Inverness Botanic Gardens & Floral Hall

❀❁✽❀Floral Fun & Afternoon Tea❀✽❁❀

Raven, K., M., and I all met up at Inverness Botanic Gardens (which you can find out more about on their website ::here::). K. and M. are primarily into Lolita fashion, whereas I am a Goth that dabbles in Lolita. I felt like wearing a Goth outfit with Lolita influences rather than a proper Gothic Lolita outfit as it was not a proper Lolita meet-up, just a gathering of frilly friends. 

Raven and I had been to the Botanic Gardens the previous week, and Raven wanted to go back to take photographs of the flowers. Raven took most of the images here, which is why he is not in many of them. Others were taken by M. All photographs are credited in their captions.

K. took this photograph...
 of Raven taking the next photograph of K taking this photograph..

As you can see in this image, I am wearing the silver wig again! This is the wig that was cut by a stranger the last time I wore it out, and since then it was retired awaiting repairs. I sewed some wefts of replacement hair in, but the texture of the new wefts was much shinier and more synthetic, so I stopped at the bare minimum to avoid the wig cap showing. I am going to buy some better quality synthetic hair to continue the replacements. In order to hide parts where the wig cap is showing - partly because the wig has thinned with time as hairs have shed, and partly because a thick lock of hair was cut off - there are quite a few hair flowers attached to the back of the wig. I felt that the flowers went with the botanic theme quite well, so were a good way of disguising that. 

K. and M. and I kept swapping M's smartphone between us.
Photograph by Raven.  

I have a special fondness for cacti and succulents - I grow LOTS of snake plants (sansevieria trifasciata) which are currently residing with my father as there's just not space for them in my apartment, money trees (crassula ovata, also known as jade trees) and for a while grew a little cactus, the exact kind of which I don't know. I really love the bold, architectural and geometric shapes you get with many cacti and succulents. They're always very interesting to look at. Not all cacti are very spiny or spiky looking - the ones I am posing with in the picture below are actually furry, but if you look carefully, there's spines within the fur, too!

On the path down into the cactus grotto.
Photograph by Raven.

The cactus house at Inverness Botanic Gardens is on two levels, with a sunken area involving a large mirror that gives a "cave" effect, which M. and K. were sitting in front of. Raven did well to keep himself out of the mirror photograph, but did not spot me rather theatrically "sneaking" up on M. and K.! 

M. and K. giggling,  me sneaking up on them.
Photograph by Raven.

Above the cactus grotto is a path that goes to the tropical green house and past the carnivorous plant display - I quite like those, too!Of course, we did not stay indoors, and so we had a wonder around in the outdoor gardens, too. I wish we had spent more time in the tropical green-house, and that I could find the charger for my camera, because I would have loved to have taken pictures of all the beautiful flowers (and fish) in there. 

Black and white and floral.
Photograph by M. Editing by HouseCat.

The botanic gardens stretch quite a way outside - further than I had realised on our first visit. I saw this dark green shrub with huge clusters of lovely white flowers and just knew I had to stand in front of it for a portrait! This photograph was taken by M. but I did the effects and filters on it afterwards. I think the black fabric flowers make an interesting contrast with the real white flowers. 

M. and K. arrive in the magic garden..
Photograph by Raven.

There is a "Jungle Path" intended for children through some Buddleia shrubs that M. and K. decided to go through - as considerably taller than them, and wearing precarious shoes, I decided to stay outside. Raven managed to get a rather good photograph of them that makes it look like they just emerged into a magical world, and M. has such an expression of wonderment on her face in this! I like how K. is standing near pink flowers that match her dress, and M. is standing near Buddleia flowers that closer match her dress! 

Channeling my inner Khaleesi
Photograph by Raven. 

We walked up a rather narrow and rocky path (hard in high-heeled platform Lolita shoes!) to a lovely viewing point, and I tried to pose on one of the rocks. Raven managed to catch this photo of me looking imperious before the illusion of majesty was ruined by my wobbling, flailing, and needing Raven's assistance to get down off the rock. 

K. under an umbrella, looking out over the meadows.
Photograph and editing by HouseCat, using M.s smartphone.

Unfortunately it rained quite early on in our walk around the gardens, so we sheltered under a tree where there was a bench, on the little mound overlooking the wildlife meadow and apple trees. K. and M. had an umbrella to share between them, so went to explore the meadow - as yet I haven't been that far, so I certainly need to go back!

At around 16:15, we went for afternoon tea - K. and I shared a halved slice of chocolate cake because there was only the one slice left, but it was HUGE, so I just cut it in half. The Floral Hall tea room has beautiful vintage tea-cups and saucers, and mis-matched plates for cake slices, and a selection of teas. There's also old decorative tea-tins on display, and lovely tea-themed decorations on the walls. The cake was rather tasty, too! Afterwards we went for a quiet walk around Tomnahurich Cemetery, which is near by, but we did not take photographs there, as we were being far more reflective. 

All in all, it was a lovely afternoon out with friends, and I thoroughly recommend the Botanic Gardens as an attraction to visit, especially as entry to the gardens is free!

Romanticism, Mysticism and Witchcraft

As I may have mentioned before, I am Neo-Pagan. For a while I was Wiccan, but these days I don't follow that path. I see my faith as more of a spiritual extension of my Romantic outlook than as religion, and the two are certainly intertwined in my thinking. First and foremost I am a pantheist with a strong regard for what I see as the intrinsic divinity of the Universe. I am not the sort to anthropomorphise my view of the divine - I don't believe in the personifications of the divine as various Gods and Goddesses, nor as a humanoid single God. To me the Earth, the sky, the sun, the moon the vastness of space - the universe, really - ARE God. To me the Divine is intrinsic, immanent, omnipresent in a literal way, not some transcendental being. 

The rocks providing a natural wall. Craig Phadrig, Inverness

I am not entirely sure on the consciousness of the Divine - the idea of one set of monolithic governing thought seems strange to me. I prefer the idea of the Universe being conscious of itself through its denizens rather than having its own separate consciousness. I think this belief in a sanctity of everything rather than a 'spirit' of everything is what differentiates me from an animist. 

Looking ponderous in the late evening.

These days I do still celebrate the eight major Neo-Pagan holidays, but I don't do so as a group. Sometimes I celebrate with a few friends, but I am not part of a Coven or anything similar. I go to the Pagan moots when I can though. To me, faith is mostly a private thing, which is why I am not really writing about it in any depth here. I have been asked before, so this post exists. I have never really felt the inclination to join a 'working group' or any Pagan equivalent to a Church. I'd much rather commune quietly in the forest. 

Lurking amongst the ferns.

I am not really into mythologising the world around me, hence my rejection of God and Goddess characters, and this extends into mythological creatures. While I do believe in the existence of beings that people might consider 'supernatural' and have encountered things that would commonly be termed ghosts, I don't like categorising any such encounters and experiences into the usual mythological taxonomy of angels, fae, demons and suchlike. Partly this is because I like to keep an open mind about what happened, and while I like the 'supernatural' explanations, I know I have no definitive proof of that or any other explanation, and not categorising what happened is part of how I try not pigeon-hole and look upon these experiences narrowly. 

Hiding behind a tree.

I get categorised as a Witch, but I don't like the word - it has too many fantasy-world connotations of flying brooms and turning people into frogs and talking animals and suchlike. I also don't like being called a psychic, as I am no good at 'seeing' the future or any form of pre-cognition, and am also no medium. I do practice what gets termed 'magic' or 'magick' but it is more like a prayer to the universe or or a very exacting wishing than pointing a wand and expecting pyrotechnics and miraculous instantaneous change. I have no idea how magick works, but in my experience I consistently get what I try for, so I will continue to believe in its existence. Don't try requesting spells from me - I won't do them. I know I might be wrong about the existence of magick and that a lot of people think it's hooey, but really, if it doesn't exist all I've done is waste a few moments of time and the cost of a few coloured candles that I'd have probably bought anyway because I like decorating with candles. 

Watching birds above.

The only thing that bugs me is people who assume I am a Witch because as a Romantic Goth I look a LOT like a stereotypical witch, just minus the pointy hat. I even have a lot of silver 'occult' jewellery and a black cat, and I am a walking cliche, but there are a lot of other Goths who look a lot like me who are Christians, Atheists, Agnostics, Jews, Muslims, etc. etc. and while that assumption might be right with me, the version of 'Witch' they are assuming is going to have a lot more to do with Harry Potter or Charmed than Wicca or Neo-Paganism. 

The photographs have nothing to do with me being Neo-Pagan or witchy other than I'm wandering around a forest and wearing a zodiac necklace and pentagram rings; I just wanted an excuse to use them for something. I guess in some ways they reinforce that stereotypical image of the witch - and yes, they were inspired by Morgan La Fey - but this is also a lot of just how I am and how I look like on a day-to-day basis; I wear that medieval-fantasy dress as a summer dress, that is my favourite wig and I love wearing lots of jewellery. Yes, I do like the aesthetic of the stereotypical witches and sorceresses, that fantasy archetype that gets oft recycled, but that's more part of me being Goth than of me being a Witch. I know more earthy nature-loving Hippy Witches than Goth ones, and I know as many male Witches as female, too. 

All photographs are by Raven, although he doesn't think they are his best. The low light levels were tricky, but trying to do this shoot was an educational experience. Spooky colour-changes and other such post-production was done by me as an exercise in being more artistic with Photoshop. 

Dark Romanticism and Goth

I'm more aptly a 'dark Romantic' than a Goth.

Photograph by Raven, Editing by the HouseCat

Maybe I've always had a broadly Romantic attitude, but one that was not really cultivated into anything productive until I started reading about the philosophy and literature of that time period. I started finding that I agreed with a lot of it and that the rest of it was taking me down new and exciting avenues. Some of these ideas became building blocks of my personal philosophy (which constantly evolves) and some of them fell by the wayside, but my way of thinking and my creativity were far more influenced by things that happened over  150, even 200 years ago than by what happened in the 1980's. My head was full of Clare, Keats, Wordsworth,  of Beethoven, Paganini, Weber, Liszt, Chopin, etc. long before it was full of Ian Curtis, Siouxsie Sioux, Robert Smith, Andrew Eldrtich, Patricia Morrison and Dave Vanian. Mary Shelley, Edgar Allan Poe, Bram Stoker, etc. were my transition between the two, with a large dash of Arthurian poetry and art, Pre-Raphaelites and Tolkien. 

Photograph by Raven, Editing by the HouseCat

Romanticism informs far more of my world-view than Punk thinking - even my tendency towards anarchism is rooted more in centuries-old political philosophies than 1970s political philosophies. My search for experience is core to my way of life, to the point where I think the purpose of life is to experience as much and as richly as possible. A lot of my art is based on direct inspiration from nature; I see strong emotion as an authentic source of aesthetic experience, with a decidedly Gothic emphasis on such emotions as apprehension, horror and terror, including the feelings that come around contemplating the inevitability of our own demise and decay. Awe, to me, is the emotion upon which I build inspiration, especially that which is experienced in confronting the sublime glory of untamed nature - the awe experienced while looking into the raging storm, or at wild currents of a river's rapids - and I'd go storm-chasing at white-water rafting if I could. On one hand I embrace medievalism, Gothic revival architecture and Arthurian myth, and on the other I look to the exotic (relative to my culture), to Japanese culture and ancient ruins. I empathise with William Blake as he talks of 'dark Satanic mills" in reference to early industrialisation, and see it continue in the smoke-stacks of coal fired-power stations, and in the seemingly unstoppable increase of materialistic consumer culture and all the factories thousands of miles away that feed it. 

Photograph by Raven, Editing by the HouseCat

In feeling like an alien amongst mainstream society I went looking for philosophies I did agree with - somewhere other people had to see things the way I did, and it did not seem that I was mad - and unfortunately found them to be an anachronism in relation to modern life, but then, as I read and experienced more about the various counter-cultures and subcultures from Arts & Crafts and Pre-Raphaelite era women in 'artistic dress' through Hippies and Punks to Goths -especially Goths- I saw the ideological tendrils that began with Sturm und Drang and revolutionary France were still bearing fruit. I did not set out to become a latter-day Romantic, albeit one with a fondness for black and the macabre, it just suits my personality down to the ground. 

Photograph by Raven, Editing by the HouseCat

My interests are broader than the Goth subculture, my perspective has not grown out of punk or of rock, but out of philosophy, literature and art, and I'm often a bit of a walking anachronism in more than just my fashion choices. Talking of fashion choices, stylistically I am fascinated by an aesthetic, not a subculture, and will wear things from Visual Kei, Elegant Gothic Aristocrat, Lolita and other Japanese styles as much as I'd wear Goth things, and will also wear vintage things or "hippie" things, or whatever else takes my fancy. I am more interested in anachronistic styles, luxuriously textured fabrics and an almost theatrical appearance than in what particular subculture you could attribute a garment to. My eclectic approach to fashion is not something I disguise, and where possible, I do try to accurately describe my various subcultural influences. 

Photograph by Raven, Editing by the HouseCat

My not-Goth interests predate my interest in the Goth subculture, and have not really wained in interest, only in time to spend on them. I am into the music, the fashion, the broader creative endeavours and the attitude that comprise the Goth subculture, but that only represents a small facet of who I am, and I feel that "Dark Romantic" encompasses a far greater amount of who I am than "Goth". Goth is still part of my identity, I still think the label applies to me, just it does not cover everything. 

Sunshine, Summer And The Outdoors

❀ I got a bit distracted... ❀

I was supposed to be taking pictures in the cemetery on Friday; I took the bus to the city, arranged to meet up outside the gates with my friend Suzy, got there and found it was locked up. This was not that late in the afternoon, and I'd been looking forwards to getting some nice pictures of the run-down mausoleum at the back (which I have featured before on this blog) with the nice Canon camera (rather than my point-and-shoot Ricoh). I was not hugely amused. I went to the graveyard in Church St. instead but my heart wasn't in it and I didn't take any good photos. In the end Suzy and I took the bus and went to my place.

It was far too warm to stay indoors, so I went to go play in the meadow outside my apartment building. Suzy likes the meadow as it is always full of various creepy crawlies and wildflowers. Suzy is a wildlife photographer focusing  (pardon the pun) mainly on bugs and has blog ::Up Close and Personal:: and Flickr stream: ::Suzy Bugs::. I like the meadow because it is a nice green open space where I get a stunning view down across the valley and to the mountains. Suzy took some pictures of me mucking around in the meadow. I took the picture of the clouds and the meadow and suchlike. It was actually really sunny all afternoon - a rarity in grey and rainy Scotland! 

This is the meadow by my flat, and the little wood with the burn.
This really was taken in Scotland, I don't live in Canada or somewhere.

I much prefer being outdoors to being indoors; being outdoors instantly lifts my mood. Sometimes I just sit in the meadow with a recorder or a flute and practice, or read a book, or sketch, or take photographs, other times I have no creative secondary purpose; the outdoors fulfils enough. The meadow isn't particularly large, but it is large enough to be enjoyable. I think it was too awkward a space with too much of a slope to be developed, especially as there is the rather steep slope down to the trees and the burn. (A burn, for those who do not know Scots terms, is a large stream to small river.)

❀❦❀

❝The poetry of the earth is never dead.❞

~John Keats

❀❦❀

A lot of my poetry (which is terrible and never being aired on the internet) is inspired by nature, as are a lot of my musical compositions (also terrible and never being aired on the internet) and my art (less terrible and frequently aired on the internet) is inspired by nature, and I live in such a beautiful place that I cannot ignore it. I feel really privileged to live in such a beautiful place. 

Enjoying my natural habitat. Photograph by ::Suzy::.

I mentioned that Suzy took some pictures of me. I guess these pictures are fairly representative of my summer style; somewhere between Romantic Goth and Trad-Goth, with a lot of lace in order to keep cool. As the odd spot on my face will attest, that pallor is not foundation; I am naturally really pale. In summer I tend to slather on the the sun-cream and leave off the foundation as it just gets greasy and horrid when I get hot. I was, however, wearing eye-makeup and lipstick (as is fairly obvious). As is again fairly obvious, this isn't my real hair (that's a sort of plum colour at the moment) but one of Raven's wigs.

Sunsets are pretty, and distracting. Very distracting.
Photograph by ::Suzy::. Thankyou!!

Anyway, this is not supposed to be an outfit post! This is about my love for the outdoors! And I do love it, regardless of weather. Recently the weather has been a mix of sunshine and showers, and yesterday evening it decided to rain rather heavily. I was out in a forest a short (well, short by my standards) walk away, scrambling down a ravine to get a good look at the waterfall where the burn (a different one, my area has several) went down some steep rocks, and also to scramble back across because there happened to be a good fording point at the bottom of this ravine. I got rather muddy indeed, and wet when I stepped in the burn instead of on a rock, and I didn't care that I was wet, cold and muddy because I was happy. It was a couple of hours in the outdoors, away from the human race, in the fresh air, burning off some extra energy. 

I love my little skull earrings. Photo by ::Suzy::.

I do conservation work with groups like Trees For Life and BTCV, and last autumn spent a lot of time helping at the nature reserve. In my own time I like going out for hikes (for which my attire is a lot more practical than it was on Friday!) and tend to get distracted by any rocks present. I used to live in Oxfordshire, which is not known for rocks and boulders and things to clamber on. I now live in the Scottish Highlands, known for being well, mountainous as the term "Highlands" indicates, and am a very happy outdoorsy lady.