Elysian Field Originals » green

Greenman-the man of Steele

Valerie Ashley — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 16:04:00 +0000

I first heard about Type O Negativea little over two years ago when my son introduced me to their music. He was right. I loved the sound, lyrics and most of all the voice of lead singer, Peter Steele. When listening to music there are those far and few between times when a song really touches something deep inside that you can really relate to. I’d never seen the band, never heard of them before but the music on some level really spoke to me. (Then again at my age it could be dementia but I prefer to think of it as inspiration.)

I saw them for the first time this past year and was mesmerized by the show they put on. As a group they were amazing and I became an instant fan (can I say that without sounding cheesy?). Steele puts his soul out there for all of us to hear and feel. It’s both a joy to hear and painful at the same time because you can sense that this is a guy who’s gone through some tough times, albeit self inflicted, and still is. I’m glad to hear he’s come through the fire recently and am interested to hear how it plays out in his music.

One of his songs called “Greenman“, is one I really like. This past week while it was raining I was working on some of my leaf pendants and after I heard this song decided to put a likeness of Peter’s face to an Oak leaf. I think he’d like it. Here’s the result and the lyrics to Type O Negative’s Greenman:

GREENMAN
Spring won’t come, the need of strife
To struggle to be freed from hard ground
The evening mists that creep and crawl
Will drench in the dew and so drownI’m the green man
The green man

Sol in prime sweet summertime
Cast shadows of doubt on my face
A midday sun, it’s caustic hues
Refracting within the still lake

Autumn in her flaming dress
Of orange, brown, gold fallen leaves
My mistress of the frigid night
I worship pray to on my knees

Winter’s breath of filthy snow
Befrosted paths to the unknown
Have my lips turned true purple
Life is coming to an end
So says me, me wiccan friend
Nature coming full circle

I’m the green man
The green man

October Rust, 1996

Holly Berry Necklace

Valerie Ashley — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 16:37:00 +0000

The Holly Tree- symbol of the life force, vitality and immortality. It is considered a lucky tree to grow in the garden because it wards off negative energies. In winter druids would advise people to take holly into their homes, as they believed it would shelter the elves and fairies who could join humans at this time without causing them injury.

Holly was also believed to protect against lightning and was often planted near the house. It has been proved that the spikes of the holly leaves act like miniature lightning conductors, and so protect the tree.

This lovely Holly leaf & Coral berry necklace was created from imprinting holly leaves from my yard onto Kato clay. Bright red coral berries strung with sterling silver wire dangle jauntily from the leaves.

New Leaf Ornaments

Valerie Ashley — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 20:57:00 +0000

I finally was able to list some new leaf ornaments in my Etsy shop today. For the past year I’ve tried to do my art full time and although I’ve definitely made forward progress, I can’t keep up with the economy, so off I’ve been to job hunt.
Tedious, boring…necessary.

Anywho, here are three new pieces I’ve been able to complete. I also have a 6″ full sculpt of a tree nymph I am working on as a companion to my leaf ornaments. They have asked for a “gopher”, and, as the leaves are my muses who am I to say no?

The first two are from my Sugar maple tree and the third is a gorgeous Silver maple leaf from my daughters yard. As a final step I’ve also smudged all the pieces to keep the yucky energy from job hunting away.

All three pieces are available in my Etsy shop: http://elysianfields.etsy.com/