A Minute Meditation

Meditation Bowl

I have been lost for a while now. Let me be clear, I have chosen to remain lost, to some extent, for a while now. Some of this has been out of my control and remains so, and has been steadily improving with the help of my doctor. Some of this has been my choice to not nurture the light in my life, and a choice to wallow in the quicksand of my dark thoughts.

I am taking a step now, to bring daily meditation and prayer back into a place of priority in my life. I used to be really good at this. I used to meditate for at least one short session a day, and prayer was second nature, like a commentary to Divine in my head.

Now, I have to remind myself to pray even once a day. Is it the worst crime of my battle with depression and anxiety that I allowed my connection to my faith and spirit be damaged, and took so long to repair it.

But, repair it I will, and I am taking a step today to re-establish my meditative practice. I am making a Meditation Bowl, and I encourage you to do the same if you wish to establish or strengthen your own meditative practice.

The Mayo Clinic has this to say about meditation:

Benefits of meditation
Meditation and emotional well-being
When you meditate, you clear away the information overload that builds up every day and contributes to your stress.

• Gaining a new perspective on stressful situations

• Building skills to manage your stress

• Increasing self-awareness

• Focusing on the present

• Reducing negative emotions

Meditation and illness
Meditation also might be useful if you have a medical condition, especially one that may be worsened by stress. While a growing body of scientific research supports the health benefits of meditation, some researchers believe it's not yet possible to draw conclusions about the possible benefits of meditation.
Meditation can give you a sense of calm, peace and balance that benefits both your emotional well-being and your overall health. And these benefits don't end when your meditation session ends. Meditation can help carry you more calmly through your day and can even improve certain medical conditions.
The emotional benefits of meditation include:
With that in mind, some research suggests that meditation may help such conditions as:

• Allergies

• Anxiety disorders

• Asthma

• Binge eating

• Cancer

• Depression

• Fatigue

• Heart disease

• High blood pressure

• Pain

• Sleep problems

• Substance abuse

• SOURCE

With this in mind, and knowing how much taking the time to meditate has helped me in the past, I am taking this step to make a visual and emotional cue to both remind me to meditate, and help me get to that head space for peace and thoughtfulness.

The Meditation Bowl

Supplies

• small bowl
• Sea Salt
• tea light or votive candle and holder
• tumbled stones for meditation or root chakra (amethyst, rose quartz, clear quartz, aquamarine, turquoise, black obsidian, hematite, etc.)

Cleanse the bowl and stones, then sprinkle 3 pinches of salt in the bottom of the bowl. Add the candle and stones, then place in a high traffic place in your home where it will be seen every day. Try to meditate, concentrating on the lit candle in the bowl, for as little as a few minutes a day to get into the habit of mindfulness and meditation. Let me know about your meditative practices, and check back for guided meditations! 

Gratitude Prayer 6/14/13

Divine, I call to thee.

I look upon your many faces, I call your many names.

I thank you for the blessings that fill my life, and I thank you for the failures and hardships, which have changed my course on this journey.

I thank you for the gentle days, when my faith and blessings sprouted around my feet, and I thank you for the storms which cleared a space for new growth.

As I walk the Path before me, I know that in the darkest times, you tend the ember within me, the spark which ignites my passion, the lick of flame which feeds the beacon torch.

I send up blessings, I praise your names, I live to honor you, and the ways of the Wise.

Brightest Blessings

The Hippie Homestead!

Well, my little Witchlings, the Hippie Household has moved up and out of the Vardo and into an actual house! Don't panic, the Vardo is parked in the driveway. There are two very important points to this information.

1.) I have a kitchen! 

Like a real kitchen, not just a sink and an electric skillet. It's super-cute too...look!

So excited!

2.) I have my altar almost set up!

Some of my stuff is still in storage, but the majority of it is here and bathing in Frankincense as I type this. 

The fact that the swamp cooler is still broken and we have a million fans blowing around the air from our two overworked window air conditioners means the house is pretty much covered in cleansing smoke. Double plus.

More from our new Hippie Homestead as we unpack and get settled into the house and the acre it sits on!