The Lion’s Gate Channeling

I haven’t channeled in forever. For weeks I’ve seen 111’s, 1111’s, and 444’s. I haven’t felt especially guided so I was confused. The numerical signs that have for so long reminded me that I was on the right path were appearing, but I did not feel that I was on any sort of path at all. Maybe there was no path because I was finally blazing my own trail.  I’ve been meditating on the Lion’s Gate opening. I longed to “feel” a part of something again.  I kept being drawn to places and times that felt so distant, yet right at home. I opened my heartmindbody to whatever the Universe would reveal to me.

I wrote a few words for some reason that I still can’t determine.  “I don’t believe in the transference of souls directly from body to body. The idea of the eternal, immutable soul fails to resonate. I believe our multiple lives arise out of the timeless nature of the atoms from which we are built.” Nothing special there, just a brief agnostic meditation.

Then the warm feeling. The tingles. The knowing that I’m simply a vessel through which this message must enter.  This is what my higher self wants me to share:

“Forged in the belly of creation herself, we are the cognition of the divine — little gods looking out from the inside.  Of course you feel connected to times and places you’ve never seen. They appear unrelated — all that which draws you in, but you see, beautiful one, everything connects.  You have always been.  Don’t cower from anything which ignites the flames of your passion for life.  Your cells are remembering, awakening, transforming.”

And it was gone. The perfectionist and the author in me are both having to release their frustrations over this seemingly incomplete paragraph.  All in divine timing, things will reveal themselves.

[February Update]

First off…. my apologies for making this blog a monthly thing! Working, starting a business from the ground-up, homeschooling, going to grad school, and being wifey/mommy leaves me with very little time!

I’ve got prices set for all of my products.  I’ll be ordering the rest of the containers I need and my label maker next week.  I expect Bruja Botanicals to be up and fully running within THREE WEEKS!! 😀

I will have several oil blends in roller bottles, sugar scrubs, bath salts, linen/body spray, and (hopefully… still finalizing the formula!) a beard/aftershave oil for my male customer.  I have poured my heart and soul into this business.  It’s my baby.  I am so excited to share with you all the same high-quality handcrafted products that I use at home with me and my family.

A quick [unpaid!] shout out to Mountain Rose Herbs!  I have been using them for all of my container and bulk herb needs.  They are one of the greatest companies that I have ever worked with.

Mountain Rose Herbs. A herbs, health and harmony c

 

DISCLOSURE: Any posts on this blog may contain affiliate links.  If you purchase a product through an affiliate link I will receive a small portion of the profit.  All affiliate-earned income goes to Bruja Botanicals supplies and overhead.

[January Update]

A few things have changed since I last blogged. I decided that the medication I was taking for my fibromyalgia was causing side effects that were worse than the disease itself so I am trying to manage my symptoms through diet, herbal supplements, and essential oils. So far my routine consists of taking turmeric twice a day, a hot glass of water with lemon essential oil every morning, and frankincense on my big toe each morning. I also apply frankincense with coconut oil to my back each morning and use a drop under my tongue for nerve pain as needed. Honestly, the effects of doing this are just as good as what I was getting with pharmaceuticals. And they don’t make me feel crazy!

Adding in the supplements and oils is by far the easiest part. If I want to control my autoimmune problems without pharmaceuticals, I have got to completely clean up my diet and get back into a moderate exercise routine as well. One step at a time. I’m slowly trying to get myself on a healthy way of eating. My husband is the most supportive person in my life. He’s willing to stand by my side and eat the same foods I eat as I embark on this journey. I know that I won’t succeed if I just make myself give up everything that I love to eat so we are doing the 100 Days of Real Food mini-pledge program. This is 15 weeks of mini-pledges with the goal that if you add on one new pledge/habit a week, by the end of the challenge your diet should be pretty healthy. Of course eating for autoimmune health differs from a standard healthy diet, but I thought this would be the perfect bridge between the Standard American Diet and getting into the strict Paleo/GAPS/AIP type of diet that is usually required to heal fibromyalgia.

We started the week one challenge today. The first week’s challenge is to include 2 servings of fruits or vegetables at each meal. It’s only day one, but so far so good.

fresh-vegetables-and-fruits-7-1441975-m (Image: FreeImages)

This morning I made a green smoothie. I used to drink smoothies daily, but now it’s more like once a week. My smoothie chef game isn’t what it used to be. I picked up some coconut milk this morning that I plan to use in a smoothie sometime in the next day or so. Trying new ingredients is key to keeping me from getting bored with smoothies. For lunch I tried my hand at making minestrone soup. I barely followed my recipe because I was using things we had on hand, but it still turned out delicious. I also found a great deal at the local grocery store on dried thyme so that was a bonus.

I work evenings so my dinner isn’t usually a conventional one. Tonight I just brought along a banana and a cucumber with some lemon pepper and cayenne pepper. It’s going to take some creativity for me to meet this week’s challenge with my evening meal. I do have access to a microwave at work so I may have to learn to enjoy leftovers.

I’m going to try hard to keep this blog updated with how our progress is going. I know this is getting long, but I just wanted to mention that Bruja Botanicals is continuing to grow behind-the-scenes and is still set to be open online and at the Crossett Farmer’s Market by spring. I’m trying to get things set up to have some essential oil and DIY classes locally. That may take a few months to get started. I also should have another business adventure opening up in a month or so, but I can’t talk about that just yet.

Peace & Love

xx.Jess

[12.21.14]

I just wanted to give a quick update on how this week has been.  I’ve made a few essential oil rollerballs that have turned out great!  As far as the supplies for the actual products, I should be fully stocked within a week.  I still need to order labeling supplies and come up with a cute design for my Bruja Botanicals line of products.  I still see this getting done sometime around the first of the year.

That is about all there is to say on the business end of things.

Today I posted on the Alternative Mommies Facebook page that I didn’t think it was funny whenever people post photos of their children crying in Santa’s lap.  I always see those making the rounds during the holidays and I don’t find it to be anything more than exploitation of a scared child.  I believe the exact word used to describe ME, not my position, but me as a person was “sancticunt”.  So here I am defending children, being a voice for a group that can’t speak up, and I get attacked on a personal level.  I have no time for that.  Only the ignorant attack individuals because they can’t find fault in what the individual stands for.  I ended up banning the woman because I don’t tolerate people speaking to me or my readers like that.  Who has time for such negativity?

Bruja Jess Botanicals

Where have I been? I know I haven’t been blogging in the past week.  This relates to my last post on self-education.  I have been completely immersed in essential oil and herbal courses.  There is such an important reason for this, I am opening an online shop!  It is called [tentatively] Bruja Jess Botanicals, but I may shorten it to Bruja Botanicals.  I am creating a line of all-natural organic health and beauty products.  I’m currently in the process of designing my labels and ordering them.  Once that starts I will be taking pictures and setting up my website to order my products.  From the get-go I will have bath salts, roller blends, room and body sprays, and sugar scrubs available.  I hope to add more products to line very soon!

I hope to have a post up later this week or next week with the different scents and blends that I have as well as the benefits and reasons for each blend and/or scent aside from the obvious which is the pleasing aroma of each product.

I just wanted to give you guys a little teaser update about where I’ve been and what you can expect in the very near future.

Learning to Learn

I have been in school for a ridiculously long time.  I went from 3 year old kindergarten through the 11th grade before getting my GED and immediately starting college.  Then I went on to get my A.A.S. and B.A., and now I’m a semester away from having my Master’s.  And I barely remember anything that I’ve learned.

I’ve always been an autodidact.  My interests were never really those that we were taught in school.  In second grade I used to hide in the library reading nonfiction books during our twice-a-week library period because we were only allowed to check out picture books.  Not much has changed.  I still spend hours each week researching the things that I’m passionate about.  I do this even though I’m in school and should probably devote that time to working on the stuff that “counts”.  Which leads me to my point….

The most important lesson that I’ve ever learned, was how to teach myself — how to conduct research, how to think critically to determine a source’s credibility, and the foresight to know whenever I need to seek out others who are more knowledgeable then I am and who can take me under their wing.  I understand the importance of school for specialized sectors of society — I want my doctor, for example, to be extremely well-educated in his field.

On the other hand, I don’t think school is the end-all-be-all of education.  The education system now is especially failing us because of the pressures of high stakes testing.  This hurts me deeply because my background is in education.  I’m about to graduate with my MAT, but it breaks my heart to see the focus being more on teaching students WHAT to learn rather than HOW to learn.  I know from my own experience, and it is supported with research, that the things we are intrinsically motivated to learn are the things that we remember.

I hope that I can bring my own positive attitude about the internally motivated desire to learn into my future classroom rather than my cynicism about our obsession with assessment.  It is my dream to show young people how a thirst for knowledge and an inquiring mind are two of the most important catalysts for success in this world.  As a mother I do this each day with my child, and I look forward to showing my students this in my future career as a teacher.

It can be so daunting to decide what type of education–homeschooling, unschooling, private school, public school–we want our children to have.  At the end of the day, if we as parents remain totally involved with our children’s education and make sure that they know how to seek the resources to answer their own questions, I believe that ultimately we and our children will be alright.

Please share your thoughts.  Do you homeschool, unschool, or send your children to school? How do you feel about the education system in the U.S. today?

“Shoot First, Ask Later” and it’s effects on American culture

I used to wonder what was wrong with the generation younger than me.  They are so quick to grab a gun and shoot somebody.  In my own very small hometown there were two young people murdered by other young people within just a couple months apart from each other a few years back.  We all see the stories of school shooting on the news, and they seem to be happening more frequently.

I was thinking about this today in light of the whole Ferguson situation.  Then it occurred to me, young people today grow up in a society where the people they are supposed to respect are all enamored with their guns.  I can’t say how many times in the last year I’ve asked out loud “Why does a police officer have to use deadly force every time he feels threatened?”  If a person can’t disarm another by shooting them in a non-fatal way, then maybe we shouldn’t be spending our tax dollars giving them weapons and a free-pass to murder at will.

I grew up in a time when the assault weapons ban had bipartisan support.  Now even mention of outlawing excessive and unnecessary firearms and/or types and sizes of ammunition, and people start freaking out and yelling about communism.  As if a dictator would allow such words to be spoken publicly….

People are more concerned about their right to carry an AK-47 than they are about homeless and hungry children.  It sickens me.  There has not been one attempt to “take yer guns”, but Fox News would have you thinking something completely different.

It seems we have forgotten that having a gun doesn’t make a person big and bad.  Taking a life doesn’t make you a hero.  Until the adults, especially adults who are in the media or who have children, start acting responsible, sadly I fear that the young people who are growing up now are going to think that it is okay to grab a gun and start shooting anytime they feel just the slightest bit uncomfortable.

Police officers need to do better.
Parents need to do better.
Politicians need to do better.

A Few Quick Word on Ferguson

There appears to be a collective amnesia across much of America right now.  Have we forgotten that there is precedent for taking down actual armed killers, mass murderers even, without the use of deadly force?  Are the people we “trust” (and I use that word so loosely) to “protect” (Loose wording, once again) us so incompetent and full of fear that the mere appearance of a young, black male engaged in petty crime brings out a homicidal rage?

Think of all of the mass murderers who were apprehended and brought to trial, people like Timothy McVeigh and James Holmes, whose violence is indisputable.  They were given a fair trial.  I don’t care what your opinion is.  I don’t care if you believe that Michael Brown had his hands up and was completely innocent or if you see him as public enemy #1 the big bad black boy who was a thief and was attempting to assault an officer of the law.  That is irrelevant.  We have a justice system in place.  No individual should be allowed to be judge, jury, and executioner.  Even if that individual is white, carrying a badge, and alone with a black “thug”. (Their wording. Not mine.)

I’m disgusted.  I have one minor point to address.  None of us were in the room with the grand jury yesterday, but if the news reports during the time were true, the grand jury looked over more evidence than is typically shown.  For those of you who don’t follow law closely, a grand jury convenes to determine if there is enough evidence to bring forward an indictment.  They are typically shown the best evidence that is the most damning to the defendant.  From what I’ve heard reported yesterday, the grand jury was shown all of the evidence in the case.  This is not customary.  Is there anything you or I can do about this? Of course not.  I’m just tossing it out there as one more symptom of a very sick system.

The Medicine Woman Got Sick

Around the time that I was starting the process of moving from my old blog to this one, I received an email from Energy BITS inquiring as to whether or not I would be interested in trying their Recovery BITS product.  I said yes thinking that I would use them as an immune supplement or that at the least I would have a good excuse to have a few glasses of wine because they are advertised as a whole-food supplement that be taken as a preventive measure, to combat an illness, or to avoid the tiredness, dehydration, and fatigue of a hangover.  Little did I know that I was about to come down with a nasty cold!

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I originally reviewed Energy BITS back on my The Alt Mommy blog a couple years ago (http://thealtmommy.wordpress.com/2013/08/10/energybits-review-giveaway-and-discount-code/).  You can read all about them there!  Recovery BITS are a little different.  As I said, rather than just being for energy, they help your body to heal.  Like the original Energy BITS, the recovery BITS are also a food, not a supplement.  They can be taken after a workout to aid in recovery as well.

The recommended does is at least 30 tabs.  For my treatment protocol I took 30 tabs each morning for two days.  For the next two days I took a 40 tab dose of energy BITS.  Within three days my cold was completely gone!  I also used essential oils and organic garlic on my feet, but I have never had results like this!  I am still in awe of how quickly I recovered from my cold.

I recommend these to anybody looking for a healthy, whole-food way to help restore and recover your body.  I hope you will enter the rafflecopter giveaway, but even if you don’t end please head to http://www.energybits.com and enter in the promo code “BLOG” to get 10% your order.

I am having an awful time with my rafflecopter showing up on this page.  Please enter here —> http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/531ae29c1/

If you have any questions please let me know!