I picked up this special edition of a Better Homes & Gardens magazine all about gardening, harvesting, and using herbs. I’ve been wanting an herb garden in my apartment for so long, so hopefully by next month I’ll actually be able to start one!
Meet Ovid and Euripides my little garden snails! These guys are chilling in a tuperweare container atm but I plan on moving them into a full-blown terrarium at some point. I’ve been wanting to keep snails for awhile so I’m super excited!
Merry meet! I have recently noticed that many of the blogs I have followed over the last year or so have either stagnated, or have been reblogging or posting things of a similar theme and I would like to be able to give those that follow me a little more variety when I cannot create original content. If you post original content related to:
Herbalism
Wicca
Paganism
Green witches, hearth witches, elemental witches
Educational witches or circle teaching
Gardening + nature related
Irish and Celtic mythology
Or similar topics, please reblog or like and I will try to get back to you! Thank you for reading, and blessed be~
Merry meet! I have recently noticed that many of the blogs I have followed over the last year or so have either stagnated, or have been reblogging or posting things of a similar theme and I would like to be able to give those that follow me a little more variety when I cannot create original content. If you post original content related to:
Herbalism
Wicca
Paganism
Green witches, hearth witches, elemental witches
Educational witches or circle teaching
Gardening + nature related
Irish and Celtic mythology
Or similar topics, please reblog or like and I will try to get back to you! Thank you for reading, and blessed be~
I’ve compiled a list of types of herbal remedies, with brief instructions on how to make them. Choose your herbs carefully, as some are poisonous, some will interfere with health problems and medications, and some can cause allergic reactions.
If you are concerned about any health issue you have, or worried about herbs reacting with your medications, go talk to your doctor. This post is not intended as medical advice.
Compress
This is usually cloth that has been soaked in a herbal infusion so that it can be applied topically. Useful for skin issues, muscle pain, joint pain, and general aches.
You can make one by soaking cotton wool in a warm infusion of your choice, wrapping the balls in a piece of clean cloth, and applying to the affected area. Once the cloth cools down you can soak it again in the warm tea and reapply.
Infusion
This is basically the herbalist term for tea. The herbs are usually dried and ground before being steeped in very hot water and then strained out. If you use a bag then you can skip the straining.
Tincture
This is similar to an infusion but much stronger, and with alcohol instead of water, which helps to preserve it.
Put your herbs in a jar. Cover them with alcohol (most people I know use vodka). Put the lid on the jar and shake it daily for a month or so, then strain the herbs out. I tend to keep mine in the little dropper bottles, as you normally don’t need to take much at once.
Decoction
I like to think of these as a stronger infusion. You need four times as much boiling water as dried herb, and you want to simmer the mixture for about half an hour before straining.
Syrup
These are herbs mixed with a sugary substance, which makes them easier to consume and helps to preserve them a little. They’re a good way to get your herbs in if you have a sore throat, as they are often quite soothing.
You’ll need a couple ounces of fresh herb per pint of water. Put them on the stove and heat until about half of the water has evaporated. Then you need to add about five tablespoons of sugar/honey/maple syrup per pint of water you used originally (so if you put two pints in the pan, you need ten tablespoons). Keep stirring for about twenty minutes, then take it off the heat and bottle it up. You need to keep syrups in the fridge, preferably in a dark coloured jar or bottle.
Balm
Essential oils and beeswax, basically. Add about twenty drops of essential oil to a cup of melted beeswax, stick it in a jar, let it cool, and there you go! You can mix in juiced herbs if you like, but that’s optional.
Salve
A salve is basically essential oils mixed with beeswax, oils and herbs. I have seen them made with coconut oil, though if you live in a warmer environment then coconut oil won’t work for you as it melts. You need about fifty/fifty dried herbs and beeswax (if you live somewhere warm) or use a mixture of beeswax and an oil like olive or safflower if you live somewhere colder, just so it’s soft enough to use. Use about twenty drops of oil per cup of beeswax. You’ll need to melt the wax in a double boiler, and let the herbs infuse in the molten wax for about half an hour. Then you add your essential oils, and pour the molten salve into the containers and let it cool.
Ointment
This is basically a liquid balm or salve. Follow the methods above, but use oil instead of beeswax.
Bath
When taking a herbal bath, you are basically making a giant cup of tea! Fill an organza bag with your chosen herbs, and put it in the bath while you run the water, then remove it before you get in. You can reuse the bag of herbs, but they lose potency with each use, so I try to avoid doing this.
Poultice
This is a paste of herbs and sometimes other things that is applied to the skin. Used for infections, splinters, burns, boils etc. They’re pretty simple to make, you just mix some dried herbs with a tiny bit of boiling water to form a paste, put it on the area, and use a piece of cloth or gauze to keep it there. If you want to use fresh herbs you just mash them up.
Visualise the A+ (on your report card/on the paper after it’s been graded/etc) right before beginning to solve your test/exam, it also helps if you can draw a sigil somewhere on the paper, or trace it on the paper with your finger
When shaving, visualise any energy buildup being shaved off as well
If you play the guitar, draw a sigil on your plectrum/pick for an added boost (this works with other instruments too)
Do not litter out of respect for nature and its spirits
Feel free to add more things onto the list
When you’re just starting out, or even when you’re just too drained to practice your craft like you used to, it can feel like there isn’t enough magic in your life. This is your daily reminder that a lot of the time, the only difference between routine and magick is intent.
1. Live in a cottage in the woods with my girlfriend and cats.
2. Convince the nearby village that we are witches (we are) who draw power from the forest. (we do)
3. My girlfriend (now wife) ride into the village once a month on jet black horses to get stuff like soap, flour, supplies, etc.
4. In the village, we go to a cozy antique shop owned by a sweet old man named Ablert, and we both buy one cute cottagecore item.
5. Before we leave the village, we go to a plant shop and buy any new plants.
6. We dramatically ride back, wearing black capes that flow in the wind as we ride.
7. We search the forest for any bones or dead things we can collect to bring back to our home, whiten them, and put them in our giant extravagant display case.
8. Our cats have kittens in our massive garden by the lavender plants.
9. We move them to our HUGE greenhouse
10. We bathe in a nearby creek most days, but when the moon is full, we bathe in an outdoor bathtub, soaking in the moonlight.
11. We dance nude around a fire while chanting in light language.
12. We only wear 1800-1980 clothing. (Yes, any style from the early 1800 all the way to the 1980s)
13. We live by a wide open field of wildflowers, where we go on picnics and ride our horses.
I thought this post from@zamolxiana was an interesting idea, so I built a map of herbs to represent the human body by combining this list of zodiac sign to body part correspondences, and this list of zodiac sign to herb correspondences.
Joints & Skeletal System | Capricorn | Rosemary/Marjoram
Ankles & Circulatory System | Aquarius | Fennel/Violet
Feet & Lymphatic System | Pisces | Basil/Borage
Assuming that if a body part corresponds to a certain zodiac sign, and an herb corresponds to a certain zodiac sign, we can use zodiac signs as a way of translating between herbs and body parts. You can probably use that as a method to translate between lots of different correspondence lists.
