The longest day of the year, Midsummer is the perfect time to gaze forward in time at the path you have set in motion.  This is a time of balance and beauty, light and purification.  Today, the time for working magick is at its peak, supported by the maturity and power of the sun! The Goddess is pregnant with life and hope for the future, her lifeblood nurturing dreams and preparing for their delivery into the world!

Traditionally celebrated at noon to harness the full power of the sun, this is a time to burn away the past and to bring light to your visions.  Rituals involving mirrors, bonfires and nature are often performed and spending time at home is considered important.

This is the perfect time to think about love spells, children, play, fertility and working with elves and fairies!

Joy and passion are in the air and in the earth!

Thousands of quotations speak to the mysteries of wisdom from that of the child’s simple and yet profound perspective to the intricate texts on ancient tablets found in temples or scrolls found beneath the seas.

We crave it, seek it and explore its millions of possibilities, often settling into the words and experiences of others and discounting our own.  Perhaps our own designs are flawed and otherwise incomplete when it comes to truly claiming wisdom for ourselves.  But seeking it through others is only the beginning of the quest we must make if we truly desire to attain this lofty achievement.

Wisdom comes from experience.  The stories of others can do little to support our embodiment of its essence.  The purely intellectual experience is often a misnomer for wisdom, which must be gained through the balance of emotional, mental, physical and spiritual awareness and achievement, not simply an intellectual exposure to its concepts.

Children are naturally wise.  Newly realized from Spirit, they are connected to all things on all levels, vibrating naturally through each new experience and emotion.  The more they are “taught” in this physical world, the less they recall and the less they trust their experiences, growing. . .less wise. . .

As the intellectual development ripens and the journey of life matures, the seeker begins reconnecting to Spirit, making sense of the connection through body and mind and growing wiser with each personal experience.

It is the balancing of everything we have experienced in the physical with everything we have experienced in the spiritual realms that makes us truly wise. Recognizing the importance of our spiritual experiences and their connection to our physical ones is key to defining the true essence of wisdom.

• We are never born and we will never die.
• We have already experienced ALL things.

These two fundamental facts awaken us to the reality that wisdom transcends our awareness and can only be achieved if we can expand this awareness to include the timelessness and formlessness of all that is.  Full understanding of these things and the core of wisdom are only legitimately claimed by those who master the physical world through their deep connection to spirit and passion for life.

Wisdom, to be truly realized, must be lived rather than read and demonstrated rather than discussed.  It is a proactive and ever-evolving state of being for as long as we maintain physical form.

This festival celebrates the Spring, or Vernal Equinox. On this day, as the sun enters Aries (March 20th or 21st) the light and dark share equal length and as the sun sets, the new day begins with the promise of longer, warmer days.

This is the time of planting seeds, sowing not only physical seeds that will ripen and blossom over the coming months, but the time for planting goals and ideas!

Sacred to Eostre, Goddess of the Spring, this holiday’s decorations include white rabbits, colored eggs, and woven baskets. The white rabbit represents innocence and fertility; eggs represent new life and rebirth, and the basket is representative of the tools once needed to hunt for and gather eggs in times before one could simply purchase them at the grocery store.

We decorate eggs to symbolize the color (the vibration or energy) into which we wish to be reborn, adding symbols to enhance and further empower our vision! Egyptians and Druids along with Witches and other ancient shamans decorated hollowed eggs and kept them as amulets intended to support the souls of departed loved ones on their journeys to rebirth into the next dimension. Other groups began adopting these practices and beautiful examples of other intricately decorated eggs may be found in Ukrainian Churches even today.

Additional symbols of the holiday include the 3-Leaf Clover representing the Triple Goddess and the 4-Leaf Clover representing luck and the four elements in balance. Wildflowers often make an appearance in celebrations, as do walks and outdoor playtime.

A time of balance, growth, fertility, communication and planting, Ostara heralds not only Spring, but also that which will be born of our labors.

It is the time to attend to the balance in life. Determine what you wish to create and actively participate in the creational process! Gather the seeds, the tools and fertilize your soil, making it rich with those who support you on your journey. When you have prepared your land, prepare your body and mind by connecting with your spirit and begin planting your seeds.

In the coming months, through the whirlwind of everyday life, remember to tend to your plot of land. Nurture it with thanks, rich food, water, sunlight and wisdom. Untended gardens often become something quite different than our original design!

When the time of the harvest once again returns, be ready and passionate about what you plant on this day!

Ah, the February chill in the air and snow on the ground. . . It is the time of the maiden, of purity, fertility and renewal!  In the womb of the earth (Imbolc translates as ‘in the belly’), life begins to stir.

This is the time of the sacred fires, smithcraft, poetry and healing, all watched over by the Goddess Brigid.  Canonized by the Catholic Church in order to gain the loyalty of the Irish to the Church, “Saint Brigit” was reintroduced to and eventually accepted by her native land as the foster mother of Jesus, and for many, Imbolc became the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary!

The use of candles to represent the magickal fires is quite special in the celebration of Imbolc.  A lighted candle is placed in every window of every home beginning at sundown on Imbolc Eve.  These candles continue to burn until sunrise, a sign that light is returning, Spring is stirring, and life is eternal.

Corn Dollies or Brigid Crosses are woven and hung for the purposes of purification, spiritual cleansing and protection of the home.  A small woven basket with fresh white flower petals (Brigid’s Bed) is often created to ensure fertility of body, mind and spirit!

A time for the blessing of seeds for the coming planting season and the honoring of the Goddess as the Bride, Imbolc calls the earth to emerge from its long winter sleep.  Hearth fires are extinguished and re-lit, and “Spring Cleaning” begins, removing negative energy and renewing protection of family, hearth and home.  In addition, a sweeping ritual is performed and a besom (broom) is placed next to the front door to offer additional protection and to welcome the new.

For many, this is a time to offer gifts to the nature spirits, ensuring a bountiful season!  Traditional offerings include: cheese and bread.

Whether you greet this beautiful celebration in sunshine or shadow, it is a time for honoring the gifts of the earth by utilizing your talents.  Through song, poetry, handiworks or food, light the fires of your hearth with the promise of new life and new vision!

Spring is here.  Let us be ready to greet her when she awakens.

Visualization is a small but important part of the process of creation.  Without it, there is no way to project desire into physical manifestation.

The magickal process begins with this step.  A clear picture, drawn from the spark of inspiration is the start of all things!

In order to properly assign the energies necessary to move forward, there are a few simple steps to follow.  First, come to a clear understanding of what you want to create.

Simple enough?  Yes and no.  As human beings we have experienced nearly as many failures as successes.  This often lends itself to our tentative nature in creating a realistic and positively envisioned desire.

Magnetic energy, another part of the creational process, is key to what can be attracted.  If fear or doubt comes into our visualization, it will tarnish the vision and the results!

So the process is as follows:

1.     Decide what you want to create

2.     Create your vision board (this brings your vision into the physical and is very important!)

3.     Identify the energy you feel when you are creating and looking at your vision board (excited, prosperous, successful, free, sexy, secure, joyful. . .)

4.     Infuse your vision with the ENERGY you have identified! (you may choose one or ALL of the vibrations)

5.     See yourself, your actual physical form in the energy you have identified.  Live in it.  Identify with it.  Be it.  This creates powerful magnetic energy.

6.     Bring words to your vision (I am prosperous; I am free; I am beautiful) and WRITE them down, adding them to your vision board and SPEAKING them aloud often!

7.     Set goals and tasks for physical manifestation.

Seeing it isn’t enough!  Set specific goals for yourself in line with your vision.  Make your goals realistic!  (If you’ve never touched $1,000,000 then start with a number for which you have physical understanding and awareness.)

Once you’ve reached your goal, double or otherwise enhance it! And move on from there, staying out of fantasy and making the reality tangible!

Follow through with your tasks!  Following the above directions and lying in bed all day watching movies or playing video games will not bring you any closer to manifesting your vision.  Take the physical steps to create in this physical world!

We create our realities every day with every thought and word we speak.  Actions make our creation fully physical.

Creation is a dynamic process!  Conscious thought, word and action in alignment with clear, realistic vision is what makes what we create consistently line up with our desires!

Over the past few months I have received some great questions about how to properly use Scented Secrets products to get the most out of them and how it is possible they carry the amount of energy they do.

Here’s the scoop! Created in a sacred temple, each of our products is sanctified specifically for you.  Made upon receipt of your order, these items are not created until we have a vision of you and your desire in mind.

Infused with symbols, imbibed with ancient energies and consecrated by a High Priestess, these items literally realign universal energies with your own, changing the energy of your body, aura, mind and space.  As they create a vibratory shift in energy, these products prepare you and set your space for your desire to be born in the physical.

They Are The REAL Deal!

The Products:

1.     Dragon Essence:  Proprietary Blend of Herbs handed down through an ancient Shamanic Lineage used to protect the home, workplace and individual.

Comes in a 16 oz container or 4 cotton bags with instructions

2.     Mojo Bag:  Proprietary Blend of Herbs, Essential Oils and other items designed to carry specific energy to shift the vibration of a person for many reasons.  Best worn near the heart or groin.  Can be carried in a purse, but will not impact appropriate energies if more than 4’ from the body.

Comes in a small cotton pouch

3.     Tumbled Stone:  Designed by the Goddess and selected for their specific vibration, tumbled stones impact emotional, physical, mental and spiritual energies through contact with the physical body.  Larger stones can independently impact larger spaces, but small stones can be used in certain patterns to a similar end.  Best if worn touching the skin at the heart or the groin.

Usually smaller than a quarter in diameter

4.     Bath Salt:  Proprietary Blend of Essential Oils and Herbs in a base of Himalayan Mineral Salt.  Created to impact the vibration of a person and space.  2oz is enough for one bath, however more may be used if desired.  Warm to cool water enhances the magickal effects.

Comes in an 8oz container

5.     Aura Mist:  Proprietary Blend of Essential Oils, Gemstone and Herb tinctures prepared to shift specific physical, emotional, mental and spiritual energies.  May be spritzed on the body and in the space for an immediate shift in vibration.

Comes in a 2oz (Color Mist) or 4oz Spritzer

6.     Lotion:  Proprietary blend of Essential Oils in a base of Goat’s Milk Lotion.  Nourishing and delicate, created to support the energy you have set in motion.  Safe for most to apply all over the body and face.

Comes in a 6oz pump

7.     Essential Oil Roller:  Proprietary blend of Essential Oils in a base of Jojoba.  Scents impact the subconscious mind, continually bringing the focus back to the desire in creation.  Apply to temples and pulse points.

Comes in a roller tube

8.     Incense:  Proprietary blend of Herbs, Resins, Roots and Essential Oils intended for burning on a charcoal incense brick.  Can be used for purifying space and body as well as anchoring specific energies if that is your desire.

Place a handful of sand on a fireproof plate and surface away from direct breeze, but in a ventilated room.  Light your charcoal brick (usually a quarter size quick-lite style) and place it on the sand.  When the brick turns gray, place your incense on the charcoal and expect smoke!!  May be carried from room to room or kept in a single location.

Comes in a 4oz container

9.     Candle:  Scented Secrets was originally founded to create beautiful and useful candles!  Proprietary blend of Herbs, Oils, Essential Oils and sometimes crystals and shapes, these designs are available in a natural Paraffin OR Soy Vegetable Blend.

Various sizes

Although our products are infused with extremely powerful energy and will make tremendous shifts on their own, you must participate in the magickal process to see the greatest results.  Think of the products as tools that open the door to the line of energy you seek.

Your Job:

1.     Have a CLEAR vision of your end result.  Make it realistic, something you can actually feel in your body.  For example, doing magick for $1,000,000 to come into your life if you’ve never experienced that kind of money before is unrealistic.  Start with a number you can actually feel in your body.  Perhaps double your current bank account balance.  Once you’ve attracted those monies, double that number, and so on. . .

2.     The second part of clarity is really seeing yourself LIVING in your vision.  Magnetic energy is a powerful force of creation.  If you “want” something, you are repelling it by nature.  Instead, see the person you ARE when the vision fully manifests.  Joyful, Free, Beautiful, Powerful, Passionate, Creative, Independent. . .

3.     Once you have established your vision clearly, you are ready to begin using our products!

4.     Our Toolboxes contain at least one product carefully attuned to each of the four elements.  Your vision is the fifth element.  It is all of the elements aligned and working in harmony that make powerful results possible!

5.     They key is to keep your vision clearly in mind from the moment you begin your work to the moment you begin to see physical manifestation of your desire.  That’s another area our products will be of great help!

Package Suggestions:

Our Protection Toolbox is designed to clear the low-energy vibrations from your personal or work space.  The Toolbox contains:  Spirit Candle, Protection Essential Oil Roller, Sage Mist, Astral Protection Bag and Dragon Essence.

Our Balancing Toolbox is designed to support your physical, emotional and mental well-being.  The Toolbox contains:  5 Elements Candle, Essential Oil Roller, Aura Mist and Tumbled Stone.

Our Prosperity Toolbox is designed to connect you with the ray of abundance!  The Toolbox contains: Money Candle, Prosperity Incense, Gold Aura Mist and Mojo Bag.

Our Love Toolbox is designed to flow its beautiful energy into your life whether you seek self-love or a healthy relationship with someone else.  The Toolbox contains:  Love Candle, Love Lotion, Pink Aura Mist and Tumbled Stone.

Our Goddess Toolbox is designed to support your connection and awakening of the Goddess within you and the Goddess who achieved the mastery you seek to enhance your life!  The Toolbox contains:  Soy Goddess Candle with Tumbled Stone, Bath Salt, Lotion or Essential Oil Roller and Aura Mist.

Please feel free to contact us for assistance or to place special orders.

Your 15 minute consultation is free!

candlebabe@scentedsecrets.com

OR

866-800-6556

As another year draws to a close, I once again reflect on its highs and lows and my sometimes reckless orchestration of these experiences.  My creation has brought me much in the way of lessons and clarity of vision for the days to come.

For the first time in many years, snow blankets the ground outside my window and the night takes on a sort of luminescence, both eerie and beautiful.  Rainclouds gather in the darkness, threatening to purge the sleeping earth of its icy blanket if only for a few short hours, and the cycle of life continues.

I listen to the soft breathing of my baby daughter, snuggled against me in this moment, and marvel at her beauty.  Like the delicate snowflakes bonded together by nature’s majesty, she is a work of art.  She, in her growing awareness of this physical place, is taking part of the cycle of human evolution.

Each pleasure and pain imprint upon her the marks of her experience that she will use to create her world.

I wonder at what she will choose to learn.  And I review again, my own lesson choices, marveling at the patterns I somehow have been unable to release in this past year.

There is a subtle shift in the energy of the night as rain begins to wash away the first layers of snow.  I cover my daughter with a blanket and she softly sighs at my touch.

Everything is interconnected.

Surely I should treat my life with the same care and tenderness as I offer my child.  For it is by my example that she will learn and begin to form her constructs for creation.  My successes and my failures will be forever witnessed.

I am not afraid to make mistakes.  Each perceived failure is an opportunity to learn and grow!  In fact, like many people, I believe that somehow I have been battling the fear of success.

Society’s programming of what successful women look like has never been particularly palatable to me, one of many useless excuses I have subconsciously implemented in the past to keep myself stuck in the pattern of my choices.

This year, however, has opened my eyes in a way I could not have orchestrated any better.  The patterns I understood intellectually have begun to crumble, to unravel in their dusty closets.  Like the melting snow, the soft sheen of my excuses and fears is being washed away to reveal the truth.

I am what I think.  I create what I am.

And so, as the new year dawns, I embrace my little one and stoke the fires of rebirth within myself.  It is time for my own inner child to awaken and infuse that which I create with the child’s passion for life, untarnished, unaffected.

I will not make any great resolutions or promises to the universe.  Instead, I will simply live, seeing the world through the eyes of a child.  New and ready to be explored.

The spiral I walk is my own adventure, and the cycle of life unlocks the treasures it holds.

I like the connection.  The openness and exchange of energy.  The quiet acknowledgement of the divine presence in another being sharing the vibration of life-force.

I never thought of there being an incorrect way to give a hug.  True, “tent” hugs (butts out and a quick tap on the upper back) exchange less energy, but are they wrong?

Upon attending an expo not long ago, I was greeted with open arms by someone selling massages.  When I responded in kind, but with one arm full of books, I was instructed, “No, dear!  You’re doing it wrong!”

The books were removed from my arm and placed on the floor and I was organized with my left arm up and right arm down.  “Heart to heart, dear,” I was sweetly instructed. When I was released, I was patted on the shoulder and informed: “the heart must connect to the heart for a hug to mean anything at all!”

I retrieved my books and left the booth feeling slightly disturbed by this strangely too-long exchange.

As a teacher of metaphysics, I am fully aware of the energies of the chakras and their presence in the exchange of a hug.  Certainly the heart energy is no more important than the six other major chakra points!  And if the heart is truly open, the exchange of energy and the connection will begin from several feet away, notwithstanding the position of the arms or what might be in them.

The most important factor here, however, is not the mechanics of the hug.  It is in the genuineness of the exchange, the awareness of the self and the acceptance and return of a gift of connection and energy, however brief.

Judgment cuts off the flow of energy.  There is no possibility of a connection when separation is created.

Just hug!

Don’t worry about your arms or their arms or the proximity of your chakras!  Exchange the joy, support, love, passion and beauty of the moment and allow the hug to be a moment of connection, an invitation into the personal space of another divine being who wants you there, even for a moment.

My daughter is ten months old and loves to eat virtually anything on her plate! She has been walking unassisted for almost a month, drinks water from a cup, has eight teeth & a full head of hair, and prefers to sit on the toilet to using her diapers (most days). She is bright, happy, friendly, inquisitive and healthy!

But I am consistently met with astonishment when I excuse myself to nurse her. “You’re STILL breastfeeding?” “Isn’t she a little old?” “Why don’t you just give her a bottle?”

The fact that I am ABLE to breastfeed is a wonder to me. When she was born, I struggled to produce enough milk, and I have had to supplement with a little soy formula even with tremendous support and assistance from my brilliant lactation nurse and pediatrician (a founder of the La Leche League).

My body not only provides nutrients, but comfort and nurturing to my little one. Nursing is an immediate source of refuge and calm for her as well as one of physical nourishment. It is a time I cherish. The bonding and closeness of heart to heart and breath-to-breath are unlike any connection I have ever shared.

Some facts:

1. Babies are never allergic to human breast milk, while both soy and cow’s milk are the top two available formulas and known to be potential allergens for humans of all sizes.

2. Sucrose is not a healthy addition to the human diet (especially in infants), and is also often found in formulas.

3. Breastfeeding reduces the risk of various illnesses and conditions including eczema, urinary tract infections, allergies, asthma, juvenile diabetes, arthritis and multiple sclerosis, obesity, long-term bone mineralization, in addition to many others including a reduced risk of SIDS.

4. Reduction in the risk of breast, ovarian, cervical and uterine cancers for moms!

5. Breastfed babies have increased cognitive abilities and have been shown to do better in school.

6. The immune qualities of breast milk are actually greater in the second year of its production.

7. Greater mother-child bonding, which creates a strong sense of security and ultimately leads to the child’s stronger sense of personal independence and autonomy.

8. Natural weaning ages of humans based on mammal statistical averages should be between 2 ½ to 7 years based on quadrupling of birth weight; attainment of one-third adult weight; adult body size; gestation length; and dental eruption.

While I don’t see myself breastfeeding until my little girl is seven, I do plan to allow her to self-wean. For now, she seeks the connection between four and five times a day, and that’s fine with me! As long as we both benefit from her nursing and as long as I am producing what she needs, I will be in service to her in this way. I consider it a privilege and a gift!

Sadly, our culture as a whole has not seen it as valuable to educate our doctors and our parents about the power and benefits of breastfeeding, let alone offering basic support. We have put it in the puritanistic tent with the woman’s moon cycle and pulled the flaps closed on discussion and education.

Thankfully, the “rediscovery” of natural medicine and holistic therapies has reopened the door to breastfeeding as a natural and desirable activity, and while most hospitals still give away formula in their newborn kits, some are offering breastfeeding pillows instead!

And while bottles are a great tool for helping daddies and grandparents bond (and for working moms, of course) they can expose infants and toddlers to chemicals and change their orthodontics, especially after teeth erupt. Recommended weaning from bottles to regular cups is between 9 and 12 months.

So, yes, I am still breastfeeding. And I’m grateful to be able to do so. My breast milk is the healthiest thing my daughter will ever consume and she can get it straight from the source!

Resources:

The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding, La Leche League International, 1997.

My Baby Radio

December is here!  As I watch the snow falling I both dread and anticipate this time of year, which will happen regardless of my desire to continue traipsing about without puffy down coverage and heavy boots.

Although I say, “dread,” it is probably too strong of a term to be wholly truthful in nature.  I am not a fan of snow and cold, but I must confess that the soft white blanket of sparkling light covering the ground and the arms of the trees on this day of first snow . . .is . . .beautiful.

The Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year, is a time for forgiveness, reconnection, remembrance, rebirth and community!  It begins the twelve days of the Yule celebrations.  As the sun slowly makes its journey back to the earth, the warmth of family and friends warms not only the heart, but also the body and spirit.  Surrounding ourselves with the ones we love is a celebration of life.

Traditionally, Yule honors the Mother Goddess as she gives birth to the Sun God.  A log of Ash or Oak is lit with the coals of the previous year’s log and kept burning for the twelve days of celebration and feasting for luck and protection.  It also represents the spark of hope and new life.  Mistletoe is harvested and used in fertility rites, corn dollies are carried from door to door as carols of celebration are sung by revelers.  Holly, Ivy and Evergreen are hung to represent everlasting life and the sacred cycle of all living things.

Father Time pays us a visit that we may remember the value of our short physical existence and heal the wounds that keep us separate from those we need to forgive, gifting us with an open heart and infusion of joy . . . sound familiar?

Rooted in the Germanic word, “Yula,” Yule means “wheel,” further defined as the wheel of the year and at this time, the beginning of a new cycle/circle of life.

Today we light tiny electrical flames on harvested evergreen trees amidst other handcrafted decorations in a multitude of colors and shapes and gather together with family and friends.  The other traditions have found their way into today’s society as well (perhaps less the corn dollies) and throughout the centuries, Yule has been celebrated much the same way by many cultures across the globe.

Adopted by Christianity in 320 C.E. and dubbed,” Christmas,” this celebration was renounced by both John Calvin and Martin Luther. Over the years it has been reduced from a twelve-day celebration to a single day of festivities.

However you choose to celebrate, good food and drink, family and friends, reflection, forgiveness and hope are meant to find their way into your day.  The magick you create sets the stage for the cold months ahead.  May it be bright and filled with the light of the season!