Summer Solstice 2017

Summer Solstice Crystal Grid with Orange Calcite, Citrine, Pyrite, and Sunstone

Today is the Summer Solstice, the longest day and shortest night of the year. Themes for the Summer Solstice include growth, abundance, culmination, and fruition.

I stepped outside to let my dogs potty in the backyard. I consciously stepped out of the shade and into the sunlight. I noticed how bright the sun is today. I was blessed to see two ladybugs as I looked down at the ground. That will be the extent of my ritual observance today.

I deal with chronic illness and am still dealing with recovering from the after effects and symptom flares of an outing I did on Sunday. So no big rituals for me today. I'll be lucky if I finish the Tarot/Oracle reading I'd like to do for the Solstice. I did get some pics done of a Summer Solstice Crystal Grid I wanted to share here and on Instagram. So I did accomplish one of the two things I was wanting to do for the Solstice today. And now I've written this blog post. I'm feeling quite productive. 😊

Someone shared this article in a Facebook group I'm in. When I read it I thought it was so fitting for me today.

It's Absolutely Ok To Have No Plans For The Solstice 

A second Summer Solstice Crystal Grid. I couldn't decide which I liked better, so I'm sharing them both. This Crystal Grid has Orange Calcite, Citrine, Pyrite, Green Aventurine, and Sunstone.

**How are you celebrating (or not) this year's Summer Solstice? Feel free to reply in the comments.

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Earth Magic Oracle by Steven Farmer (c) 2010 Hay House

New Fluorite June 2017

New Addition~Fluorite!! One of my favorite types of crystals and stones.

I've been waiting for for a nice, sunny day to get decent pics to show you all this new piece of Fluorite I got recently. It's absolutely GORGEOUS! I saw it in a shop and knew I just had to have it. It called to me... I needed the right light to be able to show you the stunning mix of purples, blues, and greens in this piece. I just LOVE this piece.

**Have you gotten any new crystals or stones recently? What kind? Feel free to reply in the comments.

*Please consider also following me on social media (Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest): @RenaraTarot

My Favorite Crystals Books List

Here's a list of my favorite books on Crystals and Stones.

My Top Two Favorite Crystals Books

•  My new favorite book is Crystals for Energy Healing by Ashley Leavy.
     This is an excellent book for getting started with working with crystals and stones. The book is divided into 3 sections: Crystal Basics, Crystal Healing, and Crystal Sourcebook (crystals for emotional healing, for spiritual healing and guidance, and for shielding and protection).
     There is an editing error on page 83, the Blue Lace Agate entry. The information given under the Attributes and Powers is actually for Aquamarine, which is named in the paragraph several times. Below is the actual entry for Blue Lace Agate, from the author.

"Attributes and Powers: Blue Lace Agate is a stone of forgiveness, helping you accept what has happened and release it. It encourages you to heal your emotions and find balance. Blue Lace Agate allows you to feel empathy and compassion for the person requiring your forgiveness and ensures that any energetic attachments are healed. It is a stone of positive communication, promoting assertiveness and personal power."

•  My second favorite book for working with crystals and stones is The Essential Guide to Crystals, Minerals, and Stones by Margaret Ann Lembo. 
      She gives an introduction to choosing and working with the stones, followed by the entries for individual stones arranged in alphabetical order. The pages are glossy and the pictures of the stones are gorgeous.
     Each stone's entry has a few keywords, some correspondences for each stone (colors, chakras, planets, numbers, elements, mohs scale, astrological sign), and then gives an affirmation, spiritual uses, mental uses, emotional uses, physical uses, divine guidance, and a basic geological description of the stone.

•  I'd also like to mention The Book of Crystal Spells and The Second Book of Crystal Spells by Ember Grant. These two books are about the metaphysical properties of crystals, stones, and minerals for spellwork, ritual, and magick, as opposed to crystal healing. While similar and even somewhat overlapping, there are differences between crystal healing and crystal magick.

      In The Book of Crystal Spells, the chapters are organized by style, including cleansing/charging/dedicating stones, jewelry/talismans/amulets, home and garden, glass and sand, elixers, rituals/meditations/affirmations, and grids.
      In The Second Book of Crystal Spells, the chapters are organized by style (grids and Tarot) as well as by type of stone (quartz points, chalcedony, special rock and mineral formations, quartz crystal points, even salt). There are also chapters for Sabbats/Esbats and stones for enhancing intuition. This book has a bit more of a Wiccan/Witchcraft practitioner focus.
      Both books have an appendix with entries and lists of metaphysical correspondences and associations.

•  I also love my good old stand-bys, The Crystal Bible Volumes 1, 2, and 3 by Judy Hall. 
      These books are well known to be must-haves if you are at all interested in working with crystals and stones. Volume 1 has many of the most commonly found crystals and stones. I consider it an absolute must-have. Volumes 2 and 3 contain additional stones, as new crystals and stones are being found all the time. There is NO duplication of entries between the different volumes. They each contain different stones. Be sure to start with volume 1.
      The books are arranged in alphabetical order by the name of the stone. So you need to know the name of the stone you're looking for to find the correct entry. Each entry lists attributes of each stone and psychological, mental, and emotional attributes and uses, and a section on physical healing uses as well as recommendations for positioning.

•  The Encyclopedia of Crystals by Judy Hall is another great reference to keep on hand. This book is organized by crystal color, which is enormously helpful if you're not sure of the name of the crystal or stone you have. The revised and expanded edition was released in 2013. The entries are quite similar to The Crystal Bible entries. I personally feel that the pictures in this book are a bit nicer and clearer than in the Crystal Bible volumes.

• The Crystal Healer by Philip Permutt is another book arranged by crystal color. The pictures are wonderful and each stone's entry gives information for physical and emotional/spiritual uses. There are fairly extensive listings of remedies for physical ailments and emotional ailments. I personally don't resonate with many of the remedies recommendations in this book, but that's just me. I mostly use this book for helping me to identify crystals and stones.

**What's your favorite crystals/stones book? Feel free to reply in the comments.

*Please consider also following me on social media (Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest): @RenaraTarot

New Crystals and Stones April 2017

New Crystals and Stones

Whenever hubby travels he often looks for local rock shops where he goes. He travels to New Orleans pretty regularly and has a couple shops he checks out for me each time he goes. He brought back some real beauties this time, some from my list and some he picked himself.

*Red Calcite
*Orange Calcite
*Green Calcite
*Blue Calcite
*White Calcite
*Septarian
*Diopside
*Scolecite
*Rose Quartz
*Kambamba Jasper
*Shungite
*Fire Agate


**What are your most recent Crystal additions? Feel free to reply in the comments.


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Crystals and Stones to Get Started With

Crystals and Stones to Get Started With 

There's so many crystals and stones out there. It's easy to get overwhelmed by all the pretty sparklies. Which ones do you choose to get started? Here's a list of crystals and stones to get started with. These are generally easy to find and should be fairly affordable, usually not more than a few dollars per stone. You can choose tumbled or rough, it doesn't matter which. Size also doesn't matter. Bigger isn't necessarily better in this case. Any size will do. You don't have to get them all at once. This list just represents a fairly well rounded selection of crystals and stones that represent all the major colors of the rainbow as well as many of the most commonly recommended and used crystals and stones.

• Garnet
• Carnelian
• Citrine
• Green Aventurine
• Fluorite
• Moss Agate (optional, but a nice green stone)
• Tree Agate (also optional, another nice choice for a green stone)
• Blue Lace Agate
• Sodalite 
• Amethyst
• Lepidolite (optional, but a nice additional purple stone to have; great for calming the mind)
• Smoky Quartz
• Rose Quartz
• Selenite 
• Tiger's Eye
• Snowflake Obsidian
• Fluorite (point, not required but it shows the many pretty colors Fluorite can take)
• Blue Kyanite
• Moonstone
• Clear Quartz 

Not shown but also recommended:

• Jasper (there's so many different Jaspers, choose one or more that you're drawn to)
• Calcite (available in a variety of colors, can be included or substituted for any of the listed stones)
• Black Tourmaline 

What was your first crystal or stone? Feel free to reply in the comments.

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Chronic Illness Plus Acute Illness Sucks

I just recently got over having a cold. Hubby caught the cold initially and unfortunately passed it to me. This cold was a bad one. Lots of coughing, very hard hitting. Hubby (who is healthy) usually kicks a cold in a couple of days, but was down with it for about a week. I was down for a week too.

Being regular sick on top of chronic illness SUCKS! Acute illness (colds, flus, etc) makes you feel awful. Put that on top of feeling awful from chronic illness and you've got a double whammy. Acute illness makes all your chronic illness symptoms worse. It takes longer to recover. Sometimes acute illness causes chronic illness flares.

If you get an acute illness while dealing with chronic illness, be gentle with yourself. Rest, rest, rest. And then rest some more. Allow yourself time to heal. Rest even after the acute illness symptoms stop. Slowly ease yourself back into your regular routine. Eat well, hydrate a lot, and rest. Take good care of yourself.

I spent extra days in bed and am taking a bunch of days to try to slowly get back to my normal routine. I've watched a LOT of Netflix and slept a lot. I knew I was starting to feel a bit better when I started feeling bored and didn't have to take such long naps. But I did my best to resist the urge to jump back into my normal routine. It was hard, but going slow is best when dealing with chronic illness.

What helps you the most to get through acute illness while also dealing with chronic illness? Feel free to answer in the comments.


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A Way to Remain Objective When Doing Divination for Yourself

Using the guidebook to remain objective for personal readings...

I just read an excellent suggestion for a way to remain objective when reading Cards or doing Divination for yourself. A person in a Tarot Facebook group said someone told her they utilize the deck's accompanying guidebook meanings when reading for themselves. They stick with the guidebook meanings only for interpreting personal readings. That way the message isn't affected by their own personal thoughts and biases. I thought this was a great idea.

I often use the deck guidebook when doing readings for myself, even though I feel very proficient with Tarot, for a couple of reasons. One, I like to get the deck author's take on the cards. Another is that due to chronic illness, I often deal with limited energy and brain fog. Using the deck guidebook for personal readings saves me some of my limited physical and mental energy. This lets me read for myself even if I'm dealing with symptom flares. I've still found these readings to be applicable and accurate for myself, even when using the guidebook.

Far too often I hear the recommendation to "throw the book away." I've always disagreed with this as I'm a book learner. Now I have another reason to ignore that advice and keep and use the guidebook that accompany decks and divination tools.

**Do you ever use the guidebook when doing a divination reading for yourself? Why or why not? Feel free to reply in the comments.

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