Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories - Capricorn’s Dreamy Day on Earth

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Starting point is 00:02:09 Just visit GetSleepy.com slash support and click or tap on the link that says gift a subscription. I'll pop a link in the show notes too, if that's easier for you. Tonight, we'll continue our journey through the zodiac. Capricorn is the kind of person who appreciates a job well done and understands the satisfaction of making sure every detail is perfect. As a result, she spends her day on Earth, crafting and making beautiful things. We'll witness her craftsmanship first hand as we join her at her Renaissance Fair. This whole series has been written by Frankie. We're so grateful to her and

Starting point is 00:03:09 to all of our wonderful writers for all their amazing work this year. Each of our writers bring their own unique style and creativity to the table and it's a big part of what makes this show so special. We're proud to have stories and meditations that are created from a place of genuine individuality and artistry and the same goes for all of our narrators. We always want to make sure we can connect with all of you on a real and personal level, so every voice you hear and every word we speak comes from a real and genuine place of care and love. So thank you my friends for helping us make it possible to do what we love, we truly appreciate each and every one of you. Before we embark on this meditative and

Starting point is 00:04:09 calming story, let's take some time to get comfortable. At this moment, consider consider all the things you love about your bed. Your pillow that perfectly supports your head and neck. The soft mattress that comforts your tired body. Even your sheets radiate safety from their familiar smell and feel. All of these elements come together to provide you with the ultimate sanctuary for relaxation. Now, as you lie in your cozy bed and breathe, imagine that you are lying on your back looking up at a canopy of trees on a bright sunny day. Through the vibrant green of the leaves, you can see the that the trees wave and sway with the rhythm of your breath. It's as if your body is completely in tune with the flow of the very universe itself. Your mind's eye pans down from the tops of the trees, to the grove beneath them, where colorful tents and pennant flags dance between the trunks.

Starting point is 00:06:26 The giant flags dance between the trunks. It is a renaissance fair, and this is where our story begins. In a secluded valley between rolling hills of green and gold sits the fair. Capricorn reaches the summit of a hill and looks down over the valley. the eucalyptus trees and black oaks stands a collection of tents and canopies. Even now, there are people milling around with excited business, cutting tracks through the crisp early morning air. Winter is here, but this valley still remains sunny and enjoyable throughout the season. The combination of cool air and warm winter sun is pleasant. Capricorn watches her breath turn to steam for a few moments before heading down the hill to join in the preparations. Most of the tents are erected and need decorating. Guests will be arriving in an hour or so,

Starting point is 00:08:33 but there is still much to do. The act of pulling together with others and performing tasks for the benefit of the wider group is something that Capricorn truly enjoys. She immediately starts working. She takes a bundle of technicolored pennants from another organizer and starts stringing them around the grounds. They trail between branches and tents, bringing a burst of color to this winter's day. Once she has finished, Capricorn turns her attention to the pile of beautifully carved wooden signs. She goes around the camp with a mallet, tapping each sign into the ground. Here is where the food vendors are setting up in a half circle around the picnic tables. Over there is the maker's market already half filled with craftspeople getting ready to spend the day pedaling their wares.

Starting point is 00:10:09 This tree-lined path leads through the forest to the jousting grounds. Capricorn pauses in her work to admire the people around her. Their outfits are so splendid. Some women wear beautifully embroidered gowns over plain white shifts. Others are dressed more simply, but with the obvious intention of working for the day. Men either wear work clothes or more fanciful fashion, such as poet shirts, breeches, doublets, and feathered caps. Capricorn is certain she saw a few more richly dressed people duck down the path towards the jousting grounds and the stage. She herself wears comfortable leather boots, dark breeches, and a leather apron covered

Starting point is 00:11:30 in pockets, some of which hold tools and pairs of gloves. Capricorn, along with the rest of her zodiac siblings, retired to the heavens at the very end of the Classical period. By spending a day at a Renaissance fair, Capricorn gets the chance to experience two time periods at once. two time periods at once, the Renaissance and the modern day. She remembers watching the Renaissance from the heavens. She desperately wanted to come down and watch Michelangelo paint or Leonardo invent. It was such an incredible time for discovery and creation. Today, Capricorn will be spending most of her time in the Maker's Market. She is happiest when her hands are busy and looks forward to being a part of the immersive nature of the fair. She and a few other crafts people will take it in turns to man several of the more popular

Starting point is 00:13:09 attractions. Perhaps there will even be time for her to witness the main events at the jousting grounds. For now, she heads resolutely to the leatherworking tent. As she prepares her tools and sets out her materials, Capricorn notices the first guests of the day trickling into the fair. Most of them are dressed up as well, though a few have foregone costumes in favor of warm modern clothing. The Sun is already getting warmer and stronger when Capricorn sets to work. She plans on making a pointed, wide-brimmed hat during her time play-acting as the leather worker. She rummages through her collection of leather and tries to decide which color she will use. Various shades of brown are kept next to dark reds, blacks, and greens.

Starting point is 00:14:53 and greens. Capricorn decides to pick the dark forest green. She lays out the leather on her wooden table, picks up a sharpened pen knife, and begins cutting out the shapes. She wants the hat to curve slightly at the point, giving it a jaunty attitude. She cuts out oblong curved pieces, and already a small crowd has stopped by to watch her. The pieces she cuts may not look like much, but once she starts putting them together, a three-dimensional shape will form. The last thing Capricorn cuts out is the wide brim. She safely puts away her cutting tools and gathers the next tools needed. She sets out a small mallet and a tailor's awl. A tailor's awl is a pointed tool with a handle, almost like a giant sewing needle. Capricorn places the awl near the edge of one of her cut pieces

Starting point is 00:16:24 and hits the handled end of it with the mallet. When she removes the awl, there is a small hole punched in the leather. She continues this process along the edges of each piece of leather. Leather is notoriously hard and sturdy, which means that sewing it together would be extremely difficult without using the awl to make the holes first. holes first. She is careful and meticulous in her work. Every hole she makes in one edge of the leather must match up with a hole on another piece so she can join them together. so she can join them together. Using the all and mallet is not quick work,

Starting point is 00:17:35 especially when she has to make hundreds of holes. But Capricorn finds it very meditative. The repetitive nature of this process allows her to set her mind free while her hands are busy. Even the people watching her work seem to be entranced by her actions. her actions. When she has finished making holes in each piece, she again puts away the awl and mallet. From a small basket, she produces two needles and a length of green dyed thread. The thread is particularly thick and strong in order to hold together the material. The needles are also slightly different from from those used in traditional sewing. Instead of being round, leather worker needles are triangular. This helps to keep the leather from ripping or tearing during construction. Capricorn cuts a piece of thread and ties each end to one of the needles.

Starting point is 00:19:10 She begins sewing the abstractly shaped leather pieces together, always being careful to make sure there is no gap between the two pieces of leather. On the outside of the hat, the stitches will run straight across the joined pieces, while on the inside they will look like little crosses. Sewing is also a calming act and yet, with each stitch, the formless pieces are beginning to come together as something recognizable. Soon enough, the cone of the hat is finished. It sits on the table like a twisted turret or a horn. Capricorn starts on the brim next. She measures the circumference of the brim

Starting point is 00:20:28 and cuts a piece of flexible wire from a spool in the tent. As she constructs the brim, she runs the wire along the interior, holding it in place with careful stitching. When she's finished, she has a flexible wire brim. The last thing left to do is connect this piece to the rest of the hat. connect this piece to the rest of the hat. The people in the crowd around her seem to hold their breath as the final stitches are put into place. Capricorn ties off the thread and holds out her work for admiration. The guests around her tent clap with enthusiasm. She gestures to a young girl that has been watching her work. The girl walks forward shyly. She is wearing a soft and flowy dress, the color of new leaves. Capricorn places the hat on her head and adjusts the brim. She shows the girl her reflection in a mirror and smiles to herself

Starting point is 00:22:11 as a grin and a blush break out across the child's face. The girl thanks Capricorn and runs off to show her parents. The crowd disperses to the other attractions and Capricorn turns her attention to her next project. She ducks into the pottery tent and makes for the squares of clay organized by color. She selects a brick of red clay and takes it to the strong, smooth table in the corner of the tent. She begins the process by trying to soften the clay. It's not easy work to prepare clay to be thrown. She bangs, bashes, and squishes the clay. Her effort is rewarded as it becomes easier to work in her hands. With the physically straining part of the process done, she

Starting point is 00:23:39 takes her clay to the wheel. She throws it into the center of the wheel and draws a tub of water nearby. As the wheel begins to turn, Capricorn makes sure that her clay is firmly attached to the plate and isn't going to spin off as she wags. She then wets her hands and lays them on the clay. By constantly making sure her hands are wet, she is slightly watering down the clay, again making it easier to work with. She doesn't want to add too much water and compromise the strength of the material. Any water left in the clay when she's finished will be baked out in the kiln. Her first task before she even begins to construct her final piece is to form the clay into a tall cylindrical tower and then down into a smooth hockey puck shape. This gets the clay used to changing its shape and helps to evenly disperse the water.

Starting point is 00:25:33 disperse the water. As if by magic, the clay leaps up to a cylinder and squashes down again under Capricorn's hands. It is now ready to be shaped. Capricorn begins by coaxing it to the right height before using her thumb to create a shallow well in the middle. She slowly drags her thumb towards herself, widening the growing indentation. Time and time again, she slowly shapes the walls of her bowl. First, she creates the making the inside and outside as smooth as possible using a variety of tools and sponges. The transformation of the lump of shapeless clay to a recognizable shape requires focus and patience, both of which Capricorn has in excess. Her skilled hands tease and lead the clay into her desired shape as if it were second nature. shape as if it were second nature. By the time her wheel slows to a halt,

Starting point is 00:27:17 she has a beautifully shaped bowl ready to be fired. Capricorn carefully uses cheese wire to remove the bowl from the pottery wheel and places it on a rack to dry. She has a moment of brief bitter sweetness as she realizes she won't be able to see it fired and finished, but she hopes it will bring joy to someone else. Capricorn walks across the fair to the loudest and warmest area, the blacksmith. She gives the current blacksmith a nod as she relieves him for a while. He winks back to her before wandering off for some food. The first thing Capricorn does is pump the bellows. The first thing Capricorn does is pump the bellows. She needs the fire to be as hot as possible in order to work her chosen metal.

Starting point is 00:28:37 As she pumps, Capricorn tries to decide what would be best to make. She wants to provide something useful, something that can immediately be put to good use. She hears a whinny behind her, and the idea comes like a flash of lightning. and the idea comes like a flash of lightning. She watches a man in armor lead a beautiful black horse to the outskirts of the fair. Capricorn places the iron in the fire and waits for it to heat up. Once it is bright orange, she brings it to the anvil and begins to hammer it into shape. The rhythmic sound of her hammer on the metal counts out the seconds as she crafts. The ringing is like a metronome calmly signaling to her that she is still working and that time marches on. time marches on. As she works, Capricorn basks in the heat of the fire.

Starting point is 00:30:20 Blacksmithing is a very physical task, one that she is grateful for after the careful work bent over the pottery wheel. She puts her entire body into the job of hammering, pumping the bellows, and cooling the metal. She finds immense joy in the movement of her own body as she works her way through the creation of four horseshoes. She hardly notices the crowd that has been watching her work all this while. When she finishes, she gets applause once again. She waves to the knight with the horse and tells him that the shoes are for his beautiful steed. steed. Finally, it is time for Capricorn to take a break. She ducks out from under her tent

Starting point is 00:31:44 and heads to the food vendors, craving something to bring warmth back to her cold fingers. The scent of cinnamon and something fruity wafts through the air. It smells like bottled wintertime. Capricorn follows her nose to a kindly woman with a cast iron cauldron of hot apple cider. The woman gives Capricorn a cupful, pointedly refusing payment from the lady who made her granddaughter such a lovely green hat. Capricorn wanders through the fair sipping her apple cider. Cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg perfectly match the flavor of the tart apple juice. The drink seems to glow with warmth from her insides all the way to the tips of her fingers. Capricorn follows the path to the jousting grounds, admiring the way the festooned lights and bunting bring cheer to the bare trees. Many people think of winter as something to be tolerated,

Starting point is 00:33:27 but Capricorn finds it to be the perfect season. Everything is hibernating and gathering strength for the excitement of spring. Capricorn finds it peaceful and restorative. The path she follows comes to a large clearing with wooden stands along two sides. From the tops of the tiered seating are large, colorful pennant flags dancing in the light breeze. People are sitting in the stands chatting happily to one another and sipping warm drinks. Capricorn climbs the stands and sits, eager to see the show. At one end of the little arena is a raised daith, occupied by two beautifully dressed people. The man wears a dark blue velvet doublet with matching breeches.

Starting point is 00:34:54 Both are embroidered with suns, moons, and stars in gold thread. On the top of his head sits a gold crown engraved with intricate designs. He wears a dark, fur-lined cape and matching leather gloves. The woman is even more resplendent. Her dark red gown is the color of the purest rose and is embroidered with roses in copper thread. She, too, wears a crown, though her delicate tiara is set with a large ruby at its center. Her fur-lined cloak is a deep purple, giving her a mysterious majesty. a mysterious majesty. Capricorn is so dazzled by their fantastic outfits that she can't help but wonder who made them. The tailor is surely a craftsperson of incredible skill. person of incredible skill. A trumpet interrupts her thoughts as the jousting tournament begins. The announcer is a roguish bard whose commentary is filled with quips and jokes.

Starting point is 00:36:46 He introduces each knight as they parade through the arena. The knights shine in their beautiful armor and their horses trot proudly. The bard proclaims that the winner will receive a favor from the royal couple. The crowd cheers heartily, and the games begin. It immediately becomes clear to Capricorn that the knights are very skilled professionals. Far from the dangerous jousting of medieval times, these men and women delight the crowd by performing tricks on their horses, each one trying to outdo the other with impressive feats. Some dodge out of the way of an oncoming lance by dropping over the side of their horse and hanging on by one foot. Others stand in the saddle and jump over lances.

Starting point is 00:38:14 All the while, the bard makes light of the game and has everyone laughing heartily. has everyone laughing heartily. The tournament ends with prizes awarded to the knights as determined by the enthusiasm of the crowd's applause. Capricorn is pleased to see that the knight riding the horse with the shoes she made wins first prize. Perhaps she has made four lucky horseshoes. The knight climbs down from his horse and approaches the dais. The royal couple bestow upon him a red rose, one of the loveliest that Capricorn has ever seen. scene. There are a few more announcements before the crowd starts to filter out. No one notices that Capricorn has slipped away.

Starting point is 00:39:40 She is up at the top of the hill once again by the time the others are out of the arena and milling around the main fairgrounds. She watches them for a few moments. The air is full of lovely scents. Freshly baked bread and pies intermingle with the smell of hot apple cider. Capricorn can hear the sounds of the blacksmith hammering away. hammering away. She smiles to herself, knowing that the things she misses most about life among human beings are their productivity and inventiveness. It's what she will cherish It's what she will cherish as she returns to her home among the stars. You You You I'm going to go ahead and start the video. You You You You You You You I'm going to go ahead and start the video. You You I'm going to go ahead and start the video. You You You You You..

Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories - Capricorn’s Dreamy Day on Earth

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