Subtle Harmony's Blog

and the move is official...

2012-01-17T05:49:00.000-06:00

Please note: If you subscribed to the RSS feed at SubtleHarmony.com and you're seeing this post, please return to the http://www.SubtleHarmony site and re-subscribe to the RSS feed there. We had a technical glitch for a few days that led to RSS subscriptions to this blog by mistake, instead of the new blog. Thanks - and sorry for any inconvenience!

Subtle Harmony's new website is totally officially live and up and running! I hope you'll check out the site here (http://www.SubtleHarmony.com).

The blog has officially moved there too - clicking here will get you directly to the blog's page on the new site. And if you visit the new blog, I hope you'll stick around to explore the rest of the site too!

Eventually this blog will go away (all posts prior to mid-December have been moved to the new site). Thanks to everyone who has visited or read along here at this blog.... I hope to see you at the new site! ♥

new home for the blog...

2012-01-13T00:18:00.000-06:00

The Subtle Harmony website is now live! I hope you'll check it out here. The new site has my offerings for intuitive consultations, oracle readings, and distant energy sessions. The Etsy shop will still have my handmade items, and there are links to the shop from the new site.

The new site also is the new home for the blog and it can be found here. The posts from this blog (except for this one and the last one from December) have all been exported to the blog's new home.

However, right now the RSS feed on the new site appears to be pulling posts from here - and not pulling the feed from the new site. I've made a few entries there already but they're not showing up on the RSS feed from there.

So if by chance you have already visited the new site and subscribed to the RSS feed for the new blog... unfortunately, it's not working correctly right now. I'll post about it here and on the new blog site when it's all straightened out.

In the meantime, though, there are new posts on the new blog! I hope you'll visit the blog there and take a look around the site.

I hope your 2012 is off to a wonderful start! ♥

Thursday's thought...

2011-12-29T22:40:00.001-06:00

It's a little late in the day to do a Thursday's thought (it's getting close to being Friday where I am) but I'm doing Book of Days with Effy Wild and she posted this quote today that really hit me, so I decided to share the quote here as today's Thursday's thought.

One reason I almost didn't post this - and one reason I haven't posted an entry in a while - is that my blog has basically moved to its new home on the forthcoming Subtle Harmony site. But the site hasn't gone live yet, so the blog is just there, waiting to continue in its new location. Unless something changes, the site will be live late next week... once the new year is underway. I'll post a link here when everything is up and running.

And now for Thursday's thought...

"At the deepest level, the creative process and the healing process arise from a single source. When you are an artist, you are a healer; A wordless trust of the same mystery is the foundation of your work and its integrity."

-- Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen

Hope to see you soon at the blog's new home on the new site! ♥

on healing and spirals...

2011-12-08T09:27:00.004-06:00

Usually if I do a blog post on Thursday, it's a Thurday's thought - a quote (I LOVE quotes!). But this morning I woke up with these particular thoughts in my mind and I decided to blog about them today...

In my last post, I wrote about how I'd been under the weather. Well, this has turned out to be one of those sinus/upper-respiratory things where I'll start feeling better and then have somewhat of a setback... and then feel better and then have somewhat of a setback.

It's been aggravating because I really-really-really don't like not feeling well (for obvious reasons, and also for some deeply-rooted personal reasons).

And besides, I have things to do, dammit! I need to work on the Etsy shop, I need to be creating new things, I need to get content written for the new website, I need to work on the ebook, I need to do classwork and homework, I need to continue with decluttering and rearranging around the house, I need to freakin' clean the house...

But late last night, as I tried to stay warm in bed, I had a long talk with part of my inner self. I was reminded of some lessons to take from this experience (I need to truly rest more, for one thing, and honest-to-goodness do those self-nurturing things I know I should be doing... and there were some other lessons too because it really was a long talk.)

And I was reminded (reminded again, because this is something that has come up over and over for me) that healing is not a linear process. In my experience, with myself and many others, it's just not that simple or straightforward.

Healing - physical healing, emotional healing, mental healing, spiritual healing - is not usually an instantaneous and linear and one-time-for-good-forever event.

I like to think of myself as moving forward in a spiraling motion.

That's the way healing seems to me. And life.

It can circle and cycle back around, repeating some lessons, revisiting some issues, uncovering new layers... all in its forward progression.

This is one reason why the spiral is such a symbolic symbol for me. It's important to me for many reasons... but especially because, to me, it represents the path, the cycle, of life.

And the path, the cycle, of healing.

I've been doing self-work, self-healing-work, self-transformational-work, for a long time. Since my late teens (and I'll be turning 50 next week, so I'm talking a big chunk of time).

But my self-work turned up to high gear in the mid-90s when fear and anxiety took such a strong hold on my life that I became agoraphobic. I had to start working more intensely on healing if I wanted to have a life that involved leaving my house.

By the late 90s, I was no longer agoraphobic. But that time of agoraphobia revealed things to me that I still needed to work on - and that time of agoraphobia also left me with scars of its own.

Creativity helped get me through that time, and the years after. And so did learning all sorts of relaxation techniques, breathing techniques, yoga, meditation, mindfulness (back when not many people in my life were talking about mindfulness), CBT (cognitive behavior therapy) and changing thoughts and self-talk... and eventually there was energy work, chakra work, Reiki, aromatherapy, crystal therapy, sound therapy...

So many tools to help. So much in my medicine bag for life.

My healing path has not been a straightforward, linear process. It cycles back at times, returning to issues I thought I had dealt with... but revealing new layers, new perspectives, deeper wounds to face and heal.

And then there's the new stuff that comes up, life stuff, hurts and deaths and new issues that need to be addressed as the years pass.

Sometimes it feels like I take two steps forward and one step back - or two steps forward and three steps back - as I'm circling around, re-learning lessons, learning new lessons, being re-reminded of things I know deep inside my self.

Moving back around sometimes, moving in a direction that is not always forward...

Except - ultimately - it is forward.

I have always been drawn to the symbol of the spiral. But the phrase "moving forward in a spiraling motion" has been in my mind since I read a certain book about anxiety in 1998, and the phrase is what I keep coming back to when I start feeling discouraged or start thinking negative thoughts about myself when it seems like I'm having a setback or going backwards. When those thoughts of: I should be COMPLETELY OVER THIS BY NOW! start yelling at me. (whether this is physical or emotional or whatever)

Over the years there have been many, many, many books I've read about anxiety and fear and emotional wellness. The book that I thought mentioned healing as moving ahead in a spiraling motion is Journey From Anxiety to Freedom: Moving Beyond Panic and Phobias and Learning to Trust Yourself by Mani Feniger.

I pulled it from a bookshelf this morning and looked for the specific quote... and discovered I've been wrong all these years about the word spiral being involved. It's the same idea but not the same word (unless it appears elsewhere in the book).

My mind substituted spiral / spiraling... and it is symbolic for me... so in my mind, spiral /spiraling will still be what I use.

Here's what the book says. The author is quoting someone she worked with and interviewed:

"I don't even use the word setback," Claire told me, "because it has a connotation that something must be wrong. We all have different learning rates and a lot of things come into play. For me it is never really a step back, because I am never where I used to be. I have all this experience to draw upon. I feel like I am always moving forward in a circular kind of way."

Moving forward in a circular kind of way. Moving forward in a spiraling motion. My life tends to move like that. So does my healing path - healing in every aspect.

So as I deal with continuing to recover from my physical bug, I am reminded of this. And in being reminded of this, I am reminded to be kind to myself, and not beat myself up for not being totally well, and to give myself the time and the space for healing to take place.

To release and let go and let the spiral of life, the spiral of healing, do its thing.

oils, crystals, and chicken noodle soup...

2011-12-06T12:31:00.001-06:00

Early last week I came down with a bug. Congestion, gunkiness, sore throat, coughing, and generally a lot of just plain feeling awful. When I saw the doctor Thursday (at an appointment previously scheduled for something else) she said it was viral, nothing that required antibiotics, and to continue doing what I'd been doing to take of it.

What had I been doing? Well, I attack this kind of thing in a variety of ways.

Lots and lots of rest. That's a biggie.

Giving myself permission to stay off the computer as much as I needed, to nap when I felt like it, to just relax and watch DVDs and read (if I felt up to even doing that), and to do whatever self-nurturing things I thought might help.

I had hot tea with honey. Chicken noodle soup. Mucinex. Extra vitamin C. Echinacea. When somebody told me about grapefruit seed extract, I switched to that instead of echinacea to see if it made a difference. (It seemed to help... although by then I was already starting to feel better, so I'll have to wait for another time to really give it a proper try.)

I also used energetic home remedy techniques. Like giving myself Reiki.

And I used aromatherapy.

I used several different essential oils... eucalyptus, lemon tea tree, ravensara, ravintsara, clove bud, mandarin, frankincense, bergamot, lemon, hyssop, cedarwood... and probably others that aren't coming to mind right now. I didn't use all of these all at once, but I'd add a few drops of three or four different oils to the water in the diffuser and I'd change up the blend every so often.

And then there was crystal therapy...

Because my throat was such a problem, I decided to work with blue stones to resonate with the throat chakra. I wore sodalite bracelets. I made a quick necklace for myself using a piece of tumbled blue lace agate. I worked with loose stones of kyanite, blue lace agate, and blue aventurine.

After a little setback Friday evening and part of the weekend, I seem to be mostly over the bug now. My energy still isn't quite back to normal but it's much better. And it feels good to feel better!

Here's to good health! Thanks for stopping by... ♥

negative icky self-sabotaging thoughts...

2011-11-21T11:39:00.001-06:00

I have a website in the works. It's been my goal for a couple of years now - a place that will have my blog (which means this blog will have a new home!), a link to the Etsy shop, plus other goodies.

Finally, I've taken steps to do this instead of only think and dream of it.

I've hired a wonderful person to put together the site (since I'm pretty clueless when it comes to such things).

I've been taking some great courses that have helped me get more clear and focused on the essence of the business, and what I want my work to be.

I've started working with a fabulous coach to help me deal with this transitional time (staying on my path to do what I need to do to get the website going, the transition to actually having the site up and running, the transition of having one of those "big" birthdays next month... and basically the transitional phase my life is in right now).

Having a website is a big deal for me. It means putting myself out there more than ever before - and in ways I have never done before.

And as much as I believe what I wrote in my previous blog entry it is okay... I still have self-doubts and worries and fears and negative self-talk sometimes.

Friday was one of those times. Big huge high-volume negative self-talk went on Friday afternoon.

The reason?

Because, more than before, some things happened on Friday that meant having the website, having things move in this forward direction... well, it all felt really real. It felt like it was really on the road to happening. It felt like this dream was going to truly become a reality.

And the negative-self-talking, self-sabotaging, icky-feeling part of myself went into overdrive at the realization that I am really and truly taking the steps to make the website real and out there... which means putting myself more out there.

My day, which had started off feeling sunny and warm and optimistic, suddenly got some really dark clouds muddying up the works.

And, wow, did those icky thoughts run rampant for a while...

Who do you think you are? You can't do this. You were stupid for thinking this would work out. You were stupid to believe you could do this. What do you know about having a website? What makes you think you can do anything that might help other people? How dumb are you, daring to be hopeful and optimistic about this? You can't take a risk like this. You can't step out of the box this way. What were you thinking??? THIS IS NOT SAFE!!!!

I know the part of me that screamed those thoughts in my head is a part of me that's scared. Scared of doing something new. Scared of being out there, being seen and heard and known, having products and services that people might not want or might not like.

That part of me is afraid - and it wants to feel safe. That part of me came face-to-face Friday with the fact that I was taking definite steps to move forward, which is not a feeling-safe thing to do... and that part of me had a temporary freak-out.

The negative icky self-sabotaging thoughts about moving ahead with my goals are quiet now. I listened to the fear, I felt the fear, I gave it a warm shower and comfy clothes and a long nap and some chocolate... and after a while I got back to work on moving ahead with my plans for the future.

The main thing I want to say right now is this:

Those negative icky self-sabotaging thoughts? They are not truth. They are not my truth and they are not your truth. Give yourself permission to feel the ick for a while if that's what it needs, to let that part of you know it's being heard... and then find a way to help it and let the negative talk go.

I plan to write more about this in the future, and write about specifics that help me when these thoughts come up so strongly.

In the meantime, I'd love to hear any of your own techniques if you'd like to share some thoughts about this. ♥

Thursday's thought...

2011-11-17T10:51:00.000-06:00

"Life is your art.

An open, aware heart

is your camera.

A oneness with your world

is your film.

Your bright eyes,

your easy smile

is your museum."

~ Ansel Adams

kitchen aromatherapy...

2011-11-15T12:11:00.000-06:00

I've got a bunch of different oil warmers and aroma lamps around the house, and a year or so ago I came across one that I just couldn't resist getting for the kitchen.

The tealight candle goes in its own little skillet pan...

And the water and essential oils go into the cute little teapot that sits on top of the "stove"...

But even after getting this specifically to use in the kitchen, I didn't use it. It sat on the bakers rack looking all blue and cute, while I continued using a different oil warmer in the kitchen - when I used one in there at all.

Most often, I use warmers in other rooms of the house. The kitchen? Sometimes. But usually when I've diffused essential oils in the kitchen it's been for big-time sessions... I have an old pot I use for this, filling it up with water and adding things like chopped-up apples, cloves, cinnamon, and a small bit of whatever essential oils I want to add.

Last winter, when I was so sick with an upper respiratory/sinus thing, I would put on a pot of good-smelling apple-cinnamon-clove water to simmer, and I would add things like ravensara, eucalyptus, tea tree, and other helpful, germ-fighting oils. The particular blend of oils would vary depending on the day, but this simmering brew helped clear the air and also added moisture to the winter-dry indoor atmosphere.

But except for using essential oils in other ways in the kitchen (like using peppermint when we had ants), I don't often simply put some oils in a warmer in there. I have no idea why use aromatherapy so often in other rooms and usually not the kitchen, but... that's the way it's been.

Recently, a goddess sister and I were discussing kitchens and I was telling her that I don't really like spending much time in my kitchen. She mentioned cleaning and clearing and intention, and eucalyptus oil was mentioned too... and my mind started working. There are more things I could be doing to make my kitchen a place I'd like to be. And one thing is to cleanse and clear and shift the energy with essential oils.

So yesterday I took the blue oil warmer and actually used it. In the kitchen. The talk with my goddess sister had put eucalyptus in my mind, so I decided to use that. I have three different types of eucalyptus oil, and I ended up going with the lemon eucalyptus (Eucalyptus citriodora).

I also decided to add some Atlas Cedarwood (Cedrus atlanticus) because of its cleansing and grounding properties. The unfortunate thing about cedarwood is that, in the first moments of smelling it, I am immediately and strongly taken to memories of my first elementary school - and I don't particularly like being reminded of elementary school. But that's a temporary thing and it doesn't keep me from using cedarwood, so into the blend went the cedarwood.

Then I added just a tiny amount of frankincense (Boswellia carterii) because although I have always really liked working with frankincense, I've been totally drawn to it a lot lately and I wanted to use some in the kitchen blend.

But... I sensed I needed one more oil, I just wasn't sure which one. So I pulled a card from my aromatherapy deck and - it was the card for basil. Part of the card's description reads: Basil is a memory and mental stimulant. It is kind to the brain and relieves nervous exhaustion and life overload.

Well. Yes! Basil certainly seems to fit what I've been needing lately. So I added a small amount of basil oil (Ocimum basilicum) to the little blue pot.

I lit the tealight in the skillet and it was set to go. And it was nice.

Aromatherapy... it's good for the soul. Even in the kitchen when the kitchen isn't where we really want to be.

Thursday's thought...

2011-11-10T10:35:00.003-06:00

The meaning of our lives
is found in the stories we tell about ourselves.
Carl Jung once said that the most important question
anyone can ask is:
What myth am I living?
In the degree that we remember and retell our stories
and create new ones
we become the authors, the author/ities,
of our own lives.
When we forget or pay no attention
to our personal histories
we begin to live by somebody else's
myths, meanings and values
that do not fit the shape of our own spirits,
surrender the governance of our lives
to some second-hand authority,
some official myth maker.

~ Sam Keen

it is okay...

2011-11-06T12:07:00.003-06:00

I never tried to draw a face until recently. But thanks to some things I'm doing at willowing (thanks, Tam!) I recently did an art journal page that had a face for the first time. Imperfections and all, I'm going to post it here because I want to talk about some things it brings up for me... and I'm going to talk about these things because Angel over at My Mosaic Life has inspired me with her no longer content posts,

That person I drew doesn't look like me (although sometimes I wish for purple hair!). But she represents me. On the other side of the page, beneath the words you see, beneath the layers of markers and paint and watercolor pencils and gesso, there's a whole page of sentences of stuff that goes through my head sometimes - the bad stuff, like... I'm not good enough. I can't do this.

Those kinds of icky thoughts that make us not feel good about ourselves.

But then, at the end of the project, I'm left with the words that are visible now...

it is OKAY to be ME

I've been thinking about this two-page spread and how it relates to all of my seven major chakras...

As a first chakra issue, the root chakra - It is safe for me to BE.

From a second chakra viewpoint, the sacral chakra - It is okay for me to be myself in relationship with others.

As a third chakra issue, the solar plexus chakra - I can step into my personal power, I can be self-actualized.

Looking at it from the fourth chakra, the heart chakra - I can love myself enough to accept myself.

As a fifth chakra issue, the throat chakra - I can speak and express my truth.

From the viewpoint of the sixth chakra, the third eye chakra - I can be open to my intuition and see the guidance to live my life and follow my own path.

And looking at it from the seventh chakra, the crown chakra - I am connected to Divine Spirit, one with all, and that connection makes me whole and okay.

All of this is big for me. For so much of my life I was afraid of being myself - because I might be rejected, I might fail, I might not measure up, I might not be accepted. But the thing is... I am so beyond tired of living that way.

The past several years have been a time of learning to stop living that way - and gradually, very gradually, I have come to the place where (most days) I really know that the words in my art journaling project are true.

It is okay to be me.

It's more than okay, actually. It's necessary. It's needed. It is essential to my life to be who I am.

And if that means risking displeasure, if that means rejection, if that means not meeting certain expectations, if that means being unfriended on facebook or not being invited to a gathering... then so be it. I'm finally willing to take those risks, because I have realized - finally, fully, deep-down-realized - that some things are worth the risk.

And being okay with being me is worth the risk.

It is okay to be me.

It really is okay. It is okay for us all to be who we are. It is okay for you to be you. It is OKAY. Be yourself. Trust yourself. It might mean letting go of some things, letting go of some ideas or thoughts, letting go of some people.

And although letting go can be hard, it's not good to lose yourself in the process of trying to hold on.

Sometimes letting go is the path to peace, the path to balance.

And it is okay. It is all okay.

Thursday's thought...

2011-11-03T13:11:00.002-05:00

"If you can see your path

laid out in front of you

step by step,

you know it's not your path.

Your own path you make

with every step you take.

That's why it's your path."

~ Joseph Campbell

oracle cards...

2011-11-02T13:29:00.002-05:00

I have new goodies to play with!! UPS just delivered Colette Baron-Reid's new The Enchanted Map Oracle Cards and the deck is gorgeous - I can't wait to try these cards!

Colette's Wisdom of the Hidden Realms deck is my go-to oracle deck, the one I use most often. That deck spoke to me and resonated with me right from the start, and has been an incredible deck to work with. It's the deck I use for the one-card email readings and the three-card email readings I offer in the Etsy shop. And it's the deck I usually begin with when I do intuitive readings by phone.

The 30-Minute Intuitive Reading by Phone is something new I'm offering.

I recently took an amazing series of classes from M. Flora Peterson (also known as CharmingPixieFlora) at The Yay Factor and became a certified intuitive reader through her Intuition Mentoring Program. I can't say enough wonderful things about Flora - she's amazing! Her classes gave me tools and techniques that have now become a daily part of my life. Like...

Meditating more often.

Drinking more water.

Regularly calling my own energy back to me and getting rid of energy that isn't mine.

And so much more. Going through Flora's intuition mentoring program helped me gain clarity about my own work... which led to the decision to offer intuitive readings over the phone. I love the phone readings because there's so much energy as we talk together, and the call has such a fluid and evolving flow to it.

It has been exciting to discover this new love - because I had been totally shying away from offering services over the phone. The idea brought out the social anxiety I sometimes struggle with, along with that whole thing about not liking how my voice sounds.

But you know what? Doing a reading for someone else isn't about me. Worrying about my anxiety, worrying about what someone might think of my voice - those are ego things, and my ego has no place in a reading. That's another thing Flora's classes helped me with.

Okay, I couldn't resist any longer - I just did a first draw from the new oracle deck. My card is Ride the Wave... and that's a spot-on-target message for me right now. I think I'm going to enjoy this deck. ♥

been a long, long time...

2011-09-18T23:44:00.000-05:00

I had good intentions at the beginning of this year to blog here regularly. But did that happen?? Obviously not. I want to start blogging regularly, but I'm having some trouble making decisions about exactly how I want to do it and how to go forward.

First of all... Since the beginning of summer, I haven't done very many new things with Subtle Harmony. (Except a new banner and matching business cards!) I added only a few new items. I took a step back, a break from the shops as I thought about some long-term goals. In early August I deactivated the few items in the Zibbet shop, and I put the Etsy and ArtFire shops into vacation mode. Etsy came out of vacation mode and is currently open - but a percentage of my usual items remain deactivated. The ArtFire shop, for the time being, is still in vacation mode. I have so many things going on right now that I thought it would be best to focus only on one shop at the moment.

I've been busy studying and learning the past months... learning things that will, I hope, give me new knowledge and ideas for Subtle Harmony products and services. One thing I've done is that I've enrolled in Hibiscus Moon's Crystal Healer Certification Program and I've been taking some absolutely fabulous and wonderful classes on crystals and crystal healing! I still have some classes left to take before completing the program, but each class has been simply incredible and I'm looking forward to the others.

That's just one thing going on... I plan to talk more about other happenings in future posts.

Something I've realized in the past weeks is that I want to get back to my original goal for Subtle Harmony - which includes a website where I can offer more services. (Right now SubtleHarmony.com simply redirects to the Etsy shop.) So another question I've been pondering is: Do I keep this blog separate from that future website, or incorporate them together? Should I change to a different blogging platform? What to do? I don't really know enough right now to make a decision. A change to the blog, if it comes at all, probably won't happen until at least a couple of months down the road.

Other changes... I've started art journaling. I'm spending more time outside barefooted, getting more grounded, more centered, and closer to nature. And my hair is now 6 or 7 inches shorter than it was a couple of months ago.

I hope you're all doing well. Thanks for visiting. ♥

Thursday's thought...

2011-03-03T10:22:00.000-06:00

"As soon as you

trust

yourself,

you will know

how

live."

- Goethe

a little something about snowflake obsidian...

2011-03-02T11:30:00.000-06:00

Lately I've been writing down information about various stones and crystals. Some of this has been for the printouts we send with the crystal therapy kits we sell in the shops, some of it is for a possible future project, and some of it is simply for my own personal use so that I'll have the information that interests me most about a stone right there in a convenient place. I'm going to be blogging about various stones now and then, and today snowflake obsidian gets the spotlight.

I enjoy working with obsidian - black obsidian, snowflake obsidian, mahogany obsidian, rainbow obsidian. I find snowflake obsidian fascinating to look at, with its inclusions and patterns.

Snowflake obsidian is black obsidian with grayish-white inclusions which resemble snowflakes. Obsidian is formed when lava cools very quickly.

Snowflake Obsidian and Black Obsidian Necklace

Some metaphysical properties about snowflake obsidian... It is considered to be a protective, centering, and grounding stone that resonates with the first chakra (the root or base chakra) and second chakra (the sacral chakra). It is said to help bring objectivity and dis-attachment. It is believed to absorb and dissolve anger, criticism, and fear - and also promote self-confidence and self-esteem.

Some say snowflake obsidian helps bring emotions to the surface and then helps release them. According to Philip Permutt in The Complete Guide to Crystal Chakra Healing, it “helps to release anger, resentment, and unhelpful behavior patterns and reduce loneliness, bringing peace of mind.” This stone also is also considered to be helpful with examining harmful thought patterns. In Love Is In The Earth, Melody calls snowflake obsidian a “stone of purity” that brings “both purity and balance to the body, mind, and spirit.”

Grounding Set - Snowflake Obsidian and Black Obsidian Bracelets

So that's a little something about snowflake obsidian - thanks for stopping by!

Thursday's thought...

2011-02-03T09:42:00.000-06:00

"What would you
attempt to do
if you knew you
could not fail?"

~ Robert Schuller

February already...

2011-02-01T09:52:00.000-06:00

It's a new month! January brought some crazy weather, with more snow than we've seen here in many years. January was also the best month Subtle Harmony has had since we opened a few months ago - thank you, wonderful customers! ♥

My most recent goal was to have 100 listings in the Etsy shop by the end of January - and it's done! As of right now, the Etsy shop has 103 listings and the ArtFire shop has 102. Sales keep decreasing the number of listings (which is always a welcome thing to happen!) but I've been adding things regularly... and I have two new chakra bracelets to list as soon as I take pictures and get the descriptions written. I've been doing more work with ribbon, I've started to work with chain bracelets, and I've also started working with copper - so there are some new things happening in the shops.

And there's also a new shop. We opened an account on Zibbet.com a few months ago but didn't do anything with it... until now. Over the weekend, I got the storefront ready with banner, avatar, profile, policies, all that stuff. Then I started listing - although only two items so far! More will be added soon, and I hope to get the shop filled up quickly. It's quite bare at the moment but if you'd like to check out the Zibbet shop, just go to http://www.zibbet.com/SubtleHarmony.http://www.zibbet.com/SubtleHarmony

So - that's the latest news! And here's the latest new item that's been added to the shop...

A short necklace of green aventurine with a pewter knotwork Celtic Cross pendant. I have always loved Celtic knotwork, and I can't resist adding more of it to my work.

I hope your February is off to a great start! Thanks for stopping by. ♥

Thursday's thought...

2011-01-06T09:59:00.003-06:00

"Nothing will ever be attempted

if all possible objections

must first be overcome."

~ Samuel Johnson

almost a new year...

2010-12-30T09:20:00.003-06:00

Despite good intentions, I haven't kept up with blogging! I got sick a couple of days after Thanksgiving and am just now starting to feel like myself again after two rounds of antibiotics and lots of cough medicine.

When I've had the energy these past weeks, I've been crafting things and adding to the Etsy and ArtFire shops. Here are a couple of the latest items...

A yin yang keychain. The stones I used are said to have metaphysical properties that help balance yin yang energies.

Amazonite wrist mala bracelet. This has 27 main amazonite beads, 6mm round, with a 10mm round amazonite bead serving as the head bead or guru bead. The wrist mala bracelets can be worn just for the sake of being a bracelet, no other purpose involved - or they can be used as malas or prayer beads to use while saying mantras or affirmations, meditating, counting for relaxation, and so on. Traditional malas have 108 main beads, so the number of 27 main beads used for this wrist mala bracelet is significant because it's a subset of 108. I've been enjoying making wrist mala bracelets, and we have several listed in the shops now - not only this amazonite one, but also angelite, rose quartz, black onyx, black tourmaline, bloodstone, green aventurine... as well as ones that incorporate stones for the seven major chakras. And we'll be adding others in the future.

As this year comes to an end and a new year is about to begin, I'm spending time this week trying to get more organized - but it's a challenge! Being more organized, however, is going to be one of my goals for 2011.

Whatever your goals for the coming year, I hope you achieve them...

Chloe...

2010-11-21T12:55:00.003-06:00

Our 16-year-old cat passed away in mid-June. I blogged about it here in an earlier post. When Chance died, it was the first time in our marriage that we had no animals in the house - and it felt strange. Not only was there the adjustment to Chance being gone, but there was also an adjustment to having only two human people in the household... and no sounds of purrs or meows or wild gallops through the house, no furry creatures to pet or talk to or cuddle.

Several weeks ago, we adopted Chloe. She's a little over a year old - about 15 months. She is sooo sweet. She's timid, and it took her a while to start trusting us and get used to being here, but she's settled in nicely and is enjoying being thoroughly spoiled by us.

My husband taught her how to play fetch with her catnip mouse, and she LOVES it! She brings the mousie to us to throw and she'll chase after it (or sometimes even catch it in mid-air) and trot back to us with the toy in her mouth, dropping it at our feet and waiting for us to toss it again.

In non-cat news, Subtle Harmony is now settled in nicely at ArtFire. We have no plans to leave Etsy, we just wanted to expand to include other venues. The new facebook page is gradually gaining fans (see the right column for a quick way to check us out there). Several new items have been posted in the shops recently, and there's more to come soon.

I'm still not organized about blogging regularly... so in case I don't post here again in the next few days, I'll go ahead now and wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanks for stopping by. ♥

new happenings...

2010-11-04T21:35:00.001-05:00

The move is official, and the SpiralSpace shop on Etsy is empty (for the moment, at least!) and everything is now at our new Etsy shop, Subtle Harmony. You can click here to visit the shop.

And... Subtle Harmony has just opened an ArtFire studio! Most of the products are the same at both shops, but there are a few differences. I hope you'll check out our shop on ArtFire by clicking here.

If you've visited the blog before, you might notice it looks a little different. I know nothing about how to do website stuff, but I've been playing around with the blogger design, trying to help this little blog transition a little from SpiralSpace to Subtle Harmony. I didn't scratch this one and start over with a new blog with a new name... but maybe that would be the thing to do. Decisions, decisions!

Despite my good intentions, I haven't blogged much these past months. My ArtFire studio has a blog feature, and I've posted one entry there since opening shop. Maybe I'll finally get better at keeping up with blogging.

Thanks for stopping by. ♥

changes...

2010-10-21T23:07:00.004-05:00

In making decisions about business and the future, my husband and I decided to open an Etsy shop under a new name - Subtle Harmony. I'm in the process of listing all of the products from the SpiralSpace shop into the new place. I hope you'll stop by the shop to check it out - SubtleHarmony on Etsy.

We'll soon have a Subtle Harmony shop on ArtFire too, but I'm still in the process of setting things up over there and don't have any listings yet.

With the new shop and the new name, there's a new facebook fan page too - you can check it out here.

Here are a couple of the newest items in the shop...

Thanks for stopping by! ♥

hummingbird treasury...

2010-09-12T15:51:00.003-05:00

When I first started visiting Etsy, I had no idea what treasuries were. Then I found out more about them - but I was intimidated about trying to put one together.

Well, this weekend I decided to finally give it a try. I love hummingbirds - so I decided to use hummingbirds as the theme of my first treasury. I still feel a bit intimidated about curating a treasury but it was a lot of fun to do, and I'll definitely be doing more!

I'm going to try to post here using a generating tool from Whale Shark Websites. I'm hoping this will look okay, but I realize different browsers can do different things... so if you see gibberish (or nothing at all), I apologize! If you'd like to click directly to the treasury on Etsy, just click here.

Labor Day...

2010-09-06T11:23:00.005-05:00

When I was growing up, from kindergarten through high school, the first day of school was always the day after Labor Day. I must admit I always hated Labor Day! I didn't want summer vacation to end, and starting a new school year always kicked up my anxiety level. (Social anxiety was part of my life even as a child.)

Those days were a long time ago, though. My college and grad school schedules were different, so no more day-after-Labor-Day first day of classes. And it's been years and years (and years!) since I've been a student on any campus.

Still, even after all this time, Labor Day marks a "new beginning" during the year for me, much in the same way New Years Day does. Actually, it's only recently that New Years has started catching up for me, in terms of feeling like a time for taking stock, evaluating, starting new things.

I guess maybe Labor Day, for me, still beats New Years Day to some extent - because today I'm brimming with ideas for some new projects and I feel that sense of energetic excitement about new beginnings.

I have been - my life has been - going through a lengthy period of transition and change. The process is still ongoing, and it's... well, a whole bunch of different emotions all swirled together. An important person in my life has said a few times recently that I'm in the process of metamorphosis, moving out of a cocoon into the freedom of being a butterfly, my true self. I think that statement fits, even though it scares me!

There are so many great shops on Etsy, and as I was browsing recently I found a wonderful shop that's new to me. The Midnight Orange is the shop of a fantastic artist with many pieces that really speak to me. When I saw this one, I made one of those impulse buys and purchased it right away. I knew I needed to have this, because it fits so well what I'm going through...

The piece is Into the New by TheMidnightOrange and that's the photo from the listing. She arrived last week and she's perfect! I love shopping on Etsy.

One new thing that will be happening fairly soon is a new Etsy shop for me. I'm not sure when it will officially open - if all goes as planned, it'll open by the beginning of November. My SpiralSpace inventory will be moved to the new shop, and there will be other items there as well. I'll be posting more information here as things progress.

Thanks for stopping by. ♥

catching up...

2010-08-19T16:59:00.003-05:00

Obviously, I still don't quite have the hang of this blog - I didn't realize until today that I had comments waiting for moderation! I thought I had things set up to appear right away when someone commented. And since I'd had a few comments show up I thought it was going along okay. But no! I am so sorry to those of you who left comments and they didn't appear until today. I'm thrilled about every visit to the blog and each comment that's left, and I hate that things weren't showing up the way I thought they would... and that I was so slow to realize it.

An item from my etsy shop was featured in a blog today! Molly Brandt, who has a wonderful blog called The Red Sunflower, chose my chakra bracelet set as one of her favorites for the week. Thank you, Molly! The entry is here. The chakra bracelet set sold earlier this week, but I'll be adding more.

I make several things related to chakras, and sometimes I wonder if I have too many chakra bracelets in the shop. But working with chakras has become so important to me, and I love the various crystals and stones that relate to the various chakras, and I enjoy wearing chakra-related jewelry, and I enjoy making chakra-related jewelry... so I'm sure I'll continue to make chakra-related items. The most recent chakra bracelet I made is a bit different from the others I have.

Most of the bracelet is black obsidian, to represent general grounding. Then I used slightly smaller beads, one of each, to represent the colors of the seven major chakras. The row of colored stones is set off on each side by small sterling silver beads.

I find that I need to ground myself quite often these days - I guess that's why it's on my mind a lot lately! And what is on my mind often finds its way into the things I make.

Thanks for stopping by. ♥

keeping up...

2010-08-03T06:52:00.004-05:00

I'm not doing so great at keeping up with my blog! I sometimes wonder how other people do everything, time-wise. I've read books on time management, I've tried various calendar systems, I've tried making lists and prioritizing and all sorts of tricks and tips... but I can't seem to find the time to do all that needs to be done. Or all that I want to do.

Although I haven't blogged in a while, I have been working on my aromatherapy studies and I've made more items for my etsy store. Sometimes when I make a jewelry piece, I design it with a certain idea or theme in mind. (As with the night sky necklace in an earlier blog post.) Sometimes those themes or ideas come from the metaphysical properties of the stones I use.

Here's a bracelet I made this past spring. I call it Harmony.

I don't name all my pieces, but sometimes a name seems to fit - and this was one of those times. I used amethyst, rhodonite, and aquamarine. All three of these stones are said to help bring about calm and peace... inner harmony.

Thanks for stopping by. ♥

missing Chance...

2010-07-24T12:08:00.015-05:00

It's been almost 6 weeks since our cat Chance died, and we still miss him terribly. He was 16 years old, totally sweet and fun and loving, and completely spoiled.

We've talked about the possibility of getting another cat or two at some point, but it doesn't feel like the right time yet. Not only do we miss Chance because of missing him and his wonderful, loving presence, but these past weeks have also seemed strange because this is the first time in over 20 years of marriage that we haven't had any animals. It makes the house seem... odd, and even a bit unfamiliar in some way.

Making the jewelry and working on the etsy shop have helped keep me busy during this time of grieving and adjusting. I've needed something to do, something to focus on, and this has been a big help. I can lose myself to looking through my gemstones and charms and findings, deciding what to put together next, working out a design or a theme if it's going to be that kind of piece.

It's been therapeutic.

One of the other things to help during this time has been aromatherapy. Many, many days I have used oils or blends - either in an oil burner or aromalamp, or in a carrier oil to use for a soothing massage - to help with my emotions. I've reached for oils such as cypress, sweet marjoram, lavender, bergamot, or orange to help with grief. Lemon, grapefruit, petitgrain, melissa, roman chamomile, peppermint, and juniperberry are others that I've found especially helpful during this time. Marge Clark at the wonderful Nature's Gift Aromatherapy has some great synergies for emotions, and I've found them helpful and effective, not only in dealing with this particular situation but in several areas of my life. (I'm not affiliated with that company in any way... I'm just a very satisfied customer).

Reiki has also helped me a great deal during these past weeks. Whether I'm doing a self-treatment or seeing another Reiki practitioner for a session, the healing energy has been in aid in soothing the grief and making my way through this time of adjustment and transition.

Other things have helped too, but I'll stop for now before this becomes too very long.

Loss... of animals, people, jobs, friendships, dreams... is hard. When you're dealing with grief and loss in your own life, I hope you'll find your way to whatever helps ease the pain and soothe your soul

Thank you for visiting. ♥

night sky, moon and stars...

2010-07-18T10:32:00.009-05:00

Saturday I listed a new piece of jewelry in my etsy shop. I hand-strung a necklace of rainbow obsidian and snow quartz, and included an antiqued pewter charm of a face-in-the-moon and stars.

I wanted the necklace to represent the night sky. The rainbow obsidian chips are the dark of the sky at night, with the beads of snow quartz being the light of the moon and stars.

The starting point for me was the charm with the stars and crescent moon - just looking at it makes me think of the night sky. I knew I wanted to use a combination of light and dark beads, and the shape of the stones was important to me too. The round translucent white of the snow quartz reminds me of looking at a full moon, so I chose those beads (although moonstone would also have worked great). But I didn't want to use round beads for the night sky, I wanted a contrasting shape. I looked through my stash of gemstone supplies, and the rainbow obsidian chips seemed to be a perfect fit.

Light and dark... the moon and the stars and the sky.

green line jasper...

2010-07-15T08:59:00.005-05:00

My latest listing in my etsy shop is a bracelet I made yesterday from green line jasper. I love green line jasper - I think the bands and swirls of greenish-gray make it an interesting stone. I added a sterling silver spiral to the bracelet...

As you might guess from my shop name and blog title, I have a special fondness for spirals. The spiral is an ancient symbol that can hold so much significance... the cycle of life, the cosmic spiral, spiraling inward, spiraling outward, a symbol of the spiritual journey, a symbol of the feminine or the goddess, a symbol of the journey of life itself. I love the flows and whirls and swirls of spirals too, the way they look. And in my own life's journey, the spiral symbolizes some of what I've gone through.

So... I have a thing for spirals.

One reason I chose green line jasper gemstone beads to use with the spiral in this bracelet is because the beads themselves remind me of spirals due to the somewhat swirly patterns the stones have. Green line jasper has a semi-translucent grayish green banding, each stone's pattern unique with the bands flowing and swirling to create varying shades and lines. The stone is formed when green and black needle-like pieces of tourmaline become embedded into the quartz.

Now for some metaphysical properties of the stone -- and as a disclaimer, this is for informational purposes only, no healing claims are being made, nor any claims about a stone's effect on any particular individual...

Jasper in general is said to be a very nurturing stone, helping in times of stress, as well as assisting with courage and determination. It is also believed to be a protective stone, absorbing negative energies. Because of its color, green line jasper particularly resonates with the fourth chakra, the heart chakra.

Thanks for stopping by. ♥

getting started...

2010-07-14T09:17:00.001-05:00

I've procrastinated about doing this first post -- I wasn't sure what I would write. But finally I decided the best way to get started would be to... simply start. So here it is. My first post on this blog.

To learn more about who I am, just click on the About Me tab at the top of the page. There are also tabs for a page to links, as well as a page with book titles (and some CD and DVD titles too, for good measure).

Being involved with my etsy shop, SpiralSpace, led me to start this blog. (A link to my shop is on the right). The very first item I sold was a rose quartz bracelet -- and since rose quartz is one of my favorite stones, it was especially meaningful to me to have it be the first item someone wanted. I have another bracelet like it available now...

In The Complete Guide to Crystal Chakra Healing, Philip Permutt says that rose quartz "is like a bubble bath for the emotions." I really like that description. Rose quartz is such a gentle, soothing stone... I think the bubble bath comparison just fits.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you'll visit again. ♥