Thursday, April 10, 2008

Customer Appreciation Weekend!

Milk & Honey will be having Customer Appreciation Weekend on Sat. and Sun., April 19 and 20 at the store (see pic on right).  The store is located at 123 N. Main Street, Sebastopol, CA  95472.  All events are open to the public and free of charge. 

We want to thank our customers for voting us the Best Gift Store in Sonoma County again, our 12th year in a row!
Please join us for the following events:

Saturday, April 19, 1-5:00pm
   free chair massage
   free readings - tarot and animal card
   free refreshments

Saturday, April 19 at 5:00pm
   Raffle drawing *winner must be present to win

Sunday, April 20 at 5:00pm
   free Abundance Ritual - open to all
   (store closes at 5pm for ritual)

   

~and~
***20-50% OFF Storewide All Weekend long!***
 

Customers receive a free raffle ticket each time they make a purchase between now and the Raffle drawing at 5pm on Sat., 4/19. 

Looking forward to celebrating with you!
Take Care,
Alyssa
www.milk-and-honey.com

Posted by Goddess at 03:03:38 | Permalink | Comments (1) »

Sunday, April 6, 2008

Aphrodite Prayer Flags

Well, Milk & Honey has become known for it’s handpainted prayer flags. Here is a photo of the entrance of the store today, decorated with the Awakened Aphrodite flags above the front altar.
The original artwork for the Aphrodite flags was done by Mara Friedman. Each flag was a painting she did separately while on retreat in Hawaii.  They all came together beautifully in this string of flags, creating a prayer.
All of our flags are fair trade.  Learn more on the Milk & Honey website.
May all of your prayers come true with the Spring wind.
Blessed Be!
Take Care,
Alyssa
Posted by Goddess at 23:19:12 | Permalink | Comments (1) »

April is the month of Abundance

Here at Milk & Honey, the theme for the month of April is Abundance. 

Lakshmi is the Hindu Goddess of Abundance and Prosperity.  Every morning when Milk & Honey (the store) opens, whoever is working will pray to Lakshmi to connect them and our customers to her energy.  My prayer usually goes something like,

“Divine Lakshmi, please connect me with the energy of abundance.  I open myself to you - please flow through me - help me to become you today.  Help me connect customers with that which their soul is deeply longing for.  Help me guide them to the gift that will be most fulfilling to them or their loved one.  Please shower every person who walks through the door with abundance.”

We have created a beautiful Abundance Ritual and an Abundance Ritual Gift Package.  Please check them out at www.milk-and-honey.com.

May you be deeply connected with the abundance of the Universe!
 
Blessed Be.
-Alyssa

Posted by Goddess at 00:20:04 | Permalink | Comments (2)

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Rachel is the Winner!

Rachel Malloy is the winner of the March $50.00 gift certificate drawing at Milk & Honey.  She is pictured here wearing the opal and sterling silver necklace she bought with her winning gift certificate.  Check out more of our sterling silver jewelry here.  Rachel is a regular customer at Milk & Honey.  She often comes in with her mom, Nancy Malloy, and chats with the owners. 

I remember when Rachel fell in love with Bast, the Egyptian cat goddess. She told me all about her cat who she rescued from New Orleans when it was flooded.  She loves cats and when she saw Bast she loved her.  So her kind mother bought it for her. 

Along with her necklace, Rachel also got a magic egg and a silk cell phone purse.  Her total came out to be $50.17, so her gift certificate covered the $50 and the Lakshmi fountain of abundance (and change) provided the .17 cents.  What abundance!

May you have an abundant day!

-Alyssa
www.milk-and-honey.com 

Posted by Goddess at 02:50:54 | Permalink | No Comments »

Monday, March 31, 2008

Magical pendant story

A Milk and Honey customer told me this story about a pendant she bought at Milk & Honey.  When she initially saw it in

the store, she had a strong connection to it.  She actually had tears come to her eyes because she felt like it was so right for her.  The pendant is the Kali Ma pendant shown here.  After buying it and taking it home, she loved it so much that she wore it every day. 

The third day after having it, she was gardening and it dropped off her neck and was lost in the garden.  She was so sad, looked everywhere for it but it was gone.  Then, about a week later, she was contemplating buying a new one.  Her husband was walking in thir yard and saw something glittering in the sunshine, picked it up, and it was her pendant!

May we all be reunited with the things we love so magically!

Take Care,
Alyssa

Posted by Goddess at 21:47:26 | Permalink | Comments (2)

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Bohemian Best of Party 2008

So, this is the follow-up blog to my “Best Gift Store Award Day” blog from Wed., 3/19/08.  I took photos to show you so you could see what I was talking about. 

BTW, if you didn’t already know, I’m writing from Milk & Honey, and we won the “Best Gift Store in Sonoma County 2008″ award from the Bohemian, our local free newspaper.  The award is based on a reader’s poll.

The Celebration Party

Upon entering the Russian River Brewing Company, we are greeted at the door by Kendra, who we know is one of the friendly faces in the advertising department.
 

Kendra, Bohemian staff,  and Candra, co-owner of Milk & Honey

She gave us our “Best Gift Store 2008″ award, and then we went to the bar to get a glass of beer.  There we met some new friends from a winery in Sonoma County whose name I can’t remember:
barflies from winery (left) with Alyssa from Milk & Honey (right)

Once we got our locally-made microbrews, I took a picture of the crowd from the bar.  You can see Candra’s cute head in the lower right- hand corner.

Next we talked with Lisa, the advertising director of the Bohemian.  She has worked for the Bohemian for over a decade, she told us!


Lisa from Boho (left) and Candra (right)


 

Lisa also explained to us that they were not doing the raffle this year because it just seemed to go on and on….  So the next item on the evenings agenda was…pictures!  The same photographer from last year was there, making everyone smile.  We took our photo, hung out a while longer, and then decided to go out for sushi. 

Another year of fun at the “Bohemian Best Of” party.  Thanks for reading this blog.  Check out our website www.milk-and-honey.com

Take Care,
Alyssa


Posted by Goddess at 23:54:02 | Permalink | Comments (3)

Monday, March 24, 2008

40-day Prosperity Chant to Lakshmi

We, the goddesses who run Milk & Honey, practiced the mantra below for 10 minutes every morning and 10 minutes every evening for 40 days. In addition to chanting the mantra, we wrote down a specific, 2 sentence intention for prosperity which we read before each chanting session throughout the 40 days. We began it on the new moon in January and upon finishing the 40 days, burned the paper with the intention and offered it up to Lakshmi with a prayer and gratitude.
It really worked! There were so many benefits to this chanting. First of all, the act of chanting was quickly ecstatic. The first few minutes of the chanting would feel long and boring, but the chant would always open up blissful, happy energy. The actual energy of abundance and joy.
Because there is no tune offered to which to sing the mantra, we invented our own. And re-invented it. And re-invented it again. Actually, I found it most fun to sing the mantra different ways throughout the 10-minute period to keep it from being monotonous (Twice to one tune, then twice to a different tune, and back and forth). I created many different tunes for the mantra, most of which sounded like beautiful Indian mantra tunes that might have been offered by a guru. If you do this chant, I encourage you to have fun coming up with your own tunes. You are the guru.
And the prosperity did flow. Milk & Honey made more money than last year during the time when were doing the chant, even though we’re supposed to be in a recession. I personally had money come to me unexpectedly twice during the 40 days. And I had a new career inspiration. Try it and see what abundance graces your path!

Om Shrim Maha Lakshmiyei Swaha
[Om Shreem Mah-hah Lahk-shmee-yea Swah-ha]
“Om and salutations to She who provides abundance.”

To Invoke Financial Prosperity
 “All of us have encountered circumstances where more money could have alleviated problems. Maybe it was some unexpected illness that created huge medical bills that could not be paid right away. Perhaps a family member experienced a sudden job reversal or other predicament that would have been easily solved by an infusion of cash. Sometimes there are friends or family members who are struggling to begin a new career. A loan or gift could help them over a rough spot or even make the whole enterprise doable and not just a dream. These kinds of situations appear all the time. Now you have powerful spiritual tools, in the form of these mantras, to help in situations like these that suddenly require more money.

To produce abundance, the mantra above should be practiced intensely for a minimum of forty days. During that time, you may find your mind directed to embark upon some new activities or to abandon others that you had planned on doing. Allow your intuition to guide you. Consider that you are actually changing your karma by your efforts, so things will be changing in your life. Be open and willing to discard some activities and welcome new ones. This powerful mantra has already helped many (including me) to attain new levels of prosperity.

Please remember that benefits of endowment with other of the ten regal qualities (food, royal power, mystic power, universal sovereignty, noble rank, holy luster, kingdom, fortune, bounteousness, and beauty) may also accrue from your practice of this mantra. So if new authority comes your way through work or in a service organization, be grateful and pray to use your new authority wisely. “      -excerpted from Shakti Mantras by Thomas Ashley-Farrand

That’s all for today….

Take Care,
Alyssa

Posted by Goddess at 03:35:41 | Permalink | Comments (2)

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Best Gift Store Award Day

Today is the awards party for the North Bay Bohemian (the free, local paper) “2008 Best Of Local Businesses.”  Milk & Honey won the award for “Best Gift Store in Sonoma County” for the 12th year in a row!  They are decided by votes from local readers, so it’s quite an honor to be voted the best gift store by our community.  We’ve also won “best Jewelry store” a number of years.  (check out our award winning jewelry here).

The actual party for the winners is put on by the Bohemian.  It’s at the Russian River Brewing Company, a bar/resturant in Santa Rosa, California.  It’s packed with local business owners eating bites of free appetizers and tasting the locally made beer.  Last year it was so full you could barely move around without bumping into someone.  Every time I bumped into someone, which was about every minute, the person and I would both immediately say, “Sorry!” and smile because we’re all trying to be super nice and represent our businesses well.  Everyone is on their best behavior.

After about an hour of roaming around and being over-the top nice to everyone, the raffle begins.  They give away things that businesses have donated.  One year the main prize was a new, retro-style cruiser bike.  The winner got on it on stage and everyone cheered.

The final event of the party is the winner’s pictures.  The winning business owners get up on the stage about 30 at a time and the Bohemian photographer takes group shots of all the winners that later go into the newspaper.  The photographer does the usual cheesy jokes to try and get people to smile, like, “Smile - you’re on candid camera!”

Well, I’m heading out to the party - we’ll see how this year goes….

-Alyssa

 

Posted by Goddess at 22:50:34 | Permalink | Comments (2)

Sunday, March 16, 2008

The Sacred Scarab Beetle

Yesterday was Saturday at Milk & Honey. Saturdays are busy, with lots of people walking around enjoying their weekend. I was working behind the jewelry counter when this couple from San Francisco asked to see the butterfly wings from the window.

I brought out the tray of butterfly jewelry and they both admired the iridescence of the shimmery jungle butterfly wings. The woman of the couple wandered off into the store to look at other things and I ended up speaking with her partner, a man, about how amazingly beautiful the color is in the Blue Morphos and the Rainbow Sunset butterfly wings. We agreed that the way the light catches the wings is so exquisite that nothing humans have created can compare to the beauty.

The conversation continued to how beautiful and awe inspiring iridescent beetles are in museums. Suddenly, I remembered what I had read in Animal Speak that morning:

“In Egypt, the scarab, or sacred beetle, had great significance. The beetle would take a piece of ox dung and shape it into a ball by rolling it from east to west. The eggs were laid within this and then buried. After about a month, the beetle would dig it up and push it into the water, and the young would emerge. Because of its east to west rolling, it came to be associated with the sun and its movement across the sky. The scarab thus came to be a symbol for solar deities and for new life. -excerpt from Animal Speak by Ted Andrews, pg. 338

Back at the jewelry counter, I paraphrased the amazing story of the scarab beetles to the guy from San Francisco, and his eyes lit up.

He shared, “That reminds me of this picture on the wall of my home growing up. It was a painting of two scarab beetles pushing a huge ball of dung! For some reason, I loved that painting. I was so drawn to it. And the ball of dung was much bigger than the beetles, showing the amazing feat of them rolling such a large thing.”

We marvelled at how amazing scarab beetles are, and then his girlfriend came back. She had just come from an afternoon course in beekeeping. The three of us then bonded about bees and their sacred roll in the Universe right now. The guy suggested making a bumper sticker reminiscent of the “Save the Whales” bumper stickers of 10 years ago saying, “SAVE THE BEES!”

It was another beautiful interaction at Milk & Honey, full of synchronicity, spirituality, and beautiful humans. Luckily, Milk & Honey is abundant with interactions such as this. Keep tuned to this blog for more….

Blessed Be!

-Alyssa

http://www.milk-and-honey.com/

Posted by Goddess at 20:16:14 | Permalink | Comments (2)

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Himalayan Salt Crystal Lamp Saved Our Office!

Here at Milk & Honey, the goddess store in Sebastopol, California (www.milk-and-honey.com), we did a thorough cleaning of the office last week.  As soon as we got rid of some of the old dusty items, the energy started to shift.  After a few long days of cleaning and throwing away, the space became tolerable.

However, the office is a very small space holding many important storage items.  Even after the cleaning, it felt a bit overstuffed and claustrophobic.  Then Alyx, one of the owners, said in passing, “we should get a Himalayan Salt Crystal Lamp in here.”  Alyssa brought one in, plugged it in, and voila!  Immediately, the beautiful orange glow of the crystal created a peaceful feeling in the room.  She placed it right next to the computer, where it offsets the positive ions from the computer. 

Himalayan Salt Crystals naturally emit negative ions, which improve people’s moods.  Just like when you go to the beach and breathe in the ocean air, you are breathing in negative ions from the ocean, which make you happy.  You come home feeling refreshed and overall better.  The Himalayan Salt Lamps do the same thing.  Sharper Image has created a product called the “Ionizer”, which is a human-made device that emits negative ions.  The salt crystals do the same thing naturally.  The negative ions also clean the air by attaching to dust particles and dropping them down.  They are a miracle of nature.  And just one of them transformed the energy of our office completely.

Well, thanks for listening to my blog today!  Hope you have a beautiful day and if you want to chat, feel free to contact me through the Milk & Honey website.

Take Care,
Alyssa Morrow

Posted by Goddess at 22:43:03 | Permalink | Comments (2)