Please Bring Gifts

Change always comes bearing gifts. ~Price Pritchett

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It has been an eventful couple of days. A lot has gone in a little bit of time. Was unexpectedly without internet, phone and cable for a while. This was (another) a big eye-opener. It was the culmination of a direction I had been going in, but did not fully realize it at the time.

I've been keeping a new little journal for observation. It has been very helpful. I asked for help in seeing some things and this was a welcome answer/tool. I've just been being quiet and observing Nature and writing what comes into my heart. I have learned some monumental things about myself. And what I have had the opportunity to learn has tilted my perspective of just what it is I am doing and why. Because of this I have to change the focus of this Shells and Bones, but I think it is a good thing. It's always a good thing when someone gets closer to their heart. Not to be too self-important, but I do have a need to spell things out clearly.

Well, to get down to it, I have decided to temporarily not offer any consultations or services. I plan to still offer botanicals and salts -- singly and packaged for specific uses, but for now, I won't be taking on any work for clients. I do plan to offer other items. I don't quite know what they are yet, but I trust that they will be coming and as they do, I will offer them. Hopefully they will be of use and of interest. I am jumping in the flow and we'll see what happens.

I am following my heart as these new revelations have arisen. They surely have arisen for a reason and I won't fully know the reason until I continue to follow through. The new direction, at it's foundation, is towards Nature and Spirit, and my Love for Them, and whatever materializes from that. So anything to do with sharing Their Beauty (which I believe is mostly everything) will most likely stay the same.

Thank you for reading my blog and I hope that you will continue to visit and find many useful things.

Michele
<: n'ya` ya :>

[Oh and I am adding some of my journaling, so there will be several back dated posts.]

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Ulali - for stress and self-love

Oh my goodness, the music of Ulali (Pura Fé , Soni Moreno, and Jennifer Kriesberg)is so amazing, I am continually entranced. I just had to share the medicine of these women's voices. Their song "Wah Jhi Le Yihm" was in the movie "Smoke Signals" and the song "Mahk Jchi Heartbeat" was sung with the Robbie Robertson Red Road Ensemble. These two songs are on their myspace page with the addition of the amazing "All My Relations", which makes me stop what I am doing every time I hear it and just say a prayer and give thanks for being alive. Just beautiful.

You Tube video for "Mother"

Lyrics to Mahk Jchi Heartbeat --

Mahk Jchi

Mahk jchi tahm buooi yahmpi gidi
Mahk jchi taum buooi kan spewa ebi
Mahk jchi tahm buooi yahmpi gidi
Mahk jchi taum buooi kan spewa ebi

Mahmpi wah hoka yee monk
Tahond tani kiyee tiyee
Gee we-me eetiyee
Nanka yaht yamoonieah wajitse
Nanka yaht yamoonieah wajitse

Hey yah eh yah eh yah
Hey yah oh way-hee-tah-ah
Hey yah hey yah hey yah
Oh way-ee oh way-ee oh way-ee yah-ah

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Aside from the Box

My TV blew out several days ago. I had always considered myself not hooked on the tube, but I am instinctually(?) missing it. Several years ago, I didn't watch TV for over a year. (My friends telling me about Dave Chapelle's Show is what brought me back in the fold) So now I am without a hypnotube and what to do? The day seems to go alot slower, which is nice. I can hear the birds outside and spend time paying attention to the trees outside my window. I am finding I have a lot more time to get work done.

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Last night I was relaxing and watching videos on YouTube. I came across this lady named Nancy Today. I really like her videos that I watched. The ones I watched were of her in one of her self-constructed tipis on her wilderness property in Ontario Canada. One day soon, I will be constructing a tipi on my property somewhere in Northern New Mexico or Arizona. Living life outside under the sky...

"I became invisible a few years ago, so I made and wear outrageous flower-covered hats. I'm locally known as the Hat Lady." ~ Nancy Today

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Pea in a Pod

I haven't felt like being on the computer too much lately. My FDIL and two lil' grandbabys are here visiting for 3 weeks and all I want to do is just want to lay around with the little ones. This is the first time my new grandson and I have met since his birth and he is just little hunny bunch. But my son and FDIL told me that he has been having trouble sleeping and often times looked like he was having nightmares. My son told me that when he visited his Abuelita, she blessed him and did several little prayers for him which helped him alot. But after arriving here, he was fussy again and not sleeping. So I started observing him and it looked to me like he was not feeling secure. FDIL said that she would try and wrap him up but he would squirm out of it and wiggle his arms free. It popped into my head that what he might need is a sling carrier that his mommy can wear him in. I pulled up some bookmarks that I had for making a sling carrier and found this one to be the best one for me. It took me about a 1/2 hour to make and about an hour to try and figure out which shoulder method would be the best for her. We decided on a hybrid of the fan method and the 3-fold, it seems to give more support for the wearer's shoulder. This morning we put him in it. He stopped crying, but something didn't look right. After watching a video on this page, we realized we put him in backwards. hahahahaha ooops After fixing that error, we had to put a little receiving blanket folded under his head to prop him up. And after that, he went right to sleep. The sling is made of a dark olivish green t-shirt type material that I had bought to make some culottes for me, but never got around to it. He looks just like a pea in a pod.

♥

Earthships

And now for some good stuff... :)

Was watching the Science Channel and saw a program called Eco-Tech with a feature on "Earthships", common-sense homes. I had seen these a while ago, and wanted to live in one (I really want to live in a lodge/tipi, maybe one day...).

Lots of info and images to look at.

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Calling on the rain -- Yemaya

My daughter frequently calls the rain. I am not quite sure which emotional state or feelings provoke when she calls the rain, but from what I can see and what she has told me, it appears to be a time when she is feeling a little sad, melancholy maybe?... but I cannot see it on the outside. I can only guess, but it feels as if she need a cooling visit from her 'friend' Yemaya.

Looking up anything about some type of Rain Rice recipes. Wanted to make her some for her to keep in her little bag. I got 'lost' and found a couple of interesting web pages that mentions the calling of rain.

This page on Sacred Texts has a copy of the book "Taboo, Magic, Spirits: A Study of Primitive Elements in Roman Religion" by the author Eli Edward Burriss. I have not heard of it before, but it seems to be the typical arrogant rigid caucasian male view anthropological book, commonly disseminated as academic fact in early 20th and 19th centuries. These types of texts are so ironic to read because of the authors assuredness in their superior intelligence. Despite the obvious assumptions made by the author, there are some interesting descriptions of past communities rain-making that I was not familiar with. I had a somewhat hard time focusing on what I read, so I only skimmed it, but this part struck me:

When Marcus Aurelius was leading his forces against the Quadi in 174 A.D., a drought settled upon their country. According to one account, some Christians who happened to be serving under the Roman standards prayed for rain, and forthwith the heavens overflowed. 16 The pagan account of this rainstorm says that an Egyptian magician procured it from Hermes. 17 We do not have to go to antiquity, however, for evidence of supernatural rain-making. Frazer records 18 a case of rain-making by immersing the statue of a saint in water. He writes: "Beside the old priory of Commagny, a mile or two to the southwest of Moulins-Engilbert, there is a spring of St. Gervais, whither the inhabitants go in procession to obtain rain or fine weather according to the needs of the crops. In times of great drought they throw into the basin of the fountain an ancient stone image of the saint that stands in a sort of niche from which the fountain flows."

It seems the saint in question may have been Saint Honoré and I came across this page about a hydrotherapy station named for him. I will have to look into the Egyptian magic portion of this recount later.

What all this has to do with Rain Rice? Don't rightly know yet... another one of my typically unexpected 2 hour trips down the rabbit hole I suppose. Hope there's something revealing to glean from it.

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So simple...

This is so simple, I am almost embarrassed to post it... but I will, just in case someone may need it who is not in the position to go shopping for 'extras'.

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A simple "incense" to burn when feeling bogged down, fuzzy, hazy, unfocused.

Refresh · Renew

--a bit of Sage (air · Jupiter)
--a bit of Basil (fire · Mars)
--a pinch of Cinnamon (air/fire · Sun)
--a small saucer

Place herbs/spices on saucer. While doing this, "talk" to them, discuss with them what your need is. "Listen" for anything/feelings they might convey to you. Light herbs/spices. This usually will not burn fully, but sufficiently for what you have asked. Lie back/relax and let the aroma fill you. Know that help is on the way. Relight during the day, if desired. (* leaves sticky residue behind, so be aware)

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YMMV