Serenity Sunday

Usually every day it is my custom to grab my tarot deck and draw three cards for that day and see what they have to tell me. Tarot cards are funny things, they have a knack of telling you what you need to hear whether or not you are ready to hear them. I drew the three cards you see above Friday and I knew by the Star (my birth card) that this message was for me and I knew by the Queen of Wands (Kali) that it involved a strong female figure and some sort of renewal indicated by Aeon.

I sat at my desk pondering these cards for several minutes, just trying to figure out just what they were saying and for a long time their message eluded me so I let my attention drift over to my computer screen where I had TweetDeck running so I can keep up on all the latest Tweets. All of a sudden a Tweet appeared...it was about Mother's Day and in a flash that little light bulb in my head clicked on. I know what they're trying to tell me...and it was pretty simple too...I needed to resurrect my efforts to connect with my mother and call her on Mother's Day. 

I wasn't really sure that I wanted to hear that I needed to call my mom on Mother's Day because you see, to say that our relationship was tenuous at best would be an understatement, which is probably why I didn't connect the Queen of Wands with my mother right away. So, what did I do next? I sent a text to my middle daughter asking her if she had spoken to Grandma Ginger lately and if so, how was she doing...I learned that she had surgery quite recently and was in the hospital (I guiltily glanced at my cards feeling rather unsettled at their message) so I knew that I needed to gather the courage and give her a call.

I called my step dad to see which hospital she was at and found out that she had been released and was staying with a relative during her recuperation and he gladly gave me her cell number (my mother has a cell phone, would wonders ever cease?) I called her and surprisingly she answered almost right away. I asked how she was doing and I could tell that she wasn't immediately sure who was asking but I forged on and she realized it was me. I wished her an early Happy Mother's Day and I could tell that I had certainly caught her off guard but she cordially said thank you and I felt a little better since the conversation went well.

It felt good to hear her voice, she sounded well and strong as ever and hopefully my call gave her something to think about. I never have forgotten about her, I think of my mother often...not just on her birthday, Christmas or even on her anniversary to my step dad but usually I'm  too much of a coward to call and just let sleeping dogs lie. I really miss my mom, I wish that we had been able to have a relationship. I know she'll never read this post but Happy Mother's Day mom, I love you.

My List:

1.) My mom

2.) My kids

3.) Great Friends

4.) My Tarot cards

5.) Hand made Mother's Day gifts

6.) Memories

7.) Courage

8.) Cell phones

9.) Rice crispy treats

10.) Second Chances

Serenity Sunday

Serenity
by Dena Martin

As I look
Beyond the ripples of my reflections
To examine my inner self;
The ripples begin to fade . . .
As the reflection lays beside me
Grasping my hand,
The inner warmth shields me
And the vision of my reflection appears
I see you. My Friend.



My List:


1.) My kids


2.) My pets


3.) Terrific friends


4.) Sugar cookies


5.) Holiday candles


6.) Warm blankets


7.) Foggy mornings


8.) Spiced cider


9.) Sleeping in


10.) Laughter

Serenity Sunday

Gratitude Spell


What You Will Need:
~ Green Candle
~ Patchouli Oil


Instructions:
During the waxing moon, annoint your green candle with patchouli oil. Light the candle and say the following several times to Lakshmi, Hindu goddess of wealth and beauty: "OM Mala Lakshmi, Lakshmi, Lakshmi, Namah." This chant thanks Lakshmi and opens the door for abundance to come into your life. Let candles burn themselves out safely, or repeat for consecutive days until larger candle is gone.

My List:

1.) My kids

2.) My pets

3.) Ibuprofen

4.) Herbal tea

5.) Turkey sandwiches

6.) Puffs tissue

7.) Fresh baked bread

8.) Great friends

9.) Classical music

10.) Laughter is the best medicine

Serenity Sunday

Take a few moments and think about what you are thankful for. You may even wish to take a few minutes to jot down some notes for yourself. Set aside just 60 seconds a day


With your list of those things you are thankful for, set aside just one minute per day (or more, if you wish) to review that list, to verbalize your gratitude and to really take in your thankfulness for those things that you do have. Literally say it out loud: "I am thankful for the garden in my back yard and the opportunity to grow a small portion of my own food" for example.


In just 60 seconds per day, if practiced daily, you will create an attitude of gratitude which will brighten your mood and uplift your day-to-day experience of life because it allows you to refocus your attention on those things you appreciate rather than those things you might despise.


My List:


1.) My kids


2.) My pets


3.) Tarot friends


4.) Snow days


5.) Hot chocolate


6.) Towels just out of the dryer


7.) Electric pencil sharpeners


8.) Meditation


9.) Scented candles


10.) Packages in the mail

Serenity Sunday

Samhain marks one of the two great doorways of the Celtic year, for the Celts divided the year into two seasons: the light and the dark, at Beltane on May 1st and Samhain on November 1st. Some believe that Samhain was the more important festival, marking the beginning of a whole new cycle, just as the Celtic day began at night. For it was understood that in dark silence comes whisperings of new beginnings, the stirring of the seed below the ground. Whereas Beltane welcomes in the summer with joyous celebrations at dawn, the most magically potent time of this festival is November Eve, the night of October 31st, known today of course, as Halloween.

My List:


1.) My kids


2.) My pets


3.) Fond memories


4.) Great friends


5.) Apple cider


6.) Glowing candles


7.) Foggy mornings


8.) Hay rides


9.) Brisk walks


10.) Extra blankets

Serenity Sunday

May you listen to your longing to be free.

May the frames of your belonging be large enough for the dreams of your soul.

May you arise each day with a voice of blessing whispering in your heart

...something good is going to happen to you.

May you find harmony between your soul and your life.

May the mansion of your soul never become a haunted place.

May you know the eternal longing that lies at the heart of time.

May there be kindness in your gaze when you look within.

May you never place walls between the light and yourself.

May you be set free from the prisons of guilt, fear, disappointment and despair.

May you allow the wild beauty of the invisible world to gather you,

mind you, and embrace you in belonging.

- John O'Donahoe

My List:


1.) My kids


2.) Calliope and Niko


3.) Great friends


4.) Kind words


5.) Carving pumpkins


6.) Hot spiced cider


7.) Hezicos Tarot


8.) Scary ghost stories


9.) Halloween decorations


10.) Quiet time

Serenity Sunday

For each new morning with its light,

For rest and shelter of the night,

For health and food, for love and friends,

For everything Thy goodness sends.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

My List:


1.) My kids


2.) Terrific friends


3.) My pets


4.) Chilly nights


5.) Cool sunny days


6.) Colored leaves


7.) Packages in the mail


8.) Crystals


9.) Blackford Cottage tarot bags


10.) Croaking frogs

Serenity Sunday

An Attitude of Gratitude

"This is a wonderful time to be living here on earth. Our opportunities are limitless. While there are some things wrong in the world today, there are many things right, such as teachers who teach, ministers who minister, marriages that make it, parents who sacrifice, and friends who help.


"We can lift ourselves, and others as well, when we refuse to remain in the realm of negative thought and cultivate within our hearts an attitude of gratitude. If ingratitude be numbered among the serious sins, then gratitude takes its place among the noblest of virtues" (Thomas S. Monson)


My List:


1.) My family


2.) Great friends


3.) Fall mornings


4.) Beyond Worlds-Your Tarot Tribe (on BlogTalk Radio)


5.) Custom Tarot bags


6.) Carrots from the garden


7.) Ah Ha moments


8.) Journaling


9.) Honey roasted peanuts


10.) Furniture polish wipes

Serenity Sunday

Besom Chant


Besom, besom long and lithe
Made from ash and willow withe
Tied with thongs of willow bark
In running stream at moonset dark.


With a pentagram indighted
As the ritual fire is lighted;
Sweep ye circle, deosil,
Sweep out evil, sweep out ill,
Make the round of the ground
Where we do the Lady's will.


Besom, besom, Lady's broom
Sweep out darkness, sweep out doom
Rid ye Lady's hallowed ground
Of demons, imps and Hell's death hound;
Then set ye down on Her green earth
By running stream or Mistress' hearth,
'Till called once more on Sabbath night
To cleans once more the dancing site.



My List:


1.) My family


2.) Great friends


3.) Cool evenings


4.) Full moons


5.) Wheat bread


6.) Dragonflies


7.) Fall foliage


8.) Meditation time


9.) End of season roses


10.) Candles

Serenity Sunday

An affirmation is a spoken or thought phrase that harmonises your energy field and thus evokes feelings of well being.


This really is the idea, you repeat a phrase that you find uplifting repeatedly until the reality of that statement becomes grounded in your physical world.


An affirmations job is to evoke positive feelings in you, to uplift you, or shift you into a more positive and hopeful state of being at which point the Law Of Attraction (Like attracts like) sets to work mirroring, affirming and confirming that you are indeed absolutely right to feel so hopeful and optimistic.


The key is choosing the right affirmations for you, ones that really evoke feelings of well being and thus “work”.


Breathe, relax, pause and gently ask inwardly for the optimum affirmation to become conscious for you…


~ “I am safe”
~ “Opportunities are everywhere, something will turn up”
~ “Every problem is an opportunity for growth and evolution”
~ “Lots of people have overcome similar problems, so will I”
~ “I am focused solely upon solutions to my problems”
~ “I am fully supported in finding solutions to all my problems”
~ “In time I will look back at this and laugh” etc…


Only you really know what works for you its just a case of trying different affirmations until you begin to feel more optimistic. Trust yourself. Then after awhile try new ones that may bring even greater feelings of hope and well being. Stick with it, keep practising shifting yourself into feelings of well being make it a habit, why settle for less?


My List:


1.) My family


2.) Great friends


3.) Changing of the season


4.) Laughter


5.) Mulled wine


6.) Rose petals in a basket


7.) Hot baths


8.) Good music


9.) Movie night


10.) Tarot cards

Serenity Sunday

Writing a gratitude journal can be a great way of learning a more positive way of thinking. It helps you to really appreciate the small pleasures in life, and to appreciate the things you do have, instead of the things you don't. It can even be a useful tool for

Serenity Sunday

Be Thankful For

by Author Unknown

Be thankful that you don't already have everything you desire,

If you did, what would there be to look forward to?

Be thankful when you don't know something

Serenity Sunday

A Computer Blessing

Blessings on this fine machine,

May its data all be clean.
Let the files stay where they're put,
Away from disk drives keep all soot.
From its screen shall come no whines,
Let in no spikes on power lines.
As oaks were sacred to the Druids,
Let not the keyboard suffer fluids.
Disk Full shall be nor more than rarity,
The memory shall not miss its parity.
From the modem shall come wonders,
Without line noise making blunders.
May it never catch a virus,
And all its software stay desirous.
Oh let the printer never jam,
And turn my output into spam.
I ask of Eris, noble queen,
Keep Murphy far from this machine.

My List:

1.) My kids

2.) My friends

3.) Tarot

4.) My health

5.) Positive attitudes

6.) Common ground

7.) Lily ponds

8.) Incense

9.) Laughter

10.) Books

Serenity Sunday

Happy Mother's Day!

Mother's Day isn't a new holiday. The earliest Mother's Day celebrations can be traced back to the spring celebrations of ancient Greece in honor of Rhea, the mother of the gods. People would make offerings of honey-cakes, fine drinks, and flowers at dawn.

The Romans also had a mother of all gods, Magna Mater, or Great Mother. A temple was built in Rome for her. In March of each year, there was a celebration in her honor called the Festival of Hilaria. Gifts were brought to the temple to please the powerful mother-goddess.


During the 1600s, England celebrated "Mothering Sunday" on the fourth Sunday of Lent (the 40 days leading up to Easter) as a way to honor the mothers of England. Many of England's poor lived and worked as servants for the wealthy, far away from their homes and families. On Mothering Sunday, servants were given the day off to return home and spend the day with their mothers. A special cake, called the "mothering cake," was often baked to add to the festivities


In the United States, Julia Ward Howe (1819-1910), a Boston writer, pacifist, suffragist, and author of the words to the Battle Hymn of the Republic, first suggested a Mothers' Day in 1872. She saw it as a day dedicated to peace. Although her version of Mothers' Day never really caught on, Howe went on to head the American branch of the Woman's International Peace Association, which observed a day dedicated to peace.


The official observance of Mother's Day in its present form is credited to Anna Jarvis (1864-1948) of Philadelphia, PA. She wanted to honor the memory of her mother, Mrs. Ann Marie Reeves Jarvis, who died in 1905. Before getting into the story, it's important to clear up two popular misconceptions. According to historical records provided by the curator at the Anna Jarvis Birthplace Museum near Grafton, WV, Anna Jarvis' mother was not, as is popularly believed, also named Anna. Her mother was simply Ann. Second, Anna Jarvis' name has no middle initial.


Mother's Day is the legacy of Anna Jarvis and her mother Ann Jarvis. At the heart of the traditions around Mother's Day are themes of honoring mothers, compassion, peace, reconciliation, and social action.


Today, Mother's Day is celebrated (officially and unofficially) in dozens of countries, although on different dates. In the United States, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Turkey, Australia, Belgium, and Japan it is celebrated on the second Sunday of May.




My List:


1.) My kids

2.) Hand made potted Mother's Day gifts from the kids


3.) Hugs


4.) Sunny weekends


5.) Chocolate


6.) Great friends


7.) Happy memories


8.) Knowledge I can teach to others


9.) Scented candles


10.) Waterfalls

Serenity Sunday

Gratitude Rocks

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow

The basic idea of a gratitude rock or gratitude stone, is simple. You carry it with you, typically in your pocket or purse. Whenever you touch it, you give thanks for something right at that moment. No matter whether you are stuck in traffic, sitting at your desk at work or school, or anywhere else you might be, simply give thanks for something good in your life at that moment.

You can hold your Gratitude Rock in your hand and think about the people in your life and the incredible experiences you've had as a result of knowing them. When you do this on a consistent basis and start to associate the power of this experience and the feeling of gratitude, you are creating a very formidable base from which everything else will grow.

It doesn't have to be any fancy engraved stone, just a simple stone that catches your eye on a walk through the park will do nicely. You can even set aside a place in your garden for these stones, keep an eye out for stones that strike your fancy and place them in your gratitude garden and watch to see how it grows!





My List:


1.) My kids


2.) My health


3.) Terrific friends


4.) Clear thinking


5.) Herb gardens


6.) Pretty stones


7.) Warmer weather


8.) Mother Earth


9.) Nasal decongestant


10.) Frozen pizza

Thoughtful Thursday

Here are some really simple ways to show your appreciation for those who impact your life in a positive way. 

~ A heart felt thank-you note/card.


~ Gift certificate to their favorite coffee shop.


~ Fresh baking for their early morning meeting.


~ Fresh cut flowers to be passed around the office. Include a card that says: A little something to brighten your day. I’m yours for two hours then give me away.


~ Invite your friend or co-worker out for a cup of coffee or a drink after work.


~ Lend a hand when a friend or family member is painting or remodeling their home.


~ If you know your friend wants to get organized but is having a tough time starting, buy them a book on organizing, some containers and nice notebook.


~ Cook a meal so they don’t have to after a long day at work.


~ Frame one of their favorite pictures.

~ Share a plant or a plant clipping.


~ Pick up some groceries and drop them off  to someone homebound in your neighborhood on your way home.


~ Return a favor. If your neighbor always shovels your walk way or mows your grass get out there before him or her and do theirs for a change.


~ Watch your niece or nephew or neighbor's child(ren) for an afternoon to give their parents some time off.


~ Make reservations at their favorite restaurant.


~ Make a candle light dinner at home for your spouse.


~Give a hug. Simple as that.


~ Tell them what you think they are particularly great at.

~ Write notes to leave on a pillow, a computer keyboard, or in a lunch box.


~ Give a hand made gift. 


Make a special day just for them. Plan a day for them around what they enjoy. Go with them if it’s appropriate.


Our relationships with others are what enrich our lives. Take time to show the people who make your life better how much you appreciate them and how much they matter.