It is a well established fact around here that I do not wear, nor am I drawn to, vibrant colors. I like black. And gray. Occasionally navy, or extremely drab greens/browns. Sometimes denim, if it is older than a full decade. All the walls in The Burrow are white (or more correctly, dingy grayish-formerly-white). Sometimes I accidentally end up with things that are more brilliantly hued. It is never intentional, and I almost never choose them.
Recently Empress had some friends over to her place, they were doing a clothing swap. They brought boxes and baskets of garments that they just weren’t wearing, and they shared them around. She deposited the leavings in our living room, so her sister and I could go through them before they headed off to a donation center. When she was foraging around the house for something else that day, we found a pair of wooden clogs in a plastic bag. None of us know where these shoes came from. And they were NOT from the clothing swap pile, that hadn’t even happened yet. But that is where they eventually landed.
This was the phone photo I sent to my girls earlier. Me, wearing the found shoes, and one of two pairs of jeans I discovered in the donation stack. Yeah, I dressed in assorted hand-me-downs today. It was awesome in its absurdity. But the reason I’m sharing this entirely useless and ridiculous tale is because of our new oracle deck. We are on our second crystal today.
I know next to nothing about this form of divination, and I’m finding it quite fascinating. I had to do some googling around this afternoon though, because I was curious about what we drew on the altar. I’d never heard of this before. It’s called crocoite. Which, as I have now learned, has absolutely nothing to do with reptiles. The name comes from ”the Greek krokos, meaning saffron, in allusion to the color.” Well, huh. Apparently brightness, like perky, can just happen. To any of us. Who knew? Then I found this as well:
“Crocoite is a rather unusual lead mineral and can be a beautiful and colorful specimen. Crocoite provides a nice brightness to the mineral kingdom and is well known for its distinctive orange-red tones. Its main source of quality specimens comes from the Dundas District of Tasmania, Australia. The crystals there are usually long thin prisms. Crocoite’s high density and luster are the result of its lead content. Some crocoite aggregates are composed of bars and splinters, of differing sizes, going in a dozen different directions and produces a certain character to these specimens that is distinctive of the brilliant crystals in this category. Crocoite is also one of the very few chromate minerals. Beautiful specimens that show off crocoite’s unique color, high luster and unusual character are a prized addition to anyones collection.”
Seriously, I love to learn shit like this. Here’s the card, and what the guidebook has to say about the message.
“Crocoite ~ change ~ creativity ~ sexuality.
A new phase in your life is just around the corner. Creative possibilities surface from a chance encounter with someone new. This encounter stimulates inspiration, passion, and a greater optimism for life. Your sexual energy is also on the rise and this draws new people and circumstances into your life that you will find exciting and stimulating. Wonderful changes are in store for you, yet you are also being warned to be cautious. Appearances can often be deceiving, so look for inner beauty and truth before you allow yourself to be swept off your feet.”
I like the way Toni gets right to the point, and encourages us to use our inner guidance in his definitions, while keeping a nicely positive spin going. (I already love this deck very much.) Here is what he says about the meanings he’s assigned to each crystal:
“For the ‘Crystal Oracle’ I have simply selected crystals that have drawn my attention. I have intuitively tuned into each crystal to write the following messages. Crystals are interactive; they can resonate and attune to our energies just as we can attune and resonate to theirs. Like colour and sound they are ultimately pure vibration. Each colour, each crystal, and each sound, has its own particular note or frequency which is multidimensional in nature. It is, therefore, impossible for us to put an exact and final definition on them. We can never adequately put into our three dimensional language that which is, in essence, multidimensional and eternal in nature.”
When I flipped the card I had not yet gotten dressed for my day, and I didn’t even realize, until I got home from my erranding, that there was this commonality of vibrant colors, enhanced frequencies, being sort of forced upon me. It was raining again, but the sun did come out and shine a bit in between cloud bursts. I’m taking these frighteningly pink shoes, and this “saffron” crystal as signs. They must mean something…
My foreign license plate spotting began with Michigan this time, followed closely by Illinois, Alaska, Pennsylvania, Arizona, North Carolina, and Wisconsin. The only other thing I saw that was entertaining was a dad-type guy walking near a school, he was carrying an umbrella. Here in Rain City USA, it is actually sort of rare to see anyone doing this, I have no idea why, but we just don’t use them. This one was gray, with small, brightly colored cartoonish dogs and cats printed on it, which made me laugh at the subliminal joke over his head. He obviously is not from around here, and he also obviously, has a great sense of humour. Again, I am taking this as a sign.
You are wearing two of my favourite colors there. I too love to wear black – so flattering, and it goes with almost everything. But I do love some colour in my home and on my person!
The Crocoite is stunning – colour ,form and message, this is such a great deck.
Black is super easy, don’t need to have style or taste to make it work! I’m wondering if I need to take a Sharpie marker or something to those shoes, ya know, to tone them down a wee bit….
I know, I am really liking these crystals too.
No no don’t tone the shoes down! Pink is good, bright is good. Think of them as a toe in water of bright.
I’m wearing a pair of black cutoffs and a black vest top but…. a pink cotton shirt as a cardie, oh and a pink flower clip in my hair. Did I mention I love pink!
I was on my way to bed, and thought I’d check in here one more time then turn everything off…. and there you are, shouting to leave the pink shoes alone. LOL! Okay, but only because now I have this great image of you and your lovely pink flower hair clips that match the “cardie.”
I second the motion–don’t touch those shoes!! They, like umbrella man, are all part of the “chance encounter with someone new” aren’t they?
Maybe “Inappropriately Bright Shoes” will be a card in your deck one day. (And I forgot to add “No Forward Momentum House” the other day.)
Deargawd I hope someone it keeping track of these! Lol, my deck is going to be amazing. (Eventually.)
…….. and I love turquoise and orange, azure blue , lime green…..and they all go with black.
Look at your wee feet shod in hot pink! Very girly. Love the hot pink.
Me too riding the black train with lots and lots of colour thrown in. I had a gorgeous fucia pink suit when I was working. The skirt was wonderful, all swishy around my legs, when I had really great legs, when I was younger. It was so elegant. I felt powerful in pink which is interesting as I always wore blue and my sister wore pink. Hm… I bought a light grey suit when I was in PDX, it is lovely with hot pink. Pink it is today.
Love the crocite story. It reminds me of coral in the ocean. Sleep well dear friend. I just woke up from the best sleep eveeeer in a long time.
My sister totally embraced the cancer pink/ribbon pink, but even before that I was never a fan. Hey, I wonder if those came from her at some point?
Yipee for good sleep!
I am a fauve. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fauvism. I love strong/bold colors that clash in pleasing ways. In wet weather I have always worn the brightest yellow rain slicker I can find, and carried a bright purple umbrella. This combo rocks with my red hair, I can tell you. I look like some sort of acid hallucination of the Morton’s salt girl. I also live for tacky old lady sweaters. If I can find a sweater with giant puffy St. Bernard dogs frolicking in snow I am much pleased. I think it’s like those bright colors that warn predators “here there be poisons so do not mess with me bucko.” God made me crave color because he wanted to warn the others. :0)
You are like the human version of poisonous lickable frogs!
That is the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me
Wow. What things come to mind … ew! Now that’s just wrong and it’s all your fault. I do NOT want to think of The Fokker as lickable. (Nothing personal Fokker. I leave that sort of thing to SB.)
@Betty Fokker thanks for the reference to Fauvism. I never heard of that before and I can tell from Wikipedia I’m going to enjoy learning about it. What I hate about those things is, you really have to dig to find the women who participated.
Julie the hot pink up against the denim is beautiful. I bet you rock those shoes.
I went through almost a decade in black. Nothing but black. I was living in Albuquerque being a very direct activist (civil disobedience). I called myself being in mourning for the world. Melodramatic much? Then I came out of it and for a couple of years I couldn’t bear to wear anything black. Now it has slowly drifted back into my wardrobe. I don’t think I’ll ever go to that entirely black place again, though.
The crocoite is beautiful. I love crystals of all kinds. Never heard of that one. I also love learning something new. And geodes. I love geodes.
I actually got TWO compliments on my used shoes/borrowed pants combo while I was out… hmm might have to think about this “bright” factor some more. Maybe.
One does want a splash of color
(This is Dan, in his guise as House Man from The Bird Cage and he is quoting one of our favorite Nathan Lane lines. J)
I love color. I use black and white as background and structure. Turquoise blue (blue of any shade except navy and muted shades), lime green, lemon yellow, tangerine, apricot (now I’m hungry for fruit), purple …. The closest I get to pink generally is magenta. I hate when all I have to wear is dark or muted colors (because I still end up with some, usually second-hand). Although, an all black or all black and white or all white outfit cant be totally fun.
Love crystals, geodes, rocks.
Love that you are wearing “new” denim and pink clogs. Go with it. It might be time to open up your style just a bit. I’ve added a couple of light pink shirts and some gray into my wardrobe — you need to balance me by adding some bright color. But you can have my light pink and I’ll go snag some magenta or lipstick red.
@Fokker: I love to wear saturated blues and oranges together. Or orange and magenta. And I have red hair. I think these colors are fab together and I can totally rock them like a star.
Come on now, too much too soon might just be a lot for me to handle.
Start with “heathered” colors. Muted without muddiness. Easy to step into. No pun intended.
I love color, too. If I lived in a place that rained all the time (and actually I did–central Michigan has as much rainfall as Seattle), I would have a bright red umbrella, a bright pink raincoat and brightly patterned rainboots.
Clearly, I need to look up Fokker’s link.
I have seen some super cool boots lately, the tall kind that look like little kid rain boots, but for big girls. If I continue to enjoy the pink clogs these may not be far behind.
I want rain boots like that, but not sure I can make them comfortable for my poor beleaguered footsies.
Maybe just don’t go cheap. I got a pair from Kamik, maybe $80? I found them surprisingly comfortable, they don’t slip off my heel which was important. I used zappos.com because for some shoes people write TONS of reviews so you get a sense of what people found comfortable. So even if you go into a store and try them on, you can use zappos first to get some ideas.
Rock the pink shoes, girlie! And if you do take a sharpie to them, you’re only allowed to use an equally loud color — orange or silver or something — and draw something cheery. Big fat daisies would be great. And, actually, you have the perfect wardrobe for those. I normally wear black or gray on top because loudly patterned clothes do not flatter me. Shoes, however, can be whatever color I like. My favorite is red patent.
Shoes are a great way to integrate color. Plus, it ups your quirkyness by a factor of ten. Think Min.
The rest of the outfit (and I use this term in the loosest possible sense) was a very dark green long sleeved t-shirt under an extra plain cream sweater. So yeah, the shoes were about the only color happening. But now that you mention it, I DO have the High Tops of Awesomeness….
Which are truly awesome and sparkly. I want awesome and sparkly and have seen Chucks that I like, but I cannot wear them. Sniff. Guess I’ll have to find canvas that I can wear and embellish it myself.
Three count them, three Oregon plates on my travels today. One orange and two with the little tree. Whoo who, Julie. So, perhaps now is the time to branch out a teeny bit more into the spectrum of colour…..it could be your new creative forces bursting forth.
Nice spotting! But whoa with all this branching out here
…. s-l-o-w-l-y is how I manage change.
I’m not much of a pink chick, myself. In fact my mom talked me into buying a pair of pj’s (I’m pregnant, mine are waaay too tight) in an XL off the clearance rack in pink with cherry blossoms on them. I resisted for a long time b/c ugh PINK? but now I adore their soft bagginess!
WHen we found out sweet pea was a girl both dh and mom were all, now you can paint the room pink! I responded by blowing a raspberry. The room will be sage green with white woodwork and existing crappy beige carpet. There will be dark raspberry pink as an accent in the bedding but that’s all the pink SP is getting till she’s old enough to insist.
Can I just say that I already like this room? Especially with the “…existing crappy beige carpet” and if the dark raspberry was quite muted (read: dull) I’d love it even more.
I love this room. Can I move in? And, unlike Julie, I want the dark raspberry to be saturated. Mmm. Think of the carpet as cream and you have something yummy to eat: berries, mint, and cream!
Diva,
Brace yourself for a pink onslaught my friend. Brace yourself. You are getting ready to enter a nekkid Disney Princess hell-world in a few years. Elizabeth will go thru it, I’m sure
So true, Fokker, so true.
Not all girls do. I hated pink with a passion, but my parents gave me a Barbie-pink bedroom when I was 8. My favorite color was BLUE, people! It was like being inside a Pepto-Bismo bottle for 8 years. Then we moved and my room was more or less white and beige. I didn’t like pink or Barbies or ruffles or long hair or princesses. I wanted to be the private detective or the Indian or the princess with a sword. Or Batman. I loved Batman. Or Catwoman, which might explain a few of my current proclivities.
I know, babe. It’s destiny.
I will be the one who buys overalls and she’ll wedge a big tutu on over them!
Colours make me happy. I love clothes that are solid blocks of colour. They attract more eyes.