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The last couple of posts, we have been reviewing Feminine and Masculine crystals. Before we finish the three part series by talking about Yin/Yang (part Masculine, part Feminine) crystals, first a note:

As always, whenever I mention Masculine or Feminine in regard to crystals, people tend to flip their lids! This time was no exception. It would seem that in our societal complex right now, anything to do with "gender" is triggering knee-jerk reactions in people. If you find the use of these terms in relation to quartz crystal offensive, please take a deep breath and allow me to explain.

No man is an island,
Entire of itself.
Each is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manor of thine own
Or of thine friend’s were.
Each man’s death diminishes me,
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee.
~John Donne

Even after 40-some years inside, the Craft can still surprise me.

A friend was telling me about her group.

“What are you guys called again?” I asked.

She looked a little embarrassed.

“Well, the real name's secret” she said, “but we go by N.”

Like most good ideas, the notion that a coven should have a secret name seems perfectly obvious—once someone else has thought of it. People have secret names, cities have secret names. (Rome's, for instance, is Flora.) It makes perfect sense for a coven to have one too.

Now, when it comes to covens, I feel like I've won the jackpot in the Paganistani lottery. I'm part of the oldest continuously-operating coven here in Witch City; this year, we'll be celebrating our 38^th Harvest Home together.

But in that moment I'll admit to having felt some envy.

“I wish we had a secret name,” I whined to myself.

As children we are often told to be kind, to be sharing and giving, and to show our love to others by how we treat them. We are seldom told to care for or to love ourselves. I remember as a child sending for a nurse kit from Quaker Oats. It was advertised on a radio program I listened to every weekday. I liked the idea of being a nurse. It was a way to care for others, as I was told to do.  After my little kit came I bandaged up my teddy bear and treated him to a hospital stay as I played nurse in my little white cap and apron.

As young people we feel invulnerable; we can go for a night without sleep and hardly notice. Unless we have allergies or some medical condition, eating whatever we like is the rule rather than the exception. We seldom need to sit and rest after exertion but can continue on as if we were made of steel. I was in my late forties when I began to realize I could no longer treat my body as if it were some kind of machine that could go on and on.

September begins with Mercury still retrograde, however it finishes up and turns direct on the 5^th, so get all your " re" work accomplished and begin the new projects you have hopefully been planning and anticipating while awaiting the end of Mercury's retrograde period. I know I managed to get a review of a huge box of memorabilia done at last, What did you accomplish? The three heavies: Uranus, Neptune and Pluto are all still retrograde, however their influence is more on the world at large and less in personal ways save for direct influence.

        My mother had some sheets in the linen closet that sat forever on a shelf with a pink ribbon tied around them. I remember seeing them there both as a young child and later when I was old enough to make my own bed. They had been a wedding present from some relative of her mother's, and certainly she thought they were very special.

          My dad used to joke that she was keeping them for her second husband. He was a great one for teasing. Still, there the sheets stayed on the shelf until they became antiques. I have often puzzled over the whys and wherefores of those sheets. Now I have to wonder what my mother was afraid to risk by taking off the ribbons and actually putting the sheets to use?

"I really like your artwork - it's beautiful and powerful.  But it's too dark for me to hang in my home." These words came from a middle-aged woman (my guess), standing in front of my table at a recent art show.  While most of the other attendees were in some form of fandom or cosplay attire, she was in regular clothes - well put-together, conservative yet confident, reminiscent of my mother in style.  

Though none of that really matters, it was just a quick observation on my part while trying to come up with a response.