Salt Burns

Dear Readers,

I think I gave myself salt burn during my esbat ritual. I'm not entirely sure, but I woke up the next morning with these little marks on my fingers and no idea how they got there!

I didn't put out any flames with my fingers, I didn't touch any flames with my hands at all, and I didn't touch any hot metal. So the only think I can think of is that I got salt burn from consecrating all the crystals/items I was cleansing because I had water left on my fingertips when I pinched the salt. I would be surprised if that were the case, because normally you need ice for that, but hey. It's the only explanation that makes sense. I'm writing this blog a good three nights later, and by now the marks are gone.

I'm probably going to do a video at some point, not about my ritual, necessarily, but about sharing our rituals/how rituals went. It's a strange subject for me, so I think it's worth sharing some thoughts. I don't know yet how much I will say, as is the nature of the strange subject, so I can't promise anything. We'll see.

In other news, I'm almost done reading The Spiral Dance. I'll read the final chapter tonight (this morning) before bed. Right now I have to post some things to my Etsy and finish watching this episode of Without a Trace first.

I hope you all had an enjoyable esbat, whatever you did, and I hope you're enjoying the summer, any nice weather that's come your way, and all the fortunes your life holds.

Blessings~
-C-

Candle Gazing

I started reading Starhawk's The Spiral Dance after I got it a short while ago. I haven't read every day, but I try to read whole chapters at a time, plus her notes from the ten- and twenty-year anniversaries, so I get the updates right after reading the chapter, to better remember.

Today, I read chapter seven, and I might begin chapter eight before I go to bed. But I decided that instead of diving right into chapter eight immediately, I would stop and do one of her easy little suggested activities. The simplest one I can think of, besides grounding and centering which I've done for years (and her definition of centering differs from mine), is candle gazing.

The goal of candle gazing is to increase your focus and concentration by gazing at a candle flame for five to ten minutes without letting your gaze un-focus, or go blurry, crossed, fuzzy, or double-visioned. So I lit a candle, sat comfortably on my futon, and settled the candle in front of me.

At first, I thought it might be difficult. Thirty seconds seemed to take forever and I thought "I'm going to do this for five minutes?!" But it's really not difficult. You just have to LOOK. After a while, it was tempting to shift my focus and scry in the flame--it kept moving in such interesting ways I had never consciously noted a flame moving in before, and I watch flames quite a bit. But after a while, I was sure it had been five minutes, and my gaze hadn't lost focus. I determined that this was probably not a necessary skill-builder for me, and I know I have pretty good concentration, but I still think it's good to test those basic skills every now and again.

I tried doing some other focus exercises with it, then, focusing on a specific size of flame or quickness, playing with wax and heat, and dropping an energy ball onto it. There were varying degrees of success. I doubt myself, suddenly ask myself "What on Earth am I doing?" Even after eight years and several obvious successes, I still occasionally doubt my ability to repeat a feat. Still, the next thing I knew, half an hour had passed.

Get a candle and a comfy spot and try candle gazing for yourself. You don't have to do it a lot if your concentration is already good, but it's worth flexing those muscles and maybe developing some more.

Blessings~
-C-

Spiral Dance

Hey, Readers!

I finally bought a copy of this book, which was recommended to me a couple years ago. It was always at Half Price Books--they always had at least two copies, every time I went--and each time I would look at it, planning to get it, but something always made me put it back. It didn't seem important enough to have it.

I don't know why, but yesterday when I went, I finally took it home. It sort of helped that there was an extra 20% off sale this weekend, but really, I think it was just time.

Has that ever happened to you? Nothing really changes that you can tell, but somehow, something that wasn't right before suddenly is?

Maybe it's just that I have more time to spend on this now. Who knows.

Blessings~

-C-