Peach Chakra

At the Market by Louise Moillon (1610-1696) Painting is a private collection

“Believe something and the Universe is on its way to being changed. Because you've changed, by believing. Once you've changed, other things start to follow. Isn't that the way it works?”  ― Diane Duane, So You Want to Be a Wizard

"When you reach for the stars, you are reaching for the farthest thing out there. When you reach deep into yourself, it is the same thing, but in the opposite direction. If you reach in both directions, you will have spanned the universe.” ― Vera Nazarian, The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration

“Through the practice of meditation, when the mind is quieted and the emotions are calmed, the Soul shines forth in all of its glory.” ― Genevieve Gerard

~~~

Last week I took a break, but I still thought of peaches.  In my quest for mixing the perfect peach color with paint, I found that there are many shades of peach: red-orange color.  You must be knowledgeable of each color's undertones.  Meaning, is the red made up of red tones or violet tones?  Your choice of yellow depends on the tones: Like goes with Like.  

In my google search for mixing colors, the peach chakra appeared.  (Chakras and mixing paint colors? I'm trying to figure out the connection.)

As you are aware, there are many chakras in the human body.  Most people are familiar with the seven.  The peach chakra is located within the heart chakra.  You have to pull away the green and you will find it in the center.  This chakra is associated with your soul.  It is your connection with the divine source and the universe.   It is a place of love and joy mixed together into a peaceful bliss

The peach chakra reminds me of the story of Xi Wangmu's peach orchard.  Her peaches took 3000 years to ripen.  Eaten they gave one immortality and access to the divine.  But, what if you didn't have to wait 3000 years.  What if you had access to bliss by meditating through your peach chakra?   

~~~

Wild nights - Wild nights! (269)
by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886)

Peach watercolor by Sharon Foster.  

See and Buy her art.  

Wild nights - Wild nights!

Were I with thee
Wild nights should be
Our luxury!

Futile - the winds -
To a Heart in port -
Done with the

Compass -
Done with the Chart!

Rowing in Eden -
Ah - the Sea!
Might I but moor - tonight -

In thee

~~~

Artural: Art + Ritual

Auntie Grace's Peach Cobbler is bliss especially warm and with ice cream:

1/2 cup butter

1 cup of flour

1 cup of sugar

1 teaspoon of baking powder

1 cup of milk

2 cups of cut up peaches without skins

Preheat oven 275 F

1.  Melt butter in a baking pan on the stove (9 inches by 13 inches dish)

2.  Mix flour, sugar and baking powder together in a separate bowl.  Stir in milk until there     aren't any lumps.

3.  Dump this into the melted butter pan.  DO NOT STIR.  

4.  Sprinkle fruit on top.  DO NOT STIR THEM INTO THE MIXTURE.

5.  Raise temperature of the oven up to 350F

6.  Bake 50-60 minutes or until the cake is lightly brown on top.

Downward Facing Dog – Youtube Yoga Practice

The Dog by Picasso

Silent Moon - How can we find silent time to restore and regenerate our enthusiasm for our lives/work/relationships? ~ CAYA's Full Moon Questions.

When the breathe wanders the mind is unsteady.  But when the breath is calmed the mind too will be still, and the yogi achieves long life.  Therefore, one should learn to control the breath. ~ Hatha Yoga Pradipika

I would like for people to realize that yoga is not about touching your toes. ~ Gary Kraftsow

Yoga has a sly, clever way of short-circuiting the mental patterns that cause anxiety. ~ Baxter Bell, quoted in "Worry Thwarts," Yoga Journal, March 2006

The first time I heard “Rest in Downward Facing Dog,” I turned towards my friend (the one who talked me into coming to this free yoga class) and smirked.  It was a “Now I heard everything” smirk while holding back a big belly laugh that would ultimately cause me to land on my head in this position.  Looking around, I could tell everyone in this class was very serious resting in their inverted “V” poses.  This only made me want to giggle more.  How could you be serious in this pose – bum pushed up into the air while you are looking at your feet?  And, rest?  Hello - my arms were killing me.

Yet, Yoga and energy work has somehow managed to weave in and out of my life since that 1988 class. 

~#~

Adho Mukha Svanasana (AH-doh MOO-kah shvah-NAHS-anna)adho = downward, mukha = face, svana = dog

Benefits

•Calms the brain and helps relieve stress and mild depression

•Energizes the body

•Stretches the shoulders, hamstrings, calves, arches, and hands

•Strengthens the arms and legs

•Helps relieve the symptoms of menopause

•Relieves menstrual discomfort when done with head supported

•Helps prevent osteoporosis

•Improves digestion

•Relieves headache, insomnia, back pain, and fatigue

•Therapeutic for high blood pressure, asthma, flat feet, sciatica, sinusitis

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As I’ve spoken before, our bodies are made up of energy that vibrates (science speak – partical energy theory). Many people are familiar with chakras, but there are also many more energy layers that make up our bodies.  Even our physical form that you can touch is an energetic body (science speak - its molecules move around at low energy.)  These individual energy layers don’t work in solo by themselves.  They’re interconnected and working in concert together.

If you injure your physical body, the others will be affected.  When I broke my ankle, I found it so easy to get caught up in healing the physical.  For example, I went to the emergency room and got a cast, had to navigate stairs and doorways for 8 weeks, taking a bath with a garbage bag was.... – I didn't even consider the other layers in my treatment plan.   

The same can be said about negative thoughts, emotions or habits.  We may stop or change them, but energetically speaking they’ve been imprinted on the body.  They are in our muscle memories.  Again, each energy body needs to also be healed in order for the habit to be permanent. 

Bodywork like Yoga is a great way to integrate healing throughout the energy levels.  I think of Yoga or Qigong working like oatmeal does for the digestive system.  The poses or movements unclogs and scrubs out the places where energy is stuck.

Why is this important?

Magical living is about working with energy.  If I have stuck places like stress pain in my neck and shoulder it makes it hard to concentrate on what I’m trying to manifest.  I become so focus on the pain that my energy is diverted between two places – what I'm trying to create and that “pain.”  My craftiness becomes not so perfect: the lemon happiness cookies burn or taste odd, the healing candle for a friend becomes more about me and I have to rip out many rows of stitches. 

~#~

There is no excuse for not doing bodywork.  Thanks to modern techology you can do Yoga or Qigong at your home via Youtube.  Start off with something gentle like Hatha Yoga.  There  is no Olympic medals in this practice.  Turn off the competition - yoga is about being present in the moment without judgement.  It is accepting where your temple body is at each day.

 

Sacred Phrase Yum

@BEMS

As a girl, I knew Christmas season was here when I opened my front door.  A certain perfume of spices would greet me.  The other clue was my Aunt’s rusted Pinto station wagon would be in the drive behind my Mom's rusted red van.  I'd  quickly glance at the snow level on their windshields and this would indicate that today was the day.  My Mom and Aunt had been baking for about 8-9 hours straight while we were in school.  My family dining room table would be covered with goodies: Georgia Pecan Chewies,  Grandma’s favorite coconut cookies, Swedish S almond cookies and these chocolate meringues with a hershey kiss that would melt when they hit your tongue.  I could imagine my mouth filled with this thick soup of goodness.  There would be plates of jeweled colored candies dusted with a thin layer of powdered sugar.  Each gem color having its own unique taste: cinnamon, wintergreen, peppermint and clove.  The sugared treasures would last well into the spring.  I'd stand at the end of the table still dressed in my thick winter coat and hat and go: “Yum.”

~#~

Some of our most powerful memories are associated with smell and taste.  The olfactory nerve, responsible for smell, in evolutionary terms is our oldest sense.  It is one of the senses that we have in common with bacteria.  This rudimentary sense enables us to respond to chemicals around us.  (Think of opening up the jug of soured milk – what is your response?)  Another cool thing about this sense, it can regenerate.  As you age, your other senses wear out – you have to wear bifocals, you may have to wear a hearing aid – you will still have smell.  You will still be able to smell the hint of apple blossoms during the spring; and smell a chocolate cake baking in the kitchen.

It fascinates me how these smells seem to be wrapped around my memories.  Scientists believe is because of where the olfactory is located – next to our memory maker the hippocampus.  This closeness may be the reason scent is mixed with memory

~#~

In my earlier essay on Love Champions, I wrote about the heart chakra.  One of the seed mantras for the heart is "Yum.”  Yum in Sanskrit means compassion and love.  

How is it Yum – which I associate with yummy goodies and happy memories be also the seed mantra for the heart chakra?  How is it that this meditation phrase about love and heart energy is also what I’ve learned to say when I bite into a chocolate cake with Hershey frosting and think of all the wonderful women who have baked this for me. 

When I say it do I reinforce this memory with love?  When I think fondly on my Mom and Aunt’s day of cooking and baking – did I reinforce that memory each year as a child with the sacred phrase of Yum?

~#~

Yesterday I went to the candle shop at the mall.  I caught a whiff of the blended Christmas scents and for a momment I was transported back to my parent's dining room.  I was there again looking at the goodies and the plates of multi-colored jewels. 

It was a momment of love - a momment filled with comfort and a little girl's joy.  And, again I said, "Yum" reinforcing this love that is bigger than my childhood's memory.

Xena: A Path to Queendom

“Every man gives his life for what he believes ... one life is all we have to live and we live it according to what we believe.” ― Joan of Arc

“Though the sex to which I belong is considered weak you will nevertheless find me a rock that bends to no wind.” – Elizabeth I, Queen of England

"Xena is this warrior. She goes around saving people and righting wrongs. It's all pretty sappy, but she seems to get her kicks out of it."-Autolycus, Xena: Warrior Princess

During the Nineties, I watched several episodes of Xena: The Warrior Princess (1995-2001).  Finally, there was a female hero narrative that pushed the limits of Linda Carter’s Wonder Woman (1975-1979).  Xena was smart, sexy, strong, independent and opposite of the original Disney three.  She didn’t tolerate “power-over” (Starhawk) structure that the Disney Princesses existed as they waited for their Princes to save them.  Xena was a social changer and redefined what women could do.  Xena relied on her own skills to get out of obstacles. 

I think one of the reasons that I didn’t stick with the show was the warrior aspect.  I wasn’t into waving a sword after my experience with the “go-go purse.”  It wasn’t that I wouldn’t defend myself physically, but it didn’t fit me.  I felt a calling more like Morgana in Marion Zimmer Bradley -The Mists of Avalon.  I was more of a negotiator and interested in changing energy from snarky to love - or composing a letter that was addressing social justice and pressing send.  I also wanted a real role model – flesh and blood not fiction.  I wanted someone real who’d guide me into becoming a Queen with either path I chose.

~#~

According to Joseph Campbell there are two ways a woman can become Queen.  You can take the path of Faerie/Amazon (Xena) or Wise One/Medial (Morgana).  Either path, a Queen still begins life as a Princess (Hernández, 51).  Either path, there is a requirement for training based on trials, tests, successes, and failures.  Either path requires perseverance to grow.   To become a Queen is hard work.

~#~

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My first psychic reading I was in my late twenties.  The woman asked me if I had seen Fields of Dreams (1989).  I shook my head yes.  "Well," she said, "remember that scene where the wife (Amy Madigan) gets up in the PTO meeting and defends the book that some parents want to ban."  I shook my head yes some more.  "That's you."

I must have had my "Yea Right" look.  Because she tells me this is how I will be in my forties.  I will grow into this type of person. She felt this was how I go around righting wrong with the world.  I wouldn't do it with a sword but with a pen and my voice.

I wasn't convinced.  I hated to get up in front of people.  This was why I chose policy work in public health rather than being in front of the classroom teaching.  The thought of standing up in front of people made me feel like I was going to throw-up and made my hands feel cold and sweaty.  I could barely read off index cards without 1) sounding laughable like the speed turned up on a record player or 2) lose my place on the index card and repeat the line over several times or 3) start to see blue dots in my peripheral vision. 

She then told me I needed to work on my throat chakra.  She made a recommendation that I should sing in the shower and take a public speaking course.  My throat chakra was pretty weak from how she saw it.

Then she asks:  "Do you write poetry?  I think you should write some haikus."  I didn't know where she was going with this.  "You could do poetry readings and haikus were short and sweet."  She then shared with me two places to read.

~#~

Developing excellent communication skills is absolutely essential to effective leadership.  The leader must be able to share knowledge and ideas to transmit a sense of urgency and enthusiasm to others.  If a leader can't get the message across clearly to motivate others to act on it then having a message doesn't even matter." ~ Gilvert Amelio

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If you don't know much about the throat chakra - it is considered the center of communication.  It isn't just about talking and listening, but how you are able to express yourself in a physical and creative sense (e.g., art, music, writing, or dance).  The throat chakra is thought to be one of our emotional centers.  You know when you get a "lump in your throat" when you are sad - you are experiencing your throat chakra in action.  The throat chakra is also where we speak the truth and take responsibility for our words. 

A balanced throat chakra is an essential quality needed in a strong leader.  A strong throat chakra helps a leader get the message across through both words and non verbal skills.  A strong throat chakra can persuade and arouse the emotions in others - empowering them to join in getting the task done.  A strong throat chakra can help a leader remain fair and impartial and open to hear other ways to solve problems.  A strong throat chakra makes a leader comfortable sharing information and talk decisions through.

~#~

Pinpointing why there was a weakness in my throat chakra had to do with how I was raised.  I was told a child is seen not heard.  Growing-up my opinions were not valued due to my age.  Additionally, I was told if you didn't have something nice to say - don't say it.  So when it came to speaking out about something that was wrong - I was in conflict with how I was raised.  It took hard work to wear these beliefs down.

As I said before - becoming a Queen is hard work.

~#~

Tools to help strengthen you throat chakra

Wearing a turquoise gem stone

Wearing blue

Color, knit, paint, play the piano - do something that expresses how you feel

Sing along with the radio

Practice reading poetry out loud

You say talisman and I say amulet….. Turbulence, Tempestuous – Lets call the whole thing off.

“Honest disagreement is often a good sign of progress.”  ~Mahatma Gandhi

“Thus, we see that one of the obvious origins of human disagreement lies in the use of noises for words.”  ~ Alfred Korzybski

“The last sound on the worthless earth will be two human beings trying to launch a homemade space-ship and already quarreling about where they are going next.” ~ William Faulkner

~#~

When written in Hebrew, the Bible has many names for God.  Is one better than another?  I don’t know, but in English one is mainly written – “God.”  The same can be said about the word love.  In Italian, Greek and other languages in the world there are many, but in English we have only one.  I think sometimes we get too caught up in using the right word and we end up quarreling about who is right.  Ultimately someone’s feelings get hurt and bridges get burnt and wars fought.

Take for example the words Amulet and Talisman, according to Webster’s Dictionary:

Amulet: a charm (as an ornament) often inscribed with a magic incantation or symbol to aid the wearer or protect against evil (as disease or witchcraft).

Talisman: 1: an object held to act as a charm to avert evil and bring good fortune. 2: something producing apparently magical or miraculous effects. 

Note: on Talisman comes from the Greek word Teleo which means "to consecrate.”

I seem to think of these two items as one as the same which to some I would be quite wrong.  I also feel I tend to use talisman more often; perhaps it is due to my exposure of this word in the books I read growing up.  In some of my reference books, they clearly identify a distinction between the two.  A talisman must be charged with magic whereas the amulet has the magic in it.  In others, they use the word interchangeably.    Both cases, they agree like I do that you need to do a blessing/consecration ceremony to let the object know what it is intended to be used for.    

~#~

A friend sent the Dali Lama’s quote to me on Facebook.  Unknowingly this has come at a good time.  My work has become a turbulent and tempestuous environment.  I’m finding myself working with people who have different values than me.  They seem to see work as products that need to be checked off by some random date rather than how I see it as something that will make a difference and something of quality.  (As I’ve spoken before I see my work is an extension of Motherfather Spirit.)  I really try to practice the Dali Lama’s philosophy, but more often than not I get pushed off my chair and my blood pressure is racing.  The same can be said about how I practice my spirituality; sadly this is one of the reasons why I end up practicing in a solo kind of way.

I’m not saying that you shouldn’t be in community.  But, if I’ve found that if I walk away angry and upset after a meeting; or I feel like I’m being spoon fed knowledge and others aren’t opened to a different point of view; I’m treated more of like a guest, or I’m coasting along for the ride than perhaps it is better to evolve alone.      

It takes a lot of courage to walk away.  In doing so, I believe you’re strengthening your heart chakra and practicing the love and kindness spells.  Ultimately, you are following that master law of the universe: you reap what you sow.   Your small act could be the tipping factor in helping the universe be a nicer place to live.

Okay – so walking away from your job isn’t so easy.  The only way I've found to cope is to think out of the box.  I always say to myself: how I can be like Merryweather who can change a curse into a more positive outcome (Disney, Sleeping Beauty).    And, for added protection I hang an evil eye (talisman/amulet) in my office charged to ward off nastiness.   Worst case scenario - I sprinkle salt on the floors before leaving to help absorb the negativity - the cleaning crew come and sweep it up.   

In those meetings where you know you will never win - I've taken up meditating - so hum....... and a walk during lunch.

~#~

Activity

So Hum meditation is a contemplative meditation.  So means "I am" and Hum means "that."  I really like my own meaning - this whole negative conflict is - so hum.....this office in-fighting is - so hum.....

Breath in thinking "so."  When you exhale think "hum."

So Hum meditation

Auntie Grace’s Shortbread Mixed with Peace and Love.

Basic Shortbread

2 cups of sifted all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon each of baking powder and salt
1 cup of softened butter unsalted (2 sticks)
1/2 cup of confectioner sugar sifted.

Addition:

2 tsp ground coriander - for peace and protection
Grated zest from one large lemon - for love, purification and blessings
1/2 tsp of lemon extract
2 Tbsp or fresh lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350.

Sift together flour, baking powder, dried coriander and salt. Cream butter and sugar til light and fluffy.  Add in lemon zest.  Add flour mixture and then add in lemon juice and lemon extract.  Pat dough into 9"x9" ungreased pan. Place your hands over the pan and imagine the intent as being there already.  Bake 20-25 minutes.

Cut into squares. 

Optimismum - Remedium enim adversum et impedimentum

Lord Genesh

“The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain.” ~Dolly Parton

“One who gains strength by overcoming obstacles, possesses the only strength which can overcome adversity. “ ~ Albert Schweitzer

“The battles that count aren't the ones for gold medals. The struggles within yourself--the invisible, inevitable battles inside all of us--that's where it's at.” ~ Jesse Owens

"We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.” ~ Randy Pausch

I’ve always liked to read fairy tales.  Even as an adult, I like reading the tales Hoffman, De Lint, Atwood, Esquivel, Wynne Jones and Oats have spun.  They seem to have the knack at weaving magic and fairy tale motifs into gritty contemporary settings.  These authors keep with the genre tradition by including the common story elements: magic (e.g., law of three, magical numbers), memorable characters, a moral message and obstacles the protagonist (i.e., hero) must complete to get the happy ending.  I’ve found, the harder the obstacle(s) [Note: they usually come in three] the more knuckle gripping the story.  A good book for me is the one I can’t put down until the hero completes their tasks and ultimately learn something new about themselves. 

These past three years I’ve been preparing to apply to graduate school.  My hero’s tasks have been relatively easy jumps over stones and logs: building up my writing portfolio; completing writing classes after being out of college for 20 years; learning to carve out time to be creative; learning to maintain wellness and balance regarding exercising and mothering while working full time; and searching out different MFA programs to meet my needs.  

The journey has included professors and instructors like Ann Palazzo, Columbus based poet Steve Abbott, short story writer, James DeMonte, and Nettie Morris who’ve proved encouragement, motivation and insights to hone my craft.  My classmates have also helped me by providing truthful criticism during workshops that have made several of my pieces publishable in the Campus Literary Magazine. 

I now approach my final obstacle: completing the two required essays in the application.  It isn’t that I haven’t known about these tasks.  I’ve stared at them upon my glowing laptop and overheard my classmates tête-à-tête about writing theirs.  But, unlike my fairy tale heroes who forge ahead towards this final task. 

Boulder in road

I admit to shirking away to a mission that only requires putting pen to paper.  And, while I’ve sat  staring at the blank white page it has managed to turn into an impassable boulder; around it, a thorny forest has grown; a din of banshees have set up camp taking bets as to if I’ll ever get this done; and I can smell the sulfuric breath of the Three Wyrm Sisters: Criticism, Doubt and Failure.   

My Fairy Godmother?  I’ve called her.  She has informed me WAMOU (Witches, Alchemists, Magicians and Occultist Union) is on strike.  “You're on your own,” she says and then quoted Naomi Wolf: “In women, powerless has been sexy for a long time. -  My stars how this sound like someone I know in aspects of her life, hmmmm?”  Ethically, she gave me a hotline number for a creativity coach in a snarky tone said maybe they’d be able to help rouse me off my butt by doing an unlicensed ritual. 

In the Last Lecture, author Randy Pausch writes: “The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people.”  I look at the boulder and still feel very overwhelmed. 

The Wyrms roar. “Why do you want to go to graduate school?” “Ha – she doesn’t really know.”  “Why the career change?  Why not continue in public health – it’s what you know.”  “Seems like a waste of money – do you really have something new to say?”  “Who will even read your stuff?”  “Oh the boulder is tooooo high, why bother you’ll never make it.  You might fall and smash your skull.”

I again stare at the boulder trying to scope any possible way to climb up around it.  I thought of my little girl self who sang her first poem amongst the tall trees covered with poison ivy.  How excited she to be able to share it that next day at school.  “May is spring/when birdies sing./Grass is green,/perhaps you’ve seen….” I thought of that poem full of red marks all due to spelling and punctuation errors and my ultimate solution of having a dictionary lay always across my lap.  Yes, I thought of the same girl who’d make stories in her head during classical music concerts, write grant applications for public health programs, newsletters or jot a poem as a creative outlet to the vicarious trauma experienced while working with survivors and the statistics of sexual and intimate partner violence.

The Wyrms laugh then choke upon their fire when I pulled out my yellow elephant shaped vile.  The label reads:

“Optimismum: Remedium enim adversum et impedimentum…. Remember the Law of Attraction: Our thoughts manifest our destinies.  Magical living starts with intent and optimism.  You have to be able to see your goals, dreams wishes and the great things happening around you.  Challenges are part of living.  An optimistic heart is grateful for all situations because it is learning something new. Take per os (orally) one Tablespoon daily.  Refill # (unlimited).  Dr. Ganesh.”

“If a don’t try, I’m toast anyways.”  I raise the vile up, take a gulp and raise up my magic fountain pen. 

~#~

Oh how it would be so easy to pull out a magic vile.  But, in my case the only way these papers will be completed is if I reflect back on my successes and set the timer for twenty minutes and slog away.  Reality - be optimistic and do your best shoot even Hemingway had to start with a blank page.    

~#~

Working on your third Chakra

Third Chakra

The third or solar plexus chakra represents our well-being, concentration and optimism.  It represents your personal power and helps you embrace challenges that are put before you.  It is located about 1-2 inches above the navel.  The ancients have symbolized this center with a ten petal lotus flower and its sound is RAM.

Those with an imbalance to this chakra may experience low self-worth and are always worried about how others view them or concerned about their future.  Fear plays a big factor in the imbalance: fear of failure, fear of shame…. All these worries may cause one to become either angry or depressed.

I know when I'm out of balanced when I don't take a step towards my goal or am snippy at friends and family.

Activity:

Watch Last Lecturer by Randy Pausch

Auntie Grace’s Shortbread with a Third Chakra Zing.

Ginger is one of the spices recommended to wake up your Solar Chakra.  Several Christmas/Yule seasons ago I was lazy and created variations on shortbread cookies.  Using my Auntie Grace’s recipe I got inventive: Lavender, white chocolate with dried cranberries, orange zest

Basic Shortbread

2 cups of sifted all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon each of baking powder and salt
1 cup of softened butter unsalted (2 sticks)
1/2 cup of confectioner sugar sifted.

Addition:

1 Tablespoon of ground ginger

1/3 cups of cut up crystallized ginger (I used my kitchen shears it is much easier)

And a shake of white pepper

Preheat oven to 350.

Sift together flour, baking powder, dried ginger, shake of pepper, and salt.  Cream butter and sugar til light and fluffy.  Add flour mixture and then add in crystalline ginger.  Pat dough into 9"x9" ungreased pan.  Bake 20-25 minutes.  

Lemon Honey Ginger Marmalade.

I got this recipe from the Sure-Jell site and then added ginger to it.  Wow is this good.  I use this Marmalade to make Jam Cake.  

3 cups lemons (scrub their skins)

1 ½ cups of water

½ tsp of baking soda

1 box of Sure-Jell

½ tsp of butter

2 cups of sugar

2 cups of honey

¾ cups of crystallized ginger, finely diced.  (Again, I like to use my kitchen shears).

Sterilize jelly jars, screw bands in boiling-water canner pot.  Flat lids in a pan of hot water.

Prepare fruit by zesting lemon with a vegetable peeler.  Avoid the white part.  Chop the zest and put it non-reactive large sauce pan (e.g., corning ware).  Add water and baking soda to the pan.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.

Continue preparing fruit by skinning off the white peal.  Chop up the lemons and reserve any juice.

Add chop lemons and reserved juice to lemon zest mixture.  Simmer for an additional 20 minutes.

Making Jelly:  Measure exactly 3 cups and place into 6-8 quart non-reactive saucepan.  Stir in Ginger, Sure-Jell and butter.  Bring to a full rolling boil (You can follow the cooked recipe on the sheet in the package).  Add sugar and honey.  Bring to a full boil and boil exactly 1 minute.  Stir constantly.  Remove from heat.

Ladle into the sterile jars, filling within 1/8^th inch from the tops.  Wipe jar rims and threads.  Screw on bands tightly.  Place jar into boiling bath.  Process for 5 minutes. 

They need to sit overnight to set-up and jell.

Other help - 

Crystals/stones to help the third chakra: Citrine, Amber,Tiger Eye, Gold Calcite,Yellow Tourmaline, Jasper, and Golden Topaz.

Rosemary Lemon foot soak

1 cup Epson salts

1 cup sea salts

½ baking powder

20 drops rosemary essential oil

20 drops lemon essential oil

Mix and place in a mason jar.  When you are feeling unmotivated or a lack of optimism - time to soak your tooties to get them moving.