Welcome everyone to the first edition of my Friday Friends series for 2011. I am going to try to continue the focus on Australian Etsy Artists and DUST Team members this year as I truly believe there is an amazing array of talent out there in this wide brown land !
Making the Mundane Magical, and Daily Rituals Divine - this week it gives me great pleasure to introduce
Gennifer from
Sage and Mage.
Let me set the scene for you with Gennifer's Etsy store description :
If Sage and Mage was a real-life shop, it would be a small, old house. You would release the smell of lemon thyme by treading up a soft, green path to the porch. The porch steps would creak, a raven would call, and the door would open, welcoming you. Light would stream in the windows, illuminating shelf upon shelf of tinctures, treasures, trinkets, lotions and potions. Strange and wonderful herbs would hang in bunches from the ceiling.
But what you are looking for would be in a small back room with the phantom scent of violets, in an ancient wooden cabinet, in a tiny drawer, in a tiny box...
Welcome, and I hope you find what you are looking for...Intrigued ? I was totally swept up and transported away with this description as it reminded me of a small weatherboard shop with polished wood floors that I had once visited in a country town that sold handmade herbal products ! Visualisation is such a wonderful tool.
In the spirit of my New Years Resolution -
to try new things - I found myself drawn to a few of the products that I simply felt I had to sample for myself. I also love the way Gennifer has described these and to give you a feel for her products have included the item descriptions, in part, as well.
The first was the
Mocha Cardamom Body Sand - All Natural Sugar Scrub for Body and Hands -
Texture is so important in body pampering products. As I made this spicy, rich blend, I was struck by how much like soft, fine, wet sand it was. I spent some time moulding a batch into sandcastles. Imagine walking along a beach scented with rich organic cocoa, dark coffee and the fresh spiciness of cardamom...The coffee takes pride of place over the cocoa in this mocha blend, and organic sugar gives a sweet base for cardamom to rise above the more subtle notes of ginger and cinnamon. 
The second was
LAKSHMI Goddess Perfume Oil - Lotus Flower and Mango - which gave me a glimpse of summer (something we haven't had much of weather wise in my part of Australia so far this year)
Ah Lakshmi, Hindu goddess of beauty and fortune and prosperity and grace and all things wonderful, how I love you! This perfume oil is in honour of Lakshmi and inspired by India. Lakshmi is very closely associated with the lotus, and lotus blossom features strongly in this blend. Ripe juicy mangoes, white tea and ginger sweeten, brighten and lighten, while sandalwood anchors. You might be able to detect a hint of citrus -mandarin and blood orange - in there as well. 
The third product I was drawn to was the
Cardamom Cacao Tea - ORGANIC - Rooibos A fresh, rooibos blend with the rather sophisticated and definitely delicious blend of cardamom and cocoa. Orange and lemon lifts the freshness of the cardamom even more, and the addition of cinnamon brings out a little spice...very, very nice, with just the merest hint of cocoa in the finish. All-organic ingredients: rooibos, honeybush, cardamom pods, cacao nibs, orange peel, cinnamon, lemon peel powder.
The fourth was the whimsical
Aniseed Scented Black Cats and Trees - Cut out Paper Lovelies for your Notes and Rooms. Put them around the house, in a drawer or a journal, slip them into love notes, books, or spell boxes, make them into little funny arrangements on the windowsill as I have done in a silly mood - they will scent the air with the smell of licorice-y aniseed. These little die cut shapes have been steeping in aniseed essential oil-drenched paper for four weeks. 
I heart this bracelet too -
Aztec Goddess Bracelet - Coral Tlazoltotl - such a striking combination -
The combination of copper, turquoise and red reminds me of ancient Aztec civilisations...Tlazolteotl perhaps, the goddess of both sin and purification. This an earthy, bright, grounding and powerfully colourful bracelet. Ingredients: 8mm coral beads, 10mm coral bead, 10 and 12mm turquoise beads, silver and copper plated bead caps and findings, stretchy beading elastic. 
I invite you now to take some chill time and to read the Sage and Mage story in my first Friday Friends feature for 2011. Enjoy - and a prosperous peace filled New Year to you all xox
About Sage and Mage and Gennifer
I like to think of myself as the unlikely lovechild of Morticia Addams and Martha Stewart, which I guess makes me a bit like Samantha from Bewitched... in my dreams at least! Sage and Mage has been gestating in my heart for most of my life, but it was born into this world in 2008.
I’ve harboured a passion for spiritual development, the gifts of the Earth and the path of the mystic for as long as I can remember, but I didn’t have the courage to follow this path until fairly recently. After spending eight years at university gaining honours degrees in both music and English, I explored careers such as jazz singing, flute teaching, jewelry making, travel-book editing, seemingly perpetual post-graduate study and even newspaper-quiz writing: usually all at once.
In 2006, a series of chronic illnesses reading like a ‘Who’s Who’ of medical mysteries ultimately led me to rethink my life and career plan, and to make major changes to ensure my future happiness and health. I put away her editor’s cap and hung up my jazz voice, and began studying the magical healing arts. I made a commitment to follow a certain little dancing spark of joy wherever it led me.
I arrived at Sage and Mage after meandering through fields such as natural medicine, aromatherapy, vibrational medicine, shamanism, Reiki, crystal therapy, and magical herbalism, collecting information from each path as I went. Sage and Mage, always developing and expanding, is the culmination of years of personal research and the gathering momentum of that little spark of joy. I adore every single moment working on and with Sage and Mage, and that spark is now ablaze!
The Sage and Mage mission is to make daily rituals divine, and ‘Bringing Joy’ is its motto. It’s sometimes hard to make large changes to bring more joy in our lives, but little ones are easily incorporated and just as meaningful. The pouring of a cup of tea can be an offering to the Goddess as well as a nurturing treat; 
the taking of a fragrant bath a cleansing of the spirit as well as the body.
Sage and Mage is wholeheartedly dedicated to the handmade philosophy, which values effort, creativity and personal energy as well as ethical and empowering business practice. Handmade items have an auratic quality that just can’t be found in commercially produced items. Sage and Mage is 100% handmade (by me) and passionately supports other handmade businesses and products.
At home in Melbourne, I divide my time between Sage and Mage and serving one beautiful blue cat whose name is Luna. I cherish all things that smell divine, taste heavenly, feel blissful, look beautiful… and shoes. I am honoured and filled with gratitude that I have been given the opportunity to nurture Sage and Mage and I am really excited about developments planned for the coming year. I’ve had so much encouragement and support and I feel so very, very blessed. Thank you, and may you follow your own dancing spark of joy!
Many blessings to you and yours,
Gennifer 
Want to know more ? Here is how you can connect with
Sage and Mage :
Buy Gennifer's goodies from ETSY :
http://www.etsy.com/shop/sageandmageor
Connect on Facebook :
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sage-and-Mage/121978711166491?ref=sgm
