Howdy! I mentioned a couple of weeks back about how, while filming a video of my garden for TikTok, I caught footage of what, to me, sounds like my compost bricks whispering "look at me." For a moment there I, an agnostic leaning atheist, pondered whether my garden was haunted or perhaps hosting a member of the fae. Now, I'm no strangers to hauntings, but I don't think I've seriously considered that faeries might be real since I was 13 years old, and reading Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer. Yes, the boy genius produced a fairly reasonable argument. If every civilization has lore regarding little people or similar with abilities surpassing our own, mightn't that imply the existence thereof?
Are there other explanations? Sure. Perfectly human little people are common enough, and scientific achievements would appear as magic to those baring witness to such for the first time. And every world power seems to acknowledge UFOs at this point, regardless of the changing terminology thereof, and the USA Congress had a trial regarding the federal coverup of evidence of extraterrestrials (or multidimensional beings) in the past year. It's a not a great stretch of the imagination to think "little person with super powers," and make the connection to aliens.
When I was researching for my YA dark portal fantasy novel, Stem & Stone, I read up on the star people of Alaska (much harder to google for in 2024 than it was in 2018, oddly), UFOs, USOs (unidentified submersible objects), and the hidden people of Iceland. Little blue persons with big eyes living under a mountain don't sound so very different from the tiny grey persons with big dark eyes in their flying saucers in the sky, doesn't sound so different from the saucers appearing from the vastly unexplored ocean depths, doesn't sound so different from the hidden people the Icelandic government acknowledges and regulates with regards to.
I've found Icelandic traditions regarding the hidden people charming, while that of the Christian theocratic notions of the USA government irksome. This may be partially due to ignorance. I envision that the Icelandic government uses tradition as maintaining a balance between societal progression, the expansion of cities and the manufacture of necessary homes and infrastructure, with the natural world, using this somewhat vague, organic faith, as a means of orchestrating a sense of harmony. Is it more arbitrary than that? I hope not. Whereas the Christian leadership of the USA government puts women's health as risk and denies the excessive, ever multiplied, influence humanity has over nature. When I used to tattoo, a tense period from 2013 to 2016 that I hope never to repeat (Please be nice to your tattoo artists), I shared this fun fact with a tattoo-artist peer, that the Icelandic government takes the hidden people into account before expanding into wild areas, and he was horrified that a government would allow superstition to dictate policy. And while I too share that stance, mine caries more bias against organized religion than mere superstition, evidently.
All that to say, I don't know if the fae visit my garden, whether interdimensional beings briefly took interest in my plants, or not. My instinctive reaction was to first check for a history of mysterious deaths at my address, finding none, and while filming, asking pertinent questions, but never hearing said voice again, to err on the side of caution. First thanking my garden and any resident fae, then finding how that was heavily discouraged, I looked into how they might be appeased. The idea is that in thanking the fae, you claim to owe them a favor, and without ample communication, won't have control or even knowledge of how that is called in—that they have a completely separate moral standard than humanity and you do not want to be in their debt. The suggestion was that I leave out an offering of respect and acknowledgment, of spices, honey or something shiny, and wouldn't you know it, I chose to abide by this Western Eurocentric tradition. I placed a teeny tiny glass bottle, the size of a thimble, of cinnamon, and a shiny glass bead on the window sil just in case.
It did occur to me to ask why the fae, any such supernatural being, would take interest in my garden to begin with, and I landed on the concept of offerings. See, I compost everything that can naturally be broken down that my dogs won't dig up. My garden is lined with bricks beneath which I've dug pits where I place what produce has expired. Eventually I dig the broken down remnants up and sprinkle that soil mixture around the garden, covering any exposed roots. The yard naturally has clay soil so I'm always trying to both feed the plants and gradually transition to a softer, more easily dug soil. The exceptions vary, but there are refuse I'll simple throw overtop the ground where needed, including ground coffee, crunched up egg shells, tea, and the like. These aren't intended as spiritual offerings but in concept, am I not giving back to the earth, and therefor, any being who deign to assist my garden?
Assuming the fae are real, and my strange video wasn't just dotted with white noise a saner person would've ignored, I'd guess my composting habits invited our other-worldy guest. Does my odd video mean I now believe in the fae? I've always believed in aliens, and whether they're interdimensional beings or those of higher technological abilities who have traveled from an entirely different planet, doesn't alter my stance. Do I think aliens are hanging out in my garden? Doubt it, and I don't intend to leave future intentional offerings beyond my usual composting, but I'm also being careful to call the dogs inside by name, and I've ceased thanking the plants for their produce, though that was only in reaction to the video to begin with. I guess that's agnosticism in a nutshell. Anything is possible unless proven otherwise and how do you prove interdimensional beings don't exist?
Thanks for stopping by. I drop a new blog post every Monday. The majority are better grounded than this. Toodles!
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Howdy! This past week I didn't get any editing done on Soul Walker, my paranormal women's fiction novel, beyond a handful of notes, but I did begin the process of migrating my marketing videos from TikTok to Clapper (I'm @JessLynnStudio. I can't link to my account from the desktop?) and Youtube, which counts as progress in the writing department to me! The TikTok ban has been a long time coming. I have no plans to migrate my videos to Instagram. I don't understand reels and I don't want to clutter my accounts over there, especially the art one, which I basically use as a digital portfolio.
I also knocked out a gouache painting of some flowers that I pass on my walks.
I did start another painting but it's not finished yet. In the same vein, I have been throwing together more digital mockups for future paintings.
A neighbor clipped his vines back and let me have the leftover twirly bits so I made a couple of wands. I'm torn on if I should sell them or if I want to keep them for ren fairs and as wall art.
As for reading, I finished Elektra by Jennifer Saint. Haven't begun a new book yet but I expect my next read my be the sequel to Soulmates: A Metaphysical Love Story, which is Fated Tides, by Sarah Faeth Sanders. I have it on my Kindle. I just don't know yet if I'm feeling a romance novel this week.
Today, I have to evacuate my home for a few hours so the fumes from a bathtub resealing can disperse. While I technically can paint outside, setup & takedown make that somewhat impractical. More likely, today will be an editing day, and maybe I can paint tonight. Wednesday, I most likely will be present for jury duty assuming they don't cancel on Tuesday night. I will be selling art at First Friday in downtown Bryan TX, May 3rd. I'm hoping to have another woodburning ready, and ideally, one more painting. Depending on that jury duty summons, I might not be able to knock out both. We'll see. I've focused on producing floral worth in anticipation of Mother's Day.
As an aside, I harvested the russet and Yukon gold potatoes from the garden, and pickled the uglier ones, while my husband prepared (roasted and will mash) the prettier. I keep fantasizing about being the free produce house but my garden isn't quite there yet. For instance, I've yet to grow a single pumpkin nor zucchini. But this could be the year!
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