Crystallized Intentions

Inside the Design: Desire

2010-11-11T14:58:00.000-08:00

And hello there, thank you for stopping by, I hope you're having a splendid day.

Today I want to look at one of my more complex designs and why I put the stones together the way I did.

Shiney!

The Desire design came about because my sister asked for one. Here's a pic of what hers looks like...

Eye catching, no?

There's layers of intent with this design, which is why there are so many different stones. I usually like to have three or four stones (not counting the two Hematite at the clasp) in any Intention, since adding more can muddy things. But as I talked with my sister, I realized that she wanted something very specific and it was a challenge to find the right balance and design.

I started with the blazing Fire...Red Tiger's Eye and Red Jasper for attraction. The head turning in the middle of a crowded room for no reason sort of attraction. This is the *spark* that can happen between people. Both red stones are very active, very projective magickally which makes them perfect for this sort of intention. Red Fire is deeper, hotter than yellow or orange Fire, which is why I used red instead of golden Tiger's Eye.

Next comes the banked Fire...Garnets and Rose Quartz for a more lasting connection. Desire is fine if all you want is a booty call. However a relationship will quickly fall apart if there isn't something besides desire between the people. So I added Friendship and Love to hopefully attract someone who wants something more than a hook up. Rose Quartz is *the* friendship stone, and any relationship not based on some sort of friendship is most likely doomed to failure. Garnets represent a more lasting love connection along with promoting sexual awareness.

Now the protective Fire...like all the elements, Fire can either help or harm, and is perhaps the most dramatic example of this idea. Fire brings life and light, warmth and safety when handled correctly, but can burn if not treated with care. Seeing desire much like a bonfire, I wanted to add a little protection so that the wearer would be less likely to be hurt while the relationship transitions from the first blush of attraction into something more lasting.

The layered and braided intentions in this design are unique, and I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of putting it together. As for how well it works, well, you'd have to ask my sister about her adventures, or you could read about my good friend Teresa Maharaj-Williams and the night the bracelet worked to well. :D

I hope this post was informative for you, and if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to post a response for tag me on Facebook. As always, thank you for reading.

Till next time, be well,

Red

If Your Religion...Part 5

2010-10-20T14:41:00.000-07:00

Oh, hello there! How're we doing today? Good, to hear. So I bet you're here to find out what I'm going to rant about next, huh? Then I'll just get on with the show, shall I? Without introduction...

If your religion preaches hate instead of love, you're doing it wrong.

This seems like it would be a pretty big, "Uh...Duh Red..." but if that were really the case, then the issues we're having with homosexuals and people of other religions and races just wouldn't be happening would it?

In the US we're just about to have our mid-term elections, so the political machines are churning out massive amounts of advertising for their chosen platforms. One of the favorite targets this season is gay marriage. With the national coverage of Prop 8 in California, many conservatives are using this issue as a soap box to draw in people interested in "saving the family", "protecting the sanctity of marriage", "protecting our children from the homosexual agenda" and several other phrases of dubious meaning.

So what's really at stake here? At its core, the gay marriage issue is about civil rights, not religion. Marriage in the US comes with responsibilities and rewards, things like joint taxes, health care, decision rights concerning a spouse in a critical health situation just to name a few. By banning gay marriage, people are discriminating against a portion of the American people, and I'd thought we'd gotten past that after women were given the right to vote and black people no longer had to sit in the back of the bus.

Why am I talking about this issue then? Because it's the "religious right" that is making the most noise against gay marriage. "It's Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve" is a popular phrase when talking about homosexuality in general from a religious standpoint.

Recently a video from FCKH8.com made the rounds on Facebook. (WARNING! If you are offended by the "F word" or are in a place where watching such material would not be approved of, do *NOT* watch the video.) Someone shared the link off my wall and someone else commented that "to my dying day, I will not believe in gay marriage". When I mentioned that marriage is a civil issue and that civil rights are involved, I was informed that the Bible said no gay marriage and that's all that mattered.

Orly?

I am fairly certain that there isn't anywhere in the Bible that says anything about gay *marriage*. It does say something about man not lying with man as with a woman, but that has nothing to do with marriage, does it? (If I am wrong and there is actually a passage in the Bible that deals with gay marriage, please let me know and I will happily correct my statement.) In fact, the idea of marriage as we know it today is very young compared to its history. An abbreviated account can be found here (among other places).

I really don't get it actually. As far as I can tell, someone's sexual preference should only matter to you if you plan on participating in it. And if living with someone you're having sex with outside of marriage is "living in sin" wouldn't the religious right want gay people to get married? Or would that be double sin? I've lost count. >.>

People screaming about the sanctity of marriage should really only be concerned with one marriage...theirs. They also should actually know what their book says about the subject before they try to thump other people with it too. (WARNING! The video is *very* tongue and cheek and pokes fun at the Bible. If that's likely to offend, ya prolly shouldn't watch.)

And then there's all those poor children committing suicide because they are gay and are being bullied. W...T...F...when did it become ok to traumatize someone so much that the only way out they can see is death?

Yes, I am putting the blame squarely on the shoulders of the religious right. It is because of their doctrines of hate and segregation that these tragedies are happening. I cannot endorse or even be content to agree to disagree when the rights and lives of other people are involved. If the witch hunts and crusades taught us nothing, it should have taught us that blood spilled in the name of religion is just as damning and wrong as blood spilled for any other selfish reason. And just because it was a suicide, doesn't mean that religion didn't have a hand in putting the gun there in the first place.

And then there's the Mormons. I struggled writing this part because I know many devout Mormons who don't hate anyone and I consider them true and trusted friends. But I'm not really talking about individuals, I'm talking about the leadership, the doctrines, and how they were connected to Prop 8.

This letter written over 10 years ago shows that the issue of gays in the church is not a new one. It's just getting new attention because of recent publicity. This letter written earlier this month demonstrates that the issue is reaching the point where someone is going to have to bend...I can only hope that it will be the religious leaders that currently continue to preach ignorance and hate.

Because it is hate. You can coat it in beliefs of choice and selfishness, you can spin it in such a way as the church looks like the victim, or that it is a matter of saving the soul, but it doesn't change the fact that it's irrational fear and hate speaking. I seem to remember, back when I was a Christian, that Christ preached a doctrine of love. Wasn't it, "Love one another as I have loved you"? Yeah, I'm pretty sure it was and not, "Love one another as I have love you, except those people over there." It is a shame that those with the power to enforce dogma and the will of the collective seem to have forgotten that and have twisted his words into something else.

This rant has been riding me for about a month now, and I am grateful for the chance to get it out there. If you've waded through my words this far, I thank you, and hope you understand that I know there are those who are devout and reject the principles of hate. To those, I say thank you, and hope that your example can help bring clarity to others.

To those who say, "My views may be outdated, but I thank God I will not be on this earth too many more years to see what it looks like when people like you take over everyone's thinking."

Well, I choose a different way, and so should you, whatever it may be.

Till next time, be well,

Red

PS, for those that might say I'm only this up in arms about the issue because I'm gay and want me to admit the truth...unless you plan on trying to sleep with me, it's really none of your business.

An Open Letter to The Pyramid Collection

2010-09-29T15:41:00.001-07:00

Dear Pyramid Collection,

First I want to say that I *love* your clothes. I wish I could afford what pieces come in "goddess sizes at no extra cost!", and wear the pieces that don't (and afford them too!). There's a skirt, a caftan and a coat that I want from the current catalog...le sigh. I also love most of your jewelry, even the rings that would only fit on my pinky fingers (they're size 10, which is usually the largest they carry >.>). I even have a Celtic weave patterned throw blanket poncho (it's awesome, trust me) that a beloved friend gave me for my boofday a few years ago that I adore and use all the time.

Then I see on my newest catalog on the "Look Inside!" bubble and see "Symbolic Jewelry". Orly? Lemme see what you've got going on here...hmm...Möbius-strip pendants with neat little sayings, pendants and rings made from unusual semiprecious stones (Australian black jade? Ooh..), lovely. Lots of Onyx and Garnet stuff, red and black, looks classy, The Gemstone Diet pendant...wait, what?

This is a cluster of tumbled stones that look like they've been soldered together. It's not, in my opinion, very pretty looking, but whatevs...let's see what's included...Sodalite, Obsidian, Amethyst, Tourmaline (what color? dunno), and Crystal Quartz. Wait, what? Hmm, let's see what attributes are given to the stones...Sodalite, to regulate metabolism? Obsidian is a cravings reducer? Amethyst, to counter food addiction? Tourmaline for energy and Quartz "to promote positives, dispel negatives" (this is a direct quote from the catalog).

...

*frowns*

What?

This just doesn't make any sense to me. Ok, so Sodalite doesn't really have any ancient folklore behind it and so regulating metabolism could be as good as helping emotionally balance someone or calming a body down so a person can relax enough to sleep. But Obsidian and Amethyst *do* have a huge amount of historical folklore behind them. Obsidian has been used to make tools and mirrors for thousands of years. The Aztecs name for it meant, "Divine Stone". Making it a "cravings reducer" just seems like they're making things up.

The Romans believed if you drunk out of a goblet made of Amethyst, you wouldn't get drunk. In Tibet, Amethyst is sacred to the Buddha. Even the Catholics in the Middle Ages thought the stone encouraged celibacy and piety. The purple Amethyst decor during the Inquisition signified the joining of the spirit, represented by blue, with the body, represented by red (thanks Ardriana, as always). Nowhere in there do I see a connection to dealing with addiction. I suppose someone could make a case for a link somewhere, but I don't see it.

Tourmaline's history starts in ancient Egypt and China and is closely associate with creativity in all its forms. I suppose you could find creative ways to help hunger cravings, but really? Really? And Quartz has a history that starts at least 4000 years ago. Several tribes of Native Americans believed that Quartz housed spirits and were used for divination. I suppose a stone that is often called The Master Stone for the abundance of qualities it can take on that "to promote positives, dispel negatives" isn't the farthest stretch in this piece.

Why are you so up in arms about this piece Red?

It's done so poorly. It's ugly, and the combination of stones and the attributes given to them show an astounding lack of scholarship of behalf of the creator of this piece. And maybe for some people who buy it, it will actually work (Remember, sympathetic magick is about focusing the will to help you help yourself, so if Amethysts mean countering food addiction to you, then it's going to work). However, sympathetic magick works because there is a system behind it, a logic that one can count on. Just making up attributes for stones because you "feel" that they should be used that way just doesn't have the same weight behind it as using a stone because that's the way the ancients did it.

But Red, didn't the ancients just make this stuff up in the first place?

Probably, but stacking anything in your favor to help your will focus on your goal is a good thing. So you can make up a brand new attribute for a stone, if you internalize it, let it settle in your psyche, it might work. Or you can use the stone as the ancients did, and know that you have thousands of others using the stone just as you are, there is a connection to something larger, a weight to the history you are participating in that will focus your will in ways you may not have considered.

That sounds suspiciously like psychology or "placebo effect"...

Yes, and...? C'mon now, say it with me...Helping you to help yourself...

Well, if you're so smart, how would you do it?

Well, the things I keep hearing about the problems with weight loss...cravings, food addiction, changing the way you think about food...these are all associated with the intellect. The core of this design would be Citrine. With higher clarity of thought, you can see and recognize the signs of your cravings, and have the mental fortitude to either side track them with something else or resist them. I would also probably add Rutilated Quartz and/or Picasso Stone to help with internal awareness and consciousness of changing body image.

You could also go some old school witchcraft and just banish the cravings with Obsidian (ok, so I guess the Pyramid piece wasn't that far off with this one...but still...you shouldn't be trying to do something so passive with Obsidian like "reduce cravings". Use it to tell those cravings to GTFO! KILL THEM WITH FYIAH! RAWR! RED SMASH CRAVINGS!...cough...ahem... >.> )

Losing weight is a core body issue, so there would be a deep earth aligned stone, like Green Moss Agate or Aventurine, something to keep the body healthy while you go through a fundamental change.

Raising your metabolism, or affecting the system that "burns the food you eat and makes it energy" seems like a fire connected issue. I would use Tiger's Eye, in any of its colors, or any other deeply connected fire stone to represent this. This would also help with raising your energy levels as well.

And heck, there is folklore that says to use Moonstone when trying to diet, so I'd prolly add some in there for good measure.

The thing to remember about this however, is that you can't wear something like that pendant and then sit on the couch eating the same junk food you did yesterday and expect to lose weight. Change the food intake, change the amount of exercise, change your way of thinking about food *and* wear the pendant for that little extra "oomph" to get you through the tough times, like the plateaus where your body is adjusting to its new size.

I put a lot of thought and effort into what I do, and I hope that it shows. I don't want to just make up stuff that "feels right" to me and pass it off as magick to others (it does happen upon occasion, but that's cuz intuition can be a tricky thing...and it's not all that I do). There are rules to follow and history to take into account, and it bothers me to see when others throw those out the window in favor of something else.

In the end, I still love your catalog, Pyramid Collection, but it makes me sad to see you include spells among your merchandise and not check the quality or the effectiveness of them before offering them to your customers.

Till next time, be well,

Bhen Rudha

Inside the Design: Sleep Well

2010-09-01T15:49:00.000-07:00

So I've been thinking about other things I could write about in my blog that actually, you know, connect to the jewelry I'm making. Not that I disliked that giant religious/spiritual sidetrip. On the contrary, I plan on returning there often. However, since this is the blog about my jewelry, so I should talk about it too.

Enter the "Inside the Design" series. This will be a closer look at the stones I choose for the design (sort of a mini-Stonewise), why I picked them, and how I see them working together toward the specified goal. So here we go, let's see how this turns out.

I know some of this is already out there in other posts, so I'll try not to repeat myself too much.

Inside the Design: Sleep Well

The basic description of this pieces is, Sodalite and Blue Lace Agate help calm the mind, soothing you towards sleep, while Amethysts guard your dreams. A pair of Hematite empowers the Intention. And it's not a bad description, but when the average attention span of a web surfer is about 15 seconds, you don't get a lot of time for detail. So what does this really mean?

(Quick note...I put two pieces of Hematite in every bracelet, necklace and anklet that I make. It's become my signature. I do it because Hematite is a natural magickal amplifier, and so it doubles the strength of every other stone in the piece. So I usually won't mention the Hematite in a piece unless I use it somewhere else.)

Blue Lace Agate and Sodalite are both stones that calm emotions and promote balance and peace. However they are not the same, which is why I use them both. Blue Lace Agate I see working more on the surface. It is the cool shock that gets your attention and forces you to take that first deep breath. It works on the surface, easing tensions mentally, emotionally and physically. It lays the necessary ground work for the rest of the piece.

Sodalite is deep blue, like the very bottom of a clear lake. It is calm, tranquil, capable of sinking below the surface to work on the roots of the problems. There's something inexorable about Sodalite. You *will* calm down and you *will* like it. The two blue stones not only look beautiful next to each other, but I think their energies provide the potent double tap that makes this design so successful magickally.

However, there is no point in knocking you out if you're just going to have bad or unrestful dreams. This is what the Amethysts are for. The royal purple stones have been the guardians of dreams for a very long time, and it was a no brainer for me to add them to the design. Amethysts are also peaceful, calming, specifically connected to the spirit, and so it becomes another layer to the net of tranquility that I've built.

The resulting combination of stones has become my second most popular, and successful design (second only to Desire). I have had several people tell me that the bracelets have helped them go to sleep, stay asleep, take naps, change their sleeping patterns...I think the simplicity of the intention helps make this design one of my more powerful ones.

Sleep Well was the first design I put together, I did it specifically for my friend who suffers from migraines, but is violently allergic to nearly all migraine medications. She usually gets a shot of a heavy narcotic to put her out and hopefully sleep through the headache, but this time it hadn't work. I gave her the bracelet, and that night she slept 12 hours, successfully getting rid of the migraine.

As a side note...some of you might want to ask, "Do you really believe your jewelry made her fall asleep?" It doesn't matter what I believe really. The important part is that it worked. She slept and got rid of the headache. Was it magick? Was it autosuggestion? Mind over body? Truth is, don't care what the truth is. In whatever capacity my bracelet helped, which is my only purpose.

Well, I hope this was in some way entertaining and informative. I enjoyed doing it, so I will probably do more. :)

Till then, be well,

Red

When I Speak of Myself 4

2010-08-23T15:23:00.000-07:00

Hello friends, and welcome back! I'm going to skip the apology this time around, since you know it by heart by now, and get right into the story. Everyone remember where we were?

I had ethics, I had magick, I had a basic understanding of what a religion is and what components go into a belief system. I also had the desire to be a part of something larger than myself. Something that helps fill the gaps in my days.

And then I had to take my truck to the shop. Hang on, how this fits into the larger picture is coming, don't you worry...

I ended up having to take the shuttle home, and since I was the furthest one away, I was last to be dropped off. Once I had moved into the front seat of the van and we were on the way, the elderly gentleman driving started talking to me... Now some of you might know my gaming habits, and so will only nod when I tell you that I only had a couple hours of sleep before getting up to take my truck in at the butt crack of dawn. Basically what I'm saying is that I don't remember most of our conversation, but I do remember how I felt about it, and what lines of thinking it got me into.

Somehow we got to talking about religion, and/or philosophy, and he asked me some questions. I answered them honestly, telling him some of the conclusions I'd come to over the last couple years. He started challenging me, trying to trap me in my own logic, and how it applies to a Christian world view. I wasn't firing on all thrusters, so I probably wasn't my most eloquent or coherent...but the important thing I remember was that I wasn't upset or threatened in any way.

After I got home and had a nap, I started asking myself why I reacted the way I did to our conversation. He really wanted to shove me off the rock of my conclusions, and I just wasn't bothered. So why was that?

Ok, quick flashback...cue music...

When I was going through Catholic school, I learned quite a bit about faith and belief. One had to have faith to believe in the Church's teachings. Uh...ok...I never much liked that, because it seemed pretty passive to me, regardless of how it is for others.

In jr. high I started reading a lot of fantasy novels. I found lots of stories where the characters come face to face with their deity(ies), and even in one a Catholic priest asks that if he can no longer have faith, what does he have? The answer he got was, "knowledge".

Ahh...I liked that. Knowledge and experience (with things outside oneself) seemed to be a step up from faith and belief. I decided that's what I wanted...

...and end flashback.

How does one go about getting knowledge and experience? Well, I dunno about others, but what I did was claim that I had it. Oh, I was reading a great deal, about philosophy, pagan and otherwise. I was learning critical ways of thinking, different ways of seeing the world. There are layers to the way I see things now. Take the moon for example. As a kid I knew that the Moon could go where the Sun could not, that made her more magickal. As an adult, I have studied astronomy, and understand that the sun is many, many times larger than the moon and that we move around it. I haven't lost my view of the Moon as magickal, and science hasn't destroyed it. I just have a literal way of looking at it, and a metaphorical way of looking at it. The metaphor is still important to me because it helps me to deal with some of my own character flaws.

So I was studying and gaining knowledge, I just needed the experience to go with it. At this time I was participating in a study group that also did rituals during the esbats (the full and dark moons of each month). It was here that I started collecting experience. There are moments when things happened that aren't scientifically explainable...yet. I also had experiences outside of ritual that added to my catalog of moments that might make your hair stand on end.

While I was considering why the shuttle driver didn't make me feel threatened, I realized that all the knowledge and experience that I claimed simply because I wanted it was suddenly real. I added up my memories and felt a moment of arrival, for the lack of a better word. I had attained my spiritual goal and I was very content with it. This was the beginning of my epiphany.

Over the next few months, I kept re-examining how I felt about the conversation with the shuttle driver, and how I would react to other such conversations down the road. I thought that having knowledge and experience, instead of belief and faith, was the end of it. It was the evolutionary step I needed to take and that I was now done with that part of my spiritual growth. Little did I know that there was a step past that, and realizing what it was is what gave me the key to understanding my lack of reaction to a direct challenge to my belief system.

It has been my experience that one of the reasons people defend their faith so violently (sometimes literally), is that they don't want to be revealed as a fool or a fraud. If science came out tomorrow with proof beyond a shadow of a doubt that god (any god) doesn't exist, how crushing would that be for people? Whole lifetimes of hard choices made in the name of religion would be made worthless. To some anyway.

I asked myself how I would feel. My answer was a shrug. Seriously. I shrugged and knew it wouldn't crush me. That's a pretty strong response to a very fundamental question and it made look to try and see why.

This is when I discovered the step beyond knowledge and experience. It's choice. Conscious, self aware, fully engaged choice. Every day I wake up and choose the spiritual path I am on. And because I choose, I am not ironbound into anything. If part of my belief system no longer serves to help me be a better person, then it needs to evolve into something that does.

I joke now that I have spiritually and philosophically become like the Borg, if I find something that I like, "I will add your distinctiveness to my own". With this point of view, the possibilities for evolution are nigh limitless. I will never be in the position where I feel the need to defend my beliefs. I also never feel the need to tell anyone my beliefs so that they come to believe the same as I do. If someone asks me to explain my belief system, then I will, but my goal is to simply inform, not to convert. If there's something in what I say that works for you, great. If not, that's ok too.

It's almost impossible to convey here what a fundamental moment it was for me when I discovered the power of choice. The reason why the shuttle driver couldn't shove me off the rock of my belief is because there wasn't one. My beliefs are water, or the wind, they shift and move and I move with them.

With the power of choice comes the strength of evolution. With evolution comes a sense of security that nothing, not even myself, can shake.

I think I'll leave it at that today. There's some pretty nebulous ideas in this post, and I'm sure I'll have to do a "4a" at some point to answer questions. ^^; Thank you for wading through this post, I appreciate everyone who reads my words, whether or not they find value in them. Next time I'll lay out the particulars of my belief system as it stands now, and hopefully that'll complete the story I set out to write all those months ago.

Till next time, be well,

Red

When I Speak of Myself 3a

2010-08-10T14:39:00.000-07:00

It seems lately that I always start with an apology for taking so long. You'd think I'd learn from this and, well, post more often. Ah well, we'll see how it goes.

And to be fair, my life has been more than interesting of late, what with car troubles, illness, temporary census jobs...so much so that when I sit at my puter at night, the last thing I want to do is try and be informative on my blog. You guys deserve, at the very least, coherent sentences. ;)

So I had quite the conversation happen after my last post (I have some awesome friends). A few questions were asked, and I thought I'd put them together here instead of trying to put them in the comments.

Diedre said:

"Maybe I'm overstepping here, but I couldn't quite grasp what you feel about this statement you have made about deity being beyond our experience. Do you feel comfort in this knowledge, or insignificance, or freedom, or simply satisfaction in being able to articulate the way you understand deity? Or something else? Anyway, I'm just curious how this makes you feel. Or perhaps the answer would contain spoilers for your next post..."

You're not overstepping at all, and it's a very good question. So good in fact that I had to seriously ask myself and try to hammer an answer together. Let's see if I can get it...

There's a part of me that reacts to it like I would a star going nova, or the Yellowstone Supervolcano, a detached awe. I cannot effect this in any way, so it is relegated to knowledge in the back of my head. When I do bring it forward to think about, it's scary, beautiful and humbling.

There's another part that reacts to it with hope. The human experience *now* isn't the same as it was 1000 years ago, and won't be the same as the one 1000 years from now. I have had experiences where I've touched something other, something greater than myself, and while I don't know what exactly it is, I like to think that it's some little facet of deity. As we look farther out and deeper within, we learn more about what's possible and we become capable of *more*. Hopefully a time will come when humanity grows past its infancy and becomes able to communicate more directly with whatever it is that's out there.

Then there's the sense of security. I have found a definition that fits me. I like it, it makes sense to me. This is a very basic and selfish part, as it's completely about what makes me feel best about my life and the events that have happened in it. It's also fluid and evolving, so I don't feel the need to defend my view when challenged.

And last, but not least, is an overwhelming sense of awe (not the same as the detached awe above) that I have touched or been touched by something so vast it defies comprehension. I feel that deity wants us to grow, learn, change...become the very best we are capable of, and will help us if we but become perceptive enough to notice. It is this connection that helps me put my feet on the floor on the bad days, and makes the good days all the brighter.

I hope that helps explain things...it did for me! ^^

Diedre then said:

"I googled "petrified religion" and didn't come up with any good explanations. I could wager a guess, but could you explain what you mean by this?"

A petrified religion is one that does not change with the society. A simple example of this is when the "Great Mother Goddess" became an agricultural deity after farming was invented. The religion and the deity(ies) involved changed as not only the culture, but as science did.

The Abrahamic faiths have been tied to their respective books for thousands of years, and each change that happens is often seen as a massive dogmatic shift that results in a sect breaking off to remain with the "good old days".

The books still say things like, "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live," (gee, thanks...), "Man shalt not lie with man as with a woman," there's all sorts of "shalt not's" that frankly have no place in this modern world. We shouldn't even be having the conversation about gay marriage, but because the book says, we are. There are people who believe that dinosaur bones were placed by Satan to trick us into believing the world is older than the Bible says it is. Really?

Not being able to reconcile what's in front of our faces with our spiritual systems of belief just leads to a lot of unhappy people.

Mr. One Eyebrow Priest says:

"And finally the resurrection completely ruined it for me. I think I may have asked my sunday school teacher about it. I don't remember the answer if there was one. I asked "If Jesus is God, then he can't really die, can he?" I remember at some point being told how wonderful it was that God was willing to experience death for us. But that didn't make any sense to me either. If you give your life to save mine, you do it for keeps. God wasn't playing for keeps, he got to take back any marbles he lost and go home. What is the meaning of sacrifice if nothing is lost?"

I really just wanted to comment that most of Christianity shares echoes with religions of the past. There are dozens of "So In So's descent into the Underworld" stories from different cultures around the world. There are also a ton of sacrificed son/sun deity stories too. Most often the Son was the symbol of the eternal changing of the seasons, birth in spring, youth in summer, maturity in fall and death in winter to return again in the spring. My problem with the Jesus incarnation of the story is that it became a linear, one time event, instead of remaining cyclical.

(Please don't mistake my dissatisfaction with the Christ story with my feelings for Christ as a person, real or otherwise. As a teacher, he had some truly wise and amazing things to teach, and if more people truly strived to be Christ-like, meaning that they love one another as he loved us (as a god is capable of love), then the world would by necessity be a better place.)

Descent into the underworld stories always bring something to the deity that takes the journey. One of the most famous stories is that of Inanna from Sumer. She learned the "darker" side of her powers, which was probably a metaphor for the necessity of death to continue the life cycle of life/death/rebirth. Odin hung on the World Tree for nine days and returned with the runes of power for his people.

Jesus earned the ability for humans to go to heaven through his descent, reversing his Father's decision at the garden of Eden. The issues I have with this story stem from how petty and jealous Jehovah seems. He got mad when the first people gained the knowledge of good and evil (essentially becoming like him, which was three hims to many), and condemned the species to eternal damnation. Later, after drowning the world, smiting a bunch of people, pillars of salt, death of the first born, etc, etc, he decides that he'd rather give people the chance at salvation. So instead of just changing his mind, he goes through the complex process of making a part of himself human, then has himself killed.

Now humanity has the opportunity to go to heaven, but not only do we have to be good, but we also have to make sure we keep god appeased. In other stories about the underworld, a person simply had to live a good life, their relationship with their deity(ies) was separate. You did the dance, killed the chicken, lit the candles, yadda, yadda, yadda, you were good with them. In Christianity, even the "virtuous unbelievers" go to hell. I do not like that.

Well, that went on way longer than I expected, but it was fun, and I hope you enjoy reading it. I also promise to try to get to the rest of the stuff I promised a while ago (heh) sooner rather than later. And as always, thank you for reading, I appreciate it.

Till next time, be well,

Red

When I Speak of Myself 3

2010-06-21T14:32:00.000-07:00

I think it is somehow fitting that I tell this part of the story on the Summer Solstice...the longest day of the year. We are drenched in light and heat (well, out here in the desert we are) and there aren't many shadows. Thank you all for stopping by.

You guys remember where we left off, right? So, I was Pagan (or was I?), I had a new understanding of ethics with which to view the world and my movement through it, and even if I didn't completely like my life, things were better and that was ok.

This next part will probably make more sense if I explain a couple more things from my childhood...cue the flashback music...

Somewhere in a history or religion class, I was taught that there was a natural evolution of religion. The primitive people of the past were polytheistic, meaning they had lots of gods, but the modern, enlightened people were monotheistic, and had only one god. In my young brain (the same one that thought the Moon was more powerful than the Sun, because She could go where He could not...) didn't like this concept. For one thing, thinking that one being could take care of *everything*, every single little thing...just didn't make sense. Heck, even at home there were things my Mother did, and other things my Father did. I also didn't care for the feeling that we were supposed to look down our noses at those poor, poor people who still thought there were multiple gods.

No matter how many times I ran across this concept during my school years, I never liked it. It wasn't like going from stone to metal...a natural technological change. Why couldn't people have more than one god? Specially since the other gods I was learning about seemed way cooler than the robed, bearded duder who seemed so far away.

((Just a side note here...it's not my intention to insult those who have a relationship with Jehova, or Yahweh...this is simply how I felt about Him at the time.))

...and end flashback...

Alrighty, so it was somewhere around this time that I learned about Deism. From the Wikipedia page it says, "Deism can be a belief in a deity absent of any doctrinal governance or precise definition of the nature of such a deity." I realize that this only one facet to Deism, but this is the one that I gravitated to and it ended up forming the core of my eventual belief system. It made sense to me that if there was a intelligence or intelligences out there that were capable of envisioning the entirety of the universe as we know it (and perhaps all the rest we haven't discovered too...), then it would be something so beyond our experience as a human being that we couldn't possibly be able to connect to it.

Enter Joseph Campbell. Through studying at home, and seeing his lectures in a couple anthropology classes, Joe has become one of the most influential people I have ever studied, right up there with ol' Aristotle.

From Joe I learned what a religion is, and what a system of belief needs to do in order to be considered a religion. I learned what a metaphor is, separate from the literary device, and how it applies to a belief system. It was the first time I'd heard the phrase, "petrified religion", and it changed the way I looked at the Abrahamic faiths.

He said that believing the words of a book to be the absolute word of any deity was like going to a restaurant and eating the menu, instead of using it as a metaphor for the food you could order.

Woah...wait, let's see if I have this straight...

Ok, so on one hand, I have the idea that the nature of deity is undefinable. And on the other, I have the idea that metaphor is the language with which we communicate to deity.

Which deity? I dunno, it seems that it doesn't really matter...since the intelligence that created the universe is so much more vast than my human understanding.

What metaphors? Well, it also seems that there are so many out there, and most of them have some really good points, so it seems like it doesn't quite matter.

Now hold on a minute here, this is sounding like you're saying that because the nature of deity is unnamed and unknown, the metaphors that we use to communicate with it can be our choice?

Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying.

Oh...woah...really?

Yup.

And that's exactly what I did.

With that, I think I'm going to stop here today. I have a feeling that I raised more questions than I answered, and I really want to be able to go into my epiphany that I have been promising for like a month now, without feeling like you guys are gunna get to the point where it's all "tl:dr".

So I wish each of you a blessed Solstice, and as always, thank you for reading.

Till next time, be well,

Red

When I Speak of Myself 2

2010-06-03T12:21:00.000-07:00

Well hello there! I'm finally getting to the next part of my story, and I'm glad you're here.

So to recap a little, we've covered my religious upbringing, the death of my Mother and how that shaped my ideas of the afterlife, and my transition into Paganism. Now today, I'm going to talk a little bit about magick, ethics and that promised epiphany that took a year. You guys all buckled in? Alrighty then, let's get to it!

I think it's important to note that three years or so before my Mother died I started studying magick. Ardriana was studying (she said it was research for a book...*snickergiggles*...a book...*ahem* that's her story tell anyway...) ...and she was bringing it home to us. The reason this is important is because from the very beginning, magick was the practice of the manipulation of energy to a desired result, and had nothing to do with religion. So yes, in this system, you could be a "good Christian/Muslim/Buddhist/Athiest" and practice magick.

Even today the "work" of magick, while tied into my spirituality and belief system, can easily be separated from it completely. Though to be fair, the step from magick to Paganism isn't very far, and it was a contributing factor in my transformation...specially since magick is generally frowned upon in the Catholic Church. (Hi Red...understatement much?)

So then, I was Pagan...now what? My life pretty much still sucked, but I felt better about it, I guess. Or perhaps I had better tools with which to survive it. In any case, once I'd graduated High School, I was given the option of college or a job. I took college. And promptly withdrew from most of my classes and generally did nothing. This went on for a couple three years until one day I decided to stop wasting my Dad's money. I stopped signing up for morning classes, because I just slept through them. I stopped taking five at a time, because I am generally lazy and wouldn't focus on the ones I didn't like. In short, I tricked myself into actually getting an education in college, and found the class that changed my life.

Since I was picking my classes by time frame, I took whatever professors came up that fit my criteria...class didn't start before 11AM. I was *very* lucky, and met several professors that challenged me in ways that still inform my life. But I think that it was my Philosophy prof that had the most profound impact...

It was an Introduction into Ethics class, using a brand new translation of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics as the text book. Good gods...I finally understood the phrase, "blew my mind wide open", I could literally feel my consciousness expanding, my internals shifting and my view of the world around me changing.

I understood for the first time what being a good person meant and entailed. I was given a step by step process that I could internalize and begin using as a metric for my daily life. Good and bad had real world definitions, and were no longer divinely inspired abstracts that I just simply had to accept. I learned that circumstance changed the amount of blame or praise you lay on someone for their actions. I understood responsibility, accountability and what it meant to be a person living in a civilization with laws.

And even as I stared uphill at the path that lay before me. A path with no handrails, no safety net, and no divinely inspired forgiveness should I mess up, I knew I'd go anyway. I couldn't not. The rewards, freedom, responsibility (how is that a reward?) and understanding far outweighed the work and other costs that this system of behavior came with.

That class was an oasis for three hours, twice a week, and I gulped down the concepts like a starving man gulps down food. I was fundamentally changed by the class...and then Aristotle said that the gods had no place in a system of ethics...

A bolt of lightning speared me through the head. I know that sounds overly dramatic, but that's what it felt like. My whole view of the world and how to move through it *shifted*. I was a different person after I read that line, and the world was never the same. If the responsibility ethical behavior lay with me because I wanted to live within the society I found myself in, and I did good because it was simply the right thing to do, and not because of some hope of reward or fear of punishment...then why did I need religion at all?

I didn't.

Oh, but that opened a can of worms didn't it? And I think this is where I'm going to leave this post for now. I suppose I was overly ambitious when I thought I could tell this story in only two chunks. I really should know better...I am Irish after all.

Thank you for continuing to read, and I promise to try to have the next installment sooner rather than later.

Till next time, be well,

Red

Adventures in Jewelry Wearing

2010-05-27T11:54:00.001-07:00

Ok, first...having a day job is the sux. I did not miss it at all. Those of you working lame day jobs, you have my sympathy and admiration. ./salute

Second, I blame the above mentioned day job for my lack of updates! I've been so tired in the evenings when I get done, I just haven't had the brains for much of anything but messing around on the intarwebs. However, I'm gunna try to get back into some sort of schedule here soon.

And now...on with the show!

Adventures in jewelry wearing? Yeah, that's right...something very funny happened last First Friday, and it needed to be set down to share.

So, the beautiful and insanely talented Teresa Maharaj-Williams, (and this site just has her graphite work...she's been working in oils and they're pretty amazing so far!), was wearing one of my new Chain style Desire bracelets...

Pretty huh? ^^

...and all night she was being followed around by men who appeared *totally* interested in her art work (as they should be!), but would rapidly lose interest after she would say something about her husband and kids. It was pretty comical. One elderly gentleman followed her across the street into another gallery, then came back to Damned Ink Studios with her! I watched them talk about art, and his place in Florida for about 20 mins. Then she mentioned she was married...he handed her his card and left. Just like that.

Now, First Friday is always super busy in DiS, always lots of bodies in the gallery. I stay at the back desk at the register, leaving other people free to wander the room, pimp the art and talk. So I don't alway see what's going on by the door, which is where Teresa spent most of the night, near her work.

About 9:30 or so, she comes charging up to me saying, "Take this thing off. Take it off!" She's agitated, though it looks like she wants to laugh too. "It's working to well!" she says, "I just had a guy show me his nipple!"

Wait...what?

After I was done laughing...apparently she was talking to a somewhat inebriated gentleman, and he was complimenting her on her ability to paint certain parts of the human anatomy (read: he liked how she pained nipples), and was offering her a model for her next work. This was the last in a line of about 6 or 8 guys who had seriously hit on her during the night...

So she puts her bracelet in her pocket, and I can see that she's still agitated, so I start looking through my box of supplies to see if I can't find a Water (Desire being a fire piece...) piece for her to borrow to help calm down. Luckily I had one, and she was able to keep it on, even though it was to big for her...she did immediately settled down, and didn't have any more trouble with strange guys the rest of the night.

My favorite part was when her husband stopped by, and we told him the story of the nipple flasher...his face...so priceless...she was so red! I wish I had had a camera!

In any case, Teresa is gorgeous, and it's not uncommon for her to be hit on by guys, specially on a First Friday, but that night was different. She was flustered because the guys were trying much harder than they usual. She's also usually somewhat oblivious to the attention, but that night she noticed! (Like, how could you miss the nipple thing...right?)

Hmm...the event's funnier in my memory than I've managed convey here, though still, it's worth noting that while she wore the Desire bracelet, she kept getting attention for things other than her art. Once she put the Water piece on, it stopped.

Interesting, no?

Anyroad, I'm going to try and get the next part of my personal story done this weekend, so if you made it this far through the post, thank you, and I hope you return to read my other ramblings.

Till next time, be well,

Red

When I Speak of Myself part 1

2010-04-27T14:05:00.000-07:00

Oh, you thought I'd forgotten about this huh? Suckers...

I think it's about time to get a little more personal in this whole conversation, to give people an greater understanding on where I get some of my ideas from.

Let's start with the basics...I was raised Irish Catholic. The cultural modifier is important, because for as pagan as Roman Catholicism appears, it ain't got nothin' on the Irish. Mima got to actually visit Ireland when she was younger, and while on a train ride she asked another woman if she believed in the "Little People". The woman responded, "Tsk, I'm a modern woman I am! Of course I don't believe in the Little People...but they're there just the same."

This pretty much exemplifies the Irish, at least as far as I was raised. I went to Catholic school, and was given all the liturgy and dogma, I learned the "stand up, sit down, fight, fight, fight" pattern to the mass, sang the songs, did the dance...blah, blah, blah...and at home, when I asked my parents if animals went to heaven, because teacher said they didn't, I was told, "Of course they do."

I was also taught to make a wish on the New Moon over my left shoulder, to throw spilled salt over my shoulder, and that my Godmother and Mima could do magick.

I loved Yahweh, as my child's mind separated him from Jehova (who was kinda a douche, with all the plagues and smiting...), and loved Jesus cuz he seemed a really cool guy. But then there was the Blessed Mother...(you can prolly see where this is goin'... ;) )

Then I was told that I couldn't be an alter girl, like my worshiped older brother. That was pretty much the beginning of the end. I got the High School and read the Epic of Gilgamesh (in my freshman religion class...no, I'm not sure how that works either, but that teacher only lasted a year...), and generally realized that I didn't much like the god of the bible. I was reading a lot of mythology and fantasy and was *really* liking this whole "goddess" idea.

And then my Mother died.

I say without exaggeration that this single event has more impact on my life than any other. The ramifications continue to inform my decisions and probably will for the rest of my days.

While I was struggling with the anger and grief of not only the event, but with how my family shattered because of it, I discovered that I did not like the idea of my Mother in some distant heaven, so far removed and untouchable to me. And I sure wasn't even going to imagine that there was *any* remote possibility of a hell. F' that.

It was right around that time I discovered some books on Celtic mythology and learned about Tir nAn Og, or the Summerlands, the Land of Youth. Souls would rest and review their lives, learning their lessons and awaiting their beloveds so they could be born again together. Something in me wanted this so badly that I simply couldn't conceive of anything else.

Being a teen, I was pretty angry. Being a teen that had lost a Mother, had a crazy Father and Sister...I was raging. It bothered me that I was so angry all the time, so when my school gave us an opportunity to go to confession, I went, hoping that the priest could give me some idea of how to deal with myself. Looking back, I can say that I feel sorry for the priest...he simply didn't know what to do with me. I hadn't sinned, and he wasn't a psychologist. I don't blame him for the lack of solace I received from confession.

Walking back to class I went through a grassy patch. It had been watered and the cool sprinkles tickled my ankles...and I felt better. I don't know how to explain it other than all the anger I carried at that moment wooshed out of me through my feet and into the ground. the back to back events and how reacted to them remain a turning point in the development of my spirituality.

Later that year I dedicated myself to the Goddess under a Full Moon. I was 15 and wanted something other than what I had been taught in church growing up. I wanted a place where woman were not only not discriminated against, but were held in high esteem. I wanted magick to not only be possible, but expected every day. I wanted the ground beneath my feet to be sacred and not something to just be dominated. I wanted animals to have souls, and babies not to have to worry about "original sin" (I poked a badger with a spoon!). I wanted joy and love and laughter again. These I all received, like gifts, along with all the cool toys! (I got rocks and candles, beautiful smelling oils and incense, a rockin' awesome dagger for my athame, cloaks and robes, goblets and eventually a teeny, tiny baby cauldron...and then the metric ton of beautiful jewelry.)

I also, finally, got the sense that there was something else out there. Something that loved me, looked out for me, and wanted me to be bigger than I was, as big as I could be. It connected me to the earth beneath my feet and the vast universe above. Connected me to every living thing on the planet. It was a very good start.

When I was 18, I went to my Baccalaureate Mass (the last Mass you go to before graduating High School and become an adult) conscious of the fact that I was no longer Christian. It was my formal good bye.

It's been 20 years now since that night under the Full Moon and I am more comfortable now within my spirit than I was so long ago. Everything that I looked for I am still finding, and I choose consciously, everyday, to continue down the moonlit path. I can only hope that everyone finds this same sense of peace and joy in their spirit...it is a wonder indeed.

Well, I think I've rambled about myself for long enough. Next time I'll talk about the evolution of my ethics, and how they tie into my spirituality, and the epiphany I had over the course of a year. And *then* I think I'll go back and respond to my good friend's response to my response to her response of my post which was a response to her response of my post...woah...dizzy...

Thank you for reading, I am honored.

Till next time...Goddess bless,

Red ;)

Stonewise: Amber

2010-04-14T14:27:00.000-07:00

This is the original banner created for my first Myspace page. All of those pieces are mine, the photo was taken by Ardriana.

It's still April, which is my month (yes, all of it...), so for today's Stonewise, I want to look at the stone that intellectually is my favorite. I love it beyond reason, though it is not the same as with Rose Quartz. >.>

First we'll take a look at what Ardriana has to say:

Amber is fossilized tree sap. Colors are lemon yellow, honey gold, cognac, black, off white, green and blue (brzzt! Blue Amber?!? Why haven't I see this before?!?).

One quick Google search later and we have, Dominican Blue Amber, which is best seen against a black background (this is the same for Green Amber...without the background, light filters through the stone and you only see hints of the color inside).

Pretty cool, huh?

This stuff is rare, expensive and beautiful...should I ever be able to afford a real piece of this stuff...*le sigh* ^^

Anyroad...as I was saying...

The oldest deposit discovered to date was found in 260 million year old Permian limestone in Russia's Ural Mountains near the Chekarda River. Triassic Amber from the Mesozoic Era tends to have a dark red hue and ranges from 240 to 208 million years old. Tertiary Amber comes form the Cenozoic Era and is much younger at 66-1.6 million years old (younger...LOL!) In the U.S. Mesozoic Amber can be found along the eastern coast. More than 1000 extinct species of insects have been identified in amber.

History: Amber took on great value and significance to, among others, the Assyrians, Egyptians, Etruscans, Phoenicians and the Greeks. Amber resin contains aromatic chemicals called terpenes which make them volatile, or flammable. Burning Amber as incense has been done for thousands of years.

Folklore: Stone Age man imbued Amber with supernatural properties and used it to wear and to worship. One myth surrounding the origin of Amber is givin to use by Ovid. when Phaeton, a son of Phoebus (the Sun) convinced his father to allow him to drive the chariot of the sun across the sky for a day, he drove to close to the earth, setting it on fire. To save the earth, Jupiter struck him out of the sky with his thunderbolt and he died. His mother and sister turned into poplar trees in their grief but it did not end their mourning him. Their tears, dried by the sun, turned to Amber.

Another ancient writer, Nicias, said that Amber was from the setting sun congealed in the Baltic Sea and cast up on the shore where, "the sun takes a bath in the sea". In Eastern Europe, it is said that honey from the mountains of Ajan was melted by the sun and solidified into Amber by the sea. The Chinese think that Amber is the petrification of the soul of the dead Tiger, and so think that it gives strength and courage. Sacred to the Goddess Freya, who possessed the magic Amber necklace "Brisingamen". Emblem of the earth goddess. It is one of the two organic fossil stones (the other being Jet) used in a Wiccan High Priestess' necklace of rank.

Magick: The nature of Amber is tree bearing, organic, sun ruled, intellectual, liquid, flammable and attractive. Despite its yellow color and although influenced by its Solar affinities, Amber is an earth stone, a gift from ancient trees. (Pagan author Scott Cunningham says it's a fire stone due to its flammable quality and because it is yellow it is often called an air stone.)

Use this "Tiger blood" stone for courage and strength. Or choose the "Sun blessed" aspect of these honey stones to enhance beauty. When placed on the altar, it increases the effectiveness of your spells. because of its "electrostatic" attributes, use to increase attractiveness, both physically and intellectually. "The blood of the sun" aspect imbues the stone as both a good fortune and protective amulet. With Amber's ancient organic perspective, perhaps it can warm a cool heart and help one find joy and humor in life.

Woah...that's a lot of stuff...

How I use it in my jewelry...right now I use it mostly in my Sunset Anklet, which is three colors of Amber and two colors of Tiger's Eye. I do have plans to make a Sun design to compliment the Moon one I already have, mebbe in the next week or so, since I think I finally have the stones I want to use...

It's strange how I love Amber for it's organic metamorphosis (I love Petrified Wood for the same reason), but I have totally internalized the Sun qualities of the stone. In fact, I mostly don't care for Amber set in silver, as it is the lunar metal, and prefer it to be set in gold (one of the few times where my taste in jewelry gets expensive >.>). Liquid drops of the sun, crystallized fire...strength, beauty, the magick of transformation, these are the attributes I see the most when I think about Amber.

I love how light it is, and how it has a "plastic-y" feel to it, so unique in the stone world. I love that it is smooth, though always just a little bit tacky, like it's solidified honey, and with enough warmth it'll flow between your hands. When I discovered cognac Amber, I just about died, I thought the deep red wine color was so beautiful. It's still my favorite, though I have come to love all Amber to some degree or another. I love that green (and blue apparently) Amber has a magic trick to it to see the real colors (this is why you'll find green Amber with a coating of black on the backs of cabochons).

Despite how light it is, you can feel the weight of the years and history behind Amber, it's set apart from other semi-precious stones because of it. All of these things add up to make Amber one of my favorite stones of all time. In the first pic in this piece, there's a large nugget in the center. I got that at the New Pioneer, in West Yellowstone, MT, and after Richard let me take it out of the display case, I held it in my left hand, against my waist, while I looked at other stuff in the store. Even when I was going through the big tumbled stone bin, I did it one handed because I couldn't let go of the Amber. I growled at people who wanted to see it (jokingly...yeah... >.>) and didn't let it out of my sight till I had a receipt that said it was mine.

I do have to confess that I am still a bit snobby about Amber, and prefer the more clear pieces. I'm actually not a huge fan of the milky pieces, and I would rather not have a ton of the "sun spangles". The clarity of the color is what draws me to it.

Well, thank you for wading all the way through this long post. Amber isn't a stone you can just say a few words about, and I probably haven't even done it justice. But hopefully you still understand a little more about why I do what I do.

Till next time, be well,

Red

When I Speak of Religion 2

2010-04-12T15:10:00.000-07:00

I have not forgotten the conversation that started with last month's "If Your Religion..." post, I've just let it percolate a bit more before responding...yeah, that's it. (That's my story and I'm sticking to it.)

After the last installment, my friend responded,

The way you speak about religion/spirituality often seems to boil down to those last four words: "always meet your needs." This is the part that I can't quite get past. My whole faith revolves around God, not around me (or at least this is what I strive for). Of course I believe that God loves me more than any human ever could, and that God wants absolutely the best for me, and that God will take care of me and my needs. So my needs do end up being met by my religion/spirituality. But that's just not my starting point, nor is it my bottom line, nor is it the centre of what I believe. My faith is a response to something outside of myself, and to me it seems sad and small to imagine a spirituality that revolves around an individual human.

...

To the extent that I agree with your "if your religion" posts, it is always because I agree that what you're saying is also what God wants for us. I do disagree with the starting point/bottom line/core belief I am perceiving in your posts that a person's religion must serve their needs. I am theocentric in my beliefs, not anthropocentric. Our ends are often the same, but our means seem to be different, and I believe that the means do matter.

I can absolutely see the issue with the way I've been explaining things. She a good, kind, generous person, who I am lucky to count as a friend, and as such, is actually about the last person I would be talking to in these matters. She absolutely exemplify what I'm talking about when I say that a person's belief system should help them to be "happy and good". If we had about a billion more like her, the world would instantly and irrevocably be a better place.

Everything works out great if one believes that God's plan for them holds nothing more than kindness, generosity, love and joy. But what about those people who believe that God's plan for them is blowing up a train full of people? Or that they are compelled to stick their infant son full of needles? Or to shun someone because of the color of their skin, or because of who they love? What about the plans of a god who is jealous, vengeful, hateful, murderous and cruel?

When one lets an outside force tell them how to behave or think or live, they are at the mercy of that outside force. They could get lucky and have a completely benevolent model, or not. If instead we were to insist on being conscious of our behavior, active instead of passive. Insist on behavior that does the least harm possible and then model our spirituality to alleviate our fears and sorrows from there, the responsibility would then be in our hands and not at the whim of something/one else.

The concept of truth comes up a lot when talking about religion. Seems that one cannot talk about belief in a religion without linking it back to the truth. But if everyone's got it, how can we ever be certain who has the really real truth?

Set aside the desire for the truth for a moment, and consider the possibility of religion for spirit's sake, for wisdom's sake. Let them worship cross-eyed frogs (thanks Mima), and believe in the endless lily pad for an afterlife. Consider religion for no other purpose than to help someone live as good and happy a life as they can be. Understand that generosity, ethical behavior, participation, consideration, and awareness among other virtues, are all absolutely essential. Now, why does it matter that they don't believe the same as someone else, and are unconcerned with the truth?

When a system is set up to include concepts like true/false and right/wrong conflict is automatically included when dealing with those outside of the system. This to me is a fundamental flaw within most religions, and further proof that religion is politics and not spirituality. The means have become more important than the end, and very often the end that was supposed to be there just vanishes altogether.

With the equation, "Mine is right, yours is wrong," aggression is very often the response, because of the fear of being revealed a fraud or a fool. Any sort of resolution ends with someone losing and someone winning. This is counter productive. If instead it was, "Mine is mine, yours is yours," where's the aggression? There's no fear, but instead a connection to the end, rather than the means.

I hope this clarifies things. :)

Till next time, be well,

Red

Stonewise: Rose Quartz

2010-04-09T17:19:00.000-07:00

First I have to say that I know I owe you guys quite a bit of writing. It's been sitting in the back of my head and I just need to take the time to get it down...I will, I promise.

So, on with the show...it's my birthday today! Which is why I'm doing this special Stonewise now. And no, it's not my birthstone, which is diamond, but rather the stone I have the deepest fascination with...Rose Quartz.

And now a word from our spons...er ...Ardriana!

The pink form of Quartz is created by iron or titanium impurities. Usually massive, uncut crystals are rare. The rare transparent Rose Quartz from Madagascar is called Rosaline. Star Rose Quartz is also uncommon. Presently the world's highest quality Rose Quartz is coming out of Madagascar (further proof that all things awesome come from Madagascar. Say it with me...Madagascar!).

Folklore: Traditionally, babies have been given Rose Quartz to help them during their transformation from the spirit world to their physical world. The gentle pink glow produces a nurturing, calming and gentling effect, which helps them adjust to their new environment.

History: Beads of Rose Quartz have been found in Mesopotamia that date back to 7000 BCE. Rose Quartz was used by the Assyrians as early as 800-600 BCE. In later times it was extremely popular with the Romans for making seals. These seals were used in clay or various dyes to show ownership or to identify authors.

Magick: One can't describe the attributes of this stone without using the adjective "gentle". Rose Quartz is the definitive stone for love and intimacy in all relationships. This stone is used to open one's heart and enhance generosity. It is love attracting and love enhancing. It promotes peace, happiness and fidelity in established relationships. It is *the* friendship stone. It soothes worry and anxiety with its gentling qualities. Heals emotional wounds. Comforts and heals the child within.

So why did I choose to write about Rose Quartz today? Because it is the stone I am most deeply fascinated by. I could own one meeelion pieces and still want the one that's over there. I have a large sphere with a natural star in it (very rare!) and every time I buy tumbled stones, one or two chunks find their way into my bag or tray.

But it's PINK! Argh! Why?? It's almost embarrassing how Rose Quartz sings to me, I can't help myself. I don't even *like* pink! I'm a redhead, I don't wear it, I *am* it! It's just...ooh, look at the subtle amber rose of this one...or how frosty this one is...see this inclusion here, it looks like a river...look at it under the light and you can see... *sigh*

It used to frustrate me that the stone I was most attracted to was so...sissy. There's others I love with more consciousness, like Rainbow Obsidian, Amber, Brecciated Jasper, Petrified Wood, I have reasons that I love them, and can tell them to you. Rose Quartz? You got me...

But then again, maybe it's not such a mystery. All of my life I have been told that I was a good friend. A best friend. A sister unlooked for. Generous to a fault. Trusting, loving, giving...kind and sweet, a living embodiment of the qualities of Rose Quartz.

When debating whether Rose Quartz is a Fire or a Water stone, Ardriana says:

The first level of Fire's passion is carnal, it's all blind head and thoughtless impulse. But that kind of passion burns hot and fizzles fast. That fleeting passion doesn't even come close to the white hot intensity of real love. A person may weep to hear that a good sex partner is no longer available, but the same person will jump in front of a train to save someone the love. The fire that will not die - that's passion! And that is how I love. That is why, Friendship, which is the core and true basis of all love, is my greatest passion.

I'd try to say this in my own words...but it's just a futile effort, hers are always better.

But it's true, the fierceness I feel about the people I love doesn't diminish with time or distance or silence. It remains the same today as it was yesterday, a month ago, a year, ten years...it'll be the same tomorrow. I don't know how to not to.

In my jewelry, I have a friendship piece. It's subtle, eloquent, just Rose Quartz with Crystal or Smokey Quartz for accent.

Wear to attract friends or give to someone you already love.

I also use it in my Desire design. The Rose Quartz offers something more than that fiery burst of passion that dissipates. No other stone I know has such a definite use magickally. There's really no argument, no other interpretation, only shades of the same intention.

I love this stone irrationally. I have *way* more pieces than any one person could ever want or need, and I will end up buying more...it'll just happen whether I want to or not. It is the stone that defines me, represents me, embarrassing or not. ;)

Blessings to each and every one of you, may all your days be full of Love, Light and Laughter!

Breithlá Sona! (Happy Birthday!)

Bhen Rudha

When I Speak of Religion

2010-03-22T17:27:00.000-07:00

My friend responded to my latest, "If Your Religion..." post and I felt that it deserved more than just a response in the comments, as it's a very valid point. I have lived inside my growing awareness of spirituality for a while now and so there are concepts that I take for granted when talking about what I have learned. Anything that makes me better at getting my point across is very much appreciated.

This what she had to say...

"It is my firm belief that there are morons in every religion on the planet. That's just the way humanity is. Most religions are trying to help with this problem, but the fact is that little can be done to help someone who doesn't feel like being helped. Many people think they're part of a religion just because their parents told them so, and it's just a cultural thing, and they have a shallow understanding of their own supposed theology.

Anyway, that's just my long-winded way of saying that I'm a little worn out on the cliche of rejecting a religion based on its followers. I don't think there's a single faith system out there that hasn't had someone leave because they were disappointed in the actions of that faith's adherents. Sometimes people are just morons, and you can't blame God or the Buddha or Athena or whoever for it."

I agree with everything she said, 100%, and it got me thinking that I missed something when I was talking about religion...

The word religion is used interchangeably with spirituality or belief system, I've been guilty of this myself, and for the most part, it's not really wrong. It is the meaning of other words that gets lost when the difference between religion and spirituality isn't explored and understood.

Spirituality is the connection to things outside of the purely physical, the connection to deity, to that spark that makes us uniquely individual, the energy that animates us while living and is glaringly absent after death. It is created by the individual, for the individual.

Religion is the politics of prayer, of worship, it is the politics of connection with deity. It is created by people for the consumption of others. The motives of those who create religion are sometimes altruistic, sometimes they are just controlling. People are flawed, and so are religions. When I complain about a religion, I'm not pointing my finger at "God or the Buddha or Athena...", but at the people who do things in their names.

The God of the New Testament is supposed to be the great good father of all things. He is supposed to be all love, all joy, all grace...and yet people have committed amazing atrocities in His name. Do I blame God? No, I blame the people who were capable of the actions, or who set up the system that allowed the actions. I blame the religion who got Him wrong.

Paganism connects to the ancient cycles of life, death and rebirth, drawing divinity out of the golden lined clouds and settling it firmly within. And yet, there are people who have simply swapped the names and genders of their gods, changed the words of their pleas, but have fundamentally changed nothing, and are still as frustrated as before. Do I blame any of the multitude of pantheons Pagans recognize? No, I point my finger at the religion, or lack thereof, that did not help explain these things.

So you love God, Jesus, Buddha, Athena, but part of what I have said somewhere along the way rings true for you, and your religion makes you afraid...what then?

Change it. Reject that which scares you, and revel in that which brings you joy. Be conscious of your religion, how it impacts your life and the lives of those around you. Try to do the least amount of harm possible. Participate in life, be conscious of the thousand joyous moments you will have and how they add up to a happy life. Let your religion evolve with you, so that it will always meet your needs.

Can it be just that simple? I think so. And yet, not, because I have to be more aware, more conscious, more active in how my decisions ripple away from me. It is admittedly harder somedays to follow my religion of one than to let slip my responsibility and relax under someone else's direction. But I choose, and will continue to do so, every day. That sort of freedom is sweet, and worth the work.

I hope this helps you to understand better the things I say, whether you agree with me or not.

Till next time, be well,

Red

Stonewise: Connemara Marble

2010-03-17T17:35:00.000-07:00

Today is Happy Irish Heritage Day (at least for me, for others it's St. Patrick's Day, though for most I'm thinking it's just Drink Bear Till you Pass Out Day...)

In any case, I thought I would talk a little bit about Connemara Marble, since it is one of the finest marbles in the world, and is uniquely Irish!

Ardriana doesn't have anything to say (yet) about Connemara, so I had to go do some digging of my own...

From eHow.com, "Why is Ireland called the Emerald Isle?"

"One of the oldest natural minerals in Ireland is also green. Connemara marble is thought to be about 600 million years old in geological terms. It is found in the Connemara Mountains in the west of Ireland, and was first mined during the 1800s. In addition to gracing buildings, Connemara marble is used to fashion jewelry, rosary beads, giftware and souvenirs."

Other tid bits I found along the way...

"It is said to bring serenity to those who keep it close."

"Connemara marble has also been a traditional gift of friendship between families."

I have a disk of Connemara, about 3" across, with a hole in the center that I used to wear in my hair, tied by a green ribbon or a length of rattail. My Mother gave it to me when I was 12 or 13, and it's always been one of my connections to Ireland, and my Irish Heritage. After my Mother died, it became a connection to her as well, as it was one of the last things she gave to me. (Funny thing...it was a free gift she'd gotten after ordering something from a catalog for me. She gave it to me "just cuz", and it's become one of my more special treasures.)

I wasn't able to find any real folklore or magickal lore about the marble, but it remains to this day one of the more prized marbles in the world, ranking up there with the sparkling white marble of Italy or Greece. It's one of the natural treasures of Ireland, and just more proof that there are indeed a thousand shade of green on the Emerald Isle (there really are! I seen 'em!).

I haven't used any in my jewelry, though I might now that I've found a place that sells beads (>:D)! To me this stone is all about family, ancestry, history and cultural identity. Yes...if you haven't guessed by now, I'm a teeny bit Irish...

Éireann go Brách,

Bhen Rudha

If Your Religion... Part 4

2010-03-15T18:48:00.000-07:00

In my search for a belief system that settled comfortably in my psyche, giving me ideas that I liked about the unknown, and helping me to be a better person, I took an ethics class at the community college. We studied singularly a new translation of the ethics book by Aristotle, and I found myself changed by it.

One of the things I liked best about what Aristotle had to say was that religion had no place in the realm of ethics. You gave your due to the gods, but endeavored to live your life by the laws of your civilization, and by an internal understanding of what was right and wrong.

Certainly, religion contains wisdom on how to develop that internal understanding of right and wrong, but it seems to me that simply setting down rules of behavior that come with either promises of rewards, or fear of punishment, without having any sort of understanding of "why", just doesn't work.

So, if your religion makes you ethically lazy...you're doing it wrong.

I know there are people out there of all faiths who work actively to be better people every day. To embody all that is good and beautiful in their religion to be as close to the ideal as possible. These are obviously not the people I'm talking about.

I'm sure most people have seen the bumper sticker, "I'm not perfect, I'm just forgiven," or some variation thereof. What exactly is it saying? I think that the spirit of it is saying something to the effect of, "I cannot be perfect, as even though I try to be so every day, I fail. But I am forgiven for my failing, and that gives me the comfort and strength to continue." I know that there are those who actually believe this.

Unfortunately I also think that the majority of the people who would put this sticker on their cars tend to act as if it saying, "I can be as big a jerk as I want, because all I have to do is ask forgiveness." When all bad deeds are forgiven, why take responsibility for them?

I'm sure everyone knows of at least one person who does whatever they want, without really caring about the consequences, but still claims to be a good Christian of some flavor or another. I never understood how this was possible and it is probably one of the reasons I'm not Christian anymore.

I think the world would be a different place if everyone considered, and cared, how their actions and words affect those around them.

The Wiccan Rede states, "An it harm none, do what thou wilt," or some variation thereof. At its core, I believe this means, "I have used all the tools and gifts at my disposal to see whether or not my actions will harm another. I am not omniscient, so if there are circumstances that I cannot foresee that would harm another, may my actions come to naught." And again, I believe there are those who hold to the rede in this manner.

However, I know there are those who use the rede as a disclaimer, tack it on the end of whatever spell they're doing to cover their bases. They do whatever they want, trusting that the rede will take care of them, still taking no responsibility for their actions. This isn't any better than believing that divinity will forgive their transgressions so it's ok to behave however they want.

I suppose the core of my argument here is responsibility. If your religion helps you to *not* take responsibility for your actions (The devil made me do it!), then it's just not working. Giving your will up to god, letting the universe interpret your wishes, figuring your life is wholly predetermined, so do whatever you want...these points of view are, in my opinion, entirely to passive, and are part of what is wrong with society today.

Everyone makes an impact on the world around them (rings in a pond anyone?), and if we were more aware of this, and endeavored to do as little harm as possible, how could the world not be a better place?

I give my due to the gods, but do not give up my will to them, or let them decide my behavior because I am hoping for a reward, or afraid of a punishment.

I choose a different way, and so should you, whatever it may be.

Till next time, be well,

Red

Stonewise: Topaz

2010-03-11T14:11:00.000-08:00

So I missed last week's Stonewise...

many apologies. In any case, here is this week's, a day late, but better than never, huh?

I wanted to do the first post about March's birthstone, but I don't actually have any Aquamarine, and I've already done a bit on Bloodstone. March's color is light blue...but I've already done one on Blue Lace Agate.

All hope seemed lost to find a stone that had any sort of relationship to March, and then I saw Topaz.

But what of November, Red? Ahh well, I'll deal with that when I get there.

So I'll start, as always, with what Ardriana has to say about the stone:

A precious gem occurring in tawny yellow, blue, green, reddish violet, pink and colorless varieties. Found in Brazil, Siberia, Sri Lanka, and the United States. This classic stone is sometimes confused with the less valuable Citrine. Topaz is the hardest silicate mineral and one of the hardest minerals in nature. Topaz crystals can reach incredible size, sometimes growing to several hundred pounds.

Most blue Topaz is lab treated with irradiation. Multi-colored Topaz, like Mystic Fire, or Sunrise Topaz is also lab enhanced. In the case of Mystic Fire, a fine coating of metal atoms is spread on the surface before irradiating it.

Folklore: Topaz was thought to be able to prevent sudden death, cure madness and improve vision. The Egyptians said that Topaz was colored with the golden glow of the mighty sun god Ra. This made Topaz a very powerful amulet that protected the faithful against harm. The Romans associated Topaz with Jupiter, who also is the god of the sun. Wear Topaz only if you wish to be clear-sighted: legend has it that it dispels all enchantment and helps to improve eyesight as well! The ancient Greeks believed that it had the power to increase strength and make its wearer invisible in times of emergency. Topaz was also said to change color in the presence of poisoned food or drink. Its mystical curative powers waxed and waned with the phases of the moon: it was said to cure insomnia, asthma and hemorrhages.

Magick: This sun stone clears the vision when problem solving.

How I use it in my jewelry...I recently found a new place in town to buy stones *rubs her hands together*, and found a strand of tiny, blue Topaz. I know that most blue Topaz is lab enhanced, and I like to use as much natural material as possible...but Topaz is a precious gem, and I knew I wasn't going to get much opportunity to buy some.

When I got it home, I looked at it more closely and discovered that it mostly appeared blue because it was strung on light blue thread and that it was clear. I still wasn't sure what I was going to do with it, but I was happier with my purchase.

It wasn't until I went looking up Topaz that I knew myself blessed for my find. I've been trying to put together a Sun set to compliment the Moon one I have already, and have been having a hell of a time coming up with a stone combo that I liked. However, when two ancient cultures revered Topaz as a sun stone, who am I to argue with them?

So...look for a new Sun design in the near future. :D

I don't have a huge connection to Topaz, other than it being my brother's birthstone. I remember his class ring, and how beautiful I thought it was, the stone being the same color as the gold around it. When it came time to get my own class ring, I was tempted to get a Topaz just because I loved how it looked, especially since my birthstone, diamond just didn't look that great.

In any case, I'm very excited about what I can do with these Topaz, and hope you'll like what I come up with.

And now you know a little bit more of how I do what I do.

Till next time, be well,

Red

Stonewise: Amethyst

2010-02-24T16:43:00.000-08:00

It's the last Wednesday of February, and so I went looking for additional stones that related to the month, the day of the week or the astrological sign...Amethyst came up a couple times, so Amethyst it is!

Amethyst has such an amazingly rich history that I can't possibly include it all in one blog post...which means I can come back to it later! Yay me! :D

So, here's some of what Ardriana says on this beautiful stone:

Amethyst is a transparent, coarse-grained variety of the silicon oxide mineral of quartz that is valued as a semi-precious gem for its violet color. Amethyst color ranges from a pale lilac to deep black purple, with the most valuable being deep purple. There's a "Color Change" variety that changes from dark purple to dark pink or varying lighter shades of the same. Bi-colored Amethyst is purple and lavender-white (not to be confused with Ametrine, which is Amethyst and Citrine). There's Rutile Amethyst, and Cape or Chevron Amethyst, which has milky white quartz to bold white quartz striations.

The name comes from the Greek, Amethystos, meaning "not drunken". The Hebrew word for Amethyst is Achlemah, meaning, "that which gives pleasant dreams".

Folklore: Connected to the god Dionysus, the Greeks thought it cured drunkeness. The legend of the origin of Amethyst comes from Greek myths. Dionysus, the god of wine and revelry was angered one day by an insult from a mere mortal and swore revenge on the next mortal who crossed his bath by creating fierce tigers to carry out his wish. Along came unsuspecting Amethyst, a beautiful young maiden on her way to pay tribute to the goddess Artemis. Artemis turned Amethyst into a statue of pure white crystalline quartz to protect her from the tigers' brutal claws. Dionysus wept tears of wine in remorse for his actions at the sight of the beautiful statue. The god's tears stained the quartz purple, creating the stone we know today.

Magick: Amethyst's nature is peaceful, sleepy, sweet dreaming, sober, noble, quick witted and deeply spiritual. With Amethyst's "anti-intoxicating" quality, it is a good stone to focus on for quelling compulsive passions. The "sacred" quality of Amethyst can focus on a connection with one's spiritual center to calm fears, reduce stress, dispel doubt and negativity.

Wear or carry to make the wearer gentle and amiable. Slip and Amethyst into your Tarot, or Rune bag for heightened intuitive abilities. Slip under your pillow for peaceful sleep and pleasant dreams.

Oh yes, I'll be coming back to Amethyst at a later date...

How I use it in my jewelry...the first bracelet I made was a Sleep Well, which I gave to my best friend. She suffers from migraines, but is allergic to most migraine medicines, so the best she can do is get a shot of a narcotic from her doctor and hope to sleep the headache out. This particular time she had already worn out the shot and was working on pain pills she'd also been given, but still no sleep.

She put on the bracelet and slept 12 hours that night, getting rid of the migraine.

This isn't the original Sleep Well design (strangely I have no pics of it), but the stones are the same.

The Amethysts are a central part to the bracelet, as you cannot have restful sleep without peaceful dreams. I really locked onto the dream warding aspect of Amethyst, and it's the first property I think of concerning the stone.

One of the first bracelets I sold was to an artist friend of mine, who picked the Sleep Well simply because she liked the colors. A month or so later, she came into the gallery, where I sometimes work, to tell me that the day before, she was taking a few minutes break on the couch and found herself thinking of all the things she had yet to do, while gently running her hand over the stones of her bracelet.

She then took the first daytime nap she's had in nearly 15 years. It was gentle and restful and altogether pleasant, which not all daytime naps turn out to be.

I love Amethysts. They're one of those stones I always saw as a cut above the other tumbled stones I collected. They were more precious, like the Garnet and Peridot chips I sometimes found. Later, when new mines were found, I discovered my love of the deep, deep purple Chevron Amethyst, and have quite a few pieces of it. There's so much history, lore and magick associated with Amethyst, it's truly a wonderful stone to have in your collection.

Someday I'll have a show piece, but until then, I'll be more than happy with the pieces I have...which is quite a few. ^^

And now you know a little more about why I do what I do.

Till next time, be well,

Red

Stonewise: Smokey Quartz

2010-02-17T15:00:00.000-08:00

Two weeks ago I hit 100 fans on Facebook, and decided to give away a piece of jewelry as a celebration. I started a discussion and asked people to give me 3 stones that represent the element of fire. I even linked to my Fire jewelry to give the answer. I was going to pick randomly from those who gave the right answer.

I got one response.

Needless to say, I've been feeling a bit down about the whole thing. Part of it is Facebook's fault, several of my friends said they never saw the notices...but really, just one response?

Anyroad, for today's Stonewise, I went looking for a motivating stone, and found Smokey Quartz under "Mood Lifting"...then I flipped to the middle of my book, right to the page I needed, and figured it was a good sign that today should be Smokey Quartz day.

Ardriana says: Smokey Quartz is created by irradiation of clear quartz that contains tiny traces of aluminum by synthetic or natural radioactivity. When heated to 400 degrees Celsius, it returns to its clear state and can be changed back and forth indefinitely by alternating irradiation and heating (that's pretty damn cool right there!).

Folklore: In Scotland, this stone was the sacred stone of Druids. Scotland's royal scepter is topped with Smokey Quartz.

Magick: With a gentle, sustaining and stabilizing energy, it is a wonderful stone for grounding. This stone is a cool fire stone, receptive rather than projective in nature, with the uncanny ability to lift one's mood. Helps one sort out a clear direction, one's wants from their needs, the better of several choices.

How do I use it in my jewelry...To be honest, I use a lot of clear and smokey quartz almost as filler. I add it to a design to round it out, to add length, since it compliments so many other stones. This is not to say that I don't think that quartz, smokey or otherwise, is magickal, or useful for a direct purpose. On the contrary, I think these stones are so versatile that I could use them literally for *anything* and they would work.

Smokey quartz was one of the very first stones I collected as a kid. I loved the brown/gold color of it, and that it was still clear. Remember, when I was young, I was all about getting stones that were as perfect as possible. They had to be smooth, and clear, my quartz had to be like ice. I still tend to gravitate to those sorts of pieces, but I have learned the value and beauty in imperfection as well. Inclusions can look like galaxies, or faces, or reflect light in an interesting and beautiful ways.

Agate is called the work horse of the mineral world, because there's just so much of it. But for me, quartz is the baseline. When in doubt, I can always add some to a design, and it just works. If I were stripped of all my other stones, I could use Smokey Quartz in a huge selection of intentions and feel confident that it would be powerful and magickal.

Some of my oldest pieces are Smokey Quartz, and I have some ranging from perfectly clear to just a few wisps of rutile, to heavily occluded and I love them all. Few stones offer as much versatility as Smokey Quartz, and it's a powerful tool in any witch's stone box. I think I'll go put one in my pocket...

And now you know a little more of why I do what I do.

Till next time, be well,

Red

Stonewise: Moonstone

2010-02-10T17:34:00.000-08:00

Since this month is Valentine's day, I went looking up my index of intentions to see what stones appeared under Love/Desire and Attraction. Since I talked about Red Jasper last week, I focused on what other gems where in the list and saw Moonstone stand out at me.

So let's jump right in and see what Ardriana has to say shall we?

Moonstone is the name attributed to actually two different feldspars that grow together. This stone can be confused with Selenite as well, though Selenite is very soft and can be scratched with a fingernail, while Moonstone is relatively hard. Moonstones are classically white, but can be blue, green, peach, gray (also called Silver, Black or Norwegian Moonstone), creamy yellow or yellow-pink and has a pearly schiller (a bronzelike luster, sometimes with iridescence, occurring on certain minerals) to it. Another related feldspar variety is known as Rainbow Moonstone, in which the sheen is a variety of colors.

Folklore: The Greeks named the stone Aphroselene after two of their goddesses, Aphrodite and Selene. In India, it is sacred to lovers and would confer prophetic powers during the Full Moon. The island of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) has produced some of the most beautiful Moonstone, with the steps of the altar of the Moonstone Temple of Anuradhapura, 100 C.E., that were once faced with mosaics of the gleaming stone. The ruins of this temple still can be seen today, but the mosaics have long since been plundered. Europeans thought that Moonstone could foretell the future during the Dark Moon. Asians thought the shine was that of the good spirit in the stone. The Romans who used it in jewelry from as early as 100 C.E. thought that Moonstone was formed out of moonlight and thus has the power to grant wishes.

Magick: Tradition has held that the schiller in the stone follows the cycles of the moon, brightening at the Full Moon and darkening with the Dark Moon. Thus it used the power of the moon to hypnotize people. Placing it under the tongue stirs ancient memories in the pocessor, or when done by lovers, it awakens passion and helps them divine their future together. This stone influences women's mysteries: conception, creativity, intuition, dreams, psychic ability, natural magick and divination. It draws love and aids in reconciliation. It can be used in dieting, giving birth and to maintain a youthful appearance. Moonstone is a gently protective stone, and is useful when traveling at night, over water and while swimming.

Ok, after all that wonderful info, how do I use it in my jewelry...So, every stone is magickal, but there are some stones that just seem inherently more so, because of how they look, what their name is, or their history is, and Moonstone is one of those for me. It holds a place with Bloodstone as something that's just magickal to have, whether or not you use it for any purpose. When I was younger and just starting my stone collection, I always felt extremely lucky to find a moonstone, even if it was a tiny chip.

It's one of those stones that I could happily include in any of my designs, just to give it that little extra edge of magick...I don't because I would quickly run out of space and Moonstone. >.>

I do, however, use it in my Moon bracelet design (convenient that, no?), to represent the Full Moon in the cycle.

From the middle out: Onyx, Snowflake Obsidian, White Howlite, Moonstone...

This design represents to me the constant cycle of the Moon, the elements, the seasons, it's a reminder that things just have to change and that's ok (I am a creature of deep habits and struggle with this constantly). Lunar energy and imagery are connected to the feminine to me, so I also wear my bracelet as a constant reminder of the magickal sisterhood I share as a Pagan and Witch. And lastly, but certainly not least, it is a reminder of the connection I have with Goddesses that have become my patronesses over the years.

Moonstone was always central to this design, but I struggled with it until I discovered the beautifully marbled Howlite. It remains one of my favorite designs, and the only one in which I made the prototype for myself.

I have three tattoos, and each of them has some connection to lunar imagery: A stag with the triple Moons in his antlers, the Moon phases around my ankle, and a labrys (a double headed battle axe) on my thigh. The labrys is an ancient symbol of the moon, the goddess and of butterflies, which were symbols of transformation and regeneration. Even as a child I thought the Moon was more magickal than the Sun, as she could go into his domain, but he never could enter hers.

Mystical, magickal, beautiful, wonderful...Moonstone holds a special place in my heart, even though I have very few pieces, perhaps it's part of why the stone is so precious to me. In any case, now you know a little bit more of why I do what I do.

Until next time, be well,

Red

If Your Religion... Part 3

2010-02-08T14:54:00.000-08:00

So probably another disclaimer is in order before I start on today's post.

If your religion or belief system is not destructive, helps you to be happy and good, and fulfills your spiritual needs, then I'm not really talking to you. I think we can agree that there are a lot of people out there who are hurt by religion, or hurt others because of it, and I would just like them to think a little instead of blindly reacting to the programming they have subject to.

And now on to this month's post...

If your religion keeps you from seeing the miracle...you're doin' it wrong.

I'm sure all of you have heard of the auto-tune, the program that can make any person sound like a singer...wait, this has a point, I promise...and the somewhat recent rash of spoofs that people have done, like the auto-tune news. Well, one of my favorite things that have popped up is the Symphony of Science which has taken some of the great scientists of our age and set them to auto-tune.

My favorite is "We Are All Connected", which has the line by Carl Sagan,

"The cosmos is also within us

We're made of star stuff
We are a way for the cosmos to know itself"

And this reminded me of the first time I put together the idea that the carbon I am made of was once fused by a giant blue star that lived billions of years ago, and I realized that atomically, I am a descendant of a star.

Talk about a pedigree! I thought that was amazing, blew my mind open! Forget being a queen in a former life, I was once a *star*!

This idea also made me think more about what it really took for me to be here. The unimaginable amount of decisions that it took...I mean, just for a quick example...my Mother's best friend had been dating two men with the same name. One of them she introduced to my Mother, and three months later they were married. If the friend had decided to introduce the other man to my Mother, I could not be here. There are bazillions of moments where if it had gone the other way, I would be someone else.

How is this not miraculous? How is the staggering amount of chance that goes into each and every one of us somehow less a sign of a deity's hand than the idea that we were rolled out of mud and breathed upon?

I think that dismissing the miracle in this way does not only a disservice to the process of life, which is so amazingly complex we still don't fully understand it, but also to the deities seen as creator or creatrix.

I mean, which is the greater sign of an intelligence so vast that the human mind is incapable of comprehending it? A colossal system of fusion that creates matter that eventually, after billions of years, coalesces into a planet that is in *just the right* spot to sustain life as we know it. Or little mud people (thanks Ardriana) that suddenly poofed into existence one day.

I don't know about you, but I am simply awestruck whenever I consciously consider the scope of our universe and our tiny place within it. How fragile our planet is in the scope of the larger system we exist in. Some people say that it's all just chance, and there's no evidence of a cosmic intelligence behind it all. That's fine, but I choose to think that there's *something* out there. What it is, I have no idea, and I'm ok with that too.

My point is, I try to live each day with that awestruck wonder. I let it help inform my decisions on how I interact with others and my environment. I like to think that it helps me be a better person, more likely to kindness rather can not. More likely to patience rather than frustration and irritation. More likely to compassion rather cynicism and distance. Because we are all descendants of stars, and if that's not a miracle, I don't know what is.

Don't miss the miracle in front of you, the one that becomes more complex and amazing as we learn more about our universe.

I choose a different way, and so should you, whatever it may be.

Till next time, be well,

Red

PS, Suggested Viewing, "The Pale Blue Dot" by Carl Sagan. This is an edited version, part of it set to music. I've listened to the full speech, and find this version to encompass the feel of what Sagan was saying.

Stonewise: Red Jasper

2010-02-03T16:07:00.001-08:00

For the first Stonewise of Feb, I thought I'd go with one of the month's traditional Birthstones, Red Jasper.

Luckily, there are about one bazillion kinds of Jasper and I can milk this topic for a long time. :D

In any case, here's what Ardriana says about this beautiful stone:

All Jasper is mostly made of chalcedony, microcrystalline quartz, in association with other minerals. A favorite gem of the ancient world, the name Jasper can be traced back to Hebrew, Assyrian, Persian, Greek and Latin. Brick red Jasper is considered to be the "mother" of all stones.

Folklore: A 13th Century manual said to engrave the symbol of Mars or the Laurel wreath of Daphne to consecrate the stone perpetually. And 14th century widom said that Jasper carved with a dog, stag or huntsman would lend the power to cure possessions.

Magick: Red Jasper promotes beauty and grace (or the perception of that beauty!). Holds good luck in matter of love and protects one from dangerous desires and whims. A great all-around lucky-in-love stone. Tuck one into a purse before going on a date to attract a love affair or maintain passion. Keep in a desk drawer at work to combat the four o'clock drags.

How I use it in my jewelry...well, the first place I put Red Jasper was in my Desire bracelet that I designed for my Godsister. She was looking for someone for a very specific purpose, and she got him too...from all accounts.

Desire: Red Tiger's Eye, Red Jasper, Garnet, Rose Quartz and Onyx.

I have other ideas on how to use this beautiful stone, but they're still working away in the back of my head.

The first type of Jasper I ever fell for was actually Bloodstone, which has such a wonderful witchy air about it. So it took me a while to discover other sorts of Jasper...but now that have, look out! I want to figure out how to use them all...and I will, someday. :D

I don't have much Red Jasper in my personal collection, but that's because there wasn't much to be found tumbled, at least when I was doing most of my collecting. It got overshadowed by some of its flashier cousins...Bloodstone, Picasso Stone, Brecciated Jasper, Ocean Jasper...I actually have a hard time finding beads of just "plain" Red Jasper, but I keep looking and every once in a while I get lucky.

One of my favorite things about Jasper is actually how smooth it is. There's a silkiness to it that not even quartz has, and I love it. It's great to play with, or use as a worry stone if you're lucky enough to find a big enough piece.

And now you know a little more of how I do what I do.

Until next time, be well,

Red

Stonewise: Mahogany Obsidian

2010-01-28T12:20:00.000-08:00

I missed last week's Stonewise! I'm a bad blogger. (*hangs head in shame*) And I managed to miss yesterday too...ugh. Well, I'm here today, and that's better than never, right? Right?

So I've already talked about Obsidian, but there are several different kinds, and each I feel deserves its own entry. I've been working with Mahogany Obsidian a fair bit lately, and figured it'd be a good topic.

Ardriana says:

Mahogany Obsidian is dark red-grown with black striations through it. It is the friendship Obsidian. Represents male energy and beauty. Clears subconscious blocks.

Yeah, it's a short entry, but that's ok...if she had all the answers, there wouldn't be anything else for the rest of us to do. :D

How I use it in my jewelry...I have loved Obsidian for a very long time. I know I've mentioned how my personal power stone is this wonderful chunk, etc...and yet, Mahogany Obsidian is a relatively new find, in the last ten years or so. Actually, I remember discovering both Mahogany and Snowflake Obsidian about the same time, and was excited to learn there were different types of a stone that I loved so well.

In any case, in a vast variety of stones that have decidedly feminine energy or qualities, Mahogany Obsidian is absolutely masculine, which of course means that I have an interesting relationship with it.

What you mean? Well, as some of you may know, I'm a bit of an Amazon in my temperament, definitely a feminist (not that I'm a man hater by any stretch of the imagination), and I will always gravitate to the feminine before the masculine. So I found it odd that my initial reaction to a variation of a stone I adored was very superficial. I loved how it looked, but didn't have a deeper connection to it the way I do other stones.

It made sense once I learned more, and have grown past my initial reaction. And it still serves as a lesson for me to not always trust my first response to a stone...some of my favorite pieces were once ones that I would have thrown back in the box.

Mahogany Obsidian has become a stone of great power, energy, and vigor for me. Something I'd use for a banishing. You want to bring your greatest strength forward when you want something to really go away. It's the heavy shoulder set into the door, either closing or opening.

I have a fair few tumbled pieces, but nothing really large...and I find that I'm particularly picky about the ones that I keep.

And now you know a little bit more about why I do what I do.

Till next time, be well,

Red

Helping out.

2010-01-20T12:31:00.001-08:00

For the next couple weeks, I'll be donating 25% of my jewelry sales to the American Red Cross to help the Haiti relief effort. During that time, I will not be offering any sales or specials, as I want to give as much as I can, even if it's just an extra dollar.

Take a look at

Crystallized Intentions

and see if there's anything

you can't live without.

Thank you for your time.

Till then, be well,

Red

Stonewise: Rutilated Quartz

2010-01-14T12:54:00.000-08:00

I know I'm a day late, but I figured I'd post late rather than not at all. So here's this week's Stonewise...Rutilated Quartz!

As you all probably know by now, I start with some information from writer and witch, Ardriana Cahill, and this is what she says:

Rutile occurs as shiny, elongated, needlelike or hair-like silver crystals of titanium dioxide or gold crystals of titanium oxide in other minerals such as quartz. A beautiful stone produced by large inclusions of golden Rutile needles in clear quartz is called Rutilated Quartz. This stone is produced because at high temperatures and pressure, the compounds that make up quartz and rutile are in a stable state. But as temperatures cool and pressure eases, the two separate with Rutile crystals trapped inside the Quartz.

Etymology: The name quartz comes from the Saxon word querklufterz which meant cross vein ore. The name rutile comes from the Latin word rutilus meaning red. Rutilated Quartz as been refered to as Venus Hair Stone, Cupid's Darts and Fleches D'amour.

Magick: The Golden-hair Rutile takes on both lunar and solar properties and the qualities attributed to stones under their influence. Copper-hair Rutile, also named Venus Hair Rutile is an excellent gem for meditation on any feminine themes or Venus themes of the power of love and the depth of beauty. Use to remove obstacles and get insight to one's problems. Carry as a natural symbol of the Goddess to remind us of the welfare of and obligation to our common Mother, the Earth.

How do I use it in my jewelry...the first place I found was in my Air bracelet, which was a challenge in and of itself. Do you know how many stones are attributed to the element of Air? The direct opposite of Earth...yeah, not so many...

The Rutilated Quartz are the small rounds between the Citrines.

In any case, I liked that they were sometimes called the "Scrying Stone", which worked, because part of Air's influence is mental acuity. By being able to scry out your problems, one could find wisdom or understanding and find a good resolution. See? I thought I made it work...hehe...

Back when I first started collecting stones, I was all about perfection. The clearer the stone, the more beautiful it was to me. So Rutiliated Quartz was right out. There was nothing but stuff inside! Where was my pristine clarity? Thankfully I grew out of that phase and have collected a number of interesting Rutile pieces.

My two favorites are a tie between a river polished nugget (that's right, no help from man) and a piece of Smokey Quartz where the Rutile is so thin and curly that it reminds me of the images of an atom smash (which strangely enough I cannot find pics of...). It reminds me that everything is connected and that the world is bigger (and smaller) than we even conceive of.

I have not designed any pure worship jewelry yet, but when I do, I will most certainly include Rutilated Quartz.

And now I know a little more of why I do what I do.

Till next time, be well,

Red

If Your Religion... Part 2

2010-01-12T10:04:00.000-08:00

So I should probably start this post with a sort of disclaimer...why would I write about my thoughts on religion on a blog about my jewelry? Well, I create my jewelry using information I've been picking up for the last twenty years, and that information is filtered through the philosophies I have been studying also for the last 20 years. The two are interconnected, and so I get to rant here instead of creating a separate blog. Handy, no?

Anyroad, I'm thinking of doing one of these segments about once a month, as they really do inform the reader as to my methods, in creating jewelry if nothing else. So, without further ado...

If your religion makes you stupid...you're doing it wrong.

Inflammatory, I know, but this part is really important. How many remember the story of the guy who shoved 50ish or so needles under his son's skin to kill him? The guy claimed that it was a religious tenant that prompted him to do it. Some might say that makes him crazy, and maybe there is a chemical imbalance I am unaware of, but I think that it just makes him stupid. How could he possibly believe that killing a child is acceptable in any way? (How could anyone? But that's a rant for another day.) I don't care what answer he gives, whatever it is, he's just wrong, and being swayed to perform this obscene act in the first place makes him stupid.

This next case in point was actually the genesis of this piece, I just held on to it long enough for Dumbass with Needles to make the news, and I felt it was a very potent example.

So in the course of my new networking adventure, I've found all sorts of people on the internet. Most of them have interesting links for me to follow, this one in particular was to an auction (no, I won't post the link, I don't want to send any traffic their way).

These auctions were offering items that were said to be magical, blessed by a coven, and promised to do all sorts of amazing things. One was a love spell that promised you *anyone*, including someone famous, or people who didn't know you. I find this highly irresponsible, how dare someone claim they can toy with someone's emotions that way. Another was for a wealth ring that would bring the wearer money. The site even claimed that the last wearer had eared over $120,000 over the course of three years. That sounds great right? I suppose it could be if it didn't work out to a $40k a year job.

Guys, this isn't magick. This is promises that cannot possibly be fulfilled by people who will take your money and then give you some sort of excuse when it doesn't work. Offering this sort of mockery makes me angry. Believing in it makes me sad.

((A friend of mine pointed out that I might not be clear enough on the types of magic I am accusing of being stupid...allow me to clarify...

There is magick that makes sense, using earth and "bloodstones" to help a woman feel better during her moontime. Lighting a candle to help the bank approve of your loan. These are the sorts of spells I not only endorse, but practice.

Then there is magic that makes no sense, promising someone that even if it's Brad Pitt, the object of your desire will dream about you, and make their way to you.

Use reason and judgement, wisdom and knowledge when looking at magick, and if you have a good grounding in common sense, you'll know the difference.))

But Red, how is that different from what you do?

First off, I will *never* claim that my jewelry will do something *for* you. I always only offer an item that will help you help yourself. My Creativity bracelet isn't going to work if you don't put your butt in the chair or in front of the easel. My Awakening bracelet isn't going to do anything if you don't make the conscious decision to be more open to the world around and within you. The qualities of Air, clarity of thought and enhancing memory aren't going to help you pass that test unless you study.

Secondly, it doesn't bother me if someone just wants a piece of my jewelry because they like the colors. They want to wear it without knowing or caring about the intention I put into the piece, be my guest. The stones themselves are beautiful, and I am truly grateful to anyone who wants to give them a good home. You don't have to handle my jewelry with mock reverence in case it gets offended, or to keep from doing something to blaspheme or some other silly thing.

You decide how you want to wear my jewelry, if at all. I offer it the way I do because I enjoy it. It makes me happy to think that somewhere, someone might have a little easier time sleeping because they're focused on the calming properties that blue lace agate is said to have. I get to play with stones all day...how awesome is that?

Don't be mislead, there's lots of people out there using lots of charisma to fool people with promises or offers that don't make sense, have no bearing on real life or cannot possibly be kept.

I choose a different way, and so should you, whatever it may be.

Till next time, be well,
Red

Stonewise: Blue Lace Agate

2010-01-06T12:57:00.000-08:00

You guys are in trouble now...guess who got an updated copy of Ardriana's Stones for Christmas? That's right...this witch! *cackles*

So, since today's Shop Item of the Day over at Crystallized Intentions is my pair of Tranquility Earrings (ooh...shameless in 2010!), I thought that looking at Blue Lace Agate would be the thing to do.

So just what does Ardriana say about this beautiful stone?

A chalcedony quartz of delicate blue with swirls of white.

Magick: Wear or carry this stone for peace and happiness. Effective for reducing household and/or family quarrels. Useful in reducing stress when held in the hand. Stimulates foresight. Promotes all feminine qualities, intuition, caring and tenderness.

How I use it in my jewelry: It's funny, Blue Lace Agate was really low on my radar for a long time, till The New Pioneer got this amazing selection of larger (larger than a quarter) pieces. Richard, the awesome old hippy who runs the place, said that there was a new mine, and that with these larger pieces, people were starting to call it Blue Storm Agate.

I filed away the information, but the name never really stuck because there's nothing storm like about Blue Lace. It's to frosty, to subtle...I'm not really a pastel person, but there's something to the color of this stone that really appeals to me now that I know it better.

It is the first stone I think of when wanting something to promote peace. It's the main stone in my Sleep Well Bracelet, as one of the major problems that people seem to have is just not being able to relax enough to slip into sleep.

See that big, frosty stone in the center?

It's always so interesting to look at, with the bands of white and darker blue running through it. Ardriana suffers from migraines, and the Sleep Well wasn't helping, so I asked her what qualities she wanted in something to help...one of the first things she mentioned was the coolness of an ice pack on her forehead. The oddly interesting bracelet I put together has onyx, for a pain sink, blue lace agate, for the cooling, relaxing properties, and citrine (yeah, black, light blue and yellow...), to help keep one able to think above the pain. It's one that I would only make by request, as I feel it's function over form, but it seems to help (this is, of course, after she's taken her medication and laid down to rest with a real ice pack on...you have to do everything else along with the magick...more on that later though).

Where was I...oh yeah, Blue Lace Agate...I'm a pretty laid back person, and don't usually feel the need to calm myself further, so I don't have a ton of these stones. The few pieces I do have sure are beautiful however, and I am lucky to have them.

And now you know a little more about why I do what I do.

Till next time, be well,

Red

If Your Religion... Part 1

2009-12-14T17:18:00.000-08:00

This has been brewing for a fair bit now, so I'm just going to set it down.

If your religion makes you scared...you're doing it wrong.

Case in point, a friend of mine wanted some medical attention, and had to go to a free clinic. They didn't do much but what she had already done, but then gave her some "information". One would think they'd give her info about her medical question...but no, what she got instead was Christian propaganda pamphlets.

I have a somewhat secret fascination with them, and have a few really good ones I've collected. I read them as two people...one is the long term pagan that laughs behind her hand, "ROFL...that's awesome! They're really stupid!" The other is the person who could be affected by these words, and more often than not comes away as unsatisfied with their proposed answers as I was the twenty or so years ago when I discovered I wasn't Catholic.

Of these two that my friend gave to me, one was pretty innocuous. "Is Witchcraft the Way?" tells the tale of a nice woman who was a witch for many years (point in their favor...she was a nice, kind woman who was just looking for spiritual meaning. Not some psycho, blood sacrificing, nut job or emo, dark spirit raising, goth wannabe that's usually in these anecdotal accounts), then she started having problems with bad spirits and dark energy (you know...the stuff the rest of us deal with all the time, right? *rolls eyes*), and eventually a very nice Christian man told her "the truth" and she's ok now, cuz she's Christian.

Meh...whatever. Oh, but I did like the part where she's told that the spirits of the elements were actually devils in disguise. How tricksy of them...

Anyway...it was the second one...that was the treasure trove find. This nasty piece of work was called, "First Six Days in Hell", and is supposedly a literal account, extrapolated from Biblical references on what it's going to be like for you when you go to Hell.

And it assumed you would...so you'd better get ready with this handy guide. It was horrifying, my morbid fascination with these things was really stretched with this one...the burning torture that was described, along with the deep, soul crushing inevitability of it, it was truly a piece of work.

Of course, if you just "accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior" you can escape going to Hell and never experience what was described.

My question becomes, "Who wants followers that are there out of abject terror?" This isn't just fear that they're trying to evoke. This is deeper, primal..."if these are just the first six days, imagine what an eternity would be like"...some of these images are the stuff that night terrors are made from.

No thank you...I'm good.

How is this acceptable? How is this ok to do? In what sense of morality is it acceptable to terrify people into following a god that is supposedly all good? Jesus gave us one commandment, "Love one another as I have loved you." Where is the love in that pamphlet? Really?

I find this sort of thing irresponsible, and hope that most people just throw it in the trash, not reading it without the philosophical and spiritual protections that I and most of my friends have.

It's not enough to be good because you're afraid of punishment. One should be good, because it is the right thing to do. Pamphlets like this don't help create good Christians, they create fearful people without an inner core of ethics. Sometimes they're more damaging than those who do wrong because they want to...at least you can predict their behavior.

I know it's not my usual blog fare, but I hope you've made it this far and at least got something to think about. I'm not condemning Christianity as a whole. There is beauty and grace in the religion and if being Christian helps you to be happy and good, then I celebrate that. No, it's the desperate fear mongers that I am pointing my finger at hoping that one day they are forced to wake up and understand that using fear doesn't attract good followers, just other fearful people.

I choose another way. And so should you, whatever it may be.

Till next time, be well,
Red

Stonewise: Picasso Stone

2009-12-11T14:07:00.000-08:00

So I know this is way late. I apologize, and blame my lack of motivation and apparent inability to get out of a warm, snuggly bed. In any case, I'm here today, and will endeavor to have next week's post up on the proper day.

Anyroad, today we're looking at Picasso Stone, sometimes called Picasso Jasper, Picasso Marble or Picture Jasper. It's an unusual stone, without a lot of folklore attached to it, but I love the deep greys it can come in, so let's see what we can, shall we?

Ardriana says:

An obvious grounding stone, which aids general healing. Brings out hidden talents and gifts. Invites total recall of dreams to answer life's mysteries. Inspires self-control and respect. Picasso Stone assists one to understand one's destiny by meditating on the patterns in the stone. It also transforms intuition into intellectual action. Reduces anxiety and stress.

How I use it my jewelry...as a relative new comer to the magickal world, it's sometimes difficult to find uses for this interesting stone. However, while searching for stones to make up my Air bracelet:

(ha! It's a good week when I fit in some shameless self promotion. ^.~)

...*ahem* oh yeah, while researching stones that resonate with the element of Air (*not* easy mind you), I discovered, with Ardriana's help, that Picasso Stone has been linked to labyrinth studies, the dark lines in the stone acting as a meditation tool similar to the pattern created in labyrinths.

How cool is that? And Picasso Stone comes in some of my favorite grey colors (you might have noticed this in my blog layout heh...). It's a quiet stone, which I'm still discovering, but I think it's proven itself to be particularly powerful when wanting to promote self awareness (that doesn't devolve into self centeredness), and mental acuity.

I don't own a lot of Picasso Stone, just a few pieces, since it's taken me a fair bit to understand the attraction, but that won't stop me in the future!

And now you know a bit more why I do what I do.

Till next time, be well,

Red

Stonewise: Garnet

2009-12-02T15:03:00.000-08:00

Since today's Shop Item of the Day is the Kindred Bracelet (oh how the mighty have fallen into shameless self promotion...ok, so maybe I wasn't mighty...)...anyway, I figured that I'd focus on garnets for today's Stonewise.

So first a quick look at what Ardriana Cahill says:

Garnet is actually a group of minerals. Almandine has the most colors. Pyrope is usually red. Spessartine, orange red or browns, combined they are Malaya. Phodolite is purplish red or pink. The rare Uvarovite is dark green. These are just a few. Garnet got its name from granatum, the pomegranate.

Folklore: Albertus Magnus related this stone to blood magick. In the matriarchal age, it was sacred to the Goddess Isis, and was believed to be solidified drops of her blood. Garnet was associated with the Goddess Persephone and thus, the afterlife.

Magick: Witches give garnets to friends and family as the Karma Stone. Given to kindred, it insures safe passage to the Summerland and makes sure that loved ones will meet in the next life. Carry garnets to protect travelers against accidents and after dark. Garnet is the stone of passionate love and desire. Enhances bodily strength, endurance, and heightens sexual awareness.

Ancient Warning: a stolen garnet brings catastrophe on the thief until it is returned.

How I use it in my jewelry...Well, first and foremost I use it as the "kindred" stone. Most of my family has a network of garnet giving, ensuring that we'll all meet up next time too (we're Irish...any excuse for a party!).

I grew up thinking that garnets were "poor mans rubies and emeralds", but I love how deep a blood red it is, and generally prefer it to rubies. The green is usually deeper than emeralds too. Garnets are precious stones, so finding them in bead form is a little difficult. I use them sparingly, not because I don't like them, but because they are expensive.

When I was younger, and just started going to The New Pioneer to buy stones, I would play in the little stone box looking for chips of garnet and peridot. These pieces are tiny, and sometimes I would struggle to tell the garnets from the amethysts, because of how purple they are (I'm pretty good at telling them apart now, hehe). I still have those chips, and count myself lucky to have them even though the large tumbled faceted pieces (like in the pic above) have gotten more common.

I don't have many pieces of garnet, but those that I do have are special to me for one reason or another. I carry one in my pocket that I received from a beloved sister stone witch, my best friends have them from me...when we claim someone, we don't tend to let them go.

How you know a little more about why I do what I do.

Till next time, be well,

Red

Stonewise: Aventurine

2009-11-25T18:24:00.000-08:00

Aventurine is often called the abundance stone, so I thought it was appropriate to have a look at this beautiful green stone the day before Thanksgiving.

First let's have a look at what Ardriana has to say shall we?

Aventurine is made of tightly packed quartz which contains crystals of chrome rich mica that gives the stone a metallic iridescence. Aventurine has been confused with Amazonite and Jade.

Folklore: Aventurine was revered by the ancient Tibetans. They used it to represent the "eyes" in sacred statues, thus symbolizing increased divinatory powers. Once called the "Stone of Heaven".

Magick: A good fortune stone for health, money and business success. It suggests a springtime regeneration. Speeds general healing. Increases perception and intelligence while it stimulates creativity.

How I use it in my jewelry...Aventurine is an interesting stone to look at because it has translucent properties though it isn't always translucent. Sometimes it looks like a scattering of crystals caught under a quartz glaze, with the odd streak of metal shimmering through it. Other times it's more dense, a deep green, like a primeval forest. Pale green Aventurine sometimes has streaks of darker crystals running through it. Each color variation has it's own character and beauty to it and I can get lost looking inside a piece.

Most of the time my magick intuition just uses stones based on their colors...red for strength, blue for peace, and green for healing. Aventurine is no exception, as I tend to use it in my healing jewelry, beautifully complimenting the other green stones I use like Moss Agate or Malachite (ahh...shameless self-promotion anyone?).

Aventurine can be a quiet stone that is sometimes overlooked next to some of its flashier brethren. One has to really delve to find the treasure in it, but once found, you can't miss it again. I look forward to discovering and learning more about blue and peach Aventurine, and figuring out how I can use it in new designs down the road.

And now you know a little more of why I do what I do.

Till next time, be well,

Red

Stonewise: Green Moss Agate

2009-11-18T17:32:00.000-08:00

This week's Stonewise takes a look at Moss Agate. There are so many types of agate that to do a post just on them would take *way* to long...so we'll just start here.

Ardriana's stone book says...

Moss Agate is translucent with fern patterns and white and/or yellow spots that form miniature forest scenes. Named after the Arabian seaport, it was known to them as Mocha Stone.

Folklore: Legend held that it helped open communication with unseen spirits.

Magick: With its connection with spirits and the Fey, this stone is said to lead you to hidden treasures. Discerns the truth, accepts circumstances, balances emotions and heals the heart. Wonderful stone to increase self-esteem and wear to draw friends. Spend a few minutes identifying the mossy forms inside and understand why it is also an imagination stone.

How I use it in my jewelry...Sometimes I look at a stone for the first time and the nature of its magick is perfectly clear to me, even if it's something that no one else has said. For me, moss agate is a deep earth stone, which means deep healing. It's the center piece of my Woman's Moontime bracelet and my Healing necklace. (It's nice to see that some of my intuition can be worked into established practice...balancing emotions during a moontime can be very difficult...)

This stone fascinates me. It looks like someone took a piece of moss and suspended it in crystal even though there's no green matter in the stone at all. Some could ask if the way I use the stone would work at all, seeing as the stone isn't moss. But that's what it *looks* like, and how I feel when I see it...sympathetic magick is about honing your will to do your bidding, so forcing yourself to be aware that it's not moss when that's what it looks like is counter productive, no?

When I first started collecting stones I was all about quartz, the clearer the better. I loved the perfect piece of ice that I could roll through my fingers. The perfect black piece of obsidian. The perfect shiny blob of hematite. Moss agate was one of the first stones that taught me the beauty of imperfection. It was interesting because each piece was completely different and they were still beautiful. There's a part of me that still loves those perfect pieces...but I've widened my definition and that makes so much more beautiful to me.

And that's a little bit of why I do what I do.

Till next time, be well,

Red

Friday Wrap Up

2009-11-13T16:47:00.000-08:00

First off, I'd like to thank everyone who's posted a response to my blog. I appreciate your feedback, and I promise to continue trying to give you interesting content. And now on to your regularly scheduled blog post...

I still feel kinda sluggish from last weekend...how sad is that? The week seemed long without me getting much done.

However, I did get the Twilight set sent on to it's new home (it should be there today or tomorrow), I miss it. ^^;

It's interesting how I reacted to this set. Usually I start with an intention, look for the stones that will be the most potent for it from my stocks, or shop if I have to, then put the design together. This time I was given colors and had to start with the stones before I could come up with the design.

To be honest, at first I had no clue what I was going to do. This wasn't a combination I had even thought about, much less toyed with. Designing in my head is a new thing for me...I've grown up with stories of people in my family designing stuff in that corridor before sleep...part of me always envied that...

In any case, I struggled with this for several days before the fateful drive up to the Sekhmet Temple and saw the colors reflected in nature. It was a powerful moment, the complete answer came to me, not just the pattern of the stones, but the magickal properties of the design. Another new experience and one I hope to repeat.

I lived with the necklace for a couple weeks before the stones I ordered to finish the set arrived, and the more I had it, the more I liked it. I've only done one other piece where the stones are set in a gradient, my Sunset Anklet, and it's not a pattern that I think of first when designing.

Anyroad...then came the earrings. I fought with those are over two hours. First I couldn't decide on the pattern. Then it adjusting the chain lengths and getting all the wire loops done...reaming the large amethysts...I was very frustrated when I was done, but then I looked at them there on my workspace...and knew the work had been worth it. I love everything I put together, but there some designs that strike me, and those earrings are one of them. I hope they (and the rest of the set) serve long and well.

For the rest...well, I do have two new designs that I will try to have photoed this week, and a bracelet commission, which I'm excited about. I do get to do a little stone shopping this weekend too, so hopefully there will be another new design or three before the next wrap up post *crosses fingers*.

I hope you all have a fantastic Friday the 13th, and an even better weekend.

Till next time, be well,

Red

Stonewise: Carnelian

2009-11-11T13:16:00.000-08:00

Today's Stonewise looks at Carnelian. This stone is quietly powerful in many ways and is a must have for any stone witch's collection.

First we look at some information from Ardriana Cahill's book of stones:

Carnelian is a red chalcedony colored by iron oxides. It is placed in the sun to change brown tints to red. The best carnelians is found in India.

Folklore: Carnelian gets its name from the Latin word carne, meaning flesh. Napoleon, while in Egypt, discovered the magick of the stone. Also called the Mecca stone, it was sacred to Moslems as Mohammed wore an engraved carnelian ring as a charm for a blessed afterlife.

Magick: The carnelian is the stone of the orator, promoting articulation, clarity of thought and eloquence (the ancient Greeks thought that if you could articulate clearly over the crash of the ocean with one under your tongue, you would be muse touched with eloquence). Increases courage, especially in the overly shy. Helps focus decision making. Used for carnal passions, sexuality, earthiness and the material world.

How I use it in my jewelry: Once I read about placing a carnelian under the tongue to promote eloquence, it has become one of the creativity stones for me. It's a central component to my Creativity bracelet.

Carnelians work with citrines and gold tiger's eye to promote creativity.

I love the glassy texture of the stone. There's always a translucence to it, even if you can't see through it. Orange is not one of my favorite colors, but I love the rich, vibrant color of the stone.

One year, while visiting The New Pioneer, the owner took a 20lb bag of tumbled carnelian pebbles and set it in front of me saying, "Go ahead and look through there." I could hardly believe my luck! First thing I did was stick both hands into the bag and just feel the energy of all those stones. I probably spent a half an hour picking out 20 or so pieces. I keep these in a box on my desk to help give me eloquence in my writing. Every once in a while I put them on a windowsill so they can soak up the light.

I can't say that it's one of my very favorites, but somehow I have a lot of them. Probably in the top 10 for most stones owned (the box full helped with that ^^). I think it's interesting that even though I don't have a special connection with the stone, it's so prevalent in my collection...seems that one or two always end up in my tray when I'm over at the Pioneer. Carnelian is powerful magickally for me as well, because of all the folklore behind it...people have been using this stone for thousands of years and the weight of that history is noticeable.

And now you know a little bit more of why I do what I do.

Till next time, be well,

Red

Pagan Pride Day '09

2009-11-10T18:43:00.000-08:00

It started with sleeplessness and nerves.

I worked over at Damned Ink Studios for First Friday, which is always fast paced and high strung for me. Lots of people, lots of emotions...it's a stimuli overload which leads to what we affectionately call, "First Friday Hangover"...but I didn't have the luxury of sleeping in and grogging through my day...I had Pagan Pride Day to go to.

I'd stayed up *way* to long working on last minute things that probably weren't all that important, but this was my first time having a booth and I was over thinking things. I woke before my alarm, and did my best to suppress my nerves while I loaded the truck.

The first highlight for me was getting to go with Ardriana. She's one of my best friends, and spending the day together, outside, in the presence of kindred was exciting. Plus, she helped me set up, and it went much faster and easier than I had thought. Took about 30 minutes, and we had a booth!

Not bad for a first time!

The table is a replica of a Civil War Confederate officer's mess table, made by my Father. The structure for the table and the two benches all break down and fit into the box, which becomes the table top. Nifty, huh? Add a sun shade, some Celtic throws, a few of my personal collection pieces for decoration, and I was pleased with how the booth turned out.

Close up of the bracelets and anklets.

Earring rack, with me in the background.

Finished Twilight Set...be jealous.

After I cooled off and changed into some garb, I settled in and got some supplies out to work with. It was a gorgeous day, and I really enjoyed people watching while I made a pair of earrings, cleaned and retrofit an older bracelet and put together a new design.

There was great music all day, dancing and a general air of enjoyment and belonging. I got to talk to people all day about magick and stones and my love for my craft...how awesome is that? And then, just when I thought it couldn't get any cooler...I got to meet my best Twitter friend the funny, smart and wise Dame Vegas! I wish I could have listened to her lecture on the History of Wicca...maybe next time.

It was interesting to see how many people hadn't even heard about stone magick, much less know anything about it. Apparently I have a niche, and I look forward to showing the community the beauty, elegance and power that are inherent in stones and what they can do to help you in your magickal endeavors.

I saw some of the lovely women from my Women of Sekhmet weekend, which was a blessing, and saw some of my friends, pagan and non, always a bonus. I did *not* win any of the tattoo gift certificates...which I call shenanigans on...but I can't be to disappointed as I had to much fun during the day.

It ended with an amazing sunset, hugs and lots of laughter. I'm already looking forward to next year.

Till then, be well,

Red

Stonewise: Ametrine

2009-11-05T15:39:00.000-08:00

Sorry that this is so late, busy week...but better late than never, huh?

Anyroad, today's Stonewise feature will be talking today about Ametrine, a stone I only learned about maybe six years ago.

As always, I'll start with some basic info from Ardriana Cahill:

Two varieties of quartz growing side by side. Amethyst's purple and Citrine's amber are complimentary opposites on a color wheel and can be found often in nature. Look deeply into a purple Iris and you will find that yellow is at the petal's base.

As a new-comer, Ametrine doesn't have the magickal significance as do Amethyst and Citrine independently. We can assume that the best lore of both stones can be attributed to Ametrine however. Citrine has the qualities of any sun stone, it promotes mental clarity, memory, creativity, intuition and wealth. It strengthens one's sel-esteem and personal power, but with the balancing influence of Amethyst, that can be tempered so that self-esteem isn't inflated into egotism, nor personal power turned into domination.

Likewise, the fiery influenses of the Citrine will temper Amethyst's tendency to inertia and bring strength to the serenity that it yields. While Amethyst eases emotional doubts, Citrine will replace them with clear thinking.

Why I love this stone: What's not to love? The magick in Ametrine is apparent when you pick it up. There's something special about having a gem that is two stones grown naturally together. Yellow is one of my least favorite colors, but Ametrine is one of my favorites because of the color combination.

Here's one of the ways I interpret the stone: Citrine is a success stone, and Amethyst guards dreams or promotes psychic dreaming...so give an Ametrine to someone when you wish, "May all your dreams come true." I have yet to incorporate this idea fully into my jewelry, but I'll get there.

Ametrine plays a central role in my new Wealth bracelet design because of its balancing properties. One of the common mistakes in any wealth spell is the omission of the desire to earn the money instead of just receiving it. No one really wants to discover a relative just died so you can have some money. So my Wealth design features Ametrine so that the wearer can discover how to earn money. It will help you have the foresight to make good decisions and help put you in the way of opportunity.

Ametrine is already hard to come by in shops that sell tumbled stones, so I don't have a lot of it. I do, however, still buy whatever I can find, since it's such an unusual stone, and everyone loves it. It is probably in my top 10 for pieces owned, but I don't have any larger pieces...yet.

And that's a little bit about why I do what I do.

Till next time, be well,

Red

Friday Wrap Up

2009-10-30T15:44:00.000-07:00

Is it Friday already? Eesh it was a short week for me, I got to spend the weekend in San Francisco for my brother's wedding and didn't get home till Monday night. The wedding was held in Golden Gate Park, which is just amazing. Everything's so green and gorgeous, I could spend days there and never be bored.

So I spent most of my time working on networking...it's a hefty job, and I still don't think I've got a handle on it. But I figure if I do a little bit every day, I'll eventually figure it out. I also got my shipment of bells in finally, so I can make some more anklets! Plus I'm going to try and make a set of prayer beads this weekend...we'll see how that goes.

In any case, I hope you have a fantastic weekend, and a wonderful Samhain...and I'll see you in the new year.

Till next time, be well,

Red

Stonewise: Bloodstone

2009-10-28T16:35:00.000-07:00

In honor of Samhain, this week's Stonewise segment is dedicated to Bloodstone, which is often called The Witches Stone.

So first is a little information from my book of stones by Witch and writer Ardriana Cahill:

The name Bloodstone has been given to every red mineral at one time or another including garnet, ruby, hematite and carnelian. Now commonly applied to Green Jasper with flecks of iron oxide on it.

Folklore: This stone was once called Heliotrope and was prized in ancient days for the belief that when the last dragon was slain, the green stone was stained with the last droplets of his magickal blood. The myth was later Christianized to be the blood of Christ, thus it is called the Martyr's Stone.

Magick: Wear the "dragon" stone for longevity, physical strength and courage. Heals matters of the heart and bloodstream. The ancients used it for invisibility (today for lowering one's profile).

How I use it in my jewelry...Bloodstone has a lot of raw magickal power for me, being steeped in such lore and imagery. I use it in my Woman's Moontime pieces, to help make things easier, as it a powerful healing stone. It also is included in just about every general healing piece I make.

When I was first putting pieces together, I would look through my bags of beads and sometimes a pattern would form without me really knowing what it was. That's what happened when I put a large onyx bead with a pair of bloodstones...

I made the piece and set it aside, figuring that whatever it was, the answer would come in time. Eventually I went through all the bracelets I made, pairing them up with members of my family and came to this piece. I considered for a minute, and thought perhaps it was a protection piece. I started to set it aside and was told that she was not Protection. I asked her what she was (the voice was clearly feminine and not my own...) and was told that she was Awakening.

Uh...ok...then I thought about it, the original design had a large onyx round center piece, like the dark moon, and the bloodstones...witches stones...use this piece to help awaken yourself to the possibilities of magick. I liked it! The spell within the piece is more subtle, and it makes the wearer think about it, which I think serves the purpose too.

I love bloodstone, and even though I don't have any really large pieces, the ones I do have seem to stand out, even among others in a box, as special. This powerful stone is a deep beautiful shade of green (my favorite color) and goes well with lots of other stones. I'm always on the lookout for pretty pieces and hungrily add them to my collection...I am a witch after all.

And now you know a little bit more of why I do what I do.

Till next time, be well,

Red

Samhain

2009-10-27T17:00:00.000-07:00

The great fire festival, Samhain (pronounced SOW-in in Irish, or SAA-vin for a Scottish variation), is nearly upon us, and it has me thinking about the "pagan new year".

I celebrate both Dec. 31st and Oct. 31st in some way as a "new year", and it recently occurred to me that I have no problem with both of them. So then I had to ask myself why that is, and the answer was, I think, interesting.

Dec. 31st, or New Years Eve...I've been celebrating this since I was old enough to stay up and have a sip of champagne. As I got older I learned the extra little traditions that my family had (make sure you're clean, fed and have money in your pocket for the turn of the clock, for whatever you are at that moment will impact the rest of the year). This celebration has distilled itself to be about my "regular" or "normal" life (I don't like either of those words, but I can't seem to find anything better). It's about my day to day workings, my relationships with my family at face value. I've never really made any resolutions other than to have a better year and continue to work on those bad habits that I'm trying to break.

I enjoy the gathering of family and friends, it's silly and fun and safe for us. I look forward to it every year.

Oct. 31st, or Halloween or Samhain...this I didn't start celebrating in an older sense till I was in my late teens. At first it was a sort of silly aside for an already silly fun day. We'd go to a late movie and wish each other "Happy New Year!" during it, knowing anyone else in the theatre would think we were crazy. But then I learned more, got to participate in some Samhain rituals, and gradually internalized this day as the new year of my spirit. Any resolution I make then relates to my spiritual growth, marking those epiphanies I had over the year and the desire to continue. It's a moment of quiet contemplation, where I say a few words to my beloved dead, cast off those things about me I do not like, and resolve to become a better person in the year ahead.

Samhain is my favorite holiday all around now. I love the costumes, trick or treating with children, giving away candy at the house...all of the fun commercial things that the holiday has turned into. And then later, the more private moments in which I connect to the greater mystery that is the wheel of the year.

How does this relate to my jewelry? Well, each piece I make is magickal, and any new understanding I have about myself and the way I relate to the world and my spirituality can only make me a better witch, and in turn make my jewelry better able to serve you. Leastways that's that's how I see it anyway.

Till next time, be well,

Red

Stonewise: Petrified Wood

2009-10-21T16:48:00.000-07:00

As a Stone Witch, it probably comes as no surprise that I have a deep fascination with Petrified Wood. So that's what we'll look at in today's Stonewise post.

As before I draw my information from my book of stones by Ardriana Cahill.

This fossil, over 225 million years old is the result of trees falling into rivers and lakes. As the water seeped into the wood, the chemicals from volcanic ash reacted to the wood and formed into quartz crystals. The original wood structure is retained, but all its cellulose is replaced by silica and becomes a kind of chalcedony.

Magick: It is carried for longevity, to increase our enjoyment of life and encourage our growth. A perfect grounding stone for us tree lovers.

How I use it in my jewelry...As I said in the beginning, I have a deep fascination with Petrified Wood. It was once alive, and through millions of years of transformation has become a beautiful stone. I experience child-like wonder every time I think about that concept. How is it not magick?

Being a symbol of both wood and stone, it has become *the* Earth stone for me and is potent for healing, grounding and finding the hidden, steady source of strength that we all have. It will be the center piece for the Earth jewelry I will make and also anchors several pieces of healing jewelry I have made.

I don't have very many pieces, especially in tumbled nuggets, but I have a couple larger pieces, one is even oak, which I find to be particularly magickal. These pieces are usually set in places of prominence on my altar, like representing the direction of earth in a four quarters pattern. I wish I had more.

And now you know a little bit more of how I work.

Till next time, be well,

Red

How Does Stone Magick Work?

2009-10-19T17:18:00.000-07:00

Any sympathetic magick (spelled with a 'k' to differentiate it from stage illusions) is using force of will to make changes to the world around you. Most often it's used to help you help yourself. "Help me get this job...this person to like me...to quit smoking...etc."

There are adepts that can work magick without any of the props. They have reached a place where their will is honed enough through practice and experience that magick just...works for them. For the rest of us, it's not as easy, and using ritual objects helps us focus on our intent.

Perhaps the most common form of magick is candle magick. Light a candle, cast your spell...often times stones set in a pattern around the candle are used to help amplify the spell (that's where I started actually). Later, you can carry the stone(s) in your purse or pocket to help keep that spell going by having a part of your consciousness focused on it.

But what about using just stones? I have found over the years that my gifts are with this slower, more quiet type of magick, and here are some of the ways in which I work...

Stone Bags: a collection of stones in a small pouch that can be worn around the neck or carried in the purse or pocket. I always try to find three stones for the intention (as three is a magickal number), plus at least one piece of hematite for empowerment. This is good for continued efforts, like banishing a bad habits or sparking creativity. Making jewelry for myself and others has, for the most part, replaced the stone bag...but not everyone has the time or patience to do this.

Altar "Henge": I have a collection of larger pieces, spheres and such, that I will arrange on my altar in several formations, stars, spirals, solar crosses and the like. I'll place smaller tumbled pieces to fill out the pattern and I find that this practice keeps my altar "warm" or energized.

Worry Stone, or the Handful in my Pocket: Everyone should have a signature stone they can use for energizing, worrying or grounding. Mine is a piece of obsidian that fits perfectly in my hand. My fingers know every curve and ridge of that stone, and we've traded a lot of energy over the years, that stone and I. There are times when I don't have my stone with me, but I can imagine it in my hand and I still feel the connection.

Other times I feel the need to carry two or three stones in my pocket. I really don't feel the need to cast a full spell, I just need a little extra something to carry with me. Most of the time it's when I'm sick, and I'm using the stones as an extra but of ooph to the medication I've taken. For example, I'll carry bits of bloodstone and hematite when it's my moontime, or citrine when I'm having trouble breathing due to allergies or the flu.

Stone magick is Earth magick...it is the underlying solidity of our lives. It's quiet and steady most of the time, but like an earthquake, can be devastating in its power when necessary. Like any magick, it should be used with wisdom, awareness and responsibility.

But perhaps most importantly, the stones are beautiful! And who has enough beauty in their lives, eh?

Till next time, be well,
Red

Friday Wrap Up

2009-10-16T19:42:00.000-07:00

This week was pretty slow for me, course being sick a day and having my bead reamer turn up DOA will slow me down a tad. But it was not all wasted! I finished a custom necklace:

This is the center piece to a Twilight set (no sparkley vampires here...not that I don't like them...heh...*whistles innocently*). My inspiration for this piece actually came from a drive out to the Temple of Goddess Spirituality Dedicated to Sekhmet, which is about 50 minutes North West out of town. I saw the last line of gold ribbon the horizon which faded into purple and knew how this piece was going to be put together! Twilight is that last moment of the day, a bridge, an open door...there's mystery, magick and wisdom there. I'm waiting for some beads to arrive so I can finish the set. I'll have pics as soon as I can!

I am working on a set of pagan prayer or spell beads. They're not a rosary, or a mala prayer beads, though the design is similar. I should have a teaser pic up on Facebook next week with some luck.

After my next set of commissions are finished, I'll be able to buy beads for some of the new designs I have wandering around my head...I'm looking forward to that, hope you are too.

Till next time, be well,

Red

Stonewise: Malachite

2009-10-14T16:09:00.000-07:00

Welcome to this week's Stonewise. Today we're looking at one of my favorite stones (aren't they all?) Malachite.

As per usual, first a little info about the stone taken from my stone book by Ardriana Cahill.

In Greek malache means mallow, an illusion to the mineral's leaf-green color. Known for it's ease in carving. Malachite is a compound carbonate, and is close in nature to its cousin, copper.

Folklore: Being so closely associated with the sacred metal of Venus, the goddess of love, it was highly prized by the ancients. Dedicated to Juno as the Peacock Stone, it protected against the evil eye. Russian legend says to drink from a malachite goblet will allow you to speak to animals.

Magick: Very protective, attracts health, wealth and repels negativity. Breaks bad habits, promotes business success. Place in your car or purse to evoke its protective energies during travel.

How I use it in my jewelry...Somewhere along the way, I read that Malachite was the safety in travel stone, I wish I could remember where, so I could properly quote it...in any case, that idea stuck itself firmly in my mind and so it's the first thing I think of. My Travel Charm jewelry all feature a center stone of Malachite.

But it's also so vibrantly green. I can't help but use it as an earth and healing stone. One summer, while at the fabulous New Pioneer up in West Yellowstone, Montana, I was buying my nieces their first rocks (like a proper aunt should...), and the great old hippy who runs the shop let my girls pick out a piece of Malachite from the basket. My eldest niece proudly held up the piece she picked, and he asked her why. She said, "Because you can see the grass in there."

After I was done fainting from pride and the cute, I thought about what she said, and the phrase settled in my psyche. I too now can see the grass in there. And so Malachite's become a very powerful stone for growth and health for me, resilient as grass is (even dead, you can just water it for a bit and it comes back).

And now you know a little bit more about how I use the stone. Hope you can see the grass in there.

Till next time, be well,

Red

What Intentions Do I Wear?

2009-10-12T18:56:00.000-07:00

I love playing with my rocks, creating jewelry that I imagine will help someone else. It's a great feeling to do something that feels like fun, but also isn't just a game. And most of the time I have no problem setting aside the pieces in hopes that they will find new homes...I want them to find new homes...really...no, seriously...

But every once in a while there's a piece that sits there when I'm finished and says, "You might as well put me on your altar, since I'm not going anywhere." (I hang the few pieces that are "mine" on my altar when I'm not wearing them.)

The first such piece was a Woman's Moontime bracelet:

I usually carry a couple pieces of bloodstone and hematite in my pocket during those days, and they seem to help me not overdose on Ibuprofen, or rip someone's face off during those days. *two thumbs up* The bracelet seemed a natural evolution to that, and it's pretty too!

The next piece was a Discovery:

(the image is of the general design, not the exact stones in the one that's "mine")...the overall color of the one that I love is brown, and it sat in the gallery for like four months without anyone coming in to buy it when I decided that I was going to listen to it and take it home.

But the one that was mine before I made it, and the one I wear most often, including to sleep in, is my Moon:

I had the idea in my head for weeks before the stones I needed arrived, and the first one I made was a large (I usually make mediums or smalls first), and when I was done it went right on my wrist. I didn't even pretend this time. I wanted one when I thought it up, and it remains to this date my favorite design. In fact, I mostly only take it off to shower.

The moon has always been magickal to me, even as a kid, and now I get to wear a symbol of that magick, every day. I love it, and it makes me feel better to have it on.

And now you probably know more about what jewelry I wear than you ever wanted to. ;)

Till next time, be well,

Red

Stonewise: Red Tiger's Eye

2009-10-07T14:37:00.001-07:00

I know I skipped Monday's post...I was coming off a long weekend and wasn't feeling well. But I'm back today with a new Stonewise post. This week we'll look at Red Tiger's Eye.

First, some basic info taken from my book of stones by Ardriana Cahill:

This silky chatoyant (that's a fancy way of saying it shifts colors when the light hits it) quartz has shimmering streaks that switch around when the angle of light changes.

Magick: This red brother stone to the traditional golden tiger's eye promotes physical strength, vigorous health, passion, desire and justified pride. It is the stone to carry to draw out your talents and achievements.

Why I like to use it in my jewelry...

Red Tiger's Eye has such a unique color. It's not too bright or garish. It's a color you can sink into, so deep and rich, looks almost liquid. And it's always changing, sunlight, lamp light, even candle light will make it move and shift.

One of my favorite things about Tiger's Eye in general is that it often grows next to one of my other favorite stones, hematite. So you can find this lush piece of red, with rings of deep silver...how awesome is that?

Tiger's Eye has become *the* fire stone for me, since it comes in the three colors of a flame...gold, red and blue. It's all passion, and strength and desire for me, and yet it's still smooth and warms easily to your touch. Tiger's Eye in general probably holds one of the top three places for most pieces I own, with red being second in most Tiger's Eye I own.

Ahh! It's so decadent! And that's a little bit why I use it the way I do.

Till next time, be well,

Red

Thursday Wrap Up?

2009-10-01T14:32:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm going out of town for the weekend, with no internet access, and I thought I should post early rather than not at all.

Not a whole lot to report this week I'm afraid. I did post a new item, Handfasting Bracelets, which have been received well. I also picked up a new commission, and am working on a second one...I'm very excited about both of them. Every commission is a unique challenge and I love seeing what I can come up with for the client. I'm taking a head full of designs with me for the weekend and I'm already looking forward to when I get back. :D

In any case, I hope you have a wonderful weekend, and I'll see you on Monday. Till then, be well,

Red

Stonewise: Obsidian

2009-09-30T16:39:00.000-07:00

For this week's stone, I've picked Obsidian. My first magickal working stone is this wonderful piece of obsidian, rough but polished, that tucks oh so nicely into my hand. I've gotten a lot of energy from that stone over the years, and even though I've added more to my collection, it holds a place of honor for me.

So, first a little bit about the stone in general...take from my stone book by Ardriana Cahill:

There are several forms of Obsidian, but all are forms of natural volcanic glass. They seem to be opaque, but if you hold a piece up to the light, sometimes you can see its transparency. Obsidian come from the Greek "Opsianos" meaning vision because it was used to make mirrors.

Folklore: Obsidian has been used for tools and weapons for thousands of years. To the Aztecs it was Izili, or sometimes Teotetl, meaning "Divine Stone". It is a shaman stone that holds both Fire and Earth elements.

Magick: A powerful reflective shielding stone. Obsidian is used to help gain understanding of the power of destiny. A scrying stone when made into mirrors. An excellent general healer and strength builder. All forms of Obsidian are excellent grounding stones.

There are several forms of Obsidian, and they all deserve their own moments, as I use them somewhat differently. For now, I'll talk about why I like to use "plain black Obsidian" (as if there's anything plain about it!).

A lot of the fascination for me comes from how Obsidian is formed. The raw transformation from lava to rock is so huge, there's so much pent up potential in the stone. It's like it remembers being lava even though it's no longer free and flowing.

I love the smoothness of Obsidian. It has particular texture that no other stone has, smoother than even Hematite. In knapped pieces, I love the texture and sweeping patterns in the volcanic glass, always interesting and beautiful. In highly polished pieces, there's a shine to it that is very hard to dim.

I have many pieces of Obsidian, in all its forms, most of them larger display pieces that I still love to pick up and hold till it grows warm from my body heat. I don't have a huge quantity of it, as small tumbled pieces were rather hard to come by, so I'd say it's in my top 10 for number of pieces owned.

I use Obsidian mostly for its protective aspects. Adding it to Onyx, Hematite and Tiger's Eye, to make deeply powerful protective pieces of jewelry. And now you know a little bit more of why I do it.

Till next time, be well,

Red

Not Only am I the President of...

2009-09-28T17:33:00.000-07:00

No...not Hair Club for Men, but the thought is the same. If I want to help people, in some little way, then I'd better be able to help myself too, right?

So this last month's moontime was particularly brutal. After a day and a half of misery, I remembered that I had a Moontime bracelet hanging on my altar, charging. Even then, it still took a little argument with myself to get over there...("I don't want to walk that far." Go get it "But it's so far." Put it on. "Ugh, I just want to sit down." GO...GET...IT! "Ok, ok...fine. *grumbles*)

I said the incantation as I placed the stones against my wrist, and as I closed the clasp, eveything just...eased. The pain in my back, my front...everything just lightened up. The little part of me that stands to the side and observes stuff said, "Woah, that was cool."

Now, I know it could have been something else. The ibuprofin could have kicked in at that moment. Or my body choose that moment to lighten up by itself. Or I could have even done it myself by programming, mind over body, (the bracelet helps because I believe it's going to). It could have even just been magick.

The real trick is...it doesn't matter what *really* happened. Not one whit. What does matter is that the effect I was looking for,

"to help you have as peaceful a moontime as possible"

happened.

Regardless of the "truth" of the situation, I'd say the bracelet did its job, no?

Till next time, be well,
Red

Friday Wrap Up

2009-09-25T15:42:00.001-07:00

Another busy week's gone by in a flash! I can't believe time is moving so fast...

Let's see...what did I accomplish?

Oh, I finished a commission piece and sold it! :D

I posted three new items in the shop: my Fire Collection, Protection Earrings and Discovery Bracelet.

Ohh, I signed up to be a vendor at the Las Vegas Pagan Pride Day Celebration! It'll be my first time vending, so I hope they don't mind being a guinea pig. ^^

Did some research on some new designs...here's a sneak peek on what to look for: Fertility, Abundance and Awareness. Hope that has you wanting to see what I'm cooking up. ;D

And a bit of a confession...I'm struggling not to get discouraged. I'm getting amazing feedback on my designs and the like, but just haven't made many sales. I know times are tough, and I keep reminding myself to be patient, but it's hard. *sigh* Anyway, thanks for letting me whine for a moment.

I hope you all had a fantastic week and a better weekend.

Till next time, be well,
Red

Stonewise: Hematite

2009-09-23T17:53:00.001-07:00

I've decided that on Wednesday, I'd do a short blog post of one of my favorite stones. Today we're going to look at Hematite.

First a little history taken from my stone book by Ardriana Cahill:

Hematite is often called the "other bloodstone", since it streaks a rusty, blood red. The name hematite is from the Greek "haimatites" meaning blood like. Cut as jewelry, it is called Black Diamond.

Folklore: The earthy form of hematite, Red Ocher, was used in Stone Age graves to imitate the sacred blood of birth. Egyptian mummies often rested their heads on pillows of hematite. Azchalias, a Babylonian, wrote in 63 BCE that amulets made of hematite obtained the favor of kings and judges.

Magick: A power stone, an intensifier, a doubler, to aid other magicks. Is perfect for grounding and centering. A survival stone, it was worn into battle and makes a powerful shielding tool. Add to a stone bag to increase the power of the other stones.

Why I like to use it in my jewelry...
Hematite fascinates me. I love the color, the feel and weight of it. Hematite makes some of the best worry stones, because it's so dense and smooth. I can just run my fingers over a piece for ages.

I love that it streaks red, even though the stone is a dark silver. It gives the stone a mystery and magick that very few other stones have. I love that there is ancient folklore about it, and I can tap into parts of it with my modern jewelry.

I discovered hematite when I was very young, and it became a staple in my collection quickly. It's easily in the top 5 for how many pieces I have, small and large.

Each bracelet, necklace or anklet I make will have a pair of hematite sentinels next to the clasp to ensure the piece is as powerful as possible for the wearer. And now you know a little bit more of why I do it.

Till next time, be well,
Red

Sympathetic Magick

2009-09-21T16:37:00.000-07:00

I'm going to start today with a definition of magick, quoted from writer and witch Ardriana Cahill:

"Magick – (poetically spelled with a “k” using the Olde spelling. No one has ever confused what I do with theatrical magic.) 1) Witches consider magick as a natural, not supernatural, practice. 2) the process by which one uses ones natural gifts and talents to achieve a greater degree of success in all pursuits. 3) Aleister Crowley: “the Science and Art of causing Change to occur in conformity with Will.” 4) S. L. Mathers, one of the founders of The Golden Dawn: "The Science of the Control of the Secret Forces of Nature.” 5) Egyptian Magician, Christian Jacq: “…the essential energy which circulates in the Universe of the Gods, as well as in that of humans." 6) Dorothy Berry Mills, "Energies working with the senses and will to effect change that someday will be proven by science." 7) Ardriana Cahill, an unproven form of quantum mechanics."

Why? Because each piece of jewelry I make has a sympathetic magickal purpose designed into it, and not everyone knows what that means.

I want my jewelry to not just be beautiful, but meaningful and powerful. This is why I use mostly stone, without a lot of filler or findings. I have been a stone witch since I was a teenager, it is where I am most comfortable, and the most powerful, so making jewelry seemed a natural evolution to my process.

So how does my jewelry work? The basic idea behind sympathetic magick is that one uses props to help focus the mind on the intention. I'd light a red candle to help me find strength or love. I'd carry a piece of onyx or obsidian in my pocket to help protect me from the negativity that was being directed at me by others. Wear the bracelet to do the same thing. Its weight on your wrist is a constant reminder of why you put it on in the morning, helping your mind work, even unconsciously, toward the purpose you chose.

But I don't want anyone to get too hung up on this idea. If there are those who simply find my jewelry beautiful, and don't care about the magick, then I am happy. Wear my jewelry as it pleases you, and you can't go wrong.

Till next time, be well,
Red

Friday Wrap Up

2009-09-18T13:09:00.000-07:00

As the week wraps up, I find that I'm pleased with the amount of work I've done this week on "teh intarwebs" getting my jewelry noticed out there.

I took new pics for my bracelets, check out my Creativity Bracelet, I think the third pic turned out pretty dang good.

Also updated the pics for my Protection Necklace, much happier with them now.

Finished my Four Quarters Bracelet for the Pagans of Etsy September challenge.

And got a new commission! I'm very excited about this one. It's a necklace, made with onyx, red tiger's eye and red jasper. It's simple, but the pattern turned out great, and I'm very pleased with it. Should have it finished and ready for pictures on Monday. W00t!

In any case, have a good weekend, and until next time, be well,
Red

Jumpin' right on in.

2009-09-17T02:05:00.000-07:00

Hello there! I'm Bhen Rudha (VEN ROO-ah), which means Red Woman in Gaeilge, and I'm starting a blog about my adventures in jewelry making.

I started my collection of semi-precious stones when I was a kid...it was a polished piece of faceted quartz from Yellowstone National Park. I was fascinated by how much it looked like ice, yet it was only cool to the touch, and would even warm to the hand without melting. I'd roll it around in my fingers, feeling each facet flatten against my skin. I still have that piece, tucked away safely in one of my stone boxes (yes...boxes).

Later I started buying little pieces of tumbled stone...tiger's eye, hematite, petrified wood, jasper, agate. I would also roll these pieces around in my fingers, or palm, feeling how they fit in my hand, the differences in weight and texture, and how they warmed the longer I held them.

When I was a teenager, I started learning about sympathetic magick, and magickal properties of the stones I had been collecting. Now I would place them in little bags and use them as spells. Helping a friend pass a test, or get the attention of someone they liked, get over a cold faster...I still carry stones in my pockets for different reasons, though it's mostly because I love them.

It seemed a no brainer then, when I thought about making jewelry with magickal intentions, but what to name it? That, sadly, is what took me to longest to figure out. Magick is broken up by intention, and I wanted that in the name...but what to preface it with? I rolled the idea around in my mind for a long time, and then it came to me (and no, the irony's not lost on me), Crystallized Intentions.

The name has a couple layers of meaning, and I love it, even though it's a mouthful. First is the obvious physicality...each gemstone is "crystallized", and so the jewelry is a physical manifestation of whatever it is you want. But beneath that is the idea that thoughts crystallize, and magickally that's how my jewelry is supposed to help, to focus the will, to crystallize your intention and make it easier to work on.

Each piece I make has some purpose behind it. Some are specific, like my Travel Charm Earrings, that are designed to promote just safety in travel, while others are more general, like my Water Bracelet, which is designed to promote qualities of the element like peace and emotional harmony.

So far I love it, and I think that's the most magickal part of this journey.

Till next time, be well,
Red