12x14in - Album. Hand carved, tooled and embossed kangaroo leather featuring an arched Celtic knotwork border of twisted branches framing a woodland scene. Hand embossed leather is raised up from underneath to create a 3D effect. The cover is hand painted in a monochrome harmony of mahogany and brown using a mix of antique stains, dyes and finishes.
   The woodland scene is a fairy-tale landscape of tangled trees, twisted branches, rocks, ferns and mossy ground. The scene to the left of the tree is dominated by the foliate head of the Green Man, the Old Man of the Woods, with his face and beard made of oak leaves. He blends into the forest becoming gnarled branches above and rocks below. The Green Man is an extremely old image and appears in Europe where there are stretches of old relict woodlands, such as the forest of Sherwood. Here he represents the God of the Woods, the watchful Spirit of the Forest, and the return of spring after winter.
   The forest path winds around to the right of the tree and symbolises the path of the Green Witch. Two coyotes pause on the path by the ferns, one watches a whitetail deer in the distance - he has clearly seen the coyotes. A screech owl in the border watches from its perch. The path continues into the forest until it vanishes over a rise, and a hawk flies over a brief clearing in the foliage.
   The knotwork border forms an arch of branches and tendrils, with the canopy at the top and fine roots at the bottom. Hidden within the border are five birds (from top right, clockwise): blackbird, screech owl, sparrow, blackbird, sparrow. The top corners are filled with oak leaves and a ruby-in-zoisite cabochon rests in each corner of the front cover.
   Ruby in Zoisite (Anyolite) is a mix of green zoisite and black hornblende with opaque ruby inclusions. It is found in Kenya and Tanzania, Africa. This stone relates to creativity and healing and helps ideas swirling around in our heads to stabilise and focus. It provides for amplification of psychic abilities and healing energy, and increases awareness of self while remaining connected to humanity.
   The removable flat spine with four ridges and adjustable Chicago screws (brass posts) allows this leather grimoire to grow over the years. The front and back covers can be used without the spine to start with a limited amount of pages (1 to 2 inches). With the spine, four large Chicago screws add strength to allow for 3 inches of paper and up to 3.5in with extensions - well over 1000 pages.
   The back cover features a reverse carved eye in triangle sigil. Honey brown elephant hide endpapers.
   This Grimoire for the Green Witch was designed to contain an existing book of shadows - a collection of hand written pages of spells and water colour paintings of plants and herbs. This green witch lives on a large farm, collects her own herbs either grown or wild, and runs her own flower shop. Green witches are practical folk using what is available, and feel comfortable spending time alone walking quietly among the trees and watching the birds and animals.
   This project took over two years to create requiring almost 300 hours of unpaid work. The cost for tools and materials alone far exceeded the original budget.
Cover: 311mm W x 368mm H (12.25 x 14.50in).
Page: 305mm W x 343mm H (12.00 x 13.50in). Weight: 1.358kg (3lb).
International Order: Tamera Strong (Michigan) 15 Jan 2005 - 21 Feb 2007

Greenwitch Journal This design is also available as a 5" x 8" wire-bound journal for only $11.95 USD. 160 pages - blank or lined. Click here for details.