carnelian

Colors range from deep red to light orange almost yellow in Carnelian. As a Quartz (Chalcedony is in the Quartz family), it resonates beautifully with the other quartzes, so it is great with those quartzes to enhance its power.

Carnelian's amazingly beautiful redness draws people to her beauty. She looks like fire and passion. Carnelian awakens our own fire and passion, stimulating the sacral chakra (also the root and the solar plexus.) Carnelian is a go-to crystal for this chakra. Part of the Chalcedony family with a Moh's hardness of 7, Carnelian activates all of the three lower chakras, which makes it a great stone to have around the house. And you can see the three fire colors in this stone--sometimes deep red to orange to the flames of yellow. It is great for building passion, confidence, and activating a sense of purpose, making it an ideal stone of fire and action. Great for manifestation work, Carnelian is particularly powerful when it is coupled with a strong regimen of prayer and meditation. "God moves mountains, but you better bring a shovel," as they say. Though Carnelian is about the shovel work, everything flows much more smoothly, and just works better, when you invite the Divine into your soul work. So, think of this as a facilitator of turning your will over to God.

The Sacral Chakra is the seat of creativity, relationships, emotions, and sexuality. I love the connections between the Tarot of the Week and the Crystal of the Week, because the Lovers and Carnelian suit each other perfectly. Though I didn't discuss it much, the Lovers is a card of sexuality. Sexuality resides in the sacral chakra, the one right over your pubic bone and under your belly button. It resonates to the color orange. 

Actually, in this week's newsletter, I write more about the lower chakras and the importance of keeping them well-balanced for spiritual work.  Most people love the upper chakra spiritual and psychic work (our vibration raises pretty high when we are meditating and praying), but it is the lower chakras where the real healing comes into being. We change that programing from our childhood. It is where we hold our traumas and psychic and emotional injuries. The lower chakras is where our most basic needs live and our greatest fears. Carnelian is a perfect ally in this realm, because it connects you to your body, helps you fully inhabit the bones and blood of you.

So, what the heck does that mean?

Have you ever had the sensation, particular mothers might relate to this, that this body no longer belongs to you? Whose belly is that? Who is the old lady in the mirror? Carnelian comes in to reroot you. It helps you enjoy your body--sexually, physically, athletically. 

And let's talk about sexuality a little. Sex is some of the strongest magic (and chakra balancing work) you can do. The sacral is the chakra of relationships, because of that, it also houses the feelings of blame, guilt, power, control, ethics, and honor in relationships. When we have sex, we open that up, break out those emotions housed without our chakra. When you begin to enjoy sex, (and not simply sex with another human, but sex with yourself,) you balance that sacral chakra. That is not to say that sex can't be used to create those emotions or further continue blockages. In fact, so much of our sacral imbalance issues come from sexual trauma, abuse and misuse of its strong medicine. Sex with shame, power, and guilt can help reinforce those blockages. And certainly, the excesses of this chakra are addiction (sexual and other addiction to pleasure) and obsessive attachment. But sex can also be a great healer. Some of us who have experienced emotional releases (crying or laughing during sex) can attest to its powerful healing energy. 

Have you been feeling less than lusty? Carnelian, coupled with Orange Calcite and Zincite, can help awaken that sexuality within you. Lay them on your sacral chakra for a 10 minute period. Carry Carnelian with you, wear it as jewelry. Let yourself be inspired by its strong medicine. A great affirmation for Carnelian is:

 I am a passionate being, filled with Divine inspiration, taking action with confidence.

Let me know what you think of Carnelian's beautiful energy, and any other crystals you want to discuss. I thought this might be a good time to remind you that you can sign up for my newsletter here.  I am also holding a New Moon Circle on October 4th. This will be a small group Moon Cycle Coaching session, where we will work together through the moon cycle of the Shedding Moon of October, We will be intention-setting, releasing and affirming our intentions together in a safe space. The fee is $50/person, and space is limited, so sign up today. Send me an email at themoonandstone@gmail.com if you are interested. 

tarot of the week-the lovers

The true beloveds of this world are in their lover's eyes lilacs opening, ship lights, school bells, a landscape, remembered conversations, friends, a child's Sunday, lost voices, one's favorite suit, autumn and all seasons, memory, yes, it being the earth and water of existence, memory. - Truman Capote

Spirit has a sense of humor to move from the Nine of Swords' worry and insomnia into the Lovers. Sleepless nights and difficult attachments often stem from love or the perversion of love. We worry. We toil. We obsess, but the root of the Lovers is nothing like worry and toil. It is absolute trust in the Divine and further in the divinity of love and the possibility of connection with another human being. This week, we revisit the Major Arcana with a card most people want to draw--the Lovers.

As we begin to take in the images of the Lovers, we are greeted by two naked people, Man and Woman, standing under Archangel Raphael. Is it Adam and Eve? The first couple? The tree of knowledge stands behind the woman with a snake coiling around its trunk. It reminds us of the No. 15 card of the Major Arcana, the Devil. So, the Devil lingers in the idyllic scene of the Lovers. It is so intertwined with the Devil card, you almost cannot mention one without the other. In fact, just because one wants the Lovers doesn't mean one should get the Lovers. We often draw the Devil when we are trying to will the Lovers to come.

Notice the similar composition and images between the Lovers and the Devil. 

The two cards have very similar layouts. If you look at the Devil card, you notice that the figures on the front are the same as the Lovers. Archangel Raphael presides over the healing of the two Lovers on the No. Six card, while the fallen angel Lucifer presides over the couple on the Devil. Archangel Raphael's hair are leaves, while the pentacle sits on the head of the Devil--both are earthly symbols that mean two entirely different things. The Devil is about attachment to the material, while the leaves represent a kind of harmony with nature and Mother Earth. In this way, the two cards represent two sides of the same coin--love. The Lovers is the ideal love, the blessed love, the harmonious soul mate relationship, while the Devil represents the perversion of love, obsessive love, the attachment to the material, or the superficial, the fear of love, the lack of personal power (this powerlessness comes to represent addiction in the Tarot, also you can see that the female figure has a tail of grapes, meaning she is attached to wine), and of course, addiction. Juxtaposed with the Lovers, the Devil teaches us what love isn't. Or maybe even it is a warning about what love, selfish and self-serving without Spiritual connection, can become.

The Lovers depicts what Marcia Masino calls the mystical rite of Kything, which means to "appear without disguise." Their nakedness represents the absolute vulnerability that becomes the couple's greatest strength. Ms. Masino says "kything is a method of spiritual presence whose purpose is to bring about a loving spiritual connection, union or communion between two or more persons without the spoken word."

The sun shines over the whole scene. There are no secrets, no mysteries, no shadow issues going on. This person who you pull in the Lovers is your soul mate, your twin flame, your partner, your other half. And I think it is important to mention that Archangel Raphael is present in this card. He is the Archangel of Healing and Health. He blesses the two, helps them heal their wounds, nurture their past aches to move into a new spiritual awareness. By our openness with another person, we begin to bear our soul to the Divine. We allow trust to be our guiding force. It is easy in the throes of love, after all, to believe in God and the Divine. Fate, God, Divine pathways and connections, it all makes sense.

We are spiritual beings having a human experience, and this card is about the beauty of that human experience. The mystery of love enlivens us, invigorates our souls, makes us feel the absolute amazing sensations of being human 100 times more intensely. We are human, and it is beautiful. This is what our experience in a body teaches us. To be present. Remember the heart chakra, after all, is the gateway to Spiritual connection--the bridge between the material concerns of the lower chakras to the spiritual issues of the upper chakras. It is here that we learn to unite them, because in romantic love, we bring together all the lower chakra issues--Security  from the Root Chakra, Sexual satisfaction from the Sacral, and Courage and Strength from the Solar Plexus with the Upper Chakra issues--Listening and Speaking the Truth of your Soul in the Throat, Seeing and opening to your Soul Path in the Third Eye, and finally, opening the connection to the Divine in the Crown. We play all this out through our Heart Chakra in the Lovers.

The presence of the angel is not a mistake. There are six archangels in the Tarot, and they appear in the Major Arcana. This is the ideal, then, the oneness of this trinity--the Lovers--Two Humans and the Angel, symbolizing the Divine. We invite God into our partnership and we are granted a lifelong relationship. It is the power behind healing, as Archangel Raphael reminds us.

A great affirmation for this card might be: 

I open my heart to loving, being loved and trusting in love. 

selenite

When I began writing this blog, I chose crystals based on ones I was working with, or ones I felt people would recognize. Today, I pulled a Crystal Oracle Card, and lo and behold, Selenite. OF COURSE!! Why hadn't a written about selenite before? For crystal healers, Selenite is a go-to essential for our toolkits. I'll get into how and why we use it later, but for a quick overview: Selenite is a crown chakra stone with a Moh's hardness of 2 (So keep it out of water!) It beautifully cleanses the aura and helps purify. Selenite uses the crown chakra as the key to bridge the third eye and crown to the upper chakras.

Starting at 12 o'clock on this photo, the Selenite tower is great for the center of a grid. The long natural Selenite wand can be placed on the spine for alignment. The smaller Selenite wands are great for gridding homes and people during crystal healing sessions, you can also hold one of these pieces for meditation, or when lying on a yoga mat, massage table, or bed, place the Selenite on the crown (either directly on, or pointing out) to facilitate communication with your angels and guides, the two polished Selenite massage wands can be used for massage or to close open portals in the etheric field.

So, let's talk about the crown chakra's role. We talk a great deal about the heart chakra for compassion and love and the third eye for psychic work, but what does the crown govern? The crown governs our spirituality. It is the seat of our Divine connection and wisdom. We have met those people with closed crown chakras. They are spiritual cynics, often feel victims of their circumstances. They can lack purpose or have a stifling fear of their own mortality. Sometimes they are overly afraid of Spirits and ghosts, or the spirit-world. I encounter these people often. They express fear of what I do, often ridiculing it, or putting it in the category of creepy or verboten. We don't conjure Spirits in my religion, they might say. My response is that I conjure noone, I acknowledge Spirit in everything we do. Sometimes crown chakra imbalances, ones that are wide open, come in the form of spiritual addiction. People who psychic hop might be an example of that, or who are so wrapped up in their religious rightness, they no longer live their spiritual tradition.

Crystal healers love Selenite's high vibration and beautiful purifying energy. I use selenite massage wands for closing points in the auric field. I use it for directing energy in a chakra, for moving and helping open any chakra. Robert Simmons says a "Selenite wand pointed at the third eye sends energy that can feel like a gust of wind going through the forehead and out the top of the head." And yes, I agree, Robert Simmons. You can also lay a selenite wand on the spine for a quick chakra alignment. Selenite blends beautifully with other stones, enhancing their power and attributes. So, that makes Selenite ideal in grids. You can literally make a grid on the floor, or a yoga mat, with six or eight Selenite wands. When you lie in the center of it, it is said to bring a quick spiritual ascension and journeying experience. I love selenite in grids for the home. I used to grid my upper floor, where our bedrooms are, in selenite. It is where we dream and pray and work our spiritual questions.

I give Selenite out to friends more often than I care to admit. It is such a high energy, high vibration stone. It makes it a great all-around spiritual stone to work with. It opens you, facilitates communication with your guides, helps you feel connected and Divinely held...what I find most comforting and nourishing about working with Selenite is that I feel confident of my path, helping me to trust that my will is aligned with Divine will.

I love Naisha Ahsian's affirmation for Selenite: 

I move into union with my Higher Self and my interior senses are awakened. 

tarot of the week--nine of swords

"The night is the hardest time to be alive and 4am knows all my secrets.” ― Poppy Z. Brite

The beauty of the Tarot's rich symbolism is the universality in its messages. There are cards for love, grief, loss, jobs, patronage, success, happy homes, and wills. And of course, the universal experience of insomnia and staying up late in turmoil and grief. None among us is immune to these dark nights of the soul. The Nine of Swords captures this experience perfectly, if not alarmingly.

Swords, associated with the element of Air, represents communication, the mind, rationale, logic and perhaps most importantly, perception. The way we perceive someone's words, their gestures, and often the stories we tell ourselves about the world around us ends up being the trap we have set for ourselves. Swords often have the most alarming challenge cards for people to see, from Three and Five, and Seven to Ten jump to mind, and yet the most important. Those are the ones that remind us that it is ourselves we must battle--from whom we trust to how we hold on to our storylines that have ceased their usefulness long ago, as well as reminding us of our own levels of denial and untruths. Isn't this the ultimate battle? To be absolutely honest about who we are--our deficits and attributes. Can we be objective? Can we analyze ourselves honestly? Can we let go of our illusions and face the music?  The Virtues of Swords are truth and justice. Nothing is more important than being absolutely honest to yourself about yourself. And so Swords challenge you to face the ocean of emotion behind you as we saw in the Two, to cut to the heart of the matter in Three, to ask yourself where your empty victories are in Five, to see what you are getting away with in Seven, to pull off your blindfolds in the Eight, and get real. Though swords are often double-sided and sharp, they also help us "cut" through the bullshit. To begin the quest to self-knowledge and honest self-appraisal.

So, if all this sounds like a little too much challenge for a little ol' Tarot reading, buckle up. The Nine captures this feeling of overwhelming guilt, fear, worry, anxiety, loneliness, and grief. It is a card often associated with insomnia and nightmares. When I pull the Nine for my clients, I often ask if they are having trouble sleeping, worrying about an issue in particular.  Or what their last thought of the day has been? This is what dictates your next morning, dominates your dream work, helps you process your day. And in this way, what are you trying to control that is not your business to control? So, perhaps the greatest lesson of this card is to Let Go and Let God. We have to turn this situation that is keeping us up to God, in whatever manifestation God appears to you.

The card lacks a ton of symbolic information, though there are a few significant markers for you to notice. The carving on the side of the bed is a sword fight, a battle of one man defeating another. Who is the sleeping figure? The defeated or the defeat-or? It does not matter, this card says, because they both end up in the same place. It is the battle that is the issue here, the fighting itself, rather than the outcome. The quilt around the figure contains the symbols of the zodiac and planets, signifying that often we are going through astrological and universal changes that need to be talked about. What is going on astrologically? What moon cycle are we in? Is that contributing to these issues coming up?

Numerologically, the nine is an important number--three threes. But it is a sign of completion. Completion? What? This card seems absolutely unsettled. It is true, but the Nine of Swords asks you to grasp the vulnerability of this card. This is your greatest asset. "The peaceful warrior's way is not about invulnerability, but absolute vulnerability, " as the quote goes in the Way of the Peaceful Warrior, and so it is with this card. What is keeping you up at night? This is your greatest asset, your teacher, your master. Remember, we are spiritual beings having a human experience. When taken in this way, our suffering becomes the gift, rather than a burden. What keeps us up at night is our hookable place, as Pema Chodron calls it, the thing we still need to work on. The beauty of the Tarot is that it asks you to shed yourself of these anxieties, to release from the fetters of your own self-limiting thoughts. Where thought goes, energy flows, as my teacher often says, and this card is remind you of where your energy is flowing (toward fear and worry, number one.)

The interesting element of this card is that it often is interpreted to mean that the worst is now behind you. You are in the darkest days. Often the experience of searching out a Tarot reader, or looking for answers in Tarot, is the first step of retaking control of your worries and fears and getting some answers. When we search the energies around your situation, we break it wide open, expose it to the sunlight, release the secret fear/anger/hurt/resentment/worry, and allow it to dry up and blow away. You are ready to dispel of the illusions around your suffering.

If you are working with the Nine of Sword's challenging energy right now, bring a rose quartz into the mix. Use it as a touchstone for true self-compassion. An affirmation for this card might be:

I embrace the lessons of this situation and release all worry to God.

rose quartz

For creatures such as we, the vastness is  bearable only through love. -Carl Sagan

Self-love, divine love, romantic love, parental love, forgiveness, friendship, compassion, familial love...love love love. It is the seed to spirituality. The Heart Chakra sits at the center of you, not by accident, but because love is the center. It is the bridge from the lower to higher chakras, from existence to ascension, so to speak. And through which I believe, we filter all our experiences. How we are loved of, how we love and how we accept and how we are accepted.

Rose quartz hearts are incredible popular for crystal healing work. The Rose Quartz tower is great for a center point for grids, and can be put directly on the Heart Chakra for blockage releases. Raw rose quartz, shown at the left, is as beautiful as tumbled stones. 

Rose Quartz is THE stone of love, some would say. It is used in grids, jewelry, magic, dream work, love potions, meditations and crystal healing. It is a powerhouse of heart chakra energy, which is why it is so powerful and abundant. Healing the heart, heartbreak and all wounds dealing with trauma, loss and love, Rose Quartz helps to trust, to release boundaries, to open oneself. But its main role is one of compassion--self-compassion, compassion for others, compassion for the world. That is the essence of heart-centeredness. We are called to practice radical compassion and profound love. Rose Quartz resonates beautifully with global love, but also with romantic love, or relationship healing. Use it when you are healing from a break-up, or starting a new relationship. Actually both require great trust and an opening of the heart. 

While Rose Quartz's energy is gentle, it is by no means a pansy. It is a powerful activator of the heart chakra connecting one with Mother Earth. It is great as a connector of people. Place it in a room and feel a lightness of being, an ease. Or if it is a tough room, just an ease.

Naisha Ahsian talks about the heart center as the "strongest generator of Light energy in the body--even stronger than the brain. The energy of Rose Quartz," she goes on to say, "helps the bud of the heart unfold into a thousand-petaled lotus of Light."

Part of what I imagined when I started this series of blog posts about crystals and tarot is to talk about crystals people already think they know as well as ones that my readers may have never heard of. I hemmed and hawed about Rose Quartz. What is there to say? It looks like it feels--gentle, beautiful, high vibrational. In our home, Rose Quartz is a perennial favorite. My six year old daughter Beatrice is perpetually asking me to buy her another Rose Quartz. She loves them, can't get enough of them. It is because children instinctually feel held, calmed, loved with rose quartz. Its beautiful resonance reminds them of that maternal love. Rose Quartz helps adults feel held and loved by the Divine.  

Rose Quartz is an essential crystal for your toolkit. A great affirmation for Rose Quartz from the Book of Stones: 

I open my heart  to receive and express the energy of love. 

tarot of the week--two of swords

It probably is no shock to any of you that when I pull the Tarot Card of the Week, I always say, "Oooooooo, two of swords." Or "Oooooo, the Moon." The Two of Swords is one of those cards whose imagery and symbolism absolutely enthrall me. It is so brilliant, succinct and confusing. Truthfully, this card has come to mean many things to many people, and my meaning has drifted afield of the traditional Tarot interpretation. But we'll talk about all the meanings, and you can draw your own conclusion for the beautiful Two of Swords.

With each card, you have layers of meaning--first the numerological implications of the card number, then the suit symbols, then the actual images on the card. Let's start with the number two, which numerologically is about balance, how we relate to others, communication, partnerships, relationships. This is no surprise. I think intuitively, we think of marriages as twos. Two people coming together. The suit of Swords is air and with it comes issues around communication, logic, thought. The Sword challenge cards are quite tortured. Think of the Ten of Swords, where a man is lying in a battlefield with ten swords in his back, or the Eight of  Swords, where there is a bound and blindfolded woman in a jail of swords. These cards are about self-imposed crisis. Those tortured thoughts and the way we trap ourselves. So, swords are often these internal struggles, the growth of our mind and spirit that pushes us to think differently, so we can act differently.

The Two of Swords is a beautiful card, all my favorite symbolic elements, which is perhaps which I cannot bear to associate this card with its traditional meanings.Traditionally, this card has come to represent repression and denial. The fear of expressing love or anger or our truth. Remember swords are about communication, so this card can mean a blocked throat chakra often along with a blocked or closed heart chakra. I understand how this card has come to mean this in traditional Tarot interpretation. The woman sits before a calm sea--water always coming to symbolize emotions. The moon harkens of shadow work arising. Her back is turned away from her emotions, she does not want to face or see what she needs to see, as the card is traditionally interpreted. She holds the swords over her heart chakra, protecting her heart center.  But I have trouble solely associating that meaning with this card. 

To me, the Two of Swords is a highly intuitive card. There is nothing tortured or suffering about her position. She seems absolutely in control, staid, trusting of herself. (Here I am referring to the figure of the Rider-Waite deck. Opposed to Two of Swords in the Universal deck, where the woman on the two is absolutely tortured by her repression. In this way, our decks can make a huge difference in our interpretations.) The water is calm, settled. The sky is clear. In Tarot, the backgrounds of the cards deeply dictate the mood and meaning of the fore figures. The blindfold, rather than put on by someone else, seems carefully placed by the only figure in the picture. Perhaps she is training to trust her intuition, or she knows that her eyes are untrustworthy when it comes to her heart. "What do we know about ourselves?" this card asks. Do you know that that handsome man seduces you with charm and cunning, but turns around to deceive you? Do you know he says what you want to hear, but not what you need to know? So, what do you trust? That feeling of dis-trust, feminine intuition if you will, comes for a reason. When we dismiss it, we are trusting our eyes over our gut. Her solar plexus, open and unblocked, is the source of that knowing, and her third eye is blue, illuminated, rather than covered with hair or blindfold.  This is what is shining through her. Strength and intuition. (Use Pietersite for that beautiful combination, if you are looking for Two of Swords energy.)

The two of the Two of Swords means this card is about partnerships, so often this is about protecting our heart.  But the Two of Swords is in a position of waiting--for the time when her swords must be lowered, or when her swords must cut. The Two of Swords asks us to wait, to reflect, to contemplate, to train our minds through meditation and positive affirmation before we move. Watch. Learn. This is the time of preparation. I keep hearing Karate Kid--Wax on. Wax off. In fact, you get the feeling that this woman has been waxing for years, waiting to blossom, open her heart again, or open it for the first time. The moon is a feminine symbol in Tarot, and it definitely rings strong and true in this card, hovering in waxing(!) stage, over the whole scene. There will be a fulfillment here.

The figure is female by all accounts. These feminine symbols often harken to tap into your female intuition, whether you are female or not. That gut feeling, as I said. Perhaps we can see the traditional interpretation of this card as part of her training. She has closed off her feelings, but her defensive posture is absolutely warranted. She needs the protection, and her next move is knowing exactly when to lower her guard. Without the usual cues, she will just know. And it is about knowing when you need to use your swords or not. She is not a knight, in this picture, rather she is dressed in bed clothes. So we are also reminded to watch our dreams and the way Spirit speaks to us, warns us even, of those who can and cannot be trusted in our sleep.

A beautiful affirmation for this card might be:

I am in perfect alignment with my personal integrity. I trust my intuition to protect my heart.

So, let me know what you think of the Two of Swords. How do you interpret it? How is her energy working in your life right now? And please do not forget to comment to win a pair of labradorite and moonstone earrings on this post. Drawing on the Full Moon. Moon blessings.

giveaway

As I began this journey in Crystal Healing, I wanted to explore different aspects for my clients to carry and work with crystals and stones in their daily life. Creating crystal healing jewelry has been an amazing way to combine my love of wearable and affordable art and my stone know-how.  I have listed all my jewelry on the Moon + Stone Healings Etsy site and of course, you can always buy it from the Big Cartel link on this site.

This week, to honor all the moon energy coming your way, I am giving away a pair of labradorite + moonstone earrings.   Just leave a comment on this post telling me what you like, or don't like, about the moon + stone healing, how you found us, what you'd love to read or learn more about from the moon + stone or what draws you to crystals in general, and you will be entered to win a pair of labradorite and moonstone earrings. I will draw a winner on the Full Moon September 19th. If you share this post, come back and comment again for another chance to win. You can enter as many times as you would like.

Good luck, and moon blessings.

Yep, that is always me posing with my earrings...too cheap to hire a real model. I need to work on my smize.

moonstone

I love the way Spirit works. I picked a crystal oracle card to choose the stone of the week, and of course, moonstone came to me. Today, the new moon energy, one of new beginnings as we come out of the introspective period of the waning moon, gives us a lift, hopefully. Moonstone is a feldspar with a Moh's hardness of 6-6.5, which means it can handle water among other qualities. Through pictures, it is hard to capture the elegance and beautiful sheen of this stone. It's name comes from the sheen that reminds one of the full moon. It has been used in jewelry for over 2000 years, and was particularly popular in the Art Nouveau period.

Funnily, all my moonstones are small pieces I use in my medicine bundles because they are so great for intention-setting and intuitive work.Hopefully, you can still see the sheen in this photo. I also have moonstone earrings for sale in my shop. Perfect for feeling goddess-y on the Full Moon.

But today, moonstone is considered the stone of the goddess. Mystery, intuition, dreams, insight swirl around moonstone. It resonates with the third eye chakra and the crown chakra. Whether it is with Tarot or crystals, moon energy is equated with the Feminine, and further the Divine Feminine. This connection spawns from woman's deep connection to the moon and moon cycles. Women often are aligned in their menstrual periods with the moon--bleeding on the new moon or waning moon, fertile on the full or waxing moon. Our twenty-eight day cycles are much like the moon. And then further, women cycle up to each other when they work and live together. (I cycled up with a friend in England. Have no idea how that happened.)

The way we feel as women during those cycles helps us determine the way we can work with the moon. When we are bleeding, we often feel introverted, tender, and reflective. It makes sense that this is the time for patience, waiting for Divine timing. While our fertile times give us that energetic push, we want to make love, make painting, make food, make parties. This is when our dreams are being birthed, we are seeing the fruits of our reflection and patience. Moonstone helps us balance that moon connection directing our energy toward our plans and dreams. It helps us to notice and pay attention to our connection to the Moon and the cycles in our lives. When we do that, our wisdom becomes deeper, more connected to Mama Earth and ultimately to the self-knowledge that helps us grow spiritually and emotionally.

For men, moonstone does help balance the feminine side, a step towards wholeness and self-knowledge, ultimately bringing emotional balance. Moonstone is a highly intuitive stone and it is great for awakening kundalini energy and clairvoyance. It is a wonderful dream stone, so sleeping with it during the new moon and full moon periods help you with deeper wisdom. 

Moonstone makes beautiful jewelry, and wearing one with other stones like Labradorite can increase that Divine Feminine and Goddess connection, as well as psychic abilities and intuition. Moonstone comes in a number of colors including Cat's Eye, Gray, Black, Peach, White and Rainbow--reflecting the color of its extraordinary sheen. Rainbow moonstone is particularly prized for its prismatic quality, and it works as a psychic protective stone (along with the properties mentioned) It is also wonderful for aligning the chakras and resonating on a higher vibration than other moonstones. A wonderful affirmation for moonstone is:

I open myself to my intuitive abilities, my connection to the Divine Feminine, and understanding of the cycles of the Moon.

What about you? How have you worked with moonstone? What gifts have moonstone brought to your experience?

tarot of the week-the moon

What an apt way to begin the week of the New Moon in Virgo on September 5. 

The Moon is the eighteenth card of the Major Arcana, and it brings with it all the mystery and emotion of the actual moon and the lore around her. If the Sun represents clarity in the Tarot, the Moon represents shadows and mystery. And by shadows, I mean the Jungian idea of the shadow self and shadow work. John Elder from Jung's Theory of The Shadow describes it this way:

"The Shadow describes the part of the psyche that an individual would rather not acknowledge. It contains the denied parts of the self. Since the self contains these aspects, they surface in one way or another. Bringing Shadow material into consciousness drains its dark power, and can even recover valuable resources from it. The greatest power, however, comes from having accepted your shadow parts and integrated them as components of your Self."

In Tarot, the Moon has come to represent this entire notion of the Shadow self and who we are trying to hide. Not in a judgmental or accusatory way, rather the Moon challenges you to look at this part you are hiding, bring it forward, make friends, as John Elder says, "Drain its dark power." It calls us to get honest with ourselves, to find our true motivations, to experience acceptance of all of us.

When I read Tarot, I see a thousand meanings in each card, my gift as an intuitive and seasoned card reader is to figure out which meaning of the card applies to which reading. The Moon is far more than a call to begin the shadow work, though I think it is one of the, if not the, most important aspect of this card. The Moon can be a call for dreamwork, nighttime strength, astral journeying, shamanic journeying. It is a symbol of the Divine Feminine and the Goddess energy. Esoteric knowledge, past life regression...the two pillars in the background of the Moon are said to represent the Conscious and Unconscious Mind, as you travel through to the astral world, the next dimension of consciousness and understanding.

Harkening to that shadow self, when we walk through the pillars, we begin seeing ourselves as Great Spirit sees us, as Divine Beings, Perfect Children of God, Lightbeings. We cease judgement of the Shadow self, and we ask ourselves for acceptance.  But this journey is often mired in fear of the unknown, sometimes even danger feels lurking in these subconscious realms. But this is also a form of self-deception, the fear of knowledge of the self. Should we fear meeting, acknowledging, and releasing that which is not serving us? 

The Moon, in its stripped down meaning, is an incredibly psychic and intuitive card. It is emotional and deep, the ancient and primal self, the Higher Self, even. The dogs baying at the Moon is that part of us that grows afraid at the world around us, the mysteries in ourselves, and also that part that worships all around us. The Moon cautions that not all is what it seems. But its caution is more of a reminder to your Higher Self. "You know this already," the Moon seems to whisper. How are you self-deceiving? With a lover, or friend, or situation you are pushing through out of sheer will and ego-based ends? The Moon is nothing like a sneaky, pushy bastard, rather the Moon is a mentor and teacher challenging you, asking you to prepare.

Because ultimately, the Moon is a card of ascension and spiritual growth. It is not just this toiling work of looking at the aspect of yourself that you think need to be hidden. It is doing that toward an end--toward spiritual growth and readiness for ascension. You are asked to prepare for enlightenment and holiness. Self-awareness is the key to psychic abilities and intuition. It is a trusting of yourself. I don't think being psychic is gifted to only a few, I believe we all have the ability to increase our intuitive abilities. And the Moon is just asking you to prepare by clearing out of the crap that is making you doubt, question, feel undeserving of God's grace. 

It is no mistake that this card follows the Star, a card of hope and dreams. We set on a path toward our dreams, we then have to look at those parts of us that are unwittingly blocking us from our goal. The Moon shadow work is then followed by the Sun, total illumination and understanding of who we are. In many way, this is what I seek to do in my Moon Cycle Coaching--walk with you through the Star, the Moon, and arrive at the Sun. 

So, with the Moon this week, why not begin keeping a dream journal? As your guides and Higher Self for guidance on that which is blocking you from your goals, ask to clearly see the ways in which you are blocking yourself. Then keep a notebook and pen by your bed to jot down your dream before you can even process it. Just start writing. Ask your guides for help remembering your dreams before bed. As a lucid dreamer, I developed techniques for myself to remember and dialogue in my dream life, but I believe these are as individual as dreams themselves. Some crystals and stones you can sleep with to help with dreamwork and recall are moonstone, labradorite, blue apatite, clear quartz, or sugilite (among a ton of other dreamstones that help with dream work.)  A good affirmation for the Moon is:

 I accept and love all parts of me. I am a Divine Being of Light. 

Let me know what you feel about the Moon card in your readings and your experience interpreting this card. I am taking clients for Moon Cycle Coaching right now. You can get in touch at themoonandstone(at)gmail(dot)com. I also want to remind you to sign up for my weekly newsletter where I write an article each week and link to my blog posts of the week. You can sign up here.