Amy Castner
Amy Castner has always enjoyed exploring her spirituality through crafts.
She is a quilter, seamstress, crafter, and Pysanki artist who delights in
incorporating pagan symbology into her projects and believes that no ritual
tool is more powerful than one made by your own hands.
She especially enjoys learning about traditional crafts and traditions from
around the world. Amy has a degree in Anthropology from Michigan State
University and has won several awards for her Pysanki work. Amy has been
making Pysanki for over fifteen years, and for the last seven years has put
on Ostara pyskanky workshops for her local pagan community.
Magical Pysanky
Pysanki (also Pysanky or Pysanka) is a Ukrainian craft that predates
Christianity in the region and reflects ancient myths in which the egg
symbolizes life, the sun, and the universe. It is the art of making
beautiful and intricately dyed eggs by drawing on them using a wax resist
method. This workshop will teach you not only how to create your own
Pysanki eggs, but will also include discussion on their uses in magick and
ritual.
Workshop participants will take home a completed Pysanki project and
instructions. All necessary workshop supplies will be provided but kits will
be available for $5-$10 for those who would like to try this at home.
The Runemaker Workshop
The word "rune" means mystery, secret, or whisper. Since ancient times, our northern ancestors have been using runes for divination and magic. Each
rune has esoteric meanings and properties associated with it, beyond its
mundane alphabetic meaning. They each translate into a word or a phrase
signifying concepts representing the forces of nature and mind. There are
many types of runes and many ways of using them for ritual and divination.
In part one of this workshop, participants will create their own set of
runes as well as a casting cloth and rune bag. During part two, we will
discuss divination strategies and learn two easy spreadsť using our
new tools. A $5 donation is requested to help cover the cost of materials.