Peace

Each year since 1981, the United Nations have had an International Day of Peace.  This is observed on 21st September and has been declared as a day devoted to strengthening the ideals of peace, both within and amongst all nations and people.

http://www.un.org/en/events/peaceday/

World peace would be a fantastic thing, but how can each and every one of us contribute to this? 

Sometimes we have to look at ourselves and see what we can do to contribute towards world peace. 

The lyrics of Michael Jackson’s song “Man in the Mirror” spring to mind:-

I'm starting with the man in the mirror

I'm asking him to change his ways
And no message could have been any clearer
If you wanna make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself and make a change

So I am going to look at a few ways we can work on ourselves and bring peace to our own lives.  If we are peaceful in body, mind and spirit then this peace can spread to those around us and create a ripple effect.

Focusing on our breathing in a mindful way can be a good starting point.  Try breathing in peace into your Solar Plexus chakra (between your heart and your navel) and then breathing out peace to the world.  Take time to sit quietly for a few minutes during your day, focusing on the in and out flow of the breath and peace going within and around you.

Meditation is a good way of bringing inner peace.  There are many different ways to meditate.  Try focusing on your breath to clear your mind (when your breathing is calm, your body, mind and spirit will follow suit) and then sit watching the flame of a candle and use this as a focal point to rid your mind of outside influences.  This takes practice, so don’t give up if this doesn’t work first time!.  If other things come into your mind you can either ask them to leave, saying that you will deal with them later, or if this doesn’t work, go with these thoughts and see what comes to mind;  perhaps solutions to problems or ways forward will materialise.

Or you could use a mantra.  After focusing on your breath to clear your mind, say a word  or short phrase repeatedly to yourself, such as “peace” or “I am peaceful in body, mind and spirit”.

Crystals are also a great way of bringing peace into your life. Here are a few crystal suggestions and how they can help :-

Amber – encourages peacefulness                                           

Angelite – brings peace and brotherhood

                                     Hematite – restores peace to the body                                                 

Kunzite – radiates peace

                                   Lapis lazuli – brings deep peace                                    

Magnesite – brings deep peace to meditation

                                     

Rose Quartz -  brings infinite peace and unconditional love                

Selenite – instills deep peace 

Crystals can be held or carried.  Try holding them during your breathing and meditation practice.  Or keep them on you in a pocket throughout the day. 

Regular readers to my blog will know that I am a great fan of making crystal elixirs.  Use some or all of the above crystals to make a crystal elixir that you can either drink or use in a spray bottle to make a room spray.  Instructions on how to make crystal elixirs can be found in my October 2011 blog at http://julie-bodyinbalance.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/crystal-elixirs-elixir-of-life.html

Don’t forget that crystals need cleansing, energising and programming prior to use (see blog October 2013 http://julie-bodyinbalance.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/cleansing-energising-and-programming.html)

Also, ask permission to work with them (June 2015  http://julie-bodyinbalance.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/asking-permission-to-work-with-crystals.html)

If possible, and especially on 21^st September, take a few moments and sit quietly.  Use one of the above ways, or a way of your own choosing and become peaceful.  Feel this peace filling your body, mind and spirit and send that peace out to the world. 

May peace and love be with you all.

Crystals for Christmas - Selenite

In the autumn of 2012 I posted a blog about the crystal Selenite and how it could help with the then forthcoming energy changes.

There are many things that Selenite can help with and I chose to study it with my Crystal Meditation groups this December as I felt it would be a good crystal to help us all cope over the Christmas period.

Although Christmas can be a magical time of year for many, it can also be a very busy time of planning and preparation and for some a fraught time of trying to keep the peace and instilling peace and good will to all men, women and children!

I find Selenite a wonderful, peaceful crystal and I recommend it to you at the time of year and even throughout the year

Selenite also has many other qualities, some of which I have summarised below:-

• Selenite is a very powerful crystal.
• Selenite is a calm stone that instils a deep peace.
• Placing a large piece of Selenite in the house ensures a peaceful atmosphere.
• Selenite prevents anything external from influencing the mind and promotes clarity of the mind.
• It expands ones awareness of the self and ones surroundings.
• Selenite is excellent for meditation or spiritual work.
• Selenite assists judgement and insight.
• Selenite is a powerful disperser and stabiliser of erratic emotions
• Mentally, Selenite clears confusion and aids seeing the deeper picture.  It brings about an understanding of what has occurred at a subconscious level.
• Selenite works deep and rids a person of heaviness of time.
• Selenite helps to align the spinal column and promotes flexibility.
• Selenite reverses the effects of “free radicals”.
• Selenite has the power to stimulate cellular regeneration and may even increase one’s life span.
• Translucent Selenite helps to access the angelic consciousness and higher guidance.
• Selenite wands can be used to detach unwanted “items” from the aura.
• Selenite pinpoints lessons and issues that are still being worked upon and shows how they can be best resolved.
• Selenite can be used to see into the future or ascertain what happened in the past.

 

Using Selenite

Hold Selenite for the greatest benefit.

Selenite can be used to form a protective grid around a house, creating a safe and quiet space that does not allow outside influences in.  Place a piece of Selenite in each internal corner of the house.

It makes a great tealight candle, spreading its peace throughout a room

Note

Selenite dissolves when wet.

I find Selenite a very peaceful and calming crystal and one I enjoy working with.

I hope you enjoy it too!

Wishing you peace, love and joy this Christmas and for 2016

The Twelve Fifth-Dimensional Chakras

In August 2013 I wrote a blog about the 12 chakras.  In this blog I aim to expand on this subject.

As this planet continues to ascend, we are moving from having seven 

third-dimensional chakras to having twelve fifth-dimensional chakras.

I have read that the Earth Star chakra, (which is 30cm below your feet), is one of the first to come in as we need to be grounded to help us at this time. 

The crystal Hematite can help with this as it is a very grounding crystal.

Grounding Exercise

• Choose a piece of Hematite to hold (or another grounding crystal such as Black Tourmaline, Smoky Quartz, etc).
• Ask permission to use the crystal and programme it to ground you.
• Sit comfortably with your feet in the ground.
• Focus on your breathing – nice slow deep breaths.  When your breathing is calm, the body and mind will follow.
• Visualise roots (like the roots of a plant or tree) growing out of the bottom of your feet.
• See them as lovely, thick roots.
• Visualise these roots going down through your Earth Star chakra, (which is 30cm below your feet) and going deep down into Mother Earth.
• As they go deep, deep down the roots find and tie around a beautiful piece of Hematite deep in Mother Earth.
• The Hematite and Mother Earth keep you grounded and strong.
• Keep that lovely strong grounded feeling with you as you bring your attention back to the here and now, ready to face your everyday life.

Keeping your chakras healthy is a vital part of keeping ourselves healthy.  Knowing how to balance your chakras can help. 

I am running a Chakra workshop on Friday 13^th November from 9.30am until 3.30pm

The workshop will look at:

·                  What are the Chakras

·                  The 12 major Chakras and their function

·                  How they link with our physical & emotional health

·                  How we can keep our chakras “healthy”

·                  Using Crystals to cleanse and balance the chakras

·                  Meditation to cleanse and energise your chakras

Cost £50 paid for in advance  (prior booking required). The price includes a set of 12 chakra crystals and a pouch to store them in.

Please contact me for further information.

Asking Permission to Work with Crystals

During my monthly Crystal Meditation group, one of the group members, Joanne, (Joanne O'Hare from Divine Life www.joanneohare.com) got the message from the crystal that crystals would like us to ask them for permission before we work with them.  It was also requested that the message is spread to other crystal users (hence this blog).

So next time you pick up a crystal, ask permission from the crystal for you to work with it and see if it makes a difference with your interaction with the crystal.

It is something that I now incorporate with my work with the lovely crystals and also something I ask people to do during crystal meditations etc.

Also remember to thank the crystal for working with afterwards.


So why don’t you pick up a crystal now.  Do it by intuition.
Cleanse it in a way that resonates with you (see blog of Oct 2013)
Ask permission to work with it
Programme it to help you in some way
(e.g. clear your mind, energise you etc)
Get yourself comfortable
Ask that you are grounded and protected
Take your awareness to your breathing. 
Take slow deep breaths, breathing out tension, worries, pain
Breathe in the energy from your crystal. 
Let it fill your whole being
Enjoy this time for you.
 When it is time to return to your everyday life, thank your crystal for working with you.
Feel your feet on the ground
Visualise a bubble of protective energy surrounding you.
When you are ready, return to your everyday life.
 
Remember you can do this any time!

Etheric Body Healing with Carnelian

In my last blog, I talked about my gratitude crystal which was a carnelian crystal. In this blog I am going to look at the etheric body- what it is, what affects it and how carnelian can help to heal it.

The etheric body is the next layer out in our aura from our physical body (the aura has seven layers).  It is the link between physical and subtle bodies (aura) and brings balance between them.  It is thought that our chakras are in our etheric body.

When the etheric body is weakened, dis-ease and karmic problems residing in the aura and subtle bodies move into the physical body and cause a variety of symptoms (see below).

Problems in the Etheric Body can be caused by:-

• Surgery
• Injury
• Root/Base chakra issue (insecurities, fears)
• Soul reluctant to incarnate
•  Birth Trauma
• Physical shock or stress
• Wishing to escape a situation (going out of body)
• 
  

Indications of Etheric Body Depletions

• Lack of physical energy and motivation
• ME /Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
• Pain (blocked energy in the Etheric field)
• Feeling spaced out
• Insecurities
•  Fearful
• Sleeping a lot (escaping the world)
• Hiding from others
•  Pain
• Disease
•  Back problems
•  Circulation problems
• Kidney problems
• Nervous system problems

Carnelian is one of the most useful stones for healing the etheric body when trauma and stress have accumulated to disturb physical functioning.

Carnelian Energy Net for Healing the Etheric Body

This layout helps to release trauma from deep in the body.  It can sometimes bring old symptoms and pain to the surface before they can be completely removed.

I have used this layout a lot recently when times have been tough and I find it very powerful and effective.  It is worth just laying down and putting 6 pieces of carnelian around you as shown below even if you only have 5 minutes to spare - give it a try!

You will need:-

6 Pieces of Carnelian

• Place one piece of Carnelian at the top of the head
• Place a piece of Carnelian either side of the body level with the sacral  chakra
• Place one piece of Carnelian at the ankles
• Place one piece of Carnelian between the legs at mid-calf level
• Place one piece of Carnelian on the throat

This can either be left in place during a Crystal Healing session or the client can use this at home for at least five minutes at a time on a regular basis.

This layout can also be used with points and other crystals and/or chakra crystals as appropriate.

I hope you find this of benefit.

Gratitude

This is my gratitude crystal.  It is a nice flat piece of Carnelian - one of my favourite crystals!

I keep it by my bed to remind me of all that I have to be grateful for in my life.  I see it when I get up in the morning and when I go to bed and I am reminded how fortunate I am - for my lovely husband, my family, my friends, for my crystals, my customers, for being able to live in the New Forest, for the sunshine, perhaps something special I am doing/have done that day ...

Even if I think I have had a "bad" day, when I look at my Gratitude Crystal I am reminded of good things that happened that day that I am grateful for - the stranger who smiled at me, a door being held open for me, the birds singing, the nice wholesome food I ate, a text from a friend.  It makes me realise that my day wasn't as "bad" as I thought it was and "good" things did happen.

A gratitude crystal can be any type crystal of your choosing.  I personally like flat crystals as they are nice to hold when I want to be reminded of all that I have to be grateful for.

I have recently moved house - from a lovely rented house to a house that needs a lot of working doing to it. When our furniture arrived three weeks ago, virtually all the floorboards on the first floor were still raised so that new wiring and central heating pipes could be put in, so all our worldly goods were (are still mostly are!) piled floor to ceiling downstairs.

In those three weeks we have had a lot to be grateful for - the workmen who have been doing the necessary work so we now have power, hot water and lighting, our old neighbours who let us stay in their house when ours wasn't habitable and the support of our friends and family.

Last weekend we were able to make up a bedroom and clear some room in the lounge for a sofa and TV (essential to Barry to watch sport!).  This was something to be grateful for.

I chuckled to myself this morning when I was proudly showing the builder my  "kitchen" as I now have electricity in the kitchen and have a space to put a mini oven (gratefully lent to us),  an electric grill (gratefully won in a raffle) and a single ring to put a saucepan on.

So think of what you have to be grateful for in your life.  Choose a crystal to use as a Gratitude Crystal and look at it frequently to remind you of the good things to be grateful for in your life. Don't dwell on anything negative, (we all have that to varying degrees), but see how many positive things you do have to be grateful for.  Some people like to write down 5 or 10 things that they were grateful for at the end of each day in a nice little book, and this may also be something that appeals to you.

A recent 'quote of the day' from Brahma Kumaris said that "The quality of thought creates the quality of life", so if your thoughts reflect you gratitude, so will your life.

Hematite

Whilst going through the house-buying process with all its pitfalls and tribulations, I was drawn to use Hematite.

When I re-visited its properties I released what a good choice it was! 

 

Some of its wonderful properties are listed here :-

v  Hematite is from the Greek word “haematites” which means “blood-like”.  It was known as “bloodstone” during the middle ages.  The Egyptians used Hematite to staunch the flow of blood from wounds and for the formation of blood cells.

v  Hematite ranges in colour from grey to black with a shiny lustre.  Unpolished, Hematite has red tones.

v  Being traditionally associated with the blood, hematite can benefit blood disorders.

v  Hematite is used to treat anaemia (as it is composed of 70% iron itself), especially when there is a lack of vitality.

v  Hematite improves the quality of the red blood cells 

 

v  Hematite makes for better usage of iron in the diet.

v  Hematite has the ability to reduce blood pressure. 

v  Hematite aids circulatory problems and is especially useful for treating Reynaud’s Disease.

v  It is recommended for use during childbirth, partly to prevent excessive bleeding and partly to keep everyone calm, due to it’s calming effect on the nerves.

v  It is said to be the “stone of the mind” as it helps one to sort out things in one’s mind.  It is also useful for mental attunement.

v  Because of Hematite’s affinity with the base chakra, it is particularly good grounding crystal.  It helps those who feel heady and ungrounded, especially after therapeutic treatments.

v  As well as drawing negativity from the base chakra, Hematite will prevent you from absorbing the negativity of others.

v  It strengthens our connection with the earth, making us feel safe and secure.

v  Hematite is a calming stone that helps to soothe the nerves and is useful for alleviating stress and anxiety.

v  Hematite prevents negative energy from entering the aura.

v  Hematite gives us courage, strength, endurance and vitality.

v  Hematite has the ability to help you “keep your cool” – mentally as well as physically.  So place it on the forehead to reduce a fever or on any painful and inflamed area of the body to cool them.

v  Hematite is beneficial for arthritis sufferers due to the benefits above.

v  Hematite is beneficial for getting rid of leg cramps.

v  Hematite is useful for muscular-skeletal conditions.

v  Placing Hematite on the base of the spine or on an area if misalignment is said to help adjust the vertebrae.

v  It assists the healing of fractures

v  Hematite is a good kidney cleanser.

v  Hematite is beneficial for insomnia sufferers.

v  Hematite harmonises the body, mind and spirit. 

v  Hematite has a strong yang element, redressing yin imbalances.  It also balances the meridians

v  Hematite is beneficial for legal situations.

v  Psychologically, Hematite gives strength.  It boosts self-esteem and imparts confidence.

v  Hematite is especially beneficial for timid women.

v  Hematite boosts willpower.  Especially useful for those who over-eat, smoke or generally over-indulge and want to do something about it. 

v  Hematite helps you come to terms with your mistakes and to accept them as learning experiences rather than disasters.

v  Mentally, Hematite stimulates concentration and focus.  It enhances memory and original thought.

v  Hematite is especially useful for the study of mathematical and technical subjects.

v  It brings the mind’s attention to basic survival needs and helps to sort out problems of all kind.

v  Hematite is conducive to enabling one to entering into a loving relationship and is said to attract “kind” love.

Using Hematite

Carry Hematite in your pocket to protect you from the negativity of others.

Use as an elixir for fevers.

Hematite is very grounding and is the main crystal to activate the Earth Star chakra.

Animal Healing

Benefits animals in transit

Calming for groups of animals, where agitation can spark off a reaction.

Useful for shocks to the system.