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Earth Centered Spirituality

I remember Mama . . . my mother. I remember my mother cooking in the kitchen. Sometimes a piece of food would drop on the floor. She would say, "that's Mother Earth's share." I realized at a young age that it was important to honor Mother Earth.

Mom often composted food by burying food scraps in the garden. At the Brooklyn house, she often would only compost the coffee grounds and egg shells. In our Breezy Point house, our garden was in beach sand. There she would bury everything in the garden to amend the soil. Now the thing to remember when composting or burying things in the garden is to avoid placing meat, bones, cheese, oils and return vegetable and fruit cuttings, egg shells and coffee grounds back to Mother Earth.

I still use this technique today. The land I live on is primarily sugar sand. I received the training I needed from dear mom, so I ammend the soil and do a bit of lasagna gardening. I layer kitchen waste, leaves and potting soil to build up a garden bed.

The spiritual aspect of this is the deeper connection with all life. When I place my scraps in the garden, it is also my intent that the creatures who live in my 'hood might enjoy a snack. My sweetheart, Vincent, feeds the animals with intention. He puts the bones, leftovers too old to eat and even meat juices from cooking into a dish under the Royal Poincianna tree. In the morning, there isn't a scrap left and the plate is licked clean.

When I was on a mountain in Mexico in the late 1990's I was part of a Native America Church group under the lineage of Grandfather Wallace Black Elk. I actually sat in Sweat Lodge with Grandfather and was one of the main communicators for Grandfather as most people were Spanish speaking. (He is much younger in this picture then when I met him!)

Everything we did during those days was sacred and ceremonial. Before we fed the people (sometimes it was over 200 in camp) we fed the fire first. Then the elders were fed, then the children and then the adults. Even the manner in which we cut the vegetables was sacred. Did you know there is a male and female side to every fruit and vegetable? When you cut it in a certain way with consciousness, it allows for the masculine and feminine energy to be dispersed into the food.

Everything we do can be done with consciousness in a respectful and ceremonial way. When we do this, the flavor of the food and the flavor of life shifts. When that happens, our consciousness shifts and life opens up in far more magical and mysterious ways. When you cook, are you conscious and present with what you are doing or are you thinking of other things?

Gardening for the Soul

I've been enjoying my yard. Seedlings are growing. I've planted marigolds, bush string beans, cantaloupe, watermelon, zinnias, cosmos and sunflowers. My favorite flower is the sunflower. I brought seeds back from Tuscany about 5 years ago. When I first moved into this house I planted them all over my yard. Since then I've made it a tradition to keep them growing. Sunflowers are happy plants and make me smile.

On a metaphysical level, sunflowers are the perfect flower to activate the solar plexus. The yellow color and the happy energy provides a perfect activation for increasing joy and self-esteem. Hmmm . . . perhaps I could assign a flower for each chakra. Let's see

• Crown - white calla lily




• Third Eye - African Violet




• Throat - periwinkle blue plumbago




• Heart - pink roses




• Solar Plexus - sunflowers




• Navel - orange marigolds




• Root - Red Geraniums

Gardening is grounding and yet highly spiritual at the same time. I am grateful I have a yard so I can pull weeds of the past and plant seeds for the future. I enjoy watering the gardening, fertilizing and nurturing each and every plant and tree. I am grateful!

Learning New Things

I've been learning to use Quickbooks for the bookkeeping and bill paying for various business. I'm responsible for managing the finances for my 95 and 1/2 year old Papa Bear. Due to rising costs for CPA, I've finally bit the bullet and purchased Quickbooks. I received some training from my CPA and my old friend, Debbie. Along with the help of online tech support from the banks and online tech support for Pro Advisors, I've achieved most of what I need to accomplish. There are finer details of the more complicated aspects of the businesses that my CPA will have to do, teach me and check my work, but for the most part all is well!

The bills are paid and with the online bill paying option with my banks and the automatic electronic download, life is so much easier. I don't have to sit with many checkbooks, handwriting checks anymore! It's all streamlined. Wow! I could've, should've, would've done that a while ago if I just listen to Rosetta! But now it is done and I am very happy. No more envelopes, addressing and stamping! I am free!

I hope to start blogging on a more regular basis again now that the bookkeeping is done.

Healing the planet one Spritz at a time!

I've been so focused on the line of Aromatic Sprays. I've been preparing for INATS West www.inats.com which is a huge trade show for the visionary industry. I'm excited because my new line of sprays will be promoted there to hundreds or likely 1000 retailers! I've expanded the Wholesale Division of The Crystal Garden.

I am also introducing my latest positive thought CD - Think Good Thoughts - at INATS West in Denver. I decided to have new professional labels made for the line of essential oils. I've been inundating my graphic artist friend, Victoria, with lots of work. Labels, ads for the Trade Show Directory, Ads for New Age Retailer Magazine and Aura Magazine. The list goes on and on.

As the president of a national trade organization, COVR - Coalition of Visionary Resources - I have plenty to do. I'm working with my colleague, Caryn Colgan, http://www.caryncolgan.com/ to finalize the Presenters Referral Program within COVR. You have to be a COVR member to reap the benefits. If you are a retailer, publisher, publicist, vendor, artist, author, speaker, distributor in a visionary business then you really need to join COVR. www.covr.org

It looks like Whole Foods in Florida is picking up my newest CD and possibly Smudge in Spray. Now I just need to manifest Sales Reps in other regions of the country who sell to Whole Foods. My CDs have sold VERY well at Whole Foods. I love to see my Color Meditation or my Short Meditations for Busy People CD by the cash register next to Aretha Franklin at the check out line. Mama Mia! Way Cool!

I've also been giving an extraordinary amount of time to learning Quickbooks for the various companies I manage. So, my bookkeeping skills from the days of Banking and Finance are being tweaked. Between networking, new programs and graphic art work - the geekette in me is in her glory.

I'm off to Yoga. Yoga keeps me strong, focused and sane. (and a nicer person - breathe deeply and go!)

Angelic Blessings!