Now available in the store, we have new unsealed magick bottles. These are left unsealed with the cork able to be pulled out so that you can still add in whatever items you need to add to personalize it and make its intentions known. It is full of different items that will protect and promote peace and love for those who need it/ or to neutralize negative behaviors. This item includes a white and a black tealight candle for you to burn and use to seal the bottle when it is complete. See it in our store at https://www.etsy.com/CynnamonCharmed/listing/616561771/witch-bottle-spirit-bottle-protection?utm_source=Copy&utm_medium=ListingManager&utm_campaign=Share&utm_term=so.lmsm&share_time=1527198968612
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Just a bit of a teaser…..I have some energy catchers that will be listed soon that are AMAZING and I know you all are going to love them. Of course, I will post on our Facebook page when they become available in the store but remember we make one of a kind products and they can go very fast. So if you miss the one you want contact me for a possible custom order option or keep your eye out for future postings.
This is the time of the year for getting outdoors and getting active. Some people have made it a life long commitment. Some people begin their journeys of getting rid of Winter wait just after the New Year. But some of us have to wait until we feel motivation to begin. With my walking boot off now and a few extra pounds to spare, I am ready to get outside and sweat. My oldest daughter is a cross country runner and she is officially beginning her training for the Fall season next week. Because I am an over protective mom, I am terrified of her running alone around our neighborhood. It’s not that I live in a high crime area, it’s just that runner or women in general are often targets when they are out and alone. So, I have began running with her. We downloaded an app called Couch to 5K and it has really helped us keep a structure with our workout. It tracks our pace, distance and our time. This is really nice for competing against your own personal record. I know I will never outrun my daughter. I can barely keep up most of the time. It was never intended as such. But it is a great time to spend quality time together, get healthy and I know she is safe. Because the schools are mandated through the state for only so many practice days throughout the summer, she can only officially practice with her team through the month of June. Running for a team means that when my daughter is competing for her school she isn’t allowed to enter any other competitions. However, her season begins in August, so this leaves her the month of July to stay fit for the season on her own. Her coach encourages them to enter 5k races through July and this brought about a challenge. Thinking that signing up for a 5k myself would give me motivation and a goal. There is no way I could commit to one per weekend, although I will go to support her for any she decides to enter. Through searching for a 5k in our area, I coincidentally ran into this group called Moon Joggers. This is a pretty neat group. They provide a mileage log for you to track your progress and your miles are added to the groups to meet the goal of the year. Every year has a new goal where they are seeking to “run “ to a planet. This basically means the total mileage of the whole group effort is the mileage to that years planet. Participants get shirts, and awards for their entry fees as well as the group donating to a chosen cause. They have virtual 5K going on right now that is called the Full Moon 13 Mile Run. This is a virtual run that celebrates each of our Full Moons in the year 2018. You can either run all 13 miles at once or run one per full moon. You can also run these miles ANYTIME during the year. Therefore, you don’t have to sign up at the beginning of the year. I am choosing to sign up with only 8 Full Moons left and I want to actually run on the days of the Full Moon for this challenge. So, I will have to log over a mile for each moon to complete this. 15% of the entry fees will be donated to Soles4Souls and upon completion you earn a nice medal and bib. This charity raises funds for people all over the world in need of shoes. Before seeing this, I had never heard of a virtual 5k or virtual run. At first, I didn’t even like the idea of it. It is all based on an honor system, so you log the miles you say you have ran. BUT what if you have someone lying about their mileage? That’s not fair, right? This really made me second guess this whole virtual thing. HOWEVER, I got to really thinking this through and realized that people would only be cheating themselves. You are paying money for this, even if it’s for a charity. You can buy a medal online if you only want a medal. I think for most people, it is about accomplishment. What is a medal if you don’t actually earn it? You are really only racing against yourself anyways. I think that local 5k’s definitely have their place. But, I think something like this give you challenges, motivation, and goals for those of us not yet ready for that 5k or in between big races while still helping out a cause. So, for those of you wanting to find another way to get out and enjoy our Full Moons, draw off its energy and even find it easier to meditate during exercise, this may be a good option for you. You can log running, swimming and even biking miles so cross trainers are even included. Photo Credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/earthdog/5051254946/ I understand nothing is perfect but OMG….. nothing is more frustrating that writing a blog post and having it disappear. Normally I type up my posts in Word and then I will copy and paste them over but not today. Boy did I learn my lesson. For some reason, my blog is acting up like I have never had it do before. I tried 4 different times, with and without pictures, to schedule a new post for the blog and it would delete everything and either post a blank blog or post a blog with only a title, deleting ALL the other info. I have contacted customer service and I am sure it will be resolved shortly but until then …………………. So, if there was a lag in the blog this week and we you see several posts all at once, it is just us getting caught up after the blog is repaired. Hope everyone is having a great week!!! BLOG ISSUES-----ISSUES BEING WORKED ON WITH CUSTOMER SERVICE---WILL BE BACK SOON!!!!! CHECK BACK )0(5/21/2018 Our second chakra is the sacral and can be found low in the abdomen. We previously talked about the masculine base chakra being our foundation, but this chakra is feminine. It is also more moody and deals with emotions, moods and reactive. This chakra also deals with instincts but on a different level. Here we look at the emotional side of needs such as sex and relationships. Because of its relationship to the womb and genitalia, it shouldn’t be a surprise that it is closely related to the moon. When someone has a strong sacral chakra they are usually independent and in good healthy relationships. They can usually pick out people who they should stay away from and avoid situations where their “gut” instinct tells them too. They can carry on good relationships with those around them. They give, but not too much. They take, but only what is given. They understand boundaries and they stay within those and require that the people in relationships with them do the same thing. This person will have a good family live. Even if they had a rough upbringing, they are able to move on and provide a better relationship with their family then they had growing up. When a person’s sacral chakra is out of balance you will see them in healthy relationships. These will be the people that are allowing themselves to be used and abused by those around them. Or, these can also be the abusers themselves. They are the people who are always drawn to the wrong person for them and they know that the relationship is toxic but they still get involved. This person usually holds on to a lot of resentment and anger for past relationships. They find it difficult to move on and they allow that to influence current relationships. These are people who often abuse substances, or over indulge in different ways (such as money, sex, food, anger, etc.) in order to compensate for their lack of emotional stability. If you need to strengthen this chakra be sure to put yourself first. You cannot give what you do not have. Eat healthy and nourish your body. Food is related to your gut and so too to this chakra. Other things to consider are doing things that you enjoy. Creation comes from the womb, try being creative in whatever way you know how. This could be painting, drawing, singing or even better dancing. Movement in the hips and areas associated with the chakra are great ways to help align it. If you enjoy exercising, you could try positions that use the body’s core or abdomen. Also, always remember that the chakras are connected. While one chakra can feel mostly in balance and another is completely out of a whack, it is always best to try to work on the one you are having issues with. Even if it doesn’t seem like it, your aligned chakras can, and will, see improvement if you align a chakra that is in trouble. Chakra work can be a continuous process so don’t get discouraged if you feel like your work with your chakras are an ongoing battle. Photo Credit: https://goo.gl/images/xK5kyd
My family and I packed up and headed to the woods for a very long awaited hike for our first of the years wild harvest. We packed up our clippers, gloves, rubber bands, phone, and a large cup. We always have a list of what we need to be sure to get or look out for. However, exploring and new discoveries are also really fun. This time of the year our sites are usually set on the nettles and Japanese honeysuckle. We don’t normally have to search too hard for stinging nettle. We tend to forget about this every year and it has turned into a game of who will find it first. A game that no one remembers we are playing until the winner is announced. This year it was my oldest daughter that first complained of the stinging and itching sensation completely covering her legs. Yep, she had found the stinging nettles. Not wanting any part of their wrath, I glove up when I cut these down or let my husband do the honors. We tie the ends tightly with a rubber band so that they are ready to be hung for drying. Stinging nettle loses its “sting” as it dries. However, open pores and a fresh plant will make a person feel pretty miserable until it’s washed off. My son found the purple dead nettle this year. Always searching the ground, he was excited to see this beautiful ground cover. He also spotted some hen bit. We don’t use a lot of that but I do collect a little each year. These are both much easier to find this time of the year when there isn’t much competition in terms of over growth. However, the stinging nettles can be found throughout the summer as they just get larger and larger. We collected many Japanese honeysuckle blooms. They always smell so wonderful. I love including these into a lot of our blends and different projects throughout the year. I will probably collect these a few more times before I have enough for the rest of the year. I like gathering them and getting them at different stages of their life cycle for magickal uses. A new collection this year was this beautiful cluster of fragrant white flowers that we found. They smelled so amazing and were stunning to look at. They hung from a drooping tree and we had to cut a few entire clusters off so that we didn’t lose the tiny flowers connected. When we got back home, I hooked paper clips to the rubber bands of bound plants and strung them up on my drying line. The flower buds I collected were laid across a mesh lined drying rack and then I label each plant. See I learned the hard way that even though I know exactly what these plants are today, my memory doesn’t always serve me so well and a dried plant looks much different than the day it was harvested. This goes double for new plants I need to identify. It is much harder to research a plant by appearance if it’s all dried up already. So I immediately sit down and research and write tags for every harvested plant. In the weeks to come I will collect more nettles, more honeysuckle and I will begin looking for the much anticipated hemlock to return. We sold out of this less than half way through the year last year and so we will seek to triple last year’s supply this year. At the same time I will be harvesting flowers and herbs as they bloom or become available, as well. Roses are beginning to bloom this week, lilacs, lilies, marigolds, pansies, etc. are all making their debut as well. Harvest season is among us. Photos: The Cynnamon Charmed crew during our first wild crafting trip of ‘18 Every spring is pretty much the same around here. February and March hikes will lead you to find some interesting winter treasures like deer antler sheds and different bones from beings that Mother Earth reclaimed the past season. April, you begin to find new life popping up but not much to collect on in terms of new wildflowers. I like to think of these months as a re-introductory period. We can get out and remember what it is to wild craft. We anxiously anticipate the new growth, begin to plan, but here in Missouri these months can bring a large array of weather conditions: snow, rain, and even freezing temps. This year it seemed like we had a very short spring season in terms of weather conditions. It is barely the third week of May and we have our first hotter temps. High 80’s low 90’s are bringing in flowers and plant life quickly. The rains and unstable atmosphere of the season, making it muggy, and humid, and often, even stormy. Pollen is blowing and covering everything with a thick dust. It is the season of LIFE renewed! We took our first trip to the woods to see what herbal treasures could be found. I usually have a pretty good idea what is available during specific times of the year but different weather can produce early or even late surprises. I like wild crafting in May. Things are growing and sprouting but the underbrush isn’t too incredibly thick yet. You can still find things near the ground. Many plants are most potent in their early growing stages too. I am highly allergic to poison ivy and least likely to get it this time of year, while I seem to get it just blowing in the wind a month or so from now. Ticks aren’t bad in my area for another month or so either. With all the disease and illness they carry these days, I am very cautious about taking the kids out in the thicket when they are out. This is the time of the year we really get out and into the woods. Into the places that will soon be too thick with vegetation to explore. Here soon, when the woods fill in and the bugs really come out, we will stick to our pathways and our secret places that we rely on year after year to produce and find the things we need. For May wild crafting, all we really need is our gloves, our basket, our scissors and our rubber bands. We need the sun screen. We need my phone for the camera and my handy new app that helps me to identify new plants I discover. But most of all we need each other’s company. There are many fun family memories that we have made exploring and hiking these Missouri parks and woods. Never miss an opportunity to spend quality time with your kids and family, making memories and teaching them things that they can pass down for generations. Photo: My very first rose blooms of the 2018 season. |
Keri Nichol
Founder, Artist, Herbalist, and Writer Archives
August 2018
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