Review: Rock On!

February 12, 2018 by Janet Callahan Leave a Comment

So, I’ve been on the hunt for things for us to do as a family on the weekends. Weekends around here are challenging – the adults want down time, the kids struggle with unstructured time, and we don’t always share the same ideas about how to have a good time.

To that end, I’ve been reading books on doing yoga with special needs children, got certified to teach kids yoga via Pretzel Kids, researching games that are cooperative and less turn-based and less counting based, bringing snow into the kitchen as a sensory bin, trying to figure out how to store all the puzzles the kids have gotten over the years and….trying not to pull my hair out.

One of the games we picked up recently is called Rock On. It’s a geology-based game, but parents could quite easily add on metaphysical properties, and it’s a great teaching tool for stone and crystal identification.

There are different levels of play for kids who are more or less skilled in geography – we’re still working on the easiest “matching” level, which doesn’t require any questions. There are full color charts for both the main unpolished stones and the tumbled stones that are used as markers.

All in all, a fun time all around, and a great collection of crystals to get started learning about them.

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As is almost always the case, I bought this product myself, and the review represents my opinion.

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Review: Crystal Messages from the Crystal Kids Guidance Cards

January 30, 2018 by Janet Callahan Leave a Comment

This is a deck of 57 cards, each with a different crystal or stone, several metaphysical properties of that stone, and an affirmation. There’s also a book, as is typical for most oracle decks, giving a bit more explanation of each affirmation.

The cards are ok, though if I’m being really picky, the photos are sort of varied in lighting, which makes some of the stones harder to see. It’s clear the layout was done on a word processor, and the cards don’t really have the polish you’d expect from a professionally designed deck, but they do the job.

The book with the deck says that you can buy a kit with each of the stones in the deck. I haven’t found that anywhere, but I have found the “Crystal Kids” books that go with the deck at a store near here.

There are several suggested uses for the cards. Using them as flash cards to learn the properties or to match with the actual stones is one. Another is as an oracle deck, pulling a card each morning, both for the affirmation and to choose to carry or wear the stone that matches the card of the day.

I think, if you had all the stones, that could be a neat way for anyone (kids or adults) to learn about stones.

All in all, a nice deck, and probably a good starting point for many who want to learn about crystals.

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Grounded

September 26, 2017 by Janet Callahan Leave a Comment

For the 3rd time in a month, I found my hands in a mix of flour and water. This time, it’s nixtamalized corn meal (corn is treated with lye to make it store better, and to prevent pellagra) for making corn tortillas.

Mixing cornmeal for tortillas

And before that it was fry bread (Native American bread, made from the sorts of things that came in commodity food boxes in the early reservation years. Before that, it was Roti, an Indian flatbread made from wheat flour.

Mixing fry bread dough

Cooking has always been a source of grounding for me – a thing to do when I’m overwhelmed. Because the repetitive acts of cooking – chopping, stirring, kneading – are like a moving meditation.

Cooking tortillas

But there are spiritual aspects beyond that meditation. I’ve been exploring the foods of my ancestors, and expanding our menu here a bit. While my Native ancestors weren’t farmers, they likely knew of corn from others….and it’s definitely native to North America.

Golden frybread

While there are groups out there promoting only eating what our ancestors ate for our own health…more than half of my ancestors are, we believe, from Europe (I guess I’ll know soon – 23&Me is running a study on mental health and genetics, and by getting into the study, I get my DNA done for free). They had wheat, milk, and domesticated animals. So I don’t think we’ll be cutting any foods completely out of our diets anytime soon.

Tacos with chicken and cheese

But there’s something to be said for making connections with the earth and our ancestors via food – most families have those recipes handed down from parent to child. There’s magic in cooking from scratch – turning random things into a totally different dish.

Classic Indian Taco

Next up, I’m trying out some traditional dishes involving “wild rice” (Native American wild rice isn’t really rice, it’s a grain from another type of plant) and corn soup. Good fall dishes for celebrating all the harvest festivals.

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Fall already?

August 23, 2017 by Janet Callahan Leave a Comment

How in the world has it been 8 months since my last post? My goal this year was weekly…but it’s been that kind of year. We’ve started new therapies with the kids, and had some new health things crop up with them. I’ve had some more intense things come up at work that have required my attention. We’re without a housekeeper at the moment, so laundry and cleaning toilets has to fit in there too.

I’ve been working on doing a better job of time management, and of planning how to get business things done. And…I’ve decided to take a break from learning about marketing and running a business to actually write…which is a huge part of my business.

I’m writing a (public) monthly Pagan Parenting Tip of the Month (PPTotM) on Patreon and I’ve started posting outlines and work in progress on “Magical Parenting” over there (for patrons only). I’m writing a Pagan parenting advice column on PBN news. I’m getting some help to get back on the newsletter horse, so to speak, and hired someone to help pull that together every month. I’m scheduling local in-person classes. I’m doing more business networking locally. I’m on the hunt for a space for local classes and for doing Reiki and other energy work, because I want a space that is mine, and because the local scene for those sorts of spaces are pretty full.

School here starts in about a week and a half, and my goal is to talk more here on my blog about special needs kids, and holidays, and putting it all together. I signed us up as our own little 2-child splinter of a local Pagan youth group, and I’m working on building that into our schedule too. The kids thrive on routines and schedules, and I need them to keep me from dropping any of the balls I’m juggling 🙂

So, here’s to the new school year, and to more consistency….

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Magical Winter Break Camp

December 5, 2016 by Janet Callahan Leave a Comment

Brace yourself. Winter break is coming!

And with it comes, “Mom, I’m booooored!” from the kid who just got new toys.

Every year, I think, “The kids have this whole week off school between Christmas and New Years. We should do something fun as a family! Maybe we should take a trip, or go to some museums, or build a snow fort!”

And then the holidays hit with all their busy-ness, and winter break rolls around, I realize that I have no plan, and we’re going to be home all week with nothing to do but get on each others’ last nerve.

Actually…that happens with every school break.

Not all summer, because the kids are at camp.

So, maybe we need a camp!

Do you want to do something fun this year for break with the kids?

Do you want to do something magical with the kids?

Wouldn’t it be awesome if there was some sort of camp they could go to and have fun all week?

This year, I’m hosting a free virtual camp during winter break. FIVE days with an assortment of camp-style activities for you and your children to do together. Activities will be suitable for any weather, and a wide range of ages.

Each morning you’ll get an email with a list of magical activities in a variety of categories. Discussion and reporting out of the fun you’ve had will happen in the Magical Moms Club facebook group, but you need to be registered for camp to get the day’s activities and to receive your camp swag.

Complete at least one activity from each day by the end of the holidays (11:59 pm, January 1, 2017 eastern time) and your children each will receive a Magical Winter Break Camp 2016 button in the mail.

Registration for camp (FREE!) will be open until 6 pm (eastern time) December 24th, and camp starts with your first email early on the morning of December 26th. Click here to register!

Check out my new energy work page, http://www.facebook.com/GoodVibrationsEnergyStudio