house I made or, for that matter, the toad’s house. The toad moved elsewhere. But, the house itself changed. Inside, the wizard’s home is gigantic with room after room after room, seemingly going on forever. Each room has its own designated purpose, such as the potion room, the alchemy room, the spell room, the invention room, and his library, which must have a zillion books stuffed on all of the shelves of the entire floor to ceiling bookcases. The books, in spite of all the shelves, still spill over onto chairs, the floor, and on his desk.  Being inside is rather mind boggling on many levels.

Well, for example, one of them is the fact that I am a human and, thus, human sized. But when the little wizard invites me inside his house, I fit.

Well, back to the crystal balls…

Approaching my little wizard friend, I noticed for the first time, he was dressed rather formally with a long purple velvet robe and matching tall wizard’s hat with a very wide stiff brim. Both were decorated with unfamiliar symbols, numerous gems and crystals, and cryptic drawings. He looked very regal.  The long robe dragged on the ground but didn’t hamper his rapid movements one bit.

He didn’t notice me.  And, to my embarrassment, I almost tripped him by stepping in his way as he was dashing back to his house.  Of course, that resulted in him seeing me.  His expression was hard to read, but it seemed to be a mixture of pleasure to see me and annoyance at my being there.

Unable to truly read his reaction and feeling uncomfortable about being there, as well as, the fact that he is a very powerful wizard, I did not want to tempt fate and spend the rest of my life as a spider, so, I decided to leave him to whatever he was doing. After all, it was really none of my business.

I cleared my throat, apologized for almost tripping him, and then very politely said, “I can see you are very busy and this is a bad time. I will catch up with you another day.” After saying that, I turned toward my house and started walking back. Part of me wanted to run, but I held my composure and walked slowly, head held high, towards my patio doors.

“Wait!” he shouted suddenly and very loudly which started me to such I degree that I stopped dead in my tracks, not even blinking an eye. I stood there waiting to be turned into a spider or some other insect, but instead, the little wizard said, “No, don’t go! Please come back. I apologize for my rudeness.” He then continued, “I could really use a break right now. Come join me for some tea in my library. I will get a nice fire going.”

Now, here comes that odd part I told you about… The next second I was inside his little house. I went from human size to his miniature size.  Just like that, feeling nothing.

I knew which of the many rooms his library was so I made my way to it and there he was with a beautiful fire going and two large old wooden cups brimming with pine tea, my favorite. The fire was especially beautiful, shooting off little flashes of red, blue, and then green. He gestured for me to be seated in “my” chair and, after I was seated, he sat down and sighed.  He sat quietly with his eyes closed, holding his tea near his face, seemingly deep in thought.

I sipped my hot tea and looked around the library at all the chaos...books everywhere, papers and scrolls here and there, scraps of paper all over the floor with notes on them written in foreign and ancient alphabets, spilled ink on the wooden floor… How could he or anyone, for that matter, function in such a mess?

We sat like that for a bit and then said, “You are, of course, curious about what I am doing, yes?” I nodded. He smiled. “That is one of the many things I like about you, Marsha, you have a curious nature like a cat! That is very healthy. It means that you love knowledge and learning.”

At first, when he posed the question about my curiosity, I could feel my face starting to turn bright red in embarrassment, but that passed when he finished his sentence. I didn’t want him to think me noisy but, it seemed, he did not.

“No need to be embarrassed, My Dear. It is not every day that you see me running hither and yon with crystal balls, moving them to and from specific locations.  I am not going to attempt to explain to you why I choose one location over another and what makes one preferable to another or why I keep moving the crystals balls. It will be too much for you to comprehend.” I took offense at that statement, but let it pass, because my curiosity got the better of my ego.

“You see, during this time in the Wheel of the Year, it is the ideal time to energize and infuse new crystal balls, re-energize used ones, and remove any negativity or evil from misused ones. At this time, Light starts to overcome Darkness. As you know, and what is it you humans call it, ahhhh, yes, yes, in December… the shortest day in the Wheel of the Year,  is the time when Darkness is losing its power over the earth and Light is increasing its power. So Light’s energy is at an all time high. Darkness does not wish to let go, so Light must use all the strength, power, and energy it build up during the Dark time and force itself, the Light, to take control and defeat Darkness. Each day, Light’s energy and power grows stronger and stronger and Darkness is defeated and relegated to a secondary position. “

“Of course, as we know, life is cyclical, thus, Darkness will once again defeat Light in Midsummer and the cycle will continue, as it has for eons. But now, Light’s energy will keep growing until it reaches its peak at the end of the month called January.

 So, I must get all these crystal balls energized, re-energized, and infused with Light’s full energy and power before its peak levels off….then wanes as the Year of the Wheel turns.  So, I must keep moving them and rotating them to capture the highest energy vibrations which Light emits as the Sun rotates its position in the Heavens. Now, there you have it, Child. Now, sit and finish your tea. I must get moving.  Time never stops…nor will it ever.”

As he was leaving, he turned and said to me, “Ahh, do leave the door open when you leave.” Then, he was off with a handful of crystal balls. Taking that as my cue, I quickly gulped down what was left of my tea and went to the front door only to find myself outside and human sized again.

~Marsha J. West, Author

(This  story, creation, and work may not be copied, reproduced, republished, edited, downloaded, displayed, modified, transmitted, licensed, transferred, sold, distributed or uploaded in any way without my written permission. My work does not belong to the public domain.)

Many of these crystals balls and scrying balls are for sale at Enchanticals. (www.Enchanticals.etsy.com)

Some are ones that have been sold. However, as of yet, I have not listed all of them in my shop. If you see one you like and it is not yet listed, just convo me at Enchanticals at Etsy and tell me which one you are in need of buying.

Be Enchanted Always, Marsha