Perfectly Earthly's Blog

New Look for PerfectlyEarthly.com

alw — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 16:27:13 +0000

Some web patrons may have noticed that the look of PerfectlyEarthly.com has changed recently. It started as a heavily green site, which didn’t seem to fit the personality of the web site, so I tried a softer green color with a different feel. It still didn’t seem right.

After talking with some friends about what would fit for colors, I decided on reds and browns. The reason for this is because reds and browns are earth colors more so than greens, which although they are lovely, they are plant colors. Fundamentally this site is about the earth.

Also, because I also work in web sites and design, I got carried away making the site too soft - because that’s what I liked. It is much easier to do design for other people and bring their vision to life. Figuring what to do for my own ventures is infinitely harder. But it helped a lot talking to other people about what they thought the most important aspects of my business were. The photo in the banner of all the stones also was decided on because it’s much more to the point and relates more easily to the site.

At this point I am satisfied with the look and colors, and things will be staying consistent for the forseeable future. I would love the hear what anyone else thinks about the new design, whether you’ve seen the old design or not.

Products will be ready for sale again soon. Because this entire web site was built from scratch as a side venture, it’s taken some time to get everything just right, especially with the checkout process. But, it is almost done and ready to go with it’s new improvements. I will also be adding quite a few products in the near future, so if you’re not seeing what you’re looking for, check back in a week or so. Also, let me know if I still don’t have what you’re looking for. I would love feedback in that area. : )

Cleansing your stones

alw — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 19:16:12 +0000

It is important to cleanse your stones. Both when you acquire them and thereafter. My favorite cleansing method, although I have heard of many, is to soak them in salt water. Usually I grab a shallow glass dish, since most of mine are small, I put in my stones, sprinkle in a generous amount of sea salt and then I fill the dish up with water.

I would personally recommend finding the most unrefined sea salt you can, and I also generally don’t use tap water. Table salt and tap water are fine, but I am somewhat of a purist and I think that the less chemicals that intermix with your stones while they are clearing the better. Additionally, table salt and refined sea salt is just pure sodium chloride (table salt includes a small amount of iodide) whereas unrefined sea salt includes many different kinds of natural minerals and it is closer to cleansing in the actual ocean. Of course, if you happen to live near the ocean, just use some of that water.
As a side note, unrefined sea salt is also much healthier to eat, as long as you get your smattering of table salt for the necessary iodide. But it is definitely hard to avoid that, so it shouldn’t be an issue for most people, unless they make all their food from scratch, at home, all the time.

Be aware that salt water can damage some types of rocks. Most stones are safe, but some aren’t. Also softer stones can have some problems. If you are concerned about this happening, the next best thing you can do is to cover your stone with dry salt to clear it. It should be safe that way, unless maybe it is a very soft or sensitive rock. Don’t cleanse Selenite or Malachite with salt. If you accidentally use salt to cleanse a stone and it does some damage to the surface, don’t worry, it’s just aesthetic, your stone is still fine for use.

While my stones are soaking, I try to keep them outside for at least 24hrs. Although, if you can’t do that, putting them in the sun or moonlight in the water for at least 4hrs will still do them good.

There other cleansing alternatives out there, one might choose to use one of these when working with a stone that can’t be cleansed by salt:

Smudge the stone with cedar or sage.
Place the stone on a larger crystal or mineral. (although with this one be careful that the larger stone you are using is clear itself and suitable to be used to cleanse other stones)
Soak the stone in water with flower petals in the sun.
Bury the stone in the ground for 24 or more hours. Just don’t forget where you buried it!

Some people also think you can cleanse a stone with your intentions and visualizations. You can try it, but I think that most people will have a hard time getting this to be effective. If it is your energy you are trying to clear the stone of from, using your intentions to do it doesn’t seem like the most effective way. I also think there is some benefit that being outdoors from time to time can do that people can’t.

Use your judgment though. Note how your stone feels before you clear it, and notice how it feels after. If it feels clearer, it probably is. If it doesn’t, you probably should try another method. Or maybe it isn’t the stone for you. Trust your judgment. There are a lot of people out there who claim to know what stones are good for what things. And these people will happily tell you what you should use all day long. Listen, reflect and then make your own decisions based on how you feel. Because nobody knows you as well as you know yourself.

Six New Totem Descriptions Added to PerfectlyEarthly.com

alw — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 06:55:22 +0000

I just finished up:

More to come soon!

Fuschite

alw — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 07:50:00 +0000

I found this stone about a week ago. Never heard of it before I got it, but it’s awesome. It has the most beautiful iridescent green color, and when you hold it your hand becomes glittery. It also has a nice earthy, stone smell to it.

Fuschite belongs to the Mica family and contains a lot of Chromium which gives it the green color. It is a wonderful addition to my stone collection. I might just have to order some fuschite in the future for Perfectly Earthly.

First Post

alw — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 03:14:50 +0000

I am creating this blog as an addition to PerfectlyEarthly.com for three reasons.

I want a place to interact with site visitors and customers. I want a place where questions can be asked, comments can be made and discussions can be had.
I want a place to talk about things that aren’t related enough to Perfectly Earthly to put them on the web site, but things that will still be of interest to people. I do a lot of research and reading on spirituality, health, nature etc. and I also have a lot of interesting experiences that I think people would be interested to hear about. And I also want to hear other people’s experiences and thoughts.
There doesn’t seem to be many good blogs or forums out there that discuss these topics. Or if there is I can’t find them. Most of the ones I have found are full of obnoxious advertising. There are also a few that are more directed at Pagans, or Wiccans or Migick, which is fine, but I would prefer more general conversations and explorations among people of different belief systems.

Perfectly Earthly is not my only business venture, I also do web site design. My web site skills, love of stones, animals and nature, and my access to unique and beautiful products are the reasons Perfectly Earthly came into existence. My other hobbies include: reading, painting, making jewelry and digital photography. I expect to start putting my own jewelry into inventory soon. I will also post pictures to this blog now and then.

I launched this business in November of 2007 at the Minnesota Edge Life Expo. It was a wild success, all the people were wonderful and I hope to see them again next year. Unfortunately, due to problems with USPS and time constraints I wasn’t able to have products up and running on the web site for about another month. As of now, the web site is ready for business and about 90% done. I am in the process of finishing my animal totem meanings. I wanted to make sure other things were running first and I also didn’t want to rush through those descriptions. Animals are important to me, and I want to make sure I do that area of the web site justice.

I named this blog “Explorations of Nature, Spirituality and Personal Truth” for a few reasons. The nature and spirituality part relates mostly to Perfectly Earthly being a store and reference site for the more spiritual aspects of stones, animals and other aspects of nature that I may discuss here. The “personal truth” for me is because I don’t believe that there is one truth about spirituality, or if there is, we as humans don’t have the intellectual breadth to understand it completely or put it into words. And even if we could, what would be the point of this life if everybody knew it? That’s what heaven, or nirvana or the spirit world, or whatever you call it is for. I am less concerned with “real” truth as I am with my truth and your truth based on experiences as opposed to dogma. I know for a lot of people relying on their own truth is scary. It’s easier to rely on pre-existing faiths and traditions. And for many people, becoming a part of a faith that outlines a way of living is necessary. I believe in reincarnation. And I believe that we are here to learn different things in different lives. And because of that I refuse to pass judgement on any faith system that can lead people towards spiritual enlightenment. Any faith system can and will be exploited by some people, but blaming that faith for those people is the easy way out.

If you’re wondering why I have a tiger in my banner for this blog, it’s for no reason other than I love tigers, I’ve always loved them. I have a membership to the MN Zoo and when the weather is nice I like to visit the zoo regularly and watch the Amur Tigers play in the water. They always seem to be out and active when I’m there. This last summer, one of the tigers came within inches of me on the other side of the glass. Seeing it up that close was one of the coolest things I’ve ever experienced. It’s sad how few tigers are left in the wild. I don’t like to see wild animals captive, but I think zoos are important because seeing these amazing animals up close can motivate people to care that they are around. Here is some information on Tiger Conservation at the MN Zoo. Also, that particular tiger picture reminds me of Aslan, from the Chronicles of Narnia. And I love Aslan too. Those books are amazing, C.S. Lewis is phenomenal, and when I finished those books I felt like I was losing friends. I highly recommend them for any person at any age.

I am excited for this blog and I really hope that once it starts getting some traffic people are willing to contribute to conversations here.

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