After many conversations (and cups of tea), my dear friend Bethalynne and I are off on a new adventure. Her stories of Orange Moon Downs and all the characters within are amazing. They pair well with tea, fairies, magic and mayhem. Some of my favorite things! Our site is underdevelopment as well as many new blends of amazing and mysterious teas, courtesy of yours truly!  We will be sharing stories, art, tea and tasseomancy; all available through our Orange Moon Trading Company. It will be so much fun to step into this world and create a brand new reality.

Wormwood Queen lives there as well as an older character of mine, Arachnia Faulkner. You’ll discover the mishaps of Professor Vogel, some secrets of the Crinkle Society and what really does go on in Ms. Emma’s Boarding House? Its fun to see how some of our older creations, thoughts and ideas are coming back to life in a new way.  And it’s wonderful to see how they all fit together. We have a plethora of ideas we just can’t seem to act on quickly enough! Although much is still in progress, we do hope you’ll join us there. You can keep track of all the fun on Facebook, Twitter,  Tumblr,  Our Blog and of course the website,  orangemoonteas.com     Welcome!

It is so terribly easy for me to fall into the rush of life, putting out fires, running and gunning. It is so terribly easy to find distractions and to make excuses. Then, usually, it is my body, not my head, that will stop me and force me to take a look at my focus, my direction and my limited results.  As was the case today, when my body said “enough, no more running, it’s time to rest.  It’s time to value yourself, make some changes. This way of doing just ain’t working for ya no more”. (Not that it ever was.)

My initial plan this afternoon was to do this, then this, then this, then this, and well, I have to do that because tomorrow I’m here then there and I won’t have time for that then and I should be doing this now but I have to do that other thing and …blah blah blah blah blah… Yeah. No. Change of plans. I’ve done none of those things. I did something better.

I sat down with my partner in crime and we talked. We talked about big pictures, directions, focus (or lack thereof.) We talked about getting healthy, getting strong, getting real. We talked mirrors and metaphors and magic. It was a really good talk. I’m feeling connected again instead of disjointed and distracted.

I had to stop and go back in order to go forward.  I didn’t “do” a thing and at the same time, it was incredibly productive.

Going back doesn’t always mean your going backward. Sometimes it’s necessary to gain perspective and adjust attitudes. Sometimes we have missed those jewels we left behind, the ones that were meant to be carried forward. Time to find them, dust them off and remember our purpose, our magic our reasons for being.  Sometimes doing “nothing” is everything.

I recently made the offer to do a mini reading based on the way the picture from my coloring book was colored. Something a little more in depth than the description of the goddess energy described. This was my first picture to be sent to me. It’s the Goddess Songi, colored by Kathleen Adams. I love this picture so much. Its full of love and warm colors. If you have my coloring book and would like a reading, for free, based on one of the pictures you colored, send me a scan of it! I will include your picture (not your reading, ’cause that’s private!) in a collection of these coloring pages. It’s great fun! I love seeing the divine in all of us and I love getting a glimpse of how it plays in your life. Keep these pictures coming! You can send them to wormwoodqueen@gmail.com.

Goddess Coloring Book

 I was feeling rather low this morning and I thought about how I haven’t pulled a card for awhile. Maybe today I should. Well, pulling just one wouldn’t do. Yeah, that kind of day. So I pulled 3. The first one to come up, or rather “jump out” at me, as it flew up in my face while I shuffled, was the Strength card. I wanted to scream. It was like being a kid again, waiting for the birthday party to start and someone tells me to be patient because the cake isn’t done baking. You know what I mean? Strength. Yeah. Right.

This card isn’t about brute strength or muscle. It’s about quiet inner strength and perseverance. Some days are more difficult than others to persevere. Some days, I’ve so got that whole perseverance thing down. Nothing can stop me. Then there are days, like today when I don’t wanna! I’d much rather crawl back into bed and have someone take care of me. I’d rather that someone acknowledge that I work my ass off and tell me that I can take a break today. But reality doesn’t work like that. No one really cares. You get up, buck up and continue on. You do what it takes and realize that feeling sorry for yourself only takes up that little amount of energy you have left and you’d better put that to something that counts instead. (Okay, maybe I will, and maybe I’ll still pout, just a little, while doing it, cause I can. So there! Take THAT Strength Card!)

Magician came up next….Alright, so I’ve realized that I need to persevere, now what? Now I take what I’ve got, use everything around me, every trick left in my bag to make something happen. It’s time to get creative. I’m an artist, I consider myself to be a creative person, so when I pull the magician card I begin to think that I need to push that side of me a little more. I’m getting lazy somewhere in the creative department. Maybe pulling a trick out of my tried and true, (read over-used and worn), bag isn’t going to do it this time. This time, I’ve got to dig a whole lot deeper, play the game a whole lot smarter. The magician is rather about manipulation. I don’t think of that in negative terms here. It is more like I need to manipulate, as in shape and create some aspect of my life, or project. It’s time to pull the pieces together and create, manifest something. But it isn’t the thing I’m used to doing, its something new. Which makes it tougher to envision and aim for. I think the main point is to recognize, accept and begin. As I begin, hopefully it will take shape and I will begin to understand. This will be….You know, I was going to say a matter of faith, but that’s not quite right. It feels more like science.  Maybe I don’t need to understand the equation to understand the concept. But as long as I’m working within that, and trust, it will happen. Whatever ‘IT’ is.

My outcome? Judgment. A new day? a new beginning? The horn is being blown announcing the arrival of something, or maybe it’s like my alarm clock, waking me up to something. It seems that this is good. From all of this, something new comes.  I’m going with the theory that new is better, (because I can.) Because not everything that I have, or everything that I am doing right now is working. Now is the time to bury the truly dead crap and resurrect, or birth only that which will move me forward. So it looks as if the Magician in me has some work to do. And if he works hand in hand with Strength, together they will accomplish it.

Next time I do a reading I want the cards that say, “Don’t worry about it! Everything you wished for is going to happen today and you don’t have to lift a finger, just go back to bed.” I wonder which deck has those cards in it? I need to buy it.

The beautiful (and brutally honest) Isidore Tarot Deck that I use can be found HERE.

It’s the New Year!  Maybe it’s only another day on the calendar.  Regardless, I think it’s a good way to mark a beginning. It is something that the collective all feels world wide. This morning I decided to do a reading for the collective, for the New Year. What kind of energy are we stepping into and what are some ways we might deal with it? Awareness is needed prior to any kind of change. I’m using my Isis Oracle and Speaking Stones for this divination. The stones felt very cold today in my hands. One of them even flew off the board, as you can see in the picture. The stones that are upside down, with no picture showing, represent the energies that are hidden, or some we are trying to deny. We’ll be looking at all of them.

For many of us this year will be about our identity. How are we beginning to develop into who we need to be? Into our fullest potential? We will be looking at patterns, our own and those of our family and ancestors.  A series of turning points in 2014 has brought us to many realizations. This year is about our destiny.

To get there requires preparedness. The movement that is coming could be literal, as in travel, or more metaphorical. For most it will be about internal movement. It’s time for acceptance and then adaptability. We will be moving ourselves from a place of chaos, confusion and illusion to one that feels more in real. Simple things done regularly that improve your life will aid in this. It’s a part of preparing for the next step. Get your things in order. That can be anything from redoing the linen closet to creating new habits. Find the broken things in your life and make repairs, that can be the leaking faucet, or the bad eating habits. Keep your goals reasonable to keep from becoming discouraged, Take little bites, but keep taking them. Small steps count as long as they are moving you in the right direction.

Watch out for the latest obsession, the latest trend, the latest distraction that keeps you from your reality. It’s easy to get caught up in excitement, especially if it allows you to avoid the thing you really should be knowing, learning, doing, saying in your life. The spin doctors all know this. It has become an easy way to shift public outcry or impressions. It’s even easier to do it to ourselves. Addictions can sometimes be hidden, tricky things. They are not always obvious like an addiction to drugs or alcohol.  An addiction to victim mentality, addiction to avoidance techniques, addiction to enabling,  these are debilitating and sometimes more difficult to see, especially in ourselves.

Finding our true selves, accepting our true selves can be sometime scary. It’s a new beginning for us.  We will make mistakes. We may appear foolish, we may seem naive. It’s okay. Feel that child-like wonder for life again. Look at your situation with brand new eyes. Remember how to play, then do it! Go back to the beginning. There is a new Cosmic Awareness that is taking place. Allow it to inspire you and guide you. This is your time of hope and renewal. However, you will only find it if you stop looking where society expects you to. The old paradigm of social order and cultural norms are changing.

There will still be sacrifice required for the majority of us financially in 2015.  This will be a year of changing our perspective. We may start off with a loss but as the year progresses there will be a gain. To get there, we need to learn how to let go. Let go of what we think we know and be open to new ways of sustainability. Moving from poverty consciousness to wealth consciousness requires a special kind of wisdom and perspective. Examine your beliefs about money. Take a look at your fears surrounding it. It may be time to make some changes. You may find yourself stopped up when it comes to your finances, or at a crossroads. Career changes are quite possible as you learn more about who you are, what you want and the way you wish to live your life.

Love and money, they go hand in hand. Do you love yourself only if you are successful? Do you define success by having money? Watch how you are feeding your belief systems, your addictions. Watch what you spend and where you spend it. That will reveal alot about what you value. Watch what aspect of your life you are feeding with your money. Take steps to increase your income. It may be by decreasing spending, it may be by learning how to save, You may find a way to make a little extra on the side. Feed yourself, feed your coffers. Even tiny bits count.  But make it fun. Make it a game. Yes, we need money to survive, but it is not the end all be all of life. The memories that we hold  are about relationships and special moments, not the number in our bank account.  Look for balance.

You will notice more and more that around the world people will be speaking up for injustice. There will be a marked increase in social justice activism. It’s going to become the new “cool thing to do or be”.  The younger people will be increasingly vocal and increasingly wise. They are experiencing things that the older generation could never have imagined. Our culture is changing to incorporate this new kind of awareness and thinking. It’s okay to be “weird”. In fact, it’s necessary. Spiritually and intuitively there will be a maternal shift. But it is not a return to matriarchy, it is something new and something more. This one is going to be interesting to watch. Its a new breed in ancient clothing. Watch for the Catholic Church to, not necessarily lead the way, but express it in a public forum. The religions of the world are reacting to the shifts of our people world wide. The pieces of many religions are starting to come together now. Healing will begin to take place on a global scale.

2015 will be a year of very interesting change. There is a re-birth happening in individuals and on a global level. There are some things that can no longer sustain, you will see them start to die away. Not only will you see this in your personal strategies for survival or denial that will no longer work, but you will begin to see it on a political, cultural and world wide scale. This is a year for creation, self -renewal and purification. The work starts with you.

Finally, the stone that flew off the board is the one that represents illusion. Illusion will not be able to live in this new world that we are entering. We can only lie to ourselves for so long. But when the curtain falls away and we are left with the painful reality of truth, we will begin to make changes. We will no longer be fooled by the tricks of media, politicians and,  sometimes, even those closest to us. We will find we don’t have time for fears or insecurities. We don’t have time for false promises, including those we make to ourselves. This is a year for getting real. Hello 2015, lets do this!

For more info on the Isis Oracle and Speaking Stones, please visit HERE.

I came across this photo today. It made me feel quiet and at peace just looking at it. I find myself craving that right now. It seems the natural rhythms of things this time of year would include a bit of hibernation. The snow blankets everything in quiet and offers a soft light at night. What I wouldn’t give to sit curled up in a comfy chair with a hot cup of tea and a view like this out my window. I could sit and stare for hours. It’s when I have moments like those that inspiration comes. Ideas for projects and paintings float into my mind as gently as the snow floating down from the night sky.

I’m reminded today of the importance of quiet. I’m reminded that I don’t make that a priority.  I wonder why it is we can know that we need to do certain things yet we still chose to do something else, or sometimes, nothing at all? I think it usually leads back to some fear we hold. Fear is exhausting. Sometimes we are so used to living this way that the fear becomes like a program running in the background, draining our energy. We’re not even aware of it until our battery dies.

I think about how I can choose differently. It’s easy to say “I can’t” and to come up with a million excuses that resolve me the responsibility of choice. But when it comes right down to it, if I want it badly enough, I can make it happen. I can make that choice. It seems strange to think of a choice that would benefit me and my health as being scary but we all know on some level that choosing to do one thing often means we sacrifice another. It means change. Change that ripples out in a million different waves affecting not only us, but those around us. And it’s so easy to stay the same, it’s a comfortable level of pain.  Until it isn’t.

This winter I hope we can all find a bit of quiet, some time to reflect and recharge. Take the time to “clear the cache” of your life and “delete those cookies”. For me, I will continue to make choices that move me forward. And take the time to sit and stare even if it is only for a little while.

Photo Credit: http://akcollectionzzz.blogspot.com/2014/09/winter-is-lovely.html