Changes and More Tools

I've made a few changes to the blog. I've deleted the links to blogs that are either no longer active or that I no longer read. I'm going to try and follow people. There are several blogs I read but don't follow because Google can be really stupid. Just like Blogger can be really stupid. Ah, technology. Causes more problems than it resolves.

One of the changes I've made is to delete pages. I've never had good luck with the pages. Often I'm sure no one is reading that stuff so I'll delete information only to get an email a few days later asking what happened to my delightful page. I will put a new page up but it will be something entirely new- a page of items for sale.

I still intend to sell locally. I have mixed feelings about Internet sales. But, that is the venue to my market. I like having an online shop, but I don't like Etsy. There is no way to stand out from the one million other crafters. Etsy is a good idea but it has gotten too big. They also have more rules now and I really don't like being told what I can and can't do. The last time I had an Etsy store, I got in trouble for listing unmade quilts. My idea was to list blocks, then customers could place custom orders. As I didn't know what people would order, 12 blocks, crib size, blue, purple, black, etc I listed the blocks for the lowest price Etsy allowed. Etsy said my prices were 'too low' and warned me to stop offering to customize my wares. I could only list finished products. I understand the logic, but if I make ten quilts that no one wants to buy not only am I stuck with the quilts but I wasted my time. I closed the shop.

The beauty of selling on my own blog is nothing expires. There are no listing fees. There are no restrictions on what I can list. The bad things are I currently have no payment/shopping cart and the only people who will see my wares are the people who already visit my blog. I may start advertising the blog, but that is quite a ways in the future.

So that's where we are- transitioning. I have a very special tool to assist me with transitions.

This is my time cabinet. It hangs on the wall above my desk. I think it started off as a fruit crate because it has old food labels stuck to the inside of the lid. Or maybe someone used a crate to make a box. This was in my landlord's shed at my old house. When I was pregnant I intended to give it to my daughter. I was making little things for her and I would place them in the box. After the miscarriage I knew this had to be something very different or else I wouldn't be able to look at it.

As I tried to figure out how to use this box, I kept thinking in terms of three. Over and over again I thought of past, present, and future. Without the past, there is no present. Without the present, there is no future. But it's not that simple because when people look back they change their mind about what happened and whether it was good or bad. It is a fact that the past shapes the present. Often, rather than doing the simplest thing or the right thing, people will just do what they have always done. They can't think of any other way.

The bottom shelf represents my past. Right now I am working to heal my past. I would like for certain people to learn from past mistakes.

The middle shelf is my present and it is the most crowded because several factors are always in play. I thought for a long time about which Goddess to work with. I almost settled on Hecate because She is a Goddess of limits and time. I even call this Hecate's Cabinet although at the moment I am working with Grandmother Spider. She has nothing but time. She has woven the world. She understands how one strand leads to another and she understands that an old textile can be repaired with new threads to make it a better functioning object. Each time She weaves Her web She is planning for the future.

The top shelf is my future. Right now the only item I have is a small picture of a peaceful forest. This represents the land I must heal. Whatever goal I am working towards goes on the top shelf. As I move closer to achievement, I will move items to the second shelf. Once I reach my goal, I move items to the bottom. At that point, I give thanks. Always be thankful. You could have nothing.

And yes, I can move in the reverse order. I can take something from my past, redefine how I feel about it, use it to build a new skill, then let it shape my future.