Spirit Journey with Skull

I am so honored to welcome a piece by Julie Taylor, ACM. Julie and I got to know each other through Hibiscus Moon Crystal Academy. Later she studied Tarot through the Moon + Stone Healing Academy and joined my weekly circle. Since then, she has become one of the moderators at the Moon + Stone Healing Academy’s Facebook page and one of the contributors here on our site.

Julie is a certified Advanced Crystal Master and Reiki Master. She's a lover of words and moon magic. She received her bachelor's in professional writing and associate's in early childhood education and practices crystal reiki on herself and with others. She lives in sync with moon cycles and seasons and practices her witchery in the Las Vegas Valley of Nevada. She's the author of the children's book, Blue Hissy Highness and the Shiny Stones, founder of StoneSpelling.com, a new community for sharing witchery, curator of the Private Facebook Group, Stone Spelling & Witchery, is a moderator for the Moon + Stone Healing Academy Facebook group, and is a contributor here at the Moon + Stone Healing Academy.

Follow Julie Taylor on Stone Spelling

Trigger Warning: Touches on topic of death

Skulls, the spirit of them, have called to me. In years past, I’ve noticed them in crystal stores, seen them around Halloween time, and noticed them around Day of the Dead. But I hadn’t yet felt the urge to buy one or spend time learning about them enough to open to what they might mean to me--until this year. Now that I think back, I think skull spirit started calling to me late last winter.

More and more my eyes landed on crystal skulls as I shopped stones but I couldn’t land on any that felt a right fit for me. I started to wonder why. I started to think maybe I’m missing something. And then I thought that if the universe was speaking to me, sending a call to connect with skull spirit, that maybe I’m meant to learn before I leap.

So, this summer, I started a quest to find out what skulls represent for me in a spiritual sense. I began with the dictionary. It’s one of my favorite books. It’s like a marker at the beginning of the trail, a spiritual reminder to keep me from falling down too many rabbit holes or from traveling astray of where I want to go.

The first definition is what one might expect with its description of the skeleton of the head.

And even definition 4 with its “emblem of death” seemed expected considering celebrations around Halloween and el Dia de los Muertos. But definitions 2 and 3 sparked something new for me.

Definition 2: the seat of understanding or intelligence: mind

Definition 3a: the crown of the head

Hmm...my eyes paused over “seat” and “understanding” and “crown,” and my intuition translated “seat” to the root chakra and connected “understanding” to the “crown.” My thoughts started running ahead, following the ideas popping into my imagination, sparking for me the sense that I’m meant to connect special meaning between earth and skeleton with crown and skull.

They’re interconnected but there’s emphasis on the journey up to the skull...starting from the root charka, building air in the belly, moving up through the heart, and signaling to the crown.

And I take in that mindful, deep breath, and as I let it out, I feel the Element of Air moving in me to connect body, mind, and spirit.

Whoosh

Ahead of me on this spiritual path, a rabbit hole appears, and I’m spiked to go down it. The Element of Air is wafting and saying to me, “when breath becomes air.”

Wait, what? My mind’s eye feels an almost mental shake of clarity, because I know those words. I ask myself, “Where have I heard those words?” And I remember.

I attended a Death Cafe last year, and I saw a book titled, When Breath Becomes Air, by Paul Kalanithi. Poetic. Four words that conjured in me a sense, a feeling about life after human death. That when a last human breath is taken, the soul enters Air, moving into spirit, wafting through realms, and at times keeping me company with their essence.

Air is moving in me. In through the nose, out through the nose. The skull represents that for me.

The sense that with every breath I take, I connect body, mind, and soul to spirit, and my heart guides me to who and to when. The air I breathe is air my ancestors once breathed. Skull spirit helps me connect to air of loved ones--loved ones who have crossed to a place so close yet so far that I ache to translate all they have to say. Dear ones whose breath became air speak through skull, waiting patiently for me to understand, willing to return again and again, to sit with me, to come closer and to place signals in my path until my imaginings light up in my mind’s eye. And I breathe in the spirit of connection to spirit.

Now the next step in my journey is to find the stone skulls meant to be with me.

Episode 72: Positivity + Chronic Conditions with Julie Taylor

Today’s episode is near and dear to my heart, as Julie and I dive into living with Chronic Pain and Chronic conditions and positivity. I am so honored to introduce Julie Taylor. Julie is an Endo and IC Warrior who's passionate about mindset as medicine. Endo is an abbreviation for endometriosis and IC stands for Interstitial Cystitis (a painful bladder syndrome). While healing with these chronic conditions, she learned the power of crystals and energy to heal and how using a positive mindset as a tool to help manage her moods and emotions helped her body build resilience. Julie's formal degrees are in writing and early childhood ed, though the innate cheerleader at home in her heart drives her to write words, she hopes will spark a mood or mindset that might brighten things for others. Julie is the author of a children's book, Blue Hissy Highness and the Shiny Stones (you can buy that here). The book focuses on how a positive mindset can reframe and heal. It also reminds children that we can move toward mutual acceptance and forgiveness, but also the very adult reminder that acceptance isn't a one-and-done ideal—a lesson we need to revisit as we age. Julie also tends a website and an online space called Stone Spelling & Witchery, which is also the name of her private Facebook group Stone Spelling & Witchery to connect and share the metaphysical and mystical, celebrate earth and moon cycles, share spells, post favorite crystals, chat about witchiness, and ask questions. Julie curates a beautiful community that serves as a magical hub for joy and positivity.

Julie and I talk about living with chronic conditions and chronic pain, how we manage our spirit during times of flares. We talk about positivity, staying positive, toxic positivity or not toxic positivity, the benefits and downfalls of emotional bypassing, and what Julie has terms LoMo—or how to manage Low Moods and shift them to help with chronic conditions. Honestly, this is such a refreshing conversation for me—I could talk about pain and living with autoimmune disorders without censor. As someone who has to manage many chronic autoimmune conditions, speaking my truth about living with pain and fatigue feels like a long deep exhale, as I often just go through life sucking it up. Julie is so wise, intelligent, and articulate about her approach to living with physical challenges.

Here is the latest podcast:

You can also follow this link to listen on Spotify. Episode 72: Positivity & Chronic Conditions with Julie Taylor. You can also listen on any of the podcast services you can think of—Apple Podcasts, Pocketcasts, Amazon Music, I Heart Radio, Google Podcasts, Podbean and whatever you listen.

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In other news, this upcoming week, Julie is popping in for a guest post about Crystal Skulls. Monday, I will have a piece on the history of Crystal Skulls, debunking some myths, and talking about skullies in general. I will have a cool Tarot Layout using the Skull as a basis, and I will be sharing a journal entry about my meditation experience with my Fossilized Skull. All SKULLZ—this week!

Recovering Empaths Anonymous

Hello, my name is Angie. I am a recovering empath. And I have a quote to share with you.

Honestly, I think about this at least once a week. When I studied with Pixie Lighthorse, it was powerful and humbling for her to explain this to our group of earth medicine practitioners. She said it just like this, "What if it is unethical to pick up on other people's emotions?" 🤯

Unethical?!?!

But but but…I can’t control who and what I feel! And besides, all these messy people who just avoid their work…THEY ARE THE PROBLEM!

Um. I deeply value ethics and integrity and boundaries. But omg, to discover you are a violator of other people’s boundaries takes some real cajones to admit. But that is the work we engage in here, no? We are engaged in meaningful self-discovery. I often say that I am on a fact-finding mission, and if I get stuck in the eddy of shame and guilt about not knowing something, then I will never change that thing.

If shame worked, we’d all be sober and thin. But it doesn’t and we aren’t.

There is two layers here. One is the one who is the empath, and the other is the one who is “empathed upon”. Last first, um, so, that is what I was feeling when people were trying to comfort me after Lucy died by saying, I KNOW JUST HOW YOU FEEL, Angie, my cat died last year, cue tears. Now I am comforting the grieving cat mom and I feel less understood than before. It is also why it enraged me when people were telling me how I was feeling or reading me without my permission, and why my empathy wasn't healing me. Feeling other people’s emotions did nothing for me, but cause an autoimmune disorder and crippling anxiety.

Being "an empath" was not my path to psychic work or third eye opening, but my biggest blockage. Understanding that it is my work to keep boundaries around feeling other people's energy, not theirs, freed me. Pixie reminding me that being an empath and feeling other people’s feelings made it impossible for me to truly hold space for them. It made me messy and erratic. It also wasn’t exactly true. I am intuitive. I am empathic. But that involves wild sweeps of assumptions about another’s emotions. I have no idea if I was ever right about another person’s emotions. How presumptuous to think I ever knew that. Maybe what happened instead is that person triggered emotions of my own that I hadn’t touched in a while, and I thought they were theirs?

Pixie’s challenge and argument provoker empowered me to feel able to hold and maintain my boundaries around empathy and start doing some work around my wounded childhood. Not only that, it helped me understand and face my own emotions when I stopped feeling other people's emotions. I had spent so much of my childhood trying to figure out adult emotions, reading faces and body language to figure out what was going on, or how I should act that empathy became a natural result of being emotionally neglected and trying to read people’s emotions. You just become hypervigilant in any changes in the force. And by force, I mean, the force of emotions. Kids who grew up with emotional or physical neglect are hyperaware of the subtle, microchanges in someone’s facial expressions, emotional energy, and body language that defines a good 70% of communication. Energetic hygiene means clearing your own filter...a filter used to perceiving others through wounding and people pleasing.

Ethics and integrity is so important to me as a healer, and engaging in it means looking at ourselves--what can I control? Me. But first I had to divorce the moniker Empath, and embrace myself as a highly sensitive neurodivergent person. As I am preparing my work teaching my first online Earth Medicine Mentoring Circle, I know boundaries, energetic hygiene and understanding our gifts is going to be my first stop.

Where are you on this journey?

Kyra and I talked about the dark relationship between narcissists and empaths on my podcast a few years ago.

Episode 69: Workaholism, Self-care, and Dropping with Angie

In this episode, which I initially wrote as an open letter to my clients and friends, is actually a series of writings about workaholism, alcoholism, codependency, self-care, self-preservation, being of service to others and some of my history. It is split up in 6 parts. I hope it resonates.

I also mention some things. Last words are Those last four words are not mine. It is Ho’oponopono, the Hawaiian practice that combines love, forgiveness, repentance, and gratitude in four powerful phrases. I’m sorry. Please forgive me. I Thank you. I love you.

 Links I mention:

⁠https://reductress.com/⁠

⁠https://www.amazon.com/Laura-Dernoot-Lipsky-Trauma-Stewardship/dp/B07VPNP3XF/⁠

October's Tarot Card, Earth Medicine + Sky Medicine

It's Eclipse season and the last of the two year cycle of Taurus-Scorpio Eclipses.

In this episode, Angie talks about the astrology of the month, pulls a Tarot card archetype for October (the Hermit), and the Earth Medicine allies—Plant Medicine of Mugwort and Damiana; Stone Medicine: Charoite, Moonstone + Hematite as well as work with the medicine of our Spirit Guide the Valkyrie and the Animal Guide of Phoenix

You can listen to this latest episode of Centered on Spotify (https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/VXWTngQezDb) or wherever you listen to podcasts (Amazon, I Heart Radio, Apple Music, Pocketcasts, etc) or right on my website. Or just check out my blog.

Remember these earth medicine guides can be tools for this month, and help you do your thang! A medicine bundle is for sale in my shop, as always.

You can find October's Medicine Bundle here: https://themoonandstone.com/.../oct-2023-earth-medicine...

Remember I do collective Full Moon + New Moon readings for my membership group as well as a Guided Shamanic Journey with the animal medicine of the month. We also meet each Friday for circle, and you get free bonus of Q&As with me. Check out more information here:

Blessed September

Holy cow, it is all retrogrades, all the time. In this episode, I talks about the sky medicine, I mean, astrology of the month, pulls a Tarot card archetype for September (10 of Cups), and the Earth Medicine allies—Plant Medicine of Evening Primrose; Stone Medicine: Rose Quartz, Clear Quartz and Pyrite as well as work with the medicine of Wolf.

Remember these earth medicine guides can be tools for this month, and help you do your thang! A medicine bundle is for sale in my shop, as always. You can find September's Medicine Bundle here: https://themoonandstone.com/medicine/sept-2023-earth-medicine-mojo-bag-4lgxz

Remember I do collective Full Moon + New Moon readings for my membership group as well as a Guided Shamanic Journey with the animal medicine of the month. We also meet each Friday for circle, and you get free bonus of Q&As with me. Check out more information here:

https://themoonandstone.com/monthly-memberships

Some pieces I mention in the podcast that you might find interesting:

Most U.S. wolves are listed as endangered—again. Here’s why: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/gray-wolves-relisted-endangered-species-act

I love the story of Cailleach told by Scottish storyteller Shona Cowie. I link it in the show notes. https://youtu.be/faX4qZ4Ipbk?si=4egBKt39TAjw2UJs

Fresh Air: What we get wrong about Armageddon in the Bible. https://www.npr.org/2023/04/03/1167732024/what-we-get-wrong-about-armageddon-in-the-bible

Genesis Chapter 9:http://web.mit.edu/jywang/www/cef/Bible/NIV/NIV_Bible/GEN+9.html



blessed august

Angie talks about the sky medicine, I mean, astrology of the month, pulls a Tarot card archetype for August, and the Earth Medicine allies—Dandelion (that persistent ally wants to hang on for another month); Stone Medicine: Citrine, Dumortierite, and Spirit Quartz as well as work with the medicine of Spider. Remember these earth medicine guides can be tools for this month, and help you do your thang!

Remember I do collective Full Moon + New Moon readings for my membership group as well as a Guided Shamanic Journey with the animal medicine of the month. We also meet each Friday for circle, and you get free bonus of Q&As with me. Check out more information here:

https://themoonandstone.com/monthly-memberships

https://herbiary.com/dandelion-root-tea-caddy-2-5-oz/


Centered Q&A Episodes 37 & 38

Ugh, I forgot to post my November Earth Medicine + Tarot reading. For the month of November, we are working with the Eight of Swords, Salmon medicine, Thyme and the Crystals: Labradorite, Larimar + Sunstone. We deal with Mars Retrograde and a Lunar Eclipse…holy crap!

Episode 38 answers some questions from our listeners Tarot, Stage Cards, Moon phase work + Retrogrades. Here they are:

  1. Suzanne asked, “Is there a card/s that is always a little difficult to interpret when it comes up in a reading? Conversely is there one or multiple that are easier? 🔮😻”

  2. Tan Hm asked, “Stage cards confuse me! And it would be amazing if you could talk about how to integrate after shadow work.”

  3. Danielle asked, “Phases- from the moon phases and the spiritual meanings, to the spiritual phases (waves) most of us experience in life…. Planet retrogrades and the different impacts depending on the sign if occurs in.”

  4. Suzanne asked, “I know this info is probably somewhere but can you talk a little bit about what "retrograde" means. You can always send a question to angie@themoonandstone.com for me to cover in an upcoming episode or record one on my anchor page at https://anchor.fm/angie-yingst/message