Okay. Maybe that was a little overdramatic. It’s not really a cautionary tale. Christmas is here. Again. I’m not sure where Fall went. If you have been reading this blog for very long, you already know that I don’t do normal very well. This Christmas break is a really good example of that. The week before break was shaping up to be a normal holiday season. My nephew had a Christmas concert (he plays trumpet). My niece had a Christmas program. She graduated up to being an elf this year. Last year, she was a tooth fairy. I was shocked too. It made more since when they started singing, “All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth.” Anyway, it was moving right along. Friday came, and I was all ready to get the break started. I expected my niece to spend a good bit of the break at my house. I had the crafting supplies out and ready to go. Then the first person started feeling COVID symptoms. Then the next, then the next. Pretty much everyone tested positive who would have come over for Christmas except my parents. I tested out of precaution, but it came back negative. Luckily, they all seem to be getting over it very quickly. Most had mild symptoms (even the ones who were unvaccinated). So, that’s good, but it totally threw a wrench in my Christmas plans.
(Screeching tire sounds)
I suddenly found myself with time on my hands. Luckily, I have had an idea for my next story mulling around, festering perhaps, in my head for a while, and I kind of needed to do a little bit of research anyway. So… I may look normal, but I enjoy sci-fi and fantasy. I’m not totally gung-ho into dragons, but I’m not opposed. I like the idea of people who can do magic or at least have abilities that would normally be attributed to magic, but I kind of wish all the witch stuff weren’t so dark. I mean seriously. Just because a person has gifts doesn’t necessarily mean that person is evil or has made pacts with the devil or other such things. Why do we always assume that people shouldn’t be able to do interesting things? Even God-fearing people get hunches sometimes, or gut feelings that something isn’t right. Isn’t that a little in the realm of magic?
The story I am working on is about just such a person. It also involves regular witchy types, and people who are into the occult. I don’t know anything about any of that. So, I decided to take some time and do a little research. One of my students a few weeks ago, dropped a shiny rock in class. I think it probably fell out of her pocket. I found it under one of the desks, but it was too pretty to just be a random rock. I put it on my desk in case its owner was looking for it. Sure enough, when she came in the next day, she was very happy to see her rock safe and sound on my desk. I told it was pretty and asked her what kind it was. She said it was carnelian and that it was a healing crystal. Until then, I had imagined my character mostly just being kind of magic, or having visions, that sort of thing. It hadn’t even crossed my mind that crystals might be a good addition to the story.
My brother and I used to hunt for rocks when we were kids. We lived in the country, so there were plenty of rock hunting spots. My dad would take us to a local rock shop for fun, and we would spend hours comparing our finds. I decided that maybe I needed to visit some rock shops.
Enter: The Magick Cauldron.
So… The Magick Cauldron is actually right across the street from the parking lot of my favorite Greek Restaurant in Houston, Niko Niko’s. If you haven’t tried Niko Niko’s, then it should be on your restaurant bucket list. It’s super yummy! I don’t know how many times I have parked right across the street from the Magick Cauldron to eat without noticing that it was there. I guess it’s because the front of the store faces the main road and not the Niko Niko’s parking lot? It’s also a few blocks down from Texas Art Supply, which is amazing, but it’s a divided street and there are trees. So strange that I never noticed it was there. Now that I know, I will definitely go back. So. Many. Rocks.
If you are into Renaissance Fairs, or dragons, or rock/ crystal jewelry, or incense or anything to do with witches, Wiccan and pagan beliefs, then the Magick Cauldron is worth a visit. (There was a super cute blue calcite dome/ paper weight that I would totally display in my house, but I didn’t really want to spend the money at the time). The people who work there are super knowledgeable and helpful but not pushy. They let you browse and check out the bins of rocks without hovering. They also helped with questions I had about the different stones (specifically which ones were which after I put them in my little basket). I felt like a kid again. I kind of wanted all of the rocks. So many colors! I got a cool one called Dragons Blood Jasper. It’s okay. No dragons were harmed in the making of Dragons Blood Jasper. Really, it’s just a cool shiny rock with swirls of a rusty red through it. Very cool. I also liked this one (Epidote). It’s prettier in person; the coloring is a little bit off in this picture. I like the marbled cream color stone mixed in with the brown specks.
My current favorite though, is the moonstone. I got a really cool one on Amazon. It is polished up and shaped with a thumb groove like a worry stone, but the cool part is that when the light hits it just right, there is an iridescent glow. It’s amazing! I can totally see where people hundreds of years ago, with no knowledge of geology and no internet to look things up, would have thought that it had magic powers.
This is the stone with a little bit of light on it. You can already kind of see a little bit of the underlying blue. Side note: Don’t worry, I’m not suddenly sprouting a green thumb from reading about witches. I had a bit of a mishap with fountain pen ink.
Now, here it is when I slanted it to the light a little bit. It’s okay. Seriously. If this were 400 years ago, and you didn’t know anything about rocks or geology and didn’t have the internet to search this, wouldn’t this look a little magic to you?
My question now is whether the light from a full moon would be enough to make it glow. I mean, it is called a moonstone. I am going to have to take it outside next time there’s a full moon. I’m a little concerned that the light pollution in my area will interfere. If it doesn’t reflect the light, I may have to find a darker spot without the light pollution. Back in ye’ olden times, there wouldn’t have been any light pollution. The light from the moon would have seemed much brighter- especially when full. I mean think about it, if you were trying to convince someone that you had magical powers and that they should do what you say, and then you pull out a “glowing” stone during a full moon, people all over the place would think you were magic. (That may or may not be in the story I’m writing… just sayin’).
Anyway, even though my Christmas break hasn’t been normal by any stretch of the imagination, it has been quite productive. I was able to do some research and outline a good portion of my story. I even started writing the actual story last night. Not a bad Christmas at all (even if it was originally a pagan holiday that was repurposed by the Christians).
On a possibly related note, I may have to actually get a Christmas tree next year. My five-year-old niece was not at all impressed by the quilted Christmas tree wall hanging I made to save space. In my defense, I live in a townhouse, and when I have a tree, I have no place to exercise. But, with all these stories about witches, having an actual Christmas tree might go a long way toward tricking convincing people that I am still a little bit normal. #writerproblems
invisiblecompass 