Calantirniel
Who among us healer types doesn’t need a day of rejuvenating downtime? So, surfing around the Internet has given you some ideas for a DIY stay-at-home spa day. But you may want a routine that not only includes goodies for eating, bathing, and pampering but also makes room to inspire and uplift your soul and spirit. First decide if you will be alone or with another (such as your significant other or a friend). Giving a massage to each other is infinitely better than self-massage, but it may be easier to enjoy the downtime to go inward alone.
Gather Your Supplies and Prepare Your Day
Unplug! No phone, no Internet … you are on a mini-vacation! Turn off your phone and computer notifications or at least turn down the sounds or lights, and consider placing some black tourmalines around your Wi-Fi areas to deflect EMFs (electromagnetic fields). Have lots of spring water and lemons on hand, as well as herbal teas and fruits and veggies to make a morning smoothie. Eat lightly but nutritionally and organically, avoiding the usual offenders: sugar, sugar substitutes, wheat/gluten, and most animal-derived foods. Consume good fats sparingly, including olive oil, avocado, coconut, and grass-fed butter. Stevia, raw honey, and unsweetened, organic active-culture yogurt are allowed, and use Himalayan pink salt for mineral balance. Some of the suggested foods can double as yummy body treatments!
Sometimes I drink a warm cup of fennel tea the night before, or a stronger yet gentle blend that works on the colon, to move things through my system and get a head start on a slow detox. Pampering is the key, not suffering. Also, try to use what you have on hand—modifications are liberally allowed!
Your Awakening
If you remember your dreams, write them down. Journaling is a wonderful activity for spa day. You can then explore what these dreams may mean using your intuition or a dream dictionary. If you meditate or do a morning ritual/reading, this is a good time for that.
The best time for exercise is usually after awakening and before eating. Yoga or belly dancing are wonderful! Drink some water with lemon in it beforehand. If you don’t have a yoga book or DVD, you can always use YouTube to find a plethora of workouts. Or just do a series of simple stretches and take a brisk walk outdoors. Get your circulation going, and don’t overdo it if you usually don’t exercise.
For breakfast, it’s green smoothie time! Put some kale or other greens in a blender, along with some pineapple, mango, passion fruit, or any type of berries, as well as some water or unsweetened, organic fruit juice of your choice—yum! You can add some raw apple cider vinegar, herbal powder (such as maca root), or pre-brewed herbal tea for more physical healing, and add some flower essence drops for emotional healing, too. If you want organic coffee, brew and drink this first and wait at least thirty minutes before making your smoothie, as coffee affects nutritional absorption. Save your coffee grounds for a wonderful face/body treatment.
Mid-Day Activities
Go on an outing of your choice. Being out in nature is perfect—go to a beach, park, or hiking trail in your area. Or, alternatively, wind down indoors with a good book, or make a trip to your favorite metaphysical shop, art museum, or antique store. Do whatever uplifts you and is something you usually don’t make time to do for yourself. Bring your oracles with you, or splurge on a professional reading. If you feel like it, bring home fresh flowers. You can smudge your whole house with sage or sprinkle water and a salt circle around your property to spiritually revitalize your sacred space. You may wish to stay home and create a vision board for your life and goals. Use photos from old magazines, calendars, or real estate catalogs, and glue images or positive word phrases to cardboard and hang in your view—and know this will manifest very powerfully!
You may wish to stay home and create a vision board for your life and goals. Use photos from old magazines, calendars, or real estate catalogs, and glue images or positive word phrases to cardboard and hang in your view—and know this will manifest very powerfully!
Prepare a light lunch, perhaps some ginger miso broth with tofu cubes, green onions, and fresh parsley. Or snack on rice crackers and garlic hummus, or blue corn chips with fresh salsa. A green salad with a drizzle of olive oil and lemon or wine vinegar with herbs is another great choice, or go out for a healthy lunch.
This is a great time for a massage. You can spoil yourself with a professional one, or place a few drops of releasing essential oils in ½ to 1 ounce of coconut oil and massage yourself (or your partner—take turns). Ylang-ylang and juniper oils work well. If you can’t do a full-body massage, a hand or foot massage using reflexology techniques or a neck and shoulder rub can do wonders! Allot thirty minutes to an hour for each person, or do the massage after applying a face mask and hair oil—your choice.
Face Mask
To make your own face mask, combine the following ingredients:
• 1 teaspoon yogurt
• A small drizzle of raw honey
• Some wet coffee grounds (or ground old-fashioned pressed oats)
• The juice or mashings of your favorite fruit or veggie (such as lemon, cucumber, papaya, pineapple, or peach)
• A pinch of crushed green tea, peppermint, chamomile, rose petals, or dried ginger/cinnamon
• A bit of coconut oil
• A drop of your favorite essential oil(s), no more than three (lavender, geranium, and rosemary are favorites)
Be flexible and use what you have on hand. Mix the ingredients together and test for sensitivity first by placing some of the mixture on the inside of your wrist for a few minutes. Then apply the mask for twenty to thirty minutes, or set in the fridge if you are going to apply other treatments so you can relax all at once before rinsing and—my favorite—bathing! As an added bonus, place sliced cucumbers or moistened tea bags under your eyes. (Drink fresh parsley tea for black circles.)
Body Scrub and Scalp Massage
This body scrub is fantastic for reducing cellulite, softening stretch marks, and bringing wonderful tone to the skin. Combine the following ingredients:
• ½ cup wet coffee grounds (perhaps from your morning coffee)
• ½ cup Epsom salts
• Grapefruit or lemon juice (grate some peel, too, if you can)
• ¼–½ teaspoon dried ginger
• Softened/melted coconut oil
• 10–15 drops total of grapefruit, cypress, juniper, and/or rosemary essential oils (optional)
Once again, test for sensitivity first by placing some of the mixture on the inside of your wrist for a few minutes. This mixture is messy, so mix and apply it either outside or in the bathtub, over some newspaper or a drain catcher. (Don’t let it go down into the plumbing, although it’s okay to put it in the soil to nourish your plants.) Drink some lemon water and allow the mixture to stay on your skin for twenty to thirty minutes.
Meanwhile, take a few drops of coconut, olive, avocado, or your favorite oil and rub between your hands. Apply the oil to your scalp and massage well, running your fingers down to the ends. Another option, if you are a blonde, is to combine some yogurt, chamomile tea, and lemon juice and apply the mixture to your hair. If you are a brunette, make some strong sage or rosemary tea, then cool and apply to hair. Rinse off outside or, if in a tub, rinse into a drain screen/filter and place the remains in the compost or trash.
Bath Soak and Hair Treatment
Light your favorite spellwork candles and place them in fireproof areas, then place flowers in view, if you like. To make your own bath salts, gather the following ingredients:
• 1 cup Epsom salt
• 2⁄3 cup baking soda
• 1⁄3 cup sea salt or table salt (optional)
• 10–15 drops of any blend of essential oils (my favorite blend is orange, sandalwood, orris root, and patchouli)
Combine the first two (or three) ingredients. Then mix in the essential oils to make your own bath salts.
Next, rub yourself down with a little coconut or olive oil, if needed. Then add almost all of the bath salts to a tub filled with the warmest water you can stand, and soak. Allow all your troubles and any muscle aches and pains to melt away. Run more hot water if it starts to get cold. Soak for thirty to forty minutes, without turning into a prune! Do your spellwork, affirmations, or switchwords, or listen to meditations or healing, intuitive, or motivational material (such as a smoking cessation program or any specialty you wish).
After draining the tub, wash and/or condition your hair with the most luxurious natural products you have. Then pour over your hair (but don’t rinse out) a rinse consisting of raw apple cider vinegar in warm spring water. (I usually use 1–2 tablespoons raw apple cider vinegar with 16 ounces warm spring or distilled water—less vinegar for oily hair, more for hair needing moisture.) Use the rest of the bath salts to wipe down the whole tub area, which cleans the tub and smells amazing! If you can, let your hair dry naturally after you comb it, to give it a break. Apply your natural body products (deodorant, facial toner, moisturizer, eye oil) and either do a manicure/pedicure and get dressed/made-up for going out later, or, if you want, drink some more lemon water and take a nap. No rules—it’s your day!
Winding Down
For dinner, prepare some basmati rice and stir-fry some veggies in coconut oil or ghee and add curry/chai seasonings, or use a prepared masala sauce. Serve with lemon-yogurt sauce with cinnamon, cumin, and black pepper (add a tiny amount of stevia or raw honey to taste, if desired). Or try gluten-free curly pasta made of brown rice and quinoa, with organic tomato basil sauce seasoned with more fresh basil and Himalayan pink salt, along with a side salad and your favorite homemade dressing. Have a wonderfully decadent yet healthy dessert, such as blueberry raw cacao coconut cream pudding.
At bedtime, wind down with a book and a warm cup of relaxing herbal tea sweetened, optionally, with stevia. If you didn’t get a reading or trade readings with another, get out your favorite divination tool (such as tarot cards, runes, ogham, a card oracle, or the I Ching) and perform a short-term reading for what you need to know now, as well as a long-range reading for knowing what themes are forthcoming in your life, then write about them in your journal.
Create a sacred circle for yourself. Ask for all of your guides to be present, and optionally call your working circle in whatever way you wish. Ask to be grounded to the earth, allowing energy to flow up from your feet and over your head. Ask the cosmos to enter through your crown and meet the earth. Then properly activate and balance each chakra. Fill your aura with this clean energy, dissolving and releasing old energies no longer needed down your grounding cord, which goes from your root chakra to the center of the planet and to the source. Know you are protected as you prepare to ask for guidance. Developing your intuition and learning to trust spiritual messages can help you navigate through life. Make plans while remaining open for the right opportunities (and compare with your vision board!).
Sweet dreams! You had a blissful day of nourishing and much-needed self-care. Have a DIY spa day seasonally, if possible. Carrying over good habits into your daily life helps too—enjoy!
Calantirniel (San Diego, CA) has been published in nearly two dozen Llewellyn annuals since 2007 and has practiced many forms of natural spirituality for two decades. She is a professional astrologer, herbalist, tarot card reader, dowser, energy healer, ULC reverend, and flower essence creator/practitioner. She recently realized that her most marketable skill is an uncanny sense for utterly precise event timing. She is creating a membership-subscription e-course website to teach other intuitives these timing skills. She is also a co-founder of Tië eldaliéva, meaning the Elven Path, a spiritual practice based upon the Elves’ viewpoint in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-Earth stories, particularly The Silmarillion. Please visit IntuitiveTiming.com.
Illustrator: Tim Foley