21 Days of Chakra Power

As part of the Spiritual Seeds I'm planting this Spring, I'm embarking on a 21-day journey cleansing & strengthening my chakras.  The plan is to use corresponding colors, senses, foods, stones, scents & specifically designed activities to further support my growth in all areas of mind, body & spirit. 

Days 1-3 Root Chakra - focusing on physical health & wellbeing, safety & security

Days 4-6  Sacral Chakra - focusing on desire, pleasure & connecting with others

Days 7-9  Solar Plexus Chakra - focusing on self esteem, personal power & energy

Days 10-12  Heart Chakra - focusing on love & compassion

Days 13-15  Throat Chakra - focusing on purification & communication through sound & vibrations & self-expression & creativity

Days 16-18  Brow Chakra - focusing on vision, both inner (divination) & outter (auric viewing)

Days 19-21  Crown Chakra - focusing on connection with Divine Intelligenct, the Source & integration of mind/body/spirit wisdom

I will be posting a plan at the beginning of each 3-day session, starting tomorrow & will let you know how it's going.

Wild & Bright Blessings!!

~*Rhi*~
    )O(

Welcome to Spring!!

The cold is fading away

Butterflies flutter about

Animals of all varieties have begun their mating rituals

Sprouts peek through the ground

The warm Sun has risen!!!

Come out of your Winter shell

Venture into the garden

The fertile soil is waiting

For your blessing

For your plantings

For your presence

Many gifts await

Much magick to be found

The Green Man is calling your name

Nurture the Earth

It is time!

Spring has arived!!!

Buffalo Wraps

One of my favorite places to eat in Orlando is the Dandelion Communitea Cafe.  A few months ago, I tried their Buffalo Wrap & fell in love!  Since we live almost an hour away, I decided that I must try to make them on my own.

Here is the HiddenWitch's version of Buffalo Wraps (in stages):

Buffalo Wraps

Stage 1 Vegan Hot Wings

8 oz tempeh
¾ cup unsweetened milk substitute (I use Silk Organic Soy Milk)

½  cup flour
pinch of salt
1 tsp paprika

1 tsp onion powder
1/2 t garlic powder
1 cup panko bread crumbs

Sauce:

2 Tbsp vegan margarine (I use Earth Balance)
1-2 Tbsp hot sauce
1/3 cup  ketchup
2 Tbsp agave nectar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees (use “speed bake” or convection if you have it)

Cut the tempeh into about ½ inch x 2 inch pieces.  Boil the tempeh in enough water to just cover in a covered skillet for 10-15 minutes or until it is softened. Drain.  

Use spray oil to prepare a baking sheet.

Mix the flour & seasonings in a medium bowl or plate.

Put your soymilk another bowl.

Put the panko bread crumbs in a third bowl.

Coat the tempeh pieces in flour, dip each nugget into the milk & then toss with panko to coat.  Arrange all pieces on the baking sheet.

Spray the tops with cooking spray, and bake at 400 degrees for ten minutes.

Turn the nuggets over after 10 minutes & spray again with oil. Bake for an additional 6-8 minutes.

While the nuggets are baking, Mix all sauce ingredients in the skillet & heat over medium heat until warm (don’t allow it to boil).  Keep the sauce warm.

As soon as the nuggets are done baking, toss them into the skillet & turn to coat each one in the sauce.

Stage 2 Ranch (or Blue Cheez Sauce)

This is a "go by taste" kind of recipe...just keep adjusting the spices until the sauce tastes like Ranch or Blue Cheez dressing.

1/2 cup Veganaise
1/2 cup Silken Tofu
Splash of Apple Cider Vinegar
1 Tbsp of Greek Seasoning  (Reduce for Blue Cheez)
1/2 tsp of Garlic Powder  (Omit for Blue Cheez)
1/2 tsp of Onion Powder  (Omit for Blue Cheez)
Black Pepper to taste
1/4 - 1/2 cup grated Blue Sheese, (just keep adjusting to taste)

Blend all ingredients together until smooth.  Best if allowed to sit in the refrigerator for at least an hour for flavors to meld.

Stage 3 Wrap it Up!

You can make these with whatever ingredients suit you & your family.  Here's our version:

Whole Wheat Tortilla
Cooked Quinoa, about 1/4-1/2 cup per wrap
Baby Spinach
Red Onion, sliced very thin, a few slices
3-4 "wingz"
1 Tbsp of sauce

Layer & wrap.  Cut into 2 portions.  Eat!!

Note: I adore the blue cheez sauce, & just tried it as a challenge because Jessica at Growing Healthy Sprouts asked if I'd figured it out.  I can't believe how easy it was!!  We've been having this with the ranch sauce up until now, which is also very good & much less expensive.

Wild & Bright Blessings!

~*Rhi*~
    )O(

Hands Only CPR

2 Student Athletes died in 2 days from Sudden Cardiac Arrest.


Do you know CPR?

March 5th - Festival of The Blessing of The Vessel of Isis

March 5^th brings us Navigium Isidi, or The Blessing of The Vessel of Isis.

This celebration of the goddess was a grand festival with all the accoutrement.  Isis' cult spread through the Greco-Roman world & thrived until the establishment of Christianity.  Temples honoring Isis frequently featured moon-boats, carved in stone, in which sat the figure of the goddess.  The story of Isis speaks of her traveling the world in a papyrus boat to find & collect the pieces of her beloved Osiris.  

Being such a revered goddess, she was maligned as a witch with the onset of Christianity.  The fairy tale of “The Witch in the Stone Boat” referring to Isis, shows just how far in the world her cult had spread.

To celebrate The Vessel of Isis, pagans held grand carnival processions, culminating in the launching of The Vessel, laden with offerings of spices & milk for the beloved goddess.  Flowers were strewn through the streets & floated in rivers & incense (very precious at the time), was burnt openly during the procession.

The merriment during Navigium Isidis included music, dancing & feasts, honoring Isis as Lady of the Moon & Ruler of the Sea.  Isis would, hopefully, be pleased with the offerings & celebration, blessing the people with safe navigation & bountiful fishing & even safe passage into death, should it occur.

Isis has been a matron goddess in my heart for a very long time.   So, in keeping with tradition, I am creating a paper boat under the New Moon tonight.  The boat will be inscribed with her name:

In the boat, I will place offerings of flowers & incense.  If I can break away from work tomorrow, I hope to launch the little boat in either the St. John's River or Lake Monroe here in Florida, but will probably simply float it in the bathtub.  

Wild & Bright Blessings,

~*Rhi*~

    )O(

Sacred Garden - Phase 1

Borrowing from the practices of Native Americans, Buddhists & Wiccans, I have begun a Medicine Wheel/Meditation/Peace Prayer/Sacred Circle Garden.  I chose this spot last year, planting wildflowers to allow the soil a time of rest.  I expect to have some volunteer wildflowers push up through the new layers of compost, soil & mulch. 

The paths are bordered with wine & beer bottles...ok, not so very spiritual, but a great way to recycle & I think they're pretty!  So far, I don't have enough bottles for the outer circle border...more wine anyone?

Each Cardinal Direction is marked with a Camphor pole.  Camphor is a very spiritual plant, useful in meditation & spiritual cleansing. It is supportive of harmonious energy.

The poles are tied with colored cloth ribbons in the appropriate Elemental colors.  Each ribbon has a peace quote & an Elemental blessing written on it.  As I tied the ribbons, I invited each Element to this sacred garden. 

Each quadrant of the circle will hold medicinal or spiritual herbs corresponding to the element of that quadrant.  So far I have planted:

There will be more plants, more ribbons, more blessings, hopes, dreams & spells.

The center of the garden is a place of meditation & magick, where I hope to spend each New & Full Moon.  It will be home to potions, stones, poppets, etc. as they soak up Lunar Energy.

Tomorrow's New Moon, will be the first.  I really worked hard to get this space ready for March's New Moon, a time of great creativity & renewal.  Spring!  My garden blessing ritual will involve Elemental dance steps designed to call forth Elemental Energies.  I will, again, cast the border of this circle & consecrate the space.  As with any sacred space, the more it is used, the stronger the energy becomes. 

Once I'm sure my energy is strong & stable in this space, I will invite friends.  I'm hoping each pole will eventually be covered with many layers of peaceful & loving blessing ribbons.  These ribbons send blessings into the wind for all living beings.

Stopping my finger now, time to get some tattoo work.

Wild & Bright Blessings!

~*Rhi*~

    )O(

The Sacred Belly

We women are forever talking about loosing weight.  Many of us focus on our belly as the source of our dismay.  We throw around words like:

• Fat
• Ugly
• Flabby
• Hate
• Chunky
• Chubby

We wish away our bellies & dream of flat abdomens, without lumps &  bumps. We speak to and about our bellies as if they are the enemy.  We trap them in Spanx & other tight & "flattening" garments, restricting our ability to breathe & be comfortable.

All in the name of imagined perfection.  How sad. 

Actually, our bellies are sacred - a source of deep, feminine power. 

For step one of honoring your sacred belly, you can read this lovely story about the goddess Baubo from Honoring Your Belly:

 Archaic Knowledge

Our bellies hold our feminine power to create life!  This awesome power has been the impetus of goddess worship throughout history.  But, as patriarchy creates fear of a woman's power, the woman's belly must be controlled - in a desperate attempt to control the power of the woman herself.

Have you allowed your belly to be controlled?  Have you abdicated your sacred belly power to society?

Time to rip off that spandex & spanx!  Throw on some comfy & loose-fitting clothes & honor your belly!  Awaken the deep & creative power that lives within you.

Now, you are able to practice belly breathing.  Here's a tutorial if you're unfamiliar:



Now that you are comfortable & breathing into your belly, it's time to find the Center.  Your Center.  The place of power that lives within your belly.  The place that deserves your love & healing:

1. Lay down as you did during the Belly Breathing exercise
2. Place your hands on your belly, thumbs at the umbilicus (belly button) & fingers touching, forming an upside triangle.
3. The area inside the triangle is your Center
4. If you have difficulty finding this spot, it should be directly midline about 2-3 finger's widths below your umbilicus
5. If you still have difficulty, try finding the top of your hip bones & tracing an imaginary line across your belly.  The spot where this line is directly under your belly button is your Center.

Now that you've located your center, let's try a healing exercise.

1. Position yourself comfortably.
2. Find your Center
3. Place your right hand on your Center
4. Leave your left hand open to the sky & at your side
5. Begin belly breathing
6. Feel the weight of your hand on your Center
7. Notice any unusual sensations or thoughts that arise
8. Continue breathing & imagine a ray of orange, healing light pouring into your left hand, 
9. The light travels up your arm, across your shoulders, down your right arm & into your right hand
10. The beautiful, warm, orange light is pushed through your right hand into your Center
11. Feel the healing.  Release the stress held here.  
12. Continue breathing & transferring the orange light thinking words of love & gratitude for your belly
13. When you are ready, bring your left hand on top of your right & feel the weight settle into you
14. You always have this healing power at your disposal.  
15. Ground as you usually would after a meditation

You may do this exercise as often as necessary.

Now, go out and find or make yourself a Belly Goddess.  Here's an example from The Witch of Forest Grove

I will be creating my own Belly Goddess with this recipe for clay:

2 cups saw dust (using cedar)
1 cup flour
1 1/2 Water (about)

Mix together dry & slowly add water.  If too crumbly add a bit more flour & water until smooth.  Knead on wax paper for about 5 minutes.

Create.
Allow to air dry for 48 hours (actually a bit longer for me because I live in damp Florida).
Sand
Paint with acrylics
Cherish!

This creates a very hard goddess that accepts paint nicely (according to my sources).

Oh, & if the idea of Sacred Belly feels right to you (or if it feels very uncomfortable), see if you can find The Woman's Belly Book. It is full of exercises & wisdom for releasing & activating your power.

Wild & Bright Blessings,

~*Rhi*~

    )O(
who is getting ready to create Power Panties