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Borax     (Its in other things, but Borax is best)

Water

Food     coloring

Pipe     cleaners (chenille craft sticks)

Borax is sold with laundry detergents as a natural cleaner.

What You Do

The large size of the crystals comes from two things:

A     structure or armature on which     the crystals grow (Pipe Cleaner)

Controlling     the cooling rate of the crystal growing solution

1.      The first thing you need to do is bend the pipe cleaners the shape you want for your crystal "rock" or geode. For a rock form, you can simply twist several pipe cleaners end-to-end and crumple them up into a rock shape. Neatness really doesn't count because you're going to coat the entire mess with crystals. For a geode, you can spiral pipe cleaners into a hollowed shell shape. Either works fine. You don't need to completely fill in the open spaces with pipe cleaner fuzz, but you don't want giant gaps either.

2.     Next, find a container slightly larger than your shape. You want to be able to set the shape in the container, without having it touch the sides, with enough space that you can completely cover the form with liquid solution.

3.     Remove the shape from the container. Boil enough water to fill the container enough that it would cover your pipe cleaner form. Stir in borax until it stops dissolving. One easy way to make sure you have as much borax as possible in the water is to microwave the mixture back to boiling.

1.      Add food coloring. The crystals will be lighter than the solution, so don't worry if it seems deeply colored.

2.     Place the pipe cleaner shape in the solution. You may need to shake it around a bit to dislodge air bubbles to make sure it won't float.

3.     This is where the controlled cooling come into play. You want the solution to cool slowly in order to get the largest crystals. Cover the container with a towel or plate. You can wrap it in a hot towel or place it in a warm location,

4.     Allow a couple of hours for the crystals to start growing. At this point, use a spoon to dislodge the shape from the bottom of the container. You don't have to do this step, but it seems to make it easier to remove the crystals at the end if they are loosened early. Let the crystals grow several more hours or overnight.

5.     Remove the form from the container. The crystals may be perfect now or they may be fairly small and incompletely covering the shape (most common). If they are fine as they are, you can let them dry, otherwise you need more crystals.

1.      Prepare a new solution, dissolving as much borax as you can in water, adding food coloring (doesn't have to be the same color), and sinking the crystal-covered shape. Fresh crystals will grow on the existing ones, larger and better-shaped. Again, slow cooling is key for best results.

2.     You can do another round of crystal-growing or finish the project whenever you are satisfied with the crystal size. Let the crystal dry on a paper towel.

Visit us at: www.naturingrelaxation.com

Visit us at: www.naturingrelaxation.com

Malachite is a powerful stone. Be sure to keep this stone out of the way of small children ( can be toxic if ingested) and not meant for elixir water (don't put it in water as it is toxic) to be ingested. Malachite is believed to amplify energies (both good and bad) and is a grounding stone which can help when we get that floaty-flighty feeling. Malachite is considered the stone of nature and brings balance/ harmony to ones heart. At one time malachite was a sign of unconditional love and was used as a symbol on wedding days. It is also believed to help one heal emotionally and to enhance the immune system. Affirmation: I am healed by nature.

For centuries people have been looking to the sky for the time of year and many cultures adopted names for the different moons. The moon goes through a full cycle in 29.5 days which we now call a month, but we no longer use the moon to keep track of our months.

Civilizations created names for each moon so they knew what was going on during the month. For example the moon of January is known as the Wolf moon and was named that because during the winter months food was scarce. January is also known as the Old moon (winter is getting old and hopefully will be over soon) and the Ice Moon. 

February is most commonly known as the Snow moon, but has also been known as the storm moon and the hunger moon. March is known as the Worm moon because as the ground thawed the world came alive you can see the worm trails across the ground. The March moon was a sign that planting season was coming soon.  

April’s moon is called the Pink moon in honor of the wildflowers and has also been called Sprouting moon, egg moon and the fish moon (fishing begins during April and fishing is much easier without ice). May heralded  in the Flower moon and has also been termed the Corn Moon which is when crops such as corn had to be in the ground. April and May interestingly enough are the months of planting for the coming year.

June is known as the Strawberry Moon when wild strawberries have reached their peak of ripeness. Europe calls it the Rose Moon as the roses also bloom with wild abundance. July ushers in the Buck Moon which is when all male deers shed their antlers and start regrowing new ones. Another common name for July is the Hay month which is when hay season starts. August is the Sturgeon Moon and is a great month for fishing. 

September is called the Harvest Moon and every culture during this moon would gather in all of the crops before the weather turns bad. October is the Hunter’s Moon and marked the last chance to hunt before winter came and the animals went into hibernation. November is commonly referred to as The Beaver Moon and The Frost Moon. November is the month beavers would be spotted building their winter damns and many Native Tribes would set out beaver traps. November is also when frost would be heavy and nothing would be able to grow.