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MoW Update and Portus
Jul. 9th, 2008 08:52 pmThis week has flown by and Portus is quickly approaching. I'm officially attending on Friday and will be lurking on Saturday. This is my first convention and I'm going alone, so if you see a short girl looking extremely lost and frightened, that'll be me. :)
MoW Update
May. 26th, 2008 09:16 pmIt's been a hectic few weeks, but things are finally calming down enough that I feel the creative juices starting to flow again. After a vacation and move, I was just exhausted. I'm still feeling a bit drained, but the motivation is sparking again. I worked on chapter 21 of The Magic of Wands this evening, and I'm actually feeling excited about it. I purposely pushed the fic to the the back of my mind over the last few weeks, so it's nice to tackle it again with a fresh mind. Long story short - an update should be coming in the next week or two (if all goes well).
My vacation in Miami was wonderful, but I will now be more cautious on the beach. Despite the fact that I regularly slathered my body with SPF 45 while enjoying the sun for a few hours, I ended up with a HORRIBLE sunburn on my lower legs. Nowhere else...only on my lower legs. This area was not neglected by the sunblock, it received the same treatment as the rest of my skin. I had some sand stuck to that area and I was also sitting cross-legged while lost in a book of Hemingway's short stories (I've been hooked on short stories lately). The end result was a terrible burn. I'm thinking it was more a sand-burn than sunburn...but who knows? The sun is a dangerous thing!
A blister nearing the size of a baseball developed on one of my legs. It was probably the most painful experience of my lifetime (worse than a broken bone...I kid you not). I've discovered that painkillers are in no way conducive to creativity either (for me at least). Anyway, if you have a strong stomach and like gross things, you can see some pics of the burn here. It's rather interesting in one of those "it's so disgusting I don't want to look but can't help it" type of ways.
First, here are just a few of the websites I looked at:
http://www.tarahill.com/treelore/trees
http://www.the-tree.org.uk/BritishTrees/blackthorn.htm
http://www.symbolictrees.com/
http://www.wicca.com/celtic/celtic/sactrees.htm
The following Blackthorn description is taken from http://www.wicca.com/celtic/celtic/sactrees.htm
BLACKTHORN
Blackthorn is a winter tree. Its white flowers are seen even before the leaves in the spring. It is black barked with vicious thorns and grows in dense thickets. The wood is used in the cudgel shillelagh and Blasting Stick. Its thorns are used to pierce waxen images. Blackthorn indicates strong action of fate or outside influences that must be obeyed.
As soon as I read this description of Blackthorn, I thought Severus Snape. Imagine a tree with black bark and no leaves, only white flowers and thorns. One might think of Severus Snape’s attire and hair as being almost a dark bark, his pale skin, the white flowers (though comparing Severus Snape to a flower seems odd to me).
The Blackthorn’s fruit is called sloe. Immediately, the phrase “sloe-eyed” came to my mind. I’ve always thought that expression to mean someone with dilated or very dark eyes. Severus Snape most certainly has dark eyes.
It has thorns…dearest Severus definitely seems to have thorns of his own: his words.
…and doesn’t it just seem typical that it would be a winter tree? This also goes along with his winter birthday as well.
As far as the symbolism behind the wood…“Blackthorn indicates strong action of fate or outside influences that must be obeyed.” I think that speaks for itself.
http://www.symbolictrees.com uses the following symbolic words for the Blackthorn:
Inevitability
Preparation
Constraint
Strife
