Monday, March 31, 2014

Full and New Moon Collages

Full and New Moon Collages 
                   -Esbats-
A project I think is really great is making full and or new moon collages .
To do this as I mean one needs cardboard circles ( one at a time ) or to cut cardboard circles . I feel that having them be about the size of your arm from your elbow to the end of your hand if you make a fist in width is a good size .
You'll need

  • magazines 
  • vegan glue - http://www.veganstore.com/product/162/home-office-and-cleaning
  • scissors 
  • and uninterrupted time 

The rules I play by are simple and few .
I cover the circle so no cardboard shows.
I don't think too much about what I'm putting on it .
If I like an image or word or phrase I cut it out .
I (though recently haven't been)a day or more in advance, used to take a look at what's coming up between the phases I'm collaging for both astrologically and on my schedule  so, between the new moons if I'm doing new moon collages only or between new and full if I'm doing both . Then I put it out of my mind and keep it out of the front of my mind while collaging .

These are great tools .
 After you are finished you can hang them and you can analyze them . They have assisted me in finding things I didn't know I wanted as well, and have spoke to me about other things that my subconscious had hidden . They are great to meditate on , contemplate, analyze , and sometimes visualize with, and they are cathartic to do !

Friday, March 28, 2014

"Creative art journaling and B.O.S. making "

"Creative art journaling and B.O.S. making "

B.O.S. Stands for book of shadows . If you are an independent practicing pagan then your B.O.S. is limited only to your level of creativity . B.O.S.'s are where pagans keep the records they want to keep ( yes, sometimes there's other places as well like grimores ) But, a B.O.S. is as inclusive as you want it to be .
 Some people use them to -
document research on sabbats and magic
journal about their spiritual life
write about deities
write the recipes, rituals, and spells they create
put spiritual art they create
and much more !

There is a commonality between art journaling and B.O.S. making and that is ..
 It's yours , it's anything goes and only structured when and how you want it to be ( Though we discourage structuring an art journal beyond doing responses to prompts from time to time) , and both use your creativity a lot.
Art journaling can be a great complement to B.O.S. making I feel because , it can stretch your creative muscles in a similar way and " warm you up" for B.O.S. doings . Weather you've never had a B.O.S. and want to start one or you have one matters not . It can also help you separate what you find as spiritual and want in your B.O.S. from  things you don't while giving you a place for those other things ( expressions) .
I have a club for creative art journaling ( A Free One ) and in it I give out prompts that can help inspire and stimulate . They are completely optional . Though, I'd really like to see the page of someone who's used one sometime ! (Insert goofy face here) Link to group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/Sabrinascreativeartjournaling/

ANOTHER BENEFIT  is that with the help of tracing paper you can transfer things from your art journal to your B.O.S and thus the art journal can sometimes serve as an experimental rough drafting for B.O.S. pieces . For instance, if you want to draw a tree goddess and aren't confident about your drawing capabilities you can do it in your art journal , turn any mistakes into something playful and move on until you get it right . Then you can use tracing paper and transfer your final piece to your B.O.S. You can also of course, trace out parts of pieces done in your art journal to combine them with other creations .

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Like Tea?

Come join google's Tea Lover Group . I've been posting pictures there !

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Ostara


Spring is :
Ostara is the celebration of Spring is here ! It is the equinox marking the first day of Spring . Spring is a wood season in Asian texts . And Wood is an element of growth . Spring is a time of growth !The first starting growths seen in the material world ! It's a very exciting, uplifting,  happy time . there's a fresh and new feeling .
Ostara Life Lessons :
seeds growth , births , making room in order to receive , love, respect, collaboration, peace , harmony,
mindfulness , diversity of life , Migration , sunrises
Projects:
-wooden eggs to paint .
- Ostara Basket
- Wooden egg or crystal hunt ! ( If you have access to affordable gems, crystals and other rocks and want to give them to your child, lover or friends you can have a party crystal hunt or a family fun activity here . Some places offer small stones such as rose quartz , amethyst , sodilaite and a whole array of others  at prices from around $1 -$5 dollars each.
- Seed sprouting ( food and garden )
-Spring Cleaning
-Balance meditation
-Garden maping
- Winter gifts - Gratitude list / reflection
Magic :
If you want to get a spring hair cut . You can save some of your hair and use it in making a/ to protect yourself .  self poppet .( Mindful Magic !)
Bath sachet spells  to wash off winter and prepare for spring
Spells to acquire healthy balance
Spring tool consecrations
Home cleaning spells Such as -Sweeping out negativity and saging .See Gaia Friendly Bast Friendly you friendly and other animal friendly Cleaners and cleaning recipes here!
Recipes: 
Homemade Scrambled Tofu 
 Notes: This can be modified a lot to suit your tastes . Use any veggies or mushrooms you desire and change herbs and spices to suit you .

Ingredients :
Extra firm Organic  tofu 2 pkg.
pepper( I used 1 orange bell pepper )
Scallions ( or onions)
Daiya shreds ( I use cheddar but, there's also pepper jack available )
hemp seeds- 3 Tbs. ( optional)
Turmeric - 1 1/4 TBS.
Onion powder - 1 1/3 tsp.
garlic powder 1/3 tsp
cayenne pepper - 3 dashes
oregano - 1/4 tsp.
basil - 1/2 tsp.
cumin 3 dashes
coriander - 1/3 tsp.
ground pepper - to taste
Sea Salt - to taste
nutritional yeast - 1/3 C.
Coconut oil ( NOT EXTRA VIRGIN ! ) - To fry in

Directions:
1. Drain and cube tofu then put in a large bowl 2. chop veggies and fry them if desired 3. Add hemp seeds and herbs and spices including nutritional yeast to bowl with tofu . 4. Mix well and further break up tofu to get scrambled texture . 5. Remove veggies and fry tofu until browned on medium- high  6. Add Daiya and reduce heat once tofu is done and mix around . It should only take a minute or two to melt .
Tahini Veggie Dip - Mix tahini and Frank's hot sauce with nutritional yeast ( AkA Noosh )  to taste using vegan milk to thin to desired consistency

Hemp seed tofu- Coat tofu cubes with hemp seed when almost through it's frying for crispy fried tofu

Cleaning recipes -

  • MIRROR AND WINDOW CLEANER - 1 part white vinegar and 1 part water . Newspaper to wipe off shockingly works best .

  • TUB AND SHOWER CLEANER - Just cover area with a layer of baking soda , wait a few seconds and pour white vinegar over it then wipe right off . Don't allow wait time . Works great ! 

  • MULTI PURPOSE AND TILE FLOOR CLEANER - Vermont organics lemongrass soap [(liquid)1 drop per 1 c. of warm water ] , water, baking soda ( 1/2 tsp.per C water) *Adjust amounts of baking soda and soap based on need/ dirtiness . Start with increasing baking soda and go from there as needed . 



  • CARPET POWDER-Carpet powder recipe : By the way just baking soda sprinkled itself does wonders ! It's good enough cleansing wise .

        Ingredients:  Baking soda ( amount depending on amount of carpet or size of batch you wish to make ),herb(s) ( If you have pets MAKE SURE IT OR THEY ARE NOT TOXIC TO ANIMALS !) ideas ,rose hips or petals, lavender , sage . Again amount varies on size of batch you are making and  your preference,Tool to grind them up fine (optional but, desirable )

      Directions :1.)Finely  grind up herb(s) of choice . 2.) Mix baking soda and herb(s) in a container bowls work if you are using the whole batch at one time

      To Use : 1.) sprinkle the carpet powder over your carpet 2.) Allow to sit about 20 minutes 3.) And then vacuum up .

Hygiene recipes-
  • BODY SCRUB, FACE, AND FOOT - fine sea salt of choice (Celtic, Himalayan...etc.)1 drop essential oil compatible with your skin type per 3/4 C salt ,coconut oil about 2 parts, salt 1 part  you can refrigerate it ,add Vermont organic's lemongrass soap or pure vegetable glycerin if you desire , a few drops extra plant oils if you want/need for skin type such as apricot oil 
  • BATH SACHETS - herbs, tea bags ,or coffee filters ( non dyed or bleached ) string together or iron shut bags   
  • BATH AND FOOT SOAKING SALTS -Epsom salt , a few drops of essential oil compatible with skin and or dried crushed herbs or flowers of choice such as rose petals and rosemary.( Peppermint's great for feet !) Optional 1/4 tsp baking soda per 1 C. salt 
  • COCONUT deep CONDITIONER - coconut oil 3 parts , vermont organic soap or vegetable glycerin( optional ) a few drops ,water  1 part 
  • MOISTURIZER -100% cocoa butter , shea butter or , coconut oil or a mixture 
Plant strong ambrosia with coconut milk whipped cream !



" Peanut-butter Ginger Sauce  Noodle Melody   " - Notes -I especially forsee children LOVING this one !  Hemp seeds are a yummy add in !


Ingredients:

- Rice noodles
- 3 1/2 C.-veggies
- I used a frozen pkg from Trader Joes called Veggie 4 some ( it was just shreded carrots, corn, peas and green beans :)  - 2 C. -peanut sauce
- Sprouts

Directions:

1.) Make the peanut sauce . See recipe below . 2.) Heat veggies ( Or steam them if using fresh ) 3. Set aside . 4. Cook rice noodles 5. combine all ingredients .

Peanut sauce Recipe:

Ingredients:3/4- 1 C.( Or to preference)
- Pure Peanut butter ( Ingredients Just roasted peanuts )
 1 Tbs. ginger ( not fresh though, I'm anxious to try it that way !  )
 2 1/2 - 3 TBS. Apple cider Vinegar
1 1/2 tsp. coconut oil
Spring veggie couscous and Quinoa salad
1.) cooked desired amount of quinoa using the basic directions(water and quinoa only ) 2.) cooked desired amount of couscous with just water (I did a 1:1 ratio of cous cous and quinoa 3. I combined the two in a large bowl . 4. added veggies , I used shredded carrots (I shredded them ) sugar snap peas and frozen organic corn . 5. Added black pepper to taste and a small amount of celtic sea salt

Purple Tinted Fruit Salad 

This fruit salad is blueberries(frozen but dethawed. Frozen or fresh work ),manderine oranges (one can labeled vegan ..if you use cans you should look for that to insure they are only sitting in their juice and not sugar which may not be vegan . And isn't plant strong regardless! ), pineapple, unsweetened coconut flakes and hemp seeds . And its delicious!

Spring Vegan Alfredo

Spring Vegan  Rolls
-Send me a message to get any of these recipes sent to you ! I'm sorry I just didn't get to them in time
Check out my youtube video titled Ostara for more great stuff ! .

Saturday, March 15, 2014

Home-made Healthy Environmental friendly vegan cleaning recipes

  • MIRROR AND WINDOW CLEANER - 1 part white vinegar and 1 part water . Newspaper to wipe off shockingly works best .

  • TUB AND SHOWER CLEANER - Just cover area with a layer of baking soda , wait a few seconds and pour white vinegar over it then wipe right off . Don't allow wait time . Works great ! 

  • MULTI PURPOSE AND TILE FLOOR CLEANER - Vermont organics lemongrass soap [(liquid)1 drop per 1 c. of warm water ] , water, baking soda ( 1/2 tsp.per C water) *Adjust amounts of baking soda and soap based on need/ dirtiness . Start with increasing baking soda and go from there as needed . 



  • CARPET POWDER-Carpet powder recipe : By the way just baking soda sprinkled itself does wonders ! It's good enough cleansing wise .

        Ingredients:  Baking soda ( amount depending on amount of carpet or size of batch you wish to make ),herb(s) ( If you have pets MAKE SURE IT OR THEY ARE NOT TOXIC TO ANIMALS !) ideas ,rose hips or petals, lavender , sage . Again amount varies on size of batch you are making and  your preference,Tool to grind them up fine (optional but, desirable )

      Directions :1.)Finely  grind up herb(s) of choice . 2.) Mix baking soda and herb(s) in a container bowls work if you are using the whole batch at one time

      To Use : 1.) sprinkle the carpet powder over your carpet 2.) Allow to sit about 20 minutes 3.) And then vacuum up .

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Late Winter 2014 Morning Birds song - A poem by me

"Late Winter 2014 Morning Birds song"
I hear the bird's song
Early in the morn
Before the dawn
I am awake long before
And it is as though they have joined me after their slumber
Their company very welcomed
I hear the bird's song
Early in the morn
We talk of Spring's soon coming
They have such great attitudes
and
are so full of life and purity