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Powerful New Moon Ritual

Today I will recommend you a powerful new moon ritual.

Rituals are easier for me when I connect with nature and with life.

Nature has its elements, earth, water, fire, and air. It is inspiring me with its trees and rivers.

Life has its patterns and cycles.

The cycle of the moon can be a great reflection point in our journey of finding ourselves.

In a life where it is flowing like a river, could be a great exercise to stop for a while and reflect on our journey, to see where I have been, where I am going, and how I want to live my unique life.

What phase is moon in today?

Like a moon we live life as phases, everything is changing constantly.

In this river of life, still I have many choices and I am the captain of my own life.

Here are some nice ideas for a new moon ritual but first, let’s look to the phases of the moon and see how it can serve us as a reflection place

You can do a ritual with a moon following all the phases or you can just choose some phases as a reflection point.

Rituals during moon phases

Your life is unique to you so your rituals

Rituals are great to connect to yourself and Cosmos, to invite silence to listen deeply to find answers to your deeper questions.

Each ritual is unique and there is no right or wrong answer.

You are the one who will design your rituals.

If you have learned from your ancestors some rituals this is great as you will feel the connection easier, if not than invent your ritual, make it as joyful as a game.

How to start a ritual?

The best way to start a ritual is by inviting a calm place inside you

Take some time to calm down. Do things you like or meditate or water your plants. Invite yourself to be present.

Creating your sacred space for a ritual

New moon means a fresh start so it is a perfect time clearing your space with a sage which will also help you calm down.

Bring to the space that you will make your ritual some objects that you like, you can get help from different elements; some stones, doves, flowers, water, candle, a nice touch of a colorful table cloth.

Maybe a nice drink and music to enjoy.

Ritual for reflection: drawing your tree of life

For a reflection point, a tree can inspire you, with its roots, its trunk, its branches, leaves, and fruits.

There is this great exercise called TREE OF LIFE which I have learned in the gathering called JAM.

You can get the help of a tree to reflect for your whole life or a period of your life; your last month, last 3 months, last 6 months, or last year, as you wish. Here is how it works:

You will draw the tree of your life with its roots, soil, trunk, branches, leaves, fruits each symbolizing specific things.

Bring a piece of paper and colorful pens.

Below I am sharing with you the guideline of how to draw your tree with the symbolizations of each part. This explanation of the parts below is from the YES Facilitation Manual

The Tree of Life consists of seven parts:

1.The Roots – your history and ancestry: Where do you come from?

2.The Soil – your values and soul-forces: What do you ground yourself in? Where do you draw strength from? What feeds your spirit?

3.The Trunk – your influences or sources of information: Who or what has shaped or is shaping you?

4.The Branches – your creations and partnerships: What are you manifesting in the world? What organizations are you a part of?

5.The Leaves or Fruit – your accomplishments: What do you feel proud of?

6.The Blossoms/Buds – your dreams: What do you hope for in the future?

7.The Dead Branches – things you are trying to unlearn: What do you want to let go of in your life?

Enjoy drawing your tree of life, permit yourself to be creative, pay attention to your inner critique to not sabotage your drawing or painting abilities.

Once you draw you will have a clear feeling of this new moon phase that is coming. You will feel more in control of your own life.

How to end a ritual?

Showing gratitude can be a great way to finalize your ritual.

Look to your life from the drawing of your tree.

Mention those details that you are grateful for. Let the silence help you to digest this feeling of gratitude.

Joyful imagination

Joyful imagination can help you to be in connection with your intentions for the coming month.

Next days, have a daydream time for yourself. Take it seriously.

Every day at least 5 minutes. Imagine joyfully those changes that you want to see in your life.

Imagine them in a way that they have already happened; that you are with this feeling of appreciation in your imaginations.

At the end of my daily meditation and before sleeping is a great time for me for joyful imagination.

Tonight, have your time in your sacred space for drawing your tree of life and imagining for next month.

Every morning when you open your eyes ask yourself, ‘Which miracles are the universe is bringing me beyond my expectations?’, then flow with the life with surrender, compassion, and joy of the wander.

Happy new moon everybody.

Live Life As a Ritual. Convert Your Routines to Rituals

What is the difference between a ritual and a routine?

Awareness is the main difference between a routine and a ritual. Being aware, being in the moment, in here and now.

With a ritual, you mark a beginning and an end at any time. You name it and give your complete focus, which makes it possible to honor the moment.

Do not settle with what you have; enjoy it.

Yes, this is what makes a ritual. So, it makes sense to convert your routines to rituals.

We have many routines going on in our life. Would you like to convert some of your routines to rituals? Here in this blog post, you can get some ideas about how to do this.

Are you aware of your routines with the potential of rituals?

Let me give you some examples:

Brushing your teeth
Preparing a meal
Eating a meal
Your morning time, bathroom self-care, wearing your cloth and makeup.
Working time
Having a bath
Before going to bed, do bathroom self-care, wearing your pajamas.
Special days
Hosting someone at home
Geographical routines: when the sun comes up and goes down, the cycles of the Moon, seasonal changes (ah, they are the best for me. So much energy change).
Throwing the garbage

…the list can go on and on.

I even think we are so stuck with cigarette smoking because it just converts a routine into a ritual, opening and closing it. Maybe if we had more rituals that make it possible to connect with ourselves and with the Cosmos, we would not need any more cigarettes.

Jung advised going with already existing rituals, coming from your ancestors.

Also, he emphasized that if you cannot connect with the rituals of your ancestors, then it is excellent to the quest for your own.

I guess he said so because the rituals which have been practiced for centuries, almost in the exact manner by many of our ancestors and now by us, definitely have another energetic level, also keeping in mind that many people are doing it the same way, at the same time.

Still, meaning is more important than form. What does it mean for you? How does it make you feel? Can it facilitate a connection between yourself and also with Cosmos? Is it bringing another meaning to your life, full of symbols?

Look what Jung says about this matter as well:

‘Only the symbolic life can express the soul’s need – the daily need of the soul, mind you! And because people have no such thing, they can never step out of this awful, grinding, banal life in which they are ‘nothing but, he wrote.

I love rituals; I always did.

It is natural; I love to connect with the ONE. I always remember adoring the smell of a lovely plant in the middle of a circle, the magic that a candle and a soft light can bring tonight.

All those incredible ceremonies worldwide show the awe we feel about the creation, and you know that celebrating alone has nothing to do with celebrating together.

We lost those big celebrations when crop time was finished. All the village, all together, around a bonfire, with music, dance, good food and always with love.

You are sharing and connecting with your own and with your loved ones.

Meditating On Death Supports Our Choices of Love

Don’t you feel like there is a lot of fear out there?

Fear. Oh my goodness, I do not remember of fearing as much as I did as this last 2 years. I will not make a list of all my fears. I will talk about the rituals of contemplating on death.

Accumulated fear in my body which makes me feel exhausted sometimes.

Can we categorize the fear as little fear or big fear?

Fear of dying when having like a normal illness just in case if it is a coronavirus. Fear of losing a loved one because of the fear that he has a heart attack.

Then little fears that I am beginning to realize besides the veils that are all the time there. When I receive an email from whoever, the fear of doing something wrong. In business the fear of going to bankruptcy.

While sharing something in social media, fear of not being liked. Even fear of being punished because of what you think.

Fear, fear, and fear.

Each time I am being more aware that there are just 2 main things: fear and love. Which one I choose in each moment does not look like depending on me every time. Sometimes I even do not realize there is a fear behind the veils which makes me react instead of respond.

Fear coming from attachment to whatever or love that let me free.

Oh boy, the art of living is a tough thing, let me say.

Learned fears during my life are sometimes leaving me paralyzed. When I look deep inside I see myself fearful of doing something wrong.

It is sad to witness that I am passing some of these fears to my kids as well, even without recognizing them. Almost as a family heritage. Fear of ages passed through ancestors.

I do not know you but I need a prayer for easier choices for all of us around the world. I hope we all live and feel love much more than fear each and every moment. Consciously we choose love which leads us to freedom.

So here we go. I want to talk to you about 2 rituals of meditating on death.

Some time ago, I went to a Buddhist retreat in a temple about meditating on death without any idea at all. In Sufi tradition, there is a concept of dying before dying, so I thought that the meditating on death would be something similar which I found out that was not the case.

We literally meditated on death during the retreat of 3 days.

Till that retreat, I did know that this ritual is one of the most important rituals for Buddhist lamas and they continuously get prepared for their time of death. It is believed that the moment you die, your way of greeting this moment is crucial for your after-death journey.

Actually, when I thought about it afterward somehow it made sense. In a word where thinking about death makes us so terrified, even not being able to talk about it, the existence of death, and remembering it occasionally can bring balance to our lives and serve as reminders of what really is important. Dead is part of life, we accept or not, it is there, so why escaping from it instead of inviting to our life as our guide.

During the retreat, there were many meditations and talks with the Lama about death, fear, and love. In the specific meditation about death which was guided by the lama, we were invited to imagine about our death starting from 1 year ago, then 6 months ago than 3 months, 1 month, 1 week, 1 day, 1 hour and done.

First of all, I thought it was all ok but once the meditation became closer in time, the things I value most in life became much more clear to me.

It was beautiful to experience and what I found at home coming back was even more magical. I came back home and then we went to the beach and somehow there was a concert there and we began to dance with my kids enjoying each moment. I was living what I meditated in the morning while imagining my death.

Contemplating on death as a morning ritual

The other day I saw a post of a friend saying about thinking in death as a morning ritual. While you are having your morning coffee, thinking about your death or the death of your loved ones. Feel this moment as much as you can. Be aware that we are now, here and we do not have any idea about tomorrow.

These days I was watching The Protector series on Netflix. A fictional world where there are immortals and mortals. The series makes you think about the design of this creation, the importance of the existence of death.

If there is death, there is fear and there is an option. Maybe the key to practice the choice between fear and love that consciously or unconsciously we make every moment is contemplating death. What do you think?

Do you have any rituals that support your choices of love? Do you feel fear and how you cope with it? Share with us in the comments.

My Shamanic Journeys Experience

I made my first shamanic journey in 2015, in a gathering about Shamanism by Ayşe Nilgün Arıt. She had an interesting story if I remember correctly. She was working as a high-level manager in a pharmaceutical company in Turkey, then in a visit to South America, while walking in nature as a tourist, she met the person who later became her teacher. The person got closer to her and gently said ‘welcome, we were waiting for you.’

Since then she began to learn the details of the shamanism from Don Miguel Angel Vergara Calleros and then as the interest in Turkey was increasing and so many people were demanding this information about shamanism, she designed some gatherings to start the shamanic path, which I am very thankful.

Shamanism is the wisdom of our ancestors to be deeply in connection with nature and the cosmos. It is interesting as Mircea Eliade found out all the commonalities of the wisdom and the rituals and ceremonies of ancestors all around the world, showing that somehow our ancestors could connect with the source, where their wisdom is coming from.

5 years ago, I went to 2 days gathering, in the middle of a city, inside a normal room with several people. We listened to many stories from Ayşe Nilgün Arıt. Then I read her books and began to practice some shamanic rituals that she has provided.

At the end of this 2 days gathering, she holds a space for us all, to experience a shamanic journey. My first experience was incredibly vivid as I was doing with her, later on, when I began to practice on my own, it took a lot of time for me to figure out my power animal and my way to shamanic journeys.

Some months later, I attended another gathering of her and have been practicing the shamanic rituals she provided, for many years now.

What is a shamanic journey?

In Shamanism, there is a belief that there are below the world, upper world, and middle world. In the below world, you can meet with your power animal(s) and ask them any kind of guidance.

There are some fundamentals around shamanic journeys:

First of all, you need to find out your power animal (nagual), those animals that appear in your journeys, you can have a power animal for all your life and depend on your circumstances and your needs you can also have temporary power animals coming to your journeys.

How one can find her power animal?

By going to shamanic journeys to find your power animal. My journey of finding my power animal took almost 6 months and many shamanic journeys meanwhile. In the beginning, till I found my power animal, I was going to shamanic journeys with just one intention, finding my power animal. Once you find it, then in your next journeys you can go with any intention that you need guidance.

How one can start a shamanic journey?

In shamanic journeys, shamanic drums are the keys. Drumming temporarily changes brainwaves to Theta waves, where images become very active. You can not control anything but just begin to journey. If you play a shamanic drum, you would know it, once you get the drum to play, you get this sensation that drum plays itself, that you do not have any control.

The drum is magical, both for the Shaman that is playing and for the person who is in the shamanic journey. Even though my experiences with live drums were always quick to go to journey, at home for my shamanic journeys, I use shamanic journey recordings, especially from Michael Harner, 15 minutes or 30 minutes option, depending on my mood and need for it.

For every shamanic journey, one goes via a secret place, a door, a pool, a well, you choose it.

How does the shamanic journey process continue?

First, you lie down, it is important to have the spine upright. You can cover your eyes with something for a better experience than you simply imagine this place of entrance to the shamanic journey as detailed as possible. This place can change or all the time could be the same. For me, I am entering the same place since I started experimenting on shamanic journeys.

Importance of clear intentions

It is important to have your intention very clear as shamanic journeys are working with symbols as in dreams, so the experience you will have with your power animal will be full of symbols. If you have your intention focused and clear, it will be easier to understand the meanings of the symbols.

Then you will let your self just be and experience the journey. In the meanwhile you can interact with your nagual as well, asking more questions for clarification.

It is a relationship what you have with your power animal and any relationship flourish with care

I love my nagual and I am very grateful for all the guidance he has provided to me. In years, we have created a relationship. Sometimes in this world, when I see animals in an unexpected situation, I know that my nagual is asking me to come for a shamanic journey, or when I do not go for a long time, I miss him so much and he misses me too.

In the shamanic journey, the drumming has 3 parts. Let’s say if 15 minutes drumming, first 13 minutes is a steady rhythm, then for 1-2 minutes the rhythm changes and then becomes quicker, as a reminder to come back, so you are just coming back remembering all the steps you have been taken. Finally, you come back to your tunnel and finish the journey once the drumming finishes.

Then you gently open your eyes, do some grounding work is very much recommended afterward.

Once you finalize the journey, the first thing which is recommended to do is writing down all your journey. You can have a shamanic journey notebook, to keep them all together. This is a powerful thing to do, to finalize the ritual, and to put much care into your experience.

It is recommended to do shamanic journeys at most twice per week, not more than that. I generally do once a month or once every 2 weeks, though.

Shamanic journeys have been a great guiding tool for me and still is. I am so glad that I have learned about them and then had the persistence to try until I gain the trust of my nagual.

Rituals and Symbols of Sacrifice Feast

In the Islamic world, 2 special days are celebrated each year. Feast of Ramadan and Sacrifice. Today I will talk about the symbolic meaning of Feast of Sacrifice.

Why do people celebrate it? What does it mean symbolically?

Sacrifice feast is related to being close to God. There are 2 different words in Turkish ‘yakın olmak’ and ‘yakin olmak’, just 1 letter changes all the meaning though. ‘Being close’ to God is ‘yakın olmak’ then yakin olmak, leaving yourself totally, so filling with God and moving with the divine.

Sacrifice feast is symbolizing these 2 concepts; ‘yakin olmak’ and ‘yakin olmak’.

You can not leave yourself and fill with the divine unless you sacrifice the excessive desires of Nafs, the animal inside you, the sense of self, the ego.

Here comes the story of the prophets Isaac and Abraham

Abraham saw in his dream that he was sacrificing his son Isaac, and he intended. There Isaac said to his father to cover his eyes so he could surrender fully. At this moment, God accepted his intention and asked not to sacrifice his boy and sent a sheep to them to sacrifice.

This story includes many symbols, an important one is Isaac asking for covering his eyes. Here Isaac symbolizes Nafs, ‘sense of self’ and here God says that no need to sacrifice the self, Nafs is needed, what you need to do is sacrifice the many requests of the Nafs and to do that, your Self needs to ask for it.

Ramadan and Sacrifice Feasts, both are related.

Sacrifice Feast is the last moment of the self-nurture the one that started with Ramadan Feast. Sacrificing your self. Sacrificing so much that your occurrence becomes beautiful, and from this beauty and inner peace, 3 groups will take profit: you, your loved ones that are close to you and people around, who are spiritually poor, they would see you and realize your way of being with inner peace.

In the Quran, everything has both meanings: inner meaning and outer meanings. So with sacrifice one sacrifices the sheep as well as her self. As we mentioned above, from this sacrifice of self, 3 groups would take profit, as well as from the sacrificed sheep’s meat 3 groups would take profit:

– For the person to consume later, one third

– To eat with loved ones and to celebrate all together, one third

– Giving to those who can not afford to buy meat, one third

Why is it important to sacrifice the desires of a sense of self, ego?

In Sufi tradition, it is believed that human beings are here to know, serve, and worship God. God has created all the creation because God intends to be known, and chosen human beings as a partner. To serve and worship, one needs to look for and know first. How one can know God? By knowing your self.

In the Quran in surah (shortest chapter) Al-Kawthar, sacrifice is declared to be a religious duty, meaning that necessary to do to reach inner peace and freedom, being free from the desires of sense of self and being in full surrender.

How one sacrifice the desires of the self?

To sacrifice the excessive desires of the ego, one needs to leave arrogance. Arrogance has 3 types according to Cemalnur Sargut

Idiocy: Not being able to see the sense of God. Thinking that one’s knowledge as correct always.

Smuggnes: Thinking that sense of self is me and being the prisoner of this self all the time.

Stinginess: Being unable to sacrifice the excessive desires of the sense of self.

If we can not leave these 3 types of arrogance, we can not accept ourselves as sacrificed our sense of self.

What are the rituals of the Sacrifice Feast?

It is an important day to be close to the Divine and the loved ones. People are coming together with their families as a big celebration.

Delicious foods are prepared days before, younger people are visiting older ones, offended people make peace between each other.

The day starts with morning prayer, in the mosque for man and at home for women.

Then early in the morning sacrifice ceremony starts with prayers.

The meat is separated into 3 parts, one third to the person who sacrifices, one third to eat all together with loved ones, one third to give to those who can not afford to buy meat.

All these above are outer meanings of a sacrifice feast day, the real meaning is self-evaluation of your self. One day before the sacrifice feast is the day of Arafah. It is a great day, to self-evaluate. Could I sacrificed enough my sense self, so will it be a real feast for me, were I close enough to the divine? If not, still one can have compassion with her own, every moment we born again.

Arafah day can also be a great day for setting intention and sacrifice feast day can be the first day after this intention. You can take this day, as an opportunity to know the divine, serve, and worship. A start of a new circle.

At the end of the day, we are here as a passenger. This is a long way, a journey of love, loving ourselves via loving divine, and vice versa.

Let us know in the comments if you celebrate Sacrifice Feast, what does it symbolize for you?

How Do I Remove Negative Energies From My Home?

Cleaning Negative Energy Ritual

We clean our physical homes and our physical bodies, and we need to do it in the energetical level as well. So below is how I clean negative energies from my home.

You feel it, sometimes you enter your home and you feel heavy or even weird. These are all signals that you need some energetical cleaning of your space. The best way is continuous cleaning, so let’s say if you have a weekly cleaning schedule for your home before the physical cleaning takes place, you can consider energetical cleaning.

Here are the tools I use to clean negative energy:

Fire and smell: I use mostly sage and palo santo and sometimes incense,
Sound: My voice, egg shakers, tuning fork,
Visualization: I get the help of colors for this, will explain more below.

How does my process work?

Preparation

Firstly, I open the doors and windows of the house.

Next, I decide and prepare the tools that I will use. I choose from the list above. It is an intuitive process, I let my intuitions guide me about these choices.

Thirdly, I ground myself. Generally, I do this with a little grounding meditation, even some deep breaths or looking to your feet with the intention of grounding would work.

Fourthly, I bring up my intention, say it aloud at least once, and continue to have it in my mind and heart during all the process. Bring full attention to the process is important. The intention could be anything depending on your belief system you can ask for help or guidance. Generally, I talk to negative energies. I say, ok thanks for your service and it is time to go, so please just leave. I repeat during the process. If this sounds weird to you, then say your intention in your way, it’s your ritual, and making it full-heartedly is the important one.

Using the tools for cleaning negative energy

Fifthly, I burn some sage, having some container down of it to prevent the ashes from going all around the house, and I go around each room. Opening the wardrobes, taking care of the edges, backside of the doors.

I gently make the sage go around so the smell of it will infuse to the negative energy. If I feel like I repeat the process with also palo santo. Some days, I just burn some incense with my intention.

In our ex-house, we had a fireplace, which we were using a lot, and I have witnessed that having a continuous fire at home, is an incredibly powerful purifier.

Next, I get the help of sound, could be tuning forks, singing bowls, egg shakers, or my voice. When I feel that there were blockages of energy, then I use egg shakers to break them into little pieces. Tuning forks have the same effect as sages in the sense of purifying.

Our voice is very powerful, and the power comes from intention, so keep in mind that by singing with the intention you can also clear the energy in the place.

Lastly, I get the help of visualization. In this phase, I use the energetical power of colors. I can do it to each room, or just one room that I want to concentrate on.

First, I imagine that there is a brown color cleaning all around, and all the negative energy is going out of the room, you can imagine the way you wish. Once all is clean, then I fill the room with rainbow colors in my visualization. That is it.

How long does this process take place?

It depends on your time and your need for cleaning. If you feel heavy in the place, if you had some illnesses, some arguments, or bad feelings at your home then you can make it a whole process, using as many tools as you wish and convert a slow ritual for you.

If you do not have a lot of time and want to make it weekly than up to you, choose the tools that you prefer to use, and go for it. Just sage would be fine, just tuning forks or just singing or visualization. Of course, all with intention. In this case, you can finish everything in less than 5 minutes.

What I could add lastly is trusting your intuition, and go for it, experience and find your way. There is not any right or wrong answer, there is only wisdom of ancestors from many civilizations. Experiment with smell & fire, sound, and visualization and add them to your cleaning cabinet.

Share your own experiences with me in the comments.

Our Art Corner At Home

Since I have my kids in my life, life becomes more colorful and artful with spontaneous dance nights and improvised art therapy sessions.

Today I want to talk to you about our actual art corner at home. It is a living space so changing continuously depending on our interaction with space and with the objects in the space.

How this space started and evolved?

When my first kid, Ender began to play with the paintings, I bought some nice paintings with different styles: crayons, watercolor, finger paint, markers, chalks, and colored pencils.

Different stickers, papers of different kinds and colors, aprons, table cloth to use while painting with finger paint, wet wipes, little paint containers, scissors, duct tape, clay, and paintbrushes.

Suddenly there were a group of the same category items that go together, not only for the sake of order but also once you paint with a little kid, you need to set up space with table cloth and aprons than while painting you need wet wipes and once finished you need to clean and order it as quick as possible.

This is a daily activity, so best is to keep all related items together, to not to go crazy and enjoy most with the kid’s creative spirits.

First I had all the items in a big drawer, which was hard to open, so it was safe. Then while they were growing, according to their age, I was getting some items visible and some others still were hidden.

Finally now as I have both of them quite grown, almost 4 and 6, we have all the items in our art corner visible which is continuously inviting us to create when we are inspired.

What we have in the space?

Right now in this space, we have;

Different paints: Crayons, colorful markers, colored pencils, watercolors, and finger paints
Painting brushes
Palettes
Scissors, erasers, sharpeners, rulers, compasses
Collage materials: Feathers, googly eyes, washi tapes, different colored papers, stickers
Clay tools
Different kind of tapes and glues
Aprons and table cloth

Why having an art corner with kids is important both for kids and for adults?

Thanks to my kids I learned how much I love and I miss just to create for the sake of it. Sitting with them, having nice music and some candles, and just letting my hands do what they want.

I was having a 1-sec check-in with me, asking myself how do I feel, and just letting my inner child enjoy the process with my children basically.

Now having such a space, facilitates us to create being in the flow. Whenever I have some time, I love to chill out in this art corner. Everything is ready and joyfully arranged to wait for our inspiration to flow.

My children daily use this space, whenever they feel like. Sometimes for just a minute, sometimes a bit longer and some other times I find them concentrated and creating while being in connection with themselves.

How you can create a similar space at your home?

Firstly, imagine where you would like this art corner to be. In a living room, in a playroom, in a bedroom, a terrace, or even an office maybe.

Secondly, consider who will use this space and their ages. If this space is also for kids than it is a good idea not to make everything visible. The importance is creating a yes space, a safe space where you would not say ‘no’ all the time.

Thirdly, for sure you already have many objects in your home which are art-related. Bring them altogether, put in a place where you can see them all.

Fourthly, bring different containers/boxes that you can use for this art corner.

Next, categorize them in a way that makes sense to you and then put them in those boxes.

Lastly, enjoy creating your new space. Keep in mind that this is a living place, so observe your interaction with the place and be flexible for future changes.

Some years ago, we moved to a new house, so our art corner had to change totally. I also want to show you some of our lovely moments while letting ourselves be from our previous house.

By the way, if you are interested in art aprons for yourself, you should check our colorful aprons, they are great.

What about you? Tell me about your art corners in the comments. Enjoy. Most important of all, let yourself be.

What Does the Evil Eye Symbol Mean and How Does the Evil Eye Amulet Protect You?

Since I am writing for My Sacred Space blog to go deeper about humanity’s heritage around rituals, symbols, and amulets I enjoy witnessing common beliefs and stories around the world irrelevant of the distances.

Each time these commonalities are reminding me how connected we are, and we always have been.

Similarly, today I want to talk to you about evil eye beads, an amulet that has been used widely all around the world, reflecting us the deepest and long-lasting beliefs.

What are evil eye beads?

Evil eye beads are these beads in blue color which have an eye shape in middle. Could you remember them? Sure, you have seen or heard them at least once.

What does it serve?

They are amulets that are protecting the animal, the person (especially babies), the car, or the house-whoever wears it- from the negative energy of a person. The source of this negative energy is the feeling of envy and jealousy. This negative energy is the evil eye.

We human beings all feel. It is out of our control. For instance sometimes one can feel envy to another person and with intention or not can affect the other person with this negative energy.

Blue color evil eye beads protect from this negative energy. They absorb all this energy, sometimes even get has broken because of the density of this energy.

When an evil eye amulet is broken, it is believed that the negative energy has been removed. So instead of feeling bad about it, it is accepted as very natural and just being changed with a new one.

Its history

According to the art history professor Neşe Yıldıran, the history of the evil eye beads is starting from 3300 BC, as she pointed out that evil eye beads found in excavations in Tell Brak, one of the oldest cities in Mesopotamia and within the borders of present-day Syria.

These found beads do not look like the ones used in the Mediterranean region. The traditional Mediterranean evil eye beads came up around 1500 BC.

The evil eye tradition came to the land where Turkey is by some glass artists coming from Egypt. They were the ones who were showing the detailed process of creating it.

Through my research on the internet, I came up with a book by Frederick Thomas Elworthy called The Evil Eye: The Classic Account of an Ancient Superstition showing different cultures around the world having the belief of the amulet of evil eye beads.

How the bead masters prepare the evil eye beads?

Firstly, evil eye beads are prepared in special furnaces that are burned by the master early hours of the morning by using redwood then in 2 hours, the furnace becomes 800-1250 °C.

Secondly, these furnaces have parts inside called ‘eye’, where the used glass melt. The temperature to melt the used glass is 800 °C. The ideal temperature to prepare the bead is 1250 °C.

Sustainable production process: reusing used glasses

Once the furnace reaches 800 °C, the master throws the used glasses to the ‘eye parts’ of this furnace to be melted.

Once the glass begins to melt it converts to glass paste and then the bead master adds the paint granules to give the preferred color to the glass.

With an iron stick, the master gets a part of this paste and gives the shape to a bead.

This process needs both attention and speed as the glass waits for longer outside, it becomes harder to give shape to it.

Once the shape has been given to the beads, then they are thrown to another part called ‘eye’ to cool. Depending on the size of the bead, this process takes between 3 to 12 hours, otherwise, the beads crack.

Once cooled, the master removes them and wash them with water.

What gives its power of amulet to these beads?

Firstly, the belief of the master who is preparing it and then the intention of this master.

Secondly, the used glass needs to be melted to be reused in a special place called ‘Eye Oven’, in the old times this special part of the oven was called “İyeli/Eyelü”, meaning with protective spirit.

Thirdly, setting up of evil eye furnaces need to be realized by special ceremonies and these furnaces are used just for evil eye beads, not any other glass object.

Above all, these evil eye beads need to be made by hand, not by machines.

What is the importance of these beads for us?

I always felt a special interest in evil eye beads. In my home I always had them. Whenever I was visiting abroad, I was bringing hand made traditional evil eye beads to give as a gift to the people I met.

Then I moved to a village just near Nazarköy- the village in Turkey, where the original evil eye bead tradition is still living. It is one of the 2 villages in Turkey where the production is done with old rituals and beliefs.

There I met with the masters and their families and with some of them, I connected so much that I felt them part of the family.

I see evil eye beads production as a heritage of rituals, symbols, amulets from our ancestors and its protection is important for me. Turkey and this village have an important role in this protection.

It is an artisanal work, where the knowledge passes through generations from master to apprentice.

As evil eye beads begin to be also produced in China in factories and additionally the used glasses which serve as raw material become harder to find, these traditional furnaces begin to lose their sales, so this mastership is facing the risk of extinction. In Nazarköy right now there are just 6 furnaces that continue to burn every day, whereas 10 years ago there were 13.

Simplest Ritual in the World: Smiling

Smiling is so easy, right? So smiling ritual as well

Yes, indeed. Smiling always comes my way as I am a ritual freak and having radars for all kinds of rituals in the world.

In this blog post, I will give you 3 simple and beautiful rituals with smiling. You can do it wherever and whenever you want. No excuses.

Here comes the list in chronological order that I have been told about the secrets of smiling.

1. Smiling while having a shower

When I was pregnant for my first kid for 12 weeks, we went on a trip to Indonesia with my husband.

Near Ubud, they told us that there was this incredible guy with healing abilities. So we took our motor and went to see him. He was a tall, old guy, with a white beard and white long dress.

He examined me first. He touched some parts of my body which really hurt. In the middle of the examination, I told him that I was pregnant. He said, hell yes that now it explained everything.

His prescription to me was simple: He said, do not worry, be happy, and for that, every morning while having a shower, I needed to gently caress my belly and smile. That is it.

I am a very disciplined person especially if the issue is rituals. I did it during all my pregnancies.

Last week, I began to do it again, with a slight adaption this time. Every morning while having a shower, I am smiling at myself.

2. Smile inward; remember smiling to yourself first

Several years ago, I attended some workshops/training/gatherings about Shamanic Wisdom by Ayşe Nilgün Arıt. There she explained a ritual, which I practiced from time to time and got great help from it.

Below are the details:

Sit your back straight and your feet touching completely the ground. Close your eyes. Wait until your mouth and lips are relaxed. Let your mouth have the shape of a smile. Now you will bring this smile inward.

Start with your eyes. Bring your attention to your eyes and imagine that this smile is going around your eyes, inward and outward. Smile energy is affecting all-around your eyes.

Now your chin and face. Imagine that the shining effect of your smile relaxes all your face including the chin, and causes scars to disappear on your face.

Then let the shine of your smile go to your neck and feel how the smile is just spreading in that area.

Next are your chest and lungs. Feel how your smile is affecting you. Then your smile is coming all around your heart, with each heartbeat the love energy of your smile is going to each and every cell of your body.

Go down to your belly, and smile to your belly, liver, and kidneys. Now focus on the root of the spine and the love energy of your smile is going up through your spine till your nape and from there to your head.

Lastly focus on your belly button, the connection point of the human beings to the web of cosmos. Smile at your belly button.

Do this smiling inward ritual, once you wake up and before going to sleep, even you can do various times during the day, especially when you need most this love energy of smile.

3. Smile while singing

In this blog post previously I explained about my singing journeys, where I publish every week a record of a song sung by me on the internet. You can see the details here.

Before singing and while singing there are many rituals that are supporting my singing journey and one is simple and wise advice from my singing teacher: smile, while singing, so your spirit will smile too.

I so. Not only I can feel the effect of it and I can also hear the difference from recordings as well. If you have never tried, I invite you to do so right now. Smile, while singing, so your spirit also does. And you will definitely feel the difference.

Smiling, the simplest and maybe the most beautiful ritual of the world

It is simple because we have a smile with us all the time. It is all about intention and the focus that we put our attention to.

Focusing on your smile is powerful, because when you smile, you simply let it go and you trust, irrelevant of the situation. You show it with an action.

It is much more powerful when you do not feel like smiling at all. Especially at these times, just smile, bring your attention and focus to your smile and see and feel the difference.

Smile to yourself. Make smiling your new ritual.

How to Prepare Saint John’s Wort Oil?

Would you like to learn about a miracle remedy?

It is totally home-made. I am talking about Saint John’s Wort oil. It is the most incredible oil I have seen and used in my life.

Why Saint John Wort’s Oil is a miracle remedy?

Because it is good for many things and once used it serve incredibly quick. I am using it especially for;

Burning issues. Once you apply to the burned area on your body, you will feel the relaxation suddenly and you will see the effect of it in minutes. No exaggeration.

I used it for two of my kids when they were babies for the nappy rash.

I have not seen anything similar for being effective when applying after a person got injured. If applied just after the injury, it prevents bruises. If applied after the bruises appeared, it provides the bruising effect to pass very quickly.

In my home, Saint John’s Wort Oil is our best friend

I am so glad that my kids love this magical remedy. Whenever they fell or burn themselves, while crying, they ask me to bring the oil as quickly as possible.

This means a lot to me symbolically. Thanks to this remedy, they have learned to ask help to plant kingdom, to take care of themselves, how to make remedy, and how simple it is.

It is a whole process for us, that my kids have been part since they were babies

When we find Saint John’s Wort plant in nature, we celebrate, we dance and sing. We express our gratitude and we communicate to the plant how beautiful it is.
We ask for permission from the plant if we can pick it up.
We pick it up, bring it to our home and serve it as our best guest.
We prepare it and put to a glass jar and add olive oil on it. We do all this process with our whole focus and intention of healing.
Leave under the sun until the plant gives its red color to the oil, meaning that the plant shares its magical power to the plant. We observe, wait with patience.
Once red, we welcome the magical remedy to our life.

What is your magical remedy? Do you prepare yourself?