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Healing Remedies from the Kitchen

Merry meet all,

Our health is vitally important. Lately I felt ill. I suffered heachaches, an earache, vomiting, and I believed I had a fever (which two doctors confirmed wasn’t true), and a sore throat- which I still have. I went and was tested for the Corona Virus which I don’t have thankfully. I was confirmed negative. I am fine and I happily bought groceries today.

However, I have excellent health remedies that are simple, affordable and available to all. I am happy to share them with you.

Herbal Teas

I know you all want to reach for a cup of joe/ mocha but hear me out. Caffeine can make you more alert and I drink it too. In fact, I just bought a new coffeemaker today. Limit your caffeine intake though. You have to add cream if you do take your coffee that way. That can exacerbate a cold or flu.

Herbal teas are powerful healing remedies. I have a sore throat and I always make sure I have Traditional Medicinals Herbal teas at hand. The Throat Coat variety is the best for truly soothing an aching throat. It is better than cheap lozenges. I am not trying to replace a medical practitioner though. These herbal teas are organic  and full of potent power to help soothe and heal you. Chamomile tea is good too.  Chamomile is anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and has astringent properties. Peppermint tea is healing too. which helps thin mucus and calm sore throats and coughs. Peppermint also has anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, and antiviral properties, which may encourage healing.

Honey is the next best thing to heal your body and soothe a sore throat. Honey is naturally antibacterial. The bees can’t be wrong.

If you are uber muchly into organic remedies. try licorice root for soothing a sore throat. You can try fenugreek and marshmallow root. For an added bonus, these herbs may be in the herbal teas I mentioned above. 

Gargle with salt water. This kills the bacteria present in your throat which can speed healing. 

Dilute 1 to 2 tablespoons of ACV in one cup of water and gargle with it. Then take a small sip of the mixture, and repeat the whole process one to two times per hour. Make sure to drink lots of water in between the gargling sessions.
There are many different ways of using ACV to treat sore throats, depending on the severity of the illness and also your body’s sensitivity to vinegar. It is best to first consult your doctor or healthcare practitioner.

Garlic
Garlic also has natural antibacterial properties. It contains allicin, an organosulfur compound known for its ability to fight off infections.

Studies have shown that taking a garlic supplement on a regular basis can help prevent the common cold virus. Adding fresh garlic to your diet is also a way of gaining its antimicrobial properties. Your grandmother might have told you to suck on a clove of garlic to sooth a sore throat. Because garlic has many healing actions, you might try this, though you may want to brush your teeth afterward to protect your teeth from enzymes and improve your breath.
Cayenne pepper or hot sauce
Often used as a pain reliever, cayenne pepper contains capsaicin, a natural compound known for blocking pain receptors.
Although not scientifically proven, ingesting cayenne mixed with warm water and honey can help with pain relief for sore throats. Remember that an initial burning sensation is common. Cayenne should not be taken if you have open sores in your mouth. Start with just a few drops of hot sauce or a light sprinkle of cayenne, as both can be very hot.

Sore throat remedies for infants and children
Sore throats in infants and young children definitely aren’t fun, but the good news is that they’re rarely the sign of a medical emergency on their own. Still, treating sore throats may be different for infants and children. Here are a few tips and remedies:
Add cool mist or a humidifier to your child’s room. Moisture in the air can help relieve pain from a sore throat.
Keep children hydrated by encouraging them to drink as much as possible. Avoid juices or popsicles with lots of citrus.
Children under 5 years should not be given hard candy cough drops or anything else that might pose a choking risk. Use caution when giving cough drops to children under 10 years.
Don’t give honey to children who are younger than 1 year.
Prevention
To prevent sore throat, stay away from people who are sick with an infectious illness like the flu or strep throat. Wash your hands frequently. Try to avoid spicy or acidic foods, and stay away from chemical fumes or smoke that could cause inflammation.
Over-the-counter treatments
When natural remedies just aren’t cutting it, there are several over-the-counter treatment options. Acetaminophen can be effective for sore throat, and it can be given to young children.
Over-the-counter options like lozenges or numbing sprays can also provide relief. Other potential sore throat soothers include eucalyptus, which you’ll likely find in natural throat lozenges and cough syrups.
Buyer beware
Herbs and supplements are not monitored by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for quality, packaging, dosage, or safety. Also, the batches may be different from container to container. Lack of regulation means that each supplement might give you a different medicinal dose. Be careful using these remedies, and be sure to buy from a reputable source.

Bacterial infections, such as strep throat, whooping cough, and diphtheria, are responsible for only a small percentage of sore throats. Most doctors recommend calling a doctor only in cases of severe sore throat, such as sore throat with a fever or when swollen tonsils block the throat.
Trying out some of these natural remedies may help you feel better more quickly and save you a trip to the doctor’s office. To feel your best, make sure you also drink lots of fluids and get plenty of rest.

There you have it, Hopefully these remedies prove helpful to you. Be well and stay safe!! 

Blessings, Spiderwitch

 

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Imbolc

Merry meet all,

Happy Imbolc! The first spring Sabbat is finally here! The snow still blankets the earth and the cold nip is in the air. But we are getting closer to spring. Now is the time to peruse seed catalogs. I am already dreaming of what I want to grow in my garden this summer. 

I attended a public ritual the other night. The Imbolc Ritual coincided with the Interfaith Harmony week. A Druid coven also attended the Ritual. I believed the Ritual to be very powerful and emotive. I wish I knew how to utter so fluently in other languages. That is something I just have to master. 

I plan to start plants from seed this week. I want to grow pumpkins (but seriously, wish me luck), tomatoes, cucumbers, dill, amaranth, popcorn (yes, you read that right), mustard seed, purple beans, purple coneflower. I still have seeds saved from last year. Oh this should be fun. I have soil and I need starter trays. My cat can’t get up on the counter. I plan to start my seeds there. The sun will give the starter seeds the light they need. I can’t wait to order mugwort, mandrake, and sage seeds and moonwort. I can’t wait to get them in the mail. I am just as eager to put  my plants out that I have overwintered, such as my ginger, geranium, catnip. I am still fussy about the seeds being natural, otherwise not coated in nasty chemicals. I try to get organic seeds and thankfully, Annapolis Seeds does carry organic seeds. I miss my garden so much. 

You can tell I am eager for spring to arrive. Imbolc brings out my creative side something fierce. I can’t help it. Brigid truly is one of my patron deities. I filled the feeder up with seed. The birds visit the feeder. I saved them from starvation. 

I hope you all have fun planning your garden and ordering seeds. Are any of you ordering witchy seeds? Let me know in the comments below. Happy Imbolc! Happy seed planting. 

 

Blessings, Spiderwitch

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Midsummer Garden Magick

Merry Meet All,

Did you all enjoy the Full Moon energy? I sure did. I had a very cleansing weekend. I performed the Summer Solstice and Full Moon rituals. I also enjoyed seeing the beautiful Full Moon outside my apartment. I would love to hear how you all celebrated this enchanting weekend.

Midsummer is a magickal time. The earth is in bloom and our gardens are gearing towards ready to bursting. Why not try some faery magick?

The faeries are helping your garden grow. I have a statue of a faery in my garden. She watches over the garden night and day. I also want to put a gargoyle statue to guard the garden too. Midsummer and a full moon signal that this is the time to banish bad habits and what no longer serves you. To see and enjoy the company of faeries, get out in nature. Nature is the faerys’ home so no better place to be. Find a faery triad of oak, ash and thorn. Walk clockwise or deosil, nine times around the circle to find the entrance to view them. The King of the Faeries loves to dance on thyme. Leave them an offering of rose petals, milk, honey or a shiny piece of jewelry.

So the best thing to do to get this Otherworldly aid with your garden is to let your garden be. I do and i know it takes self-control but I find this is the best way to let the garden magically flourish. The other unseen and diminituve helpers of the garden are the insects. Our gardens are the way they are mostly thanks to the insect kingdom. Not the slugs, of course. You can sprinkle sat on a slug or ship it off to the green compost bin, where it will munch the compost to its hearts content. I was in my garden yesterday and I saw a beetle, centipedes, sawbugs and earthworms rummaging about. They are never seen yet they work hard. The most suffering and the hardest workers of the garden are bees. The bees are suffering unduly thanks to the evil corporation of Mordor/ Monsanto. They are causing the bees to be endangered. We need bees to have food to eat. They are never thanked for all the hard work they do. So I highly urge you to do whatever you can to help attract bees to your garden. We need the bees. We will not survive without them. I hate Monsanto with all my heart. I do everything I can to help the bees. I would have no garden without them. Please help the bees by planting what would attract them.

My lady’s mantle finally flowered, and the dead nettle flowered. I have a new white Echinacea plant that is about to flower. The leopard’s bane is long past flowering but I left a seed head on the plant to brown and dry out to let me collect the seeds. The peas are growing taller and the radish leaves are taking off now. My comfrey is growing bigger and the purple coneflower is growing bigger too. Soon it will grow stalks and flowers. The rue loves its new home, the tarragon too, and the chives are doing well in their corner. My woodruff has claimed its corner. It looks so magickal, spreading down over that patch. Woodruff makes beautiful groundcover and the bugle weed is now too. My onions are doing well, growing behind the woodruff. Woodruff was used in the past to make wine. THe mugwort has grown regal and tall and showing who is the boss. One of my tomato vines is trying to catch up to the larger tomato plant. I divided up the too large leopard’s bane and planted it in different bare spots of the garden. I plan to make a lovely border with more dead nettle. I can’t wait till my calendula seedlings and the lovage are ready to out to the garden. The romaine lettuce and red poppy are slow to grow- might be growing in their roots. No sign of my chocolate mint and spearmint or shasta daisies yet. The pumpkin vines are slow to grow too. But nonetheless, a beautiful and captivating garden. I have shallotts, calendula, mugwort, and mesclum mix inside. The mesclun mix will stay inside but everything else will go outside.It will keep the bees busy. I want some lungwort and Solomon’s Seal to cover up that bare spot in my garden, next to the new flowering hosta. The yarrow, bee balm, Echinacea, astilbe + and Siberian Iris will hopefully be visited and pollinated by our unsung heroes- the bees.

Help the bees!!

Blessed Be,
Lady Spiderwitch )O(

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