Listening to the Sacred

Early this morning before dawn I found myself wide awake, I didn’t really want to get out of bed. I laid there  beneath soft, warm flannel sheets willing myself to go back to sleep. Needless to say it didn’t work.

With great effort I managed to crawl out of bed and make my way to the kitchen to make a cup of tea. By the time I finished I could see traces of light slowly seeping over the hills. I stood quietly watching the play of light and shadow dancing across the roof tops ~ bare tree branches ~ light spilling over my fingers ~ mesmerized.

Suddenly bird song filled the air and the deep rich scent of mother earth wafted up. In that one moment, I was finely attuned to every scent, movement, color and shape around me. Listening ~ listening  to the sacred language of mother nature.

Later, when returning to the kitchen for another cup of tea, I noticed that our prayer lily had bloomed. Such grace, the long slender stalk reaching towards the ceiling ever seeking the light. What a wonderful gift on this day of celebration ~ Happy Imbolc Everyone!  So grateful that winter will soon give way to spring.

“And that is just the point… how the world, moist and beautiful, calls to each of us to make a new and serious response. That’s the big question, the one the world throws at you every morning. “Here you are, alive. Would you like to make a comment?”
~ Mary Oliver

“Everyday Goddessing  is about sharing magical techniques and sacred wisdom with other beautiful Goddess women. I believe that within every woman there is a goddess, a wise woman, beautiful, creative, powerful, with a deep soul, and that everything we need and are looking for is already inside  each of us.” – Rose Arizmendi

Rose Quartz ~ Heart Chakra

I love rose quartz . . . the soft shades of pink and the gentle way light plays across it’s surface.

Rose Quartz ~ is a beautiful stone that soothes the eyes and spirit. Whether you like using it for the healing properties or just because you find them attractive ~  there is something about them that makes one feel peaceful.

Rose Quartz, Kunzite and Watermelon-tourmaline are used to help balance and align the heart chakra, they are the heart chakra trinity stones that I prefer to use.  In order to bring the most beneficial energies to your body’s energy system try wearing rose quartz near your heart meridian.

If you are a alternative healing practitioner you may want to also wear labradorite with the rose quartz  as it deflects unwanted energies from the aura and prevents energy leakage.

Kunzite ~ is a high level stone that strengthens the auras of spiritual healers and teachers and is one of the few stones, which can align the seven chakras within a twenty-four hour period.

The heart chakra governs the heart, blood circulation, respiratory system, thymus gland as well as your shoulders, arms and hands. Anahata also governs compassion, kindness, tenderness and unconditional love for self and others.

I think of crystals and stones as another form of medicine from the earth and encourage people to purchase their own stones instead of having someone else select them. As in all things trust your heart and let your intuition guide you.

Crystals and stones when combined with other forms of spiritual and natural healing modalities give us another way of reconnecting with ourselves and mother earth.

“Crystals grew inside rock like arithmetic flowers. They lengthened and spread, added plane to plane in an awed and perfect obedience to an absolute geometry that even stones – maybe only the stones understood.” ~ Annie Dillard

“Everyday Goddessing  is about sharing magical techniques and sacred wisdom with other beautiful Goddess women. I believe that within every woman there is a goddess, a wise woman, beautiful, creative, powerful, with a deep soul, and that everything we need and are looking for is already inside  each of us.” – Rose Arizmendi

Watching The Slow Changes

In the cold, grey winter days of January within me grows a deep longing for more light. Radiant golden sunlight kissing the land.

I enjoy watching the small slow changes ~ from winter to spring ~ the time when I first notice the slow lingering sunlight of the early year, the new grass and seasonal flowers and the first sweet laughter of spring in the air.

Imbolc

Pale winter sun lingers, lengthening each day
On twig and branch new buds begin to swell
Songbirds give voice, each striving to excel
Seed senses change in its deep bed of cold clay
Earth goddess weaves her magic to propel
Reborn cycle of her womb along its way.

Life returns in every tree’s slow thought
In pond and stream the dance begins again
Spring flowers show their purpose to proclaim
A new season comes; winters reign is short
And darkness no longer exercises any claim
Green growth dispels grey moods it brought.
~ by Ian R. Thorpe

Here is a very inspiring and beautiful video to bring a smile to your heart.

Blueberry Girl by Neil Gaiman

“Everyday Goddessing  is about sharing magical techniques and sacred wisdom with other beautiful Goddess women. I believe that within every woman there is a goddess, a wise woman, beautiful, creative, powerful, with a deep soul, and that everything we need and are looking for is already inside  each of us.” – Rose Arizmendi

In Between Times

On these cold wintry evenings as shadows grow long and bare tree limbs glimmer softly in the moonlight I often find myself curling up with books and a mug of hot chocolate.

Lately I’ve been re-visiting books on fairy tales. A couple of my favorites are the Norwegian folk tale ” East of the Sun and West of the Moon“, and the Celtic folk tale  “Connla and the Fairy Maiden“. The story of “Frank Martin and the Fairies” by William Carleton inspired the collage above.

I have always loved this time of the year ~ the twinkling of starlight on freshly fallen snow ~ the north wind rattling our wind chimes and the deep quiet silence of the season.

For me, winter is that in-between season of the year when mother nature pauses, the natural pattern of rest between the inhalation and exhalation. She is resting between the last exhalation of autumn and the next inhalation of spring ~ waiting for life to awaken beneath the frozen earth.

The four seasonal stages of earth;

Spring ~ inhalation ~ birth

Summer ~ pause ~ youth

Autumn ~ exhalation ~ middle age

Winter ~ pause ~old age

Here are a few of my favorite things;

• Taking a walk and being mesmerized by the details of the everyday world at my feet.
• Stepping out on the balcony at sunset to bathe in the last lingering rays of honey, golden light.
• Spending hours tucked away in the sweet messiness of the studio working, creating and playing.
• Writing, sketching and painting in my art journal.

What are some of your favorite things? What do you love most about winter? How and where do you find inspiration in the winter?

“Our senses are indeed our doors and windows on this world, in a very real sense the key to the unlocking of meaning and the wellspring of creativity.” ~ Jean Houston

“Everyday Goddessing  is about sharing magical techniques and sacred wisdom with other beautiful Goddess women. I believe that within every woman there is a goddess, a wise woman, beautiful, creative, powerful, with a deep soul, and that everything we need and are looking for is already inside  each of us.” – Rose Arizmendi

Happy New Year ~ 2011

As one year comes to a close and another year begins ~  the doorway swings open for new opportunities, new adventures and growth.

The New Year is the time of the year when we clean and bless our homes ~ sweeping out the old or unwanted energy by smudging or burning incense and lighting a candle to bless our home, our family and friends.

It’s also a time to turn inward, to deepen, to slow down, to nurture the seeds of hope and tend the garden of peace within our hearts and the world.

~ Ask yourself what you would most like to create this year?

~ What deepest part of yourself would you like to forgive and heal or nurture?

~ What can you do to create change in your life and your community?

You are like a candle.
Imagine you are sending light out all around you.
All your words, thoughts and actions
are going in many directions.
If you say something kind,
your kind words go in many directions,
and you yourself go with them.
We are …transforming and continuing
in a different form at every moment.
~ Thich Nhat Hanh

“Everyday Goddessing  is about sharing magical techniques and sacred wisdom with other beautiful Goddess women. I believe that within every woman there is a goddess, a wise woman, beautiful, creative, powerful, with a deep soul, and that everything we need and are looking for is already inside  each of us.” – Rose Arizmendi