Tag: magic

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12 Ways to Feel Really Alive in Everyday Life.

The Women's Tribe

inspiredI’m big on making the small things big.  On stretching something ordinary into something grand to really enjoy it.  I mean, why not make everything special and extra-ordinary?  Why not enjoy the everyday stuff?  I’m trying to set-up my life where it feels like I don’t need a vacation from it.

I want my life to feel full of excitement, inspiration, joy and magic in the every day moments.  All it takes is some intention, focus and action.

So here is a list of 12 things (that’s only one a month people), of ways we can ignite the fairy glitter into the everyday. 12 ways to bring excitement, aliveness and passion into your every day life with the every day people in it.  It’s fun, easy and hopefully will get your creative, airy fairy juices going cause when you’re happy, everyone is happy.  That’s right, it’s contagious and uplifting.  So let’s uplift this place!!! 🙂

So here we go…

1)Sign-up for a class or activity that is all about fun.  Not making money, not showing off how great you are, not about moving you forward.  Do something that moves you inward, that fills your soul tank and ignites joy, peace and elation.  We are so focused on accomplishment but this task, this is about experiencing aliveness, nothing else.  Go take a painting class, an acting class, a music class, a moccasin making class…anything…cooking, cleaning, love-making.  Just do something with the intention to feed your soul, not making money or getting ahead (although I’m well aware this is very likely to be a by-product of feeding your soul, nothing but good comes from it).  🙂

2)Host a themed party with your friends and family.  In my circle, I’m known for making people play games.  I love them all…card games, board games, making up games.  Host a full blown casino night or Mexican Party night where everyone brings a Mexican dish and wears bright colors.  Host a Winnipeg Jets (our local team but choose your favorite sporting team) Party where everyone comes and watches the game dressed in team colors or jerseys. Don’t forget…it’s a potluck 🙂

3)Plan a weekend road trip somewhere with friends or the fam.  It can be local or far.  Maybe to the neighboring town or city.  Spend a night, do the local activities.  Go to the casino or winter festival or local attraction. Maybe you heard of a great ski hill or bookstore or meal somewhere.  Make that your destination. Enjoy!  Stop along the way and take some fun pics.

4)Invite your friends and family to do a 30 Day Challenge of your choice.  Pick one month in the year…Feb, March, June…whichever and have some sort of health inducing challenge.  Maybe it’s 30 minutes of exercise for 30 days or 30 days of picture taking, or 30 days of trying new recipes.  Anything, make it fun and attainable.  The goal is joy and aliveness.

5)Take a late night and moonlit walk.  If you live where there is snow, throw on some snowshoes, put on a head lamp or grab some flashlights and take a stroll.  It’s really quite blissful and magical.  I do this weekly with my dog and sometimes the hubby 🙂  To be honest, it’s kinda romantic.

6)Choose one month or even a week and have a Random Acts of Kindness challenge at work, with your family, or with friends.  Make sure to take pics and share.  Feel how good it feels to be kind and giving to others.  Buy someone in line behind you a coffee, put quarters in some shopping carts, give someone a compliment.  Bring your grandma out for lunch.  Shovel your neighbors driveways (or snow blow).  This list is endless.  Do share your ideas!!!

7)Create a romantic date night at home with the significant other in your life or have a “fancy dinner” at home with friends.  I mean go all out here…candles, table cloth, the fancy china and of course your finest clothes. Pretend your dressing for a wedding and dress to the nines.  Set the tone with Jazz tunes, dim the lights, ignite the candles.  Enjoy lusciousness. Order in, hire a private chef or have a potluck.

8)Wake up early with the fam or with friends, get a blanket coffee, muffins, donuts and watch the sun rise.  

9)Grab a blanket, go outside if you can, or by a big window, grab some vino, some bubbly juice or some sparkling water and toast the sunset. Watch the magic of the day disappear and enjoy the sparkling starlight.

10)Go to a new restaurant that you’ve always wanted to try.  For me there’s this Fondue place I’ve always wanted to try just to say that I’ve been there and tried that.  It’s something different and something you wouldn’t do everyday.

11)Find a local hot spot coffee shop and invite your friends for coffee, dessert and connecting.  Indulge your senses with it all.  But really, you have to have dessert.  This is about your senses, about lusciousness, about aliveness.  I mean really, chocolate and coffee are a divine intervention in your mouth!

12)Experience the arts! Spend an evening at the art gallery or go to a play, or watch live theater.  Go to the symphony, the ballet, or a live poem night.  Trust me, this will inspire the shit out of you!! 🙂

 

There you go folks, one Full Blown Aliveness Challenge a month.  You got this.  Now let’s do this and do share 🙂

If you feel called, do you feel free to FOLLOW MY BLOG, I’d be so delighted.

Cheers to a magic inspired, alive, excited, happy New Year.  Woot woot!!

And so it is.

xo

Crystal

Photo source: http://blog.shout.gd/inspired-by-you-shout-stories-to-warm-the-heart/

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Simple Solstice Ritual

The Women's Tribe

“Whatever you do, don’t try and escape from your pain, but be with it.  Because the attempt to escape from pain creates more pain.” – The Tibetan book of Living and Dying.

solsticeI’ve been thinking a lot about the idea of suffering lately.  Many of people have gone through struggle, loss and up-upheaval this past year or years.  Lots of healing and change and struggle is being called of us, from us, for us.

I have been un-well for some time and it’s gotten a hold of me.  It’s bonded me and shackled me into the pain and discomfort and dare I say…self-pity. Here’s the bold truth…I’ve been struggling, I’ve been suffering.  For some reason I have a hard time putting that out there, perhaps it feels vulnerable, the why of the matter I am unsure.  I usually try and exude a positive, accepting vibe about my illness but lately…I just can’t.  I haven’t been well.  I’m having a small pity-party. (Or maybe a full blown romper lol).

Part of me wonders too if people don’t want to hear about suffering.  We live in a society where people are uncomfortable with it, with pain, with loss, with heavy, dark emotion.  We don’t like to hear about it or sit with it. Let’s face it, we’ve been taught not to talk about that stuff, not to burden other people with our problems.

People are uncomfortable with pain and often just want to offer an quick solution or idea so we can move us out of pain and suffering.  The intention is absolutely loving but sometimes we just need to be held, to be offered space to feel darkness, sorrow and pain and that’s tough for many to offer because they don’t know how to do so for themselves.

So I’m aware that my pattern is that get quiet and isolate and battle with the struggle in a sword fight all on my own when I’m in pain or struggle.  (This is why I’ve been quiet in my writing…sorry folks, it’s a bad pattern I’m working on).  In fact, I want to own that I’m suffering and say it’s okay and that I need connection in suffering and I imagine you do to.  I need to know I’m not alone and I’m learning that I absolutely am not!! And that we all have suffering, so let’s get talkin’ bout it and supporting each other while we move through it….yeah?!  🙂

What I’ve been learning and reading from Buddhist texts is that life is suffering.  There will always be suffering, we all will suffer at various points in our life whether physically, emotionally, mentally or spiritually and really all that we ought to do is accept this notion.  There is suffering in life.  Say it with me, “there is suffering in life.”

This is an easy and yet tough concept that I’ve been playing with.  I’ve been trying to sit in my suffering, like really move into it.  I close my eyes and settle into the suffering in my body and it’s weird…it dissipates, it softens,the edges sting less.

Perhaps it’s from not battling what is, there is a gentle release in my body. The defenses soften.

So, often when I’m “suffering” with physical discomfort or even emotional discomfort I try and battle my way out of it with thought or action or even will power.  I positive affirmation out my yin-yang to try and pretend I am not suffering or to adjust out of it.   I fight what is.  I fight the truth of discomfort and pain while I try to cover the Truth with a lovely balmy protective salve, rather than accept and allow it.  My mind and body separate, battle for control, argue and I end up exhausted, depleted and still feeling under the weather.

So the last few nights I’ve allowed my “suffering” to be my meditation.  To soften and melt into it and allow the moments to be there.  It is freeing! Like radically freeing.  I even get a slight buzz on the inside, a elation, a joy, a meeting of sparkly truth that I can feel.

Here’s a brief summary on some Buddhist teachings (very brief) from http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/buddhism/bs-s03.htm

“Suffering is a fact of life. There are four unavoidable physical sufferings; birth, old age, sickness and death. There are also three forms of mental suffering; separation from the people we love; contact with people we dislike and frustration of desires. Happiness is real and comes in many ways, but happiness does not last forever and does not stop suffering. Buddhists believe that the way to end suffering is to first accept the fact that suffering is actually a fact of life.”

So on this Winter Solstice (in the Northern Hemisphere), and the darkest day of the year, I invite you into your own darkness, your own pains and wounds and simply let them be there. Melt into them for a few moments as a Sacred Witness to what is at this moment. Where do you feel struggle in your body?  And can you just move into it, gently, softly, lovingly?  See what happens.  And like wise, move into your joy and happiness as it sways in your life as well. We will all move through the tides, the highs and lows of life.  May we do so consciously, lovingly and with awareness and acceptance.

Simple Solstice Ritual:solstice2

On this lovely Solstice, get out your paper and pens.  Light a lovely candle or two, perhaps some incense, get yourself a cup of tea and have a divine union with yourself and Creation on paper.

  1. What have been some of your struggles this past year?  List them and underneath them, write about the gifts, the benefits, the positive outcome(s) of these struggles.  What did you learn or acquire from the struggle?
  2. What were some of your highlights this year?  What sacred and special moments really resonate in your soul and heart?
  3. What wishes do you have for yourself and the ones you love this coming season and year?

Enjoy this lovely day of darkness, retreat, rest, and reflection.  I honor you and your path.  I honor you and your joy as well as your suffering.

And so it is.

If you feel called and would like to get more soul nourishing goodies, I invite you to FOLLOW THE BLOG.  I’d be tinkled pink 🙂

Photo2:http://yukoart.com/blog/happy-winter-solstice/

astrology, ceremony, creativity, Full Moon, healing, Spirituality, Uncategorized, womens health, womens issues

How to embrace the Ch…Ch…Change on this Full Moon.

The Women's Tribe

goddess of change2We are upon a full moon tomorrow….

Can you feel the call for change? Is it time to make an important choice and jump off that cliff into something new?  Can you dare and trust yourself and the Universe to give you wings and support you?  Can you trust it shall always work out…there are no wrong roads, just longer ones 🙂

It’s hard to let go of the safe and familiar isn’t it? We feel like we are in a safe cocoon, albeit, an entrapment of sameness and eventually stuckness. We like the security, the consistency, the know what to expect kinda of life.

But deep down our wild, magic souls calls to us for more, tugs us towards a golden unveiling of something new, something more expansive, something more invigorating on the soul level.  The soul craves change, craves expansion, excitement and aliveness.  This is the “joie de vivre ” in soul life.

My sister recently had to make a decision to make a change or stay in the same place she was in.  She wasn’t happy in the same but making the change required that she cut the safety net off the old, to really say good-bye to it.  She was torn as to what to do because her fear got a hold of her and zoomed her focus on what would happen if it didn’t work out.  She went right to the worse case scenario.  We’ve learned that pattern her and I but I encouraged her to approach with trust and faith in the Divine.  She would not have been gifted this opportunity if it wasn’t meant for her.  She would learn something brand new either way and this was about a positive change that yes, could be challenging but far more fulfilling. I encouraged her to take the road that had rainbows and golden sparkles on it.

I mean, what is the purpose of life really…to live on the safe, accomplished, titled, road or to take chances, follow your heart, have soul lifting experiences?  For me its’ the latter, for me it’s a life well lived, sucked dry of everything juicy it had to offer, not just checking off the “success boxes”.  We can all be “accomplished” or have the picture perfect life and job and still feel empty.  Is that the goal- external success?  That is fine and dandy but it need to be coupled with some magical experiences and feelings, and internal aliveness.   Life is not meant to be safe and mundane…we need to live, explore, expand, and stretch ourselves into new territories and see what is there.  What the heck excites your bones?  What puts sparkles in your eyes?  What song does your heart sing?

My sister,  she boldy, confidently, excitedly jumped off the cliff into the new. She’s one courageous, smart goddess.

The cosmos support this change or actually create and initiate this time of change in all our lives.  It calls us into our authenticity, into our depths where we feel alive, sparkly, magic dusted and aroused.  Make the choice that excites all of your senses.  Make the choice that scares the shit out of you but simultaneously makes your heart want to bust with excitement and giddiness.

So on this lovely Full Moon, why not do some reflective writing to deepen your trust in yourself, cause you’re fricken awesome and amazing and have all this wonderous stuff about your already and you trust that the universe is calling your greatness into life, into the world.  Why not dip your pen into the elements of trust and faith and let the universe create a matrix of wonder and excitement.  Let your pen guide you home to the place of remembering.

Full Moon Ritual change2

You know the drill, setup a lovely, little soothing space do dive inward and dance around into your soul tethers.

Creative Warm-up to help move you into your colorful depths…

  • List all the magical things in your life and around you.

Question 1:  What would stay the same if you made the change that is calling to you? (Set your timers for five minutes and just free flow, do not lift that pen off the page ;))

Question 2:  What would change if you jumped into the horse and carriage of change?  (Repeat the 5 minute free flow)

Happy Full Moon & Changes 🙂

And so it is friends, and so it is…

If you feel called, do feel free to FOLLOW THE BLOG and receive soul invoking, magic inducing, self-reflecting experiences. 🙂

Photo 1 Source- http://enchantingbabble.blogspot.ca/2014/10/goddess-oracle-guide-rhiannon-sorceress.html

Photo 2 – http://stickygooeycreamychewy.com/2012/03/23/food-blog-forum-orlando-magic-moments-and-an-inedible-recipe/

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What If I Punched Fear in the Face and Let my Magic Leak Out? What if you did too??

The Women's Tribe

magicWhat if I dared to jump off the cliff and punched fear in the face? What if I took the last piece of  chest armor off and trusted that the universe shall hold me in her arms and wrap me with loving protection,safety and security simply by believing in her?

Can it be done?  My mind is trying to wrestle me into “reality” and the old cautionary tale.

What if I trusted that being in the unknown, the portal between the worlds of change was okay?

I’ve always had on my defensive suite, ready for heartbreak, ready for fear, ready to run and escape and attack whatever was around the corner..

What if i changed this whole paradigm, this whole way of existing on edge, on the defense, on guard and surrendered into the pocket of the universal forces calling me to rest in her palm?

What if i didn’t set-up my life with one foot on the safety net, as though I believed life would fall apart, something would destruct and my survival were at risk?  What if I practiced faith and trust fully, for real..in life, in myself, in all good things.  My heart is expanding, softening and opening just at the thoughts in this possibility.

I feel a connection, an aliveness, a vast explosion of wild colors in myself at the thoughts of the Divine fully integrated in my life.  In this moment I feel connected to all life, I see the tapestry of it all like it were a video game made by Creation.

What if I approached every obstacle with radical trust that the universe was brewing something wildly different for me and all I had to do was float along on the sailboat into the change ahead rather than fight to the death the change that lie ahead? What if change or loss, or endings were not life-threatening and simply re-birthing into something more grand than I could ever imagine?

Is this full blown faith?  Is this divine trust?  This feels magical.  My mind wants to squash it and tell me to be realistic, to grip into the smartest, safest choice, but my soul wants magic and deep faithful aliveness.  I want to exist by flying in the sparkling dust of this Faith.  Tears stream with the remembering of this deep connection of the Divine in my life, we have drifted from each other the last while.

I’m shocked looking at this powerful mirror of my existence.  I have always existed on the defense.  I have built my life as a safety net, as a way to exist in the face of crisis or emergency, always having a back-up plan for my back-up plan. I have anticipated life falling apart (again and again) and have not fully moved in my depths, my heart.  I have stood rigid, on guard and protective for myself just in case.  I have remained the professional, responsible, logical, planned, realistic woman, having the reigns of control in my hands.  Protecting myself from anticipated pain or loss and I have wrapped a piece of my heart, my own divinity in protective metal.

I have done an injustice to myself.  I have allowed fear to envelop me and I have not lived fully from my center.  I have moments in my center, in trust, in my core, but I have always worn protection against the anticipation of doom.  I have had doom before, my whole life fell apart and I was brought closest to my pure existence, to my soul.  I lost all ego constructs, my house, my job, my marriage, my dogs (in the divorce) and was left with the bare minimum.  In my bare minimum I was closest to Spirit, to the Universal Forces, to my own soul.

Don’t get me wrong, in my life now I move into my depths, and my heart, I dive in explore the ocean of existence within myself but I have not created my life to express the full blown magical waters it is.  I have only made pockets of it.  I have created my life to mirror my inner protector…safe, linear, logical, well planned, a “just in-case” kind of life.  I have built it in preparation for it to fall apart, I have safety nets all over.

invokationThis means, I have lived a life with a Core of FEAR and believe things won’t work out!  I have assumed the worst, waited for the shoe to drop. I assume heartache and pain, curve balls and road turns are just around the corner and I pad myself up with protective part living so when life crashes it won’t hurt so bad.  I won’t feel the sting.  I keep my foot in a job that can sustain me “in case” things fail rather than jump into the ocean of trust and faith and creative juices as an artist or life art practitioner or whatever the hell that may be.

What if I lived with sweet surrender, Divine Faith and Trust in the Universe herself like she always has my back, because this I know to be true but I act differently in my life than this knowing.  Every time life has knocked me around, the Universe always had my back, every.single.time.

What if I flew arms wide open into the winds of change trusting that Universe is calling this from me and supporting me and opened myself to the Grace of what the universe shall bring?

Will there be difficulty, challenges, uncertainties, hell yeah but I don’t have to surrender my authentic, core, trusting, loving, faithful center and get into my defensive, fearful, life will fall apart believing self, ready to fight against pain.  Instead I can approach life with a gentleness, a sweet, soft knowing that all is occurring as She was ever meant to.

The Universe is calling me back home into a life of trust and surrender in her sweet arms.  She is calling me to believe in the good of the world, that physical life is spiritual life, they are not separate entities, just different energetic expressions of Existence and Creation herself.

She is asking me to shed the veils, remove the safety nets and full blown fucking live…alive…juicy…emotional.  This is a 180 change in my life, a softening, a surrender, a trust in the Divine Herself.  Perhaps then my immune system shall soften 😉

I feel an openness in my heart, an awakening in my breath, an aliveness in my bones as think about cutting the safety nets off of my life.

“Although we have been made to believe that if we let go we will end up with nothing, life itself reveals again and again the opposite: that letting go is the path to real freedom.”  (From Om Element page)

And so it is…

xo

Crystal

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Full Moon and Eclipse Arrows Ritual

The Women's Tribe

full moon portalHappy Full Moon & Lunar Eclipse.

This feels like a powerful time, a life-changing, energy shattering moment that can alter our paths in the best of ways.  I actually feel this Full Moon/Eclipse to be a good, high energy, positive change.

This last month many of us have gone through a soul cleanse, clearing away the dark debris of our pasts and wounds so our light can shine it’s brightest, so love and abundance can move in most fully.

Now is the portal, the cycle of change, the vortex of new life and rebirth.

This morning I heard a funny sound out the window and looked out into my yard and seen hundreds and hundreds of little blackbirds singing in my trees.  There are literally hundreds of them.  As they move, they move together, like a big black wave, dancing from tree side to tree side. It’s beautiful, like a sea of change, lurking around my life.  They are symbolic to the energy swirling around at this full moon/eclipse, it’s intense and potent but we can muster this energy into beauty,into positivity and into our own energy wells.  These birds are circling the sky, opening the portal, they are swarming the grounds and trees for food and when they fly it’s pure magic, its synchronicity in sight, as though their flight was a song from the universe signalling this magical time, this opening about to occur.

So use this time, this energy, this magical portal and do what you love today.  Write, read, sing, dance, paint, draw, cook, play, whatever you love…do this!!  Now is the time for life, joy, and excitement.  Harness the energy and do what you love as an act of grace, as an act of commitment to the universe signalling your commitment to your own joy and purpose.

I used to be hyper-alert, hyper-vigilant for potential danger or people or scenarios that could cause me pain.  I’d approach life on the defense, ready to run or react from harm.  Yesterday I chose a different way I went about my way looking for joy, soaking it in, being in beauty…period.  And you know what, I had one hell of a magical day!

So indulge yourself in joy as we jump through this life-changing, course altering, life enhancing portal of eclipse and enjoy the rewards.  We are getting closer and closer to doing our soul thang’!

FULL MOON ARROWS.arrows2

On this Full Moon, we can make two arrows to honor this important shift in energy.  Gather two sticks of any size.  If you can paint one black and the other in a color that symbolizes life and abundance for you.  Or you can wrap some wool or colored string around each one as well.  Heck you can even color them with markers.  There is no wrong way, this is about intention.

  1. The Death Arrow – The Black Arrow

Write down what you want to release.  What have you worked so hard on this month in yourself.  What have you been releasing?  Write it down on a paper and tie it to the black arrow.

    2. The Life Arrow – Colored or White Arrow

Dream and envision yourself doing what you love, what you want.  Who are you with?  What are you doing? Where are you? See yourself at your fullest, your fulfillment meter at its’ highest.  What is occurring around you?  What are you doing so you are full of life and love?  Write it down and tie it to your Life Arrow, your colorful arrow.

If you can, burn the death arrow, release what no longer serves you.  Read out loud what you shall release.

Place your life arrow in the ground or in a plant so you can see it and remember, and honor your path to fulfillment.

Enjoy this magical, soul moving vortex.

And so it is…

xo

Crystal

If you feel called, do feel free to FOLLOW THE BLOG for some Moon Magic and soul connecting goodies.  🙂

http://escaped-emotions.deviantart.com/art/Dancing-with-the-Birds-Jump-52-277986712  (picture 1)

Picture 2 – Arrows from Pinterest

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A Simple & Gentle Dark Moon Ritual to Honor Venus & the Gifts of the Underworld.

The Women's Tribe

dark moon 2“Grief is more present to us then we may be aware.  There is grief of incompletion, or despair of having no control over the changes of time.  Grief can be old and seemingly forgotten, like the loss of friends from childhood, the death of childhood pet, or the loss of childhood dreams but it is still with us if we haven’t healed it.  Often it takes big deaths, the loss of a loved one or the loss of our own health, to notice the grief that has always been there.”  Lynn Andrews.

.

As we move through the last few days of this moon cycle and prepare for a New Moon later this week I felt to need to honor the power of this recent Moon.  Venus returned from her journey in retrograde on the 6th and I must say this was a powerful, powerful time for me to cycle with Her into the darkness, into our own dark voids and unhealed territory within.  So many people went through the ringer, me included, but let me tell you friends there was so much potent purpose to the struggles, to the pain, to the challenges.

I let myself fall to the bottom of the crater in the Earth’s crust this past moon.  Perhaps I simply had no choice but I did not let or could not let my fear hold me from falling face first, splattered on the ground in grief and despair. I simply fell there, what felt like 10 feet down and into a deep deep release of my grief.  I have not let myself fall into that deep depth, into that giant pocket of grief that was there waiting for I feared what would happen.  I sobbed and sobbed, alligator tears fell for hours.  It was difficult, intense and yet necessary.  I had nowhere else to go or turn except to be splattered on the ground, 10 feet from the threshold of the Earth Mother and wallow into those painful depths of despair and grief that lingered in me and needed release.

I felt consumed by darkness on that day in the dark cavern of grief and despair and then the next day I was totally shifted. My body had released something…buckets of dark, heavy sludge that lurked in my veins from old wounds, old experiences, old losses I had not fully grieved.  They simply leaked out of me in my sobbing howls and giant tear drops into puddles on the ground.  And I was freed, lighter, softer, gentler, changed.  I had surrendered to the place I had feared most and by doing so, my darkness gifted me with a new freedom, a new calm, a new inner peace I have never known.

I had never let my self go that low, to that depth for fear of what would happen if I ended up there.  Would I completely lose my mind?  Would I fall completely apart only to remain un-tethered?  I am lucky I had supports, my husband and even my body-worker therapist who helped me move through it fully.  And yet I was completely surprised how quickly I did shift out of it, simply by remaining in it for as long as it needed me to.

And just like that, something changed.  I feel more alive, more inspired, more invigorated, more willing to fight for my dreams like never before.  More capable of doing what I need to do.

So I simply want to honor this last moon cycle and Venus/ Inanna for her journey into the underworld and the unforseen gifts of following Her there.  I am grateful.  I am blessed.

SIMPLE & GENTLE RITUAL:

To honor Her I will simply light a candle on my altar, in gratitude, in awe, in humble honor to have journeyed into my own darkness for the 3 days of the Dark Moon.  I will take a light 5 minute stroll in the dark moon’s modest light and reflect on the gifts offered of the depths of the Underworld.  I shall release tobacco or cornmeal into the wind  symbolic to the grief I have let go and let my gratitude float on the Earth Mother.  I will simply breathe in connection and magic and awe for all that I have learned during this cycle.  I am humbled to the depths, to my core and I welcome what was not able to come in before I cleared myself of the guck. It is now able to come and visit for I have cleared the trail.  Will you join me?

I am freer and lighter.  Now we really move forward and onward into soul expression in this life.

And so it is.

If you so feel called, do feel free to FOLLOW THE BLOG and receive self-connection rituals, Moon Musings and Sacred Art Tasks.

Photo Source:  http://nanfe.deviantart.com/art/Dark-Moon-in-a-Spring-Night-204752420

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A Simple Dark Moon Ritual.

The Women's Tribe

dark moonTonight marks the Dark Moon, well the last of it anyways as tomorrow we start a New Moon cycle.  This past month has been an emotional one, at times heavy and dark, sad and glad.  I’ve shed many tears this month and cleansed my soul palette.  It has been challenging and yet refreshing, I feel lighter and calmer…finally.  I had moments where I thought this was it, I’m headed to full blown breakdown only to come to a pond of tears and find out I was okay.  I could simply sit with the grief, hold it, cradle it, full blown feel and set it on its way like a leaf floating on the water.

I’ve been grieving my old standard of life and well-being, the old amounts of energy I had, a loss I experienced and didn’t let myself feel until now.  I was stripped down to the bones, my soul bones, and in many ways feel like I’m saying good bye to my old life.  A new set of wings await me, a new way of doing everything has emerged and I’m in transition, in process of finding this new way.  I’m trying to get comfortable with these new wings.  It changes everything, everything looks different, feels different.  My needs are different, my wants and desires, my ideas about what I wanted.  It’s all changing and it’s okay.

DARK MOON SIMPLE RITUAL

So tonight we honor the old, we lay it to rest.  We take some moments alone, in silence, in retreat, in reflection and we hold the past, the loss, the end of era in our hands.  Maybe it’s an ending of a relationship or job, or house or whatever, we simply lay it to rest.  If you can grab a stone and write on it that which you wish to bury, to honor it’s death and ending.  Bury the stone into the Earth Mother under the dark moon sky and say your last and final good-byes.  Maybe you want to write a good-bye letter or simply say some words in your mind or out loud.

This clearing, this ending is prepping us for the new life, new energy that lies ahead.

For me it’s my old life.  It’s never coming back and I can come to accept that so the new one I’ve been trying on can fully blossom.  I don’t have to reach backwards anymore, clinging onto something that I can’t find.

Let’s clear the waters for the New Moon tomorrow.

And so it is 🙂

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Artwork created by Mickie Mueller.

Fantasy and Fairy Art of Myth and Legend
http://www.mickiemuellerart.com

https://www.etsy.com/listing/102066506/waning-moon-woman-crone-open-edition

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Today’s Challenge – Find 13 Extraordinary Moments in the Ordinary.

The Women's Tribe

coffee2Howdy folks.  Today we are on day 12 of the 30 Day Wildly, Luscious, Soulful Living Challenge.  Woooohooooo.  How we feeling??

Today’s Challenge: 

Today we find 13 extra-ordinary things in the ordinary.  It was inspired by an article by author Geneen Roth which is linked below.  Do read it 🙂  

“Walking. Being barefoot. The fact of night. Stars. Salamanders. A sip of tea. A bite of chocolate. My husband’s face. The ordinary things we pass by on the way to wherever it is we think we will finally be able to relax—and enjoy the ordinary things,” writes Geneen Roth in her article.

Today’s exercises is really enjoying the moment, embracing, loving and squeezing in the juices of what is right around you, even if you are seeking something better or bigger.

She goes on to write, “It turns out that the true extraordinary isn’t reserved for special people or big achievements or red-carpet-moments. It’s extraordinary to write a book, and it’s extraordinary to eat a grilled cheese sandwich with tomatoes and mustard. It’s extraordinary to meet a famous person, and it’s extraordinary to meet the eyes of a grocery store cashier.”

I’m pushing us to do 13 moments because I want you to do it throughout the day, not just do it and get it done.  There are extra-ordinary moments every day, all day long.  We just need to invite ourselves to the party to see them!  You need to believe in magic, for magic to show up.  You need to open your loving, grateful heart and absorb all the wonder around you if you want to feel wonderful.

So take some pics and post them on the Women’s Tribe Facebook Page or Feed Your Feminine Soul Group Page.  Tell me about your extra-ordinary moments experience in the ordinary facets of our lives. I want to hear them.  I will share mine with you.  Sign-up to receive the emails for daily doses of connecting of wildly, luscious soul.

At the end of the day reflect and write on any new awareness this exercise brought you? What did you learn?

This article by Geneen Roth was the inspiration for today’s challenge. Click on it, read it, enjoy it!!  it’s so luscious.   http://communicate.eckharttolle.com/news/2015/03/20/the-big-life/

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10 Ways to Invoke some Magic Dust into Your Day.

The Women's Tribe

Does life ever get mundane?  Does the routine ever get boring?  love

When we live on auto-pilot we get stagnant. Stagnant in
excitement, stagnant in emotion and in health.

It takes guts to shake it up.  You must live with conscious intention, awareness and a commitment to live life more fully, more deeply.  If you want magic in your life you gotta put in some effort, it ain’t just gonna happen.  You must create the portal, the opportunity, the setting for it to come and play some live music at your dance party of life.

Here are 10 Ways to Re-Invoke a sense of Wander & Magic in Your Day.

1.  Shake up the routine.
2.  Take a different way to work or leave at a different time.  Notice the changes, is the sun in a different spot.  Is the traffic less frenetic?

3.  Try something new…a new recipe, a new restaurant, a new type of latte.  Don’t do same!

4.  Have dinner outside.  Get a blanket and have a picnic in your back yard, around the fire, in a park, anything just not around the kitchen table tonight.

5.  Do something different than watching TV. Go to a museum, art gallery, live music show, heck even go to the library.  Go somewhere unconventional for you and give it a whirl.  Invite in new energy by trying new things.

6.  Rock a funky piece of clothing.  Wear that bright pink shirt or leopard print shoes.  Where four rings or a scarf with skulls.  Have some fun, dress it up, invoke some play with your clothes.  See the response of those around you when you walk around with playful energy and intentions.

7.  Go to a second hand store and find something you can re-purpose with some love, vision and paint.  Would it look good in bright pink?

8.  Go outside, take in some deep breaths.  Breathe in the fresh spring air.  Describe the experience in the form of a love poem or haiku.

9.  Make a bucket list.  List 14 things you’d like to do before you kick the bucket. Do this with a friend or significant other over a coffee or hot chocolate and share your lists. How can you start tackling the list?

10. What are some of the most fun, wild, passionate, memorable experiences you’ve had?  Tell me about it as though it were a story.  Write it out and remember, every. single. detail. Who were you with?  Where were you?  How did you take the risk and get there?

Have some fun, shake that shit up and live life a little off the beaten path today.  Sparkle, shine enjoy the magic in the air!!

Enjoy my friends.  As always please share and comment.

TODAY IS DAY 6 OF THE 30 DAY WILDLY, LUSCIOUS, SOULFUL LIVING CHALLENGE.  (Find it here and join anytime).

Join the The Women’s Tribe Facebook page or the Feed Your Feminine Soul Group to share your experiences and build a community of like minded folks.

Follow the BLOG by adding your email.  This way your sure to get all the daily activities to Feed Your Sweet Soul 🙂

xo

Crystal

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The Secret to Creating More Magic & Playfulness in Your Everyday Life. ..(It involves a Princess!)

The Women's Tribe

moon image 5

My friend Angie messaged me that she dreamed of me and I had a beautiful ballerina princess on my right shoulder.  Interesting right!?  As a shaman and even someone who has studied Jungian therapy, I believe in the symbolic messages and guidance of our dreams.  So I embraced this little Princess Ballerina and ran with it to explore her message for me.

At yoga class last night I successfully did a headstand.  Yes… thank-you, thank-you 🙂  It has been almost two years since I’ve even tried to do one due to my poor health so it definitely speaks to my progress and growing strength each day.  Anyhow, as I sat there taking in the joy of the pose, I imagined this little princess on my shoulder.  Somehow she seemed to be like a tiny weeny mouse, much like Stuart Little but in princess ballerina format.  (Don’t ask me why I just go with what comes hehe).  She bore a poofy pink princess dress and a crown.  As I came down from my headstand I imagined her on my shoulder.  She was jumping up and down clapping while cheering “yay” and so proud of my willingness to adventure with this pose.   It tickled me pink. I became giddy and it opened an enjoyment in me that caused me to beam ear to ear in smile.  It was simply pure fun and raw excitement to imagine her on my shoulder like my playful little secret.

Yup, i just said that! Hehehehe….still giddy.

I got to thinking, why don’t we all have a fun little symbolic princess ballerina on our shoulders for a day?  Why don’t we allow ourselves to see different life elements and different moments in our day from this lovely presence?  Really she’s like our inner child, an extension of our souls, literally sitting on our shoulders.  She’s the definition of adventure and play, everything is enchanted and magical through her eyes.  She’s our ability to experience each moment as it is, detached of any preconceived ideas or feelings, just excitement for the experience at hand as thought it were an adventure.  Each moment is Divine. Why not consciously take a lesson from her book and enjoy the moment right?

So I imagined her throughout my day today and allowed her to guide me.  It allowed for a very connected and fun day with my son walking in the woods while I followed him off the trail.  He was leader you know.  Teehee.  And I didn’t think about cooking or cleaning or even my to do list.  I just was excited to play because I imaged what she would do consciously throughout the day, particularly when with my son.  It allowed for a freedom and peace than my busy mom, wife, adult woman self can forget about.

I invite us to take this further into different areas of our life too and get a feel for her perspective on it.  Let’s face it, life can get B.O.R.I.N.G. and mundane in routines if we allow it.  So invite her on your shoulder and taste the spoon of magic and enchantment for at least one day…see what you find in exercise listed below.

At work I imagine taking a break and dancing it out (maybe Shake It Off -Taylor Swift) and literally shaking it off just to change the energy and have mini bouts of fun throughout the day.  Or maybe we make tea and a joke coffee break at 3pm where everyone brings a cup of tea and joke and we have a funny laugh.    Any fun playful moments we can invite in our offices helps shake up the negative energy and allows us to connect joyously with our co-workers..  When I get back to work I plan to do this with my office buddy Cori 😉  At the end of the day it’s really about connection isn’t it?!

Then there’s doing dishes, everyone’s favorite right!?  I know, I know…so why not approach from the point of this cute little ballerina princess on our shoulder.  Can it be fun and adventurous (I know your thinking, dishes adventurous ya right!) but hear me out.  Can we approach our daily “to dos” and tasks with a child like wonder, meaning no preconceived ideas or feelings about things, just a simply acceptance and excitement with the task at hand.  Can we dry the dish like it were our first time and truly be in the moment while approaching each task with grace and humility.

Maybe dishes can be done with the intention of fun…turn on the tunes and dance while you dry. Or use some really luscious smelling soap and indulge your senses.  I remember learning from Lynn Andrews that doing dishes is a sacred act, like a prayer.  Make a game of it or start thinking of all the fun family suppers you can create while you clean.  Maybe everybody gets dressed up top notch, even the kids, and we have a fancy dinner with candles.  I imagined wearing my wedding dress, how fun would that be?  Might as well use it again, right?

What would that princess ballerina say to us about our relationships?  Whether it be friendships or romantic relationships, how can we bring child like wonder and enchantment to our connections?  Date night pops up in my head!! How can I create even fun date nights at home or just bring back some of the playfulness in my marriage?

Imagining these things excites me, it invites a playful energy into my life.  It invites me to enjoy the moment and squeeze out the excitement and joy of each day, each task and each person in my life.

WRITING EXERCISE:  MAKE SOME MAGIC WITH A BALLERINA PRINCESS

Pick four times throughout your day tomorrow.  Go on, pick them out, four literal times on the clock that you’ll  pause and see life from her perspective at that moment.  Journal from the point of view of a beautiful, happy, tiny, princess on your shoulder that is just full of life.   She radiates joy, she’s got even a happy, squeaky voice that oozes rainbows.

How does it feel to be around joy?  Do you embrace it?  Is it enjoyable?  Do you push it away or feel annoyed?

How would she approach the task at hand or the experience you are in?  Imagine writing as her and enjoy her point of view or just having her there on your shoulder, how does that feel?

How does that shift things for you?

If she could tell you anything what would she say?moon image 4

Enjoy….Please do share as always.

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xo

Crystal

Join The Feed Your Feminine Soul Group and become part of our Sacred Circle and Community who inspire, encourage and gather together in person and online.  Join the Women’s Tribe Facebook Page to stay posted on upcoming events and info as well.