It’s a special day for two reasons….

1. Today is the beginning of the New Moon in Pisces. I love new moons because they are the perfect time to plant seeds for the future.   The new moon is like a monthly New Year’s Day for me.  It’s a brand new cycle in a heavenly sky.    It’s the time when I look at what I want to accomplish with dream goals for the upcoming month.  Today, the new moon moves into Pisces, and it’s time to take that leap of faith into those creative projects you’ve been dreaming of.

Imagination is where it is AT, my Danger Darlings.

and

2. On a personal level – today is the anniversary of the day that Burke and I got our little cottage on the mountain.

It was a huge leap of faith for us – because we are both wild, wandering spirits.

But you can’t deny love – and we fell for that Enchanted Cottage on the mountain at first sight. It was a fixer-upper, but we have big imaginations and we knew we could work our magic on it.

This is what the cottage looked like when we met it:

And then we all poured our hearts into it.

My Dad, a.k.a. the Big Dude, came up and gave it the magic paint job, Burke put a pond in front, we planted Black Eyed Susans to welcome everyone to the door. Our families and friends came up to work on the inside, to rip down walls and bring the light in.

It was our sunny friend….

Our little Enchanted Cottage had its own personality. A comfy and beautiful place to rest our heads and create beautiful dreams. We finished our last draft of the screenplay for Revolver there. We were married on the property right outside of it. We found old pictures in the walls and a scrap of a 1922 newspaper advertisement for the Ziegfeld Theater that we treasured.  We held huge gatherings of friends and family within those walls – it was a home to everyone who stepped inside its colorful front door.

And for Burke and I, it was the home we had been looking for our whole lives.

Then, sadly, as most of you know, our little Enchanted Cottage burned to the ground in an electrical fire in April 2011 during the middle of the night:

Our hearts were broken.  We lost almost everything. And we that beautiful 100 year old cottage filled with stories and our history.

On that day, Burke wrote in his diary:

“If I were as wise and grand as as the land we stand upon I would know it is already all right, as it always has been. I have only forgotten the steps for a moment, but I will fall back into the dance soon. Spring is coming. And we will build again.”

It’s been almost two years now, and we are almost there….

The Phoenix has risen from the Ashes.

And the brick from our old house, rests in the center of our hearth in our new home.

Today, we will celebrate the memory of our little cottage, and celebrate the planting of the new seeds of imagination and creativity in our new home.

In the old days, a home’s hearth was considered the heart of the homestead.  I am making a special home blessing potion that I’m mixing straight into the mortar for our old brick fireplace that I’m building today.

This is how I do my potions… I mix a combination of flowers, herbs, roots and spices together in a clear glass bowl.  This mixture will specifically be for the energy I want to create in the house.  Like I said, I’m mixing it into the mortar, but if you can use this potion to put under floorboards, to put around the perimeter of your home, you can put it in a pretty pouch and tuck it under your mattress or under the cushions of your couch.

Flowers, herbs, roots and spices have a language of their own.

Here’s the secret message of my mixture:

• Orange Peel – It’s one of my magic “signatures” – if you get an herb potion from me, it will definitely have orange peel in it.  It reminds me of the Florida sunshine that I grew up in.  It’s a burst of light to seal every potion.
• Nutmeg – I love love love this in my morning lattes and I love it in my spells – in ancient lore it is the spice to bring good luck.  It’s the gambler’s spice – and I’m a gambler’s daughter – so nutmeg is the “Ace of Spades” in my potion.
• Rosebuds – Love, Romance, Seduction.  Yes, please.  Every single day!
• Star Anise –  The old folks say that these pretty pods bring creative visions and increase intuition.  The root of this lore is in their “star” shape – and our great-grandparents thought that having star anise was like talking to the stars in the sky….you see the big picture from way up there!   I love this old folklore – and I love using star anise in my potions.
• Lavender – Has been used for thousands of years as a calming herb, sleeping on a pillow filled with lavender is like sleeping in mother’s arms.  Lavender is also said to bring good dreams and will soothe everyone who catches its scent.
• Rosemary – Today, I will put sprigs of rosemary into the mixture for remembrance to honor our little cottage that once was.  I invite that old happy spirit of our home to fill the new one.
• Calendula – This flower with the sunny disposition comes with one of my favorite old tales.  It is said, that if you step on calendula with your bare feet under the first full moon of Summer, you will understand the language of the birds.  I love that story.  This flower holds personal magic to me because after the rottweiler attack, I used calendula creme everyday on my scars and it definitely helped them go away.  It’s one of my all-time favorite flowers.

Do you have mixtures you like to work with or herbs/flowers/roots/spices that are special to you?  Let me know in the comments.  I love to hear your stories!

Now back to building that magical fireplace……