Tag: natural remedies

I Tried a Citrine Gem Infused Water

Upon writing my Color Therapy 101 – Yellow post, I realized you could actually PURCHASE infused gem essences–bottles with crystals already embedded inside to make your gem habit a little easier.

For this experiment, though, I decided to create my own gem essence water. First, I needed to find a citrine gem. As it turned out, I received some for Christmas!

Upon research about the citrine gemstone, though, I learned that lot of times citrine isn’t authentic–it’s actually amethyst that is heated in a kiln to be sold. “Real” citrine is still heated, but it’s heated within Mother Earth, and then plucked from her rocky sides as an already yellowish stone.

This article here pretty much sums up about how I feel about the whole debate: to each his own. While I would prefer authentically made citrine, let’s be honest–that’s simply my ego making a fuss. If the properties are exactly the same, the stone itself will not be changed. It’s only going to be changed because of my ego not accepting it.

There was no way to tell how my small stones became citrine, and so, I let the whole debacle go. After cold-water washing my little citrine gems, I placed a small handful inside of a glass.

I used my filtered tap water, and meditatively poured it into the glass. I was excited to do this; I’ve always wanted to try some, but never have. So I put forth all sorts of excited, healing energy as I poured my water. Then I got some plastic wrap covering, used a rubber band, and wished the concoction well.

I made sure to do research beforehand about any contraindications, and all I could really find was that certain gemstones can be toxic in water–especially ones that begin to dissolve. I didn’t feel that the citrine caused any possible harmful effects for my loved ones.

Let the citrine infusion begin!

I placed our friend outside in the waxing moonlight; the Snow Moon was just a few days away. I had read that the water should infuse for at least 24-hours, but no more than 48-hours. From there, it should be drunk within 24-hours.

So on that winter night, my lone glass soaked in the moon and chill, resting near my lavender plant. The next morning, I check on it; as the day wore on, it heated up to a balmy 60+ degrees, so I took my infusion and decided to get some sun energy, too. Why not? We’re approaching the Vernal Equinox, where the slowness of winter and the energizing spring begin to intermingle; a sort of yin yang approach.

That night, I put the concoction back out in the front, to soak up one more night’s moonlight.

The following day, I poured a glass for myself and my son. He was too afraid for some reason; I’m not sure if he thought I was poisoning him or what? Or maybe he thought he’d feel the effects too much?? (He’s only 7.) Since he wouldn’t drink it, I made my mom, who was visiting that day, to drink the other glass.

We both agreed; it was crisp as hell, and had undertones of Earthy refreshment. I’m not sure if it was the crystal elixir itself, or just the whole process, but that yellow stone definitely brought me some joy and happiness as I drank it.

While Hauswitch doesn’t offer a citrine essence, they do offer a variety of other ones. When I finally purchase one, I will report back!

Have you ever tried any crystal essences/elixirs?

Homemade Elderberry Syrup — Yes, It’s Super Easy!

I have a tendency of fluffing all recipes I have at my disposal. This usually isn’t due to some creative spark igniting in my brain needing to flare out—no, it’s far more practical of a reason.

I almost *never* have all the damn ingredients necessary to make the thing. Regardless of what the thing is.

In this case, I was missing some honey to mix with that bag of dried elderberries that had been collecting dust in my cupboard for forever. The berries have a best buy date, which was rapidly approaching, so I tossed caution to the wind and yelled into the ether, “Let’s do this!”

Okay, it wasn’t that dramatic.

Measurements to base your concoction off from:

  • 3 1/2 cups of water (you can make this as fancy as you want, or use simple tap water)
  • 2/3 cups of dried elderberries (You can get ’em from any local herbal shop, or the dreaded Amazon. Make sure to pick any little stems off before placing them in your pot.)
  • 2 tbsp grated fresh ginger
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp cloves
  • 1 cup sweetener (honey/agave–as organic and raw as you want, or even the teddy bear if that’s what you have)

Heat the elderberries and water to a boil inside a pot, not floating in the air where gravity doesn’t exist. Add in your spices. Simmer for at least 45 more minutes, with or without a lid. (I used a lid.) Elderberries can be toxic if uncooked, and there is a lot of banter on the web about how little is too little of time to cook them. Always err on the side of caution, especially if you aren’t a doctor, or herbalist, or magician.



Use a spoon or potato masher to mush, mush, mush your berries! I did it at various stages throughout the cooking process. Remove the berries from heat and let the mixture cool off before using some cheesecloth, or a strainer, to drip drip drop your liquid.

Once inside a container away from ginger pieces, cardamom bombs and berries, add in your honeys or agaves. I actually added the honey/agave mixture to my jar before pouring in the elderberry liquid.

Make sure your 16 oz mason jar has a tight lid, and TA DA! You are an Elderberry Master. Or at least an apprentice. Keep it in your fridge and take daily for preventive measures.

Typical dosage: 1/2 – 1 tsp for kids and 1/2 – 1 tbsp for adults daily. If you’re sick, you can take the dose every few hours for a boost of C immunity.

This is a good base recipe to start with. I didn’t measure my spices at all, and I added dried ginger to the mix. You can add cardamom, allspice, nutmeg, whatever tickles your fancy.

The thing is, all of these warming spices have Ayurvedic magic, so you can’t go wrong. (Okay, fine, you can always overdo it, but the point is, warming spices are generally good for the Soul.) And please don’t thump me on the head, but I’m going to lead you to a Goop article here. I’m a dry, brittle Vata, so warm me right on up! (Full disclosure: I have a friend who is currently touring India, Tibet and Nepal, so she’s got me all frenzied with Ayurveda again.)

I only had about a quarter of a cup of honey, so I mixed in the rest of my agave. You can thicken your syrup with cornstarch or arrowroot powder–you’ll have to play with the amounts to get it just right. This batch I made of my elderberry syrup was definitely a little liquidy, so next time I’ll use the arrowroot, or maybe just use less water, or boil the mixture longer. Who knows!

The beauty of elderberry syrup is the fact that it can be different every time you make it. You are not sucked into some sort of locked recipe that cannot change. You can add lemon, apple cider vinegar or just boil some fresh apples in the mixture as you please.

This particular recipe has a refrigerated shelf life of a few weeks. If you add liquor to it while cooking, the alcohol will stabilize the mixture for much longer. Since elderberry has gone ubiquitous in the past ten years or so, search the web and find gummy recipes, too! Cocktails, elixirs, simple sauces for your pancakes. (I definitely want to try to the gummies for the kiddo.)

I once read about how our affinity for St. John’s Wort literally made the plant itself stop growing for awhile… that tiny block of written passage leaves me cause for worry about over-using our friendly, magical berry. I suppose time will tell on that one.

Enjoy! And remember, I’m not a doctor who’s hawking an end-all cure for what ails you, I’m merely an average Jolette sharing a recipe I, myself, have just made last night. Come to think of it, it’s time for my tablespoon right now. ❤

Color Therapy 101: Violet

We have arrived at our last color for this series, and also the final, main chakra: the crown. It’s also the color my son has designated as my favorite color, which I find extremely interesting. My mainstays as a kid were blues and blacks. (I went through that normal dark, hormonal phase as a kid, right?) But as I got older, I still loved black (absorption of all!) and blue (it matches my eyes, after all). And then as I started to be more comfortable around other colors, I just decided that the whole damn rainbow was my favorite color!

When I was 20 years old, I sojourned to Salem, Massachusetts in October with my mother. It was a fun, festive trip, and I got my aura photographed through kirlian technology. The read-out suggested that the colors surrounding me proved I was a creative hot head; a tightly orange and red circle formed around my head. It also said the creativity color could eventually change to nice, calming green. So when I got my aura photographed about 10 years later, it wasn’t surprising to find out that it was still orange and red. However, my son sees me, at least partially, as violet, so perhaps the calming green is still achievable!

I digress.

Violet is a soothing color. (It’s also the name of the lead character in my upcoming novel, The Light Thrower: When Violet Got Bored! I’m not biased at all.) It has the highest frequency and the lowest wavelength on the visible spectrum. On Kheops International’s chakra handout, it states that if your crown chakra is overactive, you may find that you have a lack of empathy, light sensitivity, rigidity or general distrust of others. If it’s underactive, you may find that you have a lack of purpose, or even coordination problems. When it is balanced, you feel serene and connected to the Universe.

According to Whole Living Wellness Center based out of California, violet light therapy is good for affecting the immune system and therefore comforts those with autoimmune dis-eases. It detoxifies and improves sleep.

Of course you can adorn your body in purple clothes, your house in purple cloth, or surround yourself with the ever-populous amethyst crystal. David Hamilton says that amethyst itself is said to help tap into intuition and authenticity.

My favorite yoga pose to help wake up the crown chakra is rabbit stand. It’s generally safe to do as long as you are careful with your neck, and as it puts pressure on the top of your head, its physical nature directly stimulates the chakra. It’s also a good stretch!

This post ends our color/light therapy series. We’ve spent half a year exploring various chakras and color frequencies. We’ve discussed what aversions to certain colors may mean, and different ways to incorporate each color more into your life. We’ve talked about color therapies available, and what each color may help us attain.

These colors and light therapies are tools to add to your self-healing belt!

Wherever you find yourself today, I hope it’s enriched by one of the many amazing colors on the visible spectrum. I hope they bring you joy, or soothing energy, or maybe even some healing energy to your soul or physical body. Above all, enjoy your journey exploring the richness these hues can offer you. ❤️

Color Therapy 101: Indigo

Indigo is the color of the sacred third eye chakra, chakra number 6. Indigo is a deep bluish-purple, a mixture of blue and red, so anything that blue light therapy may treat, or anything red light therapy may treat, indigo light therapy could treat, too.

According to two different businesses in California that offer indigo light therapy, it specifically treats eye issues–glaucoma, cataracts, general eye inflammation. One place is in Lancaster, but the other place is in Santa Clarita and offers a much more in-depth explanation of the benefits of indigo light therapy.

This company specifically states that the indigo chromotherapy could also help with psoriasis and headaches. The company says that indigo is a mentally-stimulating color, and therefore increases imagination and greater dream activity. It can increase white blood cell production which can help stave off disease.

As the color of the third eye, it’s no wonder that when I personally close my eyes, indigo is the color I see. It’s the first color I see as I start to meditate, or do Reiki. One of my clients who saw color for the first time (with her eyes closed) saw this beautiful indigo—it was during a Reiki attunement.

I love blue, and I love purple!

According to Deepak Chopra and Oprah’s combined knowledge and detailed booklet during one of their 21-day meditations, if your third eye is imbalanced, you may be experiencing “indecision, poor intuition, lack of concentration, impaired judgment, confusion, or depression. Physical imbalances may manifest as headaches, trouble sleeping, or nightmares”.

I suggest surrounding yourself with all things bluish purple. Clothes, lapis lazuli stones, blueberries! Paint your fingernails indigo! Stare into a painting and ponder the meaning of the universe! Talk a walk at night and look UP.

If you think your third eye is overstimulated and you’re a little too woo-woo, try to ground yourself back to the planet. Give yourself a foot rub or get a pedicure. Walk barefoot outside. Hang out with some animals. Meditate—you may think that would have the opposite effect, but it can be very grounding. Stimulate your root chakra, as that’s the chakra that binds you to this earth, like roots sinking into dirt.

I have decided to finish up this post wearing indigo-colored glasses which are supposed to help with achieving “serenity, stillness, understanding and imagination”. As I’m typing into this computer screen, I’m finding it a little daunting looking at the screen as this beautiful, rich color, instead of its usual white. But I was instantly calmed when I put them on. My husband is going through some issues at work–guess what I’ll be placing on him later on today.

(Side note: If you were to wear glasses this dark, you’d have to be careful. It does cancel some things and makes it extremely hard to see!)

Anyone have any experiences with Indigo they’d like to discuss???

Color Therapy 101: Blue

It was a cold and dreary week in the middle of January, and she was feeling terribly blue. According to this blog post, blue meaning ‘feeling sad’ stems from tears being attributed to blue, or the color approaching black on the spectrum, as darker colors are also attributed to depression. Or the fact that when we’re so cold, or lose oxygen, we turn blue. According to this study, our emotions themselves affect the color we see.

Yet, there’s an other website full of wonderful quotes about blue, and it’s broken down by topics like ‘sparking creativity’, ‘inspiring a new perspective’. There’s nothing sad in these quotes, but perhaps a paradox: “Blue is a cold and retiring colour, and its effect upon the mind is of a quiet, soothing nature. It is symbolical of divinity, intelligence, sincerity, and tenderness.” – W. J. & G. A. Audsley

So what exactly is blue? While our tears may be blue, it seems that blue is much more of a relaxing, soothing color than anything. It’s pervasive, even more so than green — the sky, the ocean, some flowers. And then you’ve got William Shatner, who just took off into the great unknown of outer space, only to come back with these words about blue:

“I mean, the little things, the weightlessness, and to see the blue color whip by and now you’re staring into blackness. That’s the thing. This covering of blue is this sheet, this blanket, this comforter of blue around that we have around us. We think ‘oh, that’s blue sky’ and suddenly you shoot through it all of a sudden, like you whip a sheet off you when you’re asleep, and you’re looking into blackness – into black ugliness. And you look down, there’s the blue down there, and the black up there, and there is Mother Earth and comfort and – is there death? Is that the way death is?”

And while what he continued to say after this has no bearing on the color blue so-to-speak, it’s profound: “I hope I never recover from this.” 

Blue correlates with your throat chakra, the center of expressing yourself. If your throat chakra has issues, you may have a tendency for sore throats or laryngitis, or thyroid problems. You might be a little too outspoken, or critical. On the flip side, you may have problems standing up for yourself. A fully balanced, beautiful throat chakra gives you the ability to communicate effectively.

To help with dis-ease with the color blue, consider immersing yourself in blue light. Blue light therapy exists for skin conditions, or treating S.A.D. One of the places I offer services at has a room dedicated to salt panels — my favorite way to have the panels is to set them every-other-one in shades of blue. (I find all dark blue to be too dark and stimulating, much like all red or orange.)

Get some blue candles, or blue crystals like deep, lovely lapis lazuli, sodalite, turquoise. Surround yourself with blue flowers like asters, blue poppies, forget-me-nots, or flax. One of my favorite teas gives off a slight bluish-purple color.

Wear some blue clothes, or in this case, socks and shoes!

“The only footwear I need is an inexpensive pair of blue sneakers. They have soft fabric tops and soft rubber-like soles. I get them one size too large so I can wiggle my toes. I feel as free as though I were barefoot! And I can usually get 1,500 miles to a pair. I wear a pair of navy blue socks.There’s a reason why I chose navy blue for my wearing apparel – it’s a very practical color, doesn’t show dirt, and the color blue does represent peace and spirituality.” – Peace Pilgrim