In this week's “At the Well” edition you'll find:
- What's new in the shop
- Courses & Classes
- The most encouraging thing I read this week
- The cozy & comforting recipe my husband Alan can't stop making
- What I'm up to & reading lately
What's New in the Shop
Luminous Glow Face Oil: My latest, greatest skincare creation! This Face Oil is packed full of concentrated luxurious oils such as Pomegranate, Rosehip, Raspberry, and Camellia Flower, plus skin-loving essential oils like Sandalwood, Myrrh, Frankincense, and Helichrysum italicum.
If your face is beginning to feel a little dry now that Fall weather is here, this is for you! I’ve tested it on my own sensitive, problematic (Rosacea) combination, and mature skin with excellent results.
Before we continue…
A Word about Crystals (for those who are skeptical, scared, or unsure about them):
We all have symbols in our homes: anything from photos of loved ones or places we've been to souvenirs from travel, to paintings that represent someone or something, to objects given to us by friends or loved ones that remind us of them every time we look at them.
That’s what crystals are for me. Symbols. For example, when I look at Selenite, I think of clarity, wisdom, peace; when I see Citrine, I think of joy, creativity, the warmth of the sun; Green Aventurine makes me think of new beginnings, growth, green plants, money, and prosperity.
Some of you may actually feel these properties from crystals, but even if you don’t, they can be symbols of what you want more of in your life, of intentions or goals you may have.
So you don’t have to be afraid of adding crystals in your home, pocket, or desk at work. They’re beautiful and they're symbols of what you want more of.
The seven crystals included in this set are: Green Aventurine, Selenite, Black Obsidian, Rhodonite, Smoky Quartz, Sodalite, and Hematite.
This crystal set grounds and protects against negative energy, promotes courage, peace, clarity & positivity, enhances insight and perception, brings good luck, relieves stress, is calming, stabilizing & soothing to emotions.
The seven crystals included in this set are: Kambaba Jasper, Yellow Tiger's Eye, Green Aventurine, Citrine, Green Goldstone, Pyrite, and Moss Agate.
This crystal set promotes joy, wisdom, positivity, discernment, confidence, focus & clarity. These crystals attract abundance, success and growth, restore vitality, and are grounding & balancing.
The Tincture Making Course is starting this coming Tuesday Oct. 14th. It’s a short course that gives you everything you need to know about making tinctures and glycerites.
Here are some questions or objections you might have to making or using tinctures:
- Q. What’s so great about tinctures?
- A.They are potent, absorbable, quick-working medicine. They’re portable, money-saving, and last for years if stored properly!
- Q. Should I avoid tinctures because they contain alcohol?
- A. If you struggle with alcohol addiction, are pregnant, have liver disease, or have other conditions that make you sensitive to even the smallest amount of alcohol, then by all means, avoid tinctures. Come learn about making glycerites instead! But if that’s not an issue for you, then the amount of alcohol in a tincture dose is nothing to be concerned about.
- Q. Why shouldn't I be concerned about the alcohol in a tincture?
- A. If you eat fermented vegetables, drink kombucha or other fermented drinks, or have ever eaten an overripe banana, they contain about the same amount of alcohol as a dose of tincture. If those don’t bother you, a tincture won’t either. So sign up here.
Ongoing Tue. & Wed. Morning Yoga Classes:
- You can join the Tue. Rooted & Relaxed 10-11am EST class series or the Wed. Wake Up & Flow 8-9am EST class series at any time.
- Join thru the Delicata House shop (Tue. classes or Wed. classes–they are prorated) or by joining Yoga Club LIVE on Patreon (with a 7-day FREE trial).
- FREE Patreon Community Yoga Class next Saturday morning, October 18th, 10-11am EST!! On Zoom, slow and gentle grounding practice. Become a Patreon member to access.
NOTE: I'd really love for more of you to come join the Patreon community! It's a private online space, (not social media), where I share my best work: yoga, Ayurvedic lifestyle, herbal & aromatherapy content, and more. In addition, I share most courses I make in the Patreon community first, so you're getting hundreds of dollars of value each year. Not to mention, it's where we can connect with one another without trolls. Become a member, support the work, help build community!
Encouragement
This post by Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés was shared by a friend in our local women’s circle and the words sing of courage and determination. (Maybe you've read them before.) At the bottom of that post, you can click a link that takes you to a post that it was excerpted from. And if you look at the bottom of that post, you’ll see that she originally published this in 2001!! Her words were for then and for now too.
Here are a few paragraphs from the excerpted post:
“In any dark time, there is a tendency to veer toward fainting over how much is wrong or unmended in the world. Do not focus on that. There is a tendency, too, to fall into being weakened by dwelling on what is outside your reach, by what cannot yet be. Do not focus there. That is spending the wind without raising the sails.
We are needed, that is all we can know. And though we meet resistance, we more so will meet great souls who will hail us, love us and guide us, and we will know them when they appear…
Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world all at once, but of stretching out to mend the part of the world that is within our reach. Any small, calm thing that one soul can do to help another soul, to assist some portion of this poor suffering world, will help immensely. It is not given to us to know which acts or by whom, will cause the critical mass to tip toward an enduring good.
What is needed for dramatic change is an accumulation of acts, adding, adding to, adding more, continuing. We know that it does not take everyone on Earth to bring justice and peace, but only a small, determined group who will not give up during the first, second, or hundredth gale.”
Recipe
We finally have some actual Fall weather and I am so happy!! I don’t know if I’ve shared this recipe before, but Alan’s been making this Chicken Pot Pie Soup about once a week. It makes a lot, which can be frozen for later. It’s super filling and a perfect lunch or dinner with a salad or some greens on the side.
- As usual, I’ve made changes to the original:
- We put our chicken breast in the Instant Pot (without the garlic powder and smoked paprika), shred it and then add it at the end.
- We use Miyoko's vegan butter instead of butter and gluten free flour for the flour.
- We don’t add the garlic because I think garlic ruins chicken soup.
- We use full-fat coconut milk instead of cream.
If you’re vegetarian, you could sub garbanzos, another white bean or add tofu for the chicken and sub veg bouillon for the chicken bouillon.
Marketing Challenge
I mentioned last week that I’m taking part in Leonie Dawson’s 21-day challenge for marketing. (I've learned so much from being a member of her Brilliant Biz & Life Academy.) So, in addition to adding more offers and posting more in all the places, I’ve been posting a video of myself talking about a product or course I sell every day on a few different spots online. It’s challenging, but good for me. The more I do it, hopefully the easier it will get.
Alan is awesome!
I have a real sweetheart of a husband! On Thursday night he brought home Thai takeout from my favorite Thai place (Tamarind) in Ithaca which is 30 min. away because I’ve been craving it. But when we opened the bag, they had messed up the order and put in the wrong dish. So he called them up and drove all the way back down to Ithaca to pick up the right order and all the way back home again. He was tired and hungry, but he loves me and he did it.
When I read Dr. Estés words about doing kind things for others, this is what she was talking about. Kindness. Caring. Going the extra mile (or 50).
Reading
It has been one of my slowest reading years to date because I'm mostly reading non-fiction which I simply cannot burn through like I do with novels.
But, because I'm reading so many weighty books at the moment, I am reading two new mysteries, which is my favorite genre for soothing my overactive mind:
Richard Osman's newest Thursday Murder Club mystery, The Impossible Fortune. I LOVE these feel-good mysteries. The main characters are all seventy or eighty-somethings and get together at their rather posh retirement village and solve murders. They're fun and light-hearted reads yet not fluffy. They deal with the realities of aging and dying without shying away from them and with both tenderness and humor. (I made the switch away from Audible earlier this year and I'm actually listening to Fiona Shaw read it on Libro.fm.) I'll be adding affiliate links for Bookshop.org and Libro.fm to book posts as soon as I set them up.
The Killing Stones by Ann Cleeves is her newest Jimmy Perez novel and I'm listening to that on Libro.fm as well. I'll read any novel by Ann Cleeves and am enjoying this Scottish island mystery. A friend of Jimmy's is found murdered and Jimmy and his partner, Willow Reeve are investigating. The wild island weather and coastline create a dramatic backdrop for the secrets they are uncovering.