Advent has arrived!  For those who celebrate this religious tradition, Waldorf has found a lovely way to tie it into the earth, as well.  We begin with the Light of Stones...

 

Carrie from The Parenting Passageway wrote a beautiful and detailed post on the first week of Advent in relation to Waldorf and how she and her family celebrate.  It can be seen here.

 

 

In our family, we make our own Advent wreath from branches in our yard, pine cones we have collected, acorn caps, and this year, we rolled red holly balls from our wool roving.  My daughters, who are now 10 years old (OMG) made the wreath this year with minimal help from Mom :)

 

 

Several years ago, I created a basic tutorial, which can be seen here. 

 

 

The twins tied the branches to the frame with twine.

 

 

I got out some special gifts from nature we have collected through the years...

 

 

From our lovely Oak tree in the front of our home...

 

 

And pine cones from a park near our house...

 

 

Laney got to use the hot glue gun and glued the acorn caps to the branches...

 

 

She glued the wool balls and I tied red ribbons on our candle holders this year...

 

 

We begin with a story from one of my favorite books, Christmas Roses: Legends for Advent...

 

Light our candle with a prayer...

 

 

And meditate on our blessings...

 

 

The Advent Wreath helps us focus and center on family, reminds us to slow down and come inward again to replenish, to heal, and to rest.

 

I found some beautiful verses that I enjoyed very much from Sandi at The Sun with Loving Light...blog here.

 

Blessings and Light to you all as you begin this Advent journey!

Leaving November behind...

 

Golden Sun is going down to seek his winter throne.

Far and wide the seeds now sleep my garden is alone;

 

When all around is dark and still within the winter night.

The sun will rise within my heart and shine a warmer light.

~ M. Meyerkort
from the Autumn book by Wynstones Press

A glimpse of our schoolroom...just before the autumn fairies carried the seed babies away...

Hello my friends - I have missed posting and have much I hope to share with you all from this past year.  I also have messages I still have to go through and appreciate everyone's patience.  Life has been so busy that I had to prioritize things other than updating this blog.  Now that December is here, we slow down and focus on the magic of this special time, so my hope is to post more and get caught up.  Blessings and love to all of you!

Happy Spring!

Down in the earth in their dark winter bed

Someone is calling, the crocus said

In colours bright they quickly dressed,

In lavender, purple and gold of the best.

Then out in the grass they dance in a ring

And call to the children, "Come out!  It is spring."

~ H. Henley

 



Stay tuned for a post on our schooling and our spring giveaway is right around the corner!  Happy Spring!

Reactivating Ancient Hearth

I apologize for panicking and removing my blog from public access.  I won't go into the details of what caused me to pull the plug, but after much thought and prayer, I realized that if this blog can help even one parent, teacher, or child on their journey - it should remain accessible to all.

Life has gotten so busy in the past couple of years that I have not been documenting much of what we've been doing, intending to go back in the summer and photograph our work for the year to post, yet summer flies by and we are already into the next spring.  I hope to be better at posting at least a smidgen of what we are doing.

Until then, I hope that this blog can be a place of inspiration and inner quiet where others can be nurtured as I have been.  Blessings and light to you all.

December 1st...The Journey Begins...

The Holy Family

I have several favorite Christmas traditions that we started years ago when we first began our Waldorf inspired journey.  One of them is our Descending Angel Calendar that is very easy to make.  I can't even remember where I first saw it, but it is very easy to make, stores easily, and is fun for children. 

Here is how: I used felt and cut four long strips and sewed them together (the dark blue).  Then I cut out 26 gold stars - one of them you can see at the top, which is larger and represents the guiding star and then 25 smaller ones which go all the way to about 2 inches from the bottom strip.  The little angel can be made out of tissue paper with wool rolled up in the shape of a ball to form the head.  You can either use a pin or tape to move her down each star for each passing day.  Eventually, ours will stand upright on the stars as the remaining section of the strip is on the table itself.  Here is our angel on the first star for December 1st!

One of my other favorite traditions which begins on December 1st is to prepare the way for the Holy Family and their journey to the stable.  I absolutely cherish my beautiful manger, which has also served as a set for many of our schooling stories, as well as a structure for the girls freeplay.  It was handmade by Rick Tan of Syrendell as a custom order.  Jennifer and Rick are two of my favorite people in the waldorf circle and have so many talents.  I have always been thrilled with their creations!

Pinecones that you can collect with your children are always fun to represent nature and trees in storytelling.  Rocks are also beautiful and add to a nature table.

In the past, I have used pieces of evergreen branches for our spiral, but this year, I wanted to try using our dried moss.  The evergreen branches sometimes slide on the silks (also hand dyed by Syrendell), but the moss tends to grab at fibers more, so I think if we bump into the table, our spiral won't slide out of place this year...we'll see :)  I also love the look of it.

Interesting note of Ancient Hearth history - the Joseph doll was my very first needle felting creation.  I had no training, but used to oogle the beautiful dolls I would see, so I gave it a whirl and voila!  I will always cherish these primitive figures.  There is something special about the simplicity of them.

Below is the base of my Descending Angel Calendar.  Once she reaches the last star on the morning of the 25th, we light our beeswax candle and take a moment to reflect on the many blessings we share and the beautiful soul born 'this day' so long ago...

So the journey for 2012 begins today and we begin to try to quiet our innerselves to prepare for all that this month brings!  Tomorrow, we light our first candle of Advent as it 'officially' begins. 

P.S. Don't forget to start your St. Nicholas stories today, if you are celebrating the Festival of St. Nick!