The background painting is a piece of ritual art I did in a class. I used oil pastels on black paper. It is very representational compared to my usual art thing. One right hand, three lefts. The hands came out red, yellow, green and blue, one for each cardinal direction. My inspiration was the hole in my fireplace at home, and the words "explore, receive, observe, release."

The intertwined snakes are from Wild Earth in Santa Cruz, and were a Valentine's gift from my lover Chris. The red and black beads they are wearing are from the Pombagira devotional on Friday night. The pink rose is from the ritual that Chris and his wife Cally had on Sunday for a small group of close friends and lovers. It was a beautiful ritual with lovely things for all five senses.

The string is connected to a consecrated metal washer, forming a pendulum from another class. The pendulum was anointed with oil, but I can't recall which one.

The crystal is a flourite in purples and blues that Darren gave me for Valentine's Day. He was part of the room crew and slept soundly on the floor next to the sliding glass doors.