This workshop will provide you with the know-how to begin to do basic Tarot card spreads. Using the Rider-Waite deck, the facilitator will begin with having participants pull one card to answer a question pertaining to each person’s life and will work through three card, seven card and the Celtic Cross spread (time permitting) by the end of 5 hour workshop. She will explain the Major Arcana and the Minor Arcana, with information on how the suits correspond with earth, water, air and fire signs of the Zodiac (astrology). This information helps people confidently get into doing Tarot card readings.  Being familiar with the suits will help beginners have a basis that will help them progress as intuitive readers. Books and other tarot decks to peruse as well as a tarot handout will be provided  Using your intuition will be encouraged. Be prepared to learn and enjoy yourself. Think of 2 to 4 questions you would like to have answered intuitively.

When: April 17, 2010

Where: Private Residence in Victoria (T.B.A.)

Time: 10am – 4 pm with a 1 hour break for lunch

Cost: $55.00 plus 5% GST

Also, book a tarot, tea leaf reading or a combination of both for Sun., April 18 at $40 a half hour or $65 for an hour.

Tanya Lester, B.A. has done 1000s of psychic readings and over 100 workshops over a 13 year period for people from all walks of life in places as diverse as Glasgow, Scotland; Boulder, Colorado: Winnipeg, Manitoba; Royal Roads University, Vancouver Island University and in several locations in the Kootenay Mountains. She is based on Salt Spring Island and also is a tea leaf reader, reiki master, author/freelance writer, art model and has the Room for the Woman Traveller. Her website is www.tealeafreading-by-tanya.com

To register for the workshop, book a reading, and for more information about the beautiful heritage home where they will take place, please contact Nicole at 250-477-9353 or info@mysticchick.com

What a week.  Today is such a TGIF, I can barely begin to tell you. Sure things were seemingly hard at work.  No, I didn’t really get any relief coming home to my family and trying to spend time with my kids.  Yes, they were challenged too.  Husband? He was just as stressed as me.  Something in the the stars this week I guess.  Who knows why?  I do know this: remembering that I am loved and having a good bath is the cure to most of what ails me.

Tonight I will bathe by candlelight.  I will pour a lovely warm bath complete with fresh ingredients from my kitchen.  No, I am not cooking.  I am going to have what I call a “fresh spa” experience.  The fresh ingredients for this bath are as follows:

A cup of salt, a cup of milk, 1 tablespoon of honey, 1 tablespoon each of mint leaves and lavender buds from my garden, and a generous helping of Mystic Chick Bubble Bath.  I will be fresh, sweet, relaxed, moisturized, and most of all, a heck of a lot less stressed.

Try it.  The “fresh spa” is calling your name too.

This workshop will provide you with the know-how to begin to do basic Tarot card spreads. Using the Rider-Waite deck, the facilitator will begin with having participants pull one card to answer a question pertaining to each person’s life and will work through three card, seven card and the Celtic Cross spread (time permitting) by the end of 5 hour workshop. She will explain the Major Arcana and the Minor Arcana, with information on how the suits correspond with earth, water, air and fire signs of the Zodiac (astrology). This information helps people confidently get into doing Tarot card readings.  Being familiar with the suits will help beginners have a basis that will help them progress as intuitive readers. Books and other tarot decks to peruse as well as a tarot handout will be provided  Using your intuition will be encouraged. Be prepared to learn and enjoy yourself. Think of 2 to 4 questions you would like to have answered intuitively.

When: August 22, 2009

Where: Private Residence in Victoria (T.B.A.)

Time: 11am – 5 pm with a 1 hour break for lunch

Cost: $65.00 plus 5% GST

Also, book a tarot, tea leaf reading or a combination of both for Sun., Aug. 23 at $40 a half hour or $65 for an hour.

Tanya Lester, B.A. has done 1000s of psychic readings and over 100 workshops over a 13 year period for people from all walks of life in places as diverse as Glasgow, Scotland; Boulder, Colorado: Winnipeg, Manitoba; Royal Roads University, Vancouver Island University and in several locations in the Kootenay Mountains. She is based on Salt Spring Island and also is a tea leaf reader, reiki master, author/freelance writer, art model and has the Room for the Woman Traveller. Her website is www.artistsunlimited.com/tealeafreading

To register for the workshop, book a reading, and for more information about the beautiful heritage home where they will take place, please contact Nicole at 250-477-9353 or info@mysticchick.com

Tanya Lester, B.A. has given 1000s of psychic readings (with a specialty in tea leaf reading) and over 100 workshops for 13 years in Canada, the United States and in Europe, including at Royal Roads University and Vancouver Island University ,  to people from all walks of life. She read Bill Richardson’s  tea leaves on CBC-Radio’s Richardson’s Round Up and recently answered questions as a psychic on Living with a Purpose, a program on CHLY FM 107.1 in Nanaimo. This spring she was interviewed as a tea leaf reader for Shaw TV Cable 11 based in Duncan. She read from her manuscript “Confessions of a Tea Leaf Reader” at last year’s Victoria Tea Festival  and spoke at the Nanaimo Metaphysical Network. She is based on Salt Spring Island and is also a reiki master, tarot reader, art model, writer/author and runs  Room for the Woman Traveller. For more information and read articles about her, go to www.ArtistsUnlimited.com/TeaLeafReading

Expanding Your Third Eye Vision is a workshop for anyone who would be interested in listening to your intuition more often, to use it to guide you on a daily basis, and to develop your psychic abilities to help provide guidance for others.

Saturday, May 23   11am – 5pm (one hour break for lunch)   Fee: $65.00 plus GST

There will be time to share stories of how using your intuition (Third Eye vision) has helped enrich your life. Meditation techniques, setting intent, channelling (listening to the inner voice of guidance), tea leaf reading, tarot reading and the pendulum will be used to help us answer our own and others’ questions through listening to the spiritual guidance of the Universe.

Please bring tea cups (white or light coloured inside) and any divination tools (tarot, pendulums, etc.) that you might have. Bring a bagged lunch.  Come with at least four questions that you would like to have answered intuitively.

The Facilitator: Tanya Lester, B.A. has given 1000s of psychic readings (with a specialty in tea leaf reading) and over 100 workshops for 13 years in Canada, the United States and in Europe, including at Royal Roads University and Vancouver Island University ,  to people from all walks of life. She read Bill Richardson’s  tea leaves on CBC-Radio’s Richardson’s Round Up and recently answered questions as a psychic on Living with a Purpose, a program on CHLY FM 107.1 in Nanaimo. This spring she was interviewed as a tea leaf reader for Shaw TV Cable 11 based in Duncan. She read from her manuscript “Confessions of a Tea Leaf Reader” at last year’s Victoria Tea Festival  and spoke at the Nanaimo Metaphysical Network. She is based on Salt Spring Island and is also a reiki master, tarot reader, art model, writer/author and runs  Room for the Woman Traveller. For more information and read articles about her, go to www.ArtistsUnlimited.com/TeaLeafReading

To register for this workshop and/or book a private reading with Tanya, contact Nicole Sullivan at 250-477-9353 or e-mail info@mysticchick.com

I also just recently had the displeasure of being trapped in an elevator with a woman so doused in perfume I could hardly breathe. I call that kind of perfume “Dead Ballerina”.  I feel like my senses have been attacked.  It seems as though my olfactory nerves are working overtime these days.  Processing anything and everything from chemicals and synthetic fragrances to garbage and pollution to other body odors.  While many of us work in environments that promote “scent sensitivity” it isn’t enough. Everything seems to be scented: hygiene products, dish detergent, soap, lotion, hair gel, shampoo, toothpaste, deodorant, candles, laundry soap, dryer sheets, and cleaning products to name a few.  While I feel that scent plays a major role in my life and can contribute positively  to my overall well being, this aromatherapist advocates reducing the number of  natural and synthetically scented products used in the home and office at one time.  More of a good thing, is not a good thing at all considering it takes over 60,000 roses to make an ounce of rose oil.  Each ounce is so potent and meant to be used a drop at a time.   The fact is all of the scents are overloading the immune system.  There are more and more people cropping up with scent sensitivities that range in effects from runny noses and watery eyes to headaches and vomiting.

In addition, the wide spread use of synthetic fragrances that have permeated people’s lives are harmful.  They are not the real deal.  They contain chemicals and additives to make them last and smell the same for eternity.  That is a great selling feature for products that sit on your shelf that need to smell the same year after year.  In terms of one’s health and vitality they fail to deliver any therapeutic benefits at all.

Having been in the business of scents and aromatherapy for 10 years now I realize how very little many people actually know about scent or how to effectively use naturally scented products with maximum benefits.  Here some key points to consider when using and selecting naturally scented products:

1.    Choose products made by qualified companies. Not everyone knows how to use essential oils, blend them or use them in the correct proportions.  Generally speaking the dilution ratio of essential oils is 1% for children,  elderly, and the infirm 2-3% for the general public. Here is a  list of the most common applications and the amount of oil to use per application: http://mysticchick.com/spirit-and-ceremony/applications-for-synergy-oils/
2.    Decide what you want the product to do for you.  Is it simply to smell good, help detoxify the body, kill bacteria, liven up your living room, help promote relaxation?  Deciding what you want ahead of time will help you to hone in on the right product.
3.    Not all essential oils are created equal.  Some manufacturers have less than honorable practices  when harvesting oils which can have a grossly negative environmental impact. Buy from reputable companies who can tell you where they obtain their oils from and  how they were extracted.
4.    How does the product feel?  Intuition is the key.   Just because something is natural or your best friend swears by it does not necessarily mean it is the best one for you.  Trust your instincts.
5.    Does the company test on animals?  I  personally would run far, far away from any company that purports to be natural that does animal testing.  There is no need to subject animals to the testing of personal care or cleaning products, especially natural ones.
6.    Buy smaller quantities and sizes and replenish them more often.  Natural products just do not last as long as their commercial counterparts.  By buying in smaller quantities and sizes you will be sure to have less waste, truly enjoy your products, and will able to get more than one aroma to suit your mood  rather than a gallon of one kind of bubble bath.

While the name might lend itself nicely to a retirement community in Florida,  Palmarosa is actually an essential oil is that is extracted from Cymbopogon martini of the Gramineae family and is also known as East Indian and Turkish geranium, as well as Indian rosha and motia.

This particular essential oil is quickly becoming a favorite amongst aromatherapists, as it has excellent skin care properties, can cool fevers, help to ease the pain and discomfort associated with infections, colds, and flus, hasten recovery from colds and flus, and can be calming to the mind and uplifting and invigorating for the spirits.

Palmarosa oil has a sweet floral, with a hint of rose fragrance and is pale yellow in color with a nearly watery viscosity.  It often used to dilute costly rose essential oil.  It is a wild growing, green and straw-colored grass, with long slender stems, flowering tops and fragrant grassy leaves. It is harvested before the flowers appear. There are two varieties of grass from which the oil can be extracted - motia and sofia.

The therapeutic properties of Palmarosa oil are antiseptic, antiviral, bactericide, cytophylactic, digestive, febrifuge and hydrating.  Palmarosa oil is known to speed up the healing of cuts and wounds, balance the production of sebum, promote cell regeneration, fade old scars, minimize broken capillaries, and help the body restore healthy intestinal flora.  It is also used to counter physical and nervous exhaustion, stress-related problems and nervousness.  Palmarosa oil has no known side effects and is considered a safe, non-toxic, non-irritant and non-sensitizing essential oil.

Use Palmarosa oil in the bath, a  diffuser or  blended massage oil during convalescence to relieve fatigue, nervousness, exhaustion and stress.  It can be used in a facial steam  lotion or cream to help clear up infections, prevent scarring, accelerate healing, fight wrinkles by attracting moisture to the skin and to balance the production of sebum, which helps keep the skin supple and elastic.  Palmarosa oil can be found in Mystic Chick’s Healing Synergy and is blended with Eucalyptus oil, Niaouli oil, and  Spearmint oil for a truly uplifting experience.

So I finally found my voice.  I had no idea that I hadn’t really fully used it before.  Having grown up the product of an overly artistic family that despises mediocrity in all that it stands for I realized I continually rebelled by trying (in fact yearning) to be quote unquote, normal.  Now I have come to terms with my ways, I just know that normal isn’t my deal.  Not that there is anything wrong with it.  It just doesn’t feel quite right like an ill fitting pair of shoes you still buy simply because they are on sale in hopes that your feet might fit into them properly one day.  I am somewhere in the middle.  I am my own version of artsy fartsy quirky funky and the sum total of my years of experience trying to be normal.  I had no real way of knowing I would truly discover the heart of my being in the process.   Living in the aftermath of this epiphany is an entirely different story.  I would say it is an ongoing process of relaxing into the “what is-ness” of the “me” I have come to know and am beginning to love.  Reiki and all my other amazing tools in the wondrous “cosmic toolbox” I cart around like Felix the cat have really helped me to stand my ground and release that which has bound me like a slave to the crap of my past.  I am forever grateful to have attracted just the right teachers, books, friends, and other such tools with which to work it all out at of course, just the right time.  Gotta love divine timing.  It’s always there whether you like it or not.

Foot bath 2 – 5 drops add to warm water and soak feet for about 15 – 20 minutes. Can also add ½ cup Epsom salts to the foot bath.

Diffuser 1 – 5 drops

Bath 1 – 6 drops (best put into ½ tsp carrier oil first e.g. olive oil, sunflower oil, jojoba oil)

Steam inhalation 2 – 3 drops in a bowl of hot water, lean over bowl and cover head with a towel. Breathe deeply for a few minutes.

Tissue or cotton ball 1 drop – can be sniffed as needed or placed into pillow case

Perfume – dab a drop on pulse points

Massage oil – 1 drop essential oil blend to 20 drops carrier oil.

*Do not ingest. Keep out of reach of children. Avoid contact with sensitive skin and eyes. If pregnant, nursing, or have a known illness or health disorder consult a doctor before using. Not intended to treat or diagnose any medical condition. These guidelines are suggestions only. Use at your own discretion. See our full disclaimer for more information.