Lorna's Joy Table

Like many people who undertake a formal training program in Wicca, Lorna Tedder hit rock bottom during her Second Degree, that time when everything in life is turned upside as Spirit descends into Matter and old issues arise and demand to be dealt with.  After several major epiphanies and finally clearing out some of the pain affectionately known as "Second Degree Crap," Lorna began preparing for her Third Degree elevation. 

"During the time when I began to ascend from the darkness" Lorna says,  "I started focusing on bringing JOY back into my life.  When my older daughter found a box of old photos, most of which were really awful pictures or were doubles from double prints, she asked why I didn't have these in photo albums or on display."

Looking at the pictures, Lorna began picking out ones that made her smile--a blurry pic taken right after her daughter's birth,  a photo of pal Vicki Hinze making a funny face at a booksigning,  a photo of Stonehenge,  a photo of Lorna riding a horse, etc.  All were pictures that she could not help but smile when she looked at them because they brought back very sweet memories.

Lorna cut the pictures and put them in a matted picture frame she found while "garage-saling" (aka "treasure hunting") with her younger daughter.  Then she placed the frame atop four short pedestals to turn it into a coffee table, conversation piece, and --at times-- an altar. 

"For the remainder of my Second Degree, whenever I would feel low, I would sit on the sofa and look at the pictures on the Joy Table," Lorna says.  "They made me smile.  Every picture in there made me smile.  The table was tremendously therapeutic and helped me to remember that I had felt joy many times before--and would again."

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