This Blog Has Gone Death Star

Hello there. For a long time I've tried to compartmentalize all my interests, including how I blog about them. One blog for food. One blog for crafts. One blog for ... well, you get the idea. It was exhausting and I'm not doing it anymore. From hence forth, all my blogging will be done at La Vegan Loca. 

So if you are interested in my art, crafts, food, rants, writing, life, and general DIY dervishness, hop on over there. For now, this blog is done.

Fascists and Google Bombs

Attention writers, readers, and those that use language and value freedom of choice:

Amazon.com is "stripping the sales figures and accompanying rankings from GLBTQ books, erotica, and romance novels, particularly those with what they term "adult content." Quoted from this article over at the Smart Bitches Love Trashy Books site.

Authors are beginning to report that since having their sales ranking stripped, their books are no longer found in searches on Amazon.com.

What a buncha bullshit!

The smart bitches over at Smart Bitches have organized a Google Bomb:

Amazon Rank

I'm sure I don't have to spell out why this is important.

Do your part ... follow the link and repost it as many times in as many places as you can. The link should read: Amazon Rank

This is armchair activism at its finest!

Also, I just read that Powell's Books is considering organizing a GLBTQ book sale in response to Amazon.com's fascist asshattery.

Go Powell's!!!

Why is this important to me? Well, I love my freedom of choice and abhor censorship, of-course. But I also write erotica, which is one of the genres being de-ranked by Amazon.com. So yeah, this one's personal.

Grain of Sand

Over this past weekend, I attended a workshop led by Michele Jackson from Digital Dissonance on How to Create Your Own Tarot Deck. I've been wanting to try my hand at making a divination deck for years and I've been scared to dive in. I even listed it as one of my goals over at 101 Notes to Self (see #93 on the master list). So when I heard Michele was offering this class, I though it just may be the push I needed to get started.

I was not disappointed! Michele is a fantastic teacher with lots of tarot and art experience. She gives clear instruction and plenty of support along the way. She wants very much to inspire the artist in each of her students, just as she has been inspired in the past, and didn't even look sideways at me when I ended up producing a card that was clearly not of the tarot variety. Plus, she's just plain fun to be around.

Grain of Sand, originally uploaded by Marni Molina.

My card is called Grain of Sand and is 4x6". It shows a man walking through a swarm of locusts in the desert, just as calm as can be. In the foreground shines a giant pearl with a snake wrapped around it. As I was making it, I was thinking about the teachings of the Iron and Pearl Pentacles. More specifically, I was remembering Thorn (my spiritual teacher) speak about how it is the irritation of a single grain of sand (the irritation of the Work of the Iron Pent) that creates the pearl. I was imagining how irritating and frightening it would be to walk through a swarm of locusts, but this man seemed cool as a cucumber, dedicated to his walk ... his Work.

So the card is about Work and perseverance. It's about dancing with Iron before reaching for Pearl and about the snake of transformation that makes the transition possible.

I love my card. And now, dear friends, I am hooked. I have great plans for the stacks of old magazines and mailers I've been collecting and I can't wait to make more cards.

Feri Scarf

Feri Scarf, originally uploaded by Marni Molina.

I knit this scarf (no pattern, just back n' forth) for my trips to Denver, CO. It's pretty darn cold there for a San Diego girl, like me. Since I'm going there for Feri training, I decided to allow the tradition to inspire my knitting. The idea is that I'm wrapping myself in the love of the Star Goddess (the black) with witch stripes of blue fire thrown in for good measure, texture, and interest. I love how it came out and it's nice to have finally knit something other than a dish cloth.

Happy Summer Solstice

Eternal Sun, originally uploaded by Marni Molina.

"He who binds to himself a joy
Does the winged life destroy;
But he who kisses the joy as it flies
Lives in eternity's sun rise."

William Blake

Enlightened

Enlightened
Originally uploaded by Marni Molina

Finally got some time in for a little recreational photography. I love the way this one makes me feel.

Vegan "Starstruck Cake"

Starstruck Cake
Originally uploaded by Marni Molina

The first cake for my cake decorating class. Read about it here.