Tag Archives: essential oils

August 6, 2021 · 5:01 pm

Witch’s Herbal Potions

Merry meet all,

I know I haven’t posted much here lately. I sprained my wrist, the hand I write with – so that would have been a challenge. I had to rest and that was hard for someone with my strong spirit. Now I’m still healing but more rested.  I am back at blogging! 

Prior to my injury, I was in the midst of conjuring witch’s herbal potions. I did complete the herbal tea I had made earlier. I bought a cool jar to keep the herbs in at Michael’s arts and crafts, a local craft shop that sells art and craft supplies. I love that store. I made about 4 cups of herbal tea. The ingredients include lemongrass, dried ginger, dried lemon, roman and German chamomile, mugwort ( a pinch), rose petals, red clover, lavender, lemon balm, lemon verbena, and mint. The scent is divine. I dried the herbs on my own DIY herb drying rack I made myself. I will post about that project below. The herbs are not crumbled. They keep their flavour and oils that way. I think they are drying and crumbling to the bottom of the jar. The scent is divine. 

The herbs are bone dry and the jar was bone dry when I added the herbs. The herbs need to be that dry for the herbal tea because otherwise it causes mold. When I was back home with the jar, I washed it thoroughly and let it air dry. When the herbs were truly dry, I added them. I can’t tell you just how good it felt to mix the herbs together in the jar. It looks romantic too. I enjoyed a cup of my own homemade brew yesterday! The flavour brought a taste of summer and a little bittersweet at the same time. 

My second project is more involved than the tea. I am brewing a jar of herbs in oils for my Mom. The ingredients for making the salve are as follows:

Pine Salve

pine needles, pine bark, peppermint, comfrey, turmeric,  ginger,  grapeseed oil, beeswax, tea tree oil + peppermint essential oil

This pine salve aids in the reduction of pain inflammation and sore joints. Pine helps with inflammation, reduces pain and swelling, and is antimicrobial. It increases blood flow, helps with localized pain, and chronic inflammation. The other ingredients aid in reducing pain inflammation. Peppermint is a natural anti-inflammatory, a natural pain killer, and a muscle relaxer. Ginger reduces pain and inflammation. Comfrey contains allantoin which helps new skin cells grow and helps reduce pain inflammation. Turmeric contains curcumin which is a natural anti-inflammatory compound. The salve also contains 2 drops of tea tree oil and twenty drops of peppermint essential oil.

I dried the herbs on my air drying rack. Once I was sure they were dry enough, I added the herbs to a clean dry sanitized jar. I poured the oils over them and closed the lid. Now I wait six weeks for the oils to extract the herbs’ essences. I already bought beeswax and tins for the salves. I will strain out the herbs over a strainer lined with cheesecloth and a bowl. Once I have strained out every drop of herbal goodness from the oils and herbs, I will add it to a pot with beeswax and make the salve. I have to wait a few weeks. I shake the jar a little a few times a day. 

I made jar labels too. I printed out the labels – one, listing the salve ingredients, and the other is a salve label for the jar. I collared them with a beige colour so the labels have that apothecary appearance. I love it. Then I printed out the ingredients and what each ingredients does in the salve. The ingredients all reduce pain and inflammation. I hole punched the ingredients list and what function each ingredient has and tied them together with a bow. I am so eager to make the salve but if I wait, the result will be amazing! My Mom gets the salve with the white lid and I am using the tin with the black lid. 

When the time comes, I will strain out the herbs from the oils. I have a large strainer I can fit over my stainless steel bowl. I also have cheesecloth. I will have to sanitize everything. I will strain out every last drop. I will melt the beeswax over a double boiler and add the herbal oil mixture. I can’t wait. 

I harvested the mugwort from my garden. 2 of my mugwort plants stood six feet high! The mugwort is now drying in my kitchen. 

Air drying Herb Rack

I bought a large 12 – 14 inch embroidery hoop from a local fabric store and cheesecloth. I opened the hoop. I tied 3 long strings to the embroidery hoop and to a loop. I used a curtain hook. Then I laid cheesecloth over the smaller hoop. I fastened the embroidery hoop back together. Now the cheesecloth was caught between the hoops. I trimmed the excess cheesecloth and tightened it. Then I knotted several strings to hang down from the hoop. This project is so easy to do and affordable. I have included a photo of the herb rack below.  I needed to lay paper towel down on the surface to catch all the falling petals and seeds. The cheesecloth is porous and so is the paper towel. It takes 2 weeks or so for the herbs to dry. Now I am drying chamomile and mugwort. I keep the screen door closed with Penny’s queenly scratching post at the back door. This allows for good air circulation for my drying herbs. 

I love my air drying herb rack. It didn’t cost a lot of money. I already had the string and scissors. I have other herbs to dry and store for the coming cold season. We all don’t like to think about that.I bought several new jars at Canadian Tire. I washed the jars and let them air dry. That is a great way to purify your jars. It costs nothing to air dry jars. It is also better than drying them with a towel since the towel may contain germs. I always prefer air drying my jars. I will store my bee pollinated sun loving herbs in the jars. 

I own a few new cool herb cutting tools now. One, the triangle herb chopper and two, my herb snipping scissors. Although I find for snipping herbs from my garden, I much prefer my scissors or boline. I’m also reading a fascinating book The Witching Herbs by Harold Roth. 

Happy potion making!

Blessings, Spiderwitch

Leave a comment

Filed under Paranormal and Witchy Fiction

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

February 20, 2015 · 4:02 pm

The Dark Side

1560563_481092325334220_1390160152_n

Merry meet all,

My novel The Eldritch Ghost, is a speculative fiction novel. Most of these types of novels have an element of magic in them and this is what draws readers and audiences to read and watch the books and movies. They come to the stories or movies with expectations. 

My main character is a clairvoyantly gifted Witch and professional artist. She uses her magick to help her with dealing with the ghost and the quiet townspeople who are resistant to change. They view her as an outsider, different from their norm, and brimming with magickal though unusual ideas. 

She uses herbs, makes candles, owns a magickal candlestick, but she performs her magick to help others. Most Witches use certain tools to aid them in their magick and psychic divination workings. I own two books which helped me with research and of course, working my own magick. The books are: 1) The Witches Book of the Dead by Christian Day, a damn good excellent reference book for darker magic for those who are brave, and 2) Nocturnal Witchcraft by Konstantinos. 3) The Ghost Hunter’s Survival Guide was helpful, too. 

Here are some correspondences to guide you in your own nocturnal magick!!

This is a way I would suggest setting up an altar for communing with the dead, You can find this information in some of the books being listed above. 

Use a black altar cloth. Black absorbs all colours. Be sure the cloth is clean and yes, ironed. It creates a neater appearance. Use a flat surface such as an altar table or other sturdy flat surface. Set up black taper candles on the altar. Include the figurine of a deity you worship such as Hekate or the Morrigan. Include a silver pentacle, black or silver candleholders, a black and silver athame for tracing a pentacle design in the air, a black cauldron, a cat figurine if you honor Bast. Dragon candleholders add a nice extra bit of power to your magick, and perhaps an owl, cat or spider figurine to the candleholder.  Owls, cats and spiders correspond to the dark Underworld and so would be appropriate. 

Think Fall. Think Dark. In the fall to winter, we honor the Crone. The Holly King battles the Oak King and reigns over this half of the year. 

The herbs to use would be frankincense and myrrh, rue, mandrake, mugwort, rose, patchouli, benzoin, sage, violets, wolf’s bane, black cohosh, dragon’s blood, pomegranates, yew, and sandalwood.

Wear a black robe while raising spirits or performing a seance. Black does absorb all colours.

You could create a potion to aid you in communication with the dead. To make your own salve to aid you in the meditation, follow these steps:

Heat beeswax in a saucepan until slightly warm. Add the essential oils that are suitable for this recipe. Infused essential oils add their energies of oil and herbs infused into the oil.

 Stir with a wooden spoon. Continue stirring until the beeswax and oils are combined. Enhance the mix by adding by adding 1 to 2 drops of essential oils to the mixture. Continue stirring. While the recipe is blending in the saucepan, it is optional to add Vitamin E, which acts as a preservative for the salve, offering it a longer shelf life.

 Add loose dry herbs and as you blend the ingredients together, stir deosil. Say a chant or sing a song and visualize energies emanating from you into the mix. Concentrate on your intent for this salve if it is for you or someone else, and imbue it with energies.

 Set aside a clean sterile jar. Allow the mixture to cool slightly. Pour the preparation into the jar and again add your energies. Allow it to cool and solidify.

 When the preparation has completely cooled, put on the lid tightly. Put the jar/s into the fridge to complete the solidifying process. After a few moments have passed, remove the jars from the fridge. Label and date them. You can be creative with your labels. Make your own or download them from the Internet. Draw bats and black cats on to your labels. 

 Be sure to use clean sterile jars and use organic ingredients as much as possible. No toxic chemicals will leach into your salve and no pesticides will remove the nutrients from your salve. The salve will have retained its qualities from the organic ingredients, which is the point of making and using salves.

 Hold the jar in your palms and meditate for a moment. Send more energies to the salve and feel the weight and coolness of the jar. Continue to do this until your hands tingle. As you are doing all this, face east. East is the direction of Air, of beginnings and of fiery energy and enthusiasm. It is recommended to use Vitamin E with the salve, which acts as a natural preservative. Return the jar to the fridge. The salve will contain the energies and last longer being stored in the fridge.

The herbs mentioned above are ideally suitable for these potions. Be creative and perhaps offer this salve to friends as a gift idea. You could try this 1 idea, though it is risky and I advise you to use caution. You could use hemlock which induces astral projection as do Dittany of Crete and poplar. Only rub a dime size amount on your skin on either your third eye chakra or on your throat. Be sure to wash your hands after contact with the salve if you use a poisonous ingredient aiding in astral projection. 

Good luck with your magickal workings!!

Blessed Be, Lady Spiderwitch 

Leave a comment

Filed under Paranormal and Witchy Fiction

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , ,