MATERIAL GIRL, MYSTICAL WORLD: ELLA GRACE DENTON

Uber-blogger Ella Grace Denton uploaded her first YouTube video in 2011; five years later, she has become a compassionate Vegan with a mission to inspire us all to LIVE MORE. We got an invite into her mystical world…

ella grace denton

THE NUMINOUS: What inspired the name for your blog – why do “we need to live more”? 
ELLA GRACE DENTON: We Need to Live More originally started as a kind of statement to our generation. The online world can be very overwhelming, face-paced and all consuming, and I believe it’s stopped us connecting to the natural world around us and each other in deep ways!

So much of the online world, Instagram and Twitter, for example, allows young people to get lost in the seemingly incredible lives of others and disconnect from their own passion, purpose and life. And so my blog truly started as an online space to inspire others to live more meaningfully, to follow their passions and dreams and to live for themselves, rather than to aimlessly follow and get lost in the material world.

TN: Your site is dedicated to womankind – which women are you most inspired by and why?
EGD:
Yes, in the last year my focus has shifted slightly and I’ve really found an interest in exploring womankind, the constraints and pressures we feel, why we compete with one another, and our power when we come together and learn to love ourselves again! I love nothing more than being with strong, free, natural, women.

Some women who inspire me:

Tavi Gevinson:  total babe, actress, and founder of Rookie Mag, an amazing online space for females to share and create collectively. Just an incredible advocate for womankind.

Elizabeth Gilbert: writer of the recently published Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear. For me, she represents womankind in such a strong way. She actively creates ideas and pursues her dreams whilst empowering other women to do the same. 2000% living in her truth, and that’s inspiring.

Elle Luna: artist, designer and author of The Crossroads of Should and Must: Find and Follow Your Passion –another must read. ALSO listen to her Do Lecture called ‘The Importance of Doing What You Love’, it made me cry!

TN: We know you love astrolgy, how do you work with the cosmos in your everyday life?
EGD: I’ve just come into astrology! I’m religiously watching and learning from Kay Pacha and his YouTube videos. I’ve also become fascinated by the different stages of our moon cycles as females and what that means for our bodies and energy.

Ella Grace Denton on The Numinous

TN: Which crystals are you working with currently and why?
This week I’ve been working with a beautiful white agate, a new amethyst and a golden spirit healer quartz:

– White Agate: for purifying and calming
– Amethyst: for grounding
– Golden Spirit Healer Quartz: for aligning and bringing me back to the sun energy in my solar plexus

TN: What does a truly well-lived life look like to you?
EGD: Being surrounded by a community of people who care about me, pursuing my dreams and ideas passionately and openly, and making positive change in the world.

Now a look into the mystical world of this material girl…

:: MATERIAL GIRL ::

My label
Anything second-hand

Chanel Jacket from Nasty Gal
Vintage Chanel Jacket, Nasty Gal

My shoes
A pair of boots made of silver satin I found in Oxfam…

800px-Oxfam_International_logo.svg

My fragrance
A mix of seabuckthorn, jojoba, rose otto, geranium, immortelle, neroli, lavender, palmarosa oils.

Lavender Essential Oil, Do Terra
Lavender Essential Oil, Do Terra

My jewels
My YCL Jewels hand crafted crystal choker, a crystal necklace I was given for my 21st by my mum, an ‘E’ necklace from my dad and my great great grandmother’s ring

My pampering
A hot bath, with candles, incense, and essential oils

My home
The island of Ibiza

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Es Vedra, Ibiza

My food
Mango!

Ella Grace Mango Salad
Ella’s Beetroot and Mango Salad

:: MYSTICAL WORLD ::

My awakening
My awakening was always rumbling in my soul, it started in 2012 but came into full swing when I watched the documentary ‘Cowspiracy’ exactly a year ago (trailer below!)

My sign
Scorpio

Scorpio Necklace, Laura Lee Jewellery
Scorpio Necklace, Laura Lee Jewellery

My mantra
“I am exactly where I need to be”

My healer
Nature

My reading
Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert

My transformation
Going vegan – which means living compassionately, by killing and eating no other beings

My mission
To empower others to live openly from their hearts

To read more from Ella Grace Denton visit Weneedtolivemore.com 

HOLY F*CK! MAKING AMENDS WITH MY EXES

In the first installment of her column Holy F*ck, Alexandra Roxo decides making amends with her exes is the next step on the path of awakening…Photo Credit: Louise Androlia

Alexandra Roxo Holy F*ck making amends on The Numionus

In the last nine months of being “single” I have done a LOT of work trying to figure out my love life/self/astro chart/addictions/blahblah. Some of that “work” was on Tinder but no need to get into that…yet. Anyway, I decided that in order to move on and clear the slate I would make amends with all my exes. I was having a John Cusack in High Fidelity moment where he’s like, “What’s wrong with me? Why did all my relationships ‘fail’? I should probably seek out and bother everyone I’ve ever dated in order to figure out what it is about me!” Which seems pretty narcissistic, I know.

But the way I saw it, this wasn’t about narcissism or figuring out what was wrong with me. I don’t believe in relationship ‘failure’ anyway. It was about wanting to neutralize our energy, so I wasn’t carrying around a bunch of ‘eugh’ and ‘agchk’ vibes towards a bunch of people that I once loved, had sex with, and maybe even told that I wanted to have their babies…Plus the fact that in order to really move on to new love, I feel it’s important to unpack any potential baggage that is weighing us down. Justin Bieber’s words “Is it too late now to say sorry?” kept echoing through my mind.

No one taught me how to do this and I was just going off intuition, though I had heard it was a part of AA and some program called Landmark that sounded trés culty.  So I consulted my teachers. Marianne. Jesus. Marianne again. She says many things about making amends, but this stuck with me: “Forgiveness is the choice to see people as they are now. When we’re mad at people, we’re angry because of something they said or did before this moment. By letting go of the past we make room for miracles to replace our grievances.”

So at first I thought, should I write everybody a letter? Hmm, it felt kind of like a wimpy way out, like I could just get something off my chest without hearing their (potentially not so charitable) side of the story. So instead I reached out to what had been my biggest primary relationships individually, and suggested we sit down for a drink.

Now yes, it is a little tricky to suggest “just a drink” with an ex – I mean what happens if two vodkas in, the romance spontaneously rekindles itself and you find yourself making out?! #RiskyBusiness. I knew this was a possibility, and yet “coffee” seemed sooooo formal. I mean these are people that have held you at your darkest hour / made you cum many times. Wine, my friends. Wine.

Alexandra Roxo Holy F*ck making amends on The Numionus

So I sat down with my first ex. This was someone I’d only dated for about six months after having sex on her NFL sheets where she kept saying: “You’re such a dime” while she came. After that she wooed me with a Jaws movie night complete with steamed crab legs and champagne, and we fell in love. She was the kind of person who danced with me to Motown in the kitchen, ate gluten free because I did, and gave me orgasms where I legit saw rainbows of light. (FYI this is called “synethesia.”)

So it was real RUDE of me to ghost on her. When we sat down three years later to reconnect at a mediocre spot in Williamsburg, I apologized first, went into my spiel about being grateful for all of the wonderful things she did for me, all the ways she put up with my neuroses, and how much I’d grown up…while she gulped down some rosé, looked at me and said: “You really fucked me up.”

To which I replied: “I am NOT going to own that, because whatever expectations you put on the relationship are what made you feel that way. I PERSONALLY couldn’t make you feel that way.” But then I remembered this was not about patting myself on the back or being right.

So I said “I am really sorry for my actions. For yelling at you. Being mean. And for checking out when things got tough. I am truly sorry.” We walked through the park quietly after that and haven’t spoken since. She seems happy, I like her Instagram photos on the reg, and I’ll probably text her on her birthday. CHECK.

Next I saw the guy who was my last boyfriend before I somehow gave up men and dated women for six years. With him, I was a little bit nervous. I had dumped him in cold blood for my first girlfriend and…blamed it on the fact he wasn’t spiritual enough. He was an atheist, and I knew I couldn’t date an atheist or raise children with an atheist, so why bother, ya know?

We met at a dive bar. I was nervous, and he’s still hot. Even hotter now. I fondly remembered a time we had sex in the pool at my dad’s condo and the security people taped it and bribed my dad with it. Cut to my internal dialogue: “What if I’m not strong enough? Should I wear lace panties just in case? No. Don’t even shave. Ugggh. Okay. Fine.” When I told him, “Hey, I’m sorry for how much of a crazy diva I was,” he just gave me a cute smile and said: “Don’t worry mama” in that way that had always made me melt. Then he scooted off to help another ex gf move house. THIS IS EASY RIGHT? Hmm, not so fast…

Alexandra Roxo Holy F*ck making amends on The Numionus

Next was the hot, fast, love affair that happened the summer I was living very gypsy-like, i.e. out of a suitcase and on an air mattress. She showed up at 3am at the place I was house sitting with a bottle of tequila, told me she was dying, cried, fucked me, and I was like “SIGN ME UP!” Then things got really bad between us. She was going through some dark stuff, I was going through a rough patch with my family. I was also living in my creative partner’s office, trying to make art, struggling with addictions, chain smoking…

I recognized that I had to get it together which I thought meant cutting her out. When I told her “No mas!” she cried and told me she vomited for days and had to go to the doctor for an IV, and I basically couldn’t deal. So I blocked her. And from then on, anytime people said her name it was like horror film music started to play…

Needless to say I was VERY nervous to meet up with this one. But I did my energy protection ritual, marched in, drank only half a glass of wine for safety and told her I was sorry and that she caught me when I was in such a dark place. She smiled a really cute smile and was like “It’s okay. We both were.” And we proceeded to talk about our mutual friends and though I lustfully admired her long sinewy fingers I emerged from the bar thinking: “Oh. My. God…we’re friends, we’re friends!” But soon she started texting me and asking me out again to which I politely declined, repeatedly. Eventually she caught on.

The upshot of making amends this way, has been that I’ve realized it’s never too late to take responsibility for your actions, and create a different ending to your story with an ex. You might think: “Oh, what’s done is done is done is done.” But what if you could make something else, something better, the last thing that happened between you? It could even be something random like sending them a box of chocolates or a bottle of champagne, with a note like: “Sorry, I was awful.” No two making amends are alike.

I didn’t need to see my most recent ex (Yogi_Vegan_Lez Orian) since we made amends in semi-real time. It felt and still feels like a MIRACLE OF GOD. Painful, but evolved. We Facetime a lot, often while I’m driving in LA and while she’s on a toilet in Brooklyn. And when I came to NY last we karaoked our song “Islands in the Stream” from Youtube like old times.

I hope from here on out I can try as much as possible to make amends in real time. Which means a) not numbing out from feelings when the going gets tough (umm hi marijuana / alcohol / sugar) and b) Stepping up and taking responsibility for my actions quickly and not stuffing anything away.

When I think back on my exes now no more waves of darkness descend upon me, and no more sob stories about how they were assholes etc run through my mind. Now when I think of them I smile and imagine them saving the planet, curing cancer, etc etc.

Next making amends I’m doing is with myself – because it’s my longest and most important relationship, and arguably the one I need to forgive the most. But for now I’ll take Obama’s apology.

HEY GOOD LOOKIN: WHEN’S YOUR VENUS RETURN?

We celebrate our birthday once a year, right? Wrong – you also have a beauty birthday, says Kimberly Peta Dewhirst of Star Sign StyleArtwork: My Dinh via Behance.net

My Dingh on The NuminousWait, what does your “beauty birthday” even mean?!

Your traditional birthday is also known as your “Solar Return,” referring to when the sun (solar) returns to the place in the zodiac where is was when you were born. Hence how we coined the phrase: “Many happy returns!”

And so your beauty birthday is when Venus, planet of all things aesthetic, makes the same repeat visit.

Now you might already know your Venus sign, which says lots about the way you shop, flirt, dress up, and conduct friendships – your Venus sign reflects your tastes, and the image of your Venus zodiac sign can provide an aspirational archetype to express yourself through.

For example, if you’re a Pisces with Venus in Aries, imagine a hot, feisty passionate woman as your fashion and beauty muse (i.e. Pisces Rihanna, who has Moon and Venus in Aries). Your Sagittarius woman with Venus in Scorpio meanwhile, will totally gravitate towards a sultry look, a little more mysterious and private than the typical jovial nature of the archer (think of Sagittarius plus Scorp Katie Holmes).

And at some point during every year (for about one or two days), planet Venus is also in the exact position she was when you were born. Now, because of the constant nature of the Sun and its path through the zodiac signs we know that our birthday falls on the same day every year, making it super easy to plan a get-together.

My Dinh on The NuminousVenus, on the other hand, can go retrograde (as we found out last year!) and so it’s not so straightforward calculating your “beauty birthday” – but it’s definitely worth it.

Why? Because your beauty birthday is when the stars are aligned for you personally when it comes to looking your best, attracting the right relationships, and getting a great deal on any luxury purchases you’re planning to make. Matters around money and your female relations can go well too – essentially, all things Venusian. (Hint: watch out for tomorrow’s special post on the Goddess Venus for more intel!)

So when Venus returns to the position of your “natal Venus” in your chart, this is no time to hide away – instead, come out, get dressed up to the nines, and celebrate your beauty birthday! Make it a time to indulge your senses, surround yourself with friends and notice how you attract likeminded people.

In fact, why not invest in a fabulous piece for the occasion? It’s a great day to get a new haircut, or even make-over your look at your favorite beauty counter.

Knowing the position of your “natal Venus” (where Venus appears in your birth chart), you’ll be aware when the planets are vibrating on her too – for example, you could have a slow moving planet like Pluto or Uranus passing over your personal planet of love, offering their transformative qualities to your relationships by “transit.” Invaluable information to have at your fingertips, I think you’ll agree!

My Dinh on The Numinous

Want to know your beauty birthday? Order a 2016 Astrological Calendar and Kimberly will calculate your beauty birthday for the coming year. Simply include your time, date and place of birth in the order notes (and try and get your time of birth as close as possible).

Kimberly’s brilliant calendar also includes the path of Venus in 2016, as well as the sign the Moon is passing through each day. The below YouTube video tells you more!

https://youtu.be/V03h4iiiUE0

WEEKLY TAROTSCOPE: OCTOBER 19-25

In your weekly tarotscope for October 19 2015, the Page of Swords grants you permission to flip the story, says Louise Androlia

You can watch last week’s weekly tarotscope at the link – did Louise’s message resonate with you? Share in the comments below, and connect with us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter!

WEEKLY TAROTSCOPE: AUG 2-8

This week’s weekly Tarotscope brings a sense of childlike wonder and the opportunity to kickstart new beginnings, says Louise Androlia

You can also check out last week’s video here – did Louise’s reading resonate for you? Share with us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter!