My First Crystal Grid!

Hi and Merry Meet,

Yesterday I set up my first crystal grid. I have a really difficult week coming up and I just felt like I need a boost of love and strength to get me though this tough time. I use message stones that said "love" and "strength". Two of the stones I know what they are. The other two, I had no idea but they had great energy that I felt like they were right for this.

I used my pink rose quartz heart as the center crystal in the grid. One of the "love" stones is a quartz, and one of the "strength" stones is a rose quartz. I liked that these two had the words written on them in black, while the two mystery stones have the words written in gold.

Here is my Love and Strength Crystal Grid:

This weekend, I also spent time making a talisman for safe travel. Next weekend my mom and I are going to drive down to NYC to visit my brother and his finance. I ma so excited to see them, but both mom and I are nervous about the drive. In my talisman I have a snow flake obsidian (for safe travel), a rose quartz (for the love of family), and a tiger's eye (for protection). I'll add some salt and sage for good measure before we leave. Last time I went to a big city (Washington DC), my hotel room was robbed...while we were in it sleeping! I woke up and caught the guy stealing our money. So, needless to say I'm super nervous about staying in hotels in big cities. I plan to keep this talisman with me in my purse.

I also made one very similar to this for a friend who is traveling over seas soon. However, I will leave out the herbs due to customs. I don't want her to get into trouble for having plant material that is not allowed to cross boarders. That wouldn't be such a good thing.

I hope that everyone had a good week!

Blessed be,

Autumn

Happy Ostara!

Hi and Merry Meet,

I hope everyone had a great Ostara! Here's a video of my Ostara altar. Enjoy!

Blessed be,

Autumn

Thoughts on Stones and Quarters

Hi and Merry Meet,

I guess I will be going to only once a week updates as that seems to be all that I can do right now. I'm sorry I've been so sporadic about my posting. This week I have had vacation from both jobs and it felt so good to take some time for me and relax. I've been able to meditate and just spend more time with my practices.

One thing I was able to do this week was get to one of the local thrift stores. I love going to them because you never know what you will find! I found this great crystal bowl to put my stones in. I loved the shape of it and how well they all fit. Now I have an easy way to take them all outside to sit in the light of the moon. Before, I was lining the stones up on my window sills. I also found this cool little tea cup in the same trip. Here's my new dish for my stones:

I loved that this dish is crystal. I liked the energy around it felt that it would be a good match for my stones. I'm slowly adding to my stone collection as the need arises. I found four beautiful fluorite stones this week that I felt would be perfect for my quarters for my Ostara ritual.

Since I haven't done a lot of changing my altar around I thought that maybe I could start with small steps like changing what I use at the quarters. I love crystals and stones. Fluorite is my favorite and I felt like it would go well with my spring ritual. I saw some pretty smoky quartz that would be great for my Samhain ritual. I've used tarot cards, candles, and stones before for my quarters. I liked the idea of the four stones being all the same for the quarters. My classmate in my Wicca class used four clear quartz for her quarters and I really liked that idea. Since I'm drawn to fluorite I found that after mediation on stones that is what I should start with. I admit, I wanted clear quartz, however, all the shops in town were out and the ones that they did have didn't feel right to me. I guess I was being guided to the right stones anyway!

I hope that everyone has been well!

Blessed be,

Autumn

Stone That Called To Me

Hi and Merry Meet,

I hope that everyone had a happy Imbolc. I did. I did a very small ritual, but it was very soothing and happy. I dedicated a candle to Brid, so when I read my tarot cards I can burn it in her honor. It just felt like the thing I needed to do.

Today I went out with my cousin. I haven't seen her in a few weeks, so it was nice to go out to lunch with her. We caught up with each other. After lunch I went to one of the metaphysical store that I like here in town. I was looking for some stones, but they didn't have what I thought I was looking for. However, I found this clear quartz that has some other things mixed in. As soon as I picked it up I knew it was meant for me. It had a purple sheen to it in the store. Now it is a dull color, but it seems warm and happy when I touch it. Here is my new quartz:

This week will be kind of nuts, and then I get a whole week off from both jobs! I am so excited about that and I will be doing some work around the house and in my meditations. Have a great week!

Blessed be,

Autumn

Life Is Busy!

Hi and Merry Meet,
I have been so bad about updating everyone! A lot has happened since my last post!

Last weekend Husband and I took a road trip to PA to look at cars and relax in a B & B. It was such a nice weekend, just the two of us! We did find a car and they traded my old one that day! We have never bought a car where you get it the same day!! This was a big surprise to us. We weren't ready to actually trade in my car, so we hadn't really cleaned it out... (or brought the title with us!) since I travel to so many building in my teaching my car is like a mobile office. There was so much teaching stuff to take out! I did sort it as we pulled it out so that I recycled the papers I didn't need and filed the ones that I did. It worked out pretty well. So far, I've been really good about keeping the car cleaned up!

The B & B was amazing! Husband book a room next to a stream that had an amazing waterfall. We were so far out in the middle of nowhere and it was so peaceful! It was nice to have some us time to reconnect and just catch up with each other. Husband had been working odd hours due to managing a new project at his work, and I've been insanely busy with the new job and the night job that we have become like ships passing the night. We needed that time together! We did fight about who would get to drive the car though... as it's my new car I thought I should, but he wanted to "test" it out. We compromised so that we both got a turn. It was a great weekend!

Yesterday was my first anniversary of reading tarot cards! Husband has been taking a interest in my cards. I was pulling cards at the dealership to see if we were making the right choice... he started asking me a slue of questions to pull cards for. It was the first time he has show any interest in tarot. So, last night he surprised me my getting me the Deviant Moon deck. It was so sweet of him! I'm so excited about and I let it sit in the moonlight all night to clean it. I did a reading this morning and I am very impressed with this deck. I have admired the artwork for a while and now to actually work with it was really amazing!

Today is Husband's birthday. I'm off to the store to get a cake mix so I can make him a cake! I'm also going to make him some breakfast in bed in a little while. Today is his day, so whatever he wants to do we will do. I know he wants to go out for dinner tonight, so right now that is our big plan for the day! :)
Blessed be,
Autumn

Titanic Adventure

Hi and Merry Meet,

Yesterday, Husband and I went to the museum. Good thing we were told to buy tickets on-line! Just to buy tickets to get into the museum was a good fifteen minute wait. We skipped that due to the on-line buying!

The exhibit was on the third floor and there again, was a line. Normally, I'm ok with masses of people. Running races, teaching, and such has given me a fair tolerance of the general population. However, I hate the masses at things such as long lines, concerts, any theme park and of course my favorite- airports. When people get to these venues they turn into crazy, rude, pushy, loud people. This was my expectation for this line to see the Titanic exhibit.

I was pleasantly surprised! Everyone listened the the directions, they even followed them in a nice polite way! The line manager (I don't know what you call the people who direct lines and give the directions!) even asked if people had tickets time stamped for later in the day to please exit the line and come back. I was shocked that people actually did this!!! They also checked our time stamp again at the door to get in. Once inside, again everyone was very orderly and nice. It was amazing! My faith in people waiting in line was restored!

The exhibit was amazing. We were given cards of a real life passenger to follow. Husband and I shared one. Here is ours:

She was a first class passenger named Miss Edith Corse Evans. Husband laughed when he saw the note at the bottom that said "A few days before boarding Titanic, a fortune teller had warned Edith to beware of water." He said that of all the people we could get, we get the one that has seen a fortune teller. He thought that was mighty ironic. I thought it was fitting that we would get her. However, she did not survive the tragedy.

The display had parts of the ship that had been recovered. The gears that they had there had a very sad energy around them. The perfume bottoms had one of hope. The postcards felt exciting and wondrous. I loved how they made it a story about people. It wasn't all about this big ship, it was about the people who were on it. They had stories about the people posted thought the exhibit. I loved seeing the human touch on it. It was really amazing.

The rest of the museum was not as exciting, but we enjoyed spending a whole day together. It's kind of rare that we get a chance like that, so we took advantage of it! Husband even took me out to dinner! It was a very awesome day!

Blessed be,

Autumn

Museum Visit!

Hi and Merry Meet,
I am very excited because today my husband bought tickets to a museum that is hosting a Titanic exhibit. We wanted to go today, however, when I called them today they told me if we wanted a guarantee in we need to buy tickets. So, husband bought them online and we are going to see it tomorrow!

I have always been fascinated with the Titanic. I saw the movie back in the day, but I was more excited to see shots of the boat than the love story part. I've had dreams that I was there. I've had dreams about being at balls on board. I am really excited to see such a big piece of history close to home.

Today, we have had a low key day. I did some meditations on a tarot reading I had this morning. We are looking for a new car for me and it looks like I need to accept that my car might not pass inspection this year. My reading told me I need to find a balance and be open to new ideas. I really hate the thought of giving up the car I have. It has been like a mini tank, but realistically, I need to find a more Eco-friendly vehicle. I wish I could bike to work when the weather is nicer, however, I travel to several schools a day and I only have a few minutes to travel between classes. If I was at one school a day, my bike would be the way to go!!

I've been thinking about getting a new tarot deck. I'm not sure which one right now... I have a few that I'm looking at but I'm open to suggestions!
Blessed be,
Autumn

Home Sick and Thoughts

Hi and Merry Meet,
I've been so busy these days! Today I'm home sick, so I have a minute to actually breath and blog.

Since I have been home for two days I have been watching about the earthquake in Haiti. Earthquakes are scary. In Japan, we had one almost every month or more. However, they were not nearly that big. I can't imagine how scared and frighten those people must have been. One thing that I did when Katrina hit was to send a box of clothes and goods that could help the people there. I am thinking about doing something similar this time. I am grateful for the things I have. If I can give them away to help someone else, then I feel that I need to do that.

My thoughts and prayers are with the people of Haiti.
Blessed be,
Autumn

Welcome 2010!

Hi and Merry Meet,

Welcome 2010! My husband and I celebrated ringing in the New Year with some friends and playing some poker. It was a good time! The hostess made so many appetizers! They were amazing! It was a black tie affair, so we were dressed to the nines... that was the only thing proper about our crowd! I'm glad that we went. The weather was fine and by the time I drove us home there was no one on the roads.

I wanted to share my New Year/Blue Moon altar:You can see my blue moon ball sitting in the middle of the pentacle. I have yet to tie a ribbon around it to hang it up.

Tomorrow I go back to work (unless there is a snow day!). I'm excited to get back into a routine... although, I'll admit I like lounging around in my pjs until noon!

Blessed be,

Autumn