Suzie Ridler's Page

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I don't know about you but I have been staying away from any films that require real seriousness. In fact, it's to the point it is almost embarrassing. You see, in my family, we care about movies. REALLY care about movies. When times were tough, we went to the movies. It's also something both our parents used to do with us and it was real family bonding time which I am so grateful for. All those stories, all those memories and laughter and tears.

Well no one is more dedicated to movies more than my younger sister Shannon, The Movie Moxie. Growing up, Shannon used to watch either Total Recall, Aliens or The Running Man after school EVERY DAY. I'm not kidding! She came with me on March Break to see Some Kind of Wonderful three times. I was crazy about that movie and she was kind enough to go with me. I have no idea how many Friday nights we spent together over pizza and chips watching just about every kind of movie you can imagine.

She is still doing it! In fact, Shannon has taken holidays off work to spend it completely dedicated to the Toronto Film Festival. She is covering it on her blog Movie Moxie and even vlogging about it! You can hear her talk about it here. Every time she posts, she impresses me. Making this technological step is extra fantastic for me because I also get to visit with Shannon who is indescribable until you hear her ideas, her opinions and especially her laughter.

We're also going to go to the Toronto After Dark Film Festival when I visit in the fall, I can hardly wait! I actually kind of took that festival into consideration when I planned my trip, among many other exciting things I will be doing in Toronto during my visit. I just had to go with Shannon the Movie Moxie when I found out they have a Zombie walk! You can a picture of her encounter in the dark with zombies at the end of that post.

Shannon is in the epi-center of the movie-going planet and I'm so glad. She is right in her element watching movies with her cup of tea and taking notes in her notebook. It will be such an honour to go to the movies with her this year, not to mention just hang out with my amazing sister.


Yay! The sunshine came out for a little yesterday!

Yes, it seems to be all about sisters for me right now (Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants 2 did not disappoint this fan, perfect female summer movie), probably because I am actually going to spend time with them in person in just over a month! Oh how I miss my family, they are so irreplacibly special. I promise to share all our adventures together when I can. I am going to be so busy!

My heart caught when I saw this post of Jamie's over at Starshyne Productions. It wasn't just her collage which I could really relate to on so many levels. It was the universe-inspired words that moved me, that called to the wild woman inside me, that asked the question:

What would support you in answering the call?

I answered, Nature. Nature is always my inspiration and support. Perhaps that is why I feel so lost here in this ugly suburb. But I carry the mountains inside me. If anything, I am the mountain

"I imagine you as a creative and independent spirit who values freedom, creative self-expression and connecting with your tribe."

That is who I want to be, wild with freedom and full of connections with other magickal and creative women!



For those of you who don't know, Jamie is my big sister. Jamie introduced me to magick when we were young girls and creates amazing experiences all around her. She is a certified personal coach dedicated to helping you live the fullest life you can live. She is so good at it! I owe all my most interesting and fantastic memories to her insistence on getting me out of my head and into life. Her blog shows her amazingly full and fascinating life and asks us important questions about ourselves. Jamie holds workshops online and in real life:

Circe's Circle is a 12-week online weekly telecircle that brings creative bloggers together! She is also the queen of collaging and I'll be participating in one of her collaging workshops when I visit in the fall:



Jamie also does, get this, TAROT Coaching! Jamie is one of the few people I go to when I need a tarot reading, she truly puts all her talents together here and gives you an in-depth super professional reading you will never forget. I still refer to my inner superhero as Nature Girl.

Jamie is one of the few superheroes in my life. I love you Jamie! Thank you for helping me answer the call.

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The rain just won't stop. I'm waiting for that beautiful Indian summer I keep hearing about since every other season here has been a complete disappointment. I don't know if you can see just how hard it's raining in the picture but it has been practically legendary. Yes, we get lots of rain in BC but it's a more gentle rain that doesn't stop for five to six months, not this torrential downpour. I did not know if I was going to make it through cooking dinner without losing power, we had thunder for over two hours rumbling around here.



This dark weather isn't good for my jewellery photography but I'm going to try my best, the photo means so much when you're trying to sell your pieces. My one comfort is that I am really warming up to my crafts room.

The last couple of weeks I have been living with chronic headaches. It's been very painful and difficult. I am very well educated on headache triggers, especially my own, so I was shocked that I had one that lasted for WEEKS that wouldn't respond to medication, rest or anything.

When I started putting my crafting first, the headaches disappeared! I am not kidding. I think when you put what you want more than anything off all the time, joy gets sucked away and pain from chronic disappointment can move in. I've been very bad at putting my crafting first but am working on it. Life and appointments interfere but I will keep trying.

It was great to make a hardy meal now that the weather is cooling off. I am trying to see the positives in my inner life and world since I get out so rarely. Good food, jewellery making and being out of the rain...life could be much, more worse. Treat yourself to some Patty Griffin, my musical hero who keeps me company on rainy lonely days:

I had a huge scare yesterday and no, it's not from the salon turning my hair a little bit purple instead of red although that was freaky but in a good way. No, the scary thing that happened is I went to go take a picture of that hair colour and my camera wouldn't work. I can't tell you what that means to me. This camera has been my friend for five years. It has been on every crazy walk and adventure I have been on in half a decade, it went through my bear scare on the mountain, it has walked along the lagoon every time...it's more than just a thing to me. It's my friend.

So when I got the error E 61:00 and made a weird shocking electrical noise I FREAKED! I went online, tried not to cry and then found self-help pages that said, bang it on a hard surface. I'm not joking. I tried, but I couldn't do it very hard. My husband came home and I explained the situation to him and he didn't want to do it either but read the posts assuring us it was either this or pay a huge bill to get it fixed. Uh, I'm broke, no thanks! So he started gently banging it against his desk. He said, "This goes against everything I know about electronics." I whispered, "I know, but please, do it again."

The error went away! I couldn't believe it. Now I know this isn't a miracle. I am very aware now that my camera is on its way to shut down for good so I better get cracking taking pictures. Of course there is no sunlight today (go figure) but here are two shots of what I have been up to. The first is the pendant Michelle is going to get in the mail:



I made it with clay and it's supposed to be a beach bauble, I don't know why but those are the words that come to me about this one. It's like sand, happy memories and treasures found in the sand. It's on a leather thong with sliding knots, very surfer style. I hope she likes it!



Click image to see in full

I bought the shell in Lunenburg, it has a natural hole through it for stringing! This piece is for my mermaid series of necklaces and would be worn by a more serious and galmorous mermaid. I've moved away from any plastic beads so these are glass and metal clay. The earrings will be included when I finally find time to get my Etsy site going up again, not to worry, I promise to let you know! I think I will have 10 pieces in total for the mermaid collection and then I may move towards Halloween jewellery for a while, so much fun!

This camera isn't fancy, it's pretty much a point and shoot but I love it. I know this camera. I understand its moods. I know how to get the most out of it and it's been my companion. I hope it continues to go on many more adventures with me. Me and my jewellery can't live without it!

P.S. For those of you who are Sylvia Browne fans like me, today is her last day on Montel. She has taught me more about psychic protection and spirituality than any book on magick I have ever come across. Don't miss it!

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I may not live close to the ocean but I do try and get out to it as much as I can. Even though we got the last remnants of Fay the entire long weekend and were surrounded by giant thunderstorm, we managed to take a scary ride down to the family cottage (I almost made my husband turn back it was so bad) where we watched the quiet bay turn into a stormy place.



I am happiest at the water. I swoon at the scent of salt air. Even at this moment where you could see another storm coming, I ran down to the water with my husband so I could get pictures and feel the storm hit off the water. As soon as we got down there the winds picked up and the storm I saw flew onto us and we ran up the tall hill getting soaked and I loved every second of it.

A wonderful family dinner followed filled with stories of little dramas (some of them my own) and kids saying they looked forward to school (which I still find hard to believe, I didn't like school until university). We drove home and there was thankfully wasn't a drop of rain to interfere with our view.

After a long weekend stuck inside a dark and stormy rain cloud, it was great to get together and connect by the ocean. It is one of my happier places here.

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I took this photograph in my dollar store at the beginning of August! I have never seen Halloween decorations out so early. I am always in a Halloween mood so this was very exciting but at the same time, it's a bit of a jump in time isn't it? Now feels more appropriate to share it.

I've actually been wearing jeans and put on a sweater once this weekend so fall is officially approaching here in the Maritimes. I'm sure we'll have a crazy backlash with hot days here and there, this place has truly bipolar weather, but I can sense Mabon which will be celebrated on September 22nd. Many years now (at least in BC) it's been quite warm on that day but I love fall so much and feel it must be celebrated fully. I even buy some flowers, small gourds and bake with apples and cinnamon.

As we begin to leave summer, the wall between us and the other side begins to thin. Pay attention to the world around you and listen to your dreams! They will have important messages for you. Even the leaves scraping across the pavement will have special meaning. Listen and the other side will speak to you. Don't forget to speak back! Always aloud. Acknowledge the message aloud so they know you heard them. This will encourage them to try again sometime soon.

For those of you who are interested in learning divination, now is a great time to take out the cards and start. The veil isn't at its thinnest until Halloween/Samhain so start now and listen for their guidance. I think I may treat myself to a Mabon psychic reading by a local tarot reader! I haven't been to a psychic in 14 years, believe it or not, LOL.

Some people find autumn depressing, seeing only death and feeling the apprehension of the looming winter. This is the first time in a long time I also feel that but I won't let it get in the way of my honouring autumn. For me, this is the most magickal time of year!

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I have been receiving a lot of questions about paganism lately and also being referred to as a Wiccan. I must tell you, I am not a Wiccan. If I believed in religion, I would be a Wiccan, which I guess is the confusing part, but I don't so I am not.

I AM PAGAN

What does that mean to me? It means I live a spiritual life connected to the divine through nature without religion. I know religion works for a lot of people and I can see why. It provides structure, rules and community. It just isn't me. I am too confrontational. I only need one rule, don't hurt anyone. That's what we believe and it covers pretty much everything.

When I am in the woods, I connect with the divine. When I hold a seashell, I am one with the ocean. When I look at the stars, I soar into the sky. I can feel energy in all that is natural. I resonate with natural life.

I talk to the divine and the divine talks back to me through feelings, through the chatter of leaves, through the voice in the wind, through my crazy dreams. I have a direct link with the divine, we all do. We don't need a priest or a high priestess to tell the divine what we need or thinking. We just need to speak aloud. She will hear us.

So what's with the broom closet reference? I guess perhaps you can say the closest thing that represents me is a witch. I don't like labels though but the analogy kind of works. I do spells. I make magick with my hands. Some people would call me a witch. I just go by Sacred Suzie.

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My dear friend Michelle from With Towel in Hand is this month's dreamboard winner! Although she is currently giving away almost everything she owns to follow her future dream of living on sailboat and becoming a destinations photographer full time down in the Caribbean, perhaps she will still enjoy wearing one of my pendants? Yay Michelle!

I can't promise that I will have a give away every month, nor can I promise that I will be able to do the dreamboard launches every month, but for now I can and will try and do so until life interferes or new things pop up. I have also decided that you can only ever win one of my pendants so past winners will not be eligible later on.



Way to go Michelle! Let me know what colours you like to wear, what seasonal palette you most enjoy right now and I will mail one to you as soon as possible.

For those of you who are new to dreamboards, we basically put together a collage or piece of paper or whatever with image and words of what it is you want to manifest in your life. It's that simple. Get it to me by the day before the full moon, September it will be Sunday the 14th and I will launch it to the Harvest Moon on the Monday.

It doesn't matter who you are, what you want, if I know you...anyone and everyone can participate. It's not about art, it's about dreams. Collective energy is exponential, we help each other make our dreams come true. So email me your dreamboard at sueridler at gmail dot com by September 14th with a link to your blog. Please make sure to include a link!

We are approaching the new moon. Lets let go of past pain, start to heal and truly look inside to figure out what we want to manifest this month.

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Click image to see in full

I woke up to a dark and gloomy day and remembered, the new moon is this Saturday. If I was going to do a monthly spiritual cleansing, today felt like the perfect day. I got out of bed and got the protection candle Bohemian Single Mom gave me and rested it in coarse sea salt. Nothing is more protective than salt! There's a reason they use it on the show Supernatural, this is real old magic.

I lit the candle and went through my house counter clockwise or in old pagan talk, widdershins. You go this way for cleansings, it's like the moon, it's the waning energy. Waning energy is good for releasing, cleansing, starting over. In each room I blessed it by the light of the God and the Goddess and said there was no room for dark energy and expelled it from the house.

After doing each room, I took out the incense and went through the house in a clockwise or deosil direction to gain energy like the filling moon and blessed it by the light of the divine. Then I went to the balcony door and got out my old cinnamon broom and swept out the energy thrice saying, "Blessed be" each time.

It's amazing how quickly I feel better! Even if I am just sweeping out old patterns of negative thoughts in my head, on a psychological level I am saying "No more!" to myself and the universe. I do believe that sensitive people do take on negative energies and this world can be so negative. We need to do regular spiritual housekeeping to keep us free from dark energy, even if it is just our own.

Think that this ritual is too simple to work? See how much you resist it. Hmm...why are you resisting? Perhaps there is some negative energies at play here not wanting you to cleanse your life?

If you suffer from depression, please please try this. It has helped me immensely and I would like it to help you. How eye opening and scary it was for me to find out that my depression that I suffered from so intensely from the beginning of my life is not even my own crap!

You don't have to start with a whole house cleansing. Just light a candle and say you are a child of light, a child of the divine, protected by the light. It feels amazing! And healing.

Have you tried this before? Did it help? Why are you resisting? You don't have to try but ask yourself why you don't want to. That's OK too. It may reveal something very interesting.

P.S. My creativity day ROCKED! I worked on five new pendants and finished two more necklaces!

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Here you can see the beginning of my first ocean-inspired necklace

I'm trying to shake up my routine to truly dedicate myself to my creativity. I have gotten into the habit of starting my day on the computer, then going for my walk, then making food...and by the end of that routine I'm exhausted and have no time for creative pursuits. My husband wisely told me two years ago to start with creativity and then let the rest happen after that. I did it for one month and LOVED it! Then we had a houseguest come and I went back to my old ways. Not anymore!


Click image to see in-full

My crafts room continues to appear seafoam in colour and be a total disaster area. Those are all my beads on the floor, I have no place close to put them so they end up lying on the floor which bothers me! I spent three hours searching for my jeweller's glue and I think it got trashed or destroyed in the move because it is GONE. This brings my creativity to a standstill when it comes to finishing my pendants.

So if you're wondering why you haven't gotten morning comments from me, this is why. I need to shake things up and put my creative space and activities first and then hope I can get back to an online life.

How can you change your routine to help get those creative sparks flying? What do you need to start putting first?