Magickal Folk Names For Herbs

I view witchcraft in the same way that I do vitamin supplements. Vitamins can help boost you up if you’re deficient in certain things, but if you ate nothing but vitamins, you’d still be very unhealthy. Witchcraft is the same way. If you need help finding a job, a job spell can help increase your chances after you submit a job application. However, if you ignore mundane means and only ever use witchcraft, you’ll never reach your full potential.

🍂     SAGE    🍂

Sage is a very versatile plant; it’s not only used for cooking. This kitchen witch likes to make incenses from it or just plant it for decorative reasons in her garden. In my childhood however, I mainly knew the herb as a medical plant. Especially in summer, when I fell asleep with the windows still  open, I often awoke with a sore throat. Of course, my mom and her mother before her had a wonderful recipe for that - didn`t I mention that sage is a great natural remedy for a sore throat? Let’s brew some SAGE TEA! There’s a good reason, why the herb’s name is based on the Latin word “salvare” – healing - after all.

GROWING SAGE  🌱

Sage is a low maintenance, sun loving ancient Mediterranean herb. Basically it can survive mild winters outside and therefore can be harvested all year long. (I’ve had some on my balcony and now in my garden for years and it only happened once, that it didn’t make it through the dark season.) To keep the sage healthy you should cut it from springtime to late summer without removing the wooden stalks. ~~~

STORING SAGE  🌱

Drying the leaves is pretty easy. Harvest the upper parts of the stalks and pluck the leaves off, put them on a flat plate or a piece of baking paper. Don’t expose the sage to direct sunlight! Once the leaves are completely dry, just crumble them and put them into a nice glass jar. Store it at a dark and dry place. The jar above is actually the one I took from my grandmas kitchen after she had passed away. It still got her handwriting on it. ~~~

SAGE TEA  🌱

To brew one cup (1/4l) only one tablespoon of the dried or fresh leaves are required. The tea should then cool down a little before using it for curing a sore throat. From now on you should gargle three times a day (preferably after eating). Other uses for the, in this case still warm tea are to prevent night sweats and stomach ache. ~~~

More on this amazing herb later on  🍃

disclaimer: no household remedy will ever replace a visit to the doctor!

Sage series 1/?

Beauty Tips for The Sexy Witch

• eat citrus fruits or drink fruit water as an alternative to mints. Fruit, especially sour fruit, promotes salivation, which helps to fight off bacteria in your mouth that causes bad breath. adding some strawberry, lemon, and kiwi slices to a bottle of water is a great way to keep your breath sweet.

• Next time you make guacamole, save the pit of the avocado, dry it, and keep it in your purse or on your person. Avocado pits are deeply symbolic of sex, lust, love, and beauty, and can help to attract romance. This symbolism dates back to the ancient aztecs, who named the avocado, “ahacatl,” or “green testicle.”

• Dilute a few drops of pomegranate and rose oil in a teaspoon of coconut oil, and massage this into your neck, chest, and behind your ears as a perfume. The scent is light, seductive, and easy on your partner’s taste buds when they go in to leave a few hickies. Plus, the coconut oil will leave your skin silky smooth and soft.

• Make some DIY jewelry out of wire and river pearl beads. Strings of river pearls can be found at most craft stores; they’re quite cheap, but just as natural and magical as expensive round pearls. Pearls are associated with beauty and sensuality, as well as corresponding to the moon and Venus. They carry a soft energy that promotes both romantic and sexual activity. Red jasper, rose quartz, and rhodochrosite are also good.

• Rosewater. I know so many witches AND non-witches rave over rosewater, but the hype is for good reason. Using rosewater as an astringent facial mist is a refreshing and sensual finishing touch to your date night beauty routine. Rose energy enhances your beauty, and the barely noticeable scent will entice your partner to come a little closer.

• strawberries are a natural aphrodisiac. A stick or container of strawberry lip balm can easily be enchanted to make your lips look naturally ravishing with some rose quartz, red jasper, and a pink candle. Bonus points if it’s pink or red tinted.

• Body glitter!! I know this isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but as someone who doesn’t often wear makeup, I like to find new and exciting ways to glamourize my look without it. Moisturizing body bars and sprays can be found at stores like lush, (the shimmy shimmy bar is my fave,) or online. You can also make your own with some coconut oil, beeswax, essential and fragrance oils, and skin safe seaweed based glitter. I use body glitter as an extra kick to beauty glamours, and a physical reminder of how magically delicious I look.

That’s all I have for now, but if you have any of your own tips please feel free to add on! Much love and good luck to you all 💕

An old woman of ambiguous South Asian heritage went through my check lane a few days ago. One of her items was a red onion, which she’d already skinned inside the produce bag. I mistook it for two different onions; she corrected me, and then explained why she’d already skinned it.

“If you make tea with onion skins,” she said, with the air of an old woman sharing her secrets, “and drink it before bed, it’s good for the bowels. Boil the water and leave the skins in for ten minutes. It will clean you right out.”

I finished scanning her items and she continued to share. “Before you get out of bed in the morning, eat a spoonful of mashed garlic and honey, keep it in your mouth for ten minutes and stay lying down, and you will be awake and healthy.” 

She tapped her nose gently, a conspiratorial smile gracing her lips. “It’s old magic. Natural remedy. Better than any medicine.”

Sabbat Altar and Celebration Ideas for the Solitary Witch

YULE Altar ideas: Put mistletoe and pine on your altar; put a candle up there to represent the Sun; keep your Yule log on your altar; use symbols of the Sun; decorate with red, green, white, blue, and yellow (red and green for holly, white and blue for snow and wintery colors, yellow for the Sun). Celebration ideas: Kiss a consenting person under the mistletoe for luck; give gifts; have a feast; make magickal wreaths with herbs corresponding to the spell intent (you might use lilac, lavender, and camomile for a wreath that brings peace into your home).

IMBOLC Altar ideas: Use candles to represent the return of spring; make a cute little corn dolly; put a Brigid’s cross on there to honor her; decorate with yellow and green to represent the Sun and return of spring. Celebration ideas: Clean your house; have a self-dedication ritual (to a particular path, deity, philosophy, standard of life, etc.); clean off your working altar and redo it; cleanse and charge any tools or crystals you need to.

OSTARA Altar ideas: Use fake eggs, rabbits, and other symbols of fertility or spring; put some potted plants on the altar; place some packets of seeds you might be planning on growing; decorate with purple, yellow, green, white, and other spring, pastel colors. Celebration ideas: Paint and blow eggs (take proper precautions when handling raw eggs, obviously, especially if you’re putting your mouth on them); if you have a greenhouse, want a potted plant, or it’s warm enough where you live to plant outside, plant some seeds; buy a potted plant; organize your herb shelf.

BELTAINE Altar ideas: Make a mini Maypole for your centerpiece; smack some candles up in there, especially beeswax, if that’s in your budget; put some faery symbols, like little statues or bells or something like that; a jar of honey or some beeswax is always dope; if you’re comfortable with it, some people like to put representations of genatalia on their altar. Celebration ideas: Light an awesome bonfire (also be very cautious with this because fire can quickly turn dangerous); leave offerings to the faeries; have a dance outside; this is a good time to plan to have a handfasting ceremony or wedding; cast any love workings you’ve been meaning to do; if you’re an adult and have a person/people who consent to it, you could choose to have sex during this time (but do be safe!); many people try to conceive children during Beltaine.

LITHA Altar ideas: Symbols of the Sun and the Moon, feminine and masculine symbols if that’s a thing in your tradition; decorate with black and white to symbolize the night and day. Celebration ideas: Get up before the Sun rises and go to sleep after it sets, so you can experience the day and night; have a bonfire (again, safety is important); have a picnic; just spend a lot of time outside.

LUGHNASADH Altar ideas: Put bread and grain on the altar; maybe some apples and other autumn fruits; pinecones and leaves are fall symbols; decorate with red, orange, yellow, brown, and other colors of the season. Celebration ideas: Bake (especially make the cute little bread men); give an offering to the Earth; go to an apple orchard and pick some apples; share a feast with the family or your friends.

MABON Altar ideas: Wine, or grape juice if alcohol is unavailable for any reason; leaves and pinecones; apples; a money jar (see first celebration suggestion below). Celebration ideas: For a week or two before Mabon, put money you can afford to give up in a jar, and donate it to charity or a cause you support on Mabon; have another apple harvest; have another feast; do a ritual to honor the Earth.

SAMHAIN Altar ideas: Pop a few gourds in there, more apples if you want; pictures of the deceased; tools for divination and spirit contact; decorate with black, white, and orange. Celebration ideas: Divination, spirit communication (obviously only if you know what you’re doing); hold a seance or a dumb supper if that’s more comfortable for you; light a candle in the window for spirits (use a fake one if you want it lit all night); leave some milk and honey for the Fair Folk; give offerings to the dead; put up wards and shields if you’re one of the people who would prefer to avoid spirit activity.

Homemade pasta is my latest cooking obsession.

From intentionally choosing herbs and veggies to color the dough and get that double whammy of herb and color magick, to mindfully rolling out and cutting/filling/shaping the perfect little pasta pieces- this is basically peak kitchen witchery for me right here. I set aside a couple hours so I can really take my time, pop on some mood music, and lose myself in the happy little rhythm^^

The base recipe I use is;

1 egg + 2 yolks

A few tablespoons of herbs or veggies for color. Could be a bit more or less depending on what I'm using. (For example- it need lots of fresh green herbs to get it green, but barely any beets for a deep pink)

~1 cup flour (more if the dough is too wet/sticky) + extra for dusting countertops

Water (enough to help the dough form a nice ball)

Today I tried out something new- pressing leaves in between the sheets of dough, and rolling it out thin enough that you can clearly see them in the finished pasta.

And thus, Sunny's Lucky Greenie Fettuccine was born!

The color doesn't really come through in these photos, but it is a lovely vibrant green created by using fresh Basil in the dough- and the leaves pressed inside are parsley!

Next time I'll probably do wider strands, or some kind of stuffed pasta, so the shapes of the leaves stay wholly intact. But for a first attempt at this technique I'm pretty pleased! Plus it was damn delicious^^

In the (hopefully near) future I want to experiment with some other herbs and work a few edible flowers into the mix!!! I've seen some genuinely stunning pasta pictures I am dying to try my hand at recreating^^

☀️🌿Litha Lavender Thyme Chicken🌿☀️

Hello my greenies! I have here a recipe to celebrate Litha! I am recovering from the removal of all four of my wisdom teeth and am unable to feast accordingly. I hope everyone can celebrate and eat for me, so I have here a favorite chicken recipe that I have especially during Litha and many times during the summer.

I will put the corresponding meanings of all the ingredients for the recipe at the end of the post and hope everyone enjoys my recipe. I hope to be posting more soon!

***You can use these ingredients for a whole chicken, but the amount for the coating will need to be adjusted and so will the cooking time. There are many websites that can tell you how to prepare a whole chicken, if that is also what you are looking for.

Ingredients

3 or 4 chicken breasts (I use 3, but I think the recipe would work with four as well.)

1 tbsp of dried lavender

2 tbsp of dried thyme or 4 sprigs of fresh and pulled off the stem.

drizzle of olive oil or coconut oil

1 tbsp of garlic powder

1 and ½ tbsp of onion powder

3 tbsp of honey

1 whole lemon.

dash of salt and pepper

dash of oregano

Directions

If lavender is not crushed, crush until powdery. Then in a small bowl, mix lavender, thyme, garlic powder, and onion powder.

In a separate bowl, place the three chicken breasts and add the salt and pepper. Mix well and after drizzle the oil, honey, and fresh squeezed lemon juice. Mix thoroughly.

Place in the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. Make sure all parts of the chicken are covered.

Cover the bowl and let the chicken sit for three hours in the refrigerator.

Once complete, stir the chicken in the bowl again and then place the chicken into a roasting pan and sprinkle oregano on the tops.

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Place the chicken in the oven and bake for 45 minutes, make sure you flip after 23 minutes. When done, take the chicken out and let it sit for about 5 minutes before you eat. While it sits begin the chant.

“With the heat of the day and kiss of the night, summer bring love and spirit to me. Let me feel the child-like dance. Let me embrace myself.   I am my own fire.”

While speaking these words allow yourself to hold in the heat inside you. Let it move around through your system and on your skin. Rise that heat up into your neck and float around your head. Then have it come out of you, so now you only feel a slight glow. Have this warmth embrace your house and everything in it until that happiness is surrounding you.

Then enjoy your meal!

*I always find that this meal goes well with some honey garlic potatoes, thyme roasted carrots, Zucchini casserole, and fresh baked flaky biscuits.

If you decide to make this recipe please send me pictures! Although I can’t eat any solids at the moment, I would feel satisfied just by seeing everyone else enjoying their meals. I hope you enjoy this recipe and have a special Litha!

- Kenzie

ingredient correspondences

dried lavender - love, protection, healing, sleep, purification, and peace.

dried thyme - wards negativity, purification, healing

garlic powder - healing, protection, purification, guards against negative magic and the envy of others.

onion powder - prosperity, stability, endurance, and protection.

honey - binding properties, love, and used in offering rituals.

lemon - cleansing, spiritual opening, purification, and removal of blockages

oregano - joy, strength, vitality, and added energy

Let’s Talk Litha!: Celebrating the Summer Solstice

June 21st marks this year’s Summer Solstice - the Sabbat known as Litha (or Midsummer)! If you celebrate the Wheel of the Year, Litha is one of the key points in the calendar: The summer solstice marks the Sun’s peak of power, and also marks the longest day in the year!

Litha, or, The Summer Solstice

Litha marks the longest day of the calendar year - the Summer Solstice - and is positioned at the bottom, Southernmost quarter point in the Wheel of Year. Traditionally, this is a great time to commune and connect with the Sun, do solar magic, and use the Sun’s peak power to spellcast, charge, and cleanse.

Colors: Red, orange, and other fiery, bold tones

Incense & Scents: Dragon’s blood, orange, musks (personal correspondences here - use your own for max results!)

Altar Setup: Find stones and crystals that have washed up on the summer shore, local flowers, seasonal fruits, and plenty of candles. A bonfire is traditional (a red candle is practical!)

The Litha Feast: What would a Sabbat be without a feast? Litha is a perfect time to eat outdoors (if possible!). Traditional foods include herbed breads and pastries (baked!), desserts and dishes with summer fruits (try berries, stone fruits, or citrus, depending on what’s local to you!), cold cooked poultry for our omnivore witches, and flower or berry wines. More modern foods for Litha could include potato salads, dishes made with lavender or sorrel, peppery foods, or dandelion greens.

Litha Traditions:

Light a bonfire and jump over it (if it’s small enough!) to cleanse yourself of past ills.

Stay up on Midsummer Eve to wait for the rising sun.

Dispose of old amulets in the Litha fire.

Work magic with stone circles.

Make speeches to Fortuna, the lady of Fortune (is my Hellenic Revivalism showing?).

Phone past friends and invite them over.

Honor the Oak tree by paying one a visit in your local neighborhood.

Lead the way to your Litha celebration with a torchlit procession (or lantern or sparkler-lit, as it were!).

Magic for Litha: Healing, purification, cleansing, fire, protection, rebirth, power, sun magic, magic with stones and crystals, reaffirmations, and oaths.

Have at it, witches! (and link me to your Litha altars/plans/feasts! I’m a sucker for peeking on all your aesthetics & magics :>)