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Gallifrey One 2019 Art Show & Wrap Up

Posted on March 13, 2019 by admin Posted in Finding your place in the Universe, Gallifrey One, The Life of a Bead Whore Leave a comment

fan on lax marriott carpet from kc dragonfly

Four days of fun, followed by con crud

It’s hard to believe it’s only been weeks since Gallifrey One 2019 ended. It seems like so much longer! And, as has become an unfortunate tradition in the 28 years Dennis and I have attended this wonderful convention, we both caught con crud. Hence in part why this update is so late. (<== picture me laid out flat for TWO DAYS from work, looking like this Gally carpet-worshipping fan I found on Twitter) The nasty little bug came and almost went TWICE, so I went and got antibiotics for it Monday.

It was once again a fabulous year of amazing entertainment, the highlight of which was the ribbon collecting war between Catherine Tate and John Barrowman. Barrowman, being the shy guy he is, came out on stage Saturday in a dress in an exploding tardis print in vibrant yellows and blues. Catherine showed him up the same day, demonstrating how long her ribbon trail was. She had a helper hold it on stage and went out into the audience trailing the end – which was easily two-thirds of the length of the ballroom! As you can image, her bragging about it being longer inspired all sorts of hysterically rude comments from John. Makes up for missing all the other programming outside the main ballroom!

tis4tardis art show premiere

What Next?

After all the sales have been tallied up and the thank yous done, I kicked into high gear. Even as con crud was trying to slow me down, my brain was non-stop forming plans for what to do next. While all the beading for the Gallifrey One 2019 Art Show was fun, it was also hard work towards a purpose. After a couple of years away, I really want to get back into jewelry full time and this time have more fun doing it. Yes beadwork of this intensity is hard work, but it’s work I LOVE. And when you love what you do, REALLY LOVE what you do, burnout doesn’t exist. When I finished the 5th Doctor’s bracelet, I jumped straight into beading 13s necklace without a single day’s break. When it was apparent I wouldn’t finish it in time, I went back to bracelet ideas and did one for the 11th Doctor.

I even set aside my fanfiction writing for a month because the beading bug wouldn’t let me go. And while I also dearly love creative writing I never regretted my decision to trade one fun project for another for a time.

Now the real work begins

5th doctor bracelet on KC Dragonfly So where – you might ask – am I going from here? Forward and up and never looking back. I can’t bead fast enough, there aren’t enough hours in the day to fuel this bead machine monster Doctor Who fandom has created. The beadwork for a new 5th Doctor bracelet is done – and it is a vast improvement over even the one that sold at the convention. See for yourself. The top one is the 1st version, the bottom bracelet the one that went into the auction (and sold).

Happily my rows were straighter and neater, there was less of a wobble to the overall bracelet and I fixed the orientation of both question marks so they face each other. It always bugged me they faced the same direction in the original design. And if ever there was a sign that doing what one loves is what we are meant to do in life, then improving one’s technique is the proof in the pudding!

And it’s beginning to show

5th Doctor Bracelet final by T is for Tardis on KC Dragonfly

It amazes me how much repetition and getting advice from experts can make a difference – and how fast it has manifested. This third version has really come so far in just a few weeks that it has me absolutely tickled. This is by no means the final product. That will come as I work on it this week. And I cannot wait to show you wonderful folks the finished product!

river song watch us run

Stick around and as River Song said, “You watch us run!”.

Turning 100 – and what it means to me

Posted on October 10, 2018 by admin Posted in Finding your place in the Universe, The Life of a Bead Whore Leave a comment

100 candles on 100 posts on KCDragonfly Haha, got you there, didn’t I? I’m not turning 100, but this website is in a way. It will be 100 blogs old as soon as I hit the “publish” button.

Life has been nuts the past few years. You only have to look at the gaps in my blog to see that. So when I wanted to start publishing posts again and wondered what to write about, it was easy when I saw this one you are reading now would be my 100th blog post.

I can’t say I’ve never published over a hundred blog posts before. I did achieve that on my creative writing archive, which now stands at 190. It didn’t take long to achieve – it’ll be four years come December. And as much as I love creative writing and storytelling, after I finished up writing a story synopsis for an ongoing story I want to start working on again tonight, I looked over at my beads and wanted to bead.

Beading is in my blood.

So Now What?

So what is the point of starting again this time? To be honest, I am not 100% sure. Most of us don’t know the whys beyond the hope that this time around we’ll get more out of doing a thing than the last time we tried it and didn’t quite succeed. For the more stubborn of the human race (guilty!), if we are lucky, we find the balance or the joy or the better way to get it right the next time around.

For me, it is to find the joy and share my creations with others.

And let’s face it, in this day and age of people starting and stopping a thing after a few half-hearted tries, there is precious little out there we all can count on still being around. But if you like my posts, like my designs, comment or haunt this blog and I know you are still out there, well, to me that’s worth it.

Happy 100th blog post, KC Dragonfly. I couldn’t have kept beading the last 35 years without you.

Kristine

The Day of the Moon

Posted on July 31, 2017 by admin Posted in ear cuff Earcuff, Etsy Store Pics, Finding your place in the Universe Leave a comment

Silver crescent moons and pale blue, pearl-like beads. The colors of our Sterling Silver Pale Moon ear cuff and Earring collection reflects the beauty of the moon. The series comes in many styles that can be mixed and matched.

Earrings that make your Mondays special days

Mondays can be days of chaos at the office, hustling kids off to school and planning projects tackle for the week, but your Moon-day evening is your own sacred time. Treasure it, especially if you are nocturnal or it’s just your wind-down-from-the-day-time at home.

Center and ground yourself and all that crazy energy so you can find a place of peace and serenity. For me, Saturdays are that time, especially when I can see a setting crescent moon on my back porch, surrounded by plants, trees, incense and candles. This time is for the feminine in anyone and everyone. Nurture it with what floats your boat on a moonlit evening.

Complimentary Colors that match

Make it made even more special when you dress for the occasion. Cool whites (like the moon), dark blues and blacks always harmonize with lunar energies. Even better when you can go to the beach and walk its sandy shores with the lulling surf in the background! Pick something loose-fitting that floats on the breezes and is comfortable. Take time to reach down to the sand or earth and dig your hands in, calm your mind and listen to your surroundings. It has much to tell us if we would only stop and listen.

The book Spell Crafts reminds us blue is for healing, peace, psychism, patience and happiness. The color of the water, symbol of the ocean, sleep, twilight and the sky. To the Zuni Indians it was used to represent the West, Land of the Dead – our final resting place, along with the setting sun. Whenever I can catch a setting sun and start out my time with the moon that night, it is always a good meditation!

To get special discounts on our products go here.
Find all our Sterling Silver Pale Moon Ear cuff and Earring collection here.

Be Gone, Ever so Boldly, Into the Light…

Posted on February 27, 2015 by admin Posted in Finding your place in the Universe 4 Comments

Leonard Nimoy tribute by John Brewer

The death of Leonard Nimoy today sealed the deal in two weeks already made bad by business and personal troubles. But somehow losing my largest website client, getting sick yet again, $600 car troubles and a client landing in the hospital seem trivial to losing someone so important to the entire world.

There are no words

What can I say that has not already been said by his family, fans and his fellow crewmates? Mr. Nimoy’s character of Mr. Spock on Star Trek was the only thing that kept me sane through my formative years. He and my father shared the same stoic outlook on life, the same calm exterior, the same dry sense of humor and love of science. “Spock” was there while my “weekend” dad toiled away at a swing shift job to keep our family fed. Science fiction was my anchor in a dysfunction world. And holding that anchor telling me to never give up was the father-figure of Leonard Nimoy’s character Mr. Spock.

When we don’t have good role models growing up, we often turn to whatever is in our environment as a substitute. If we are smart and lucky, we pick the good people. The ones who DO NOT give in to anger or hatred, vice or corruption, weakness or malice. I was so very, very lucky it was a strong character of morale fiber that was acted out so beautifully by Mr. Nimoy.

Nothing all week – not L.A.’s city’s business betrayal, not financial worries, not being sick was enough to make me break. It took the moment of silence when all of that nonsense stopped – that small stuff we all go through – and I realized I and the world had lost an irreplaceable treasure in the man and the character that had touched so much of the world and all of my friends. It was then and only then that I finally lost it and cried.

Live long and prosper, Leonard Nimoy. Be Gone, Ever so Boldly, Into the Light…

Aries Full Moon Lunar Eclipse: Shadow of Illumination

Posted on October 16, 2013 by admin Posted in Finding your place in the Universe, Foundational Studies, The Goddess and I Leave a comment

(Excerpt from the student research papers archived in the Coven of the Dragonfly Moon, Temple of Whocate)

We are entering the final eclipse vortex of 2013. The gateway opens this Friday night with a full moon burning bright in Aries, ruled by Mars, sign of cardinal fire, initiation, spring and action; and it closes in two weeks with the Scorpio new moon on 11/3, on the tail end of holy day, Samhain (AKA Hallow’s Eve or halloween.)

Of all the signs, few have more intensity than Aries and Scorpio and to weave them together with the power of an eclipse is nothing short of terrifying and illuminating, not to mention transformative in every way imaginable.

I will address Scorpio as the new moon draws closer, today is all about Aries. Among other things, Aries is not fond of sharing, she likes to lead, so I will give her my full attention now.

My mentor’s moon is in Aries. When she learned this, many years ago when her astrological horizons were just beginning to expand, it made so much sense. She had always related to her sun in Gemini, most who meet her can guess she is a member of the clan of Twins. But there was always something else that laid just below the surface and came out anytime a leader was needed or her independence felt threatened. Enter the revelation of an Aries moon. The moon in our astrology rules the feminine/emotional part of our chart, the energy we need to cultivate to meet our needs on emotional levels, it is also connected to karma, and where we spent the previous incarnation.

Following the lunar cycles, as well as honoring your own moon sign, are remarkable ways to reconnect with our feminine/intuitive/emotional cycles, bringing balance in a world that is greatly solar and masculine. Additionally, awareness of the lunar helps us to reconcile old karma and receive the support we need to move towards our soul purpose in this life.

The full moon is notorious for stirring up the waters of the world, including our unconscious. When an eclipse, a perfect alignment of earth, moon and sun, occurs, it is always within the full or new moon. The alignment on a full moon constitutes a lunar eclipse, which heightens, even breaks open, the lunar teaching already at hand.

An Aries Full Moon brings illumination and heat to the surface. It questions where we are compromising our autonomy, our truth, it also demands us to look at what we are (or are not) fighting for in terms of that truth. Aries is not a feminine sign, like Cancer or Taurus. Aries is ruled by Mars, God of war and without the appropriate guidance, the Aries lunations can trigger wars and violence as the natural imbalance and struggle between male and female is ignited.

When I say male and female, please know I do not mean man and woman. Both men and women have male/female energy and much of her, and others, work is geared towards a marriage of sorts between the sun/moon, yin/yang, action/reception, etc within each of us and the collective consciousness.

Therefore, an event like the Aries full moon, kissed by the penumbral lunar eclipse, is an amazing opportunity, on all levels and realms, to balance the warrior (Aries) the Goddess (Moon) and create healing.

Our guide this cycle is the element of fire. Fire meditation, burning ceremony, fire dancing, etc are all wonderful activities. The energy is so strong, though, that in order to receive it successfully, we do not want to over do. Aries brings out the agro in us all and something as simple as lighting a candle out under the moon, maybe doing some slow breathing and a few warrior yoga poses or stances from martial arts or Tai Chi, along with open meditation, can be just the ticket.

How can you honor the warrior and the goddess in a way that is receptive and supportive? How can you be open to receive the shadow of illumination being whispered to you on the lunar eclipse without letting our own ego and agenda muffle the message?

Our world hangs in a delicate balance today. Coming through the 2012 portals and the mutability of 2013, there has been dramatic upheaval personally, politically, environmentally and socially. The difference between tilting towards destruction and shifting into restructure is exactly the teeter totter game being played by Aries and Scorpio this month. But they do not play alone. We all have weight in this one, but it’s tricky. It starts in our hearts, in our emotional and subtle bodies. Don’t give into the desire for drama this week. Slow down, ground, listen, breathe. But do all those things focusing on the fire within, your passion, your flame, your power and truth. Fan it, play with it, dance with it, let it sing and write and cry.The illumination will come. So will the healing.

Many blessings to you, and all beings, on this sacred full moon.

Mercury Retrograde – Are You Prepared?

Posted on October 10, 2013 by admin Posted in Finding your place in the Universe, Foundational Studies, Magickal Crafts Leave a comment

Did you know the HMS Titanic sank during a Mercury Retrograde?

How about the Bush election fiasco in Florida with the infamous “hanging chads”? Mercury shifted out of retrograde at about 9 p.m. – just after the TV news stations wrongly predicted that Gore would win in Florida. The book, Mercury Retrograde, Your Survival Guide to Astrology’s Most Precarious Time of Year says, “For more than a month afterward the breakdown in voting systems bred chaos and court battles.”

Fascinating? Absolutely. A train wreck if you don’t know how to handle it? You better believe it.

The week leading into Mercury retrograde is often fraught with even worse problems than during the Retrograde itself. I got a grim reminder of this when my computer’s hard drive failed this morning. When I saw in my Facebook feed that the next one is coming up on the 21st of this month, it totally didn’t surprise me.

Most of my friends cuss out this time in the astrological cycle, railing that they can do nothing about it. Not true. While you can’t ALWAYS be prepared for the communication and mechanical train-wrecks that happen during this unstable wobble in the planet Mercury’s orbit, we CAN shift our activities to those that produce very positive results…reflecting on where our life is going, our business strategies, product lines, renegotiating and reviewing contracts of all sorts and so forth.

If you want to be prepared for this one and others that will hit approximately SIX TIMES EVERY YEAR, you better get started and read up on it. I highly recommend the book, “Mercury Retrograde, Your Survival Guide to Astrology’s Most Precarious Time of Year”! Get and get reading so next time you won’t get caught unprepared.

New Moon Purging

Posted on October 6, 2013 by admin Posted in Finding your place in the Universe, Magickal Crafts, The Goddess and I 2 Comments

Tonight is a night many Pagans observed the New Moon, having precious little time in our busy world to do it on the weekday. Tonight I attended a new group in Hollywood to see if we would be a good fit for each other. The New Moon is an introspective time, one to contemplate one’s inner work and the things that hold us back. It requires that we be honest with ourselves about our shortcomings and issues and work towards moving past them. In this Libra Moon, the New Moon right after the Autumn Equinox, the Children of Hecate especially, and many strong Pagans who follow other paths, begin the work of letting go of what no longer serves us – bad habits, tempers, intolerance and so forth. Even deeper, but easily discerned for those who are honest with themselves, are those things that bring out anger in us about others. This is a very clear sign of those things that bother us about ourselves – the shortcomings and failings we possess. Our physical reality, including our surroundings, our work – right down to the friends and lovers we take on in life – mirror our inside world. That is why they distress us so much to see them in others – they remind us of ourselves. Tonight we each charged a black candle with all the things that hold us back, the things we want to get rid of in preparation for Parting the Veil next month at Samhain. We were instructed to burn it down to the ground outside to symbolically release those negative things we put into them during ritual. I have not participated in a ritual with others for a long time, let alone done such intensive work. Tonight changes that. May your deep introspections be enlightening, beneficial and blessing. )O( Luna

The Blessings of the Autumnal Equinox

Posted on October 2, 2013 by admin Posted in Finding your place in the Universe, Foundational Studies, The Goddess and I Leave a comment

After the brutal heat we’ve been experiencing in Southern California for the last 4 1/2 wretched months, the Equinox brought it to an abrupt end this two weeks ago, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU, Most Blessed Goddess and God!

This time of year is only rivaled in my heart by Samhain/Halloween as the most sacred and blessed time to be alive. Besides the desperately-needed relief from the heat in the southwest, the profound change in weather signals a collective calm, an exhalation by Nature and her Children, a time to catch our breath between seasons, reflect on what has gone before in the year and what is to come.

In touching base with a local women’s New Moon Group, their leader sent out a beautiful reflection on how precious this time of year is and what it has brought into her life. She says, in part, “This is the gift of the Goddess in Libra. Libra, mutable air, sign of the scales, ruler of the autumnal equinox, is charged with bringing harmony and balance. In between the extreme seasons of summer and winter, she offers compromise and one more chance to balance our stores and our perceptions, before the year ends.

“Air is a mental energy and no task is more suited to cardinal air than that of reflection. Taking the time to look at the past year without criticism or judgment, to see it for the transformation it was and the potential for growth it created. Libra asks us to look at the present moment, as well as the past, with grace and gratitude. To see if we can really rest in our center as the year wanes, letting go of what no longer serves and turning our intent for the seasons ahead to what the Goddess is asking of us, right here and now, rather than what we think she wants.”

Like the author, my life was turned upside-down in the latter part of last year, continued to rocket ahead and change EVERYTHING in my life until this Equinox, where life, the Goddess and Libra are allowing me a breather to see where is has thrown me and where I need to go from here.

If you, dear reader, have encountered this as well, you will see what I mean.

Monday’s Lunar Pic – Silvery Moons

Posted on October 1, 2013 by admin Posted in Etsy Store Pics, Finding your place in the Universe Leave a comment

The moon and silver have been associated with each other since the first woman walked the cool Earth and gazed upon her quiet, serene beauty. Its lunar surface, reflected back to us in silvery light, was so obviously opposite from the garish light of the sun that she had to be its polar opposite; cool as opposed to the sun’s heat, quiet and as reflective as the water she drives in Earth’s tides. The tides that whisper in a woman’s womb each month, so of course the moon was feminine in nature. Wear her with quiet pride, with love, with the secret sign to all those women that know that Moon imparts all her Sacred Mysteries to her human daughters.

Thursday’s Pics – The Day of the Dragonfly

Posted on September 20, 2013 by admin Posted in ear cuff Earcuff, Etsy Store Pics, Finding your place in the Universe, Thoughts about Dragonflies Leave a comment

Thursday being a day sacred to the Old Ones Jupiter and Juno, Zeus and Hera and Thor, the colors associated with them made today’s Etsy store choices my favorite ones;

Green and Royal Blue. The Asymmetrical Midnight Spiral Goddess Earcuff and Earring Set and it’s matching earrings were absolute joys to make, rich with these “oil-slick” like colors. Their iridescence is hypnotic – I could make jewelry from these colors all day and never get bored of them. Their otherworldly glow extends even to tarot bag fabrics, which I can never seem to leave in the fabric stores when the catch my attention. But by far, of the ones to add to the store that give me a shiver of excitement and purest burst of love are the Dragonfly Priestess Series. Copper, dragonflies and swarovski crystals made these simple, little designs so magickal for me, I can scarcely form the words for how they touch me. Read their story in the store listing – they were truly made with the purest love for the art of jewelry-making I could ever express.