The Crazy Wisdom Community Journal

The latest edition of The Crazy Wisdom Community Journal is online.
visit CrazyWisdom.net to view.
The online version of The Crazy Wisdom Community Journal includes the events calendar, articles, interviews and more!
Enjoy!

Tea with the Fairies

Thursday, Sept. 20th 4 to 5:30 p.m.

Children and their families are welcome for tea and petits fours served by real-life fairies! Celebrate with our magical fairies as they serve up tea, treats, and magic.There will also be story time with Lily at 4:30 p.m. from books available at Crazy Wisdom.$6.00* per person includes a pot of delicious tea (free refills), petits fours, cookies, and a party favor.Bring your own fairy wings, dolls, and friends.

*excluding infants 18 mo. and younger

To reserve space please RSVP

For more info, or to make a reservation call the Crazy Wisdom Tea Room at 734.665.9468 or email our Tea Room Manager Samantha at samantha@crazywisdom.net

Attendance not guaranteed without reservation

Where & When
Crazy Wisdom Tea Room
4 to 6 p.m.
Thursday, September 20th
114 S. Main Street, Ann Arbor
734.665.9468
www.crazywisdom.net

Crazy Wisdom is good for your health

Are you feeling stressed out? Is the pressure of a new school year already making tense? Is your boss getting on your last nerve? Are you upset about how poorly the UofM football team is doing? Don't let the stress get to you, stop by Crazy Wisdom and let all your worries just melt away!
As a new student at UofM I was feeling particularly frazzled last week. I was rushing from class to class, inhaling a candy bar during study breaks instead of eating a good meal, and losing sleep with worries about all the reading I had to do. I was very irritable and for the first time ever I was not looking forward to working my shift at the bookstore. That all changed as soon as I stepped foot into Crazy Wisdom. My co-worker chatted with me about how my week had been and once I vented all my frustration about the past few days I felt much better. Within just a few minutes I felt like I could breath again. I soaked in the atmosphere, the soothing music of Amrit Kirtan and the subtle aroma of incense and candles that permeates the store. It's not just my co-workers that make Crazy Wisdom so special, it's also the customers. Over the course of the night I remembered why I love working at the bookstore so much. I talked with people about subjects ranging from Reiki to musician Beth Orton to the benefits of Aura Soma. By the end of my shift I felt completely relaxed and I slept soundly that night for the first time in two weeks.
You don't need to be an employee of Crazy Wisdom to reap the benefits of it's relaxing atmosphere. If you're feeling a bit frazzled just visit the store, have some tea, browse through the books, pick up your favorite stress-busting incense and chat with me at the front counter.
I speak from experience when I say, "you'll thank yourself for it later."

Autumn Equinox at Crazy Wisdom

Just a reminder to mark your calendar for Crazy Wisdom's 1st "Witches' Night Out".
It takes place on September 25th and begins at 7:00 pm. It will be fun and there will be Fall Equinox goodies for those who attend.

Autumn Equinox: The Enchantment of Mabon by Ellen Dugan
This is a wonderful book for celebrating the Fall Equinox.

Mabon, the autumn equinox, the first day of fall, is a magickal time of balance and plenty. Whether you know it as Mabon, Feast of Avalon, Cornucopia, Harvest Home, or Festival of the Vine . . . it's a time to celebrate the earth's bounty and to be thankful for the harvest that will sustain us through the coming winter.

In Autumn Equinox: The Enchantment of Mabon, Ellen Dugan will help you deepen your understanding of, and discover ways for honoring this ancient fall holiday. This delightful guidebook is overflowing with rituals, spells, recipes, crafts, and customs to celebrate the most colorful and bewitching season of the year.

Featuring craft projects, recipes, enchantments, and valuable information on harvest deities, Autumn Equinox offers countless ways to bring fall magick into your life. Learn to create witchy wreaths, cook seasonal foods, put together a homemade centerpiece, make herbal soap, and practice spells and rituals using easy to find, natural supplies.

Celebrate the magick of Mabon with:

• Harvest myths and stories: John Barleycorn and the Lord of the Harvest; Herne the Stag King; Pomona, Roman Goddess of Apples; The Myth of Demeter and Persephone Recast-Persephone's Story
• Fall magick and divination: Apple Magick; Autumn Faery Meditation; Scarecrow Protection Magick; Calling on Blackbirds for Skill and Cunning
• Seasonal crafts: Grape Wreaths and Lighted Fall Garlands; Herbal Soaps; Leafy Luminaries; Baby Boo and Ghost Pumpkin Centerpieces
• Harvest goodies and treats: Harvest Apple Upside Down Cake; Shoepeg Corn Casserole; Rosemary Garlic Potatoes; Dora's Grape Jelly
• Mabon rituals and traditions: Equinox Candle Ritual for Balance; Harvest Moon Rite; Ritual to Dionysus, God of the Vine

Shekhinah Mountainwater Crosses Over

Shekhinah Mountainwater died August 11th at 2:30 pm, quietly, in the company of her loving Goddess-sisters and her family. She had been battling cancer for some years, and she was ready to depart. Read more at Lunaea Weatherstone's Blogue
Visit Shekhinah's website at http://www.shekhinah.net/ to learn more about her.
She will be greatly missed! Peace, prayers and blessed be.

Staff Pick - Book Review

Since Al Gore’s documentry An Inconvenient Truth brought the very real and very destructive truth about climate change into media headlines and the consciousness of people around the globe, “going green” has increasingly become a lifestyle choice for those with the courage to take responsibility for what we are doing to our planet.
While the concept of changing a lifetime of patterns may seem both daunting and insurmountable to some, there are fortunately resources available that help to make the transition both easy and rewarding.
Crissy Trask’s It’s Easy Being Green: A Handbook for Earth-Friendly Living is one such resource. Trask dispels the common myths about green living in the first chapter, and in doing so, illustrates that living an earth-friendly life isn’t only for people with a lot of money and free time. From there she educates the reader on how our buying and living choices impact our planet, as a tool to inspire us to make changes that are healthy for ourselves and our planet.
The bulk of the book is presented in list form, with a check off system designed to track your progress on each item. This has been the most helpful part of the book for me, as it’s easy to revisit and pick items to focus on. From using a toaster oven instead of a full size oven for small dishes, to using night lights in infrequently used rooms, the book is full of easy and thoughtful things we can all do that, when combined, make a big difference.
The book even includes a directory of businesses, websites, groups and products that support green habits (including Ypsilanti’s Maggie’s Organics!) and educate on the truth of the state of our planet. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in making a difference who might not know where to start. (Hint: buying this book is a great place to start).

---Rachel P.

Staff Pick - Book Review

A Three Dog Life
by Abigail Thomas

Women and their dogs... what could be better? Abigail Thomas loves her three dogs. They provide simple, ever-present, non-judgmental companionship, comfort, and joy. I began reading this book simply because of the cover and title, not knowing what her three dogs replace. Thomas' husband has an accident, leaving him with permanent brain damage, no short-term memory, and the inability to take care of himself.
The subject matter is intense and deeply sad, and yet, the writing is so beautiful and poignant that Thomas' pain is bearable. There are even funny moments, unbelievably profound conversations, and out-of-the-blue psychic revelations. It's possible that when one part of the brain is hurt, another part becomes more refined and developed.
I read this book quickly, all the while grateful for my life and my intact love. It makes you count your blessings, but it also invites you in to the author's world in the way only good memoirs can. I was so interested in this couple's life; out of such an irreparable tragedy, they build (or she has built) another life -- good and introspective and satisfying, and still very full of love.
Highly recommended.

---Sarah N.