My Haul from the Gem & Mineral Show

This post is a thousand years late.

In August, I went to a gem & mineral show that was held in my tiny town. The place was PACKED, surprisingly! I went with my sis and niece, bought a few goodies and left….then went back with my mom to buy even more goodies 😂 I ended up spending close to a hundred bucks there!

We do have a metaphysical store in town that carries a great selection of tumbled gemstones and a few pricier items~ but this gem show had so many lovely items. It was held by a family-owned gem store a few towns over. I hope I can visit their physical location soon!

I was lucky enough to win this Thunder Bay amethyst on their Facebook page 😍 Thunder Bay, Ontario is home to the most beautiful amethysts and this stone came from one of their mines. Amethyst is my power stone and even when I’m not using it in my magickal workings, I’ll still have every variation of it littered around me.

Amethyst is excellent for increasing spiritual awareness, repelling negativity and bringing in alll the good stuff.

Gemstone hearts! Left is an incredible moss agate and right is bloodstone. I was really drawn to bloodstone in August. Bloodstone is used for strength and stress relief.

A close-up of my moss agate. Moss agate is good for cultivating friendships. I also place a tumbled moss agate in all of my herb pots to encourage growth.

Duo black quartz point from Arkansas. I carried these all around the show, then went to put them back….but two guys were standing in front of the black quartz display, and I knew I’d be upset if I put this back and they grabbed it, ha ha!

Black quartz is a powerful tool for purifying and repelling negativity. It also balances all chakras.

Septarian! This powerful healing stone is good for muscle spasms and general well-being.

I bought the tiniest bottle of peacock ore chips for no reason other than the fact that I like tiny things 😂

Peacock ore – also known as bornite – is the ultimate witch’s stone. It heals, brings clarity & wisdom, aligns your chakras, and adds an extra boost to all spellwork.

K2 Jasper [left] and blue kyanite [right]. My kyanite is forever disappearing on me.

K2 Jasper is a relatively new stone that helps open the third eye chakra and bring insight to its user.

All colours of kyanite help align the chakras~ blue kyanite in particular also helps with dream recall, honesty, and opening yourself to spiritual thoughts.

Little baby spheres! The left is rose quartz and the right, which is the size of a marble, is a glittery amethyst. I would like to get a larger sphere eventually but my other sphere, opalite, is also the size of a marble so I figured they’d match.

Rose quartz is the universal stone of love.

Amethyst was mentioned above. It’s also good for dreams and peacefulness!

This is Maggie, who can’t keep her inquisitive nose out of my crystals.

My beautiful astrophyllite palm stone! I put this stone down the first time, and then bought it two hours later. [It has since gone on a walkabout. I hope it returns soon.]

Astrophyllite is a beautiful, mysterious stone that allows you to explore your inner mysteries.

~

I also purchased a few tumbled dalmatian stones [they were a fundraiser for a dog rescue], blue aqua obsidian, obsidian arrowheads for my lil bro and I [hardcore Game of Thrones fans], and tumbled shungite. I wish I had taken a photo of the shungite because now I can’t tell it apart from my nuumite 😂

I do have a fair amount of tumbled gemstones purchased from the local metaphysical store, as well as a few raw pieces…would anyone be interested in seeing a post on the rest of my crystal collection?

xo,
Fao

My June Reading List

My Reading Challenge for 2016 is to read 100 books. I’m doing pretty good~ I’m about halfway there! I aim to read around ten to fifteen books a month, but it can be hard deciding what to read with my wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling bookshelf that’s double stacked with books! My monthly reading list helps me pick a few books to start with and then I tend to finish with similar books.

For June, these are three of the books that I intend to read.

The Hunt by Andrew Fukuda. I love me a good vampire book! This one is about a future where everyone is a vampire…except for the main character. Cue dramatic music! I finally bought the second book in this trilogy so I’ll read that after.

Llewellyn’s 2003 Wicca Almanac. I don’t practise Wicca but I read anything I can get my hands on about Paganism. I’ve had this book for a few years but only skimmed through it. It covers a few great topics, from witchy places to visit in the US to ‘witchy fashion’ and the like! This was the first almanac Llewellyn put out so I might just keep it on my shelf for posterity’s sake (as opposed to selling it like I was originally going to.)

Bud, Blossom and Leaf by Dorothy Morrison. This book is the ‘magical herb gardener’s handbook’. I’m finally getting ready for my workshop in magickal herbalism that will be held during the Solstice weekend so I figured I’d better start perusing my books!

What are you reading this month?

xo,

Fao

Magickal Reviews: Box of Shadows [May 2016]

Resurrecting a tag from my old blog~ Magickal Reviews is where I’ll offer my opinions on all things witchy and wonderful.

Box of Shadows is a monthly subscription box that caters to Pagans. My sister offered to buy one of their boxes for me just to try it out. [We had difficulties finding a Pagan subscription box that also shipped to Canada. Shipping was around $25.] We went for the cheapest box, the Initiate, which was $19.99.

Shipping took about two weeks which was pretty good~

Opening it up….everything was nicely wrapped in yellow tissue paper and it smelled pretty good!

The first thing I pulled out was an Abundance candle by Crystal Journey Candles. I have experience using these candles~ the metaphysical store in town used to stock them. I believe the store owner mentioned something about them being reiki-charged although I can’t find that on the website….regardless. I use the Abundance & Money candles [I stocked up] for every job spell I do! They smell so lovely and I wish shipping for these candles was more affordable.

I have a thousand and one smudge sticks. Ha ha! This one is lovely although it didn’t quite smell like white sage. I think it may have been kept alongside some other herbs? It has a bit of a cinnamon scent to it.

Okay, I think I had another candle with these but my cat took it. Anyway. The next bundle contained five of these lovely ‘chime’ candles. These candles are an excellent size and great for all sorts of candle magick. However, I wish finding candle holders for them was easier! I stock up on these every time I come across them, but I only recently found a pair of candle holders that they tentatively sit in. [The holders were homemade.]

Lovely incense cones that I’m also familiar with~ these cones hold their scent well and burn quite nicely. I’ve never had jasmine incense before so I’m excited to use these.

These is ‘All Purpose Anointing Blend’ oil by Anna Rivas. It is, according to the website, good for consecrating tools, anointing candles, purifying rooms, and ‘enticing an advantageous atmosphere to any room in which it is used’. Unfortunately I could not find a list of ingredients anywhere =/

The Initiate box contains either a gemstone OR a herb of the month~ in this box I received garnet, the stone of the month.

I was pretty excited to receive the ‘surprise worship item’. Last month’s was a lovely wooden pentacle necklace. This month’s was this ah-mazing pentacle ritual spoon! It’s a bit small and I haven’t decided what to do with it yet, but it will look lovely on my altar. [I collect anything with a pentacle on it.]

I’m just estimating, but I believe the contents of this box are definitely over the USD $19.99 price tag!

I don’t have any issues with this box~ it arrived in good time, was well-priced & well-packaged [eco-friendly!], and had great contents. However, the insert in the box merely listed the contents. I saw a video from a beginner witch who mentioned knowing the properties of the stone would be nice~ I don’t particularly need to know the properties after thirteen years of witchy life, but it might be a nice addition! Perhaps a few suggestions for how to use the abundance candle, the ritual spoon, the stone, etc.

I would recommend this box for beginners who are just starting out and for more experienced witches who would like to stock up on some basics! If you’re anything like me, you’re always in need of candles, incense, and gems. I’ll eventually decide how I feel about the oil [I love anointing oils, but not knowing the ingredients is weirding me out], the ritual spoon is ah-mazing and I’m so excited to have another Crystal Journey Candle! [And the sage will join all the other sage bundles in my witch box.]

If I were to order this box again, I’d probably go for a higher tier just for the surprise worship items. Some of the past items for higher tiers have included altar cloths, tiles and candle holders!

You guys can check out Box of Shadows on Tumblr. Keep an eye out for any sales & discount codes they might post!

Blessings,
Fao

Full Moon Goals: May’s Flower Moon

Hello!

Full Moon Goals is a monthly series that I’m happy to be reviving from my old blog. It’s slightly different from New Moon Intentions; whereas the intentions involve manifesting certain qualities and whatnot in my life, Full Moon Goals is a lot more mundane and is all about setting a few goals to reach before the next Full Moon!

These were my goals for last month:

⭐️ Choose two witchy books to read for May’s Reading List. I ended up not posting my reading list so I didn’t choose witchy books.

⭐️ Research wands and how to make them. I didn’t purchase the book I wanted but on Beltane, my niece and I went for a hike in the woods to gather driftwood. I didn’t want to take Boo all the way to the Mondream Wood where the beavers live, so we just went to an otter’s slide and collected wood from the shore there. I have two lovely pieces that I intend to work with!

⭐️ Make connections at the Mind Body Spirit Fair. I actually ended up doing this! I mentioned that my best friend bailed on me at the last second so it was a little nerve-wracking to do this myself..but I instantly bonded with the astrologist who had the table beside me. I became friends with two sisters who have become repeat customers, and I had a lovely conversation with two friends who are interested in having me to do a tea leaf reading party for them! I also met an aromatherapist who I’ve become friends with. It was so lovely and I feel like I wouldn’t have met them if I hadn’t been alone.

My goals for this month:

⭐️ Sort my journals and start using them. I have a thousand and one journals. It’s pretty bad. Currently I have two journals that have designated uses; one for my tea leaf readings and one for my dreams. I think the pretty fox journal I bought on Monday will be used as a ‘happy’ journal.

⭐️ Figure out how to plant catnip without the cats eating it. Yeah, four of my cats completely killed my wee catnip plants. (The fifth cat is still a baby and couldn’t reach them.) I briefly entertained the idea of setting up a cage but I guarantee Tika would just lay directly on top of it….I grow all my own herbs for my magick, and this year I want to use some for tea.

⭐️ Start planning my workshop for the Summer Solstice Sisters retreat. I was invited to host a workshop on magickal herbalism back in March. The retreat is in one month and I haven’t even figured out what I’m going to say yet.

⭐️ Figure out a morning routine that involves stretches and a few of my exercises. My pain differs from day to day, but I think some gentle stretches in the morning might help off-set it if it chooses to appear later in the day.

~

Full Moon Goals used to be a link-up series, but that will be on hold until I can find a new system that works properly on WordPress. For now, check out Sharnie’s blog =) She’s been posting Full Moon Goals since almost the beginning and will [hopefully] be joining this one.

xo,
Fao

New Moon Intentions: May’s New Moon in Taurus

Blessed New Moon, lovelies ♥

Setting intentions for the New Moon is a surprisingly new thing for me. As a matter of fact…this is my first time ever.

The New Moon is all about clean slates and new beginnings. Using this energy is wonderful for manifesting what we want in our lives. Now, a few sources insist on only using pen and paper to write down intentions….but I consider myself a techno Pagan a la Ms. Calendar from BTVS. I think my wee blog will serve just fine to hold my intentions.

This month’s New Moon is in Taurus. My intentions will all revolve around areas that Taurus rules over; contentment, self-worth, money, and overcoming ‘bullheadedness’. [There are many other areas, of course, but these ones spoke to me the most.] Some of my intentions will regard drawing new things to me, but some will also be about doing mundane work, etc. The key here is to write each intention with I want or I intend. Perhaps even I will. Not ‘hopefully I’ll get that gardening done.’ Speaking clearly about my intentions will manifest them in my life.

Here are my intentions for this month~

☆ I want to prove myself in my new workplace [two months as of yesterday!] and feel secure.

☆ I will prepare my garden area with pots and soil for my magickal herb garden.

☆ I want to continue opening my heart to my lover and being unafraid of doing so.

☆ I will be open to receiving any and all connections in the spiritual community that come my way.

☆ I want to fully release my emotional bonds to physical objects and clear my space of that which no longer serves me or ‘sparks joy’.

☆ I will draw prosperity to me in every avenue of my life; my personal business, my workplace, and my local selling.

May this New Moon be the start of good things for you.

Blessings,
Fao.