Tag Archives: chinese lanterns

September 30, 2021 · 12:50 pm

Autumn Herbs

Merry meet all,

Tomorrow is October 1st. I have a new rolling cart to store my multiple jars of herbs. By. herbs, I mean of course seeds, bark, leaves, flowers. I had to assemble the cart and that was a nightmare. Are you all getting ready for Samhain? I am! I am also preparing for the Materia Medica course I am taking at the Herbal Academy in addition to the Introductory Herbal course I am already taking. That does involve getting more organized, which is why I bought the cart.

I ordered seeds from a company on Etsy. They are as follows; German chamomile, black swan poppy, Scott bonnet pepper, black cumin, purple echinacea, halloween calendula, Howden pumpkin, borage, sunflower, black tar poppy, chef’s pick parsley, Larkspur, anise, purple echinacea, purple salsify, Vietnamese cilantro, and foxglove blend. Next spring, I will be having fun planting all that!  I gathered the Chinese lanterns, burdock seeds, mullein seeds, and I will soon gather the nasturtium seeds from my garden. I gathered mullein in an empty field and it also grows on the nature trail. A witch hazel grows on the trail too! 

A materia medica means healing materials. It basically means a book about herbal profiles. The profiles are called monographs. I plan to have the most amazing material media by the time I am done studying. The material media course teaches you how to complete a herbal profile. I have access to the Herbarium. I can download any herb monograph I choose to. I ordered a herb journal – titled My Herbology journal, A Green Witch Journal from Amazon. I also ordered a paper making screen deckle and mold! 

Here is the link to the journal: https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B08TQ7DX6J/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 Several herbs that I need for the course grow on the nature trail. Goldenrod, burdock, mullein, asters, raspberry, elderberry, chokeberry, coltsfoot, queen Anne’s lace, black elderberry, staghorn sumac, creeping juniper, perennial sow thistle, red clover, and  thistle all grow on the trail. I may have already mentioned this. I have an app on my phone that helps me identify plants. If you want to forage in the wild, bring gloves to protect you, a charged cellphone that has an app for identifying plants, wear something to protect you from bug bites and poisonous plants, a water bottle to stay hydrated, and scissors. It helps to carry a big plastic bag or cloth bag to hold the herbs you gather. Don’t consume anything if you are not sure. You could make yourself sick. I want to gather goldenrod next summer to dye a piece of fabric yellow. I just want to try it. !!!

I still have to dehydrate the elderberries. I brewed a jar of elderberry, rhubarb and blueberry am.  I should added cinnamon and clove. I am making a jar of elderberry tincture. The berries were dried and I added vodka. I labeled the jar and also lined the top of the jar with natural waxed paper. The metal can’t contaminate the mixture. I can’t wait to try it. But I do want to caution: elderberries contain cyanide, so please if you make a remedy using elderberries, use black or purple berries – not green, and be careful. I will make the tincture last a long time. I don’t plan to consume it every day. The berries are not cooked for making a tincture. Some cyanide could still be present in the berries. Everything in moderation. 

I gathered herbs for my first lesson in the materia medica course. They were lemon balm, goldenrod, thyme, lavender, mint and chamomile. It grows in the garden and on the nature trail.I need to study the herbs for the courses. (What a hardship, eh?) There are so many herbs to learn about and I live in the right environment. Fall is here. Many of the plants are winding down for the long cold rest. The nature trial is now full of the thistles, queen Anne’s lace, burdock, goldenrod all going to seed. The queen Anne’s lace seedbeds resemble bird’s nests. 

I have to collect the raspberries from my garden. The tomatoes are still ripening. The pumpkin patch is growing! I have tried for 11 years to grow a pumpkin patch and now I have! Hopefully the frost will hold off! I pickled my own cucumbers. The flavour is truly divine. I stored two jars of applesauce in the freezer too. I am well stocked. I have to puree the pumpkin. So much to do, so little time. 

I am enjoying my studies at the Herbal Academy. Well obviously right? I decorate my binder with butterfly stickers, protect the notes and printouts in sheet protectors, and do my best to keep it organized. I want to be a herbalist and work in a trade that involves herbs. It will be a long road but an interesting one!!

The link to the Herbal Academy- in case you want to study there!!

https://theherbalacademy.com/my-account/?awt_a=5cXw&awt_l=Bv79G&awt_m=mUTf3FOR61wS3Xw

Blessings, Spiderwitch

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September 9, 2020 · 12:00 pm

The Horrors of Beach Army Hospital

Merry meet all,

I gathered four ripening Chinese Lanterns and two purple beans from the garden this morning. I spied a bean growing on my leafy scarlet runner bean vines. My tomatoes are growing nicely. The garden is winding down for autumn and the frost. It makes me sad and happy at the same time. 

Here’s a good ghost story for the day. I wish I could investigate this spot. I am so jealous. Read on to find out why I am almost green with envy. 

 

The Dormant Horrors of Beach Army Hospital

The Dormant Horrors of Beach Army Hospital

Those in the paranormal community are a thorough bunch. They leave no stone unturned, no forest unsearched, and no dark corner of any state unexplored. They’ve outed every ghost, documented every haunt, explored every rumor and shrapnel of mythical lore, and yet, here I find myself, alone in the damp and crumbling halls of a building for which no record exists and no investigator has ever truly set foot in. Here, on the periphery of the Mineral Wells city limits, abandoned in the barren fields of this dreary town; I am alone in the Beach Army Hospital.

Beach Army Hospital Researched

I’ve done my research, and the only indisputable fact I can spew about this building is that in the eyes of the world, it might as well not even exist. There are no videos of overnight hunts, no independent publications or blogs that have been written, and no record of it’s past with the Mineral Wells Chamber of Commerce. It once served as an installation of the Fort Wolters Military base. It was a hospital devoted to treating active-duty military personnel, but when Fort Wolters shuttered its doors at the end of the Vietnam War, so too did this facility. So here it has sat since the early 1970s, and here I stand in 2020. The first paranormal investigator ever granted access to the structure in nearly half a century.

I stumbled upon this enigmatic situation at the behest of Brett Hobson, the owner of Beach Army Hospital, LLC. In an effort to help fund the hospital’s renovations, Hobson wants to open the doors of Beach Army Hospital for the world to see and wants to do so by allowing private overnight ghost hunts of the facility to any team brave enough to venture to its location.

The dark Past

The site of countless deaths, due to the building’s operation as a hospital. There is also the looming threat of something sinister. Hobson and his family had the misfortune of discovering the building had been used as the destination for numerous satanic rituals. They discovered pentagrams and upside-down crosses painted on the walls of a former patient’s bedroom. According to Hobson, the energy inside the room was so strong “the family dog nearly jumped out of the second-story window when brought in there.”

While there is no doubt in my mind that Beach Army Hospital will quickly prove itself to be amongst the most haunted locations in Texas, if not the country, it’s the spotlight in the paranormal community that will be short-lived. With construction on the building set to begin later this fall, there will only be a few months open for investigators to explore the inside of the building. Then it will close and at that time it will become the Perfect Technician Academy – a local trades training school catering to the veteran community – has announced they will be leasing the building for their own use. What’s more, with the spirits inside having had no interaction with the living in decades, those few months of investigations are poised to yield some utterly groundbreaking evidence of spirits who are eager to make themselves known.

Voices Heard

The disembodied voices of men and women linger in the stairways and halls. The blackened apparitions of former patients can be seen lurking in shadowed corners. The shuffling of phantom footsteps can be heard all around you, and the resident poltergeists are quick to move objects before your very eyes. All of this evidence and more deserve to be captured, and it will be up to you and your team to do so. Visit The Haunted Historian (@haunted.historian) on Instagram for a link to the locations website for bookings, and prepare to conduct an investigation unlike any you’ve ever done before. Happy hunting!”

Indeed, I wish I could be there. 

Credit to: read://https_paranormaldailynews.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fparanormaldailynews.com%2Fthe-dormant-horrors-of-beach-army-hospital%2F2243%2F

Links to more spooky tales to tickle your eerie fancy!!

The most haunted mirrors in the world!

Stay spooky!!
Blessings, Spiderwitch

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August 20, 2020 · 12:52 pm

Autumn Decorations

Merry meet all,

My favorite time of year is almost here! Autumn is a time of harvesting and the magic of Halloween. It’s hard to believe Halloween is 2 months away. 

Now is the time to plant garlic to harvest next late summer. It’s so easy. It’s better to plant organic garlic cloves than nonorganic. Organic cloves don’t have the germination inhibitors sprayed on them. Plant the cloves with the tip pointing up a few inches from each other. Cover with soil and water lightly. Next year, you can harvest fresh garlic. The garlic you grow in your garden tastes way better than the store bought garlic. 

Summer is the ideal season to enjoy corn. Why not make a corn doll to add to your autumnal celebrations for the season? This link tells you how to make one. Feel free to be as creative as you wish. https://feltmagnet.com/crafts/How-to-Make-Straw-Dolls#:~:text=How%20to%20Make%20a%20Female%20Corn%20Husk%20Doll.,5%20Step%205%3A%20Create%20the%20Clothing.%20More%20items

Here is a great way to make a corn husk doll too: https://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Corn-Husk-Doll

Get some squash (it’s okay if it’s from the store and not your garden), and other autumnal decorations from a local craft shop. I don’t know about any of you but I can’t wait to make my abode look more festive. I love autumn. It truly is a magickal season. Make a pot of wholesome nutritious squash soup to enjoy while you conjure awesome fall decor in your home! 

You can also go out on a nature walk for findings. Acorns are everywhere now and flowers are withering. They sometimes dry and their colors change to gorgeous reds and browns. I want to make a harvest doll and hang it in my garden to symbolize my gratitude for the bounty from my garden.

Gather crab apples and bake an apple crisp. Rhubarb is done for the season now. Rhubarb crisp is delicious. Add garden grown strawberries for more flavor. Hang Indian corn in your apartment. Decorate with gourds, apples and orange candles. 

Now you have a festive theme! Mix and match it anyway you like. Add in incense and you’re all set. Nothing screams Witch more than autumn. This is our time. This is our power. 

Blessings, Spiderwitch 

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September 9, 2015 · 8:17 pm

Mabon Magic

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Merry meet all,

Our favorite time of year is here. September ushers in autumn with grace. I have harvested some chinese lanterns from my garden. Their orange colour is just like pumpkins. I spied a large round pumpkin on someone’s doorstep from my spot on the Metro transit. Halloween/ Samhain is nearly here. Who is as excited as me? 

I wrote a blog post for the Horror Writers Association Halloween Haunts blog project. I wrote about the tradition of performing dumb suppers, which I do every Samhain. I can’t wait to see my post on the site as well as enjoying reading the other posts. 

Mabon begins later this month! I love Mabon. Mabon is so enchanting. Mabon leads up nicely to Samhain but it’s the first stirrings of autumn. My garden is winding down. Soon I have to prepare the garden for winter and dig in my spring bulbs. I plan to grow more garlic and tulips and maybe some other spring bulbs, like crocuses. 

I love walking on the nature trail behind my apartment  in autumn, There are so many trees on either side of the trail. When they are showing off their colourful splendour, it’s just too beautiful. I love it when I feel the Samhain energy in the air too. The leaves are falling and sound crisper. We all know what this means! The sight of the colourful autumn leaves on the trees on the trail takes my breath away. 

Now is the time to scatter those seeds in the soil to bloom in spring. I have scattered the mandrake I sent in the mail that aren’t growing and rose seeds. I hope the mandrake seeds germinate outside. They could bloom next year or not at all. It they don’t, then I will order more from a different supplier. 

There’s a lot to look forward to this fall. I shall keep you posted on how to connect with spirits and keep yourself safe. For now, harvest your goodies from your garden, throw salt over your shoulder and plant rosemary and lavender in your garden for luck. 

Blessed Be, Lady Spiderwitch )O(

 

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