AMBER: What are you becoming?
It doesn’t matter who you were before, Amber assures you, What matters is who you are becoming. Amber is sure of this because she began as thick, gooey pine resin, sticking to fingers and scenting the forest. Pine resin is antimicrobial, and Amber carries this protection as well, guarding you on the spirit planes as you make your way into you next phase of being. Amber, who sometimes holds a leaf or insect, asks, What will you carry with you as you shift yourself? What will become encased in your essence? This is the place where choice and the dance of destiny meet. When Amber enters you life, pause. Listen to both your heart and your head as you design your own becoming.
Ritual: Put it all down: Take a life inventory. List all the things you are and all that you own. Try letting go mentally of each one as you write it. In a safe and private space, strip off each item of clothing and jewelry you have on. Allow each piece to represent a part of your current life that you are taking off until you are left with just you. Speak your aspects of self aloud while burning a piece of paper or yarn to represent releasing each aspect. After you have put it all down, decide consciously what you want to bring into the next phase of your life.
Reflection: Polish the past: Amber never forgets that she was once part of a tree. She remembers the feel of the sky and the taste of rain. She knows the sun on her needles and birds cawing at dawn. All of this is part of her honey-rich glow.
If Amber is speaking to you, it’s an opportunity to remember your past selves and the ways in which they’ve informed who you are now and who you will become. What were you like as a child? Did you like to sing or laugh? Did you collect stones or seashells or acorns? Ask yourself about your child self, and teenage self, and who you were are you hit adulthood. How do these past incarnations inform your present persona and who you hope to grow into?
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SALT: Fundamentals of Humanness.
Before there were Diamonds, Emeralds, and Rubies, there was Salt. This ancient crystal was used as currency, building cities, trade routes and new technologies. While you might desire Moonstones or Opals, only Salt is so necessary that you are hardwired to crave it. Do you know the difference between what you desire and what your body and being truly crave? Salt asks. Can you put aside the glitter to feed your real hungers? To embrace, and take joy in, the fundamental building blocks of humanness and happiness? All Salt originally came from the sea, whether an ancient inland seabed or the ocean itself. It calls to the sea of our blood, reminding us that without a foundation of Salt, we are nothing.
Ritual: Salt washing: Historically, Salt has been used to separate; it pulls liquids from meats and proteins from liquids. This process is called salting out. We can use ‘salting out’ as a metaphor to help us release other people’s emotions that we may be holding onto. This process is especially wonderful for people who work closely in another’s emotional space, like a therapist or coach.
Add a pinch of Salt when you’re washing your hands or bathe in saltwater. In the shower, you can fill a washcloth with Salt and tie it shut. The Salt will dissolve through the cloth as you scrub your body. You can also scent Salt with essential oil (one drop per handful of Salt will do) to make this a sensual experience. As you rinse with the Salt, imagine any sticky emotions being pulled from your body and flowing away with the water.
Reflection: The Salt in your social circle: There are people in our lives who serve the same function as Salt in our food: they’ll introduce strangers, offering a conversation starter as they wend their way through the crowd. In their presence, discussions gently come into balance, people find humor even in a moment of hot disagreement, and personalities that might otherwise seem too brash or cloying are tempered and tasty. Often, like Salt, we only notice these magical people in their absence.
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CITRINE: Full of riches.
Citrine has no patience for naval gazing and narcissism. There’s a whole world out there, Citrine admonishes, guiding your attention to the abundance around you. Tune outward, Citrine reminds, watching as you haltingly move your gaze from your own troubles to the tiny leaves unfurling on the oak tree’s branches. Citrine knows it can be tough to turn your ear to the whisper of crow wings cutting the afternoon’s stillness when you’re used to listening to your own internal monologues and self-deprecating harangues. But Citrine is persistent in pushing you beyond yourself, nodding sagely as you slowly slip out of self-absorption and into the stillness of contentment. The world is full of riches, Citrine affirms, and in that abundance, you’ll find your joy.
Ritual: Nurture Abundance: Folklore suggests keeping Citrine in your cash box to call in wealth. But the wealth Citrine brings are the riches of the mystic: the feeling of being satisfied and replete with life. The best place to begin nurturing abundance (and attracting more) is with gratitude.
Practicing gratitude causes a positivity chain reaction by increasing production of the feel-good chemical dopamine. Dopamine in turn increases your level of happiness, creating a positive feedback loop. Bonus: dopamine turns on the learning centers in your brain. So, happier equal smarter!
As you move through your day, whenever you stop at a crosswalk or stoplight, use the pause to reflect on the previous few minutes and notice what you are grateful for.
Reflection: Let it in. Citrine helps us to connect with the abundance of the material realm. Since we live in physical (material) bodies, Citrine can also help us to define our own physical realm, what we call our personal space.
Once you define your personal space, you can begin to monitor which energies you allow in. Do you open the door for Citrine’s gift of abundance? Or do you push against the richness, joy and contentment that Citrine can bring?
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