Skunk On Setting New Ways

 

I was deep into my meditation space and not really noticing anything, when I heard what sounded like digging.  I then heard humming.  As I looked around, I saw a Skunk trudge through the snow, stop and dig, and then trudge some more. 

Skunk said:

• New opportunities are here, and if I sleep through them, then me and my kind will miss out.
• Snow is simply water in a different format.  I like the snow, and to walk out in it is to remind myself that I need not follow what others of my kind do.
• When the weather is warm, it is time to explore.  I am exploring what is available in a different environment.  This makes me stronger than one who accepts what is.
• By walking in the cold, I thicken my fur.  This keeps me warmer.  I am setting new links in my body.  My body remembers a time when I walked in the cold.  I am setting a new way.

Many blessings,

Judy

Blue Jay Says To Feel The Weather

 

Blue Jay popped into our yard today, and foraged around for some seeds, and picked at some food that the dog left. He then popped up on a log, and started to chat.

He said that the signs are all pointing to an early winter, and that the food would be scarce for the birds and animals this winter. 

I asked him how he knew.

He says that the birds and the animals can feel the weather and how it is shifting.  He said to watch some of the birds like the Artic Tern and the Robins.  They are heading south already, and that is early for them.

The squirrels, he says, are madly stashing food.  He says that the Blue Jays try to keep an eye on where they put the food because they can raid it if they get too hungry. 

Blue Jay went on to say that the weather would fluctuate drastically, and that there would be extreme cold and snow, and then warm weather would hit.  This will cause melting and freezing that will make getting food on the ground very difficult because there will be a coat of ice.

Blue Jay asked me what we were going to do to prepare for the winter.  I said that we would harvest our garden, and get some farmer market veggies to store, and that we would get our snow blower checked over.  We also got our first load of wood, and hoped to get another load before the end of September.

Blue Jay said that we were doing well, and flew away.

Many blessings,

Judy

The Power of Honey

                         Picture from Medical News Today - a honey bee, honey comb, and honey

I grew up in the country side on a farm.  Honey was part of our staple diet.  We had it on toast for breakfast, on a slice of bread covered in peanut butter and honey for an after school snack, and stirred into a hot lemon drink when we had a cold.  One never thinks about honey, it just is.

Several days ago, this great article on honey was forwarded to me by a friend. I learned lots of new things about honey.  I hope that you enjoy it.

*****************

I did not know this. I have local honey in my tea. Always using a metal spoon. 
Did you know that one of the world's first coins had a bee symbol?
Did you know that honey contains live enzymes?
Did you know that in contact with a metal spoon, these enzymes die? The best way to eat honey is with a wooden spoon; if you can't find one, use a plastic spoon.
Did you know that honey contains a substance that helps the brain work better?
Did you know that honey is one of the few foods on earth that alone can sustain human life?
Did you know that bees saved people from starvation in Africa?
That a spoonful of honey is enough to keep a man alive for 24 hours?
Did you know that propolis produced by bees is one of the most powerful natural antibiotics?
Did you know that honey has no expiry date?
Did you know that the bodies of the world's greatest emperors were buried in gold coffins, then covered in honey to prevent putrefaction?
Did you know that the term "Honeymoon" (honeymoon) comes from the fact that the bride and groom consumed honey for fertility after their marriage?
Did you know that a bee lives less than 40 days, visits at least 1000 flowers and produces less than a teaspoon of honey, but for her it is the work of a lifetime.
Thank you precious bees! 
(Source: Robin Jackson)

Blessings,

Judy

February 1 2024 - Signalling The Change of Seasons

After a long span of winter with cold temperatures and lots of snow, all of us in the North look to February to signal a change in the weather.  The first really warm rays of sun hit us and we feel better for the sun on our face.

February is a time of Peacefulness when we know that the worst of the weather is most often behind us and we start looking at our seed catalogues for ideas for the garden and for the flower beds.

It is a time where it is easy to close your eyes and sink into peaceful meditation as you contemplate the beauty of Nature.  An easy mantra to use is:

            Nature surrounds me and protects me.

            Nature heals me.

            Nature supports me to be me!

Blessings.

Judy

Chipmunk Shivers

The Chipmunk looked cold.  In fact, I wondered if it was frozen, it seemed so still.  I didn’t know we had any chipmunks in the park.  I thought we had only squirrels, gophers, and voles.  I saw it shiver.  I saw it hold up one paw to keep the cold off it for a moment.  I wondered if the Eagle would see it, and eat it.  I saw it shiver again.  And then I seemed hear it’s teeth chatter, and the thought, “I wish I could go back to where I was”.  Then suddenly, the Chipmunk was gone!  There was a little dent in the snow where its body had been.  I looked around to see where the tracks led to, without success.  Chipmunk shivered away.

Blessings,

Judy

Know Where You Come From And Where You Go

On top of recovering from medical emergency, I have been sharing my life with a cold for the last four days, and a bit, and, sometimes, it seems that the cold has a better life than I do. It grows strong, barks loudly, and emits heat.  Then, that passes, and it seems like I have the best life. 

Then I read this quote by  Soko Morinaga Roshi, a Buddhist teacher, and I realized that I was experiencing the continuous process of life and death in my experience of the cold. 

 

Our lives appear to be unbroken blocks of seventy or eighty continuous years, but, actually,...when you maintain the straightforward frankness of your own mind as it comes to life each instant, even without effort, even without training, you are beautifully born each instant. You die with each instant, and go on to be born again, instant by instant.
~Soko Morinaga Roshi~

I am now believing that Cold is my friend, who is working to keep me from doing too much – taking on too many tasks.  I do what I need to and I spend a lot of time sitting and reading and watching movies because if I get too active, I begin to cough, and to congest.  When I sit quietly, then the light can move through my body and do the work that the light needs to do to work on changing me.

Blessings,

Judy

Curing a Cold

    Picture of a cold comes from www.medicinenet.com  

In Calgary, during the fall, people quite often have colds because the weather is so changeable, they may not dress correctly for the fluctuations, and it is so easy to catch a cold from someone else.  

This thought raced through my brain as I drove home from the grocery store after having been sneezed and coughed on by at least six people.  Sometimes a sneeze comes out so fast you simply do not have time to get your arm up to block it.

So, when I got home, I did some research in one of my favourite books – The Five-Elements Wellness Plan A Chinese System for Perfect Health by Barbara Temelie.  

I found the discussion of the cold on page 146, and what she said made sense to me. She talks about the effect of cold or “a cold” on the body as closing the pores.  To release the cold, the pores must be open, and the person must be sweating.  The Chinese Ancestors recommend ginger tea and hot alcohol such as hot spicy wine for a head cold. A rice dish with leeks and onions and hot spices will open up the lungs to strengthen the body’s natural immunity.  

Although I am not much on spicy wine, I love ginger tea.  And, this morning, I woke up with a head cold. I drank lots of ginger tea, took Vitamin C and D, and ate soup with rice and leeks and onions.  By tonight, I am feeling much better. I hope that the cold will be completely gone by tomorrow.  

If you try this, let me know how it works! 

Blessings,

Judy

Juniper Berry - An Interesting Herb

Juniper Berry picture from Wikipedia

A good read is Whispers From the Woods by Sandra Kynes (Lewellyn Worldwide, Woodbury, MN www.llewellyn.com). The description of one of the trees really struck a me with a moment of AHA! All over Canada, it seems that juniper bushes get planted in front of the house or behind the house or in the yard.

 

Kynes talks about the fact that juniper bushes were planted in front of a house as a protection against witches. She also talks about the German belief that having a juniper bush in front of your house will prevent thieves from breaking into the house and stealing all the valuables. Did you know that juniper berries could be used to make gin?

What is really striking is that in the West, we have acres of juniper, if it were all together in one lot. It is striking that because of its medicinal purposes for colds, aches, and pains among other things, that almost every home then has a little medicine cabinet outside the door. Yet we are not conscious of the properties of the plant. We do seem to be conscious that somehow juniper is beneficial for we name many things from network systems, to music to designs after the juniper bush. 

The juniper tree's greatest gift is the berries.  These berries may be used to make a diuretic tea that does not seem to diminish one's electrolytes as over the counter diuretics may do.  

Recipe

Pick the berries when they are ripe and then place them on a cookie sheet covered with brown paper. Place the cookie sheet in a dark place - a pantry - for three days. The berries will dry. They may be stored in a cloth pouch and used, a teaspoonful at a time, in tea.  Pour boiling water over the berries, and mash a bit, and let the tea steep for three minutes.  Sweeten with honey if you find the taste too bitter.

This is just one recipe for the use of juniper berries.  Let me know how your medicine from juniper turns out. Let me know too, if you have any juniper recipes to share.

 Bright blessings!

  Judy

Healing a Cold Sore With Aloe Vera Plant’s Gel

 Whenever I am clearing an emotion or an event that has been blocking my growth, I generally get a cold.  Most often, when I have cleared the cold, I receive the added present of a cold sore after I have finished coughing, sneezing and blowing my nose.  Now, most of the time, I can clear a cold in one day.  The cold sore, however was taking a lot longer to heal.  And, cold sores are annoying!

I think I have tried every product on the market for cold sores, as well as using energy healing techniques like -  throwing cold sores to fire, using Reiki, EFT, BodyTalk, Quantum Touch, Integrative Healing, and prayer.  It seemed that all of these things took at least a week to heal the cold sore.  My goal is to heal a cold sore in one or two days.  Several of my friends get cold sores from too much Sun, or from too much chocolate as well as from other foods that they are sensitive to. They too would like to have a remedy that works within one day. 

Then, mid October, I got a one day cold which I cleared by spending forty minutes on the copper board, eating four Vitamin C 500 mg about every 1.5 hours, and gargling with Listerine. 

Copper board used by Roger Joyeux in Crystal and Copper Board Layouts (http://www.angelsandancestors.com/crystallayout.html)  Picture by S. Roger Joyeux © 2009

The cold started about 3:00am and by the time I got up at 7:30am, was in full swing. By the time I went to bed, at 10:30pm, I felt great.  The next morning, when I woke up, I felt that tell tale tingle that a cold sore was starting.  I searched for a solution.  The list of vitamins and minerals that I found included the following:

• Vitamin C Take 200-500 mg. of vitamin C along with 200-500 mg. of citrus bioflavonoids three times a day. This remedy will greatly reduce the duration of the sores. 
• Vitamin E, applied topically, will provide pain relief. 
• Yogurt Eating plain yogurt (with acidophilus) with live cultures is a good preventive measure. Heat-treated yogurt won't work. People who have added yogurt to their daily diet have discovered that they don't get cold sores, or very few. Yogurt seems to stimulate the immune system. 
• Zinc Using zinc has been reported to reduce the duration of cold sores. Applied topically, it speeds healing. Zinc tablets may also help, but don't take more than 15 mg for more than a week or so without medical supervision. Take up to 60 mg a day for the first week. 

As I looked at the list, I was puzzled.  I was taking huge amounts of Vitamin C, so that did not seem to work for me – I still got one.  I pulled out some liquid Vitamin E, and the stinging endured.  I wasn’t about to rush out to buy Yogurt or Zinc.  One of my friends suggested using toothpaste, so I tried that for the rest of the day.  My cold sore still hurt and was growing.  I went to bed feeling a bit frustrated that I could not heal it.

As I drifted off to sleep, I heard that phrase “For every illness that man does know, God has caused a plant to grow.”  I got it!  I needed to look for a plant. 

The next morning, I started my quest, after I watered my plants and did my house work.  As I did tasks, my gaze kept being drawn to my Aloe Vera plant. So, I looked up Aloe Vera for treating cold sores.  The following advice was on a page about folk remedies.  

When the tingling starts, try rubbing juice from an aloe plant on the affected area. If you are traveling, take a bottle of aloe gel with you just in case a sore begins. This remedy is especially effective if used at the first sign of a cold sore, but will also stop it later on, too, and will begin the healing process immediately and keep the sore from "blossoming."

I rushed back down stairs and asked my largest Aloe Vera plant if I could use pinches of its leaf to heal my cold sore.  It was happy to help.  I started rubbing the Aloe Vera on at about 2:00pm, and by evening, the tingling had decreased significantly. I used it all day, and took a pinch and used it through the night.  I continued  this and all in all, it took three days to heal the cold sore because I started into the second day of the problem.

 

Aloe vera plant in the window

At the end of December, however, I was able to heal a cold sore in one day.  This was an after effect of a one day cold which I caught going to a public market.

Here’s how I did it. I felt the merest tingle.  I pinched off about a nickel sized piece of the plant and then split open the skin to reveal the gel inside.  I rubbed the gel, directly from the stalk of the plant, on my cold sore.  I also rubbed the gel all around my lips to prevent the cold sore from spreading. I waited for the first application to dry a bit because it dries quite quickly, and then I rubbed the gel on again.  I snipped off several pieces and put them in saran wrap in my pocket so that I could apply the gel anytime, and I did apply it about every half to three-quarters of an hour.  When I ran out of Aloe Vera pieces, I simply went and got some more.  I used it all through the night as well.  By morning, I was clear.

I would love for you to try this remedy and then for you to let me know how it works for you.

Many Blessings,

Judy

Lightstationwisdom@gmail.com