Connecting with Mother Moon

Tonight is a Full Moon.  Just how in-tune with the energy of the Moon are you?

In the video below, Flora Peterson challenges us to go outside and connect with the Moon for 29 consecutive days.   Although her video was posted in 2009, this powerful exercise can be done anytime. 

Flora, aka CharmingPixieFlora, is a tiny powerhouse bursting with positive energy.  Her website bio lists her as a Teacher, Intuitive Consultant, Certified Life Coach and New Age Practitioner and she has an information-packed YouTube Channel called Flora's Family Footsteps.   Today also happens to be her birthday!

So tonight I'll anoint myself with the oils of Mabon (the Autumn Equinox) which are Benzoin, Myrrh and Sage, and for the next month I'll step outside to face Mother Moon and focus on embracing her energies.

Who knows, I may even howl.

Happy Birthday Flora!

How to Create Your Own Video Channel on YouTube

If you haven't created your own video channel on YouTube, what are you waiting for?  It's free, easy and a great way to showcase your products, services and bring attention to your business.   You could even create a channel just for family and friends to watch if you want nothing more than to show the folks back home your new baby.

My Channel
I created a channel for The Fragrant Muse last week with the goal of offering video tutorials, commentaries, product reviews and whatever else Musie and I dream up to boost your relationship with essential oils and encourage personal creativity.    The name of my channel is "Discover Your Fragrant Muse".  

As will happen when people get their hands on a video camera, you'll find no shortage of ridiculousness, obnoxiousness, amateur attempts at fame and just plain crap on YouTube, but there are also a good many videos that are educational and entertaining.  Why shouldn't yours be included?

What Video Camera to Use?

My challenge has been choosing a camera that gives good quality images, good audio, and still allows me to pay my son's college tuition.    I did find some good advice here.    Because I'm  excited to begin and somewhat overwhelmed with all the choices and options, I bought a Flip Mino HD (2nd generation).   Although the Flip wasn't my first choice after watching this review by Jon Paula,  I bought one anyway because it felt safe.   Jon named better starting video cameras in his Camera Buying Guide video.  I know that as my understanding of video technology matures, so will my equipment.  Or not.  Who knows, maybe I'll end up liking the Flip.

Signing Up
You can find very good step-by-step instructions for signing up for your channel on this EHow page.   If you look on the right sidebar of this page, you'll see other helpful ehow posts on being a Channel owner.

Note!
When you create your account, that will be the name of your channel.  If I had opened my account under Liz Fulcher I would now have "Liz Fulcher's Channel".  Instead, my account is under The Fragrant Muse so my channel is "The Fragrant Muse's Channel".   You might not want "PrettyBoy123" as your channel name.

Getting a Banner
To get your own header, you must first be a YouTube Partner.  This happens after you've produced a certain number of videos and have many subscribers.   It's a goal to work toward.

For now, just get your face out there...and let me know when that happens so I can stop by and subscribe.  And don't forget to subscribe to my channel!

The Fragrant Muse Gets a New Look. Finally!

My naked blog has finally gotten dressed.   Indeed, embellished with a beautiful party dress fit for all manner of fragrant musings and creative mutterings.  I love it!

The new banner was created by the very talented Stacy of the blog Pandora's Compass: Living Life with the Lid Off with minimal instruction from me.  

Stacy chose my Jasmine Muse SoulCollage© Card from my collection on Flickr then allowed her own creative instincts to flow and designed a header that she felt matched my energy and my blog message:  inspire your imagination (creativity) and enchant your senses (essential oils).

It is perfect.  Thank you Stacy!

The Chesterfield Ad

This Chesterfield advertisement has hung on the wall of every home I've lived in.  It's been woven into the fabric of my domestic life like a favorite cushion or set of dishes that's always been there. 

The poster is more than just a cool vintage collectible and has a unique significance for me.  The handsome model is my father.  This particular ad appeared on page 66 of Life Magazine on June 29, 1942 when he was just 25.  He posed for other Chesterfield ads that year which appeared in Popular Mechanics, Colliers and Good Housekeeping as well as billboards alongside the road.

Today is my father's birthday and he would have been 93.

Interviews by Julochka of Moments of Perfect Clarity

Julochka of the magnificent blog Moments of Perfect Clarity has been interviewing other bloggers -  specifically her readers - for the past month.   She sent her interviewees a list of questions then posted their responses on her blog.   Today's interview is with yours truly.

In looking over her collection of  interviews, I see a beautiful blogging patchwork, and I can't help but marvel how the blogosphere affords us the opportunity to know amazing and fascinating people that would otherwise be lost to us.  

What I found surprisingly (and utterly delightful) was the unexpected nature of her questions.  Instead of covering topics on my fragrant life, she asked things like "where do you go to unwind?" and "what do you miss about Italy?".

If you want to read more, go here.

Falling into Place

A deceivingly simple, yet profound message.  You'll want sound for this. 

What do I wish for my Creativity?

 

Today at Jamie Ridler Studios, the topic is creativity.

In the past year I've ruminated on the concept of essential oils being a catalyst for personal creativity.   That they support physical, emotional and mental health, is well-known and scientifically documented.  But what about supporting spiritual health?  Specifically,  personal creativity. 

Can essential oils be a catalyst for creative expression?  I say an emphatic YES! I firmly believe that essential oils can influence and support not only creativity, but also intuition, motivation and the occasional flashes of genius! 

In my own life, essential oils have inspired me to design healing blends, create an essential oil company and manifest educational programs on their unlimited uses.  Aromatics were the spark that ignited my Aromatic SoulCollage^® series and the same energetic force that that propelled me into the blogosphere, giving life to The Fragrant Muse.  

Bergamot Muse SoulCollage Card

To answer Jamie's question "what do you wish for your creativity"...

I wish to continue expanding this concept of aromatics bolstering the creative mind.   I have an idea for an educational program specifically on how to use essential oils to stimulate personal creativity.  And here we go again...my creative juices are flowing!

Meet my Psychiatrist

Last week James, Bean and I escaped for a spontaneous camping trip.  Four days in the woods and I'm a new person.  Okay, not completely new but certainly refreshed.  It seems that surrounding oneself with trees and sleeping next to a burbling stream is good medicine for an overworked mind.   More to the point, the elixir was no electronics.   No WiFi.  No cell phone.  No TV.  No radio. 

For the first time in months, and I do mean months, I worked in my art journal.  I painted, wrote, mused and dreamed.   I read The Creativity Book: A Year's Worth of Inspiration and Guidance and found myself enormously inspired, which led to more journaling, musing and dreaming. 

We watched in silent awe as a mother black bear with three cubs passed through our campsite at 5 a.m. one morning.  We adopted "Chuck" a precious little chipmunk who ate from James' hand.  We  swam in the chilly mountain lake, took long walks in the cool woods and talked about everything under the sun.

It was good.  Very good.

I foresee another therapy session before summer's end.

And Now for Something Completely Different

1961
Rosemary aged 15
Elizabeth aged 4
(I didn't become Liz until later)
Paul aged 12

This one, I let her win.

I spent several hours last night working on photographs of my oil bottles for the website.  I carried the bottles into the kitchen where the light was best, set them on a beige square tile, added a white background and snapped away.

For the rest of the night, Musie wouldn't leave me alone.  She kept poking me in the brain, insisting that the pictures weren't right - that they were flat, boring and, above all, they weren't me.

When I got up this morning, I rummaged around my dresser drawers and found an old cotton quilt with pretty appliqued flowers.  I set the quilt on a table in front of a bright window, smushed it around then rested the bottles on the soft fabric and took a picture.

Musie approved.