Path Archives -

Building

By Simone Lipscomb | December 5, 2022

I was about four hours into a very labor-intensive project. As dust swirled around me in my basement workshop, I stopped and looked at the many pieces of wood laying on the work bench, floor and the cutting table. What if this doesn’t turn out like I envision? My aching neck and shoulders grumbled and I recognized the risk: It could be a flop.

The project began as a desire to abstain from the commercialism of Christmas. After several years of not having a tree or decorating, I really wanted to bring lights and celebration into my home. There were excuses: Nobody every comes to my house anyway, so why bother? Or, It’s too much trouble, bah humbug! I think it was just a time in my life where I wasn’t feeling it. But now, I’m calling my passion back in, lighting up my life again.

I’m not sure how the idea of building a tree from scrap lumber started. It was a glimmer of a thought on a Saturday morning during breakfast and by lunch, dust was flying and I was wondering if I was wasting a perfectly wonderful rainy day.

It took a lot of thinking and figuring how to design it so it could be disassembled and stored, and yet be sturdy. And a favorite way I create is to challenge myself by not buying anything for projects. How can I create something using materials and supplies I already have on hand?

During that dusty pause, I realized the project was much more than building a Christmas tree. It reminded me of dreams and life and passions. We never know if an idea we have or the path we take will lead to success, yet if we engage in life and take the risk to dream and infuse our dream with passion, we are actively engaging in the process of living, of being alive.

As I looked at the stacks of wood pieces, I wondered if they would become the object of beauty I envisioned or firewood. Likewise, will my dreams and all the energy and time I’ve devoted to them become dust or will they flourish some day?

We can’t answer those questions in the middle of it all. We can only keep creating, keep feeding our passion into our dreams and take the risk to continue on the path we build as we move through life.

I’m inviting light back into my life this holiday season and actively engaging in celebrating with childlike wonder. If nobody else sees the Tree of Life I built or the many lights winding around my stair banisters and fir tree that grew a few miles from here on the mountain slope, it’s okay. I see the lights and smell the wonderful fir smell and I’m nurturing the kid in me who loves Christmas and the adult in me that understands and honors the Solstice. It’s time to nourish my dreams once more.

How I built the Tree of Life:

I started by gathering all the scrap lumber I had. I used a slab of oak for the base and drilled a hole using a Forstner bit. I added a piece of 2 x 4 and also drilled a hole and matched it to the base and screwed them together. I used an old wooden handle as a dowel and sawed to proper length (finished the length sawing after I assembled). I used pieces of 1 x 6 boards for the cross pieces and cut them to length using a skill saw and then used my fabulous cordless jigsaw to create funky shapes with curves and angles. Each of these pieces also had a center hole drilled. I used a longer piece of 1 x 2 inch board for the spaces, each needing the center hole as well. I painted everything after doing basic sketches on the cross boards. I use a funky folk artsy style. In a little over 8 hours, I had the tree cut out, did a test assembly, took it apart and painted it and put a semi-gloss clear coat on it. I woke up the next morning with a lingering dream of how to design the star. I created it after breakfast using a piece of 2 x 4 drilled in the vertical end so it would sit on top of the dowel. I cut the star out of a square piece of plywood. I drilled onto the 2 x 4 before painting just in case anything cracked or broke. Once I had it screwed together, I painted the star. I ended up with about 10 hours of hard work in this project. I’m super-happy with the outcome. It’s fun and happy and makes me smile.

Messages

By Simone Lipscomb | February 25, 2015

For several days there has been a gathering of vultures just outside my courtyard. Perched in live oak trees, these mysterious birds have surrounded my home. The dog that lives down the street has come up and barked at them for hours each day which has created a bit of an annoyance. Today I realized that he was simply helping me pay attention.

As I was writing yesterday afternoon, I had a vulture fly past my upstairs window and decided I had overlooked their message long enough. When I started reading the native symbology of them it was clear that I really needed to listen to the wisdom being presented.

In Egyptian mythology, the goddess Maat carried the feature of a vulture. She was considered to be the Goddess of Truth. Yesterday I was asked to remove a Facebook post. This might have been an innocent request but it felt energetically as if someone was trying to silence me and the truth…a simple explanation of a story as it was told to me. It created a fiery reaction that caused blocked energy within me to burst free. So I’m grateful for the reminder to always speak my truth and release any attachment to how others receive what I write.

Vulture is said to restore harmony to that which is broken and serves to help keep the environment clean and in balance. This is the essence of the work I feel called to do. Our planet is abused and life upon it disrespected. It is my intense hope that my photographs and writing will help, in some way, restore the sacred balance and create harmony.

Another symbolic meaning of vulture energy is that it facilitates a return to the self. Isn’t that what we’re all trying to do? Return to our deepest, truest self? Eventually….hopefully.

Lastly, vulture energy helps decide whether or not something doesn’t smell right in my life. This reminds me to pay attention to people, places and directions that don’t feel right and act accordingly.

As I walked in the cool misty air this morning I thought how cool it would be to have a vulture feather as a reminder of living my Truth. Shortly thereafter I found a small one. But before my walk was over I found three large wing feathers and another small one. I received four times what I had asked for and am grateful for the bounty.

It is my belief that if we stick to our Path, the work we feel called to do, the return will be beyond our wildest dreams. And this reminds me of the parable of the talents found in Matthew. My hair stylist reminded me of this story yesterday morning. Three men are given money (talents) and their master departs. Two of them invest, take risks and generate more money. The third buries his to protect it. When the master returns the one who played it safe by hiding his money is rebuked. He didn’t use what he was given to multiply his talents.

“I was afraid I would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth. Look, here is your money. But the master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy servant….”To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away. Now throw this useless servant into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Matthew 25.

Over the past few weeks I have experienced fear of investing more money into my work yet moved forward anyway. With what I have been given, I chose to invest in the Path laid before me…in what I consider the work of my heart. The story brought tears as Laramie recounted it.

Yesterday I thanked Laramie for sharing the story that helped me relax and trust on a deeper level. Today I thanked the vultures who have brought much-needed awareness into my life. I thanked Freddy Wayne for his incessant barking that caused me to notice the vultures and I thanked nature for supporting me, loving me and bringing messages when I most need them. And to Spirit who somehow brings it all through to a sometimes fearful soul…you know, I’m your gal.