Seasons
Shea requires body heat (or some other form of heat) to be used. You may find that taking a little time out to reflect, meditate, or pray while melting your Shea is a way to combine plants and spirituality daily. This meditation is also an excellent way to ground and center during autumn.
Sit down in a comfortable position. As someone who enjoys yoga, I do the padma asana; those of you who practice yoga might find it natural to sit this way as well (legs folded and flat to the floor). For those of you who are not so limber, simply sit in a comfortable position.
Scoop out a quarter-size amount of Shea butter. Place into your receptive hand, then put your dominant hand on top. Now bring the hands together to your chest, squeezing them together in the prayer position. In the Buddhist faith this is called namaskara mudra (The Gesture of Prayer).
I like to do the namaskara mudra while warming my Shea butter because it reminds me to be thankful to those who processed the precious healing butter so I can use it. I also think about what power is held in the hands as I warm the oil in my palms, reflecting and hoping my hands will make a difference in this world.
To try a Shea Mudra meditation:
Close your eyes. Take deep cleansing breaths. Scoop out some Shea. Put your hands together, bring them overhead pressed together, then slowly down the path of your center stopping at your chest. Rub your hands together, gently and slowly to encourage the butter to melt. Concentrate on your breathing, your hands, and your thoughts, as well as the affirmation or prayer if using. As an affirmation, try this:
I am whole, I am sound,
I am free to give with these hands in the name of spirit.
Do this type of reflection for about five minutes a day, to release anxiety, stress, and insecurity. When you are finished, use the Shea as an emollient body treatment, rubbing the melted butter on areas that need softening.
From: Four Seasons of Mojo
Please take a seat and clear your mind of what fills it now and hear my words:
As you are sitting, close your eyes and feel the yellow of the sun..Reach up with your arms and let your fingertips touch that yellow..Now, lay back, with your arms extended and become a ray of the sun..As we all lay in a circle, we form the sun – we are all rays of this vivid starburst.
Look down to the Earth and see the fields ripe with the summer’s abundance..Find your self in the center of this abundance holding a large willow basket, eager to begin your autumn harvest.
Step first into an expanse of sweet corn..See the erect, regal, green stalks of corn..Observe a ripe ear on a particular stalk which extends to you..Under its scruffy whiskers kernels that sparkle like gold shine through. You are reminded of your own riches – both tangible and intangible..Reach out and pick this ear and put it into your basket.
Leave the corn field and enter an orchard; an apple orchard..See the beauty of these trees, these majestic symbols of the Goddess..Feel the fullness of her boughs – full of ruby red apples of knowledge..Reach up, way up, and pick two. Put one in your basket and eat the other. Taste and enjoy this fruit – for in this garden tasting an apple is not forbidden.
Now move toward an onion field which beckons you..Once green, now browning spikes point up to you, tempting you to dig below…Pull gently and the ground gives birth to aniridescent, opal bulb, full of body and character and strength..A vegetable with the power to make you feel the power of tears..Add this to your growing harvest.
Notice ahead thick bushes of ripened raspberries..Sharp brambles protecting their precious, succulent garnets..The sweet nectar of these berries remind you of your own sensuality – your own ability to feel, express, extend all that is soft and loving and warm to others..Take your time here and pick plenty of these supple jewels for your basket.
Step away now and look around you..Find a patch of fruit or vegetables that appeals to you..Enter it, admire its offerings, select a precious gem of your own to harvest..Choose a resource to sustain you in the rapidly upcoming time of cold and darkness…Capture some warmth and light and savor its presence.
With your arms now laden with this basket of bountiful treasures, it is time now to rest..Take your harvest to the grassy knoll in the sun just beyond and sit and bask in the glory of its healing heat..Rest in contentment knowing you have collected that which you need to give you strength and nourishment in the winter days to come.
Put yourself back in the sky now..Become the sun once again..Shine down upon yourself and your gatherings..Absorb the energy of the fruits of your labors, bless these seeds you planted in the Spring and nurtured to fruition through the summer..Be the sun..Shine down upon all that is good and good-giving..Give the light of hope to all you shine upon.
When everything you have touched with your rays is full of your brightness, open your eyes and rejoin our circle.
By: Angelica
Found at: Magickal Winds
I think it's time to go shopping... maybe even buy some really cool stuff at my online shops!!
