Building A Magical Home

motivational tea potion

🌅☀️🌿💫🕯

this potion is wonderful first thing in the morning before a busy day, right before a work shift or school day, before you have to do a bunch of cleaning, even before spellwork! just all around a great tea to light a fire under you whenever you may need it

[ what you’ll need ]

2 cups sun water

motivation, energy, healing, comfort, focus, communication

2 tsp black tea

grounding, energy, prosperity, motivation

1 stick of cinnamon

comfort, healing, motivation, energy, prosperity, communication, good luck, communication, protection against negativity

1 whole clove

prosperity, grounding, longevity of energy, good luck, communication

2 sprigs of rosemary *

rolls negativity off you, focus, compassion, motivation, energy, good luck, prosperity

1 - 2 black peppercorn

high energy, motivation, grounding, good luck, protection

honey to taste

communication, abundance, gentleness, good luck, energy, motivation, focus, comfort

maybe a tsp or so if you’re using dried, can be subbed out for thyme *

-

this is meant to be a recipe for a drinkable tea but you could also pour this potion into a bath or just bottle it up and keep it on your desk/nightstand, etc! as always feel free to send in any questions, happy witching :)

💛🕯☀️🌿

The Witch at Lammas

This post is the fifth in a series of posts exploring and celebrating witch archetypes at the eight seasonal festivals.

Lammas is a festival celebrated on August 1. It is descended from the festival of Lughnasadh, an ancient Celtic festival of Pagan origin. Still celebrated by many Neo-Pagans, Lughnasadh is one of the four “fire festivals.” It is the celebration of the first fruits of summer and it has long had connections to both the grain and hay harvests. It is named after the ancient Celtic sky god, Lugh. The “-nasadh” of Lughnasadh means something like “an assembly”, so the phrase “Lughnasadh” can be taken to mean “the assembly of Lugh” (sometimes translated as “the games of Lugh”).

Lughnasadh is traditionally associated with summer fairs. In ancient times, the “assembly” would have been a great fair, with food and games and opportunities for trading and other financial exploits. This tradition has never died out. It is still common to see fairs throughout the British Isles and even the United States and Canada during this time. Traditionally, Lughnasadh would have lasted two weeks.

With the Christianization of Europe, Lughnasadh became Lammas, its new name meaning “Loaf Mass”. Lammas celebrates the grain harvest, which is honored by making loaves of bread from the freshly gathered wheat. These loaves of bread were blessed by priests during Lammas services. These blessed loaves could then be used for folk magic. Superstitious farmers would break the loaves into quarters and hide them in the corners of their houses or barns for protection.

One theme that is prevalent throughout these celebrations is that of sacrifice. The tale of Lughnasadh is one of tragic death. According to an old Irish legend, the goddess Tailtiu, the foster mother of Lugh, cleared the great forest of Breg with an axe to make the plains of Ireland. These plains became fertile farmland. She wanted to provide for her people. However, the work proved to be too great and when she finished clearing the forest, she died. In her honor, Lugh established a festival of funeral games, which would become Lughnasadh. The Paleo-Pagans who inhabited what is now Britain and Ireland would have honored this festival by lighting great bonfires and giving sacrifical offerings to the gods.

Lugh is associated with the sky, but he is also a god of sovereignity and battle. It was he who slayed the giant Balor and threw his eye into the heavens to create the Sun. Even in his sky “aspect”, he is still a god of skill and war. Ancient depictions of Lugh typically show him wearing a torc and holding a spear. The torc is a symbol of sovereignty - he is a god of kings and rulers - and he holds the spear - a tool of war. He is a god of skill; his wars are not the foolish all-destructive wars of modernity, but are the skilled battles of old. He is truly a god of warriors.

The grain of Lammas is a symbol of sacrifice. Consider the drinking song “John Barleycorn”, which personifies the grain as a man who is murdered and cut to pieces. The grain and all the other first fruits of the harvest season fall at Lammas. The year is in decline. According to legend, in ancient Ireland, an old or senile king , no longer useful as a ruler, would be sacrificed at Lughnasadh. Whether this is a historical truth is a matter of some debate, but this theme still maintains its power.

The Christianization of the festival links it with Christ’s suffering on the cross and also his associations with bread and grain. According to the Bible, it was he who died to cleanse mankind of its sins. He is often called a sacrifical lamb. It was prophesied that he would be born in Bethlehem - the House of Bread. It was he who made the fishes and loaves multiply. It was he who said to eat his flesh and drink his blood, and what is his flesh but bread transfigured?

Because sacrifice is a predominant theme in the Lughnasadh/Lammas holidays, let us discuss the witch as warrior. Despite some claims that witches cannot and should not do harm to others, the historical records say otherwise. There are multiple, notable accounts of witches using their craft to defend their homes and loved ones.

We could discuss warding, but that topic is oft-discussed I do not see a need to go more in-depth about it here. Let us discuss, instead, three specific historical examples of practitioners using the magical arts to protect themselves and others.

In this short space, it would be impossible to describe all the accomplishments of Welsh mathematician, astrologer, and occultist John Dee. A Renaissance man in every meaning of the word, Dee was the court magician for Queen Elizabeth I. It was Dee who helped plan expeditions to the New World. It was Dee himself who coined the term “British Empire”. So, when Phillip II of Spain attempted to invade England in 1588, it was said that John Dee took action. According to legend, Dee used his occult knowledge to cast a spell on the Spanish Armada. Of course, the Spanish Armada was scattered by great winds and did not invade England.

Less than 400 years later, it is said the witches of England helped to drive away the invading Nazi forces during the Second World War. According to Gerald Gardner, a great gathering of witches occurred in the New Forest on the eve of the Nazi invasion. These witches came from all over Britain to cast a spell on the Third Reich. The witches commanded the Nazi planes to not invade and many died in the process, or so the legend goes. Like the Spanish Armada, the Nazis did not invade Britain. Despite the raids, England never fell to the German forces. One does hope that the current generation of witches will follow their lead and use magic to strike back against tyranny.

In the 1960s, Italian historian Carlo Ginzburg published his work The Night Battles: Witchcraft and Agrarian Cults in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries. In this highly influential work, Ginzburg examines reports of the Benandanti, a group of magical practitioners who lived in Northeastern Italy in the 16th and 17th Centuries. The phrase Benandanti means “the good walkers.” By their own reports, the Benandanti rose (“walked”) from their own bodies while they were sleeping and fought off dark forces. These dark forces were witches, called the Maladanti (“the bad walkers”).

According to the Benandanti, who testified before the Inquisition, they fought the witches at night with fennel sticks. They did this on certain Thursdays to protect their crops. The nighttime visions of the Benandanti have been tied to the Sabbat-visions of witches throughout Europe during the same time period. The testimonies of the Benandanti led Ginzburg to conclude that they were members of a sort of “fertility cult”. Ginzburg’s work was considered controversial upon its first publication and continues to spark debate.

This Lammas, let us remember what it is to defend those we love. You does not need to be a solider to fight for the things you care about. You can be a scholar, a dreamer, a mystic - you can be an ordinary person and affect great change. With a bit of magic and a sense of determination, you can fight for what you believe in and win.

A tarot spread commissioned by @beetlepool​ during @technocoven​, for helping them find the source of their stress and how to achieve inner calm.

They asked:

“How can you achieve calm and stability only comparable to the biggest fish in the ocean?” 

And as a Marine Biologist, I was super hyped by the request and had a lot of fun with this spread! Thanks again, and welcome to your witch-y journey!

Keep reading

Comforting Tea Spell

If a friend shows up at your doorstep in tears or distraught and is looking for comfort, brew her a witchy cup of tea by imbuing it with your intentions: visualize your friend being warmed and soothed by your cup of tea as she drinks it. As a witch, your intent carries great power through your actions. You perform everyday actions with intent and become more attuned to yourself and the way things work in the world around you. By learning to channel your desires through the spellwork you do, you will manifest happiness, joy, and abundance in your life. 🍵

For the tea blend, you will need:

Lemon Balm

Mint

Chamomile flowers

Lavender

Rosemary

Any additional add-ins you wish to brew into your tea based on your intentions, such as cinnamon for luck, ginger for strength, or sugar for sweetness

For the Spell:

Steep the tea blend in a tea pot or in a loved mug. As it’s steeping, stir the contents with a spoon clockwise and imbue your intent into the tea. Visualize your friend being warmed and soothed by the tea, or imagine her delight when she tastes the tea.

Add any additional spices, herbs, or sugar you’d like to add to the tea now. Consider their magical associations. Add a pinch of cinnamon for luck, or a pinch of ginger for strength, a pinch of thyme for courage, or a pinch of rosemary or salt for protection. Add sugar for sweetness if desired, for both taste and sweetness in mood.

Stir the tea, three times clockwise, one final time and recite: “With tea and spell, and help from above, all is well, light and love.” Then tap your spoon on the mug or teapot three times to seal the spell.

Serve the tea lovingly to your friend or loved one.

Chamomile Sleep and Offering Syrup

To go along with the syrups I’m planning to post now we come to Chamomile Syrup. This is really good for when you are having a hard time sleeping and want to add something to your tea when you don’t have the actual chamomile tea. Or you want to add a little extra boost to your Chamomile tea. You can also use this in your drink to help ground and center yourself.  Add it to teas, coffee, or liquor as you please. This also is really good as an offering! 

1 Cup water

1-2 cups sugar or sugar substitute

5-10 bags of Chamomile tea OR 1 cup chamomile flowers

STEPS

Place water and tea bags or flowers into a saucepan and bring to a boil.

Add in sugar or sugar substitute; stir until the sugar has dissolved completely before turning down the heat and allowing simmering for 10 minutes

Make sure to stir it every so often as to make sure nothing on the bottom burns

Remove from heat, cover, and allow the syrup to cool for 20 minutes.

Once it is cool, take out the tea bags, or strain the flowers, and transfer into a jar. Store in the fridge

Don’t worry if it doesn’t look that dark at first, it’ll darken as it cools to a nice goldish color.

Lammas

Here’s a brief overview of the holiday Lammas. [LAH-mahs] Some people use the name Lughnasadh. [LOO-nah-sah] They are both names for the same holiday–the celebration of the first harvest–, however they are not necessarily interchangeable. 

Lughnasadh is the Gaelic name for this occasion. It celebrates the waning of the sun god Lugh as the summer gives way to fall. The year’s crop is ready for harvesting. Lammas is the modern name. It has minimal connection to the Gaelic sun God, so if you don’t believe in the God, you would use the term Lammas. Both terms recognize the power of the sun God infusing his blessings into the first year’s harvest, however Lughnasadh credits a Gaelic God while Lammas credits a more general sun God. Lughnasadh is the more traditional name, so you can choose to use that term if you want without having any affiliation to Lugh. 

Lammas is celebrated on August 1st (Northern hemisphere) or February 1st (Southern hemisphere). 

Spellwork

Lammas is a time of giving thanks, so be sure to leave offerings to your deities. It’s custom to use something from your harvest (if you harvested anything) as your offering. Spells involving blessings or guidance are going to fare well during this day. 

Correspondences 

Symbols: Sunflower, Wheat, Baskets, Creative Tools (pen, paintbrush, microphone)

Colors: Deep green, orange, burgundy deep reds

Herbs: Vervain, Sunflower, Rosemary

Food/Drink: Grain, Honey, Nuts, Berries, Beer, Cider

Incense: Frankincense, Rosemary

Crystals: Tiger’s Eye, Obsidian

Ways to Celebrate!

Use this holiday to celebrate the things in life granted to you. Share your talents with others. Go for a walk in nature. Have a feast. 

10 Magic Herbs You Can Find at the Grocery Store

When you’re first getting started with witchcraft or another magical practice, it can be easy to get caught up in all of the material stuff involved. Witchy hashtags on social media are filled with pictures of huge sparkly crystals, gorgeous handmade ritual tools, and beautifully elaborate altars. Many spells in books or online call for a long list of herbs, some of which are expensive or hard to come by. For baby witches, it’s easy to feel like you can never be a “real” witch unless you have money for these expensive tools and toys.

This is not true. As we’ve talked about in previous chapters of this series, you don’t need any tools or material components to cast a spell — however, harnessing the energy of plants, crystals, and imagery can be a helpful way to add energy to your work. This doesn’t mean you need to spend a lot of money. In fact, many of the most powerful and useful magical tools can be found on the spice aisle in your local supermarket, or even at the dollar store.

For example:

Salt. Salt is a witch’s best friend. It can be used for cleansing, banishing, protection, grounding, or to neutralize energy. Surrounding something with a circle of salt will protect it [Note: do NOT make salt circles outside, as salt will kill plant life!], and washing something with salt water will cleanse its energy. I often include salt in any spell that I feel needs an extra layer of protection.

Sugar. Just as salt banishes unwanted energy, sugar attracts the things you want into your life. Sugar can be used for any and all attraction spells, whether you’re looking to attract love, money, success, or something else. It can also be used to “sweeten” a situation, or make it more favorable.

Cinnamon. There’s pretty much no positive spell that doesn’t benefit from cinnamon. Cinnamon has associations with healing, love, success, and material wealth, but is also strongly associated with protection. I love burning cinnamon as incense — it fills the whole room with warm, cozy energy.

Cayenne. Cayenne is often used for banishing or binding spells, but a lesser known use is for getting things moving. Cayenne is a very fiery plant, so any spell dealing with passion, motivation, or drive can benefit from its inclusion. Cayenne can be used to “light a fire” under someone to motivate them to action. However, cayenne is a more harsh energy, so I often pair it with lavender or another soothing herb.

Coffee. I most often use coffee for grounding or to anchor things to the physical world. For example, I might include it in a prosperity spell to make sure the results manifest in my everyday life. Coffee is also energizing and brings mental clarity, and can enhance psychic abilities. Brewed coffee is also used in some traditions as an offering for spirits.

Bay leaves (Bay Laurel). Bay leaves are one of the most popular spell components because of their association with granting wishes. You’ve probably heard of the practice of writing a wish on a bay leaf and burning it to manifest your desire. I often include bay leaves in manifestation magic for this reason. Bay leaves can also be used for purification, cleansing, and exorcism.

Ginger. Ginger adds power to any spell it is included in. Ginger tea or gingery food can also give you a personal energy boost. I add ginger to any spell that needs some extra “oomph.” It is also associated with success.

Basil. Basil is very commonly used in money spells. Carrying a basil leaf on your person is believed to attract wealth. It also has associations with protection.

Peppermint. Peppermint is another herb that can add power to virtually any spell. It can bring healing and purification, can remove obstacles and free up stuck energy, and can enhance psychic abilities. Peppermint is a common ingredient in dream pillows. You can find peppermint tea at virtually any grocery store, and many stores also carry the essential oil.

Lavender. Lavender is my favorite herb for bringing peace to a situation. It’s very good for healing magic and for soothing difficult emotions. Lavender is also associated with love, and I especially like to use it in spells for self love. Most stores carry lavender essential oil, and you can also find herbal teas that include it as an ingredient.

With the above herbs at your side, you’ll have everything you need to cast virtually any type of spell. Honestly, even if you just have salt, sugar, and maybe some white candles, you can create powerful spells for dozens of different intentions, from protection to self love to getting a job. Remember, what matters isn’t so much what you have — it’s your intention.

These are also edible, so they can be incorporated into magical recipes for different intentions. In fact, most of the ingredients you cook with every day have magical associations and can do double duty as powerful additions to your spells. For more information about the magical uses of common household herbs and spices, I highly recommend the book A Green Witch’s Cupboard by Deborah J. Martin, which is where most of the info for this post came from.

Other useful magical items that you can pick up at the grocery store include:

Olive oil. Olive oil can be used as an all-purpose anointing oil for candles, ritual tools, or your body. It can also be used to dilute essential oil, or as a base for custom magical oils.

Tealight candles. These small candles are perfect for candle spells. White tealights can be used for any intention.

House plants. Many common houseplants have magical associations. For example, aloe brings protection and healing. You can also grow some witchy herbs, like peppermint or rosemary, indoors.

Epsom salt. Epsom salt is a great base for bath spells. You can add essential oils and herbs to make custom bath salts — just be sure to research oils and herbs ahead of time, as some can cause skin irritation. [Note: Epsom salt is not actually salt, and cannot be substituted for salt in spells.]

Notebooks. Writing things down is an important part of witchcraft. Keeping a record of your spells, divination, and magical experiences makes it easier to keep track of everything.

Again, I want to stress that you don’t need a specific set of tools to be a witch. In fact, you can do highly effective magic without ever working with herbs at all. But if you want to gather some items to add power to your spells or help you feel more witchy (after all, there’s nothing wrong with wanting to set the mood!), you can get everything you need for a few bucks at the local supermarket or dollar store. Remember, our ancestors worked magic with what they had — not with expensive crystal collections or exotic herbs.

What is a Blot?

A blot, is a ritual  sacrifice, to the gods, the wights, ancestors, alfr etc. Any of The Holy Powers. They are a way to communicate with them, to ask for intangible gifts and give them in return. “A gift for a gift as it must always be.” There is a debate as to whether or not the word “Blot” is apprporiate for non blood sacrafices, many practionores will also use the term “Faining” as an alternative if it is not a blood blot.

Read More…

✨🌿 Green Witch’s Comfort Spell Jar 🌲

In a small jar with a cork top, layer:

Basil

Lemongrass or Lemon Balm

Rosemary

Tree Bark (I used White Oak)

Cinnamon

Fennel Seeds

Ginger Root

Mint

Pine Needles

Let it charge in the sun for an afternoon near your houseplants, in the garden, or even under a favorite tree in the woods. For an extra boost, charge it near a moss agate stone too! Later, seal it with green or white wax and recite:

“Support me and guide me, Spirits of Nature. As a Green Witch, I thank you for your many blessings. I take a little piece of the Forest with me as I walk my path. Blessed be, and so mote it be.” 🌿

You can now take your little piece of the Forest inside your spell jar with you wherever you go as a reminder of your Green Witch oath and path. It’s great to keep in your bag, purse, or travel altar! Blessed be, lovelies! 💖🌿