Freethinkers Team on Etsy

Freethinkers is a team of open-minded, free-thinking, non-judgemental individuals on Etsy. Actually, it's a great team to be in, with friendly, talented and helpful members and I'm very glad that I found them. In this post I would like to share with you some of their beautiful creations.
For more info about the team, this is our website: Etsy Freethinkers

Double Whiplash Snake Ring (Spiral Dance) by ClockworkCrow on Etsy

Oceana the Swimming Mermaid Bracelet by beachcomberscove on Etsy

Compact Purse Mirror by ClayCenter on Etsy

Dancing Shaman Crow by BlytheHorman on Etsy

Bookmark Crab Agate Orange and White Large Stones by DesignedByLucinda on Etsy

Mylitta the Sumerian Goddess of the Moon and Fertility by chatnoirstudios on Etsy

Warm Wool Fingerless Gauntlets in Forest Colors by whimsyfish on Etsy

Halloween Steampunk Opera Coat by ManicManx on Etsy

The Farm in Winter Pastel Print by MarthaHorman on Etsy

All Purpose Bag by TexstyleTextures on Etsy

The Weather Lore

♥Clickable Image♥

Our ancestors had no other means to predict the weather than the observation of nature and of signs that seemed to anticipate certain meteorological phenomena. A huge volume of weather lore was accumulated over the centuries, some of it correct and some false. I give you a few rhymes here , as an example:

               Like a red morn that ever yet betokened,

Wreck to the seaman, tempest to the field,

Sorrow to the shepherds, woe unto the birds,

Gusts and foul flaws to herdmen and to herds.

Venus and Adonis - Shakespear

 

When the wind is blowing in the North

No fisherman should set forth,

When the wind is blowing in the East,

'Tis not fit for man nor beast,

When the wind is blowing in the South

It brings the food over the fish's mouth,

When the wind is blowing in the West,

That is when the fishing's best!

No weather is ill, if the wind be still. 

Seagull, seagull sit on the sand.

It's never good weather when you're on land.

When halo rings the moon or sun, rain's approaching on the run 

When windows won't open, and the salt clogs the shaker,

The weather will favour the umbrella maker!

A cow with its tail to the West makes the weather best,

A cow with its tail to the East makes the weather least

A summer fog for fair,

A winter fog for rain.

A fact most everywhere,

In valley or on plain.

When sounds travel far and wide,

A stormy day will betide.

 

If clouds move against the wind, rain will follow.

A coming storm your shooting corns presage,

And aches will throb, your hollow tooth will rage.

Mysterious Purple, Innocent Pink, Serious Black - The Character of Colors

Colors are associated with every possible aspect of human life. Psychology, fashion, seasons, genders, spirituality, opposites, the list is endless. The semiotic power of colors is very strong and it often communicates with humans on the subconscious level. The question is  whether the attributes of colors were acquired through their constant interaction with humans or there's actually an innate personality in them, which we pick up vibrationally.

Pink in its brightness and softness is considered a girls' color. Some of its associations are innocence, tenderness, femininity, spring, cuteness, love and many many more along these lines. Black on the other hand, doesn't let any room for funny or light connotations. Severe, mysterious even dangerous, the color of night and darkness, the color of the unknown.

Another mysterious color is purple.  In ancient times only the wealthy could wear purple, as it was produced by a seashell that only the rich could afford. So it became identified with royalty. It later became a color of mourning, much like black, so it was unquestionably adopted by "dark" movements, like the gothic subculture or by practitioners of magic. 

Wisdom, psychedelia, spirituality, mystery, all connected with purple. A color that many call a favourite. 

NASA & Etsy Space Craft Contest: To the Moon and Beyond

We were so very honored to be featured on Etsy's Blog yesterday, in an article about a great contest inspired by Space and NASA's space shuttle programs! Unfortunately the contest is open only for US residents, but we are eager to see the amazing Etsy artists' designs that will participate!
You can read the whole story here:
http://www.etsy.com/storque/etsy-news/nasa-etsy-space-craft-contest-to-the-moon-and-beyond-10691/

Tips and stories about missing cats

by zephi

I often read on the etsy  forums about cats that go missing. As I have 10+ cats and several incidents have happened over the years, allow me to give you a few tips in case your cat's gone missing:

1)Cats tend to hide if they are scared or if they find themselves in an unfamiliar environmet. Often they hide under cars, but in many cases they climb INTO the car's engine and that can be very dangerous. Make sure you check every car that's parked around the house. 

2) They hide on the tops of trees. I remember a time when one of my cats was nowhere to be seen for two days. It was mating season and I finally found her hiding up on a tree, while three male cats were waiting for her to come down! 

by SuzeesJubileeZ

3) Look for the cat VERY late at night or VERY early in the morning, which means from 3 am - 6 am. That's when it is more silent and the cat has a better chance to hear you calling or you hear the cat calling you :P Just call her once and then sit there and listen for a few seconds very silent and still. If the cat is locked up somewhere it's very possible that you can't hear him/her easily.

4) If you feed your cat dry food, take a bowl with you a make as much noise with it as you can. Cats know the sound of dry food falling in their bowl and they will surely be tempted to come out!

5)If your cat is missing for a couple of days, make sure you check the basements or storehouses of your neighbours! Three years ago one of my cats was missing for 3 days and I found him in the basement of a house that was uninhabited. Someone was interested in renting the house and I guess my cat slipped in when the realtors were showing the house. I think it's a miracle that I found him! And 6 months ago he did it again, in another house. Thank God, I found him again.


by clingingimages

 6)Maybe it's a myth, but they say that sometimes old cats leave when they sense their death is near. I can attest to that. My 18 y.o. cat disappeared one day, never to return. She had never left the house before and I kept looking for her for many days, but she never returned.

7) If you male cat is not neutered, he may follow other males to nearby neighbourhoods or he can fall in love with a female and have no eyes or ears for anyone else (yourself included). So make sure you neuter your cat if you don't want him to disappear for days in mating seasons.


 8) Last but not least, if a couple of days pass and you still can't find your cat, never give up hope! In many cases cats have come back even after a couple of weeks. If your missing cat does come back, but she seems starved and dehydrated, contact your veterian. DO NOT feed her insane amounts of food, most likely you will cause health problems. Many thanks to Rita aka alatsupplies on Etsy for this important addition!

The Surreal Collection - Are you sure this is an egg?

Talented artists, inspired by surrealism.

Dolls

Dolls are not only one of the most ancient toys, they have also been used for other purposes as well. Decorative dolls are very common  and we found them in a variety of forms, from cute and whimsical to spooky and sinister. Ritualistic use of dolls has also been frequent in various spiritual practices, like the well - known voodoo dolls.
There are numerous talented artists on etsy, who create dolls and I'd like to share some with you in this post.

The Angel Doll by paulanerhus on Etsy.

Cat Trio Shelf Sitters by thecattsuglybabies

Miniature Kokeshi Doll by by Efi Warsh

And another angel by Baggaraggs - Primitive Folkart Angel

Gwynn, The Fairy by Cooperdolls

And a cute Little Lady Apparel by Gingermelon

The Spiral

This is our new creation, a spiral handflower and for those interested in symbolism there's a short essay from my old blog about the spiral symbol .

If you are interested in more spiral themed jewelry you can also check out AnnukCreations' Shop for many elegant and colorful designs, like this one!

THE SPIRAL AS A SYMBOL

The Spiral is one of the most ancient symbols, which appears again and again since prehistoric times in various cultures, spread all over spacetime. Those ancient people noticed the spiral pattern in the world around them,  in the form of a snail, in the spiral growth of trees, in the movement of the Sun. They intuitively knew that the spiral was the basic symbol of evolution and expansion, but also of death and doom, thus they started painting it on murals or carving it on wood and rock, in an attempt to venerate the archetypical motif that surrounded them in numerous forms. 

The Spiral of the Goddess: One of the most popular symbols of the Celts , the Spiral or the Triple Spiral (Triskelion) became the symbol of the Goddess and of the threefold nature of the Divine. It was related with femininity and with the three stages of womanhood: Maiden, Mother, Crone. Another interpretation would be that of  the three realms of the material world: Land, Sea and Sky. Numerous variations of the spiral are found in paganistic and neopaganistic representations. Today, with the revival of paganistic religions, spirals are a common theme in jewelery, clothes and paintings.

The Spiral of Time: The Spiral signifies infinity, nature's cycles, the alternation of seasons (spirals were often used as solar calendars) and of cosmic cycles in eternity. In a few words, it is a symbol of Time. Time was born along with the universe. Its dimension is inseparable from the three dimensions of space. The big bang theory suggests that the universe was born from a tiny single point with infinite energy. When that point exploded, it gradually created the reality that we see around us, which is ever-expanding, like a spiral. If this expansion lead to perfection or to chaos, nobody can tell. And since we are all made of stars, as Moby rightly noted in his song, we can understand why some symbols talk directly to us,  in a molecular level and the vibrations of their thundering meanings can reach the depths of our psyche.

The Labyrinth: In a spiral we can see the image of a labyrinth. The labyrinth is an allegory of the spiritual journey , from the outer world towards inner silence or God,  like Dante's Inferno and the Minoan Labyrinth.  A descent to the unknown aspects of the soul. As we move along the curves of the spiral and through its twist and turns, which represent various trials, what happens is that we come face to face with the same things in life, but each time from a different angle.But nobody can guarantee that the journey leads  always towards enlightment. An expanding spiral eventually ends up in chaos, like the Tower of Babel. The dead ends of the labyrinth can become discouraging, dazzling and overwhelming and many times we find ourselves back where we started or even worse, trapped, with no sense of direction. 

The Spiral and the Serpent: We can't help but notice the similarity between spirals and serpents. Serpents were widely worshipped in ancient times. The dragons and nagas in China and India, the minoan serpent Goddess in Greece, the nordic  Jormungandr, the feathered serpent  Quetzalcoatl of the Aztects , the rainbow serpent in Australia, the python cult in Africa and so many others. Among them, the famous greek - egyptian Ouroboros: the serpent that eats its own tail, symbolizing rebirth through self-death, immortality, the cycle  and the totality of existence, Jung's cosmic force. There's a very rich tradition that refers to serpent cults, sometimes seen as benevolent, other times seen as evil, like the serpent of the Bible. The serpent often guards something of  great value, a treasure or a power that must not end up in the wrong hands, like kundalini or the tree of knowledge in Eden. In alchemy the spiral symbolizes the cyclical functions of nature, the androgyne, the caduceus. Even the Yin/Yang symbol, the swastika, the greek meander, are  variations of or elaborated spirals. 

The minoan Spiral: In ancient Greece, the spiral was associated with the bull, which symbolized fertility (bull's head and horns look similar to ovaries). We often see spirals on  amphoras or murals, as it was a very common decorative pattern. The interconnected spirals often symbolized water and the sea. Another interpretation of the interconnected spiral is that of the equinoctial points. 

The hypnotic Spiral: Hypnotists use  the pattern of a spinning spiral  to induce trance states. The  repetitive image causes the noise of the conscious mind to subside and makes it more receptive. We regularly see the spiral as the most distinct symbol of hypnotism.
The spiral expresses itself in numerous forms in nature: horns, shells, plants, galaxies, even in the DNA.  

Birth, death, expansion, chaos, symmetry, eternity, infinity, renewal, the constant flux of things are some of  the notions that spirals communicate to us, as they appear in a vast array of manifestations in the microcosmic and the macrocosmic level since time immemorial.  Perhaps, the recurring pattern of the spiral holds a key to the understanding not only of the universe and but also of our soul.

An updated version of this article can be found here: here

The Corporate Collection

October 16th is Boss's Day and we thought that those of you who have a great boss may want to offer a gift. Or  you may be your own boss, so why not give that gift to yourslef! Take a look at what these great artists have to offer for Boss's Day!