Author Archives: Lady Jasmine

Chai

Since giving up coffee, I not only have lost 15 pounds (um big woohoo!), but I have also started a new romance with Chai. I drink at least a cup a day of it and have been trying different brands. Here is a review of these:

Good Earth Chai- I would love it way more if it didn’t have licorice (anise) in it.. it kinda cancels out all the wonder of the other spices and its all I can taste… I like the price though.

Stash Black Tea and Chai- love it.. but why do I have a hard time finding it in the store.. boo hiss!

Stash Green Chai- Oh Em Gee…. this is a heavenly blend! I love that when you steep it in 1/2 milk 1/2 water it comes out such a pretty light shade of spring green.. it tastes wonderful with sugar in the raw too.

Celestial Seasonings Bengal Spice Chai- it is potent with the spices.. but I would like some caffeine please.. I’m a mother not a barbie doll.

Oregon Trail- the prices is blech.. the tea in the jugs was decent but such a waste of money… ya I know I should try the bags of you if you want a fair shake.

Local Indian Restaurant House Chai- the best chai ever when they brewed it… deep warm spices that were actually a touch on the real side of spicy.. I bought a box of it.. but it is a fine powder that when ever I add it to water it goes right through my tea strainer and leaves a nasty funky sludge on the bottom of my cup.. big Eeewww…. I guess I will have to go eat Indian food more because because the chai there was so good it was like the hottest actor or actress you can think of begging to give you oral…ya I know that is graphic.. but it was literally that good.

Hot Love

I was once told in a class for my daycare license that the difference between a love for a child from a mother and a day care provider was that a mothers love was hot and a providers love was warm. A mothers love is fierce, protective, deep, passionate and eternal. A providers love is giving, safe, and when needed. Having a Day Care in my home with my son as one of the kids has been a journey for me to balance my hot love for him out while trying to care for him and the other kids. On one hand I see my son in the way of a mother, trying to protect my young at any cost. On the other it is about being objective and helping all the children in a way that aids their development. This week that was balance was testing in a profound way for me.

On Monday one of my clients came to me and said that her 5 year old claimed that she was being bullied by my 2 year old son. She also said her 2.5 year old was saying “he hit me” over and over. This is the same child who every time was at my house would go to the window and whimper “I’m sorry mommy” over and over and rarely play in my care. The child who got owned by a 10 month old. The child who would only play with his sister, and when she was here the two children formed a clique and never would play with other children. The same child, who hit my son on the head repeatedly with a drum stick. When I took the drum stick away and told him that it was for the drum and using it on my son this was was not safe, he had a mental break down and screamed for 20 minutes. I have been working with kids almost 20 years now, and kids hit each other and take toys from each other all the time, especially 2 year old boys. This is normal behavior… and to hear that woman call my son a bully when he is acting within the normal diaspora for a toddler.. well my blood boiled. I was so mad I simply smiled and told her if she felt that way it was best not to come back, while in my head I was jumping at her like a protective lion clawing her face off. How dare she talk about my son like that, I was raging in my head. I wanted to scream at her and tell her that I thought there was something wrong with her son, that he was wimpy and low functioning emotionally. I have been tooling the scene through my head all week. Trying to put it out of my head.. which has been challenging. I keep reminding myself that this wasn’t my fault and my son was being completely normal for his age.. and feeling sorry for that woman that she would assume that I would let her kids get hurt in my care, and that I wouldn’t protect them. Feeling sorry for those kids because obviously they don’t have a parent that would teach them to handle adversity and face the world head on, showing them how to handle dealing socially with different personalities. Teaching them to cower in fear for something so petty, it just boggles my mind. But despite that my “motherly” hot love has been taking over and.. Im just so angry! I have been meditating and trying to not think about it all week.. but ya.. I’m mad.. no matter what I tell myself. This was the first time for me to have my motherly instinct enraged…and I know it will be challenged again… Hopefully I find ways of coping and taming the beast within before the next time. How do you cope with your motherly hot love?

Spring Cleaning: The Spirit.

Taking care of our spirit is something that we as moms tend to put off..I know I do. During spring I like to take some extra me time and focus on my spiritual connection to the all. Reconnecting is always a deep experience.

-Take time to ponder how you are a goddess… that you are a mother and a creator of life…a vessel of love and a care taker. Feel the goddess pumping through your veins and treat yourself as such.

-Take a ritual bath. Cleanse your spirit by bathing in sea salt and focusing on all the bad stuff going down the drain. Anoint yourself with essential oils after, using your favorite flower oil.

-Sprinkle and smudge yourself and home. Concentrate on getting out all the negative energy in your home and the sea salt and water washing it away and the smoke working to clean it.

-Spiritually Sweep/besom your home. Focus on getting all the bad stuff just cleaned out of your house. Start at a door and work around your home room to room in one direction until you finally sweep out all the old energy out the door you started.

-Make time each day to Meditate. Take time to contemplate the wonders of spring.

-Set up a spring altar. Include eggs and flowers and and even pictures of your children and or small animals.

– Dye and Paint eggs with your kids with sygils or important spiritual symbols of your family.

-Plan a spring feast…Plan to celebrate Ostara, Easter, Spring Equinox…Maybe even Beltaine…But plan to do a feast to honor spring with your whole family. For me growing up I always associated spring with my grandma making the pizzagaina, so that might be what our meal is built around in our family.

-Have a Spring fling… Take extra time to flirt with that certain someone special and be reminded of the fertility of spring.

Dear Coffee….

Dear Coffee,

We have been in a toxic relationship for a while. We have been together for almost 20 years now. I remember sneaking you in my house when I was 10, going to school with you in high school, and surviving college with just you, and waking up thinking of you ever since. We have had many good times, but it has become very clear what you have done to me, slowly destroying me. You have not been supportive of me having a healthy lifestyle, tempting me with sweetened creams and fancy sugars, slowly adding to my waist line. I was obsessed, I needed you 5 times a day, drinking in your essences with a starving hunger. We recently took a break from each other and I discovered a few things. Without you, I feel healthier, I have tried new things like Chai and Earl Grey (they are soooo hot btw), I have been feeling uplifted, and I have had a better connection to my spirituality. You even have left a bad taste in my mouth. It is for these reasons that I am changing our relationship. We will now have to be just casual acquaintances, only having you on special occasions. I know that what we had was very long term, but I just can’t see having you around in my daily life anymore. You will always have a special place in my heart.

Sincerely,
Jasmine

Spring Cleaning: The Body.

Very seldom do we think of spring cleaning to take time to pamper ourselves.. but with all the changes going on with the earth, what a better time to take some time for yourself. Being a mom usually means that our needs tend to come last. But doing something great for yourself is a must to keep yourself going for the benefit of your children… and we all know that. Keeping our bodies clean and healthy is a great way to lift your spirits and guide your spirituality to new places.

-Take a super long bath once a week during the spring. Get new soaps and razors and sponges and enjoy your bath time.

-Give up a bad habit. Do you smoke? Drink coffee? Eat fast food? have a secret stash of twinkies? Guzzle pop by the 2 liter? Take spring cleaning as a time to give up one of these habits, in the best way for you..even if this means slowly weaning yourself or going cold turkey.

-Do a body cleanse. I know I love the feeling I get when I have eaten a very healthy meal or eaten light for a few days.. it feels amazing! There are many ways to get this feeling.. from detox tea, fasting, drinking extra water or green tea. Cleaning out your body is a great way to kick off spring.

-Take up a new form of exercise. Trying something new can be such a mood booster.. and lets face it we all could exercise more. Have a yoga class you have always wanted to take? Or the belly dance DVD you have sitting in the cabinet? Try something new and different.

-Get a pedicure… because you know you want nice soft pretty feet for flip flop season.

-Start a new Diet. Shed those pounds you have been wanting to loose, eat healthier and start making healthier meals for you and your family.

-Be a goddess.. because you are one!

Spring Cleaning: The Physical.

I have made huge spring cleaning lists in the past where it covers 4 pages of stuff I would like to get done, complete with highlighted items and check marks the works. Spring cleaning is always an exciting time for Virgos. However, I have found with time that other methods work better for me. I like to consider spring cleaning a joyous time and a part of a journey. I consider this time of year a way to get out the old and let in the new. So I like to crack windows and let in fresh air, smudge, light candles and of course play music. So here are my tips for getting your house ready for spring:

-set the mood that best helps you clean, and find ways to minimize distractions.

-go room to room and deep clean one at a time, covering everything from top to bottom.

-work from the inside out starting in late winter moving to early spring for indoors and later spring for the outdoors.

-take advantage of wonderful weather…even cracking a window on a 40 degree day can help boost your mood and help get germs out of the air in your home.

-Get rid of any old items that you know you don’t need. Getting rid of clutter will help the energy flow in your home, boost your mood and help you keep your home clean in the future.

-Rotate toys, it will help keep old ones interesting and in better condition.

Spring Cleaning

It is February and my least favorite month. The dreariness of the outdoors always bothers me, a combination of gray skies, dirty snow on the roads, cold. But as soon as Imbolc comes I find myself wanting to start my spring cleaning. For us this year it was actually on Imbolc that we started our list. We even took a night where we sent the kiddo over to Grandmas house and spent the entire night deep cleaning our house.

Spring Cleaning is a natural part of life, and it has been practiced in many cultures for centuries. In modern American culture, most people focus on just cleaning the home. But It doesn’t have to be just cleaning your home. In the next few weeks we will discuss in detail several areas of “cleaning” including physical, emotional, body and spirit.

And just a heads up to all of my readers.. My laptop broke recently so my time online is now limited.. hope to be back in full swing soon.

The Spiritually Sound To Do List

I have a massive to do list right now..Between taxes, my laptop dying, laundry and being sick earlier this week, and making and putting up valentines decorations, I have a ton of things I need to get done. How do I not let it bother me and get myself stressed out? How do I keep my very Virgo self from raging on the inside when I have so much to do? Well here are a few steps I take when I have a giant to do list:

-Set up to have a relaxing mood. Sometimes I will start by smudging the areas I need to get done… working my intent to get it done in a timely fashion into the mix. I will then light a few candles and turn on some calming music (I have a Jasmine’s Peace Mix on Pandora just for this usage). Also being in comfortable clothing helps to keep your mind on the tasks at hand.

-Do the item with the most visual impact first..If your laundry is taking up half the space in your hallway being sorted into piles or your dishes are filling the sink and part of the counter..tackle this first.. seeing a difference will help you feel more accomplished with all the tasks at hand.

-Praise yourself with every item you cross off your list…take a 5 minute breather or enjoy a cup of tea or coffee as a reward..you got it done YAY!

-Do not feel ashamed if you have to ask for help..passing off an item or 2 to a spouse or helper will just take the weight of it off your shoulders and help you to get more done.

-Plan a very special time for yourself when you are done. like reading a book, a long shower or a glass of wine..plan to put your feet up and enjoy the fact that you are DONE!

Take the Challenge!

In my last post I challenged everyone to learn about a different path for one moon cycle. Here are the complete details of that challenge, which I hope we find several people to try this.

Please comment here or email me directly (jasminemoon@gmail.com with the topic TSM Challenge) stating the following:

– Your name
– Your Current Path
– The path you will be trying
– When you will be starting your month.
– Any concerns or roadblocks you fear you may face.

When you are done with your month I will post a Post here and describe what I found and my experiences with this different path. I plan to include:

A book list of things I read, a list of websites I surfed, a brief description of things I tried and my over all feelings towards the path.

In turn I will share with you my details:

-Jasmine
-Gardnerian and Kitchen Witch
-Solitary Eclectic Pagan
-Today
-I got sold all of my solitary eclectic books years ago and I will really have to look at the books I currently have to find some really eclectic stuff.

Opening Yourself and Your family to All Paths

One of the topics I read about and have seen often in my internet travels is Pagans who disagree with the paths of other pagans and spiritual paths. I find this an odd thing because many pagans will claim to be open minded and want others to be open minded to their beliefs. The reality of open mindedness when it comes to faith is actually a very difficult journey for some. I know for me personally I have no interest being involved in Dogmatic Christianity. I have struggled with this for a while because I do not like when Christians tell me I am a bad person for following my heart. But I still see beauty in that path and try to keep an open mind, but I do not agree with it and do not participate in it.. I struggle with the idea of letting my son go to a church. We are raising him without a particular faith and allowing him to choose when he is ready. But the idea of taking him to a church is very “bah”. But what about other pagan paths? Yes there are some I would rather him not participate in, but in general I hope that he learns about as many as possible. When the time comes I will help him if he asks and until then we will look at as many faiths as we can together as a family.

I have a challenge for you…

I would like to see pagans look into and study in as much depth as possible a different pagan path or tradition other than their own for one moon cycle. This includes reading books on that tradition, researching it on the net, maybe even looking at some message boards and immersing into the path as well as possible.. and finally for extra credit, attending a ritual of this pagan path if able. I would then like to see a written account of what you liked what you didn’t like and what you learned. I am even willing to share your experiences here at The Spiritual Mother. And I would love to know that you plan to do this.. what say ye?