It is a bit overwhelming trying to purchase needed items with out all of the packaging. Items are wrapped, double wrapped, sealed, boxed and so on! We have gotten so used to packaging that we purchase, many times a product just because of the packaging!....
when you recycle diligently, you realize just how much useless "stuff" marketing and packaging has created! For years I have bee trying to buy more consciously - I remember health food stores cropping up in the 60's where one could bring their container and buy bulk. Fill your own container with peanut butter, dish soap, laundry soap, grains, dried fruit nuts and so on....It was such an exciting concept to me - over the years I have gotten away from it and created my own mountain of laundry soap containers, and much more....Why? "I moved to a new town, it was impossible- to find a recycling center - I was in a hurry...."
It takes an effort to buy "green" to find items with out the fancy packaging - to find items in packaging that is recyclable! I am thrilled to find organic food and products in my local grocery store...yet sometimes it is frustrating to find it all packaged...it seems all of the organic is stuck in a package with plastic over it...while the non organic is left in enticing heaps and displays with water sprinkling over it making it look all the more shiny and appetizing!
Mostly these days I am shopping at the farmer's markets in the area!
Why? (1) The food is local (2) little or no packaging! (3) I get to know the folks who are growing the vegies, harvesting the honey, backing the bread....wow what fun....(4) I get to shop outside - hear live music being played (5) I get to support the folks who are making changes in the way we eat and live ( 6) it is fun to see the flower lady with her bare feet joyfully creating her arrangements (7) I love getting fresh eggs..!
(8) THERE is NOTHING in my basket except the food I am going to go home and enjoy!
Packaging can be attractive- marketing development company s have spent billions researching what attracts folks to buy....Lets put some of that cleverness into finding ways to save and honor our resources...
We the consumer, have lots of power here.....Buy Local, Buy sustainable, Buy wisely! Here is a link to a cool soap company I like the cleaver marketing label, I like the great product, I like that it is recycled paper and minimally packaged!
http://shop.filthyfarmgirl.com
do you have a favorite product? - Have you given up things you like because of the wasteful packaging?
Enjoy your day and may you find a great green market to shop in :)!

Hi All, today one week after our solstice, we are starting a new Sunday call series. I always like to look at the Totems at the beginning of the series to get an over all for the next 10 weeks.
We are starting this call with a message from armadillo. Armadillo teaches us about boundaries....look at the Questions Armadillo asks of you and see what answers you come up with! :)
the support is Wild Turkey who teaches of that when one wins all win. Asking us to look at a new way to live and interact with each other and the earth.,
If you do not have the book the write up for these two will be up on the animal totem page for the next week.....I urge you to take a look and learn from these wise and loving beings.
On the solstice the totems were Humming bird (joy) and Raven (magic) - Later today I will put up the meanings of these feathered friends on the blog. I believe these energies will be with us till the autumn equinox.

blessings and love on this sticky Sunday morning

When I lie on the earth , with my spine touching her surface, it is really like plugging into an energy connection transfusion. My body settles down gradually into the energetic grid work of the earth mother, sinking in and sinking down into her vibratory rate of healing , receptivity and nurturing, connecting with the spine to recharge the electrical system of my body.

I feel the release of stress leaving my system and as it enters the earth to be transmuted..My sacrum connects and becomes charged with earth energy relaxing tight muscles of the lower back to allow the spine to touch more of the surface gradually.
It is truely a time of connection to the earth within ones self.The earth within and the earth without. All thoughts or beliefs about separation from anything dissolve right then and there and you know that you've plugged into the bigger part of who you really are and the bigger world around you and how the two are truely not different at all .

Surrender your self to the earth and you let go of all the little things that appeared big to you in your moments unconsciousness and illusion.

Hi All, It is a foggy, rainy morning in Northern, New York. I am getting ready to travel to New York City for an empowerment circle later this week. During the full moon channeling on Sunday evening Quan Yin and the masters reiterated the importance of gathering in circles- and reclaiming our power of creation. She spoke more on the "loss of innocence" and the need to trust, once again, in our inner guidance.
Inner guidance must be able to be heard through of the noise in the mind and in the outer world! Sometimes this can be a challenge! :)
As many of you know I have been learning about the honey bee and the workings of their hive. They are fascinating creatures- One thing I have learned in my two days of keeping bees ( Lavender and I picked up the bees on Saturday morning) is that you must be conscious and in the moment to work with them. Yesterday I was more than a bit tired ( after chasing horses late in the night on the full moon) so when I went to the hive I did not have my thoughts or steps needed to complete the transfer of frames, in the hive. I became distracted by the amount of bees flying at me and all around me and forgot to be conscious of the fact that the queen could be anywhere and that I might have shaken her off the frame! I felt so bad...It took a while in "Quan Yin's Garden" meditating to forgive my self for being unconsciousness!
After the Sunday channeling call- I was in quite a lovely space for the few hours before I went to bed- I was startled out of sleep by the phone ringing at two am. It seems that Rosie decided to take a jaunt under the full moon and bring a few of the other mares with her! Lavender heard Max whinnying and ran outside to see the paddock empty except for him! 1 and 1 half hour later we were still looking for miles in either direction around the farm. No mares in site! finally I jumped out of the truck and decided to search the fields by walking- I began to do the exercise that St. Germaine had given to "receive" and to "filter" what we were receiving. Withing 10 minuets I spotted the girls...
We offered them grain and carrots....the came along tired from their outing...I had a chuckle later, when I realized that Rosie and the gang managed to get us outside under the moonlight for quite a few hours!
( during the channeling the masters had suggested to 'bathe" in the moonlight. I stepped out briefly after the call- I guess we needed more time!