Crystal Conversation ~ Yellow Tiger's Eye

     Happy New Year and Blessings to you all as we begin a new year!!  I'm doing my best to recover from the holidays. Let's start the new year off with Yellow (gold, brown) Tiger's Eye.  Tiger's eye is a powerful stone and is often worn for protection.  It's also not bad to look at and is used in jewelry (I have a Tiger's Eye ring that I wear almost everyday) because of it's unusual and captivating beauty. Tiger's Eye is found in a few different colors but yellow/brown is most common. 


     Believe it or not Tiger's Eye is silicon dioxide or quartz.  Quartz becomes Tiger's Eye when the fibers of crocidolite (a mineral) are laid down in parallel bands within the quartz. A shimmer effect is created when the stone is turned to the light and this gives the stone its cat like appearance.  The stone is hard but can be carved and polished.  Yellow Tiger's Eye is the most common but this stone can also be found in blue, blue-green and red.  
     Tiger's Eye has been a poplar stone for thousands of years.  Tombs dating back to 2500 BCE were discovered in what was once the city of Ur in Mesopotamia (now Iraq).  Among the treasures discovered inside the tombs were gold set with various stones including Tiger's Eye.  During the reign of Alexander the Great, Tiger's Eye was one of the more popular stones among goldsmiths.  It was set in gold jewelry including rings, bracelets and necklaces.   

Interesting tidbit:  Roman soldiers wore Tiger's Eye during battle for protection. The stone was also thought to provide instant clarity and deep insights into the current situation.  This instant clarity and insight allowed the soldiers to clearly see the truth and remain free from deception while on the battlefield. 

     For healing purposes, Tiger's Eye brings calm and restoring energy to the mind and body.  Prevent depletion of physical energy and support your metabolism by wearing a Tiger's Eye. Wear it to shield your aura from negativity and to clear mental blocks and tension from the solar plexus chakra. (Think Gilly from Practical Magic.  She saw blood on the moon and instantly went for her Tiger's Eye for protection.)  Tiger's Eye encourages focus on current issue/the task at hand.  Stressed out and have a deadline to meet?  Spend a few minutes meditating on the project while holding a Tiger's Eye. Or keep the stone in your pocket while you work on the project.  Studying for a final? Keep a Tiger's Eye close by to help maintain your focus and concentration.  Since it also helps shield from negativity, Tiger's Eye is helpful when negative thoughts begin to creep in (i.e.  I'll never get this done in time. I can't possibly pass this test. etc).
     Tiger's Eye has a gentle vibration that promotes peace and calm, even in times of change and upheaval. It is especially suited for meditation because it increases courage, determination, alertness, patience, brings positive energy and relives depression. When used during meditation Tiger's Eye can help you reach insights that are both spiritual and mundane in nature.  

A great and different way to experience the properties of crystals is with water, specifically using energized water or a crystal remedy.  For this stone let's make some energized water.  

• Place a cleansed stone into a clear glass bottle that is filled with clean, drinkable water.  (You can use a tall drinking glass and cover it with a coaster. If you want to make more than just one glass you can use a glass jug.)
• After combining the crystal and the water leave them in direct sunlight for at least one hour.
• Once the hour has passed REMOVE THE CRYSTAL and drink the water.  This will internalize the properties of the crystal. 

     Tiger's Eye will help you focus on the task at hand and provide clarity regarding the current situation. This stone also helps maintain peace and calm even during upheavals.  So if things seem to be falling apart reach for a Tiger's Eye.  Use it to increase determination, draw positive energy to you and get a little insight into what the heck is going on.  Acquiring a few pieces of Tiger's Eye is a win-win situation because it's pretty to look at and incredibly helpful. So, when all else fails get yourself a Tiger's Eye necklace (just don't leave it behind like Gilly, yikes!).

Bright Blessings, 
Amethyst

Source: Crystals by: Jennie Harding

When Empaths....

I feel like this should read 'When empaths go anywhere.'

Blessed New Moon in Capricorn

Blessed New Moon in Capricorn!! Capricorn, an Earth sign, focuses on success, getting things done with hard work and the mundane side of life. Don't forget, Mercury is still retrograde (standard rules and regulations still apply) so make some adjustments to your new moon ritual.  Still set new goals and intentions but think outside the box and come at it from a different angle. Revisit old goals and ideas, especially where your career is concerned. How have things improved? Can you take the goal further? Things didn't work out, how can you adjust your plan? Slow, steady and be patient like the Capricorn Mountain Goat making his way up a hill that can, on a occasion, be a bit slippery. 

~Blessed Be

A Quick Tip About Abundance

At this time of year, when the harvest season begins, there's a word that gets tossed around a lot. Abundance.  There's abundance spells, abundance meditations, people wishing blessings of
abundance for each other etc. But there's something important that shouldn't be overlooked, especially in spell work. Abundance of what?!?!?!?  You can have an abundance of anything in your life, ANYTHING.  Love, joy, sex, money etc. But you can also have an abundance of stress, bad health, debt, depression in your life as well.  So be specific and know what you're asking for. Don't walk up to the cafeteria counter, hold out your plate and ask the nice man in a hairnet for abundance of something. You could end up with a plate full of mystery meat and lima beans when what you really wanted was a pretty salad with all the fixin's.  Again, be specific, know what you want and be clear when you ask for it.  You don't want the universe handing you a plate of mystery meat....

~BB~
Amethyst

How'd I Get Here?

     Ahhhh.... Can you smell the new beginnings in the air?!? Or maybe that's just the clean laundry I need to fold.  Anywho... Yay for new beginnings and fresh starts!!  This is the inaugural post of my new blog and I'm pretty excited about where this new adventure will take me.
    I was a partner in a blog that was growing in popularity (especially on facebook) and, in my opinion, was on a serious road to success. After branching out into a small business with the blog as our foundation, I took a huge leap and walked away from my full time job to focus solely on the business we were trying to create.  After months of long days, sleepless nights and endless attempts to get things off the ground I realized my partner in crime was no longer my partner.  She no longer held the same vision for our blog/business that I did and she walked away to pursue different dreams.
 
 Where did this leave me? Jobless, broke, angry and scrambling to put my life back together in between bouts of hiding under my covers. I was lost. In fact, I'd always been a bit lost but now I had absolutely no idea what was going to happen. It took months to finally get my life back in some semblance of order. Months of interviewing for jobs, working at a low paying part time job that I hated, borrowing money from my mother and crying to my brother all while teetering on the edge of a steep emotional and spiritual cliff.  I was spiraling but after some time, some much needed focus on gratitude and a shift in my stank attitude things started to change. The change was by no means easy but it had to happen and I welcomed it. I more than welcomed it. I chased it down, wrestled it into submission, conked it on the head and drug it home with me.
     I finally found work which was a huge relief but the work was in a different state. I had to walk away from the place I'd lived and the life I'd had for 10 years and start fresh in a new/old place (I've lived her before).  It was hard but also incredibly easy.  In two weeks it will be one year since I moved and so much has changed while an annoying amount of stuff has stayed the same.  I'm still dealing with the upheaval that time in my life caused mostly in a financial sense. I'm also trying to regain my love for blogging/writing, learning and sharing. After so much happened, I had to place the anger and blame somewhere (rightfully so or not) and one of those somewhere's was writing.  I'd

believed in it and my ability to do it and I felt as though it ruined me and failed me. The tumultuous time has also left another hole, a deep gaping hole, in my life.  Magick.  During all the sadness, drama and uncertainty I'd completely closed the door on all the magick in my life.  In the middle of scratching and clawing my way back into my life I made a wrong turn at Albuquerque, losing a huge part of who I am.  Personal power, self belief, my connection to the Divine, reliance on my intuition and magick... gone.  I can't tell you the last time I meditated, performed spell work, cleansed my crystals or even sat down and read one of the books in my bulging personal library.  In fact, this blog post is the first thing I've written in a very long time (aside from sporadic journaling.).
     Hence the blog and its title.  I have to start somewhere and I have to return to the things I love and enjoy.  Writing, creating, making magick, learning and sharing.  I don't know how often I'll write posts or the subjects I'm going to cover (I'm still working out some kinks). Some posts from my former blog will be updated and shared here. I'm not sure what this new blog will look like once it takes shape but I have to start somewhere if I'm going to figure out Witch Way Now.

~BB~