Better late then never!

 "Remember remember the 5th of November"

Being slightly cheeky on bonfire night never killed anyone. Hopefully.

Ending it with our Victorian witches.

Now Halloween is over. Faded lights, candy papers and fake spider webs everywhere. From pumpkins and pizzas to the long Sunday hungover it was..glorious.

After the candy and booze hedonism that weekend we spent the rest of it staring at Halloweeny movies and eating lam (mmm!). One of the films we watched was Hocus pocus and..I came to think of a thing. 

Every time you see witches portrayed in popular culture they have one thing in-common: they all look distinctly Victorian. Any time you see witches as they would have been thought of at the time when people actually believed in witches it will be a historical drama/crime about the suffering of the innocent, which is undoubtedly the most accurate portrayal of a witch, but not a "real" witch. In comedies/horror/family films where they have power and such they all look very Victorian, if not modern. And I can't help but wonder.. is this another bi-product of the fact that we are essentially still only living at the end of the era that started with the Victorians?

There are many things that suggest that, especially here in England. Many words are still just a development of a Victorian word (like bus or front room). We still live in their houses and live by their social values (like free market and nuclear families ).. and I know for a fact that you can pass for eccentric in Victorian clothes but take it just 20 years further back and you're in fancy dress!

So when I once heard that we may still just be living at the end of their era it totally made sense..and we have more in-common with them now than since then as well which is probably why they are so popular!

But back to the witches. 

We still think of witches the way the Victorians made them. And I want to embrace that. There was nothing funny about the fear of women that sparked the fires of the 1600's.. but I find the Victorian witches very funny! Instead of being victims that get burned they are just the kind of witch I would like to be: powerful, self confident and a snappy dresser! 

Taking out my stripy tights now... where's my broomstick!?

¤

The night before the night.

Decorations up, costume finished, and pumpkins carved. If only I can finish the pirate captain coat now then Halloween can begin! 

I decided to go with my fortune teller idea, so here it is...dark but totally finished. I'm way too proud of the fact that the only thing I bought for it was a scarf and some bracelets..! the rest is old curtains and bedclothes sewn up into a gypsy dress. Scarf was second hand anyway. Hipster points. 

Anywaay! 

I thought I went a bit overboard with the decorations but it actually turned out really well! And after our night before night pumpkin carving this evening there's pumpkins to finish it off as well. Turns out carving pumpkins are lots of fun doing with lots of people.. although one might be a melon. But still! 

I even managed to make some decorations for other people as well.. some lanterns for a friends ghost story night tomorrow and hopefully some more as well if I have time because they were a lot of fun to make..! 

And now that it is past midnight and officially Halloween I wish you all the luck. Don't let the spirits get you..!

Sleep well.

a Rippery Halloween update (creepy warning!)

 

 So I ruled out Mary Kelly as my Halloween personality, it just creeped me out too much! But here's an interesting and terrifying thing I found in my research: They have re-made her face. 

If you have even slightly looked into the ripper murders you have probably seen the pictures of the murdered women, all prostitutes, most in their middleage and well..dead. The difference with Mary Kelly is that she was young and he just went completely murder nuts in there. Of course someone took a picture.. If there had been instagram then this would have been on it right away.

But apparently someone thought it would be an interesting idea to know what she actually looked like! (including me. regret!) And I'm presuming someone else had the skills so here it is. The face of Mary Kelly.

It will surely haunt my dreams. 

But speaking of: here's the longest trailer ever for one of my favourite films!

My costuming dilemma.

After having stressed my ass off I now learned that I was a week early and Halloween is in two weeks not one. Yeeey! Costume time!

 

So here's a quick costume thing:

It's been established for a while that the Lus will go trick or treating as a Pirate Captain this year. Haven't gotten it squeezed out of him if its a Captain Hook kind of captain or a Pirate Captain from an adventure with scientists kind of captain he has in mind but the coat is pretty much the same anyway. Hopefully that will be the only thing I'll make since he has...a lot...of pirate things already.

Aaand because I take any excuse to dress up I thought I would! There is a divide though...First I thought I'd go easy and be a witch. I already have the broomstick! Then I got bored... So I have two ideas: Fortune teller and Mary Kelly.   

This is very much a future vs. past thing and I cant quite make up my mind if I want to, dare to, say a final goodbye to my past or go into my slightly foggy future.. Luckily I have most things for both already so I can procrastinate for a little bit! 

Part of me do really want to be a bit gory this year though...so will see.

Spook on..!

Halloweening it up!

I love Halloween. It feels like the end of the year and the beginning of the next in some ways. I love the dark spookiness..it's an indulgence I was never quite allowed as a child so now I take the opportunity to live it trough my own child..as one does!

Halloween is not a 'thing' in Scandinavia. We have Easter as our witch burning, sweet collecting and spirit out driving season. When it came to us in the mid 90's trough England from America people didn't exactly embrace it! So we had secret Halloween parties in my hallway while my grandmother talked of hell and damnation. 

I'm sure it is all different now though..

So now that I can I fill my house with all kinds of ghoulish things! Candles and ghosts.. and I've only just started! Because it seems the English start early! 

 I did buy some things but I always feel better about it if I've made it so..lots and lots of lanterns coming up.

 

I think I like it so much because Halloween asks nothing of you, it's not stressful or pushingly happy just a break in between two evils..Also it allows for a lot of darkness to come out..darkness that is otherwise pushed aside in normal life..darkness that has always been in me. And after all, the dark things are what makes a person. 

So there. Welcome to my Halloween countdown! It's gonna be potentially spookilishious, haha!

I resign.

It's been 13 years. 

When I celebrated my birthday this year I also celebrated the death of something that was made by others and now killed by me.

I remember the exact moment when I became what people call a "Muse"..I was 15 in a candlelit room with my hair curled..and that flash of light set my perception of my self in stone. 

I can't say I haven't loved it, because I have. I have seen things and done things I would never take back and I have met the most extraordinary people. But being a muse is not about being effortlessly inspiring. Being an extension of someone else's imagination, being secretly aware of your appearance at all times, existing simply to create a feeling in someone else that you do not get to feel...seeing others accomplishing things you wish you could do..That is what a muse does. A muse is someone without an inner self.

So I resign. After 13 years I am tired of being just an outside. I no longer care to inspire, I want to be my own person, with my own accomplishments and give my self the right to exist. There is a person in there somewhere that I'd really like to know. So from now on I will write whatever I like.

 I am a muse no longer.