Tibetan Singing Bowls

Tibetan Singing bowls create a beautiful sound resonance that helps to clear and purify the mind and is frequently used in alternative healing, and also in mindfulness meditation.  Below are some virtual singing bowls, not quite the same but somewhat fun and soothing, and also strangely addictive! Give it a go! :o)

Why to buy your Wiccan Supplies and Jewellery with me!

Dear All

Apologies for the gap in blog posts, I have been doing exams for my MA in Anthropology, 13,000 words in two weeks argh! but its all over now thankfully! Recently I received some wonderful feedback from a lady in Australia, and it was so nice I thought I’d dedicate a blog post to it!  If, like Rochelle, you do have any questions or queries or need advice, please let me know as I can help! :o)

i came across storm jewels by chance but was immediately entranced. the store has such a beautiful range of items. i especially loved the jewellery, i saw so many incredible pieces that i had never seen before. i selected some truly amazing items and bought them. the buying experience was just wonderful. not only was the online shop easy to use, i found that the owner of the store was very helpful, kind and knowledgable. i have shopped online before and mostly it is a very inhuman affair. everything is done through the computer, without any human contact. customer service is more diffucult on the internet, but storm jewels gifts definitely has a high quality of customer service.

i was offered excellent advice and guidance and was treated with such genuine interest that is hard to come by in a real-life shop. storm jewels truly values the customers, not just as people that supply the money but as valued and appreciated guests. i was so impressed by the way that i was treated and really look forward to shopping in the store again. storm jewels makes online shopping a very human, warm experience!

and, of course, the items i bought were so lovely. they were of the very best quality and of a much better price then similar items i have seen. i am an international buyer and found that postage costs were exremely low and the items shipped so fast! over all, i would have to say that i would completely recommend storm jewels to anyone seeking a unique and special gift (for others or for yourself!), and assure you that the folks at storm jewels will give the very best service and advice. they are a wonderful store and i would wholeheartedly give them my recommendation.

Rochelle, Australia

Thanks Rochelle for your amazingly kind words, this is a glowing testimonial that I am proud to show :o)

How to do Candle Magick

Candle Magick (like most spells) can be as simple or as complex as you like.  Whilst putting a lot of effort into your spells is a good way to make them poewrful and successful, there is also a benefit to quick and easy spells, especially if you repeat them frequently say once a day for a specific length of time or maybe once a week for a particular length of time.  This might be useful if you are working with a particular day of the week – for instance Friday for love, passion and fertility spells.

The key points for candle magick are as follows:

  1. The colour of the candle.
  2. Any oil that you may use to anoint the candle.
  3. The magickcal symbols and sigils that you carve into the candle (such as the pentagram, triqetra etc).
  4. The god, goddess or other type of divinity (eg air, earth, water and fire spirits, angels, fairies etc) that you invoke or call when lighting the candle.
  5. Herbs that you sprinkle around the candle and into the flame (only a tiny bit into the flame don’t start a fire! :o)  You can also carve a hole in the bottom of the candle to put in herbs as well.
  6. The words you choose to say whilst meditating upon the candle
  7. The day of the week you do the spell on.
mixed bag of coloured spell candles
mixed bag of coloured spell candles

As with all magick it is pretty much all up to you, although choosing the right colour spell candles is essential.  However if you want to do a spell and find you do not have the right candle you can always use a white one as white is all purpose.  Alternatively why not stock up on an inexpensicve bag of mixed candles so you always have the right one handy!

Whichever way you choose to do your candle magick make sure you have fun and it feel right to you!

Blessings!

StormJewel x

Mindfulness Stress Reduction Meditation

Stressed? So tell me, how well do you think you know a raisin?

Minfulness Meditation on a Raisin to get rid of your stress!
Minfulness Meditation on a Raisin to get rid of your stress!

I recently got the chance to have 10 mindfulness stress based reduction classes for free.  As I am a student as well as shop owner, despite thinking of myself as easy going I have experienced my fair share of stress lately so was looking forward to the classes.

Mindfulness is about living in the moment, being able to step away from the constant chatter of thoughts and of planning this and that, even if just for a little bit, but with the intention of hopefully living your life in a calmer and more thoughtful way.

I’ll write more about mindfulness in the future but for now I want to share with you the first excercise we did – The Raisin.


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For this experiment you will need:

1 raisin

An open and enquiring mind.

Take the raisin and close your eyes.  Try and imagine you are from mars or lala land or whereever, and that you have never known a raisin.  Slowly run your fingers over the raisin, noting any curves, jagged bits, smoothness, crevaces and so on – do this for a few minutes until you have truly experienced the landscape of the raisin.

Open your eyes and study the raisin, try holding it up to the light to see the different colours, and again observe and feel if you like all the surfaces of it – does it remind you of anything? Perhaps a lunar landscape (ok maybe the wrong colour but whatever!)

Now smell the raisin, take some deep sniffs.  and now its time to hear the raisin (!) put it by your ear and squish it a little bit. (yes amazingly raisins do make noises and it differs from raisin to raisin!)

Finally – taste the raisin – chew it up slowly and thoughtfully, allowing the taste and texture and the sensations of eating it to take over.  This is perhaps the most amazing bit – something which you may do habitually eg shoving several raisins in at once without thinking, becomes a totally different experience.  If like me you don’t actually like raisins, you may find that since the taste is stronger than ever, its a bit yuck (altho eating them is not compulsory for the excercise!) but it proves the point that much of what we experience ignores the full depth of the experience.

Conclusion

The raisin excercise shows us how experience can be transformed by bringing curiousity in what we do, and this is frequently drawn upon in mindfulness classes, where we are invited to be curious about sensations in the body and mind that we think we are super familiar with but are probably not – and this can bring new joys to our lives! Yay!

I hope you enjoyed your raisin, I’ll be writing more about mindfulness in the future!

Pagans call for reburial of ancient bones

Take a look at this video on BBC News (its about 8 mins) for the latest bit of Pagan news.

“Pagan groups are increasingly asking for human remains and grave goods from pre-Christian burials to be returned to the ground, and their voices are being taken increasingly seriously in the museum world.”

Apparently there are many human remains kept in museums that appear to have little or no historical use and Pagans are asking that they be reburied along with ceremonies which the whole town can enjoy together.  It’s an interesting video even if Pagans are being homogenised somewhat, not all Pagans care about ancient bones as the article suggests! And I had to laugh when the report started off by saying ‘Pagans are not used to be taken seriously’ ha ha.  Worth a watch tho!

Crystals for Healing

Fleur de Venus – Rose Quartz Pendant for Peace and Understanding

There are many ways to heal yourself, from visualisation to meditation or Reiki, but a powerful assistant can be a crystal or gemstone. Crystals are great for healing as they vibrate with concentrated energies inside them – hence why quartz is useful in watches. But before you can use the gemstone you need to learn how to activate it and what to do with it. In my shop you can see a great selection of crystals for healing, and what the properties of each stone are, I have lots of gift sets that use a combination of crystals to heal you more holistically (for instance to cure insomnia you can have a crystal to clear the mind, one to relax the body, one to ease anxiety etc), or as a general rule Crystal Quartz, sometimes known as rock crystal, is the master healer, generally boosting immune system and helping most ailments. Take a look at my article to see easy step by step instructions for activating and using crystals.

10% Sale off of everything in store!

Yes that’s right people, roll up roll up etc, 10% off all Wiccan and Pagan supplies, all alternative healing tools, divination tools including tarot card, all jewellery, in fact, well everything! :o) Plus there is a massive 30% off the best selling Psychic Circle Magic Message Board – its a safer alternative for those that feel unsure about Ouija boards – it comes with a handy manual that tells you how to cast protection rituals so no scary stuff comes through!

Learn about Japanese Culture – Aino Folktales, Reiki and Akitas!

I was doing some research today on elements of Japanese culture and discovered some lovely folktalkes, learnt more about the beautiful Akita dog, and wrote a little bit about Reiki Healing.

Think all dogs go woof woof? Not in Japan! Take a look at my article to find out more.  I’ve a great story that also tells you why dogs can no longer talk (a relief I think, I love dogs but if they could chat to you they might not be quite so great – I don’t think I’d be quite as interested in bones and dogs’ bums!)

I first became interested in Reiki Healing when I got really sick whilst travelling, after one session I felt SO much better, and more calm and peaceful than I ever have before or since, the lady must have been an incredibly powerful healer.  So click here to find out a little bit about what Reiki is and how it works, and to see some reiki jewellery and reiki meditations that are availbable in my shop.

Love and Light

StormJewel

x

Celtic Paganism and the Tree of Life

Learn more about Celtic Paganism…

Celtic Paganism
Celtic Paganism and the Tree of Life

One of the great things about Paganism is that aside from the rule of hurting noone and trying to be the best person you can be, there are no hard and fast rules.  What this means is that you can incorporate deities, rituals myths and more from any tradition you like! Most Pagans do worship some gods and goddesses from the Ancient Celts and some Pagans are exclusively Celtic Pagans. Cerridwen or Brigit (Welsh and Irish names respectively) is one of the most popular Celtic Pagan goddesses. The Sabbats of Imbolc, Beltane, Samhain and Lughnasadh are all directly derived from Celtic tradition.

Celtic knotwork diamond for Wealth
Celtic knotwork diamond for Wealth

Much of Pre-Christian Celtic knowledge has been lost, and most of what we have comes to us through myths, poetry and legends, and this really allows even greater freedom for you to interpret and take what you like from them.  I’ve got lots of lovely Silver Celtic Jewellery at the shop as well as some great books on the Celts and Celtic Paganism, and I’ve just created a new squidoo lens all about Celtic Paganism and also about the Tree of Life which is a popular symbol in many Northern Traditions, and I’ve discussed a little of the Norse history behind it.  Please take a look and tell me what you think!

Blessings xx

Celtic Woman at Hastings
Beautiful Celtic Woman at Hastings

Dragons of the World Unite!

Greetingssz! My name iz Calcifer and I am StormJewel’s baby pet dragon. You may have seen me lazing on the fireplace of her shop, or if I am feeling mischevious waiting on a chair so that an unsuspecting visitor may feel my flame on their behind! Jusst kidding! My mistress wouldn’t let me do that even if I could and at the moment I’m still a bit little to breathe fire! Anyway I told mum that there jusst wazn’t enough Dragon Stuff going on here, so she has written an article about my cousins from around the world, plus shows you some pictures from Dragon Tarot cards and my favourite items in her store – the Dragon Figurines. So if you want to learn more about us wonderful dragon creatures – click here . Farewell for now – come visit me soon and bring some chilli firebball sweets, my fave!

thanks to Daniela Kufner for this image
Calcifer