Hello Once more, Today’s issue is going to be a short one because my husband is home. He arrived late yesterday afternoon and as I haven’t seen him in six weeks I am sure you all can understand why I want to be with him instead of working on this. I will admit though he has started on my honey do list fairly quickly this time. (Might be the top of the list included “make air conditioner work” and it was 95 inside when he walked in the door. It involved a bit of rewiring instead of just plugging it in. He is messing with it some more this morning. I am on turn breaker switch on and off duty. He took us out to eat last night, as it was too hot too cook. (No argument from me.) Herb garden wise, I need to start picking chamomile, the plants are starting to be covered in flowers. Earlier this week the girls were picking them, but as of yesterday the flowers started outnumbering their patience and desire to pick. This is it for my editor’s note this week. So until next time, Sheila K. Watkins Editor: Whispers of a Stone Circle See last page of this newsletter for submission guidelines, forwarding guidelines, where you can subscribe to Whispers and copyright information. ~*~*~*~ Untitled By Errolwolf 2002 pacing...forth & back tension and energy wrapped together enmeshed storm brewing wind and rain leaves tumbling downward in spirals the moist earth welcomes holding tightly aromas of musk fragrant air my head lightens I enter the space forlorn in the damp dried twigs snap the flame touches cloak of peace surrounds lowering my shoulders deep cleansing breath escapes...mixing upward the spiral turns warmth spreads wings enfolding the space glows floating I see the judgments causing anxiety I ask strength to release to accept frailties differences universal love upon opening I feel lifted supported my breath is calm my body is restfilled I awaken snug on Mother Earth warmed by her glow safe in her support filled with her love my vision is whole as always she was here waiting for me to ask to seek to open ~*~*~*~ Cool Link(s) of the week: Ishi's Brain, Ishi's Ashes: Anthropology and Genocide " From the February 2001 issue of Anthropology Today, presented in PDF format. http://socrates.berkeley.edu:7001/Research/hughes/Ishi.pdf Who Was Ishi?: A Source of Surprise, Humility and Humanity A brief biography of the Yahi Indian Ishi and his years at Alfred Kroeber's Museum of Anthropology and Ethnology at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Published in 1998 in Daybreak, an online newsletter from UCSF. http://www.ucsf.edu/daybreak/1998/10/02_ishi.html Ishi's Long Road Home: A California Indian's Preserved Brain Accentuates His Tragic, Mysterious Life Written for the January 2000 issue of Science News Online, the article describes the first steps toward returning the brain to descendants of Ishi's people for ceremonial burial. http://www.sciencenews.org/20000108/bob1.asp ~*~*~*~ Crystal Grids Author: Jodi Wetherup (ierne) Published on: June 5, 2001 in Women and Pagan/Spiritual Healing Methods and used with permission. http://www.suite101.com/welcome.cfm/women_healing_methods Crystal grids are used to magnify other healing techniques, such as Reiki and Golden Triangle, as well as by themselves in many cases. The energies from chakra centers correspond with certain stones and crystals, opening the centers and allowing them to clear and begin the healing process. Crystals and stones also correspond with various organs and systems within the body. With the Chakras open, and the stones laid out properly, working together, they can draw the illness out and help create a healing in this way as well. What is a Crystal Grid? Well, in simple terms, it's a layout of which stones go where for a particular healing. In an energetic sense, a crystal grid is just that, an intricate grid of energy lines formed from stone to stone. Each stone amplifies the healing properties of the other stones, creating an excellent healing atmosphere. Unfortunately, I have used crystal grids only rarely, and only ever with quartz crystal. The multitude of stones that are useful are very hard to come by offline in the local area, at least at an affordable rate (although I have been known to pay as much as $5.00 for a piece of Rose Quartz an inch round). I have my own base set of varying stones, which I use for recipients and myself, cleansing thoroughly in water in between times. However, since they often have to cleanse for quite a while, a grid is something I do sparingly. I've recently discovered some great resources online, and hope to have a large collection of crystals and stones soon. One of these resources is Eye of the Day, a great shop in Colorado with an excellent catalogue online. Stones are available in mixed pound bags, or single stone pound bags. I believe they are also available separately through the catalogue. One great book to start on is D.J. Conway's "Laying on of Stones," reviewed below: Title: Laying on of Stones Author: D.J. Conway Publisher: Crossing Press ISBN: 1-58091-029-7 Pages: 127 Release/Copyright: (c) 1999 D.J. Conway If you're looking for a book that stands out from the crowd, containing all you need to know about using crystals & grids for healing, this book is it. Once again, Ms. Conway presents concise information rolled into a package with perfectly simple, totally understandable illustrations. I've come to enjoy, and yes, expect, this kind of quality from Ms. Conway and Crossing Press. With a brief introduction to stones and their energies, the use of stones at home and at work, and a short commentary on chakras and auras, the book starts out great and goes on to 84 pages of specific healing patterns and illustrations. Marvelous work! Finally, at the end of the book we come to the properties of each stone and a source list. Since I've had many new requests for more information on Turquoise, I've chosen Ms. Conway's properties as my quote: from page 118, paragraph 3: Turquoise A master healer, turquoise protects, calms, balances, grounds, draws prosperity and good luck, aligns the chakras, enhances creativity, balances the female/male energies, bestows mental clarity, absorbs negativity, and increases psychic abilities. It is also helpful for fear, grief, guilt, and lack of peace. Use it for the heart, the chest, the neck, the lungs, the respiratory system, the eyes, cataracts, regenerating tissue, emotional and mental problems, circulation, headaches, and skin disorders. This stone should never be cleaned with salt or salt water. ~*~*~*~ Announcement(s): Date: May 25th, 2002 From: Ohio Chair for the Pagan Unity Campaign (PUC) To: The General Pagan Public In All 50 States Subject: Upcoming IAM2 post card campaign on Summer Solstice Contact: Press@PaganUnityCampaign.org Lady Liberty wants you! On Summer Solstice, PUC will host the second annual I AM post card campaign, to educate our elected officials in Washington that Pagans are among their voters in every district in the USA. The post cards are to state clearly and simply; "I am a Pagan ----fill in the blank---" (An example; Mother, chef, police officer, teacher, artist, little league coach.) These cards should be local attraction pictures, to show our presence in all states. They should be sent to Washington on Summer Solstice, the same as last year, when we estimated that tens of thousands of post cards from Pagans reached our capitol, making a grand impact on the officials whom received them. We want to improve on those numbers this year for the IAM2 campaign. setting the stage for an even more far-reaching IAM3 in 2003. We are inviting the whole Pagan community to join with PUC in this important campaign of political activism in the name of the growing Pagan rights movement. PUC hopes Pagans will see this campaign as invaluable work, following in the footsteps of honorable groups such as WARD, Circle Network, and Witchvox, in furthering the awareness and acceptance of Paganism. If all of us join together in these battles for our equal rights and deserved respect, then we shall not fail. United we stand! Be loud, be proud! So Vote It be! The President's Address is: President George W. Bush The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500 You may find your US Senator's addresses at: http://www.senate.gov/senators/ You may find your US Representative's addresses at: http://www.house.gov/house/ Complete details on I AM 2 can be found at: http://www.paganunitycampaign.org/iam/ The Pagan Bill Of Rights can be found at: http://www.paganunitycampaign.org/pbor.html Thanks for your help! Medicine Heart ~*~*~*~ Writer's Biographies: Errolwolf describes herself as: “a hermit crone residing in a serene coastal valley of Oregon,” Errolwolf writes rituals and poems for the spirit.” Jodi Wetherup (ierne) is the editor of more on-line publications then anyone in their right mind should even consider (this includes PaganMuse which can be found at: http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/paganmuse). She runs a home-based business and is a wife and mother as well. (Editor’s commentary: She is also involved in a million and one other projects. I would list them all but I want to actually spend time with my husband while he is home.) Sheila K. Watkins knew from the time she was 15 that she wanted to be a writer but did not really start writing until she entered college where she worked on her college newspaper and also worked as the editor of the feature section for one semester. She was also introduced to the love of writing poetry at this time. Fortunately for all of us most of the poems have been lost to the world of men. After college she worked several jobs during the next few years but none included writing. It wasn’t until after both of her children had started school in 1998 that she went back to her love of putting words on a computer screen. Her first submission was accepted by publication by the Iowa Witch and Pagan newsletter and it started her on the path of truly honing her work. In October of 2000, she founded and became editor of Whispers of a Stone Circle. In March of 2002 she added the responsibility of editing the American Witch and Pagan weekly newsletter. ~*~*~*~ Submissions are always welcomed and can be made to: Zeliziw@netins.net In submitting materials writers are agreeing that if accepted I may post them in the newsletter and on the web page (whenever I finally get back to work on it.) Works submitted must be the writer’s own work and they must still retain the copyright OR it must be verifiably public domain. Works can have been published before but please nothing that has been around over and over again. Copyright remains in the author’s possession. The Author also realizes that they will not be paid. (If I had money I would be hosting this on something other then Yahoo.) If a submission is accepted, I will check for punctuation, capitalization and spelling in submitted articles and poems. In articles, I will fix minor errors if they are present. I will NOT reword things (except for an occasional “an” for “a” and vice versa.) Forwarding information: If you chose to forward this newsletter, do so in its entirety, including copyright and contact information. People may subscribe to Whispers of A Stone Circle at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WhispersOfAStoneCircle/ All articles, poems, etc, except where noted are copyrighted by the writers and are used with permission. They are not to be republished without the express permission of the writers. Contact information may be obtained by contacting the editor of Whispers of A Stone Circle at Zeliziw@netins.net Copyright (c) 2002 Sheila K. Watson. All Rights Reserved