I am planning a Yuletide Celebration at the store, with readings and healings and a wish tree.  What is a Wish Tree?  Let me explain.

Yule is about the return of the light.  At one time, it was a celebration at the end of December I believe celebrating Saturnalia.  The Church moved the birth of Jesus to also coincide with the Winter Solstice, the return of the light from the Sun, and the shift increasing darkness to increasing light.  At any rate, after the Winter Solstice, the light of the sun will increase, slowly bringing up back to spring.

This is also the time of year so many of us are pressured or feel pressured around gift giving. The nice thing about what I sell is that the items and books help with re-orienting the person to the deeper meanings in life.  While it may not all be about stuff, some things help.

I have an event planned to help.  This year, we have a Yuletide Celebration with psychic fair, energy healing, and sales throughout the weekend of Dec 17th and 18th. We are also trying to collect canned goods for the foodbank, and those folks who bring in canned goods will get a tag from the store tree for all kinds of customer appreciation specials.

We will also have a Wish Tree.  On a small piece of paper, a person can come in, write down their wish for their intentions, and we will add it to the Yule celebrations in a special ceremony.

So, I hope to see you all.  Peace and Blessings of the holiday season to you.

Charlene

Last night, at a networking meeting where I was talking to a small group of women about what I do in my business and what we had to offer, I was told that my retail sales could be down because “we are going to do our shopping for the holidays online.”  I operate a retail store as well as the online store, and other than a few tweaks and such, there are some folks that are not willing to buy online, but lots are thinking that buying online is problem free, and that there is consumer protection.  There is and there isn’t.  Check this recent article about the topic by CBC News.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2011/11/14/technology-returning-online-purchases-piac.html

This recent article highlights some of the dangers of online shopping, just for “stuff.”  Imagine going on a vacation, researching it all online, putting it together, charging your card, and then you go, and everything is a disaster.  You miss your flight, it gets cancelled because of volcanos, or what have you.  Now what?  That cheapy reservation may have saved you $10 to $50 dollars instead of going with an agent, but that agent did all your research.  Sure, you killed some time online doing the same research too, but could you have been going to the gym, hanging with your kids, or something else?  And, when you book yourself and the screw up fairy shows up while you are away, can you call your agent to fix it?  Oh, wait that was YOU.  Your agents have connections to the trip suppliers you may not have.  They can likely fix it quicker.  I guess you get what you pay for, and that little extra you pay the agent is for their time.  Do you think it is worth it now?

But I, as a brick and clicks retailer, metaphysical teacher, and student of all that spiritual stuff, see the need to update my policies on sales and returns.  (Actually I have one—any defective item I will refund, even at a loss, and fully.  Shipping included.)  I have not actually stated one in the store policies, but given what is online and this article, it is high time I did.  So, I get that online shopping means no rubbing shoulders with crowds at malls to find out that the retailer has no more of xyz brand gizmo.  I wonder how I will get my own shopping done.  But belonging to that group of owners who are downtown businesses, small businesses, and of course, one woman running it all, I get how much goes into pricing my merchandise, and while someone else may undercut me, at what cost?  You can buy the book here after you flip through it—I have even read most of what I stock, so I can tell assure you about the content.  I even have a couple of leftovers that the big boys only have in used books.  But that book buys the store’s light, space for workshops and community events, buys you a connection and service to an experience and resource not just online, but face to face. Seeking and confused? Call me.  That expertise comes with a fee, and I know I am worth it, and so are the other businesses offering you something locally accessible.

The Occupy Movement highlighted the discrepancy between the 1% and the 99%.  It starts with where you vote with your money.  Elections aside, real changes will happen when we consider what our dollars do. Sure, US stuff is cheaper, and anyone importing it will pay a 22% duty on clothing, on top of other sales taxes, so, consider if it really a deal. Use your money to show what you value. Some folks will buy gift certificates or the like, or gifts of a real practical nature (grocery cards, or tires for a vehicle), this season.  You decide what you value.   I have come to understand that when folks are not buying it is not because they do not want to; it is because they cannot right now.  I see that in my sales, and I am learning to take it in stride.  Running a business is a little bit of faith and a whole lot of work, but I love what I do so much, the idea of working for someone else is not a reality I want.

So, with extended hours at the store this holiday season, if you are in town, drop in, and if not, check out the website.

Peace and Blessings

It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver.- Mohandas Gandhi

Redefining wealth

America is the richest nation on the planet. Daily, the importance and value of monetary wealth is reinforced to us–cars, celebrity, pampering, exotic travel, a desirable wardrobe, and money beyond comprehension are constantly before our eyes as the goals you “should” strive for. Money is power, they say, but is it really? Studies show that the wealthy are no happier than anyone else. In fact some would say people in such circumstances are even more prone to addiction, depression, and feelings of low self-worth. The real goals you should desire are a healthy body and a positive lifestyle. Eating well, exercising, and getting adequate rest gives you an edge against cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and other ailments that are wrecking our society and cutting lives short everyday. A long, healthy life and taking care of yourself should be your new marker for wealth.

That is quite the quotation.  On this Thanksgiving, I am challenging everyone that follows my blog to consider what wealth means and should mean.  We have Occupy Wall Street and similar protests going on around , well, at least North America anyways, based on protesting the disparity between those that have and those that have not.  I know in the work of my business, that wealth, abundance and money are ongoing issues.  Cash flow is an absolute necessity in running a business, and this week, I have been absorbed in developing plans for generating cash, because when you own a business, marketing it is full time.

But it is more than that.  Owning a business has forced me to look head long into the shadow of self worth, deservability, manifestation and more.  To be honest, I know that this is my path, although at times, I feel like it has been uphill. The more I listen to mentors, and other women entrepreneurs, doing what I am doing, I know that I have part of the solution already, but I still block it because I think money and wealth should not be related. And, I much as I know that money is energy, and I do work with energy directly, I still struggle with money–why?  Because as an energy worker, druid, pagan, spiritual person in the process of learning more, money and having it is the one place, the last bastion, where my shadow hides out.

I also know that failing to address the shadow issues with money interferes with my ability to manifest my financial goals.  So, my job is to pay the bills, manage the numbers, and get back into visioning, planning and imaging.  So, I am re-writing my business plan, (more like revising, but it is about time.)  And, as I go, I find running a business is just as much work spiritually for me, as another other training I have undergone, because to make the business succeed, I have to go beyond myself to do it. I have to be healthy, I have to balance my family life and my spiritual life, and more to be able to address the challenges.  So, at times, there are projects that do not get the attention they deserve, but going to the doctor to get my medication sorted out is just as important as marketing copy writing.

What are you doing to be wealthy in your life?  I know that today, and everyday, I have gratitude for my life and the path I have taken.

I would like you to check out this video first.

http://bit.ly/o4SpmD

Now, what do you think?  We know that there are a lot of people that are struggling with higher food prices.  It is harder and harder to feed a family.  I remember my mother feeding a family with four kids on roughly $700 a month, including bread and milk.  It now costs me almost $1300 a month for groceries to feed a family with three kids, one less than my parents.  Our income, for the record, is easily double what my father earned.

But the idea that grocery stores cannot donate good but not sell-able food is sad.  I know that in BC, it is done, even with stock that cannot be sold coming close to expiry, is donated to local food banks.  There are even collection boxes year round in the local stores here, and we can also donate rhubarb, apples and the like to food banks when we grow them in town.

Sigh.  I think we we need to pay a little more attention to trying to eliminate waste.  I give my kids the gears each time they throw away half eaten food.  I make them save it for the next time they need a snack. What do you think?  Deep down, do we live in a consumer society that anything not perfect is waste?  When is this too much?

This weekend coming up, the store will be closed and the products will be for sale at the Salmon Valley Women’s Fest.  Once again, the women gather to nurture and heal themselves, each other and just be. It is be a wonderful weekend with workshops, energy healing sessions of various types, and card and oracle readings.

We are camping or staying at the beautiful Salmon Valley resort, with its full campground.  We will have the ability to sing, dance, drum, meditate, relax, and be.

There are lots of demands on women, from the maiden years, to the mother years, to the grandmother years.  We uphold our culture, values, and of course, bring the next generation literally into the world.  We create from our souls.  And, we need our sisterhood to hold each other.

If you have the time, consider attending.  You can find out more at  this link here.

But to take that as a reason to just not share any religion with your child seems like confusing the issue to me. The tension many converted pagans feel with their families isn’t about the religion as much as it is the expectation—indeed, the demand—that the child follows the parents’ path exactly. Thus, when the child finds his or her own way, there’s conflict.

Teaching a child about your religion doesn’t necessitate that. You can let your children share your religion without binding them to it. The problem is not in exposing a child to religion, but in refusing to accept that children aren’t going to grow up to be exactly like their parents. (Thank the gods for that.) If parents support their children’s choices, there won’t be the rifts that many pagans have had to deal with—those aren’t the fault of religion itself, but the expectations people have put onto them.

 

Thank You Eric Scott.  The biggest thing I see out there is this confusion about the role that religion or spirituality is or does play in family life.  You see, back in the day I attended weekly Mass with my family, it was not just about religion.  The church I attended was created and supported by five French Canadian Catholic families.  Going to church was like going to an extended family reunion.  Each Sunday after Mass, for some time, once some of the Vatican 2 reforms had taken place, we had social with tea and sandwiches or muffins and such.  Really helped a lot of folks get there early, as the reward was refreshments.

What I missed for a number of years after I left the church behind was that sense of belonging, community.  It is hard to have that with the way pagan spirituality or religions come about.  Sometimes, we get to know people, some quite well, through festivals and events, and sometimes, that gives us a false sense of community.  No, community, and family, are places where we learn how to be human and interact with others. So what role does religion or spirituality play for us?  Sometimes, it is a place of community, and sometimes it is not.

So, if the community is something you are striving for, consider whether or not you are looking for a place similar to a church.  Pagan run umbrella organizations, that support and foster loose socialization of pagan folk, may be a place to create and foster some kind of kids programming.

But also let us not forget what we share at home, and sometimes, we can let children explore what is out there too through our festival involvements.  Should we let our children into rituals?  Sure if they kid friendly or the child is developmentally ready, by which I mean that where the child is at around life and maturity is more of a guideline, than age necessarily.

Some of the values I see with pagans and paganism is a healthy respect for diversity.  We allow people to live and let live, and we are not threatened by differences.  We can teach our children how to handle that, and maybe oppression and harassment if it comes up. We can also teach our children what our beliefs are in simple ways.  Teaching about the Goddess and God is not the same as binding our children to her.  It is about sharing what we have come to know and understand.

And, if they reject our path, they will have an appreciation, hopefully, of what spirituality can offer.