Under the red yawning: a pin's worth of magic

 "I think that even if illness was suddenly, blessedly removed as a factor in my life, I would still be at this same point in my journey: having reached the years of middle age, and recognizing that time is not infinite, I feel compelled to turn inward and focus my time and attention on truly mastering my craft. - Terri Windling

The Hawaiian Moon Calendar Kaulana Mahina offers me regular emotional and practical tune-ups. Though we can often go without seeing Mahina from my place in the woods, I know there are times to rest, re-view my actions and weed or re-tell the stories I am telling. These re-view times are called the 'Ole Moons, or Quarter Moon Phases four phases before Full Moon and three phases prior to the New Moon. The past four days and nights have been 'Ole. These 'Ole times are not a good time for beginning new projects if given the option. I have been re-viewing, resting and considering the stories I tell. There have been no weekly updates to The Safety Pin Cafe while I attended to the internal clockworks, till now...

Town is busy with visitors and regulars and my thoughts thick and worries weighty. I kept at the business of living and sought out a better feeling thought, and found it. There was a gift to find and wishes to be sent to loved ones. Even with so few spoons, I heed my astrologer's advice and sought the good for someone other than myself. As I crossed that sticky bog where the Worry Wart Clan lay their seductions, my silly-loving fingers found just the bit of magic I needed to pack a moveable feast for two: the gift for the loved ones! A happy orange lightweight and collapsible picnic basket and four checked cotton napkins will fit easily into a parcel bound for a town near Paris. Snacks and tiny star candles will start the moveable feast bound for France.

Keen with the scent of gift-giving the perfect traveling red awning under which I might take moveable feasts from The Safety Pin Cafe called "Here. Here I am." Wrapped in a sheaf of clear plastic at least a yard's length it stuck out of a basket of umbrellas. On a busy day in Salish (which was wearing sunblock instead of rain boots) disguised as a red golf umbrella with a fiberglass stem was the moveable awning for The  Safety Pin Cafe.



So ... Pale (pronounce that pah-lay with the accent on pah) the Border Witch and her friends are preparing to take The Safety Pin Cafe on the road. Magic is so often incited by the call of a Raven, or a call of the wild wanting something other than fear or worry. As I write I hear raven imitating donkey, and write him into the story.

"A pin's worth of magic will fit nicely under the yard of red nylon," The Gypsy was pleased to see that I had found my next notion for silliness and storytelling.

 "We will stay close to home to start," I continued, "exploring a comfortable outdoor venue to pitch our awning in August, tell some stories and meet some wonderful people."

 "Keep your eyes peeled for the yawning red awning disguised as a golf umbrella and in the meantime, visit us here," It was the silver-haired bird excited by the progress of magic in summer. He carried a small pouch dangling from his waistcoat pocket and when he flew from the fir into the sky beyond I heard a soft tinkling of metal ... from within it.

"Safety pins no doubt," replied The Once Faceless Woman. "Common magic for uncommon necessity."

Here and there, the stitches and pins piece together the craft of a lifetime of storytelling. When I am an old woman I will pitch a red awning and call on the Ancestors to sit with me as I continue the journey. Do stay tuned for an announcement about where to find us. Look for "Location, location, location" coming in August.

As the Silver-haired Raven said, "In the meantime, get to know us by reading here."

A hui hou,
Mokihana