Drowned, but not out!

I have been silent for several weeks.  It is not because I ran out of interviews to post, nor was it because I didn't feel like posting.  Next week, the interviews shall indeed resume, provided I have a few more responses! I still have a few of the questionnaires that I have sent out and have not gotten responses to.

No, my silence is due to one of the ickiest illnesses I've ever had.

It started, I think, as a sinus infection that decided my lungs were tasty, and moved in, then crept back up to my throat, then back into my head.  What do I have? NO idea.  It's being treated as an "Upper Respiratory Infection".  I have been feeling more human since I got treatment.  This is good, but it does remind me that I am quite behind in a good many things.

In the next week or so I do plan to completely disinfect my workspace, and anything I've so much as looked at in the past MONTH, which includes my supplies, my tools, my surfaces; everything.  I'm not about to pass whatever I may have had to anyone.  Of course, not even finished work will be safe from the cleansing; everything will get a cleaning and re-bagging in new plastic zippy bags just in case.

I'm going to take a moment out of interviews, soap-box babbling, and promoting handmade to do a little self-promoting, or at least let you in on THIS artist a little.

As a good many of you may know, I'm not highly religious, though if you HAD to put a NAME on what spiritual things I am or do, you could put the "Wicca" or "Pagan" label on me.  This does not mean I do not believe in other religions or have multiple beliefs – there are too many, and too much bad stuff has been done in the name of one god or another; it's as bad as watching two small-brained, sex driven men wave their penii around while screaming "Mine's bigger than yours!"  Come on, all of us know at least ONE person, male or female, that acts in this manner, including for the small things, like putting Monster Truck tires on a convertible, or .. what was it Tim Allen used to say? Put a Chevy engine on the vacuum cleaner, make it ride on, and then maybe he'd do chores?  Bigger is better? Faster is better?  Anyway, back to my point. (Yes, I have one!)  I can not really be defined by a religion, as my beliefs encompass way too many things from so many ideals and "systems" that I can only be defined as spiritual.

In light of that, Easter is coming up quickly, and while I was playing with some practice wire on my old jig (I didn't want to pull out any of the REAL stuff while I was sick…), I was trying clovers for St. Patrick's Day, and learned I can do some very pretty loopy crosses.  Discovering this made me rather ecstatic.  Most of my family is pretty big on Christianity, even though there are a couple of them take it a bit too close to the ones we all encounter who are clearly taking it a little too far (you know the ones, the ones we find screaming at children, telling them they'll all go to hell because their parents are heathens?) for MY personal liking.  (Luckily, the ones like that live far enough away that visiting is impossible – and I've not seen them since I was young enough to think Santa Claus still existed.)  It's not easy trying to find gifts for holidays I don't personally celebrate, and while Vernal Equinox is right around Easter, they don't always coincide.  Not to mention I doubt that any of my Christian family members would much appreciate a new crystal for their alter, or a new rune-carved candle, or even some of my not-so-simple jewelry designs.  Now I have something they can appreciate, that is appropriate for the holiday.

This leads me to wonder what else am I capable of?  What other things can I make that would be appropriate?  I know I have one friend who has asked me to make a Valknut necklace for him (and thus far I have not been successful, though I am still trying to find a way to do it!), what else is out there that I could do that would offer everyone of every faith a way to share their holidays, with the proper symbolism?

It's one of the things I have wondered if I should try my hand at – looking up some of the symbols that I might be able to make.  It will be a challenge.
Particularly if this post loses me a few of you, my readers, for even thinking about it – but I ask you to think on this – is it not better to be tolerant of everyone else's beliefs, even if that is not what you yourself believe?  I think it is, thus I am willing to look outside my own to create items encompassing others', so that the joy of the hand-made gift can cross borders, no matter who it is from or for, no matter what it represents – I want my work to be special, I want my work to be appreciated for what it represents, whether it be sacred or secular.

And now, I do believe I should head off to bed, as this post has drained a lot of my energy.

Look for my post next Wednesday – a new interview will be up then!

Thank you, everyone who reads my blog, and thank you especially for reading this post, if you have come this far; few people think I have much in the way of sanity when it comes to how I view the world of religions, but as with religions, to each his/her own, I am not one to judge.