Goals.

So on the forum I frequent I am participating in Life's to-do list. This season runs from June 20th(I'm a little behind) to September 21st.

I am documenting my goals here so I can keep myself honest and accountable for them!


Here they are : 

1. Cleanse with a salt wash and sage every room in the house once we fully take it over.
        Loveyy and I are taking over the house in July, we will have the entire thing! However, it has some seriously bad built up vibes, so it needs a good cleansing. 
2. Give Loveyy a compliment everyday.
       He deserves it!
3. Finish reading Hekate : Liminal Rights and Earth Wisdom
       I need to just do this already, I keep stalling.
4. Look up and document (on Blog and in BOS) 10 new herbs.
       Oh my poor Herbs A-Z is getting left behind in the dust of my life! 
5. Go on 3 Camping Trips. Enjoy the Earth while its void of snow!
       Loveeee Campinggg. :) 

Litha 2012.

Last night Loveyy and I attended a Litha ritual. It was amazing as expected, and we both had an awesome time. We danced, and there was singing, and just a whole bunch of Joy and Love.

As apart of the ritual we all were given a piece of thyme, and  small pebble. We were to meditate on where we wanted our spiritual journey to take us in the coming year. Once we had grounded and focused and truly had an answer in our mind, we were to get up and toss the thyme into the fire, releasing our intentions into the universe. We were told to keep the pebble as a reminder.

I've heard of people doing this before, and I thought it would be neat.

Neat, does not come close. It was an awesome experience. I really did think long and hard, and my pebble now sits on my altar, as a constant reminder.

Here is what I meditated on:


By June 21st of next year, I want to have solid roots in my belief system. I know it is ever developing, but I want to know what I believe I want my practices to be an every day thing. The research will be never ending, I'm sure. I will never know everything. But I want to be comfortable. I want to be able to call myself a Pagan, or a green witch, and know exactly what makes me so.
Next June 23rd, I am getting married. And after the wedding, and the honey moon, we are coming out to our families. I want to have answers for their questions. I want to be confident so I can answer their accusations, and hostilities without feeling guilty.

Last night was an important night. I finally acknowledged to myself, that though I still believe he exists, I no longer follow the Christian God. I believe in many of his principles, and I believe Jesus Christ was his son, but his church, and he himself, do not call to me as strongly as others.
It is a bittersweet feeling, literally as I type this I can feel my pulse quickening, and the fear rising. Fear of the unknown. Fear that I am choosing wrong, that I'll be damned. But I have to remind myself : Live in this moment. Live for the life I have today.
If The Christian God is the way, and I am choosing wrong so be it. I am a good person, I live my life without hate. And I do not believe I would be damned in his eyes. How could he send me to hell, merely for following another?

I am happy to have made this choice. I am certainly glad I did before I had children.
What a strange religion Christianity is - To inspire such fear in their followers hearts. My children will know a religion of Love and tolerance. Of respect, and freedom.

Fathers Day

Fathers Day is a tough one in our household.
Lovey lost his father when he was just 16, and my father, is not technically absent, but not really their either.

Sure he does things for me. He loves me. But he is not perfect, by any stretch of the imagination.

It is even more difficult for me because I am and always have been a "daddy's girl". I have looked up to my father and love him with every fiber of my being.

I forgive him every time he lets me down. I lecture him when I think he's being an idiot. But no matter what, he is my father, and I love him.

So happy father's day dad.
I love you, despite your inadequacies.

A day trip to the Gem Store.

Recently I acquired some unexpected cash. So I decided to take a trip to the gem store a few towns over. I needed to beef up my basically non-existent collection of stones!

 

Above is a picture of my completed purchase. 

Top- Stone Elephant, inside there is a baby elephant! You can't see it well in this picture though. I have a collection of elephants so I had to get this to add to it! It was surprisingly affordable, and I am not sorry I bought it.

First Row (top to bottom) - Green Moss Agate, Snowflake Obsidian, Tigers Eye, White Onyx

2nd row (") - Carnelian, Hematite, Iron Pyrite "fools Gold", Black Tourmaline

3rd Row ( " ) - Red Jasper, Amethyst, Moonstone, Rose Quartz,

4th row - Apache Tears, Sunstone

I had an awesome time. Though being in the store gave me a headache. Damn my empathetic self!  

Some side notes:

I didn't know Onyx came in white, I had always thought it was black. period. So I was pleasantly surprised to find this. I wasn't drawn to the black at all. In fact, I did pick it up several times, but ended up leaving without it. The white, however, sits with me nicely. 

I have heard Rose Quartz is typically hard to find, but I guess up in NH we are pretty abundant with it. Fools Gold is the same way, ridiculously easy to find, which is why I had to grab some! 

I grabbed a decent amount of Amethyst, both tumbled and rough, as well as a small sphere of it. Amethyst is my birthstone, so it has always held a special energy for me.

Moonstone is the other one I have a ton of, to represent Hecate, and I can't wait to put it on the altar I plan to make for her shortly!

Sunstone was awesome to find, and I put it right up on the altar I have dedicated to Gaia. I almost didn't notice it, until lovey pointed it out in a basket on the floor.

Apache Tears I had also never heard of before.. Aparently they are a type of obsidian, I grabbed them for what seemed like no reason, only later did I think it was my Native American Ancestors that were probably nudging me towards that one. They look black, but when held to the light, they are see through and appear almost amber. They do that even when untumbled, which I thought was neat. "Apache Tears have an uncanny ability to lend support during times of sorrow.  They will gently help one to accept and then release their grief, thereby releasing and removing blockages.  "

 Anywho.. enough rambling from me!

Do you have any special stones? 

My new "Shampoo"

Recently I challenged myself, I wanted to attempt to give up shampoo and switch over to washing my hair with Baking Soda and Vinegar. I kept putting it off and putting it off, but this week I finally said NO MORE and went ahead and tried it.

The results were awesome! My hair is just as clean as before, and now I don't have to worry about my body soaking up all of the awful chemicals that often go along with those "high grade" or even the cheap shampoos.

How does it work? 
Easy! I bought two bottles, they're the kind you can get for like a dollar at the store to put ketchup and mustard in. I put baking soda in one with enough water to make it in to a paste. Then in the other I put roughly 3 tablespoons of vinegar and filled with water.

I wash my hair with the baking soda, be mindful when doing this though, it doesn't lather quite like regular shampoo so you won't want to put a whole ton in one spot. Rub it in, let it sit for a minute or so and then rinse out. next take the vinegar bottle and apply some to the ends of your hair. Again, let it sit and then rinse it out. This acts as the conditioner.

Keep in mind, not everyone's hair is exactly the same, if it comes out greasy, try less vinegar, if it's to dry, you can try adding a bit of oil to the conditioner rinse. Olive Oil will work just fine.

When your hair is drying, it will feel different, I spent the whole first night freaking out. I almost jumped in and washed it with my old stuff. But I held strong! Once dry, and brushed, it looks and feels great,

There you have it, my new healthy hair wash!