Beautiful Goddess Paintings

I was surfing today and found this artist with these beautiful Goddess paintings.

I love to see woman portrayed in such grandeur and mystic beauty. It always encourages me and reminds me to embrace my inner Goddess and live as her as fully as I can.

My favorite is Queen's Ransom. I hope you enjoy them too!

Karl Bang's Art **scroll down the page**

Rituals

I'm reading Eat Pray Love these days, which is a fabulous book. I didn't realize at all that I would learn so much from it. It's rejuvenated my understanding of meditation for instance, and has made me want to actively practice again. Her insights into her own struggles and how she's approached God (my Universe) and her own divinity have held such gems of truth in my own seemingly (at times) chaotic path.

One of the concepts she touches upon just briefly is ritual. Of course as a Green Witch ritual is a big part of my life. I find comfort in all sorts of rituals but this is something I had to grow into. It's interesting but a few years ago, I just wouldn't allow myself any time for ritual. SO even if I somehow managed to settle down for one - my mind was in such a flurry of thought and "busyness" that I couldn't fully be present for the ritual really at all.

How Elizabeth describe ritual is as an act that allows you to deal with and pass off to your soul things that you yourself can't quite understand or can't quite fix on your own. This is a loose paraphrase but that is the gist of what I understood her to say.

Thinking of ritual in this way gave me a flash of energy to continue my practice. It's interesting the way things happen with me lately. It seems like I'll feel the urge to do something, not quite being sure why. I'll begin it anyway and then a few weeks later will happen upon some gem of wisdom that unravels why this practice or activity has come into my life.

I'm liking this. It means to me that I'm listening to my inner voice and so on the path of least resistance, no matter how unsure it may seem in the moment:).

Here's Eat, Pray, Love's amazon link in case you want to see what other people thought as well. It's definitely at your library (one of my favorite places) and of course amazon is always glad to send you one:).

Grounding

Well, it's been a really trying couple of weeks! Because of that, I've been really getting in touch with grounding exercises and meditations. I'm a woman that appreciates simplicity and the bustle of my overactive mind truly needs it in order to accomplish something as still and balanced as grounding.

So, one of my favorite grounding mini-meditations has been imagining a single long root coming from my tailbone reaching far to the center of the earth. There in the center I imagine a great glowing, dense swirl of life force energy. A warm, nurturing, motherly comforting energy.

I actually imagine that my long "tap root" goes down to a level of earth right above the energy swirl and spreads out into smaller (but equally as strong) root divisions. They spread out in an area right around the energy swirl and receive it's energy through the warmth of the earth the roots are in (it is warm because of the energy swirl) and from the swirl itself.

I imagine pulling up balancing, grounding, supportive energy from the energy swirl into my body and imagine with every breath in my connection to that energy and the earth grows stronger and stronger. I grow more and more centered and calm and unaffected by whatever is stressing me out.

When I breath out, I release all the stress with the mental picture of it being contained in an encasing of carbon dioxide. In this meditation, the carbon dioxide appears as a greenish ball or gust of air that contains the worry, the unhealthy thoughts, etc.

I also imagine that the plants, as representatives of mother earth, take this negative energy and transmute it into positivity (since plants breathe in CO2), which helps me to remember that all seemingly negative things are good with the right perspective.

This always works for me. Enough deep breaths and enough conscious thoughts and I can propel myself to a much better place.

I hope it might work for you if you find you need some grounding sometime:).

Peppermint

It's been wonderful to drink Peppermint every morning and evening. I feel like it is doing such a good thing for my psyche - keeping me calm yet energized, focused yet relaxed. Also, my digestive system has been a lot happier too. I haven't had the usual stomach quirls that I've come to know. That's a nice relief.

And for me it feels so good when healing comes as an aftereffect of something that warms your spirit just in and of itself. Lovely indeed:).

On an excursion to Trader Joe's today I bought a chai tea mix amongst other things. I'm excited about it because chai is such a wonderful tea blend. And Trader Joe's is indeed very natural and just full of the herbs.

When I settle down in Little Rock, I'll probably experiment with making my own Chai from scratch. I've done it before and it is delish!

I'm looking forward to planting again. I'm also looking forward to starting back up my Clayton studies. So many things to look forward too:).

The Green Witch Crafts (as a verb)!

I've lately developed a love for crocheting. I used to be a fairly frequent knitter and just recently decided to try crocheting. I've been trying to make some fingerless gloves to no avail, lol and in the frustration of not getting it right, went looking for some other easy patterns.

Look what I found! These little critters in this picture are supposedly very easy to make and most of them are crocheted! I think they are the cutest creations and talk about embracing a simpler world and life!

I'm going to really challenge myself to make at least a few of these. They would be great gifts for all the babes I know and have yet to know. I think even friends would enjoy these little wonders, especially because I handmade them.

Imagine one with a few handpacked tea bags in it's wee little grasp. Would that be the cutest thing! In recent years, I've really gotten into the idea of giving gifts that I can handmake because 1, I think they mean a lot to people 2, it's sometimes a lot more affordable for me and 3, it's kinda fun when you can make the time for it.

You can click on the picture for the link to all the patterns. If you make one, share it with me!

Happy Birthday to Me!

And happy wonderful beautiful day of Hope for all the world! Yes Obama in office means that much to me:).

There are some other things that I want to write about but before I headed out to have a birthday drink with friends, I wanted to be sure that I blessed my space with my birthday wishes!

Much Love, Much Peace, Many Green Blessings, and so much HOPE!

****************

Added later this evening:

Alrighty, my bday drink plans got postponed til the weekend. That's ultimately ok, a bit of a bummer, but a bummer I can deal with:).

The silver lining is I get to write a little here:).

So the thing that's caught my interest and gotten me excited to remember today is garden planning. I guess technically it's the season for it. I remember when I was facilitating the BUGS Organic Garden series at the Garfield Park Conservatory (I used to be a program coordinator there), those classes started in January and planning the garden was a big part of what was learned.

I don't have any big spaces to plan out but it is at the least a good time to be thinking about what I want to do on a balcony:).

I've decided tentatively that I want to have a few big pots that will serve as my different "gardens". I'm going to be living in an apartment this summer with an outdoor space that other people walk through to get to their apartments so I'll have to be clever with how I use the space. Hanging plants and wall fixtures I'm thinking will have to work in with the pots on the ground. My different gardens are below.

Magickal/Healing Garden
I know I'd like to have a pot devoted to this. My staples will be here - Peppermint, Lavender, Lemon Balm, maybe some Cronewort, Rosemary, Thyme - all or some of these.

Love Garden
I need to do some research here to figure out what I'll put in this pot. I might even experiment with having this as an indoor garden. I think that would be lovely for the home! Miniature roses would definitely be a part though at the least!


And My dream garden to plant is a Moon Garden. I don't know if I'll be able to do this this year because again I don't really have the space for it. But it would be lovely. There are some beautiful plants that bloom only in the evening. There are a number of beautiful silvery plants that sparkle lovely in the moonlight as well. I think it would be wonderful if everyone woman could have a moon garden to retreat to.

Here are some resources I've found online for planning one and a good list of night blomers as well.

Planning a Moon Garden

Moon Garden Ideas

Night Bloomers

Happy Good night!

How Politics Make me Feel about Holistic Health In the Mainstream

I had a very interesting conversation this afternoon with my coworker. I'm the assistant director at a non-profit fundraising office and we were talking about how excited and reinspired we both were now that Obama has been elected into office. We both in fact ended up in our office because of the inspiration we felt from working on the Obama campaign.

The most interesting part of our convo was about how we truly believe that the way is being paved for alternative medicine to become a part of our mainstream. She has aspirations in midwifery. I of course want to work with people in preventive medicine through basic herbal and nutritional food cultivation.

Just like green jobs in renewable energy are receiving a huge boost and are becoming the "next big thing", I really feel as though the alternative medicine will be next in line for a push to the mainstream. As a rule, so many more people are knowledgeable about the benefits of living a more natural lifestyle. Also, at the very least, it's common knowledge that our current healthcare system is highly inadequate by itself to handle our society's ailments.
More people are comfortable with the idea of alternative medicine and more people want to explore something else that is more affordable, more reliable, and less dangerous that what our conventional system can provide. This has been happening consistently over the course of the last 10 years and now I'm a firm believer that the time is near. A president like Obama can clearly see the value in alternatives.

I was so excited to know that healthcare was a major concern of his. I'm just gushing with excitement to see what types of changes he ushers in and what more options, professional wise and personal wise, we'll have within the fields of alternative medicine! We can do some truly awesome things and institute major societally pivotal changes in how we take care of people and encourage them to take care of themselves. I for one am happy to relight my fire and passion for the respect and help we "green folk" need in order to spearhead this! Yay for Change!

Bought Bulk Herbs Today!

This is a momentous occasion for me because it's been so long since I've made my tea from bulk herbs. I went through a period of withdrawing from all the things that made me "different" from others. It was admittedly a bit of a time of self-denial but it had it's purposes and looking back I don't think I would change it now.

The great thing is that in a sure and steady way, I've been re-embracing the ways of living that I've cherished, the things that make me feel really "as myself". The things that make me feel "true to myself".

So buying bulk tea today, even though it was from Whole Foods and even though Frontier Herbs is not necessarily buying from a local, small "close to the earth" farm that I've gotten to know personally, it's still a step in the direction I want to take. They are still herbs I can connect with on a whole other level than drinking from prepacked tea bags. Drinking my peppermint tea this evening still feels way more divine that even my Trader Joe peppermint tea bags ever did.

I'm happy tonight:).

(I bought Licorice Root and Burdock Root to help with continuing my detox and digestive and eliminatory system toning and Peppermint because it's my favorite cool down and focus tea.)

Traveling Loose Tea Cup

I am very happy today!

In my trip back home to Little Rock, I was able to go into storage and find my Teazer Loose Tea Traveling Mug. Now I bought this mug maybe 4 years ago or so when I only drank loose tea. I was always on the go however and really, really, really wanted something that I could drink my loose tea blends in while walking to the train, etc.

So I scoured the internet and found this Mug - at the time I think it was $24.99 or something crazy like that:). It was totally worth it for me because there was nothing else like it that I'd seen.

Now, with a quick search today, I found that you can purchase the very same mug for just $16.99 and it even comes in different colors now. How snazzy! Check it out on amazon below!

If you are an avid tea drinker (which as a green witch, you must be!) then you should definitely buy one! It's made me so happy walking around town:).

Clayton College Masters of Natural Health

I'm determined to finish this program. I started it quite a few years ago - like 7:). I think I'm finally ready to give it a good go of finishing it. I"m pretty sure Clayton will allow me to continue - they've always been seriously sweet about it. I know that I want the herbology concentration and I know that I want the master's and I know I have the discipline to do it.

All these things I know:).

Now it's just about setting out to do it. Mid-February is when I'm planning to seriously buckle it down to a schedule. Wish me luck!

Clayton College, Masters of Natural Health

Deciding to Buy the Aerogarden

I'm still getting used to the weather down south and so the fact that it's still possible to be planting right now is really intriguing to me. I could technically start an indoor garden right now and transfer it outside in a few weeks because the weather probably wont get to freezing in that time period.

I've been toying back and forth with the idea of getting this: http://www.aerogrow.com/index.php.

It's an Aerogarden - a pretty nifty contraption in which you can grow a good number of herbs on the kitchen counter top without having to worry about proper lighting and such. I first read about it 2 years or so ago and thought that it was pretty interesting. Two years later, I'm still thinking the same thing so I figure, why not make the splurge. It might take me a bit of time to save the money to purchase it, BUT at least now it's officially on the wish list.

:).

Ideas for Summer Programs

I've been toying around with the idea of doing a small summer program this year, wherever I happen to end up. I used to teach classes for adults but I've always wanted to do something for kids as well. I want to work with teenagers and help them learn to use herbs in therapeutic ways.

Of course it would be great if they walked away as budding herbalists, but even exposing them to these concepts would float my boat:).

I've promised myself that I"m going to flesh out the idea, stay small with it, and focus on how fun it could be.

We'll see what happens!

Happy New Year!

It's been a few months since I've had the occasion to write but with the New Year upon me and the hope and promise of a new feel for life, I'm reinspired:).

Green Witch wise, I've been heralding the benefits of Horsetail and Traditional Medicinals Detox Tea. I know it's not the most green witchery-esque thing to do to drink pre-packaged herbs but at the least, Trad Meds is a brand I really trust. And I'm trying to get better about taking my horsetail on a regular basis. I know I need the iron and the silica. And the Detox is awesomely good for me. Awesomely indeed.

I've been feeling the urge to begin my Clayton studies again. I've always felt the urge. It's more about feeling as though I can do something about it I suppose. I feel like this year I can. That is a goal indeed.

And I've been thinking alot about putting together a little summer program for some group of kids here on using herbs - perhaps doing the remedies in pots idea. I'm excited about big ideas:).

Well I'm glad to be wanting to share my green witchy self again. Ah, me becoming more of me again is always a nice feeling.