Author Archives: JL

This is My Beginning

I've Got the Magic In MeI woke up feeling magic all around me today. It’s as if my body opened up to take in all of the mystical energy I know is buzzing around me every minute, but that I can’t always feel. Maybe a better imagery is that of my body dissolving and melding into the magic until there is no physical boundary—I am the magic. I love when this happens.

Usually when this sense strikes I am out and about in nature, walking through the woods, wading in a stream or looking up into a black sky studded with stars that dance round Luna in her many phases.

Waking to the magic of nature, indoors, with no preparation or intent was a surprise. Perhaps it was the particular angle of the sunlight peeking into my room, the gust of wind that brought a rain of swirling, autumn leaves past my window, and the utter stillness of the house.

I padded outside to the deck in my robe and slippers. All but the last of the leaves have fallen, laying a carpet of red and gold over the land; they are quickly turning brown. The southwest wind blew across my skin. Warm for November, it is pushing winter’s chilling bite further north than my borderland realm.

I wanted to stay outside. It was warm enough, tucked up into a corner of the deck with the direct rays of the sun beating against the siding, but the magic was calling me back to the house. I returned inside, started my morning coffee to brew, and went to the box where I keep my tarot cards while I waited.

It’s been a while since I’ve used my deck so I wasn’t expecting much. I decided to just shuffle the cards, recharging them with the energy of the movement. I didn’t plan to do a reading, I was sitting in my easy chair with only my lap for a surface.

I’ll turn just one card, I thought, or maybe a simple three-card spread.

The cards practically turned themselves and in seconds I had a full ten-card reading, squished together and overlapping. The guidance from the cards was almost immediately clear to me—again a sensation of the cards and myself being one and the same. I knew, without question the meaning of the magic I’d felt, why I awoke with a sense that something was different, something big was happening. I’d gone to sleep and the world, my world at least, changed overnight.

I had to think what the date was. I’ve been a bit busy and wondered if I’d missed Hecate’s night, but no, I have eight more moon rises—a time that will mark the transition from waning to waxing with the dark moon right in the center. It was beginning to make sense.

Hecate is the Goddess of the crossroads, giver of life and death, protectress of everything newly born, seer into the past, present and future. Hecate reminds us that change is constant. She helps us to release the past, and with her torch she lights the way into the dark unknown of new beginnings.

I have too long nursed resentment and wished for the fates to dispense justice, but my justice is in my own hands. It’s time to stop letting others reopen my wound, believing that they will feel the depth of the cut and have pity or take up my cause. It’s time for me to stop mourning the life that was taken from me and start living the life I’ve been given. It’s time to stop carrying the burden of regret, time to bury my victimhood.

I am where I am supposed to be in this life, how I got here is secondary to what I will do from this point forward. This is my beginning.


This I believe…

Reblogging this from a very bright woman I met through a writing community; a woman I am coming to admire more all the time. This what she knows. I share it as some pretty darn good rules for living with passion, purpose and pizzazz through midlife and beyond.

broadsideblog's avatarBroadside

By Caitlin Kelly

I believe that beauty - wherever we find it -- nurtures us deeplyI believe that beauty – wherever we find it — nurtures us deeply

Did you ever hear the NPR radio series of this name?

Here’s a book that collected 80 essays from it.

It’s either (choose one!): pompous, boring, predictable, self-serving, self-promotional, fatally candid to publicly state your principles. Maybe.

Maybe not.

I think action speaks louder than words. (There’s one thing I believe in.)

Having recently been hounded several times on-line, once by a very annoyed reader of this blog who emailed me privately three times to keep making his point — accompanied by personal insults — and within a women’s online group, it might be time to clear things up.

After all, more than 15,600 (!) people are now following this blog, and some may wonder — who is this woman and why should I listen to a thing she says?

Life is short. Use it wellLife is short. Use…

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Pieces of April

The climate in my northern realm usually puts us about a month behind the adage, April showers bring May flowers, but every so often we’re blessed with a good year; this year is holding promise to be just that. The snow melted away nearly a month ago and the frost has worked it’s way out of the ground. Green shoots are poking up in the flower beds.

violets and lilly of the valleyI spent the morning in my gardens, picking windblown leaves from around emerging daffodils, hyacinths, tulips, rhubarb, wild strawberries and mint. I can barely wait to pick my first bunches of violets and fragrant lilly-of-the-valley to fashion into fairy bouquets, though their bloom time is a good six weeks away.

It felt good to be scratching in the soil again after a long winter. By noon, I kicked off my shoes and socks to reacquaint my feet with mother earth—Gaia’s spirit and mine connecting. Barefoot, I padded around my little acre checking for signs of green life.

April is a month of transition, a wild woman changing her moods with capricious will. Rain turns to sleet, then to fluffy flakes and back again to rain—all in a matter of minutes. Sun and sixty degrees mid-morning gives way to a cold chill on the wind and thunderstorms rolling in by late afternoon. A late season blizzard can bring two feet or more of snow; with the only consolation knowing that it will melt away in a day or two.

Geranium leafNo matter the unpredictable weather, April holds the promise of summer ahead. I found that promise in the bright green leaves of my wild geranium, rocketing up from the soil in a sunny southwest corner of the garden. They were pungent with the spicy, concentrated sap of spring. I plucked a handful of the leaves to whip up a batch of my Gardener’s Hand Scrub.

I’m co-teaching a class on using garden variety flowers, herbs and plants in home remedies. Though technically not a remedy, making a scrub is entry level herbalism. I want to bring samples for the students, so the little handful of wild geranium leaves was a happy surprise; they’ll add a clean, refreshing scent to my Gardener’s Hand Scrub.

I keep a jar of hand scrub by my kitchen sink all year round, but I especially appreciate it when I’ve given my hands a good workout in the yard or garden (I don’t wear gloves as often as I should). The grit of the sugar or salt powers off the grime, exfoliates my hands and cleans up my cuticles, while the oils condition my skin and nails. I just scoop out about a teaspoon full and work it into my dry hands, scrubbing and massaging, especially around my cuticles, then thoroughly rise with warm water and pat dry with a soft towel.

Basic Sugar or Salt Scrub

  • 1 cup of sugar, sea salt or Epsom salt.
  • Approximately 1/2 cup of olive oil
  • 1/4 teaspoon vitamin E oil
  • 1 or more Tbs of aromatic herbs of choice, chopped.

Pour about 1/4 cup of sugar or salt in food processor, add herbs and pulse until herbs are finely chopped. This will result in super fine sugar or salt, and depending on the moisture content of the plant material it may become  pasty. Remove mixture from processor and add to remaining salt or sugar, stirring to incorporate. Add vitamin E oil. Add olive oil (start with about half the amount) and stir all together. Continue adding oil until the mixture reaches consistency of thick paste. Place in a clean jar or other container with tight lid. If it seems too dry, add more oil. Too loose, add more sugar or salt.

It isn’t necessary to use a processor; you can make your scrub by simply mixing the sugar or salt, oils and aromatic herbs in a bowl. I like the method above for breaking down the plant matter and releasing the volatile oils.

So what’s the difference between salt and sugar in a scrub? Sugar is a more gentle exfoliant because the shape of the grains are more rounded, less sharp that salt. The glycolic acid in sugar moisturizes and conditions skin. Sugar scrubs are also stickier than salt scrubs. Salt not only offers a more vigorous exfoliation, it also contains beneficial minerals; salt has long been used for purification and healing, though it can be more drying than sugar. Can’t decide which one to use? Mix it up with a half of each.

You might also try putting all of the sugar and/or salt into the processor. The superfine consistency results in a very gentle scrub. Your scrub should keep for 4 to 6 weeks (the more plant material in the scrub, the shorter the shelf life; check your scrub often to be sure it isn’t spoiling). Keep it by your sink and use it every day! Try these common herbs and plants in your scrubs:

  • Mint leaves
  • Marigold petals
  • Rose petals
  • Lemon balm
  • Citrus zest (may shorten shelf life)
  • Lavender (buds or leaves)
  • Cedar

Try combining two or three for your own, custom aromatic blend.