This is just a last-minute reminder that if you want to buy any organic skincare for your Valentine, you’ll need to be quick!

Due to the annual stocktake, the webshop will be unavailable from midnight on Thursday 11 February, until 6pm Friday 12 February.

You’ll need to place your order before midnight on Thursday (that’s tomorrow!) if you want it to arrive in time for Valentine’s Day.

How about some Geranium & Orange Massage Oil for a weekend of pampering… or the “Unwind” Calming Bathing Duo as a well- earned treat for yourself!

Now that the snow’s melted and public transport’s (sort of) back to normal, I can get out of the house and start giving parties again!

I have plenty of spaces available in January, so if you fancy a night in being pampered, please let me know. You can leave a comment, email claire@scentsandstones.com, or phone me on 07905 500266.

As you can see from the little advert above, the host of the party will receive a free gift of Geranium & Orange Hand Wash and Geranium & Orange Hand Lotion. They’re full size 200ml bottles, worth over £20, so it’s well worth hosting a party just for that!

If you’ve held a party already and would prefer a different gift, the January Host Gift Offer is for a set of three essential oils.

Eucalyptus Essential Oil is perfect for banishing those winter sniffles.
Ylang Ylang Essential Oil soothes the nerves and relieves emotional stress.
Women’s Balance Aromatherapy Blend helps to harmonise any imbalances during menstruation and menopause, both emotionally and physically.

These essential oils are not available to order via NYR Organic, so holding a party is the only way to receive these three oils for free!

Have a look at the details for the NYR Organic Home Parties and the Pamper Parties, and then get in touch with me to book your date. You can leave a comment, email claire@scentsandstones.com, or phone me on 07905 500266.

Today there was a post about an Hourglass Spread that looked interesting. I haven’t yet tried to do a spread of more than three cards, so I thought I’d give this one a try and see what happened.

Cards 1-3 represent the past, and things to reflect on.
I drew 16: The Tower, the Page of Cups, and 13: Death.

Together, those cards seemed to suggest that the most difficult parts are already over, at least for the time being. I’ve closed down my old business, although the realisation that it wasn’t working out was a very difficult process to go through, and I tried to avoid it for a long time. It seems as though it’s time to leave behind trying to do a bit of everything and try to understand which aspects from the past I can bring with me. The Tower can suggest a spiritual epiphany and the Page of Cups can represent intuition and emotion. I’m taking this to mean that it’s okay to talk about my interest in tarot cards and gemstones as well as organic cosmetics and herbal remedies.

Cards 4-5 represent the very recent past, and things that are on their way out of your life.
I drew 4: The Emperor, and the 6 of Cups.

The Emperor talks about reason and daydreams working together, and gives permission to be more assertive about the things you truly believe in. The 6 of Cups can represent using something from your past to create the foundations for your future. Once again, I think this is to do with making a new business out of the good things that are left of my former ventures, and also giving me the reassurance that it’s okay to rekindle my interest in the more spiritual aspects of life.

Card 6 represents right now.
I drew the 3 of Pentacles.

I was actually really nervous about turning over this card. I was concerned that it was going to say something worrying, or something difficult. The 3 of Pentacles couldn’t have been a nicer card to see! In my Mystic Dreamer tarot, the imagery is of a woman up a ladder, putting the details to a lovely painting. Two women are standing in the foreground, admiring her work. I couldn’t have asked for anything better! I don’t know whether I’m quite in that situation yet myself, but it’s definitely a place I aspire to be. (Having people respect my work, not necessarily standing up a ladder painting a tree!)

Cards 7-8 represent influences that may enter your life in the near future.
I drew 2: The High Priestess, and 7: The Chariot.

The High Priestess talks again about a spiritual journey, but also stresses wisdom and the importance of taking time out to learn. Once this is done, it’s important to share that knowledge with others. The Chariot also talks about learning, and about achieving success through practice and honing your skills. Conflicting forces can be brought together if there is a common goal. So, if this blog is going to be the place where I concentrate my time, then learning and studying with the specific intent of sharing that information seems like a very good goal to be working towards. If I can make the time to do the research, perhaps some of the elements I want to write about that seem quite disparate can be brought together in a successful way.

Cards 9-11 represents things that might come to pass in the coming year.
I drew the 9 of Cups, 21: The World, and the 5 of Wands.

The 9 of Cups and The World are all about success, and wishes being granted, which was very nice to see! The World suggests the successful conclusion of long-term goals, and the celebration of aims achieved. The 9 of Cups is more to do with contentment, and leading a satisfying and enjoyable life. The 5 of Wands however, suggests that if I want to reach this happiness and contentment, I’m going to have to fight for it, or at least be able to defend myself.

I went into this reading without any particular question in mind, viewing it more as an exercise in linking groups of cards together and seeing whether I could relate their meanings to one another.

I’d be interested to know what other conclusions I might have drawn from these combinations of cards – does anybody have any suggestions?

My reading this evening was a simple one, just pulling out one card.

The question was “should I blog about tarot?”, and my answer was The Magician.

According to the book that came with the cards (written by Barbara Moore), I can “move forward with confidence because this card suggests success in your business endeavours.”

Whilst I don’t have any particular business plans in mind with regard to the cards themselves, I do consider the development of this blog to be the foundation of my future plans, so I was reassured that I should be including my adventures with the tarot cards as part of that.

I still won’t be including my private readings, or at least not the precise details of them, but I’d like to talk about my interpretations of the meanings of the cards, and how I’m finding the experience of working with them.

The Magician was actually the very first card that I drew in my very first reading. In that context, it seemed to be telling me that I already have everything I need (all the elements are pictured in the card), along with the necessary energy and opportunity to make the most of things. It also spoke of the creative process happening smoothly, and that with determination and focus I’ll be able to achieve my goals.

As it happens, this is the third time that The Magician has come up for me, in the short time that I’ve had these cards. Either that means I’m very bad at shuffling, or I really need to take a hint from what the Magician has to say!

We’ve been snowed in for the past couple of days (a rare occurrence in the south of England!), so I thought I’d take the time to make something for the “stones” part of Scents & Stones.

This necklace is made entirely from beads reclaimed from bracelets that I designed about ten years ago but didn’t manage to sell. I decided to take the bracelets apart and put all the beads together to make one beautifully extravagant piece.

The majority of the beads are rose quartz. 8mm and 4mm beads are interspersed with large carved flowers and smaller stars. The middle strand is entirely amethyst, with shades ranging from milky lilac to a lovely deep purple. The shortest layer has beautifully clear quartz beads, which glisten in the light like delicate bubbles. There are also just a very few white moonstones.

The longest strand of the necklace measures 29″ and the two shorter strands measure 22″. It fastens with a toggle and loop – the loop is heart shaped, and the toggle is a little arrow.

Clear quartz (or rock crystal) is thought to be one of the most important stones used in crystal healing. It can unblock energy centres and help the body to heal itself. When used in meditation it can help to increase focus and dispel negativity.

Rose quartz has traditionally been used to represent love, and is often used for emotional healing. Amethyst is another member of the quartz family, and is said to be a particularly spiritual stone. It is often used to symbolise  protection. Moonstone can be used to represent wishes, intuition and balance.

The necklace as a whole is wonderfully heavy and tactile. I keep finding myself reaching for the large flowers and running the different sizes of beads through my fingers, almost like a rosary. I think I’m going to wear this one a lot.

There are some things I need to do differently another time – my back and knees are quite complainy today, from sitting on the floor to do the hand and foot massages. I need to get one of those little fold-up camping stools, that would make a big difference. Also I should have had more of a break for food and drink – I was starving when I got home! That part was extra-ridiculous, because the hostess had provided enough food to feed the five thousand and then some. She even gave me two boxes full of fabulous home-made cake to bring home with me. Yum.

I definitely want to start to learn more biochemistry than I got from my Anatomy & Physiology course. I was asked some Science Questions which I could only answer in quite a vague and basic way, and I really want to be able to go into more detail about how the essential oils actually work within the body. It’s fascinating stuff, but I need to go to the library and borrow some basic books on how cells work before I can go into the subject in more depth.

I also need to place a limit on what hours I work (we didn’t get home until 1am!) and on how many massages I do in a single session. Saturday was okay, and my wrists were thankfully fine afterwards, but any more than the fourteen mini-massages I ended up doing would have been a bit of a struggle – both time-wise and wrist-wise. I think I need to write up guidelines for two separate types of parties – a Neal’s Yard only one where only the host gets a face treatment, and a dedicated pamper party where more people can sign up to have the face/hand/foot massages.

I think I also need to increase the price of the massages, to cover the cost of the products that I’m using up in the process. My poor little jar of Wild Rose Beauty Balm is half empty!

Everybody seemed really pleased with their treatments, and I had a really great time doing them. I’m looking forward to signing people up for lots more parties in the New Year!

I wandered down to the end of Neal Street, turned left, and could immediately smell incense. So strongly, in fact, that the staff were requesting that it be put out! I went through into the room on the left of the shop, to have a look at the books and the tarot cards, still not entirely certain whether or not I was actually going to buy anything. A member of staff showed me a display book with a few cards from each oracle and tarot deck, and I spent a while flipping through the pages.

I picked out three sets of cards that I really liked. The first was the Paulina Tarot, but it was out of stock. So that was that decision made. My second choice was the Fenestra Tarot. The artwork is absolutely stunning, but the deck doesn’t come with an accompanying book. I could have bought a book separately, but my third choice came in a package with the deck, a matching book, and a little bag to keep the cards in. Perfect.

I then went to the shelf to pick up the boxed set, and was slightly embarrassed to discover that I’d chosen the Mystic Dreamer Tarot. The box was pink. Which should have been a good sign, but as if buying a deck of tarot cards wasn’t weird and embarrassing enough already, I’d only gone and chosen a pink deck! And could there possibly be any more ridiculous airy-fairy name than “Mystic Dreamer”, for goodness’ sake?

Time to have a wander around the rest of the shop, and a bit of a think.

Eventually I decided that it was stupid to be embarrassed about buying a tarot deck, particularly from a shop like Mysteries! Then I decided that it wasn’t the cards‘ fault that they’d been named “Mystic Dreamer”, I was choosing them on the strength of the artwork, and the fact that the box happened to be pink could only be an added bonus!

I started to read the book on the train home, and immediately enjoyed Barbara Moore’s writing style. There’s a very helpful introduction for complete beginners, lots of suggestions for different spreads, and each card has a couple of additional questions suggested by the imagery. The artwork itself is extremely detailed photo-montage. There’s a short explanation by the artist of how the cards were created, and I’d love to see them at a larger size so that I could really get into all the tiny little details.

I’ve only done one reading with these cards so far, but it was so ridiculously pertinent that I was very glad I’d overcome my embarrassment and bought them anyway!

We drew out three cards, which very clearly stated three things:

1) Everything I need to be successful is already in place, but I need to have the courage and confidence to go for it.

2) I need to pick one thing and stick to it! I need to do this in a rational way, rather than getting too emotionally attached to things.

3) Part of my future success could be related to something I was interested in previously and didn’t take forward, and the things I’ve been doing over the past few years have led me here, although perhaps not in an obvious way.

Paul stopped being quite so sceptical about the whole tarot thing when the card telling me to pick one thing and stick to it came up. In fact, he couldn’t stop laughing!

So, we did a lot of talking about what our plans for the next year might be. Some things are firmly in the “wait and see” category, but there are certainly a lot of little changes I can make which will tie together a lot of the things that I want to do. There’s a lot I can do with NYR Home, so that’s a good start. Once my current website building work is finished at the Museum, I’ve asked to switch the focus of my volunteering to the garden, and also maybe the horticultural archives, if anything comes up there. There might be a possibility then of doing guided tours of the garden, or maybe lectures or workshops about edible and medicinal plants and their history – something which I’d love to do.

Interesting Times.

I met lots of lovely people, several of whom live fairly locally to me, so hopefully we can build up a little support network between each other. All of us are very new to NYR Home, so as we go along we can share our experiences and learn together.

The training session was really interesting, with lots of information about the active ingredients in the products, and the science behind how they work. Some of it I knew already from my massage training, but lots of it was new.

I now understand how to ask you lots of open ended questions about your current skincare regime, and how to find out what your skin needs. Then, of course, I should be able to recommend which would be the best NYR products for you to use.

My skin, for example is very oily, so I’d need to be using the Palmarosa range. I learned the difference between genuinely dry skin which needs to be nourished, and dehydrated skin which needs to be re-hydrated. We also found out the difference between the products which are formulated to prevent the signs of ageing on the skin (that’ll be the Power Berry range), and the ones which can help to improve skin that already shows some of the signs of ageing, such as the award-winning Frankincense Nourishing Cream. That one smells and feels so lovely that I’m really disappointed it’s not the right product for my skin type. I might just have to settle for sniffing it in the jar.

I’m also fairly certain that we’re all going to have to buy new tester jars of Wild Rose Beauty Balm, because we’ll have used it up on ourselves instead of taking it to parties! I can’t tell you how gorgeous it smells, or how amazing it feels on the skin. You’ll just have to trust me. Or buy a pot, and find out for yourself!

I have Brian Froud’s Faerie Oracle, which was given to me as a gift a few years ago, but I don’t find them very intuitive to use, and I’ve been vaguely looking for a new deck ever since.

I used to work in a bookshop, but didn’t buy a deck when I worked there because I didn’t want my colleagues to think of me as the weirdo who bought the tarot deck. I haven’t bought one recently because I’m rather short of money, and it seemed a frivolous thing to buy and a waste of time to learn, when I should be concentrating on other things. And now I’m sort of vaguely waiting to see what Baba Studio’s Alice in Wonderland deck is going to be like when it comes out next year.

At the moment, when I think about properly seriously studying aromatherapy and herbalism and traditional plant remedies and stuff, I start to worry. I know that several of my friends are interested in non-Western forms of medicine, and in foraging for edible plants, and in not-especially-religious forms of spirituality. But I also know that many of my friends think of all of this as so much nonsense. And then there’s crystals and flower remedies and other “vibrational” forms of healing, which I know that most people think are rubbish, and then I imagine myself in four years’ time saying out loud to a Serious Grown-Up Business Person “yes, I’m a Herbalist”, and I see the look on their face, and I spent so many years putting up with the scorn of “you? a designer?” that I don’t know whether I can face going through it all again on a different path.

I feel as though all of this stuff has been calling out to me for years and years and years. But I’m still too frightened to listen, because there is still a part of me hidden away somewhere (underneath the pink hair, presumably) that thinks it’s important to be Normal and Grown-Up and have a Proper Job, instead of spending my time poking around on the edges of being a goth and a hippy and a witch.

I’m going in to London tomorrow, for my NYR Home product training in Covent Garden. I know that around the corner from Neal’s Yard is a shop called Mysteries, which sells crystals and incense and tarot cards and all sorts of things. Perhaps I’ll go in, and see whether anything grabs me.