Mental cobweb clean out!

Gee haven’t I been the blogger bummer lately lol…I figured I should at least get something down here if only to get the rambles out of my head. Things have been very low key lately and that’s just the way I like them.

Last weekend, we did a little impromptu visiting of relatives in the cemetery and also wandered around picking things up for random strangers….setting toppled flowers right, fixing a few flags that were blown asunder and scraping the dirt off one flat stone so the man’s name could be seen again.  Sometimes people consider cemeteries to be spooky places, but they can be peaceful as well as interestingly informative if you take the time to look around at the more historical monuments and stones.

Following a “horrible” doctor appointment with what I now realize is an absolutely crazy GYN doctor…I’m attempting to take steps to lose a little weight. Her reasoning for all of my girl problems are because I’m heavy, well as being too heavy to have my tubes tied (WTF??)…Luckily I work with doctors and nurses who all have reassured me that something is “off” with the above mentioned doctor, which makes me feel better…as did the ultrasound that she begrudgingly let me have that showed a fibroid.  So….now begins an attempt to get healthier and lose a little weight, partially to prove to myself that she was wrong (this would be the wrong reason LOL) and partially to just feel better about myself (the right reason). Now at least when I decide to visit another doctor, maybe they won’t have the heavy card to play anymore. I guess this is just an example of how some doctors and some people just don’t click with each other, and how important it is to really have someone you feel comfortable with.

Well, now that I’ve digressed completely on the point of weight loss, let’s move on…I have whipped up myself a little mojo bag to help me on this journey; amazonite and moonstone in with lemon balm leaves in a red bag. I wrote up an appropriate verse to chant and put it all together under the full moon during my ritual. I thought I could use a little extra magic boost in my efforts…something to focus on when I need to not have that second bowl of pasta or ice cream, etc. At the very least, I guess I could chew on it when I get desperate! LOL 

In happier news, I have my Halloween altar all set up on the porch and it’s looking quite cute…I feel even better about it this weekend because I really did a huge purging out there and my adorable little sitting area is back and looking nice and clean, instead of crowded and piled up with crap and too many pieces of furniture.  A clean anything always makes my view on life a happy one! We’ve also got our outdoor decorations and lights up…mostly for our own personal amusement, since we live in the middle of nowhere and no one comes to our house to trick or treat anyway. Halloween is my daughter’s favorite holiday…so I’m taking this as a positive sign that maybe I’ll make a witch out of her yet…no pressure, just hoping.

My calendula oil is coming along nicely….there is definitely a change in the color of the oil, so the petals are giving off their oils quite well.  I’m getting excited to make something with it…lip balm, cuticle cream, hand salve…oh boy! 

My latest Goddess research has led me to Bast, the Egyptian cat Goddess. I find it both interesting and amusing that these ladies always make me take a round-about way to find them. Between various red herrings and odd connections, it’s like a live action Scooby Doo mystery of the Goddesses and honestly, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

A breath of fresh air...and Arizona!

"A while back, at the entrance of a gym, there was a picture of a very thin and beautiful woman. The caption was "This summer, do you want to be a mermaid or a whale?"

The story goes, a woman (of clothing size unknown) answered the following way:

"Dear people, whales are always surrounded by friends (dolphins, seals, curious humans), they are sexually active and raise their children with great tenderness.
They entertain like crazy with dolphins and eat lots of prawns. They swim all day and travel to fantastic places like Patagonia, the Barents Sea or the coral reefs of Polynesia.
They sing incredibly well and sometimes even are on CDs. They are impressive and dearly loved animals, which everyone defend and admires.

Mermaids do not exist.

But if they existed, they would line up to see a psychologist because of a problem of split personality: woman or fish?
They would have no sex life and could not bear children.
Yes, they would be lovely, but lonely and sad.
And, who wants a girl that smells like fish by his side?

Without a doubt, I'd rather be a whale.

At a time when the media tells us that only thin is beautiful, I prefer to eat ice cream with my kids, to have dinner with my husband, to eat and drink and have fun with my friends.

We women, we gain weight because we accumulate so much wisdom and knowledge that there isn't enough space in our heads, and it spreads all over our bodies.
We are not fat, we are greatly cultivated.
Every time I see my curves in the mirror, I tell myself: "How amazing am I ?! "

Well wasn’t that refreshing??? I received this in an email this morning and I haven’t a clue who actually wrote it…but I figured it was worth the share.  I think we lose tract, especially in America, of what is actually beautiful and sexy...for women or men.  I for one don’t think the plastic stereotype is especially attractive and it’s unfortunate that in this day and age there are young girls who are trying to live up to this stereotype and society seems to be pandering into this delusion. My heart goes out to all the girls who just won’t be able to fit this standard due to genetics and will suffer some form of mental anguish because of it. I also revere the young girls who are able to accept themselves as they are and are able to realize that it’s not what you look like, it’s how you act and what’s in your heart and mind that matters most.

On a lighter, but just as serious note – Today is Arizona’s day…The Grand Canyon State! Home to one of the seven wonders of the world, the Grand Canyon, of course, as well as many Native American tribes in our country.  The powers that want to be would quite happily be willing to destroy these wonderful cultures as well as their historical artifacts because they say the Native Americans are different, and therefore, considered bad by their standards. Pshaw says I! It would seem to me that a culture so deeply rooted in the honor and care of Mother Earth should be honored and not attempted to be forced into extinction.  I’ve wanted to visit the Grand Canyon since I watched the Brady Bunch go down into it while riding on donkeys…and hopefully someday I will get to do that…it’s on the bucket list LOL So tonight, Arizona, I pray for you!

A Tuesday dabble round-up...

Just a quick note on some recent dabbles…I finally deemed my garlic and apple cider vinegar tincture to be done….and I was completely weirded out by it, so I ended up tossing it LOL  Have you ever got the feeling that something was just bad…you look at it from this way and that way and you smell it and poke it and it just gives you the heebee jeebees?  Yeah, that’s how I felt about this stuff…ah well, lesson learned.  Maybe I should have kept it in the fridge, or maybe I should have actually preserved it like one does with jellies…maybe I should just stick to bath products, potions not meant for drinking and edible things that have already been tested by others…like tea! I will be putting my tincture bottles to good use by keeping plain old apple cider vinegar in them in the fridge to use as a daily tonic on its own…mixed with water of course.

On a more exciting note – the calendulas are done blooming and the petals are dried.  Last night I mixed them with oil…about 8 oz of petals with 1 cup of sunflower oil, ½ cup of sweet almond oil and ½ cup of apricot kernel oil and now they sit in my window slowing infusing themselves with the wonderful essence of the calendula flowers. Such a fantastic plant, with so many good uses…I’m planning on using the oil in a balm as well as keeping a little bit in its oil form as well.  I have some fantastic glass vials with corks…from some cone incense I got a while ago…and they’re just screaming to have something put in them.

I’ve also decided to keep my peppermint plant inside for the winter instead of getting it into the ground before a frost…and darned if the thing hasn’t been growing better since it came in. The same thing with the four lavenders as well…they are still small and wee, as my daughter says so on the bakers rack they went as well….between those two and the rose scented geranium that has become ginormous in the past few weeks…I have one corner of my house that smalls happy and herby all the time. It’s nice to have a place to go when I’m stressed out and just squash my face in the leaves and breathe deeply.

I still desperately need to get the elderberry, hyssop and Artemisia into the ground…if it would stop raining and be sunny long enough for me to feel like going outside, that would be awesome!  I discovered that I have another type of Artemisia growing in my yard…who knew.  This I was very excited about…I seem to be drawn to this plant for some reason.  Admittedly it might have to do with our discovery of legalized absinthe over the past year, but that was before I discovered these plants in my locale.  My next Goddess to research will be Artemis…I’ve come to learn that when Goddess clues are thrown at me in strange ways, I need to investigate them more because they have something important to say to me.

Lastly…Alaska, today I honor you….The Last Frontier, The Land of the Midnight Sun…you’re beautiful and I hope to visit you one day! On behalf of most of America, I would like to apologise for "that woman" who has brought you so much attention over the past 3 years...we too would like her to shuffle quietly off into the sunset.

Hail Columbia!

Lord and Lady, please watch over our country during these troubled and confusing times.

Preserve our freedom of speech and religion while protecting us from harm and persecution.

Keep evil and strife far from us all and help us all to strive to remember the values our country was founded on.

Let there be liberty and justice for all and harm to none!

Hail to thee Columbia – may your light shine upon our country always!

I wrote this prayer in response to the whole DC40 debacle that’s going on.  I have a candle dedicated to Columbia and will be holding a nightly ritual to send my energy to help our country. I love my country, and I like it the way it is…to me, separation of church and state is a wonderful thing.

I love my little state as well…I don’t want it to be renamed. The Ocean State is a great name, if someone feels that it needs to be renamed The Miracle State, then maybe they need to actually come here look at our ocean and our shore line and realize that its already a miracle in its own right because of those very aspects.

Roger Williams founded Rhode Island on the basis of freedom of religion.  I recently took the time to look up the Rhode Island Charter which was written in 1663 and found it quite inspiring…

That our royall will and pleasure is, that noe person within the say colonye, at any tyme hereafter, shall bee any wise molested, punished, disquieted, or called in question, for any differences in opinione in matters of religion, and doe not actually disturb the civill peace of our sayd colony; but that all and everye person and persons may, from tyme to tyme, and at all tymes hereafter, freelye and fullye have and enjoye his and theire owne judgments and consciences, in matters of religious concernments,

(Quote take from http://www.auok.org/rhode_island_charter.htm - Feel free to read the whole thing)

Best I stop here for now, I’m planning on doing more about Rhode Island the day before the DC40 invade us…and my dander is up for the moment LOL I might get carried away.  As for right now...Hawaii, I'm praying for you tonight...Goddess bless!