My photo
"Where better to care for the soul than in the details of our daily lives?....The soul has an absolute, unforgiving need for regular excursions into enchantment. It requires them like the body needs food and the mind needs thought... An enchanted world is one that speaks to the soul, to the mysterious depths of the heart and imagination where we find value, love and union with the world around us. As mystics of many religions have taught, that sense of rapturous union can give a sense of fulfillment that makes life purposeful and vibrant." ~ Thomas Moore.

Sunday, August 26, 2012

Morning Brunch

A friend stayed overnight and I made breakfast and Paris tea.
My housemate brought home roses from when I asked for them days ago...lol.....but the timing now was good. As I cooked, my guest cut the roses and put them in a vase. She then took this picture.



























She held up her tiny cell phone and said, "look at this pretty picture" and I said, my god, that is pretty, then it dawned on me, it was my table LOL.....I was busy you know!

But I liked it so much I took a couple more pics just in case she couldn't send it to me through her phone and my email LOL.

The cloches are holding some of my crystals, clear quartz and amethyst.....love the sparkle! Plates ready and two kinds of mineral salts, Himalayan and Black Sea Salt.....love the crunch!




























We had my "Famous Breakfast Pizza"......which didn't get into the photo yet. It was good, the tea was good, the roses beautiful, and the weather was good. It was a good morning.

Many blessings to you all.



Saturday, August 25, 2012

The Beauty of a Womans Heart

I love speaking of the heart. I love speaking from the heart. I love what is in my heart. I wish I could share my entire life of heart with everyone. But alas, it is not possible, for when many encounter this heart, this largesse of spirit, they do not know what to do. They fall back into their behaviors, their minds, what they believe to be proper or acceptable, etc....all that mental nonsense.

There is nothing wiser, more beautiful, more real, more authentic, more magical or miraculous than those who feel their hearts and speak from them, but mostly act from them. I adore these ones and I live to be with them.

I just saw one blogger woman who I just began following. She has a great deal of faith in the Christian tradition. And while I follow no particular tradition except that of the Heart, I see beauty regardless of where it comes from and this woman has expressed the supreme beauty of the HuMane Spirit. I am reblogging it here. I did not get permission yet, but as I await, I'm assuming it is ok if I post its entirety with her link? not sure.....but this message of the Heart and the uniquely feminine expression of the caring soul of the woman I could not pass up and want to share as fast as possible. If she objects I will remove it, but you will have been touched by this beauty of heart already.

Please ..... let us share this heart space and live from there......The world needs this heart more than ever.
Below is her post.

Just a Word on my heart............













Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Crystal Infused Living Water, The Violet Flame

Animation of the Violet Flame
I have done work with the Violet Flame in the past. I was taught it and resisted it, but when enough convinced people surround you, they have an uncanny ability to convince you too. I bought a little handbook about the Violet Flame, and I decided to "play around" with it....meaning give it a try in all due respect.
I didn't find that it did nothing, I found that it could have in fact done something. I was never sure.     
                                      
                        
Until I got some information years ago about a disaster that was pending in Florida. I was "instructed" by some benevolence that I must do the Violet Flame every day until this possibility was past.
I did.
I invoked the Violet Flame every single day, from morning to night and did nothing else for 30 days. I don't know how I was so disciplined and so focused, I must have had help from the Divine Realms, but that is truly what happened in that month. I may have done chores and domestic things but I did the Violet Flame throughout it all. It repeated in my mind and I thought of nothing else.
Nothing bad happened in Florida, so either I was effective, or there was nothing to be concerned about in the first place. I believe the first option because I was given the information which I indeed believed as I'm not prone to disaster concerns but this time I was.......and because of my Violet invocations that "nothing happened" was more a sense of relief than anything else. I can never be entirely sure though....but I feel positive about it.
One of the things I did during this month was take some pictures of my garden. At this time I used only a throwaway camera which produced physical photos developed in the store. I put these in an album. One day I wanted to show my employer my gardens and when she looked at the photos she asked me why they looked purple....I hadn't noticed it myself, until she said it. Those pictures were taken during the month I did the invocations. That is when I was convinced the Violet Flame works. You see I also desire some kind of evidence....and still do.
I don't know what has happened in the past few years but they have been, shall we say, trying?
I got off of my spiritual disciplines which I had done all my life without thought and didn't realize it until I didn't do them anymore. I missed them terribly, but I could not conjure up a false sense of discipline. Until now.
Lately I have been having regular conversations with my buddy and pal Ari, who I adore. I was learning a few things from her about worm farming and her Aquaponics systems which she is very giving in sharing what she knows....always being the helpful one! Goddess bless her! And in our discussions I told her of an idea I had to use the aerator pump used to make compost tea in my drinking water to oxygenate it, and I took pictures and sent the page to her and she liked the idea and suggested to infuse an amethyst stone with the Violet Flame and add it to the water in addition to the rose quartz already in there. I did have an extra amethyst I didn't know where to place for perfection for the past 2 years, when I thought that was the perfect way to use it. Thank you Ari!
But Oh bother! another mental focus I wasn't in the mood for LOL, but I decided I must do it, as no good ideas slip by me, I act on them all...somethings eventually work. I did it.                                           
In programming my amethyst, I commanded the Violet Flame to infuse this crystal, that this crystal is the Violet Flame. That simple. I sat only for a minute as I held the amethyst cluster and infused it with the Violet Flame as much as I could. I imagined hearing a flame like crackling sound which I find effective for me in making it real. I "remembered" the Atlanteans who were unparalleled at this kind of mental focus with crystals and wish I had that ability now. I did what I could and when I felt I had enough, I added it to the water, and forgot about it.
During the day as I browsed my emails something came in about a woman speaking of the Violet Flame. ......(here it is again. ) I half listened to her audio as I continued to browse what came across my desk having several windows open quickly scanning emails and links sent to me. I found myself with another link about the violet flame, and then Another, and another, and another......when I realized after maybe an hour that I was completely surrounded with information from several sources I did not seek, speaking of the Violet Flame. I thought, isn't that interesting? For me, I take Spiritual clues in "threes"....if they come 3 times in a row, I pay attention. I was now paying attention. Ari was the first casual suggestion, and then a half dozen more.
Throughout the day I would dispassionately invoke the Violet Flame a few times and forget about it. I asked for it to remove anything that is not of my true self, to flame my thoughts, my body, my home. I forgot the single line for the invocation I AM a Being of Violet Fire! I AM the Purity God Desires! and simply commanded the Violet Flame to be present and to infuse that which I  mentioned.                                
                                        
                                          violet flame
I got up this morning to drink some water as I always do first thing in the morning and filled my bottle up to full with the freshly aerated water that was bubbling the entire night. After a few moments of drinking this water, I felt an exciting enthusiasm, a desire to see crystals everywhere! under my glass cloches, in clusters, in every part of the house on every surface! My goodness, what a Light and Ethereal feeling I was feeling! ? what was happening? I walked around the house to collect some crystals I have in various places to see them in new displays to be pronounced and I didn't have enough....
and why am I suddenly IN LOVE with crystals again all of a sudden?
....then I remembered that the new Violet Flame infused amethyst was in the water and that I was feeling its effects throughout my thirsty body, since the messages in the water coursed through every cell in no time......thus is the effect of "programming".....it takes no time.
I was floored. I felt all of my previous spiritual practice and largesse of Spirit once again in me, and I had missed it terribly! but was oh so grateful in this moment now to be feeling it again! so strongly.
To backtrack a bit, I had a headache all night, with extreme fatigue that sent me to bed before 6pm last night, and the headache remained all night and I was aware of thoughts all night, until I finally got up this morning after hearing 3 knocks that I thought was the door, and when I got up and looked out the window, no one was there> I walked outside, but no one in sight, but now since I'm up, I need to take some aspirin.
That is when I drank this water and I felt all this beauty of Violet infusion with me, though I had felt weary, in pain and tired.
And this is why I'm writing all this with my eyes hurting to get this out to you and hopefully someone or someones may be inspired to begin again invoking the Violet Flame or if you never did to begin to use it. ok people? And I'll be off again doing more invocations all day.

The spirit works amazingly, so to validate to myself that crystal infused water has this effect, a memory suddenly surfaced when I used to volunteer at the Gildas Club of South Florida Cancer Support  giving free Reiki to members, I felt my intuition at great heights since giving is as powerful as receiving. (I wore a violet gown, I remember!) After the session we would sit with the group and let them speak in turn. One woman during treatment, I felt running in her body the energy of crystals. I don't know how I know these things, I just KNOW. When this woman began to speak I told her I felt she had crystal energy in her body and I was sure this was a good thing. She grinned, and told me she did have a crystal in her water bottle and she took it out from beneath her chair and held it up to show me this tiny crystal in a small bottle of water. She had been drinking it as a treatment by a man from Brazil who gives treatments with these crystals for free. It was nice to receive this confirmation of what I felt.
This memory arose in this moment to serve me in understanding right now how I can feel this with my own infused water.
I will add this piece about The Violet Flame here for your convenience. I believe this Violet Flame, an energy from the Higher Realms does work, I have seen it work, and I have felt it work in me when I felt not good.
It will never hurt, can only help, and we can use all the help we can, yes? :D

What Does Violet Flame Actually Do?

Mankind living in the world today assume that recorded history is what it is and that it cannot be changed. They have not reckoned with the violet transmuting flame. - El Morya
Violet fire has the power to transmute negative karma - this means to change the burdens of negative energy that we have accumulated through the ages into positive energy. We feel lighter, happier and we don't have to suffer through so many of the 'bad' aspects of life.
The violet ray is a tool to help us in our lives: physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. When called upon through mantras and visualizations, this spiritual fire restores the flow of light and energy in the body, mind and soul.
The violet flame consumes not only the outer manifestions of negative karma (the 'symptoms' that we see, such as ill health and financial trouble) but also its roots and causes (erasing the record of harm we have done others in this life or previous lives).
Its high vibration penetrates our nervous system, our heart, our entire physical body and psyche, going to the cause and core of disease or psychological/emotional problems and helping the healing process. It dissolves our negative thoughts and feelings on contact, turning them into positive and harmonious ones. It's great for helping with relationship issues too. .   
                                           

Monday, August 20, 2012

Living Drinking Water



Water......

is very important to me. Not just because I am at least 85% water, or that it is the most important thing we need for life including plants and foods......or that the seas, rivers, oceans, springs, and lakes are part of life and the natural beauty of this entire planet......but because water is a living being with a consciousness with whom I have an extremely intimate relationship with ......I cannot live without Her.

I share this with you in case you are as concerned for clean living water as I am and may try this too.


You may have heard of Dr. Masaru Emoto who has shown how words and sentiments affect water?? He had taken pictures of crystals of water that had sentiments directed to them and words taped to them, and it does not matter the language in which those words are written, the result is the same. Words and sentiments like love and compassion created gorgeous perfectly symmetrical crystalline crystals. Words like hate or anger produced ugly unsymmetrical formations that lacked luster and sparkle. Water responds also to music, the quality and message contained in its notes and tones. It is amazing.









After considering his work, the experiments, and especially the work done on the Fujiwara Dam in Japan, there is no remaining ignorant of the effects of our thoughts and sentiments upon the life around us, especially water, which is such a malleable entity, it is truly at the whim of those around it. In our quest for clean and living drinking water, there can be few who don't know how difficult this is becoming, and I have been on this quest for years. Every so often I come to something that works for me for a while before I have to find an improvement again. At this time, I have forsaken my reverse osmosis water system because I could taste nasties in it still, even with triple filtration. Beside it being dead water.....I could not stand that such an expense went to this system that didn't improve the taste and turns out to be more dead than anything. Yes water must be alive to be good drinking water, not just clean, hence the title of this post. So now I'm drinking only distilled water which I find to be the cleanest water so far......however it is still not alive. I have improved upon its purity by adding sole solution which makes it wonderful and I feel a continued beneficence from this and so does my housemate John who's health has improved upon drinking this water too.                                           Making Sole - Step 1         So what makes water alive? Well I thought, natural good clean clear living water comes from streams, springs and sources where the water is moving right? Living water is moving water. So how can I get moving water? and what makes moving water alive? Its the aeration.....which causes oxygenation......and we all know about the benefits of oxygen right? Not to mention that anything anaerobic is bad for our health, and does not survive in oxygen.....and oxygen is life producing and life regenerating? Healing, cleansing and purifying? So, living water is moving water, oxygenated water.....and how can I do this at home with a standing system? Well, I recently got into worm farming because I always want the best this planet has to offer for my flowers and vegetation, my body and for the good of the soil too.....so when my housemate brought home Jurassic size collard greens from a co worker who lives near us, I couldn't believe my eyes....there IS a way to grow veggies in Florida! But what they did was extraordinary.....when her father bought the property, he dug into the ground 15 feet, and added soils, composts, etc....for a rich soil....15 feet! That's alot of feet and most vegetation does not reach down that far. But they are also always adding worm castings, and worm tea......tea made from their castings not the worm themselves! I heard you! LOL Well, this began a journey into acquiring worms and making tea myself, but I did so from my own compost because the worm castings will not be available for a few months. But I watched how to made compost tea here. And in doing this, I'm on a journey to organic fertilizing which is something I hardly did before, but making my own, close to the way nature does, makes me happy, and soooooo many people claim this tea works miracles on flowers and greenery and I can't wait. But back to the water. While making this tea, I was looking at it and thinking. Since it requires a pump that aerates the tea for a couple of days, I had to wonder how it benefits that tea....then.....I thought these benefits can be applied and should be applied to my own drinking water! And so I decided once the tea was done, I would use the pump to aerate my water! Well I tried it and I love how it tastes. It is clearer, but the distinctly different sensation is that it feels more alive. My water is now clean and oxygenated, aerated and it tastes good. Now some people will get technical on me, and say this oxygen only last about 15 minutes or so because living water is moving water, but I say a little is better than not at all.....and if there was anything in there that didn't belong, then the oxygen got rid of it, and I can taste the aliveness and I don't need to sell aeration pumps! So here are my pics of what I'm doing. Here's the unit that gets plugged in. An air pump with 2 tube attachments. It was around $13.00 including tubes and stones at Wal Mart in the pet fish section.
In this pic I'm showing how I have the tubes from the unit going inside the bottom chamber where the drinking water sits. The top unit does not fit perfectly because of the tubes, but I do not care, it is not seen. This is the water system standing unit.It has an upper unit where the water get poured into, with a ceramic dome which purify's the water and then it drips into the lower chamber where it gets filtered with stones. Here you can see the tubes from the aerater tubes in the bottom chamber where the pouring spout is. I also have rose quartz crystals in the bottom chamber which I have programmed to purifying and rejuvenating to the water. :D:D:D Hey! I use what all I can you know?
 Here I plugged in the unit and the bubbles are bubbling away!
 


I think the quest for living drinking water has been very difficult but I find this aerater to be an easy option.
I will drink this water for a while and report on its benefits if any. I just know that already it tastes crisper, more alive......but time will tell for sure.

enjoy living water!




Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Pink Ruffle Dress

Last year I saw a picture online that made me feel softer inside. I saved it. It was about bedrooms but what was hanging on the bar is what got my attention. I loved it and saved it for one day when I Might know how to sew or can find a person who could make it for me.

I have just made it myself, and I love it. Its not perfectly what I'm seeing in the dress but its very close. I think the fabric of the original speaks to me even though I cannot see it clearly. I thought my bubble cotton gauze would be nice, but it is different than what I fell in love with which was the texture I could barely see.
Here is the inspiration and I can no longer find this picture online to source it, but I think its Annette Branting's line of designer wear :


 https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCoQJSEdbNlQ3yqT5M_ECif8TB5XlROgcqHvWMm7s6T95ekArMDpX5soGTCJEaMYeBJGXX5ObAZB8-EGoZfzpgsb8UtkK8PH5wM4vxS1fl83bzDAWEEXd2ywGTpQEFJH3k3rpRx4hescQ/s1600/bedspace4.jpg


 I cropped it to get a closeup of the pink dress....but it didn't come out any clearer when I printed it.



which means, as a person who is teaching themselves project by project how to sew. in reverse engineering this dress I have to go by only this front and a blurry picture :D lol



But here is mine:










I added details of strings hanging from the bottom ruffled panel.....I love strings that move when one walks!




some shots of the mess all over the house with lace, trim, fabric and inspirations......



Picking out lace trims from the basket.....





The unfinished dress on the mannekin.



I kept an open book of Tasha Tudor's Private Life in front of me, It was soothing to see these pictures when I got frustrated. She did and made everything in this picture, from the gardens to the clothing.


I wore this dress for two days after it hung on the line to dry in the sun from dying it pink. It is soooo comfortable! It is my Pink Lawn Dress.....for when I have tea with my friends, the toads, grasshoppers, birds, and flowers LOL

And I finally know what it means to feel pretty in pink!




Am sharing this post with Faith, Grace, and Crafts 

and with How Sweet the Sound Pink Saturday










Thursday, August 9, 2012

My D.I.Y. Pergola

We built a new Pergola or arbor.

You've all probably seen the beautiful ones that go for a starting $$ of about $800.00 for a 10 foot by 10 foot size? I think this is ridiculous. I knew I could build one for much less and we did......for about $150.00 in lumber and cement, and some work in less than 2 days. This post is to show you how to do it.

Mine is not quite finished. I get these whimsical ideas in my head and unless I do them, the job is not quite done. I wanted to complete it with stenciling and some other details but its been too hot and humid to work outside anymore so it will have to wait. But the structure is completed and pretty much what I had in mind.

**UPDATE JU LY 2014 ~ An extra 4 x 4 will be needed on the center areas of the outer 2 x 4s which are holding up the 1 x 6s.....to prevent sagging, some of which has occurred but still 2 years later is a thing of beauty.

I had to make it a light affair, supply foods and lots of sole drinking water for replenishing minerals lost in working in the heat and sun http://www.himalayancrystalsalt.com/images/sr_step1.jpg and delish iced tea for electrolytes, in a large cooler and this prep for working in heat turned out to be a blessing.
First getting the set up for comfy work outside in extreme heat which I've learned the hard way, is constant drinking of fluids and it should be cool, even cold, even though cold is not good for you, but in this heat it is....lots of easily munching foods to eat as you go along, some wet bandanas and good mosquito spray ......whistling hi ho or something helps too :D




But here are the pictures as we went along in progress.
Here is a picture of what we had before. It was no use repairing it, only rebuilding.


The housemate John taking it apart.


The lumber was bought already in the size we needed.....
4 pieces of 4x4 10 footer posts
12 pieces of 1x6 12 foot lumber.
4 pieces 2x4 10 foot lumber to be a support for the 12 footers that lay across as I will show.
You will also need something to dig the hole for cement.... a post hole digger?....4 bags quick dry cement, a bucket and water hose to mix cement....a hand shovel..........a level, jigsaw, measuring tape, pencil, that power tool thingy that screws in nails I cannot think of the name!! but you know what I mean....it's late here...and lots of screws.
You will also need the painting supplies. I think that's about it....maybe.

I wanted the upper lumber to be 12 feet so one foot would overhang the 10 foot frame on both sides as in traditional Japanese pergolas.
Laying flat the 1 x 6's, ends were cut with a jigsaw and was easy according to John. Just going down one inch along the 6 inch side, then cutting a semi circle. The piece that was cut off was used as a template for the others......and that's it......for the Japanese look.

These are the 1x6's ready to be painted.



As I painted them I laid them on the grass in the sun to dry, they dried fast. I'm not into perfection of painting some things especially if I'm melting, so it was a quick job to give them two quick coats, turn them over then do the other side 2 quick coats.

 



These 4x4 posts 10 feet tall  for the basic structure being painted one side at a time I did the day before.





One post painted and cemented in. John used about a bag of cement dug one and a half  feet deep per post. He did this 4 times for each corner. Once each post was in the still wet cement, we used a leveler to make sure they were level and this little detail is critical for an even look in the final structure, as it happens LOL. The level was used four ways, one side of the 4x4, then the next side, the top flat surface of this 4x4 (see below pic)
and then when the 2nd, 3rd and 4th posts were put in, a 12 footer was laid across the first post then the one just cemented ......the leveler was laid on top of the 12 footer and checked for level between the two posts.....any adjustments made on the fresh post being cemented during this time for matching its depth with the first post...... then left to dry as he went on to the next post.....got that? I hope so because I don't have another way of explaining it. :D






One post in! this was an exciting moment for me LOL.....3 more laying there, left to go in.


 

Then when all 4 posts were in and dry within a couple of hours? or so? he began to attach the lumber. In the picture below you can basically see what I'm explaining here......
He first screwed in 2 of the 2x4x10 footers laying them on top of 2 posts on either end going from front to back, "front" being the side we see when we enter the Pergola from the house.
"front" here being the left side of the picture below, "back" the right side.
Then 2 of the jigsawed 1x6x12's got screwed flatside onto those 2x4's, one across the "front" and one the "back".
Then the 2 other 2x4's got screwed into the 1x6's, as you can see below.




Then the rest of the 12 footers, 10 of them,  were laid flat over the 2x4's and placed for spacing, marked with a pencil and screwed into the 2x4's. It turns out that they were about 6 inches apart.....roughly, this was good enough.

By laying them flat I got more shade under it.

That's really all there is to it!........ its not even a two day project with two people, and it looks beautiful.



You can do whatever kind of pattern you like, its your pergola and its your design. I wanted them flat and laid them flat, and in alternating configuration.
I would use more 1x6's next time for more shade but I didn't want to paint any more outside at all....lol.
**Right in the center of the outer 2 x 4 from {top to ground} is where I would lay an extra 4 x 4 to prevent sagging.
https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQiEI9HbwzJCQoY27gYa7wcV6yEsE0Xrzp63Ht79ZyDy_7ViRIj



I added some metal work I found at All Time Pottery but there is more I want to do with it but for now it looks elegant, and there is NO need to spend big bucks on these.....they never did in the past.

I think simple structures should maintain their simple costs.

With the metal work, which adds the whimsy I was after...........
People love walking beneath it, they have fun LOL







 I have added some reed from Lowe's ( $27.00 for a 6 foot x 16 foot roll ) laid across the top for more shade which I decided is more important these days.


But the reed is only 6 feet wide and so either end where the plants are still get alot of their much needed overhead sun.



 







 

There is my Pergola, and you can make one too.....for very little $ compared with anything I've seen anywhere online. Its not complicated at all. I like it alot :D
I hope you try to make one yourselves.
 

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