Jasmine

I used to absolutely hate Jasmine until I realized I was using the fake stuff.

We ran out of sandalwood soap, and I was busy when Tim asked me what I wanted as far as soap, and I said something along the lines of *grunt* "eh? uh... yeah." And so he grabbed... a-this!:

Bee & Flower Jasmine Soap. Holy frikken moley. Yes, I just said Holy Frikken Moley. Well, typed it.

And it smells REALLY RIDICULOUSLY WONDERFUL. Granted, I know it's all natural fragrance, but I don't know if it's all only Jasmine fragrance, but since Jasmine essential oil is uber expensive, it's probably "enhanced" by some other flower. So anyway, me smelling all good after getting out the shower got me all curious in Jasmine, enough to write a short post about my findings, and other tidbits of knowledge I picked up from various places throughout the years.

According to Wikipedia, Jasmine is actually a genus, not a species. But there are specieses of Jasmine. Just, more than one like I had previously thought. Like, 200 SPECIES!!! And they're native to "the old world" (I chuckled when I saw Wiki say that) in tropical/warm places, mostly in Asia and Southeast Asia, but also popping up in the Middle-East, Africa, Europe, etc. It is also apparently related to olives, which is just weird.

Totally not an olive. Totally gorgeous photo of a blooming Jasmine by BarbaraDin on sxc.hu

You can make tea with Jasmine. I admit, I'm not a big green tea fan, and the only tea with Jasmine I can ever seem to find is green. Oh but to find some black or white tea with jasmine in it! But I digress. Apparently it's really awesome and sometimes the actual little petals are in there, not just some dumb flavoring and it's all smelly and pretty and sensuous and I really want some tea. Now.

Multiple sources cite Jasmine as an aphrodisiac, and I think I've heard about it as a really good remedy for menstrual cramps as well, both of which I have yet to try. All I know is when I shower with the jasmine soap I feel all soft and feminine and it makes me wanna put on harem pants.

Ok that's all for today. I'm not gonna lie, I didn't put much effort into that. :)

Love,

<3 Sapphire Orchid <3

Om Shanti Naturals Salt & Sugar Scrub Review

Last birthday, my sister completely broke character and told me in advance what she was going to buy me in advance. The reason she told me was because she wasn't sure what SCENT to get me.

I've been on this green beauty kick for a little over a year now, thanks to Julie Gabriel's Green Beauty Guide, which has become my bible for avoiding the noxious, harmful chemicals that cosmetics, hair products, body and facial care products dump into our delicate systems every day. (Yeah, pretty much anything you can pick up in your local grocery store beauty aisles contains petrochemicals, harsh irritants, carcinogenic compounds, and other lovely things that support your un-health.)

Anyway, Jenni was aware of this, and she did her homework. She found this company called Om Shanti Naturals, and got me a Patchouli Vanilla Sugar and Salt Scrub. The company is run by this wonderful, creative lady named Kate, who I met in person at the Collegeville Winter Farmers Market after having already used all of the Patchouli Vanilla scrub and loving it to death. Sadly, I did not get the opportunity to meet her Vice President of Marketing, an orange cat named Loiosh, but here's to staying hopeful!

The company logo. And it IS all crap-free. Not a single bad ingredient, it's all pure.

The stuff is amazing. I love it. It's basically a scrub made of sea salt, sugar, moisturizing oils and essential oils to make you soft and smelling delicious. It comes in this cute, re-usable wide-mouthed jar with a screw top, and when you're in the shower, after you've washed, you take a handful of this stuff and rub it all over your body. The result is that you get a REALLY awesome exfoliation, and it leaves the oil on your skin.

I know what you're thinking, OIL on my SKIN?? But don't panic. It's not greasy at all. The oils are natural, like grapeseed and apricot kernel oil -- these are the kinds of oils massage therapists use, the kinds that glide over your skin and feed it moisture and trace vitamins and wonderfulness.

So here's the thing, when you rinse the scrub off, the salt and sugar will go down your drain (it's ok, it won't do any clogging, I promise, but it will make your shower floor slippery, so be careful) and the oil will remain on your skin. When you dry off, it will transfer to your towel. Again, these are massage-therapist quality oils, they will not harm your towels at all. The towels will take off the excess oil that your skin doesn't need, leaving a slight amount still on your skin. Stay in the bathroom for another minute or five, and it will soak into your skin leaving you lightly scented, soft, supple, and simply lovely to touch. And you will stay SMOOTH all day long.

The other thing is, if you've never had a bathing experience with essential oils, you're in for a real treat. We're so used to synthetic fragrances in our lives, that essential oils can be a little overwhelming if you aren't expecting them. They truly are, however, a lesson in luxuriousness, and to boot, each essential oil has its own physical and emotional health benefits. When you take a bath with essential oils, they work into the steam in the room, swirl all around you, and envelop you. For me, I always have a keener, more vibrant sense of smell whenever I'm through showering with essential oil-infused body oils.

There are more scents than just the Patchouli Vanilla one, though. Personally, that one is my favorite so far, with its earthy, sweet scent-hue. I close my eyes and I'm standing under a sparkling waterfall in a magical forest with vanilla beans hanging from the lush greenery, and the smell of clean, pure soil below, nourishing the sky-high trees.

However, my boyfriend is not so fond of Patchouli. Right now, I have the Kyphi scrub, and it too is delightful; she uses a simplified, delicately beautiful balance of the main scents that make Kyphi smell like Kyphi: frankincense, myrrh, cinnamon, and spearmint. It too is delicious, but I do love the Patchouli Vanilla.

So, long story short, you need to try this stuff. And her other stuff. Up next on my list of Om Shanti products to try? I'm particularly keen on trying the Tangerine Vanilla Lip Balm, Cinnamon Vanilla Massage and Bath Oil, and the Spearmint Calendula Soap.

You can find her website here: http://www.omshantinaturals.com/ and she's on Etsy too.

Love,

<3 Sapphire Orchid <3

Totally skipping last week. J is for Jacuzzi Magick!!

Seriously. Who doesn't love jacuzzis??!

It is a pure crying shame that there is a jacuzzi in my own bathroom and yet I rarely use it, mostly because of the sheer amount of water required to fill it up. And I was brushing my teeth this morning, thinking these thoughts along with the fact that I hadn't done a PBP post for the past two weeks (oops) and I suddenly realized, I'd never really heard anything about jacuzzi magick or lore or anything.

A jacuzzi is basically a modernized version of a hot springs with lots of mini geysers. Most people would automatically tag an elemental association as water, however, the jacuzzi is uniquely poised to be associated with all elements: water fills it, air bubbles flow through it to make it jacuzzi-y and awesome, heat is applied (fire?) and of course, the jacuzzi itself is the vessel that holds it all together. So if you're doing any sort of elemental workings, it would suit particularly for water, or for a balance of all four elements.

I'm not big on spell-writing, nor too good at ritual writing, but I am decent at offering suggestions on what to do with things! So here are some ideas for using a jacuzzi in your magickal workings:
--Cleansing energy work, since jacuzzis are essentially a bath and baths are for cleaning
--Relaxation, meditation
--Beauty energy work, particularly if you also indulge in a facial and hair mask, and really let the steam set in and open everything up :)
--For energy working that may involve a hot spring of any sort, a jacuzzi is a more accessible (and sometimes safer) way of working with these energies.
--Love and sex energy work, to heat things up a little ;D
--Releasing and banishing. If you sit in the water and meditate upon shedding all of your cares into the water, then pull the plug, everything will release down the drain.

Pretty much any bath magick can be performed in a jacuzzi, except for one warning: any herbs, spicies, oils, or any form of additive to the water might gunk up or harm the motors in your jacuzzi. Don't ruin your jacuzzi. It's probably super expensive.

Love,

<3 Sapphire Orchid <3