Stephanie's Studio

Would you shun abundance and financial prosperity? For a long time, I did. Why? Two words, 'starving' 'artist'. Need I say more? Lately I have been consorting with numerous gods, goddesses and spirits across cultures, time and space, as I write "Mama Nature's Spiritual Guide to Weight Loss." Enter Lakshmi. Few engagements with the gods, goddesses and spirits make me as joyful, complete or fulfilled, as invoking Lakshmi. Some of the a fore mentioned deities and spirits can be fickle or even down right temperamental. Lakshmi, on the other hand, always comes through. Yesterday, I gently coaxed her out of her space, and into mine with a soft oil-based candle and sandalwood incense. Light and the scents she prefers draw her out. She appeared, resplendent; charming and friendly, yet in possession of breathtaking, glowing beauty. I posted previously about luck charms, and this is a further engagement with good fortune work. Lakshmi is the very emb...

In "The Women's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets," Barbara Walker says ancients believed any reflective surface, solid or liquid had mystical powers because the reflection is a part of the soul. Hence, soulless beings like werewolves and vampires, show no reflection in the mirror. The mirror is connected intimately to water, through the story of Narcissus and Echo. Various water orisha wouldn't be caught dead without their mirrors. Across cultures, water represents a mysterious spirit world. Walker closes her beautiful entry on mirrors sharing some Buddhist thoughts on reflections in the mirror; the belief that reflected images are a phantom of the mind. For the past few years, or realistically to be honest, the better part of the last decade I have avoided the magical mirror on the wall. Lately though, I have been catching glimpses when I go by the mirror that intrigue me so much that they have entered the landscape of my dreams. The other night, I saw an ...