My Offering Stones and Powdered Oak Bark

Today the book and candles that I won for the give-away of Kim's blog "The Wiccan Life" arrive. It was absolutely perfect timing since I was having a kind of horribly long and tiring day after a very long and stressful week. It really made my day and gave me the energy to do a lot of things I've been meaning to do for quite a while. None of it was actually work for college but I'll get around to that tomorrow. I think I deserved focusing on other things after this busy, busy week and especially this long day!

Firstly I started grinding up oak bark into powder. For the year and a day that I'm doing from Timothy Roderick's book that I've mention quite a few times in previous posts, one item that is needed in the first month is powdered oak bark. I went out one day and searched for some bark on the ground. My boyfriend was actually the one to finally find a tree at the very end of the walk, that is super old and had some dead bark sticking off it. We broke some off carefully after making sure that the bark was not still being used by the tree and I gave my thanks. Unfortunately I did not have anything to give but my love and blessings in return, which I sent out to the tree. I will definitely go back and give it an offering stone because I feel it is the right thing to do.

After I finished that (it took a surprisingly long time) I started making my offering stones. I had made the dough about half an hour earlier based on the recipe from krazyboytx's video that I posted about a week ago. This is what it looked like just before I started making the offering stones:

To make them I brought out all my herbs, my favorite tea, some fingerpaints that are absolutely edible (says on the packaging and my dog sneaked a nibble when I wasn't watching and had to do work for school. Yes, I do get to use fingerpaints for some of the projects I make in college :-)), and some glitter.

It was really so much fun to make these offering stones and to me it feels like this might be better than just giving part of my dinner or other foods as offerings. The dinner I make because of what I want to eat but these stones I spend time making especially to give thanks. I think this gives them a different energy. But I will see how it feels when I finally get to give them. First I had to put them on the oven to let them dry and harden up. Now I have to wait at least two days before they are hard and I can go out and use them.

And finally, a picture of the very first offering stone I ever made (it's also in the picture above, the slightly greenish one). I dedicated it especially to the tree that gave its bark.

Florida Water and Cleansing

http://www.boxvox.net/2008/09/florida-water.html

After having come across it a few times on websites and YouTube I was quite happy when I found Florida Water in a local store. Of course I bought it right away. They had a little tester where you could smell it and already in the store I found it fantastic. When I came home I put some on my neck and behind my ears, just like Krazyboytx recommended in one of his YouTube videos. That alone already felt fantastic.

Since my altar needed a cleaning anyways, after clearing it and wiping it down I also gave it a wipe with some Florida Water. It really gives me the feeling of having cleansed it form some extra energies as well.

In another video on YouTube a tip was to use Florida Water to stop arguments and negative energies in general. For example, you can place a bowl with a little Florida Water in each room of the house to stop negativity from coming in. I was having a small argument with my boyfriend so I decided to be radical and wiped some on him behind his ears and on his neck and did the same thing with myself while telling him about what Florida Water does. If it was the Florida Water or just doing something while talking about the argument being over, I don't know. But we were certainly best friends again after. :-)

Needless to say that Florida Water is one of my new, favorite things. It is especially useful because I am often very busy and don't have the energy to light incense or smudge sticks. Incense requires you to stay in the room to be safe about fire and a smudge stick also has to be made safe to put back in the drawer after using it. Florida Water is such a wonderful alternative and on a busy day where I am often tired, the fresh and yummy smell works as an extra pick-me-up in way that incense and smudge sticks just cannot do.

There are some great videos that give a lot of different uses for Florida Water that I can definitely recommend. I really love the versatility of its uses and just cannot get over the smell! It also changes over time. Coming fresh from the bottle it might smell a bit strong but that stops very quickly. My boyfriend (when I did that thing to stop the argument) said he really disliked the smell. But every night I put it on behind my ears and on my neck just before I go to bed for some extra cleansing and protection and throughout the day I often use it for the same purpose as well and he's always telling me how good it smells! 

I could go on but I'll post some of the Florida Water videos including one on how to make your own if you do have the time:

Breathing

What a difference a simple breath can make. It's incredibly easy and yet something I so frequently forget to do. No matter where I am, if I take a deep breath I always feel better. It helps to regain focus as well, supply the body with energy and feel grounded and connected. One thing I especially love doing is breathing in and then to breathe out all the way and then some more. Really go for it until I feel I have not a single bit of breath left in my body. After that I will breathe in again and repeat breathing out so much until it almost hurts (stop before it does start hurting!). Even when I breathe out the first time I already feel like I am cleaning myself from the inside out. A lot of the time I think people do not breathe out all the way (since it does often take a conscious effort) and breath just stays in your lungs. But breathing out all the way makes way for new breath and new energy to come into your system. After repeating this just three times I already feel like my lungs have been completely cleaned out. It's a wonderful feeling and something I would really recommend everybody to try who hasn't already!

Some ways I apply this way of breathing: Before meditation to relax, when I just don't feel that good (I always feel better immediately), to reduce anger, to enjoy a great experience even more, to freshen up, before ritual so that I am not just cleansed on the outside but also on the inside.

Stop Procrastination

I'm a huge procrastinator. I always seem to do the things that I have to do at the very last minute. Especially when it comes to work for university, cleaning, doing dishes, washing clothing. All those necessary things in daily life. I often let my spiritual path get in the way or all those fantastic shops on Etsy. And if it's not Etsy, then I just started reading a book that I absolutely have to finish today or I'm training my dog. All more or less good things to do but none of those are things that need doing right away.

So today, as a deadline is moving closer, I decided to try something new. For one of my classes I have to make a magazine. Now, working on finishing the whole magazine seems like a lot and you first get something good out if at then end when you can start printing. Usually there are also mistakes that you first see when it is printed and then it takes even longer until you have the finished result. So, I decided to divide it up. I started completing the magazine one double sided page at a time. And it's really working! I get super excited about seeing the finished result coming out of the printer and I can watch the stack of finished pages growing relatively quickly. And finishing one double page doesn't actually take that long. These quick results are actually keeping me motivated pretty well. I'm definitely going to try and apply this to all my work.

Here is also a video I found on YouTube by charmingpixieflora. Many probably know this already but it's a great one to watch again and again for some extra motivation.

Offering Stones

I have been looking at a lot of videos by pagans on Youtube because I find it such an inspiration and their are so many fun and helpful things to find out about. One thing that I absolutely love but knew nothing about until today or yesterday (I'm not sure which) when I watched the "How to make offering stones" video by krazyboytx, are offering stones. It seems like such a nice thing to do and applicable in so many ways. Just by watching the video I get tons of ideas of how I can use these: Not just as offerings for when I go out to the woods and collect items that I need but also as an offering to my ancestors on Samhain, or to the fairies that help when I do an oracle reading or to the spirits that keep me and my loved ones and the places we live in safe or as a daily offering to God and Goddess and Spirit. And it looks like such a fun thing to do!

Here is a nice image I found at an Etsy shop that I think are a beautiful example as to what they can look like. If you click here you can go straight to the Etsy shop of Whitemagic who makes these by hand and sells these among many other great items.



One cool thing I just found out: When you purchase Whitemagic's offering stones you also get the recipe on how to make them yourself!

HAPPY SAMHAIN!