Jenny's SW art opening

Oh, Yeah... The Money Corner

I hadn’t noticed when the money corner of the store began to pile up with boxes and other crap.

It was only when Iris and I began to grid the store with four vials of alchemical Sacred Salt mix (made my friend Ben Commons, a Santa Barbara-based astrologer, alchemist & energy worker)—and realized we couldn’t reach that last far corner—that we discovered our feng shui gaffe.

Iris, bless her heart, proceeded to spend the next twenty minutes cleaning out our money corner. (She even found broken glass and a long-displaced food container in those hinterlands.) Thank you, Iris, as always.

Store gridded with the salt mix, money corner cleared and rededicated... the next two days were FANTASTIC saleswise.

That first day after the clearing, we even sold that amazing specimen-quality celestite cluster (a big ticket item, to be sure) within only a week of putting it out. I just picked it up at the Denver mineral show I attended last month, and had never seen a celestite cluster quite like it.

Needless to say, it’s only one of MANY goodies I found...

Tangerine Quartz

Barry just got back from a crystal show in Denver with lots of delicious crystals.

This morning I began my shift at The Sacred Well and was excited to browse all the new stones that had been put out in small bowls. I stopped in front of these very juicy, plump Tangerine Quartz, "Enhances one's creative energy" the little sign read. I grabbed one and felt a jolt of excitement go up my arm. I picked one out for myself and carried it around all day. Let me interrupt here by saying that I've sort of had a creative block for quite some time now. I've been unable to sketch, draw or paint. I sit, sketchbook open, favorite pen in hand and...nothing. But today, I was drawing on post it notes, my hand was grabbing for the nicest pen in the abalone shell on the counter, wanting to sketch. I was happy to have that impulsive-wanting-to-sketch feeling back. I had completely forgotten that I was carrying the Tangerine Quartz around with me until I reached in my pocket. On my way home I held and rubbed the crystal, wanting its energy to rub off on me. When I got home, my entire body had that excited creative jolt in it and I found myself scanning old artwork and uploading it onto my blog. Now I've had a very productive night and I'm grateful for that little Tangerine Quartz.

Our 1st Anniversary is coming!

Save the date of October 25, 2008, everybody! That will be the store's one-year anniversary party!



It's pretty amazing how far we've come in one year. I am never short on things to be thankful for- our loyal, supportive, and growing customer community; the beauty of our urban oasis, Lake Merritt; Barry's and my wonderful relationship and our really great staff and SW family: Ninette, Medea, Violet, Ricky, Jojo, our supportive parents, Mollie & Jenna, Iris & Jack, Rha, Suzanne..the friends from CAYA and other local spiritual communities...the list goes on. With a list of thank-yous this long, I feel certain that we have established a great foundation this year, with lots of good to come.

One of our major goals this year was to develop and launch a line of products based on some of the talents exhibited by our team here at TSW. We're happy to announce that at our 1-year anniversary party, we will have new products that represent a true community effort: from candle design by Ninette to oils and elixirs created by Rabbit and Barry, mixed and perfected by Mollie's aromatherapy skills, to artwork and graphic layout by Rha...and a t-shirt...

So come and visit us on the 25th of October, promise? Help us celebrate with gratitude the ancestors, guides, goddesses, stars and all those who've "got our back." We can all toast our mutual efforts to make magic happen every day. And hey...thanks.

BOXCAR FERAL by Suzanne

Somewhere along the high line
the string of track from Portland to Chicago, that teases the Canadian border,
playing hard to get.

she is sitting in a hobo jungle next to a pile of ash
which once warmed the bones of many a traveler.
This jungle is a temple of creosote and broken bottles,
littered with alters of waiting.

she is smoking hand rolled war stories

opening a can of refried dreams with a military issue p38

all the while, serenading steel dragons

"freight train freight train runnin so fast
freight train freight train runnin so fast
please don't tell them what train I'm on
they wont know what route I've gone"

She is casting invisibility spells
whispering on the wind
"There are no filthy faces in those bushes
no bandit elves
no hobo children playing at freedom"
and the bull in his white truck rolls past her to continue on his search.

She hears the brakes hiss airing up
and quickly climbs aboard unseen
the dragon creeks and thunder rolls down the line
as it jolts into motion, moaning and creaking
the cry of steel wheals on rails, is ringing in her ears,
she is hidden in a rusty 48 car
face and hands covered in diesel grease
wind blown
eyes sparkling
wings ablaze

A lil' Money Mojo today...

So today, one of our very favorite customers, Cecily, came in to the store to buy a money candle. (Yes, I did get permission to use her real name.) You see, Cecily just fought- and won! Yay!- a battle with a cancerous tumor which put her out of work for a month. (Shout outs to Cecily for beating cancer up.) Now, as an up-and-coming hotshot Oakland attorney with her very own private practice, Cecily is self-employed. What happens when a self-employed person doesn't get to work for a month? You get the picture...

In she walked, headed straight to the altar room to do a little mojo there, then swooped up a Money Spell candle. She took a moment to dress it, carefully inscribing her money needs onto it at our candle-dressing bar, sprinkling it with altar oil, a little prosperity powder, some gold and green glitter, and what-have-you. Sashayed up to the register and took a moment to tell us of her fiscal woes and to reiterate to us, and the Universe, that she could really use some money, "now, right now, right away."

We wished her well and reminded her that it always works out, and just to focus on making it happen. As our friend Dragonfly says, "Hocus-pocus, use your focus!"

Two hours later, she bounced back into the store with a wad of cash, waving it under our noses with glee. My first comment was, "Put that away and don't let anyone see you! Girl, this is Oakland!" (I was just kidding...sort of. I'm all for protecting one's assets in any urban environment. So don't get on me about busting on Oakland- I got mad love for Oakland. Like the t-shirt says, "I hella heart Oakland.")

"Guess what?"
"What?"
"I left the store, walked down the street to my office, and there was a client standing in front of my door, waiting for me. I hadn't even lit the candle yet! And then, right after that, another client walked in and paid full cash up front to retain me for services! I was actually kind of freaking out at how quickly that worked. I mean, I've done this before and it worked, but wow- that REALLY worked REALLY fast!"

"Yep, that's why we call it magic."

Lake Merritt photographed by Rha