This month the ABC of Lessor Known Goddesses features Kebechet. She is the daughter of Anubis the Egyptian God of the Dead. Her job is to carry water to Her father for the purification of the dead's souls.

Join the Magical Child News Yahoo group to download this and previous coloring pages.

I got this today from another illustrator who like me makes her living from her artwork. It explains the whole Orphan Works situation very simply in layman's terms. So for anyone who is not quite understanding what is is all about and how it affects the creative community, or for those looking to explain it to others in a simple way, feel free to read this and pass it on...

Below is the letter composed by Kathy Fincher with the intent for anyone to customize it to their own art business and then share with everyone you know. You are also welcome to send it out as is if you prefer.

The goal is to give a personal, simple explanation of how Orphan Works will affect everyone.


Kathy is considered the foremost inspirational artist in our country. She fights a continual battle with non-profits thinking they can use her work without permission or payment, due to the "message"...


September 30, 2008


Dear Friends...

During the weekend when most of our Senators were heavily involved in trying to save our economy, a small group of Senators managed to pass a bill that has been blocked for more than two years. It passed with most Senators never having read it nor realizing a vote was in progress. Now this new law is only a breath away from complete passage should the House agree, which could happen any day now. I hope you..re sitting down as I try to explain and unravel this complicated bill into everyday language. The Senate voted that -- Without your knowledge, personal property may be used for someone else's profit -- and it will be legal. It gets worse -- should you discover your property is being used by a stranger and you can prove it, the law makes provisions for them to continue using it and you may be required to work together and share the profits.! (Remember, I recommended that you sit down. It gets deeper) So if the personal property they are using is your livelihood, this new law may allow the perks of ownership to be shared! Ethically you may not like or agree with how your property is being used, but that is not addressed in this new law.


This new law passed by the Senate downgrades this particular property owner's day in court. You will find that rather than capping the ability to collect damages, this new law says that the property owner may not sue for them even if they win the case! Attorneys are still scratching their heads with this one. How can you win a case, and still not collect attorney's fees, damages, or even regain control of your property?

Does this sound like the America that you and I know?

The type of ownership that I am talking about is creative ownership or copyright. As an inspirational artist known for painting children, like other American artists, I have rested in knowing that today's laws consistently follow a timeless principle, you cannot use something that does not belong to you. The House committee wishes to pass this legislation this week and this simple principle is being replaced with anyone that can't seem to find me can use my paintings of children for themselves. They may even build a business around my hard earned work and talent. Here's another way of saying it. "Anyone that sees and likes my work, but can't find me, can use it."

This law tells me that as a creative property owner, I must be available and not difficult to find. (Could you imagine someone legally using your car because you left it to do some errands? After returning, you discover someone has rented it out because they could not find you. You take him to court to make him stop and the judge follows the new laws and decides that it is your fault because you were too hard to find. The court will arrange for you to work together and share the profits.)

Should you wish to protect a child's work or your own, this new law requires that you take the same necessary steps as professionals: make a digital file of the work, upload it to a privately held digital data bank (or many data banks), and add a description. No one knows how much this will cost or even if this system will work. But we do know that if you do the math, it is understandable why Google and Microsoft have been pushing these bills! The Small Business Administration reviewed the case and has addressed their concerns for artist's small businesses.


We invite you to help us in our efforts to stop the House of Representatives from passing this horrible bill. (Notice I didn't suggest that you send this letter to 10 friends. I get so tired of those emails.) If you love exclusive ownership, the ability to have your day in court, small businesses, the arts, parents rights, keeping good laws and not exchanging them for bad ones -- if you are a crafter, quilter, writer, poet, song writer, sculptor, painter, graphic artists or any sort of creator -- please read the information below as it is very easy to help us.


We wish to protect new and old pieces of art, whether created by professional hands, hobby hands, or children's hands. All should be able to say without hesitation -- "all mine"!

Blessings from a very concerned artist,

Kathy Fincher


If you want to know more about this bill, it is called the Orphan Works Act of 2008.
Individual artists, such as myself, and many art organizations representing more than 75 professional art groups with over half a million members; as well as artists from around the world, are growing daily as they realize we must fight for our livelihoods. America's illustrators have taken the lead by fighting this bill for more than two years. They have an excellent website: http://ipaorphanworks.blogspot.com/ that explains things such as:

*How the name "orphan works" is deceptively being changed from its international definition of "deceased" artists to including "living" artists. Unfortunately this is working. The good parts of the bill (such as museums releasing archived art) are being broadcasted - but not the bad. Visit http://www.owoh.org with great info.


*Someone can take your artwork, make a few changes, file it into a database system, and sign their name on. It may then be claimed as their own personal property. (Similar to taking someone's car, painting purple and then registering it as your own property.)

*This is a law that was originally designed to make museum's and library's archived work available to the public without fear of being sued. Artists support this, but as you will discover through research, legislation got carried away. Perfectly designed copyright laws are being rearranged.
http://www.owoh.org provides more information.


*We have made contacting your House of Representative very easy. Click on the link below and it will guide you through a speedy process. http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/issues/alert/?alertid=11980321

Thank you so much if you have read this far. I encourage you validate what you have read by visiting those websites above.

Mabon Greetings All!
     Thanks so much for your continued interest in my books and career, I feel like I have quite the cheering squad at this point. So I am especially thrilled to share my latest news with you - I have just finished the art for my first collaborative picture book. Written by SJ Tucker and Trudy Herring, “Rabbit’s Song” is an engaging tale of mythical proportions. Trickster God comes to Earth to find animals to teach His lessons to man. Based on SJ Tucker’s wildly popular ballad by the same name off of her CD “Blessings,” this picture book the work of several years of intensive conversations between the three of us.
     This book is truly a dream come true for each of us. For me, working with such talented and loving people has been a wonderful blessing. The combination of each of our talents has pushed me to create what I consider some of my best illustration work so far.

     Meanwhile, the demand for An Ordinary Girl, A Magical Child has been astounding. I realized when my child was born in 1994 there was a need for Pagan children’s books in America, a need that is only just beginning to be met. When An Ordinary Girl was first released in 2005, there were hardly any books for the young Pagans. I receive frequent emails from parents thanking me for giving them a tool to help explain their Paths to their children. I am happy to report that there are now several more Pagan children’s books available. I hope that this small trickle will increase to fill this niche with quality books for our youth.

AN ORDINARY GIRL, A MAGICAL CHILD
Written and illustrated by W. Lyon Martin
Magical Child Books -- Trade Picture Book - Available NOW!!!

       An Ordinary Girl follows Rabbit, a young Pagan child through the wheel of the Year. Readers follow along with her as she celebrates Wiccan holidays, rituals and spells.

The next book in the series “Aidan’s First Full Moon Circle,” is an interactive picture book. With hidden pictures in the main story, children get to help a friendly squirrel gather acorns for the coming winter, all the while learning the basics of a Wiccan nighttime Full Moon gathering.

And don't forget my latest book:
Based on a poem by Kelley Magee, “Watchers” is a bedtime story filled with subtle Pagan symbols in the illustrations. The hero, Thomas, is worried about the eyes watching him in the dark. He hatches a plan to capture them only to find out what he fears is really there to protect him.

All books are available on the publisher’s web site: http://magicalchildbooks.com , amazon and other online book stores or your favorite book seller.

At Magical Child Books you can see inside pages of the books, read reviews and even find teaching guides.

Plus, as a special bonus for people placing pre-orders for Rabbit’s Song, you will receive a MP3 file of Trudy and SJ reading the story. This is a limited time offer and is only available for those placing pre-orders for the book.

Freebies:
   Remember the monthly coloring pages are archived at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/magicalchildnews/ . Now that the art for Rabbit’s Song has been delivered to the publisher, I’ll be sending out the next ABC Lesser Known Goddess in the series.

Visits:
     To invite me to speak at your school or event, learn more at http://magicalchild.handcraftedpagan.com/workshops/ or email me at lyon@handcraftedpagan.com.
     To view my current schedule of events, go to http://magicalchild.handcraftedpagan.com/bio/appearances/ .

Bright Blessings,
Lyon

Dear friends and family,

Back in June I asked you to help a dear Sister when she fell ill and was hospitalized. The need is still great. Bel's condition is going to be one of life-long recovery. Months of hospitalization and specialized nursing care have been adding up. Household bills still need to be paid and Bel's business has been moldering without her since her illness started.

We, her friends and adoptive family, have banded together to organize a benefit auction to help raise funds to pay for some of the multiple expenses. If you can attend the benefit, we'd love to have you there. If you can donate items for the auction, time or money, we would be thrilled if you contacted either myself, Robynn or Kitten for details. Even if you can't donate anything right now you can still help by forwarding this message to as many people as you can letting them know that Bel needs their help.

Below is the most recent information from Robynn concerning the auction. Thanks for reading.

Blessings,
Lyon

Greetings Everyone,
  
  For some of you this will be new news.  For others this will be an update.  As many know, one of our own, Beltana of Sona & Bellawyk, is in trouble.  Approximately three months ago she contracted Guilliame Barre Syndrome.  GBS has no known cause or cure.  It is a neuro-muscular disorder which disables and attempts to destroy the body's nervous system, which effectively paralyzes the body, often including the diaphragm which controls one's ability to breath.  GBS also permanently, severely impairs the immune system.
  
  Beltana got lucky.  A doctor recognized her illness and started aggressive treatment relatively early into the disease.  Beltana started out paralyzed from the neck down, and has bravely battled her way back and is now learning to walk again.  Her recovery will be a life long battle.  As I said, her immune system is permanently compromised.  What for you and I would be a simple common cold can easily turn into pneumonia for Bel. Fortunately, Bel also happens to be extremely determined and stubborn when it comes to facing adversity.  This aspect only serves to help her recovery.  This is where the pagain community, friends, and loved ones come in.
  
  Beltana has been finally discharged from St. Johns, Springfield.  She is now in treatment at the Missouri Rehab Center, 600 Main - Rm. 504, Mount Vernon, MO 65712.  Any cards, letters, or flowers sent will help her keep her spirits up as she will be reminded that she is not alone, that we love her and are thinking of her.
  
  Next is the benefit auction.  It is official now.  It will be held Saturday November 8 at IAFF Local 73, 4271 Delor, St. Louis, MO 63116, from 7PM - 11 PM.  We are working on donations of food to be served, and there will be live entertainment.
  
  For those of you who have already sent donations, thank you very much.  For those of you have already made plans to donate, I also extend my thanks.  Please send all remaining donations to R. Hope 5235A Delor, St. Louis, MO 63109.  If the package will require a signature or need to be picked up from the post office or UPS, please address any shipments to D. Hope.  Also, please extend the word.... so far a good number of wonderful donations are being acquired due to word of mouth.
  
  I would also like to thank Mr. Peter Zettl of Zettl Photography, a very dear and long time friend of mine, who has generously agreed to help with  producing the flyers to promote this event.
  
  Thank you to others such as Jenadrienne Charlesworth who have helped promote this event and thus have helped in acquiring donations as well as publicizing the auction.
  
  None of this would be possible without all of you.  Beltana is my Sister, one of the few for whom I would lay down my life.  I cannot begin to express my gratitude to everyone who are making donations, publicizing, and working so hard to help Beltana.  If anyone has any ideas toward helping Bel, please contact me directly or contact our Sister, Kristen Hanks at flykittin@yahoo.com.
 
  For those of you who cannot make this event, we understand.  We appreciate your kind support. For those of you who will be able to be there, I look forward to being able to thank you in person.  If you will be coming in from out of town and need a place to stay, please let us know in advance.  Again, thank you ever so much for your support.
  
  Blessed Be,
  Robynn (aka Darryl E. Hope EMT-P)
  314 351-0935

August has been quite the month.It was my intention of blogging a new post every few days, and I was doing pretty well for a while. But we all know that life has a way of derailing even the best intentioned plans. I guess some of you who were coming by thought to yourselves, "Now, why don't she write?" I'll tell you.

First off, picture book art creation is a very labor intensive activity. Most talented artists I know make it look easy, but, trust me, it's as easy as pushing a 2 ton boulder up Mt. Everest. Often times, I spend hours staring at a blank piece of paper while my characters yammer on in my head telling me what they want to do and where they think they should be and how they should look when doing it. Before I put the first pencil line to paper, I have to have a really clear vision of what the page will look like when done. Then I have to take that vision and make my hands cooperate in getting it all down on the paper the way I see it in my head. Along the way, some of what I see in my head changes to make for better flow and visual interest. Sometimes, what I end up with on the page is what I first saw in my head, but not often. My preliminary sketches can take hours to get to the point where I am satisfied with them. I get super focused and suffer from a type of tunnel vision where all I can think about is the next page of the book. It's a kind of madness.

I am in the throws of creative madness currently, and August arrives with a bang.

I was approved for CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) training (Voices for Children) which started on August 5th at the court house in St. Louis. My husband had taken some time off from work and was also headed into ST. Louis for his Kokondo classes. So I offered to drive him to his class, go to mine and return to pick him up when it was over. I dropped him off without any trouble, but got lost trying to get back to the highway. No biggy. I am good at being lost, I just drive until I come to a place where I know where I am and self correct from there. It all worked out, I got to the first training session with 10 minutes to spare. I met one of my class mates at the security check in and she made the comment that she hoped there wouldn't be any homework. From her lips to Loki's ears. We each received a 6" thick binder full of information. The facilitator told us there would also be handouts at every session. There are 8 other women in the class, by the facilitator's account, a large class. We then learned how very complicated our role as the child advocate really is. Yikes. I was wondering what I had gotten myself into! We were assigned the first two sections in our manual to read by Thursday's session.

After the session I drove back to my husband's karate class to pick him up. There was a spectacular light show in the sky most of the way, and then the sky opened up just as I arrived at the church where the classes are held. He finished up the session and we headed home, commenting on the bright flashes of lightening that lit up the sky the whole trip.

When we got home it was close to 10 pm. The phone in the living room seemed to need a charge. We got ready for bed and called it a day.

The next morning I came into the studio to boot up my computer and get to work only to discover that there was no electricity in the room. My husband opened the basement door and discovered there was no electricity there either. He grabbed a flashlight and went to the breaker box and flipped the switches back on. I booted up my computer and tried to check my email. No luck. The machine just wouldn't stay connected to the internet. So I called AT&T and was told they had a service outage in ST Louis and Manchester and that it would be fixed by about noon. I pull out my CASA manual and read the first section. I work on Rabbit's Song. I wait patiently for noon to roll around. We eat lunch and both head into the studio to check email.

I boot up my computer and get online long enough to see that I have email, but not long enough to do anything about it. My husband discovers that he can't boot up his computer at all. :( I walk into the other room to grab the phone and discover that it is still not charged. I check the other phone for a dial tone. It's working fine. The computer guru is called and he says he'll show up at 9 am on Thursday morning. My husband heads out for an appointment and I work some more on Rabbit's Song. Then I head out to pick up a new phone to replace the one in the living room. I also pick up a few last minute items for a trip I have scheduled for Friday. My flight leaves at 6:15 am, so I pack as much as I can except for a few last minutes things. Then I try and get online again. Still no joy. I get back on the phone with AT&T (by now it's after 5 pm) and spend the next hour or so crawling around under desks plugging and unplugging cords and rebooting and resetting the internet system according to the tech guy's instructions. To say the least, by the end of the hour I am less then amused and somewhat grumpy. He decides he can't help me fix whatever the deal is and bumps it up to the real techs. They will call me within the next 4 hours. Grumble. It's close to 7 by the time I get off the phone with him. I pick up my CASA book and dive into Section 2. An hour later AT&T calls and tells me that yes, there is a problem (aduh!) but it's not with their external lines, it has to be somewhere in my lines. Would I prefer a morning or afternoon service call. I chose morning since I have to be in St. Louis in the afternoon for the CASA training and I have yet to perfect the art of being in two places at the same time. Morning it is. Any time between 8 and noon. Gotta love these 4 hour windows. I hang up and continue to read Section 2 until I fall asleep.

I'm up bright and early the next morning, my husband heads off to work and wait for the repair men to make their appearances. I read more of Section 2 while I wait. At 9 on the dot, the computer guru shows up, fiddles around with the PC and makes his pronouncement. He talks briefly on the phone with my husband and packs up the sick computer and leaves shortly after 9:30. Still no AT&T guy. I work some more on Rabbit's Song. Around 10:30 the AT&T guy makes his appearance. He crawls around on the floor under desks for a while, plugging and unplugging and comes to the conclusion that the router for the DSL is skrootched. He has a replacement in his van. I read more of Section 2 while he installs it and yeah! I have internet again. He leaves, I have lunch and try and finish Section 2. And catch up on the email of two days. Luckily nothing had blown up in internet land, so after shooting off a few emails about the upcoming trip, I am all set. I head up to St. Louis to my training class. I never did get to finish section 2.

After class, I head home and do a final email check and pack the last minute items. I debate whether to stay up or get a couple hours of sleep before I have to rise to catch my flight. I opt for sleep and ask my husband to set the alarm for 2:30. It never went off, but lucky for me, I am a light sleeper so I was up and out of bed at the appointed time anyway. I get to the airport and make my flight without incident. The trip was for my Initiation into Cronehood, which I will blog about another time. I returned home on Monday around 10:30 pm.

When I get home, I find out that the school has called and the kid needs to sign up for classes before 2 on Tuesday. She starts high school next week. I am confused since we already have her class schedule on the fridge. While this wouldn't be a big deal if she were home, she's not. She's been staying in St. Louis with her sister and working with a family friend earning some money. Since hubby has to be in the office, I have to be the one to go and get her and bring her home.

I decide I'll call the school instead. And no,she doesn't have to sign up for classes, only come in and get her locker assignment. I ask if I can do it for her since she's not home. Yes. (Joy! I don't have to drive back and forth to St. Louis to get her.) I also find out that the school has been holding her last report card because there was a 45¢ balance on her lunch account. I drive to both schools and deal with the paperwork. The I go home and eat lunch and finally pick up my CASA manual and read Section 3 which is due for the evening's class. This time I do finish the reading assignment.

After class I head to pick up my daughter at her sister's home. The we drive home. It's 11 pm by the time we get there, so we all just go to bed.

Wednesday arrives beautiful and sunny. I dive into Rabbit's Song again and actually make some progress. About mid afternoon, the computer guru calls to ask if he can drop off my husband's new computer. I tell him to come on over. As he is finishing up re-networking all the computers to the printer my husband arrives home from work. We are in business again. Yeah!

Since it's been so crazy, there is nothing for dinner in the house, so we head out to eat as a family. On the way my husband comments that his check battery light is lit on his dash board and he'll have to get that checked. We have nice dinner. We come back home and I read Section 4 for class on Thursday.

Thursday started out normal enough. Husband left for work as usual and I got the kid up to head into St. Louis for her orthodontist appointment. We had plans to go to her back as well. I was in the shower when she told me to call Daddy on his cell phone.

His car had died and he needed me to come save him at the car dealership. So I rush over there, pick him up, run back home and eat breakfast, grab the kid, head to the bank and then we drive up to my husband's office. I drop him off and take the kid to her appointment afterwards I deliver her back to her sister's house. The I head home. It's noon by the time I get back home. I have some lunch and try to focus on Rabbit's Song. But my head is spinning so much, I don't accomplish much of anything. At 3 I leave the house, go to the post office, head to my bank and drive to my husband's office, pick him up and take him to the church for his Kokondo classes and head to the court house for my CASA classes. I got lost again. Only this time I show up late. :( Oh well. Life happens, right? After class, I drive back to the church to pick him up and I get lost. Grumble.

Ac we are heading home he goes down the list of what his car needed to have done. $$$ Wah! It's nearly 12 by the time we get in so we just head off to bed.

On Friday, he took my car to the office. In the evening we went to the dealership and picked up his car.

It's been a very expensive month and it's only half over.